Chapter 71 Chapter 71
"Wait a minute, Minister!" Harry said hastily, "What about my punishment?"
"Punishment?" Fudge winked, "As if we would do such a thing."
"I have violated the law that decrees minors cannot use magic outside of school!"
"Oh, dear boy, we don't punish people for such a trivial incident! It was an accident; we don't send people to Azkaban for inflating their aunts!"
These words puzzled Harry a bit; it was completely different from his previous dealings with the Ministry of Magic.
"Last year, a house-elf gave my cousin Dudley a tail, and I received a warning that if I did more magic, Hogwarts would expel me."
It was an excellent question, Evan was happy to see Fudge slightly embarrassed.
"Things often change, Harry! Given the current circumstances, we must consider your... Well, you don't want to be expelled, do you?"
"Of course not," Harry replied hurriedly.
Upon hearing Harry's words, Fudge chuckled, shouted for the innkeeper to give Harry a room, and repeatedly instructed Harry to stay at Diagon Alley for the next two weeks and not venture into Muggle London.
He then put on his cloak and was ready to leave.
"Minister, have you heard of Sirius Black?"
Upon hearing Harry's words, Fudge's fingers trembled.
"Oh, you've heard about that! Well, it's only a matter of time before we catch him. The Azkaban Dementors have never failed before, and they are furious this time," Fudge said with a slightly trembling voice.
"Goodbye, Harry," Fudge said as he shook his hand.
Harry asked if he could sign his permission form. Fudge was slightly uncomfortable.
He declined Harry, with a more artificial expression on his face, Evan saw him discreetly wiping a bit of cold sweat from his forehead as he turned around and left.
When Evan and Harry finished their pastries, they followed Tom up a beautiful wooden staircase and reached a door with a bronze plate indicating it was room eleven; Tom opened the door. There was a large comfortable bed in the room, some shiny oak furniture, a crackling fire in the fireplace, and Hedwig standing in a cupboard.
"Hedwig!" exclaimed Harry, "There you are. Did you send that letter to Evan? What did he say?"
When he had left the Dursleys, he hastily wrote a letter to Evan, although he was still with Hedwig.
Harry suddenly felt a bit worried; if Hedwig couldn't find Evan, had some kind of accident occurred?
While standing there a bit confused, Hedwig flew towards the black cat that had been following him.
Evan jumped onto the bed and saw Hedwig looking at him; those amber eyes were full of watchfulness. Evan gestured a greeting, and the owl dropped the parchment in front of him.
It was strange for a cat to be reading a letter.
Harry sat on the bed while absentmindedly watching Evan.
He couldn't believe he had only left Privet Drive a few hours ago; he had so much to do, he hadn't been expelled, and for two weeks, he was free from the Dursleys.
But why hadn't Evan written to him, or had he gone abroad like Hermione and Ron? Is that why Hedwig couldn't deliver the letter?
And the sudden appearance of the black cat resembling Ivan.
Harry turned and reached out to pick up the cat, but Evan dodged and looked at Harry discontentedly. Harry never imagined a cat could have such a human expression; it was truly strange.
Then suddenly, he thought he didn't have a name to call it if he planned to keep it, so...
Harry pondered over many names as he gazed out of the window at the sunrise.
The next day, when Harry woke up, he felt something on top of him, opened his eyes, and saw that it was Evan.
He was taken aback, and immediately got up.
"Evan, Evan, wake up!" Harry shook the still-sleeping Evan. "When did you get here, did you see the letter I wrote you, and how did you get into my room?"
"Good morning, Harry!"
Evan rubbed his eyes, now fully recovered his magic, which seemed to be even a bit stronger.
Seeing Harry staring at him intently, he hurried to recount what had happened: he was now an animagus, how he had been attacked by a black dog on the street. However, he omitted that the black dog was Sirius Black.
"So, you're saying your animagus form was a black cat? No wonder you seemed a bit off," said Harry, "A regular cat wouldn't eat chocolate or cakes, right?"
"Yes," nodded Evan as he transformed into a black cat and then back into his original form.
"I should have known, you're just like Professor McGonagall. What was the spell called again?" said Harry, looking at Evan enviously.
"Animagus, and I hope you'll help me keep it a secret," said Evan.
"No problem, but how did you do it? Professor McGonagall said it was a very complex and dangerous spell."
"I received some help from Tom and Salazar Slytherin," said Evan as he sat up, "And if you want to learn, I can teach you, but the main issue is magic buildup, so if there are no accidents, you'll probably be able to learn this spell in a few years."
Evan and Harry discussed animagi a bit more.
Then, they went down for breakfast and called the house-elf Dobby.
After a whole night of searching for Evan, Dobby seemed horrified, his fingers were covered in bandages from punishing himself, he cried for a while in front of the two people, which made Evan feel terrible.
Evan comforted Dobby for a while and let him go to pack Evan's bags.
He went out and called his mother, telling her he would be living in Diagon Alley for the next two weeks until school started, so she wouldn't worry. Mrs. Mason argued with him, but finally reluctantly agreed to his request.