Chapter 382: The Plan
Chapter 382: The Plan (Please subscribe, favorite, and vote)
After Liam returned to Number 12, Grimmauld Place, he saw Hermione writing a letter.
"Who is this letter for?" he asked.
"It's for Harry, but Dumbledore doesn't want us to tell him about what's happening in the Wizarding World. Even on his birthday, I can only send him a simple gift with a card. I don't think he'll be happy with that—"
"Damn, I forgot about Harry's birthday", Liam realized suddenly. "Those days I was busy making a batch of Defensive Bracelets, and I completely forgot about it."
"Don't worry about it", Hermione said. "When you were working at your workbench, I asked if you wanted me to send a gift to Harry for you, and you agreed. So I already sent your gift along with mine."
"I completely forgot; I've been so busy lately", Liam said. After all, it had been over a year for him, so it was natural that he didn't remember clearly. "Thanks, Hermione. If it weren't for you, I would have been scrambling to get something together."
"No, no problem. Since everyone is so busy, I wanted to contribute my share", Hermione said, a bit stiffly changing the subject. "Dumbledore doesn't want us to send letters to Harry, saying he's worried the owls might be intercepted. But I think the real issue is that Harry can see the Dark Lord's actions, and Dumbledore is afraid the Dark Lord might use Harry to see our plans."
Liam looked unconvinced. "I think Dumbledore's approach of isolating Harry from the Wizarding World is wrong."
Seeing Hermione about to object, Liam continued, "Dumbledore is a great man, but that doesn't mean he's always right. From what I know, Dumbledore already told Harry about his connection to the Dark Lord, but he was vague about it. This left Harry unclear about his own situation."
Liam shrugged. "Dumbledore might have his reasons for not telling Harry everything, but given the Dark Lord's power, I fear he will eventually discover Harry's Soul Connection. Once that happens, the Dark Lord could use it to set traps for Harry. In such a situation, an uninformed Harry might fall into a trap out of impulse. The Dark Lord is skilled at exploiting people's weaknesses; many powerful wizards fell for his schemes in the past, and I don't think Harry will be any different."
"You're right", Hermione agreed after hearing Liam's analysis. "Dumbledore, out of concern for his students, always wants to protect Harry. But he's so old that he's forgotten what it's like to be young. He hasn't considered that Harry has spent the past month with the Dursleys, who he despises, and is already in a bad mood. Not receiving any messages from us will make him feel abandoned by the entire world. This accumulation of negative emotions could make him more susceptible to the Dark Lord's manipulation, which would only make things worse."
Hermione threw down her quill in frustration. "So what can we do? We can't just disobey Dumbledore's orders, can we?"
"Directly disobeying the order isn't a good idea, and Professor Dumbledore is so busy these days that he probably won't have much time to worry about these issues", Liam nodded. "But we can use some indirect methods, like visiting Harry directly. After all, Dumbledore only forbade us from writing about recent events, not from seeing Harry in person."
"You're exploiting a loophole, but it's the only option we have right now", Hermione thought for a moment and reluctantly nodded. "The problem is how we get there without telling everyone we're going to see Harry."
“This is simple, leave it to me,” Liam said confidently. “I have a way to get us through the front door without any trouble.”
The solution was actually quite straightforward. Liam simply expressed to Mrs. Weasley that he needed to go out to purchase some materials and that he wanted to take Hermione along for a walk. After thinking for a moment, Mrs. Weasley quickly agreed, though she requested that they let her know before they left and that they try to be back before sunset.
“Is it really that simple? From what I know, Ron spent half a day trying to get his mother’s permission to go out,” Hermione said, looking at Liam with surprise after learning he could now take her out.
“Wizards are like that—power is everything. I’ve been allowed to go out because my role as an Alchemist here is on par with that of other adult wizards. Therefore, they naturally treat me as an adult, and they don’t set various restrictions on me like they would for a child. The same goes for the Weasley Twins; they have their own jobs, so Mrs. Weasley doesn’t lock them in the house all day,” Liam explained to Hermione.
“So, I’m only allowed to go out because I’m tagging along with you?” Hermione asked with a playful smile, performing a curtsy.
“Don’t joke around. If it came to a fight, I’d say at least a third of the Death Eaters or Order of the Phoenix members wouldn’t stand a chance against you,” Liam raised an eyebrow. “Alright, let’s get ready. We’ll go to Diagon Alley twice over the next few days, and then next week, we’ll head over to Harry’s place.”
For the rest of the week, Liam and Hermione made two trips out, each time returning from Diagon Alley with a lot of materials. Dumbledore even sought out Liam to offer to reimburse him for the cost of the materials, but Liam declined. He told Dumbledore that he charged based on the final product, which would avoid the risk of the Order of the Phoenix bearing the cost of failed alchemical attempts.
In reality, Liam’s success rate in crafting these low-level items was quite high. If the materials were reimbursed, he felt it would be unfair to charge a high price for his labor later on. So, he decided to sell the finished products to avoid that dilemma. After his calculations, he found that selling the finished products directly would earn him more money than being reimbursed for the materials and then adding his labor costs.
It’s worth noting that a great Wizard like Dumbledore, with over a century of life, had accumulated a staggering amount of wealth. Even if Liam charged only 70% or 80% of the market price for the items he crafted, the prices of his alchemical products remained quite expensive. But Dumbledore simply waved his hand and paid for all the alchemical products out of his own pocket.
By the time August rolled around, most of the Order of the Phoenix members had become accustomed to Liam and Hermione going out in the afternoon and returning leisurely after dinner. One afternoon, Liam and Hermione took a break to head to Little Whinging in the western part of London.
“Privet Drive, Little Whinging,” after leaving the Leaky Cauldron, Liam and Hermione hailed a taxi and headed for Harry’s aunt’s house. Considering his aunt’s family’s aversion to anything magical, Liam and Hermione tried to look as non-wizard-like as possible. Fortunately, both being Muggle-born, they didn’t have any trouble blending in.
“I hope we can cheer Harry up this time,” Hermione said as they got into the taxi. “Living in a hostile environment must be unbearable, and he has no choice but to stay there. Thinking about it, Harry must have had a terrible time this past month.”
“That’s exactly why we’re going to visit him,” Liam replied. “Otherwise, I’m worried he’ll really lose it.”
(End of Chapter)
Chapter end
Report
