Harry Potter and the Secret Treasures

Chapter 955: Water

Harry walked to Evan’s side; all the noisy sounds around him disappeared, and suddenly became very quiet. Despite the festive atmosphere in the Gryffindor common room, there was no sound around Evan; it was as quiet as a library.

The warm fire was burning quietly, and Hermione leaned gently against Evan’s shoulder. He looked up and saw Harry approaching.

The scene in front of him was in stark contrast to the carnival party not far away, like two different worlds.

“I’ve cast a Quietening Charm, so no one can disturb this place. Hermione is tired because of the O.W.L. exams. She’s been staying up late studying and reading books, which is quite draining. I thought she could use a little more sleep,” Evan explained to Harry. His face slightly reddened in the light of the fire.

“Ah!” Harry nodded absently, a little ashamed.

Compared to Hermione, he had spent too little time and effort on his homework.

Earlier this morning, he had sworn to study hard, but he had already forgotten about it. However, there were more important things now.

“Evan, I was just …” Harry stopped because Hermione woke up suddenly.

“Harry, you’re back,” she said sleepily, stretched herself, and rubbed her eyes vigorously. “I must be too tired, I fell asleep without realizing it. Oh, sorry, Evan, I didn’t notice…”

Normally, if that spot was wet, it couldn’t be anything other than her saliva.

Hermione looked at Evan apologetically, a bit confused but mostly embarrassed. It was already embarrassing enough to sleep on his shoulder in front of so many people, and now she had made it wet.

“It’s alright. It would be better for you to get some sleep earlier these days,” said Evan calmly, without any trace of concern.

As long as it was Hermione’s water, whether it was saliva, tears or anything else, he didn’t mind. Besides, Evan found that Hermione looked so cute when she was asleep, and couldn’t help but feel a little moved. She wasn’t leaning on his shoulders at first, but he had gently guided her to do so, leading to their current situation…

So, the fact that his shoulder got wet had nothing to do with Hermione; it was all Evan’s doing.

“I’ll be more careful,” Hermione nodded, wondering why she had suddenly drooled.

She had never done that before. She thought it would be best to change the subject. After all, Harry was still there, watching. From Evan’s expression, she sensed that there might be some indescribable meaning behind it. It would be fine if they were alone, but with others around…

“Ron became Gryffindor’s Keeper! He’s amazing, isn’t he? He had always dreamed of being a Gryffindor player, and now his wish has finally come true!” said Hermione, looking at Ron dancing in his Wood’s robes in the distance.

“Yeah, really great,” said Harry hurriedly, not paying attention to the ambiguity between Evan and Hermione or the ongoing celebration. If he didn’t talk to someone about what had just happened, he would burst. “Listen, you two, I was just up in Umbridge’s office, and she touched my arm…”

Evan and Hermione listened closely to Harry’s words. This was indeed an interesting piece of information.

Harry’s scar was only related to Voldemort, but when he touched Umbridge, it hurt.

Obviously, if it wasn’t a coincidence, it would mean that Umbridge and Voldemort were somehow connected.

“You mean, you touched her, and the scar started hurting?” Evan asked, frowning.

“Yeah, exactly. The scar started hurting badly the moment I touched her. I’ve felt this sensation before,” said Harry. “It happened back in my first year when I met Quirrell. Evan, you mentioned that this scar is related to Voldemort.”

“Yes!” Evan replied, “That’s a very special magic.”

“Well, you’re worried that Voldemort’s controlling her like he controlled Quirrell back then?” said Hermione slowly.

“It’s a possibility, isn’t it?” said Harry, dropping his voice.

“I suppose so,” said Hermione, though she sounded unconvinced. “But I don’t think Voldemort can be possessing her the way he possessed Quirrell, I mean, he’s properly alive again now, isn’t he, he’s got his own body, he wouldn’t need to share someone else’s. He could have Umbridge under the Imperius Curse, I suppose …”

“Umbridge is acting of her own accord,” said Evan simply.

So far, Umbridge had been doing a ‘good’ job at Hogwarts. In less than a week, she had thrown the school into chaos. Voldemort didn’t need to use the Imperius Curse to control her. It would be too easy to be discovered.

It was possible that she had come into contact with Voldemort, leaving traces of his magic on her.

Although Evan felt this possibility was also unlikely, the signal was too vague, and anything was possible.

Harry watched Fred, George, and Lee Jordan juggling empty butterbeer bottles, remaining silent for a moment.

“It’s also very likely to be a coincidence, isn’t it?” Hermione analyzed. “Think about it, Harry, last year your scar hurt when nobody was touching you, and didn’t Dumbledore say it had to do with what You-Know-Who was feeling at the time?”

“When his emotions are intensely fluctuating, the connection between him and Harry will strengthen,” said Evan.

“That’s it, I mean, maybe this hasn’t got anything to do with Umbridge at all, maybe it’s just coincidence it happened while you were with her?”

“I don’t know, but she’s evil,” said Harry flatly, “Twisted!”

“She’s horrible, yes, but…” Hermione paused. “Harry, I think you ought to tell Dumbledore your scar hurt.”

“I’m not bothering him with this. Like you both just said, it’s not a big deal. Since he came back, it’s been hurting on and off all summer … it was just a bit worse tonight, that’s all…”

“Harry, I’m sure Dumbledore would want to be bothered by this.”

“Yeah,” Harry blurted out before he could stop himself, “that’s the only bit of me Dumbledore cares about, isn’t it, my scar?”

“Don’t say that, it’s not true!”

“Alright, there’s no need to tell the Headmaster about this until we’re certain,” Evan interjected. “But just to be safe, I think we should double-check by having Harry touch Umbridge again.”

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