Harry Potter and the Great Old Ones

Chapter 560 Cover-up
Harry spent the rest of his summer vacation weighing and reflecting on what Tyrell had said that night.

But before Harry could figure it out, he was overwhelmed by a deluge of chaotic and confusing information, leaving him dizzy and disoriented.

The German Ministry of Magic announced its acceptance of an unequal treaty and its unconditional surrender.

The Magical Association of America announces acceptance of an unequal treaty and unconditional surrender.

The French Ministry of Magic announces acceptance of an unequal treaty and unconditional surrender.

Such messages appeared on the front page of the Daily Prophet every day.

The Daily Prophet didn't start reporting anything else until every European and American Ministry of Magic that Harry knew of had signed an unequal treaty.

As these newspaper reports arrived one after another, Mrs. Weasley's emotions seemed to stabilize somewhat, yet not quite—

"Oh my goodness!"

Just as Harry grabbed a huge pile of dirty Quidditch robes and left the house to take them downstairs to the laundry room to wash them with magic, he heard Mrs. Weasley scream.

Mrs. Weasley had been urging them these past few days to finish washing their clothes and packing their luggage before school started. Downstairs, he ran into Ginny, who was carrying freshly washed clothes back to her room.

"What's wrong, Mom?" Ginny had obviously heard Mrs. Weasley's scream too. She paused for a moment, then blushed and threw her freshly washed clothes into Harry's arms before rushing toward the kitchen where Mrs. Weasley was.

"Look at this!" Mrs. Weasley handed the newspaper she had been holding to Ginny. "It's horrible!"

"What happened, Mrs. Weasley?" Harry hesitated for a moment, then gently placed his dirty clothes and Ginny's clean clothes on the floor before running to the kitchen.

“Here, Harry, look.” Ginny had clearly finished reading the newspaper, folded it up, and handed it to Harry.

"Bradtown Muggle Disappearance Report"

According to sources, around 7 p.m. on August 19, Abudureyim Franco, a fourth-level Auror of the Auror Division of the Magical Union, and his deputy Geraldine Gul, a third-level Auror, detected an extremely strong black magic fluctuation in the vicinity of Bradtown, near the Welsh Mountains, during their routine duties, using a black magic monitor invented by Mr. Tierra.

The Auror Division of the Magic Union has dispatched Francis Seller, a Level 7 Auror, and two Level 6 Aurors to investigate.

The investigation revealed that all Muggle residents of the town had disappeared. Apart from a broken altar with unknown characters that could not be deciphered using existing magical languages, there were no signs of fighting or the use of other magic at the scene.

The Auror Division of the Magical Union has sealed off the town and dispatched ritual magic master Donquixote Sommelier to investigate; the specifics are still unclear.

After reading the short article, which occupied less than a small frame, Harry curiously flipped through a few other pages.

"Hmm, what's wrong?" Harry asked, puzzled. "This shouldn't be a Death Eater attack, right? I didn't see any reports mentioning the Dark Lord's mark."

"No, quite the opposite. It's very likely that the Death Eaters or even Mystic did it themselves." Mrs. Weasley shook her head and said, "We've received news from the Order of the Phoenix." Halfway through her sentence, Mrs. Weasley seemed to pause suddenly, then shook her head and stopped talking.

"What?" Harry asked, puzzled.

“No…” Mrs. Weasley seemed to hesitate for a moment, but finally made up her mind and said, “Well, Harry, I think you should know about this too.”

"What is it, Mrs. Weasley?" Harry asked, puzzled.

"The Order of the Phoenix has sent word," Mrs. Weasley suddenly lowered her voice, "that Voldemort is plotting something."

"What?" Harry asked in a low voice, "What is he planning?"

“I don’t know.” Mrs. Weasley shook her head. “Voldemort is very mysterious, and because of some of Tyrell’s policies, more and more pure-blood wizards have turned to Voldemort’s side, making our intelligence work very difficult.”

"But that means you have to be extra careful lately. Whether at Hogwarts or here, you're not allowed to act alone. No, to be precise, any reckless behavior is not permitted. Things like when you led a bunch of kids to storm the Ministry of Magic in June are not allowed to happen again. We have reason to suspect that Voldemort might be after you."

“Let him come then,” Harry said nonchalantly. “I’m sure Tyella won’t give Voldemort another chance to escape this time.”

"And what about your safety?" Mrs. Weasley said in a tone of exasperation. "Tierra might be able to defeat Voldemort, but what if Voldemort is targeting you and wants to kill you? Can you guarantee that Tierra will be able to come to your rescue in time?"

"These damned reporters! They didn't even report on something this big in more detail!" Mrs. Weasley said angrily. "They were all so eager to oppose Tyrell back then, but now they're all rushing to sing her praises and fawn over her."

"Sigh," Mrs. Weasley muttered helplessly, "Hopefully Arthur can get some more specific information from within the Magic Union."

"Alright, hurry upstairs and pack your clothes and books for school. Don't always rush to pack at the last minute like that slovenly Ron." With that, Mrs. Weasley snatched the newspaper from Harry's hand, rolled it up, and gently tapped it on Harry's back, trying to shoo him back upstairs.

"Oh, okay." Harry then remembered that he had a pile of dirty clothes outside the kitchen, on the floor near the stairs. If Mrs. Weasley saw them, she would start nagging again. So Harry jogged a few steps and ran back to the stairs before Mrs. Weasley came out of the kitchen, and picked up the pile of clothes.

"Oh, sorry, Ginny." Harry turned around and was about to walk towards the laundry room at the other end of the first-floor living room when he noticed that Ginny had followed him, her face flushed. "I've gotten your clothes dirty again. Let me wash them for you."

“No need,” Ginny said, reaching out and snatching the pile of clothes from Harry’s arms.

Including her own freshly washed clothes, and Harry's original dirty Quidditch uniform.

“I’ll help you wash them,” Ginny said, feigning generosity. “I’ve already tidied up, and I don’t have anything to do. I don’t want Mom to call me over to help her peel bean sprouts.”

“Ah,” Harry hesitated for a moment, “Okay. Thanks then, Ginny.”

(End of this chapter)