Christmas is coming, Hermione decided to take this opportunity to go to Hogsmeade village to relax,
She thinks that she has sorted out her mood, there is no way she will never set foot here for some reason, right
She has also kept up with the many lessons brought by the time-turner. After sufficient study, it is necessary to reward herself. 』
She recalled that the first time she went there, she seemed to have only visited Honeydukes Candy Store. She hadn't been to other places in Hogsmeade, so this village was actually quite new to her now.
It was snowing heavily outside, she was wearing a knitted scarf with brown and yellow stripes around her neck, a fluffy crimson hat on her head, and a thick coat on her body, walking slowly, in the Leave your own footprints on the snow-covered ground.
The street was very lively, even in such a cold day, it did not dampen the enthusiasm of the students and residents. The atmosphere of Christmas was very strong. Many shops even had Christmas trees in front of their doors. The residents were very excited. There were also garlands of holly in front of the door, and clusters of enchanted candles hung from the trees.
Hermione looked at everything in front of her curiously. The customs and customs of the wizarding village were displayed one by one in front of her eyes. A choir composed of short wizards wearing pointed hats sang loudly on the street, and they rode around on cattle. She couldn't help but compare with where she used to live.
The wind was blowing violently, even though Hermione's hands had already put on gloves, she still felt that she was going to be frozen, so she kept breathing on her hands, her eyes kept searching for a place to rest her feet, to provide her with warm place.
"The Three Broomsticks Bar?" She looked up at the signboard, then pushed the door open, feeling a little nervous and excited. In her perception, the bar was still a place not suitable for minors.
Compared with the chill brought by the snowstorm outside, it is obviously much warmer here. Many wizards are sitting at the wine table, ordering a glass of drink, some pouring their own drinks, and some chatting in full swing. They were arguing over some anecdotes and rumors, and at this time, a woman with a beautiful face and a curvaceous figure would appear to calm the tense atmosphere.
Just when Hermione was about to find a seat and order a drink suitable for her age, she saw someone she absolutely didn't want to see now.
—Ron, he was sitting at a small wine table, blushing and secretly looking at the busy proprietress.
"It was a mistake to walk into this room." Hermione rolled her eyes, pushed open the bar door and walked out.
She decided to visit Honeydukes anyway and buy some candy to take home with her parents, who she remembered were happy with the peppermints.
And that's where she bumped into Harry.
"Are you going to find him? Then go," said Hermione.
"I don't know the way anymore. Their map will be gone in Hogsmeade." Harry was a little embarrassed.
"Okay, I'll take you there." Hermione looked at Harry and sighed helplessly.
She wasn't very worried about Harry's safety now, besides the people celebrating the festival she saw, there were quite a few Aurors patrolling just now, and just as she was leaving the bar. She saw Professor McGonagall and several other familiar faces getting into that bar, maybe except for Dumbledore's office, that bar is now the safest place.
Hermione put herself in Harry's shoes and thought about it. He was really pitiful during this period, and there was nothing wrong with relaxing. She couldn't sue him right away, could she
"Did you bring an invisibility cloak?" She asked in a low voice, and then said, "Mr. Moody is said to have gone to the Forbidden Forest to search, otherwise I would have persuaded you to go back now."
Harry nodded, but he still didn't tell the truth just now. It's a fact that he didn't know the way, but the location of this street certainly wouldn't stop him. What he hoped more was to create a chance for his two good friends to reconcile.
"Let's go out," she said.
Unfortunately, when they came to this small room, Ron was no longer there.
They walked in quickly through the battered wooden door, Harry wearing the Invisibility Cloak, Hermione pulling her neckline tight to hide her face, still hoping to make a good impression on her teacher.
"Two butterbeers," she said to Mrs. Rosmerta at the bar.
"Uh..." Rosmerta looked at her repeatedly, his face was very tangled, and he didn't know whether he should provide it to her. The girl brought her a serious psychological shadow some time ago.
"Are you sure you can drink?" she asked cautiously.
"Hmm." Hermione nodded slightly, trying not to draw attention to herself, while wondering why she was asking herself this question.
"Well, I hope you're telling the truth," Rosmerta said, and handed Hermione two glasses of steaming, frothy Butterbeer.
"Please give me a small glass of canyon water."
Professor McGonagall's voice suddenly came from behind Hermione, making Hermione's whole body tense up.
"A sherry soda with ice and whelks—" Professor Flitwick said, smacking his lips.
"I need a glass of currant rum." The voice Hermione couldn't make out.
"Oh, okay, please wait." Rosmerta turned around to respond to their order, and started to get busy again.
"Harry?"
Hermione walked to the place where they were sitting together just now, but found that Harry was gone. Even though he was wearing the Invisibility Cloak just now, he was still holding some candies bought from Honeydukes, but now they are all gone.
"What are you doing there?" Hermione thought, she saw a round stool being dragged and heard a creaking sound due to friction with the ground, but there was no one around.
"It's really unsettling." Hermione shook her head, followed Harry's direction, took a stool from the wine table where no one was sitting, and sat beside Harry.
"Don't run around, Harry." Hermione's voice was extremely low, "Don't you see Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick next to you?"
Harry didn't speak, and Hermione couldn't let him show up now, so she could only silently push the slightly cold butterbeer to the opposite side of her, and then watched the height of the full glass of wine begin to slowly drop.
The sudden downward trend stopped.
Because Hermione heard the name "Black".
She seemed to understand why Harry was coming this way.
At this time, Rosmerta had already served them the drinks they ordered, and holding a glass of light red wine in his hand, he found a vacant seat and sat down gently.
"What brought you here, Minister?" was Rosmerta's voice.
