The rain has not stopped since the morning and has continued until now. It is even getting heavier and the streets outside are showing signs of being flooded by rain.
Hermione sat alone in the room near the entrance, flipping through the newspaper in her hand by the burning candlelight, and looking outside from time to time, as if expecting to see someone outside on the street.
“Is this the price of exposing a false lie?”
Flipping through the latest issue of the Daily Prophet, there was no news about yesterday's public execution. Instead, there was news about a bunch of wizards being ruthlessly arrested.
Ever since what happened yesterday, the Death Eaters acted as if they had eaten dynamite. They raided the homes of the Order of the Phoenix members overnight, ready to make them pay the price.
Fortunately, Fred brought the alarm in time, allowing some members of the Order of the Phoenix who did not live in the headquarters to escape.
The Death Eaters, who had gained nothing, brutally burned down Kings' house to vent their anger.
However, neither Voldemort nor Yaxley would give up, and several wizarding families associated with the Order of the Phoenix were attacked by Death Eaters.
If they really can't find anyone from the Order of the Phoenix, then they will capture people who are related to them and use them as a threat to alienate them and see who dares to contact the Order of the Phoenix.
Before the group who had just rescued Hagrid had time to celebrate, they received a lot of bad news.
Everyone was at a loss for a moment. The Death Eaters' violent reaction was obviously beyond everyone's expectations.
No one expected that the Death Eaters would go crazy and affect other people around them.
After everyone racked their brains and couldn't come up with a good solution, they placed their hopes on Albert, who was about to visit Hagrid, hoping that the magical Anderson could provide a solution.
So, Hermione took the initiative to take over the task of keeping an eye on the area around the Order of the Phoenix headquarters in the surveillance room to prevent them from being ambushed by Death Eaters when they arrived.
"Ginny, how's Hagrid doing?"
Hearing the footsteps of someone approaching, Hermione put down the newspaper and turned her head to look at the person coming.
"Still the same as always, refusing to eat or drink and locking himself in the room. Grawp's death was a big blow to Hagrid."
Ginny handed the oiled paper bag of beef pie to Hermione and turned her head to look at the rain outside. She could see nothing but a gray haze.
"Hagrid must be very sorry."
Hermione could understand Hagrid's feelings very well. Everything could be changed, but because of his stubbornness, he still ended up in the worst possible outcome.
"It has already happened, there is no point in regretting it!"
Ginny looked gloomy. She thought of Charlie's death. The Wesley family regretted it from beginning to end, but what was the use
There is no medicine for regret in this world.
"Didn't Mr. Anderson say when he would be here?" Ginny asked, changing the subject.
"He just said he would come to visit Hagrid in the afternoon, but he didn't say when he would arrive." Hermione took a bite of the steaming pie. It was freshly baked and tasted quite good.
"Maybe Anderson really has some magical method. After all, his brain is smarter than everyone else's, and he has foresight."
When Hermione talked about Albert, her face was full of admiration, especially the plan to rescue Hagrid this time. They saved Hagrid from under Voldemort's nose at almost no cost, which was simply unimaginable.
He even anticipated the reactions of the You-Know-Who and the Death Eaters, but sometimes even anticipation does not necessarily mean avoidance.
"You like him very much!" Ginny said suddenly.
Hermione coughed dryly and corrected, "I just kind of admire him."
"I used to admire Harry too."
Ginny knew very well what Hermione was feeling now. She really wanted to remind her friend to clear her head, but she didn't want to break her last bit of hope. Hermione probably didn't expect anything.
Although he no longer had to worry about anyone snatching Harry from him, Ron probably had no chance.
"What are you talking about?"
A familiar voice suddenly sounded from outside the door, and Ron appeared outside the monitoring room holding two glasses of butterbeer.
"Hagrid's business."
Hermione lied, "I'm a little worried about him."
"Sirius suggested giving Hagrid a large glass of sedative." Ron handed the butter beer in his hand to Hermione, turned his head to look at the rain outside and asked, "Did Anderson say when he would come?"
"It should be soon."
