Chapter 8: Knowledge is Power
"I was looking for Flesh-Eating Slug Repellent to get rid of them in the school's cabbage patch," Hagrid glanced at Evan and said in a low voice, "You must be Evan Mason, thank you for helping Harry escape from that house, cursed Muggles, if only I had known..."
Before Hagrid could finish speaking, Mrs. Weasley was approaching quickly with freshly made robes, followed by Mr. Weasley, and Hermione and Evan's parents.
Upon seeing them, Mrs. Weasley knew they had been in Knockturn Alley.
"You went to Knockturn Alley! Thank you, Hagrid!"
"Well, I must be off," Hagrid was embarrassed as Mrs. Weasley held onto his arm, "See you at Hogwarts," he said to the children.
By the time Hagrid disappeared from view, Mrs. Weasley turned and scolded Harry, Ron, and Hermione, while Mr. Weasley was intrigued by what Harry was saying.
"It seems he was about to sell something but backed out at the last minute," Mr. Weasley said solemnly but with a hint of satisfaction, "I really want to get evidence against Lucius Malfoy."
"Careful, Arthur," Mrs. Weasley warned, "the Malfoy family should not be offended, don't get into more trouble than you can handle."
"Do you think I can't handle Malfoy?" Mr. Weasley said angrily, but his attention was soon drawn to a large crowd outside Flourish & Blotts' door.
Most of them were around Mrs. Weasley's age, all gathered at the entrance, trying to get in, and through the crowd, they saw Gilderoy Lockhart in blue wizard robes, sitting in the center of the store, signing books.
Around him were large photographs of himself everywhere, and all the faces in the images winked at the crowd while displaying bright white teeth.
Although Lockhart was a fool when it came to magic, Evan had to admit he was a successful writer.
As expected, Harry was spotted by Lockhart and dragged into a photo with him while announcing he was going to teach at Hogwarts. By the time Harry returned, Mr. Weasley and Lucius Malfoy were fighting, while Lockhart stood close by without interfering, but they were separated by the sudden appearance of Hagrid.
"Young lady, are these the best things your dad can give you?"
Lucius Malfoy pulled away from Hagrid's arm, gestured for Draco to follow him, and stormed out of the store.
"You shouldn't associate with him, Arthur," Hagrid straightened and adjusted Mr. Weasley's robes but nearly lifted him off the ground while doing so, "that man is trouble, his whole family is, and everyone knows it. The Malfoy family is not worth it."
Everyone's attention turned to Mr. Weasley, while Evan observed Ginny's cauldron holding a broken copy of "A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration" and, if all went as planned, there should be a black diary in it.
After Lucius left the store, Evan set aside the fight as soon as he saw the impressive collection of books.
"Evan, what are you up to? Are you trying to buy the entire bookstore?" Ron looked at the list of books in Evan's hands, Flourish & Blotts probably has over 8000 books.
"That would not be possible, I am not that wealthy, I am selecting what I need." Evan could not afford to buy everything at once, so he will first pick the books he needs and then slowly purchase the rest.
"Oh, that's rather splendid!"
"Acquiring more knowledge is never a bad thing, Ron!"
"That sounds like Hermione," remarked Ron as he watched Evan pick up 'Advanced Potion-Making' by Libatius Borage. I've heard that it's a N.E.W.T. level book used in Potions class; students who achieved 'Outstanding' or 'Exceeds Expectations' in their Ordinary Wizarding Levels move on to N.E.W.T. and have the opportunity to study advanced potions, hence this book.
"I believe Evan is right, and one can never go wrong with expanding one's knowledge!" Hermione glanced at Evan's list and happily added some magical books to her own list as well. She said, "Evan, I think we should review the list later to avoid duplicates."
"Of course, Hermione," Evan replied.
"Harry, you two are both mad!"
"You're right, Ron," Harry hesitated for a moment before selecting "A Compendium of Common Curses and Their Counteractions," a book he wanted to buy last year but Hagrid wouldn't let him. "Nevertheless, continuous learning is essential, especially when dealing with someone like Malfoy, isn't it?"
.....
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Chapter 9: Secrets and Surprises
Evan couldn't buy much as there wouldn't be a way to look after it all, so he placed orders at the shops until all his money was spent; it would be delivered to Hogwarts once term began.
By the time they got back to the fireplace at the Leaky Cauldron, it was nearly nightfall.
After bidding farewell to his parents, Evan, Harry, and the Weasley family used Floo powder to travel to the Burrow, while the Mason and Granger families went back home by bus and car. Mr. Weasley was tempted to follow them to see what a bus station was like, but upon seeing Mrs. Weasley's expression, he had to abandon the idea.
Since it was Ivan's first time using Floo powder, he choked on the ashes and then felt dizzy once he arrived at the Burrow; Evan saw Harry's face and knew they both felt the same.
Once Evan stepped out of the fireplace, he looked around with curiosity.
It was finally his first visit to a wizarding household. The kitchen was small and cluttered, but had a clean wooden table with chairs. On the wall hung a clock that, instead of hours, displayed a series of potential locations such as "home", "school", "work", "traveling", "lost", "hospital", "prison", and "mortal peril", as well as more cheerful activities like "tea time", "feeding the chickens", and "you're late".
