There was silence. Harry thought he had rather impressed his uncle with this argunt.
He didn’t seem to quite believe that Sirius could be that rich, but he also didn’t quite believe they would go to such lengths to seize this house. He was caught in a ntal contradiction.
“Well, well, that boy of Mr. Mason’s…”
“You an Evan?” Harry prompted.
He knew that in Uncle Vernon’s eyes, the Evans were the ones who were truly rich and powerful, and they had always been the role models they envied and tried to learn from.
Of course, that admiration only applied to Mr. and Mrs. Mason.
In the past few years, Uncle Vernon had lanted more than once that the biggest mistake of the Masons was to give birth to a wizard son. In comparison, having a wizard nephew in their family did not seem to be sothing unbearable.
Out of their yearning for the upper class, or perhaps to maintain the lucrative long-term orders, the Dursleys’ tolerance for Evan was simply unimaginable. On several occasions, they even took the initiative to ask Harry to invite Evan to their ho as a guest, which was contrary to their philosophy of staying away from wizards as much as possible.
But this kind of thing happened, even Harry found it incredible.
“Yes, Evan Mason, of course I rember the child’s na,” said Uncle Vernon, starting to pace yet again. “Is his family leaving too? Like us?”
“Yes,” said Harry. “Evan said the Masons are going to China.”
“China?! And all because of that so-called Lord Thing you claim —”
“— Voldemort,” said Harry impatiently, “and we’ve been through this about a hundred tis already. This isn’t a claim, it’s fact, Dumbledore told you last year, and Sirius, and Kingsley and Mr. Weasley —”
Vernon Dursley hunched his shoulders angrily, and Harry guessed that his uncle was attempting to ward off recollections of the unannounced visit, a few days into Harry’s sumr holidays, of two fully grown wizards. The arrival on the doorstep of Kingsley Shacklebolt and Arthur Weasley had co as a most unpleasant shock to the Dursleys, who had only just recovered from the scare Sirius had given them at the train station.
Harry had to admit, however, that as Mr. Weasley had once demolished half of the living room, his reappearance could not have been expected to delight Uncle Vernon.
“They explained it all as well,” Harry pressed on remorselessly. “Once I’m seventeen, the protective charm that keeps safe will break, and that exposes you as well as . The Order is sure Voldemort will target you, whether to torture you to try and find out where I am, or because he thinks by holding you hostage I’d co and try to rescue you.”
Uncle Vernon’s and Harry’s eyes t. Harry was sure that in that instant they were both wondering the sa thing.
Then Uncle Vernon walked on and Harry resud, “You’ve got to go into hiding and the Order wants to help. You’re being offered serious protection, the best there is.”
Uncle Vernon said nothing, but continued to pace up and down.
“We’ll be going with the Masons…” he said, as if he had finally found a solution to the problem.
“I don’t think that’s possible. The Order of the Phoenix has different arrangents. If you get together, you’ll be too conspicuous and easily tracked down by Voldemort. The Masons left a long ti ago. Evan made arrangents at the very beginning of the sumr. Their family may not be in the UK now. Besides, what would you do in China?”
“Anything!” Uncle Vernon muttered. He paced a few more steps and knew that Harry was telling the truth because he had visited the Masons’ ho not long ago and found that the place was deserted. A few days ago, he inquired through the company and learned that the Masons did suddenly decide to invest in China and might not co back for a long ti.
It was very unusual to leave in such a hurry. Even the people in Mr. Mason’s company were surprised.
The only explanation was what Harry said. They went to China not for any business, but to avoid the pursuit of the Dark Lord.
If only he had made the decision earlier… Vernon Dursley had honestly intended to leave with the Masons.
“I thought there was a Ministry of Magic?” asked Vernon Dursley abruptly.
“There is,” said Harry, surprised.
“Well, then, why can’t they protect us? It seems to that, as innocent victims, guilty of nothing more than harboring a marked man, we ought to qualify for governnt protection!”
Harry laughed; he could not help himself. It was so very typical of his uncle to put his hopes in soone more powerful or in the establishnt, even within this world that he despised and mistrusted.
First, he’d tried to rely on the Masons. Now, he was talking about the Ministry of Magic.
As if doing so would sohow make him feel safer.
“You heard what Mr. Weasley and Kingsley said, they said it in more detail than Sirius,” Harry replied. “We can’t contact the Ministry of Magic because the Order of the Phoenix believes that bad people —Voldemort’s people — have infiltrated the Ministry.”
Uncle Vernon strode to the fireplace and back, breathing so heavily that his great black mustache rippled, his face still purple with concentration.
“All right,” he said, stopping in front of Harry yet again. “All right, let’s say, for the sake of argunt, we accept this protection. I still don’t see why we can’t have that Kingsley bloke.”
Harry managed not to roll his eyes, but with difficulty. This question had also been addressed half a dozen tis over the sumr.
“As I’ve told you,” he said through gritted teeth, “Kingsley is protecting the Mug — I an, your Pri Minister.”
“Exactly — he’s the best!” said Uncle Vernon, pointing at the blank television screen.
The Dursleys had spotted Kingsley on the news, walking along discreetly behind the Muggle Pri Minister as he visited a hospital.
This, and the fact that Kingsley had mastered the knack of dressing like a Muggle, not to ntion a certain reassuring sothing in his slow, deep voice, had caused the Dursleys to take to Kingsley in a way that they had certainly not done with any other wizard, although it was true that they had never seen him with his earring in.
“Well, he’s taken,” said Harry. “Mr. and Mrs. Mason did not ask him to protect them, but accepted the Order of the Phoenix’s assigned mbers. The wizards of the Order of the Phoenix are all trustworthy. As for your protection, as we said last ti, Hestia Jones and Dedalus Diggle are more than up to the job —”
“I don’t believe it. If we’d even seen CVs …” began Uncle Vernon, but Harry lost patience. Getting to his feet, he advanced on his uncle, now pointing at the TV set himself.
“These accidents aren’t accidents — the earthquakes, tsunamis, explosions, crashes, derailnts, and whatever else has happened since we last watched the news. People are disappearing and dying and he’s behind it — Voldemort. I’ve told you this over and over again, he kills Muggles for fun. Even the fogs — they’re caused by Dentors, and if you can’t rember what they are, ask your son!”
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