Hermione ignored Ron's gaze and suddenly said, "Help me here for a while. I'll go see how Hagrid is doing."
"Why does someone have to be here to greet them?"
Ron muttered as he watched Hermione's retreating back, then looked towards his sister.
"You really are such a fool."
Ginny rolled her eyes at Ron and left with Hermione, leaving Ron with a puzzled look on his face.
"What's wrong with me?"
Ron picked up the newspaper on the armchair and read the report about today. He suddenly felt heavy-hearted.
"Although it is indeed a pleasant thing to beat their faces, the consequences are also serious," he murmured.
Ron didn't think there was anything wrong with saving Hagrid. It was only a matter of time before a full-scale war with the mysterious man began, but the problem was difficult to solve.
While Ron was reading the newspaper, he suddenly heard footsteps outside. Three figures were walking towards him across the street.
"You're here to greet us."
Fred raised his eyebrows slightly when he saw Ron standing at the gate to greet them.
"Why, are you too excited to see Albert?" George teased with a smile.
"How's Hagrid?"
Albert waved his wand to remove the water stains on his body.
"Not so good. Hagrid has suffered a great shock." Ron led the way. "Everyone is waiting for you."
"Why, are you having a celebration party?" Fred asked with a raised eyebrow.
"There's no celebration party, but if you want a butterbeer, there's one," said Ron grumpily.
It's such a late hour now, who still has the time to deal with those things.
"Who drinks Butterbeer nowadays?" Fred put his arm around Ron's neck and asked, "You, George?"
"Definitely not." George also hugged Ron's neck from the other side, "Probably only Ronnie who never grows up would like that thing."
The twins put their arms around Ron's neck, one on each side, and successfully changed the subject.
Of course they were aware of the situation in the wizarding world, but now that things had happened, what could Albert do
Prison break
They do have similar plans, but they must not fall into a passive position because that would likely put all participants in danger.
"You two bastards."
Ron pushed the Weiss twins away angrily, stopped, turned around and said to Albert: "Hermione has been waiting for you in the monitoring room, worried that you were ambushed."
"Don't worry, no one is that blind."
"But she just went in to see Hagrid." Ron ignored Fred and continued, "After Hagrid woke up this morning, he locked himself in his room and refused to eat or drink."
"He needs to vent. He should be fine once he's done that." Albert was not surprised. It would be abnormal if Hagrid didn't react.
"that… "
Ron hesitated for a moment, then mentioned the Death Eaters' revenge yesterday.
"You should have read today's newspaper. The Death Eaters didn't catch any members of the Order of the Phoenix, but they did catch many wizards related to the Order of the Phoenix."
"This is an open conspiracy. There is no good solution." Albert looked at Fred, who shrugged and said, "I have reminded everyone, but you can't expect them to hide."
"No?"
Ron was so disappointed that even his tone became less enthusiastic.
"Yesterday's incident completely humiliated the You-Know-Who and the Death Eaters. They had no choice but to resort to more radical means to consolidate their rule." Albert raised his voice deliberately when he saw Sirius approaching. "It is unwise to fight the Death Eaters head-on now, because those guys would love for you to do that."
"What about the others?" Ron couldn't help asking.
"This is a war. They need to be responsible for their own choices. Since they don't want to hide, they should think about this instead of expecting mercy from the enemy," Albert said softly.
Sirius, who originally wanted to say something, suddenly fell silent.
"This matter is not over yet." Albert glanced at the people who appeared in the corridor and kindly reminded them, "If you do not want to surrender or escape, but choose to continue to fight against the mysterious man, you should be mentally prepared and should not have any luck."
"This is a war, a life-and-death wizard war."
Everyone's expression was awkward, but luckily Furong broke the awkwardness at the right time.
"Would you like some beef pies? We just baked a lot, and I heard from them that you like freshly baked pies." She enthusiastically stuffed the still warm beef pies into the hands of the three people.
"Oh, thank you." Albert said with a smile.
"Don't all crowd here, let's talk inside if you have anything to say."
Mrs. Wesley enthusiastically pulled Albert into the living room and poured him a glass of butterbeer.
