Chapter 510

They came out of the training room, and as they passed the room where the members of the Order of the Phoenix are holding a meeting, Fred took out his Extendable Ears smoothly and tried them out, “No, they set up Wards-”

Back in the living room, Penelope made tea for them.

“Don’t we need to call Percy down?” Hermione asked.

“He’s upstairs catching up on his report.” Penelope said.

“That sounds a bit familiar.” Ron said, scratching his chin.

“Wouldn’t it sound a lot smoother if it was replaced with ‘He’s upstairs catching up on his papers’? We’ve been hearing that for seven whole years.” Fred said a little sadly, “I told you I always felt like something was missing this month, now I finally know what it is.”

Neville gasped and laughed, “Sorry, I couldn’t hold it in.”

At that moment, Penelope used her wand to guide the teapot and teacups to fly to the table.

“You guys don’t know, the head of his department has not been decided, so he’s giving his all.”

” Is he that confident? Is that possible?” Harry asked in surprise, he actually wanted to use the word ‘ambitious’, but it didn’t sound nice – Percy’s department is the Department of International Magical Co-operation, which was previously headed by Barty Crouch Sr.; After Crouch was imprisoned in Azkaban, the position remained vacant, and It was occupied by former Minister Fudge on a part-time basis.

” It is almost as probable as him suddenly getting the Order of Merlin.” Penelope joked, “but he’s keeping his hopes up.”

“It’s not that hard, right?” Ron stated half-heartedly, “As long as you get hit with one of the You-Know-Who’s Cruciatus Curse.”

Penelope looked at him with a chiding look.

“Why do you think you got the medal for? Just because of the Cruciatus Curse?”

“Uh-”

“To set an example?” Harry remembered what Ms. Bones had said to them.

“The Order of Merlin isn’t that cheap.” Penelope said.

Harry looked a little unconvinced, if someone like Lockhart could get the Order of Merlin, what couldn’t happen?

“Is it because we’re still alive?”

“Just being alive is enough,” Penelope affirmed. Harry looked at her in disbelief, and she said quite sensibly, “You’ve disrupted the You-Know-Who’ plan, and he shouldn’t have thought of having three witnesses – oh, sorry, four.”

She tapped her wand on the teapot, which immediately emitted a stream of white steam, followed by a tiny flow of liquid from the teapot, which formed a delicate amber swirl at the center of the cup, “Not bad, is it? I learned it from my mom during the holiday.”

“What? Uh, yeah,” Harry said, still dwelling on what she had just said. “But why?”

“At first glance, you didn’t listen to what Ms. Bones had said.” Hermione pointed out the truth in a very unpleasant way.

“Did she make any remarkable speeches other than dragging out the time for the press to take pictures?” Ron asked.

“Of course,” Hermione straightened up and cleared her throat, which almost foreshadowed the long speech she is about to make, and sure enough, she began to imitate Ms. Bones’ way of speaking-

“During the past month – oh, addressing all wizard names – I will continue, there hasn’t been much sad news, no one has died strangely, and no dark mark has hung over your neighbourhood. In fact, all the unrest is brought on by the Ministry of Magic’s latest measure. The Ministry of Magic has had to separate a team to deal with all sorts of snarky questions and howlers, It’s because there are still many people who choose to remain skeptical and dismiss the bad news about the return of You-Know-Who …”

“… With today’s opportunity, the Ministry of Magic, in conjunction with Wizengamot and the Dark Force Defence League, solemnly announces that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has truly returned, and is hiding in the darkness, lurking among the crowds, gathering Death Eaters where we cannot see and amassing those pawns who once supported him. If we remain ignorant, the contribution made by the four men sitting on the stage today awaiting their recognition will be greatly diminished, and the time they have bought for us will be wasted, while dealing a great blow to the Ministry of Magic employees, Aurors, Hit-Wizards and pioneers of all walks of life who acted in the first place … ”

“… We must fortify our confidence and courage – before the enemy reveals his face – because the tougher days are yet to come. Fortunately, we already have role models who have shown resilience when plunged into darkness, showing us that there is no need to fear and tremble, and have managed to come out with all their wounds to give an early warning of war.”

“I hope we can remain positive and optimistic. Despite the foggy road ahead, I would like to think about the joy of victory. When the time comes to look back on this history, people will find that the seeds of victory have long been planted …”

Hermione finished. “This is followed by an introduction to the existing wartime policies of the Ministry of Magic.”

