Old Blood at Hogwarts

"...There's no point in not telling him," Mr. Weasley said excitedly. "Harry has the right to know. I tried to tell Fudge, but he insisted on treating Harry as a child. Harry is already thirteen Years old, and—”

"Arthur, the truth will frighten him!" screamed Mrs. Weasley. "Do you really want Harry to go back to school with such a mental burden? For God's sake. He doesn't know. Those things are happier!”

"I'm not trying to make him miserable, I'm trying to make him wary!" retorted Mr. Weasley. "You know how Harry and Ron are, they always sneak off to play by themselves - they've already broken the rules twice. Into the Forbidden Forest! But Harry must not do this again this year! He escaped from home that night, and anything could happen on the way. When I think of this, my heart goes crazy! If the Knight Bus didn't pick him up, I You bet. He'd be dead before the Ministry found him."

"But he's not dead. He's fine now. So, what's the need to sue——"

"Molly, they say Sirius Black is crazy. He may be crazy, but he's smart enough to escape from Azkaban, which everyone thinks is impossible. It's been three weeks now, and no one's even Not a hair on Black's face was seen, and I don't care what Fudge keeps telling the Daily Prophet, we're about as far along in capturing Black as we are in inventing a wand that casts its own spell. The only thing we know for sure is that Black What are you looking for——"

"But Harry is perfectly safe at Hogwarts."

"We also believe that Azkaban is perfectly safe. If Black can escape from Azkaban, he can break into Hogwarts."

"But no one can be sure that Black is after Harry -"

"Boom", Mr. Weasley hammered the table with his fist.

"Molly, how many times do I have to tell you this? The newspapers didn't report this because Fudge wouldn't let it. The night Black escaped from Azkaban, Fudge went to Azkaban and the guards told Fudge that Black said Been talking in my sleep for a while now. Always saying the same thing: 'He's at Hogwarts... He's at Hogwarts...' Black is out of his mind, Molly, and he wants Harry dead. If you ask My word, he thought killing Harry would put You-Know-Who back in power. Black lost everything the night Harry stopped You-Know-Who, and he'd been alone in Azkaban for 12 years, plenty of time To think about this..."

There was silence.Aaron and Harry moved closer to the door, hoping to hear more.

"Well, Arthur, you think it's the right thing to do, so you go ahead and do it. But you forgot about Albus Dumbledore. I think as long as Dumbledore is Headmaster of Hogwarts, Then nothing can harm Harry. I assume he knows all this?"

"Of course he does. We asked him if he would mind if Azkaban guards were stationed at all the entrances around the school. He wasn't too happy about it, but he agreed."

"Upset? If they caught Blake there, could he be upset?"

"Dumbledore doesn't like the guards of Azkaban." Mr. Weasley said seriously, "I don't like it either. But if it comes to this... when you have to deal with a wizard like Black, there are It’s a time when you have to join forces with the guys you were trying to avoid.”

"If they save Harry—"

"——Then I will never say a word against them again." Mr. Weasley said impatiently, "It's late. Molly, let's go upstairs..."

Aaron heard the sound of a chair being dragged.He and Harry walked down the aisle to the bar as quietly as possible without being seen.The door to the small living room opened, and a few seconds later the sound of footsteps told Aaron that Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were coming upstairs.The bottle of rat tonic lay under the table where they had sat earlier.When they heard the door to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley's bedroom closing, Aaron and Harry took the bottle and went upstairs.And during this process, they didn't say a word.

Fred and George were crouched in the shadows of the landing, breathless with laughter as they listened to Percy turn his and Ron's bedroom upside down in search of the head boy's badge.

"We got the badge," Fred whispered to Aaron and Harry, "and we've improved it. It says 'Big Head Boy' now."

Aaron forced a smile when he saw Harry, and then they gave Ron the rat tonic and returned to the room.

Aaron and Harry were lying on their own beds, each thinking about their own thoughts.Aaron didn't know what Harry was thinking, but he knew how Harry felt at this moment.I originally thought that the wanted criminal who had nothing to do with me might have escaped from prison just to kill him.This fact is enough to cause most normal people to have a nervous breakdown.

