The Hogwarts Emerald

Chapter 378 Self-Disciplined Copywriters and Dress Robes

With Ada's gentle and kind persuasion, Hermione finally stopped making a fuss about promoting the rights of house-elves. Miss Beaver seemed to be hit hard, and sat aside sullenly with her head down.

After the Weasley family's explanation, Harry finally understood what the Dark Mark was. This mark represents not only Voldemort, but also their bloody killings.

Death Eaters would use their hands to make big splashes to summon their companions and call out to their master Voldemort. They would also leave the Dark Mark after killing people to show their power and bring panic to others.

I really don't think the Dark Mark is scary at all, it's just ugly. I don't know who designed this thing, it has no aesthetics at all. If Ida has to bear the Dark Mark logo, I might as well kill her.

It is so superficial to show off one's power and spread terror in such a straightforward way. Voldemort and the Death Eaters have no artistic cells at all. Terror can also be elegant!

At three o'clock in the morning, everyone climbed back into their beds again. This time no one disturbed their sleep, but no one could sleep peacefully.

After only a few hours of sleep, Mr. Weasley woke everyone up. He used magic to pack up the tent and put it into the backpack, and then they left the camp as quickly as possible, and saw Mr. Roberts standing at the door of his little stone house on the way.

Mr. Roberts looked strange and dazed. It was the aftereffects of the forgetfulness spell and memory modification. Last night they experienced the most terrifying scene in their lives.

I really don't know how the Death Eaters have the nerve to call themselves powerful when they raise their knives against innocent and weak people.

Before the sun rose, Mr. Weasley received an old tire, and the group returned to Stoat Hill by the old tire. In the dim light of dawn, they passed through the village of Ottery St. Catchpole and walked along the wet path towards the Burrow.

They turned a corner and the Burrow loomed into view, and a shout was heard down the path.

"Oh, thank goodness, thank goodness!" said Mrs. Weasley, who had been waiting in the yard for everyone to return.

Mrs. Weasley limped towards everyone. She was wearing indoor slippers on her left foot, which she had not had time to change out of, but her right shoe was nowhere to be found.

Mrs. Weasley was pale and nervous. She hugged everyone tightly. In her hand was a copy of today's Daily Prophet, which reported everything that happened last night.

This report criticized the Ministry of Magic in a completely useless way, saying that the Ministry was in a panic, law and order were lax, dark wizards were allowed to go unpunished, and this brought great shame to the country. Fudge should resign and Barty Crouch should be imprisoned in Azkaban, etc.

The report comes from Rita Skeeter, a writer who is said to be very self-disciplined and a special columnist for the Daily Prophet.

"That woman is working against the Ministry of Magic!" said Percy angrily. Although Barty Crouch called him Weatherby, Percy remained loyal to his boss.

"Come on, Percy," Bill said, yawning, "stop talking." The eldest Weasley son stopped him.

"I think what this woman said makes some sense." Charlie said, "The World Cup is an event that the whole world is watching, but the Ministry of Magic messed it up like this, allowing dark wizards to take advantage of the situation. Now the whole world is laughing at us." The second son of the Weasley family stopped him.

Although Ada had lost her temper and taught the Ministry of Magic a lesson last night, no one died last night, but the newspapers reported rumors that "several bodies were carried out of the woods."

They are indeed self-disciplined writers and journalists, just looking for fun and not minding the big things. It was originally a good career, but it was destroyed by this group of people.

"Wait a minute," Mr. Weasley said curiously, "The only people who appeared near the Dark Mark last night were employees of the Ministry of Magic. How did Rita Skeeter know so many details?!"

Everyone leaned over to look at the newspaper, and Mr. Weasley pointed out the contents of the newspaper to everyone.

The newspaper had a complete account of what had happened at the end of the night, the confrontation between the Ministry of Magic and Sirius and Ada, and how they had been beaten to a pulp by a student, and the house-elf Winky.

At the end of the report, Rita Skeeter wrote: The incompetent Ministry of Magic, they failed to catch the dark wizard who cast the Dark Mark, they were not even a match for the Hogwarts students, they could only put all the blame on the house elves, allowing the dark wizard to continue to go unpunished. How can we trust such a Ministry of Magic?

