It was called the first battle because, after Dumbledore’s departure, the entire Order of the Phoenix had significantly scaled back its operations, with many activities coming to a halt.
Voldemort and the Death Eaters, on their side, weren’t in a rush to reveal themselves either. At present, their main focus was infiltrating the Ministry of Magic. They didn’t seem eager to take over the Wizarding world outright. Aside from storming Azkaban and rescuing a group of elite Death Eaters, they hadn’t made any overt moves.
Even the frequent disasters and attacks around the world that had been happening since last year had noticeably decreased recently.
As for the Ministry of Magic, they were still as clueless as ever.
All Aurors had been dispatched, but they hadn’t been able to find a single Death Eater.
Of course, many Aurors and high-ranking Ministry officials must have already beco Voldemort’s followers, so this outco wasn’t surprising.
And so, the Wizarding world currently maintained a strange sort of calm, seemingly no different from the ti before Dumbledore’s departure.
The dia’s primary focus was on mourning Dumbledore, with most articles being about the incident.
But in reality, the war had already begun quietly, and tonight’s first battle was the prologue.
On the Dursleys’ garden lawn, everyone smiled at Harry and greeted him.
The plan for tonight was mostly what Evan had expected: because of the Trace on Harry and the concentrated magic around the house, they would use Polyjuice Potion to disguise themselves as Harry, fly out on broomsticks, and only Apparate to safety once they were far enough away. That way, Voldemort wouldn’t know where they had gone.
Everyone involved in tonight’s operation was absolutely safe and reliable, and could be trusted.
Without Evan needing to say anything, Sirius had already excluded the unreliable ones — like Mundungus Fletcher. …
That guy had been locked up in Azkaban for stealing while disguised as an Inferius. Luckily, he was released by Rufus Scrimgeour before Voldemort stord the prison.
But this did not an he was trustworthy. After Dumbledore’s departure, it was unclear how much Mundungus would remain in the Order of the Phoenix.
He was a low-reliability figure. While he feared Sirius, such intimidation was clearly insufficient for a man like him.
Ordering him to do things he was good at was fine, but asking him to participate in combat or anything important was a complete no-no.
Evan supported Sirius’s decision not to include Mundungus in tonight’s operation, even though the Order was short-handed and even though Mad-Eye Moody thought it was okay. If Evan needed sothing like a house-elf corpse, poisoned seeds, or a species subject to a no-trade agreent, he would turn to Mundungus.
But fighting alongside Mundungus wasn’t sothing Evan had any interest in; he didn’t want to die yet.
In the Dursleys’ garden, everyone ca forward to greet Harry. Evan noticed that he had grown considerably taller than he had in the past few months.
Not the proportional growth that Evan had, but a sudden spurt — one that made him look slightly undernourished.
But he was in good spirits, a smile on his face, and Hedwig’s cage in his right hand.
Seeing Evan, Hedwig called out softly as a greeting.
“I wasn’t expecting this many of you!” said Harry happily, shaking hands with Sirius, and then couldn’t help but hug him.
“Don’t be careless, Harry. Tonight’s transfer mission is very dangerous. In my opinion, even doubling the number of guards wouldn’t be too much,” said Sirius, looking at Harry carefully, as if trying to see how he had changed since before the sumr vacation. “You may not know yet, but the plan has changed. We —”
“Don’t talk about it here, Sirius,” growled Mad-Eye, who was holding two enormous, bulging sacks, and whose magical eye was spinning from darkening sky to house to garden with dizzying rapidity. “Let’s get undercover before we talk the boy through it. By the way, do we need to verify that this is the real Harry Potter? He looks like the kid, sure, but if we bring back an impostor Death Eater —”
“Relax, Mad-Eye, I’m sure he’s the real Harry Potter,” said Sirius with a smile. “I wouldn’t mistake him with my eyes closed.”
Harry led them all back into the kitchen where, laughing and chattering, they settled on chairs, sat themselves upon Aunt Petunia’s gleaming work surfaces, or leaned up against her spotless appliances. The place was so clean. Aunt Petunia hadn’t forgotten to tidy up, even though they were about to leave.
Evan looked around. The place was almost exactly as he rembered it from his first visit.
He rembered sitting on a sofa not far away, listening to Mr. Dursley’s jokes about that boring Japanese golfer.
That day was his first visit to the Dursleys.
Then, upstairs, he saw a pitiful Harry and Dobby the house-elf.
And of course, Evan witnessed his first bit of magic: Dudley had grown a pig’s tail.
“Would you like sothing to drink?” Harry asked, smiling at everyone.
Sirius, thin, tired, with a hint of the arrogance unique to the Black family; Evan, with a smile on his lips, exuding an air of calm and elegance; Hermione, her bushy hair tied back in a long plait, looking neater and striking; Ron, long and lanky; Fred and George, grinning identically; Bill, long-haired; Mr. Weasley, kind-faced, balding, his spectacles a little awry; Mad-Eye, battle-worn, one-legged, his bright blue magical eye whizzing in its socket; Tonks, whose short hair was her favorite shade of bright pink; Lupin, grayer, more lined; Fleur, slender and beautiful, with her long silvery blonde hair; and Hagrid, with his wild hair and beard, standing hunchbacked to avoid hitting his head on the ceiling. Harry’s heart seed to expand and glow at the sight: He felt incredibly fond of all of them!
“Harry, guess what?” said Tonks from her perch on top of the washing machine, and she wiggled her left hand at him; a ring glittered there.
Just earlier, when they had t up, she had already shown it off once to Evan and Hermione.
“You got married?” Harry yelped, looking from her to Lupin.
“I’m sorry you couldn’t be there, Harry, it was very quiet.”
“Yeah, even Evan and I only just found out,” said Hermione. “Apparently, they went out for a walk and ca back each wearing a ring.”
“It was a bit sudden. When Remus took out the ring and proposed, I was completely stunned,” said Tonks with a smile. “I didn’t expect it to be so soon.”
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