Harry Potter and the Secret Treasures

Despite the lateness of the hour, Mrs. Weasley was not alone.

A young witch with a pale, heart-shaped face and mousy brown hair was sitting at the table clutching a large mug between her hands.

“Hello, Professor,” said Tonks hastily. “Wotcher, you three little ones.”

“Hi, Tonks.” The three greeted her.

To be honest, Tonks looked terrible.

She looked drawn, even a little sick, and there was something forced in her smile.

Certainly her appearance was less colorful than usual without her customary shade of bubble-gum-pink hair.

Anyone could tell that Tonks had been going through something troubling recently.

“How was your summer? Did you have a good time? Evan, I saw in the newspaper that you caused quite a stir in Egypt. They said you defeated an ancient demon…”

“I’m fine, just really tired. Well, I’d better be off,” she said quickly, as if unwilling to delve into the topic, and stood up and pulled her cloak around her shoulders. “Thanks for the tea and sympathy, Molly.”

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Hermione asked worriedly. “You don’t look too well.”

“No, I’m fine, you carry on…”

“Please don’t leave on my account,” said Dumbledore courteously. “I cannot stay. I have urgent matters to attend to.”

“No, no, I need to get going,” said Tonks, avoiding everyone’s gaze, “Good night, everyone.”

“Dear, why not come to dinner at the weekend, Remus and Mad-Eye are coming —?”

“No, really, Molly … thanks anyway … Good night, everyone.”

Tonks hurried past them into the yard, a few paces beyond the doorstep, she turned on the spot and vanished into thin air.

“Well, I have to go too. I shall see you at Hogwarts on the first of September,” said Dumbledore. “You three, take good care of yourselves. Molly, your servant.”

He made Mrs. Weasley a bow and followed Tonks, vanishing at precisely the same spot.

Mrs. Weasley sighed and closed the door on the empty yard and then led Evan, Harry and Hermione into the full glow of the lantern on the table, hugged them one by one, and examined their appearance carefully.

“I sent Ron and Ginny upstairs to bed. They’ve been waiting here,” she said, looking them up and down. “Hermione, you don’t look much different, but you’re a grown-up girl now, and much prettier than before. But Evan and Harry, you two look as though you’ve had Stretching Jinxes put on you, just like Ron. I swear Ron’s grown four inches since I last bought him school robes. By the way, are you hungry?”

“Yeah, I am,” said Harry, who had eaten nothing at dinner.

Evan and Hermione also nodded. After so much trouble, they were a little hungry.

“Sit down, dears, I’ll knock something up,” said Mrs. Weasley.

As they sat down, Crookshanks jumped onto Hermione’s knees and settled there, purring.

“You’re here, Crookshanks,” Hermione tickled Crookshanks behind the ears.

“It showed up with your luggage a few hours ago, along with Hedwig, and Ron has taken her back inside with Pigwidgeon,” said Mrs. Weasley, rapping a large iron pot with her wand.  

The iron pot bounced onto the stove with a loud clang and began to bubble at once.

“Ron wanted to wait a little longer, but it was too late. I thought you wouldn’t come, so I sent him to bed,” she said. “By the way, Evan, what Nymphadora said just now is right. The newspapers have been full of news about you recently. They said you did those dangerous things in Egypt. The rumors are ridiculous. You didn’t fight a demon, did you?”

“No,” said Evan immediately, not wanting Mrs. Weasley to worry, “I didn’t fight it. I just found a mechanism to control it.”

“I thought so. That paper has become utterly disgraceful, full of lies. But they’ve always been like that,” said Mrs. Weasley. “They don’t stop to think — how could you possibly fight a demon? It’s far too dangerous. Of course, you really shouldn’t have gone to Egypt. These are dangerous times…”

She began talking again about the chaos caused by Voldemort’s return, and the frequent attacks that were occurring around the world.

A few minutes later, she tapped the pot again.

The iron pot rose into the air, flew toward them, and tipped over; Mrs. Weasley slid a bowl neatly beneath it just in time to catch the stream of thick, steaming onion soup.

The pot then moved horizontally to the left to repeat the pouring motion, and Mrs. Weasley placed two bowls there in turn.

“Would you like some bread, dears?” asked Mrs. Weasley.

“Thanks, Mrs. Weasley.”

She waved her wand over her shoulder; a loaf of bread and a knife soared gracefully onto the table; as the loaf sliced itself and the soup pot dropped back onto the stove, Mrs. Weasley sat down opposite Harry.

“So you persuaded Horace Slughorn to take the job?”

“Well, we convinced him, mainly Evan and Harry,” said Hermione.

Evan and Harry nodded as well, their mouths so full of hot soup that they could not speak.

“He taught Arthur and me,” said Mrs. Weasley. “He was at Hogwarts for ages, started around the same time as Dumbledore, I think. Did you like him?”

“I wouldn’t say I liked him, but I didn’t hate him either,” said Hermione hesitantly.

“He seemed like an interesting guy,” said Evan, swallowing his food.

His mouth now full of bread, Harry shrugged and gave a noncommittal jerk of the head.

“Yes, I know what you mean,” said Mrs. Weasley, nodding wisely. “Of course, he can be charming when he wants to be, but Arthur’s never liked him much. The Ministry’s littered with Slughorn’s old favorites, he was always good at giving leg ups, but he never had much time for Arthur — didn’t seem to think he was enough of a highflier. Well, that just shows you, even Slughorn makes mistakes. I don’t know whether Ron’s told you in any of his letters — it’s only just happened — but Arthur’s been promoted!”

It could not have been clearer that Mrs. Weasley had been bursting to say this and was looking forward to everyone’s reaction.

Evan and Hermione exchanged awkward glances. They hadn’t received any letters from Ron over the summer, so they knew nothing about it. They couldn’t believe Ron hadn’t mentioned something this important to them.

Harry quickly swallowed a large amount of very hot soup and thought he could feel his throat blistering.

“That’s great!” he gasped. “He briefly mentioned it in his last letter to me.”

“You are sweet.” Beamed Mrs. Weasley, possibly taking Harry’s watering eyes for emotion at the news, and she didn’t notice Evan and Hermione’s embarrassment. “Yes, Rufus Scrimgeour has set up several new offices in response to the present situation, and Arthur’s heading the Office for the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects. It’s a big job; he’s got ten people reporting to him now!”

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