Mr. Weasley sighed deeply and said, "Molly, I have to go to the office. I'm busy today." For the Ministry of Magic, catching the person who cast the Dark Mark is the top priority, and clarifying the rumors and restoring its image are also important.

Mr. Weasley left without even eating breakfast and rushed back to the Ministry of Magic, even though this matter was not within Arthur Weasley's jurisdiction.

Workaholic Percy also left with Mr. Weasley. For Percy, slacking off at work was not an option. After the father and son left the Burrow, Sirius and Lupin also said goodbye and left. They had things to do. Harry was left at the Burrow, and he didn't know what Sirius and Lupin were going to do. Ada had some guesses. Ada estimated that the two were going to see Dumbledore.

Both of them had experienced the last war and could smell the scent of war more easily than others.

After the World Cup, Hogwarts still had a week to go before school started, so Ada, Harry and Hermione stayed at the Burrow to spend the rest of the summer vacation.

Mr. Weasley and Percy were rarely at home during this week. Every day, the father and son would go out before dawn and would not come back to rest until late at night. Sirius and Lupin also did not show up at the Burrow. No one knew what they were doing.

If the newspapers hadn't been complaining about the Ministry of Magic's incompetence, everyone would have thought that what happened that night was just a collective hysteria.

This week passed quickly for Ada and her friends, because they were either playing or on their way to play every day, but it was a long week for Mr. Weasley and Percy, and both of them were more tired than the donkeys in the production team.

Soon there was only one day left of summer vacation, and the next day they would return to Hogwarts to start a new school year.

Percy was in the living room talking about how hard he worked, how many Howlers he received, and how much trouble the World Cup security issues had caused him. Mr. Weasley was eating next to him, occasionally talking about work.

Suddenly, Ron's scream came from upstairs, and he said "What the hell is this?"

Everyone except Mr. Weasley and Percy was attracted by the shouting, and they rushed upstairs to see what had happened to Ron.

A group of people crowded around Ron's bedroom door and saw Ron talking to Mrs. Weasley. Ron said, "Mom, you gave me Ginny's new clothes."

Ron was holding a long purple velvet dress with a moldy ruffled collar and matching lace on the cuffs. It looked like a dress robe, but it was unclear whether it was for men or women.

Hearing Ron's words, Ginny looked at the robe with disgust and shrank behind Ada. She didn't want to wear such clothes!
"How could I be mistaken," said Mrs. Weasley, "this is for you. Dress robes."

"What?" Ron said, looking horrified. Harry and Hermione behind Ron tried hard to control their expressions and not let themselves laugh, which made their expressions become a little distorted.

'Dress robes!' Mrs. Weasley repeated. 'The list you got from school says you should get dress robes this year . . . formal robes.'

Ginny, who was hiding behind Ada, breathed a sigh of relief and stepped forward. She said, "You will look great in this dress!"

Ron was instantly defeated by his sister's venomous words. He blushed and said stubbornly, "I would rather be naked than wear it."

"Don't be silly," said Mrs. Weasley. "You must have a dress robe, it's on your list! I got one for Harry too... show him, Harry..."

Harry, who was trying to hold back his laughter, suddenly became very panicked. He hurriedly opened his package and found his dress robe. Harry's robe was dark green, normal, and had no lace.

Everything is afraid of contrast. Harry's normal dress robe without lace is compared with Ron's purple lace robe. The contrast is too great.

Bill, Charlie, Ada and the twins standing at the door were all laughing. Ron's robes looked more like those worn by an old grandmother than a fourteen-year-old boy.

"Because... well, I have to buy you second-hand, so there isn't much choice!" said Mrs. Weasley, blushing.

"I would never wear something like that," Ron said stubbornly, "Never!" But this time his tone was not as firm as before.

"Okay, Mum, it's nothing." Fred said, "George and I can buy Ron a robe, at least a dress robe that looks normal."

Bill on the side said, "Let Charlie and I do it. We haven't bought anything for our little brother yet!"

Charlie nodded in agreement, "Don't bring Percy, he just started working."

(End of this chapter)