"Don't call me Minister." Fudge twisted his thick body a little uncomfortably, and changed the position of his feet under the table, and then said: "I guess I will step down completely someday."
While talking, he took out a newspaper and pointed out the current reports about him to the few people in front of him. All the negative comments, saying that he was "mediocre and incompetent" were the lightest.
"Uh..." Professor McGonagall couldn't find anything to comfort him for a while, because the departure of the dementor was indeed a joy.
Flitwick was also just sitting on a high chair, drinking his drink in silence, not wanting to answer.
"I'm obviously thinking about everyone's safety."
"Damn it, it's that Black who escaped from prison." Fudge slammed his fist on the wine table in front of him, causing it to shake. "It's all messed up since he escaped..." said Fudge ruefully.
You know, I still can't quite believe it," said Miss Rosmerta musingly, "of all the people who have fallen into the ranks of bad guys, Sirius Black is the last one I expected to do... I mean, I remember when he was a kid at Hogwarts, if you had told me at that point what he would have been like, I would have said you drank too much. "
"Heh, he is infinitely worse than you imagined." Fudge's attitude was very blunt, and he hated this fugitive who had seriously affected his political career to the extreme.
"How close he and Potter used to be, like brothers." McGonagall sighed, thinking of the two most troublesome naughty ghosts.
"But this guy betrayed them. I thought Azkaban would be his final destination, but I didn't expect him to escape now,"
Fudge began to talk incessantly, without even deliberately lowering his volume, from the very beginning of the utterly loyal spell to the battle where Pettigrew Peter was killed by Black, Professor McGonagall and Flitwick also added from time to time A few words, while Rosmerta sighed constantly.
"He's even the poor kid's godfather, my God, now that he's escaped, he still wants to attack him." Fudge became excited, his neck was flushed, but soon his shoulders relaxed again, "Now We can only hope that our most elite Auror team can arrest him as soon as possible." He said with a little expectation, as if this would restore his reputation that had fallen into the abyss.
"Connelly, if you still want to have dinner with Dumbledore and discuss the guarding of those Azkaban prisoners, then we should go back to the castle now." Mag reminded as if remembering something .
"Oh, I almost forgot." Fudge touched his head, he looked out the window, "It's still early, you go back first, Dumbledore should still be searching and banning with our elite—Mr. Where's Lin?" Fudge looked at the drink he hadn't finished, and was a little dazed, so he evaded.
He still didn't want to communicate with Dumbledore. Even if he was forced to do nothing, he still wanted to delay for a while. He was originally weak in the conversation between the two, not to mention that he owed Dumbledore a day not long ago. Great favor.
If a large-scale prison break had really happened at that time, what he is considering now is not whether he can secure this position, but who to find to defend him for his crime of dereliction of duty.
Great kindness is great hatred, even if he is not yet so, facing Dumbledore always makes him feel uncomfortable.
"Okay, let's go back then."
There was a sound of glass colliding with wood, and in a blink of an eye, only Fudge was left at the wine table.
"Harry." Hermione said softly, reaching out to grab him, but found that there was complete air in front of her.
"He won't be stupid." Hermione's heart hung up, even she felt indignant when she heard these words just now, what would happen to him if his parents died because they were betrayed by the closest and most trusted people Hermione didn't dare to think deeply about the blow.
She asked herself, if she knew the truth, she might also be dazzled by hatred, her reason would be swallowed by anger, and she would seek revenge on her enemy.
Just when she was worried about Harry doing something stupid, and was about to step out of the door to pursue him, a familiar voice came into her ears again.
"Uncle Fudge, long time no see. Please allow me to say hello to you on behalf of my father." Hermione turned her head, only to see Malfoy wearing a light gray coat, standing in front of the wine table that everyone was talking about just now, followed Fudge greeted him politely, then casually moved out a chair from under the table, and sat down gently.
"Oh, your father is all right," said Fudge.
"Dad, he's fine." Malfoy nodded, and then changed the subject: "But Uncle Fudge, your recent situation is not very good." Malfoy looked at Fudge with burning eyes, as if he meant something.
Fudge's face darkened in an instant, but he still maintained his own politician's demeanor, and did not reply.
"I heard that your subordinates are starting to move around? Is your seat still stable?" Malfoy pressed harder and harder, asking more and more sharp questions, which made Fudge more and more embarrassed.
He said with a livid face, "I don't know when Lucius' son became so rude and keen to laugh at the elders. I have to talk to him another day."
"Maybe you even need to make an appointment to see my father some other day. He won't waste his time on some useless people."
"Ridiculous!" Fudge's breathing began to be rapid, and he slapped the wine table in front of him heavily with his palm. He was very annoyed, but the scene Malfoy constructed for him was so real, he still remembered when he was in power What a glorious time it was, but in the blink of an eye, his position has become precarious. Look, now even a brat dares to laugh at him wantonly in front of his face, and he hasn't stepped down yet!
"What does Malfoy want to do?" Hermione retreated back to the place where she was just now, and it was the first time in her memory that he heard him mocking someone so unscrupulously, even his elder in name.
"I'm just telling the truth." Ma'er shrugged and said indifferently, then turned around and waved to the bar: "Mrs. Rosmerta, please bring me a glass of lemonade, thank you."
"Please believe in my kindness, the friendship between the Malfoy family and you will last forever!" After ordering, Malfoy stretched out his hand and handed Fudge a small piece of parchment. The words on it were written in black ink, looking like It was so small and dense that Fudge couldn't see clearly for a moment, when he drew his eyes closer to the parchment.
Malfoy spoke again, and the words sounded like a thunderbolt in Fudge's ears.
"I've found a lot of news about Black, Uncle Fudge." Then Malfoy showed a mysterious smile, and quietly looked at Fudge who looked astonished. (To be continued.)