"What about us, Mom?" Fred asked.
"Pour it yourself."
"Didn't you say you don't drink butterbeer?"
Ron glared at the twin brothers who were eating pie and drinking butterbeer.
"Little Ronnie, how can you take that seriously?" George smiled and took a big sip of butterbeer.
"I want to go see Hagrid."
Albert said to Sirius who came over to clink glasses with him.
"Hagrid's in a very bad condition. We prepared a large pot of sedative for him." Sirius said, pointing to the crucible next to him.
"No, this thing is more effective." Albert took out a bottle of fire whiskey from his pocket like a magic trick. "It's not good to suppress your emotions all the time. It's better to vent them directly."
"Hagrid has been drinking a lot, he almost buried his head in a barrel." Mrs. Weasley obviously did not support Hagrid's drinking to drown his sorrows.
"I mixed some water of life and death into it, which should help him sleep well," Albert explained.
"Perhaps your method is more reliable." Sirius smiled and said, "Come with me, Harry is accompanying Hagrid."
Sirius ignored Mrs. Weasley's gaze and led Albert in front. They walked up the stairs to the third floor. Harry and Hermione were talking outside the corridor. When they heard the footsteps, they turned their heads and looked over.
"Albert!" Hermione stepped forward and gave Albert a brief hug, "When did you arrive?"
"Just now." Albert looked at the closed room filled with the smell of alcohol and asked, "How is Hagrid?"
"I just put Hagrid down with a Stunning Charm. He's sleeping now." Harry added a little embarrassedly, "I think he should rest for a while."
"Well, next time you give him this bottle of wine, tell him that I brought it to him when I came to visit him. It contains the water of life and death. That way you won't have to use the Stunning Spell."
"That's a really good idea." Harry muttered as he took Albert's bottle of hot whiskey and suddenly said, "By the way, thank you for saving Hagrid. If it weren't for you, I don't know what terrible things would have happened."
"Hagrid is also my friend." Albert said calmly, "I hope he can get out of the trough as soon as possible."
"If Hagrid feels guilty about Grawp's death, tell him that it was the Death Eaters who killed Grawp and it wasn't his fault." Albert advised Harry before leaving.
"Are you ready to leave?" Hermione asked suddenly.
"Yes, I have other things to do."
"Fred and George always complain that you like to be lazy." Hermione said with a wink.
“They always think I’m idle.”
"Oh, there's something..."
When Hermione and Albert went downstairs, they told Hagrid about killing the two dark wizards.
"If he's dead, he's dead. Anyone who lets his brother be killed will go crazy." Albert looked at Hermione and said, "You still can't seem to accept killing your enemies?"
"Don't you like killing people too?" Hermione asked back.
"To be honest, I was a little surprised."
"What's the surprise?"
"You are more immature than I expected." Albert stopped at the door and turned his head to Hermione and said, "I originally thought that Ron would be the most immature of the three of you. It seems that Charlie's death has dealt a great blow to him."
"Remember Hermione." Albert's tone was so calm that it made Hermione feel uneasy. "You can hate killing and hate doing it, but you can't lose the courage to kill your enemies, because if you are involved in a war, you may be forced to kill your enemies."
"This is the Wizarding War. War means death."
Hermione opened her mouth slightly, but no words came out.
"Also, just because I don't like killing people with my own hands doesn't mean I won't try to kill them." Albert held up his umbrella and walked into the rain. "Remember, being kind to your enemies is the greatest cruelty to yourself."
"I think he's right. War is like that. Either you die or I live." Harry suddenly appeared and patted Hermione on the shoulder. "No one likes to kill people, but if necessary, I will do it."
Yes, he will.
"Albert left?"
Ron walked down the stairs and looked at the two people standing in the hall and asked.
"Yeah, I just left." Hermione asked confusedly, "What's going on?"
"Mum wants to keep him for dinner at headquarters," said Ron.
"I think he would rather go back to be with his family." Hermione said, looking at the rain ahead.
"You know eating isn't the point." Ron sighed, "Everyone hopes to get some advice from Albert."