The people in the room looked at her without blinking their eyes.

“You memorized the entire speech of the minister?” Ron asked, staring as if he is looking at some strange creature, like a Blast-Ended Skrewt that has suddenly entered the kitchen.

“There is a full transcript of the speech in the paper, I read it a few times, and if you get up early enough and bother to help in the kitchen you will find it playing over and over on the wireless.” Hermione said to them.

“So you memorized it anyway.” Ron said insistently.

Penelope’s eyes glowed as she looked at Hermione: “I should have met you earlier – we have a lot in common. How about joining ‘Future World’ after graduation?” She could not resist recruiting a talent.

“Hey, we’ve been eyeing Hermione for a long time, ready to invite her to join the ‘Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes’.” Fred pretended to complain.

Harry choked on a mouthful of water, he just couldn’t imagine the image of Hermione relating with prank items.

“You guys thinking about poaching someone so early?” Ron asked, bewildered.

Fred and George sighed in unison.

“First things first, don’t you see Penelope doing the same thing?”

“That doesn’t have to be so early, since you haven’t even graduated yourselves-” Harry said, only to see the twins look at each other knowingly, and a bold thought came to his mind, as he lost his voice: “You’re not planning to drop out, are you? ”

“How come?”

“You’re thinking too much-”

Both of them said in unison.

“You guys can’t even fool Valen with that, right, Valen?” Ron said, and Valen heard someone calling her and looked up from the couch – she is holding a tiny fishing rod with a ball of wool tied around the hook and playing a game with Crookshanks, who is lying on the carpet.

“You’ve gotten smart, my dear brother-” Fred said sombrely.

“But not clever enough yet.” George followed.

“So you guys are really planning to drop out?” Harry said, as an inner voice cried out that Mrs. Weasley would never approve, even if she had to tape them both up and glue them in the luggage compartment of the Hogwarts Express, she would do it without a trace of hesitation.

“Shh, keep your voice down.” Fred said in a panic. ” Look, we’re not planning to drop out, we’re just going to make our mark early.”

“Actually, there is a better option, with the help of the ‘Future World’ company’s stores.” George said glumly, “But it was rejected by Remus.”

“But why-”

“Different philosophy,” Fred spread his hands and mouthed an ‘old-fashioned’ word, “we thought that people’s mood would continue to be low in the following period, and this is definitely the time when they will require some fun, and prank items will become popular in the market.”

George nodded his head, “It’s our turn to shine.”

“We are going to open a store, not in Diagon Alley, but in Hogsmeade.” Fred stated their plan.

“So we’re not thinking about dropping out at all, otherwise Mom will hang us up and beat us.” George muttered, “Or drown us in the sink and act like we never existed.”

“Awesome,” Ron said, “What products do you guys prepared?”

“Lots.” Fred and George grinned, “But not counting the Communicating Mirror and the Anti-Spell series, those two will stay in the ‘future world’ and will be returned to us when the war is over.”

“Security-wise -”

“We chose to be a neighbour of Future World.” George winked at the questioning Neville.

“What about the shopkeepers?”

“Hire someone first, we’ll inspect Hogsmeade when it’s open, and use the owl to contact it during the week. Too bad, all the secret passages to the outside world in the school are blocked.” Fred smacked his lips and said, “But since we only have one year left … it’s still bearable.”

“I’ll probably be in the Ministry of Magic after I graduate.” Hermione said, “But I don’t want to give up my study of ancient runes either.” She said with some headache.

“You want to become an Auror too?” Fred asked in surprise, looking over at Harry and Ron.

“Hermione wants to be Minister of Magic.” Harry said without thinking.

Hermione glared at him but didn’t retort.

“I just think someone has to do something.” She said calmly.

Fred and George gave a thumbs up.

At that moment, there is movement in the foyer and Fred glances downstairs, “The meeting is over.” He turned back to say.

So when Felix, Sirius, and the group came into the living room, they saw a group of people quietly drinking tea in a poised way. “I thought you guys would be eavesdropping and opened the door several times in the middle.” Tonks smiled and sat down between them.

“I’ll talk to Amelia tomorrow.” Sirius said to Felix, referring to the whole Bode thing.

“Take this amulet to him for me.” Felix took a pendant that looked like a snail shell out of his ring and handed it to Sirius.

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