Chapter 451: Changes
Chapter 451: Changes
Three days ago, the Ministry of Magic was hit by a massive disturbance. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has returned. On Friday evening, Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge confirmed in a brief statement that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has returned to the country and is once again active.
Despite the Ministry of Magic's persistent denial of Dumbledore's increasingly urgent warnings, the truth was revealed when He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named led a group of followers—known as Death Eaters—into the Ministry of Magic on Tuesday night.
The Ministry of Magic is urging the public to remain vigilant. They are publishing a preliminary guide for family and personal defense and will distribute it free of charge to all Wizard families over the next month.
Professor Dumbledore, who has resumed all his duties, has not yet given any interviews due to his busy schedule. However, it is widely known that The Boy Who Lived was the first to expose this truth. Ginny, looking at Harry who was sitting at the foot of her bed, said, "Look, the newspaper is praising you, saying you have a keen sense and noble qualities for exposing the Dark Lord's plot."
Most of the young Wizards who went to the Ministry of Magic with Harry were there, and Ginny's wounds were healed by Madam Pomfrey with a wave of her wand. So for the past two days, she has been visiting her brothers with Harry every day.
Ron, George, and Fred all bear the marks of dark curses. George, in particular, fought alongside Sirius Black against five ruthless Death Eaters. Even though Sirius Black desperately tried to protect George, George was still seriously injured and now needs to drink several potions daily. Fortunately, these injuries are treatable, and his condition has visibly improved over the past two days.
However, even so, George is still unable to get up and walk around the room like others. He can only sit propped up by the pillows at the head of his bed. If Sirius Black hadn't blocked most of the curses, his condition would be much worse. Still, as Madam Pomfrey put it, "He's in for a rough time."
"Keen sense and noble qualities? They were the ones who pretended to be deaf and dumb, insisting everything was fine and safe", Harry commented bitterly on the Daily Prophet's praise, having matured a lot after everything he's been through this year.
"By the way, how are things at the School?" George, who loves to play around, asked from his bed. Being forced to lie still is a form of torture for him. So every time Harry and Ginny visit, he asks about what's happening outside.
"Umbridge has been kicked out of the School, but it seems the Ministry of Magic still wants to take her back. I can't believe she can return to the Ministry after all the evil she's done", Ginny said, her anger evident.
"The Ministry of Magic always needs people to do the dirty work, as my father used to say", Fred, sitting on the edge of the bed, remarked.
"Disgusting", Ginny frowned, disliking anything dark.
"Let's not talk about that", Harry changed the subject. "Now that Dumbledore is back, most of the School's problems are resolved. At least, I feel everything is returning to normal."
"That's good", Fred smiled, opened a Chocolate Frog from the pile of candies on the bedside table, and broke it in half, handing one piece to Harry. "Have some Chocolate. We have plenty here."
Harry took the Chocolate and chewed it slowly. Then Ron asked, "Who's the new Divination Professor? Is it still Firenze?"
"Yes, after all, this is part of Professor Dumbledore's plan to contact other intelligent beings. Ferren can't leave for now", Ginny said, looking somewhat pleased. The handsome Centaur professor seemed more reliable than Professor Trelawney. "But since one is upstairs and the other is downstairs, they won't interfere with each other. They should be able to teach this class together."
"To me, there's not much difference between them", Ron said, taking a bite of his licorice wand. "Prophecies are mostly unreliable. I'm glad we can finally get rid of this class after the exams this year."
At that moment, Harry thought of his own prophecy. He interrupted Ron's rant about the Prophecy class: "But sometimes prophecies are very important. For example, Voldemort considered this particular prophecy a crucial weapon. It's a good thing we didn't let him get the Orb of Prophecy."
"Right, we stopped the Dark Lord's plot again. I just wonder how our friends at St. Mungo's are doing?—Where are you going?" Ron asked as he saw Harry stand up.
"Um... I just realized I need to take care of something", Harry said, looking a bit flustered. "I'll come back to see you guys this afternoon."
With that, Harry walked out of the Hospital Wing. Ron watched Harry's hurried departure with a frown. "Ginny, what's going on with Harry? He's been leaving in the middle of conversations these past couple of days."
"I'm not sure", Ginny shook her head. "But I've noticed that every time we mention St. Mungo's, Harry tries to avoid the topic. I'm worried—"
Harry hurried through the school's corridors, feeling out of place among the joyful crowds on the grounds. Dumbledore had already written to Liam and Hermione's families about what had happened, but he hadn't made it public. Harry didn't want to tell anyone else about it. He felt that if he did, it would make the situation final and irrevocable.
So, for the past couple of days, Harry had been pretending to his friends that Liam and Hermione were just seriously injured and staying at St. Mungo's. He knew it was just a pretense, but he preferred to delay the inevitable for as long as possible.
Understandably, he wasn't in the best mood. Looking at the sunlight outside, Harry decided to go to the lake by himself to soak up some sun and pass the time. As he stepped down the last marble step of the platform and entered the entrance hall, he saw Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle coming out of the door leading to the Slytherin Common Room.
Malfoy glanced at Harry but, surprisingly, didn't provoke him. He didn't even say a word, just hurried out the door with his two cronies. Harry knew this was because Crabbe and Goyle's fathers had mysteriously disappeared during the battle at the Department of Mysteries, and Malfoy's father was imprisoned in Azkaban. The three of them had no energy for anything else.
The sounds of shouting, laughter, and splashing water from the grounds came through the open front door. Harry stood in the entrance hall, lost in thought as he watched the cheerful scene outside. He wished everyone could be safe and enjoying the post-exam break. To him, the days of studying hard and eagerly awaiting the end of exams seemed like a distant memory, as if they had happened in another world.
"If Liam and Hermione were still here, they would probably be running to the lake to go over their exam answers—" Just as he thought this, Harry saw two familiar figures holding hands and walking into the entrance hall.
"You, you—" Harry rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't hallucinating, then stammered.
"Long time no see, Harry", a familiar voice said in his ear.
(End of Chapter)
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