Next to the fireplace, there was a large mirror.
Evan had just walked past it when the mirror suddenly exclaimed, "Tuck in your shirt, untidy!"
Above the mirror was a shelf with books like "Enchant Your Own Cheese", "Enchantment in the Kitchen", "One-Minute Parties - It's Magic!" and so forth, most of which were domestic magic books, not far from an old radio.
"Alright, children, go to your room and put away your things." Mrs. Weasley emerged from the fireplace and glanced at Fred and George, saying, "Especially you two, don't bother me while I prepare dinner."
"Yes, mum! We'll be quiet in our room," said Fred.
"Quiet as a house-elf," added George.
The twins dashed out of the kitchen laughing, followed by Percy and Ginny with their belongings.
"Come on, I'll show you my room," said Ron, leading Harry and Evan.
The three ascended the narrow staircase.
The staircase twisted and turned, on the second-floor landing there was an adjacent door, where Percy sat at his desk with his newly bought quill, not far from him was a beautiful brown owl.
"That's Percy's new owl that mum and dad got him for doing so well in his O.W.L.s but he refused to lend it to me, he's actually been really weird this summer, getting loads of letters."
"That's not unusual, your brother probably has a girlfriend."
"My goodness!" Ron exclaimed upon hearing Evan's comment, "But it's Percy, who would go out with him? I mean... of course, he's ambitious, always has a plan, wants to be Minister of Magic, but... I think I'll tell Fred and George to see what they think about it."
"Don't get ahead of yourself, it's just a guess," Evan cut in decisively to Ron.
As the three reached the third floor, Evan caught sight of a pair of bright brown eyes watching them, but in the next moment, the door slammed shut.
"Ginny," said Ron, "It's incredible, her door is never closed!"
"Clearly, she saw Harry and got a bit shy."
Evan looked at the door and pondered how to reach Tom.
"Yes, she's been talking about you all summer," Ron said, looking at Harry, "Fred mentioned she wanted your autograph, maybe you should give it to her."
"Don't be silly, Ron," Evan said as they walked. "It's not as straightforward as giving Harry's autograph; she wants to be his girlfriend."
"Evan!"
Ron looked surprised, while Harry blushed like a ripe apple, pretending not to hear the conversation between Evan and Ron.
"Well, they are just my thoughts." Evan rubbed his forehead, these two are quite dull even for their age, no wonder they could barely find a date in their fourth year.
They went up one more floor and stopped outside the twins' room; the door was closed, and no noise could be heard, the three had no idea what Fred and George were up to.
Finally, the three climbed to the top floor, arriving at a door with peeling paint and a small sign that read "Ron's Room."
As soon as Evan and Harry entered, the slanted ceiling almost touched their heads.
It was like stepping into a giant oven; everything in Ron's room was in a burnt orange hue: the quilt, walls, and even the ceiling.
Ron had posters of the Chudley Cannons wearing bright orange robes on every inch of the wall.
"Is that your Quidditch team?" asked Harry.
"They're the Chudley Cannons, ranked ninth in the Quidditch League!"
Ron's quilt was orange and printed with two large Cs and a cannonball in motion.
Harry and Ron continued talking about Quidditch while Evan observed a fat brown rat lying in a corner of the room.
Ignoring Evan's gaze, it continued snoring.
Evan watched it for a while, not noticing anything unusual about it. If he didn't know it was an Animagus, he would think it was just a pet rat with a missing toe.
Then a clang of pipes from above startled Evan.
"Don't worry, it's just the Ghoul in the attic; it always bangs the pipes." "I wanted to get rid of it, but Dad likes it," Ron explained.
As Ron said, life at the Burrow was captivating.
For over a month, Evan and Harry followed Fred, George, and Ron to clean the gnomes from the garden and sometimes played Quidditch in the mountains.
At night, Harry and Ron were busy completing their summer homework, while Evan took that time to ask Percy about his studies, as Percy excelled in almost all subjects, especially History of Magic and magic lessons.
Evan had the chance to talk to Fred and George, but they were still childish; however, after giving them some suggestions, they locked themselves in their room, researching and making strange noises at night.
For over a month, Harry and Evan grew very close to the Weasley family.
Mrs. Weasley darned their socks, made them eat four times more at every meal, and Mr. Weasley asked them questions about Muggle life.
Except for Ginny, the others quickly adapted to Harry and Evan in their home. More precisely, whenever Harry was around, Ginny would get nervous touching anything, but when alone with Evan, she was entirely normal.
Since Evan and Ginny were the same age, they got along well, but Evan still couldn't get Tom Riddle's diary from Ginny, not even until the last day.
Evan hinted several times, but Ginny didn't respond.
He couldn't just explain it, and he couldn't sneak into her room to look for it; Evan wasn't even sure if she had the diary.
He wasn't in a hurry; there was still time; at worst, Ginny would just be in a little trouble according to the plot.
But being saved by her hero Harry, perhaps wouldn't be such a bad thing.
.....
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