However, after Aaron himself found out that Blake escaped from prison to find Harry, he felt inexplicably happy.Ever since he learned that Blake was the enemy who killed his parents, although Aaron seemed calm on the surface, deep down he couldn't help but have the idea of ​​revenge against Blake.Originally, the biggest difficulty in Aaron's revenge against Black was that he could not find Black, but now that he knew Black would come to Harry, he could find Black as long as he followed Harry.

Aaron couldn't help but feel a little ashamed at the thought of using his friends as bait to find his enemies.This was also the reason why he hadn't spoken to Harry since just now.But then he thought again, even if he wasn't there, Black would come to Harry.Thinking of this, the guilt in his heart eased a little.

Amid various complex thoughts, Aaron's consciousness was gradually enveloped in hazy sleep.

When Aaron was about to fall asleep, he vaguely heard Harry shouting from the bed next to him: "I won't be murdered. Cheer up, honey."

Early the next morning, the tavern owner Tom woke up Aaron and Harry with his toothless smile and a cup of hot tea.The two got up, dressed up, and began to prepare for departure.While Harry was convincing his owl to return to its cage, Ron burst into the room angrily, pulling an undershirt over his head.

"The sooner we get on the train the better. At least, I don't have to be with Percy at Hogwarts. Now he's accusing me of dripping tea on his picture of Penelo. You know ," Ron made a face, "His girlfriend. She has hidden her face under the frame. Because her nose is full of stains..."

"Percy has a girlfriend?" Aaron knew this for the first time.

"Yes," said Ron, "Penelope Clearwater, prefect of Ravenclaw. Ginny saw them kissing in an empty classroom last year."

"I have something to tell you," Harry began, but Fred and George came in and interrupted them.They congratulated Ron for making Percy mad again.

They went downstairs for breakfast, where Mr. Weasley read the front page of the Daily Prophet, frowning.Mrs. Weasley was telling Hermione and Ginny about a potion she had made as a child, and all three were giggling.

"What were you talking about just now?" Ron asked Harry as they sat down.

At this moment, Percy walked in angrily.

Harry muttered, "I'll tell you later."

After breakfast, everyone was preparing to set off in chaos.Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Percy, George and Fred carried all their suitcases down the narrow stairs of the Leaky Cauldron and piled them next to the main door.Harry's and Percy's owls were in their own cages on top of the luggage.A small wicker basket sat beside the pile of boxes, with Hermione's cat purring inside.

"It's okay, Crook." Hermione coaxed the cat through the wicker basket, "I'll let you out when we get to the train."

"Don't let it go," Ron said sternly, "What should we do with poor Scabbers?"

He pointed to his chest, where there was a large bulge in his clothes, where the rat Scabbers was hiding.

At this time, Mr. Weasley, who had been waiting outside for the Ministry of Magic car, stuck his head into the pub and said: "The car is here, everyone, please come out."

Everyone bowed and walked out of the tavern.The two cars sent by the Ministry of Magic were both old-fashioned dark green cars.

"Harry, come on." Mr. Weasley and Harry strode across the short stretch of sidewalk to the first car.

"Get in, Harry," Mr. Weasley said, looking up and down the street.Harry came from the back row, followed immediately by Aaron, Hermione and Ron.

Aaron noticed that the driver was a sly-looking wizard wearing a bright green velvet suit.

The journey to King's Cross was uneventful.The Ministry of Magic's car looked unremarkable, but Aaron noticed that the two cars could fit through any traffic gap, no matter how small.

When they arrived at King's Cross Station, it was still twenty minutes before the train arrived.The Ministry of Magic drivers helped them find a trolley, unloaded their suitcases, touched Mr. Weasley with his hand on the brim of his hat, and then drove away.And I don’t know how they did it, but they suddenly jumped to the front of the queue of cars that were motionless because of the red light.

Mr. Weasley had been following Harry closely since he left the Leaky Cauldron.Now he looked around at everyone: "There are too many of us. So, we divided into pairs and entered the platform. I was first, and Harry was with me."

Mr. Weasley pushed Harry's luggage trolley towards the railing that separated platforms 9 and 10. He seemed very interested in the intercity train 9 that had just arrived at platform 125.He gave Harry a meaningful look and leaned casually against the railing.Harry followed suit.Then they suddenly disappeared.