the Gambler

The sky over Hogwarts was very clear without even a single cloud.The three sat on a stone bench in front of the castle, chatting about the upcoming Apparation exam.Ron pinched the booklet with two fingers and shook it a few times, and said sullenly: "This thing is useless at all, I'm still not sure."

"It's easy, Ron, you just have to focus on picturing where you want to go in your head," Hermione said sharply.

"Yeah, you succeeded very smoothly, I haven't done it once." Ron frowned, looking very unhappy.He grumbled and flipped through a few pages of the pamphlet, but didn't read it seriously.After a while, Ron looked up at the door, and the line of wizards queuing up for security checks had shortened a lot.He shuffled his books into his pockets, followed Hermione and Harry, and strode towards Filch.That nasty Squib was poking around them with a long thin stick, almost hitting Ron in the eye a few times, which made the wizard even worse.

They followed the crowd to a clearing.The examiner sent by the Ministry of Magic was a gray-haired witch who looked very much like Professor McGonagall on the whole.She made two large circles on the ground with her wand, about ten meters apart.Harry listened absentmindedly to the Witch's list of dos and don'ts about Apparition, since he was still a full year away from qualifying exams anyway.Harry noticed that there were also many students who came to the play like him, and they all had excited expressions on their faces.Naturally, Hermione got the license very smoothly. It was a pity for Ron, he had half of his eyebrows separated, even if it was slight, he was caught by the examiner. Harry could only comfort his friend that he could take the exam with him next time .

"Actually, I almost succeeded, she shouldn't be so strict!" Ron shook the goblet in his hand and complained, a few drops of amber liquid dripped on the table, "It's only a little short!"

"Safety is guaranteed because of the strictness! Last time a wizard left his arm in the forest!" Hermione yelled.Noticing that Harry hadn't spoken, she turned her head, "What's wrong?"

Harry lowered his voice, and dragged the bewildered two outside the bar. They got into an abandoned hut and stopped near the window.Harry leaned his head out of the window and looked out of the window, and the other two followed suit.Near the forest, a man in a hood and black robe was arguing fiercely with Snape, who had a displeased expression on his face.Harry noticed that the stranger pushed Snape hard, then lowered his head and took out a palm-sized object in his arms. Snape's expression suddenly became extremely panicked, and his eyes quickly scanned the surroundings. When Leigh was in the position, the boy grabbed Hermione and Ron's arms and squatted down.He waited quietly for a few minutes, and when he got up again, both Snape and the strange man had disappeared.

"Snape must be planning something," said Harry firmly. "We need to tell Headmaster Dumbledore."

"Maybe he's just doing illegal business. He's a master potions master. You know that some medicinal materials are very rare." Hermione cautiously vetoed Harry's guess, "Besides, you and the principal have mentioned this more than once. Do you trust Professor Snape?"

"He's a Death Eater," said Harry. "Dumbledore is probably delusional. I mean there's always a way around the Unbreakable Vow. He's a Slytherin. They don't put their lives on someone else so easily." It seems impossible, but maybe Dumbledore thought so too, so he was able to break into the Order of the Phoenix smoothly." Harry felt that his explanation became more and more reasonable, "Dogs can't change their food." //Shit, he betrayed once and there will be a second."

"Nobody can fool the Unbreakable Vow," said Ron, patting Harry on the shoulder. "You're a little paranoid and nervous these days, bro."

"And about Snape, more than one person has denied your guess," Hermione became a little impatient, "Professor Lupine and Ron's parents insisted that he would not betray. If they believe Dumbledore's judgment , we should believe it too."

"But he can't be all right, can he?"

"Maybe you can make mistakes in small things, but knowing people is a big thing." Hermione said, "I think he must be very sure that he will recruit a Death Eater into the Order of the Phoenix. Perhaps Snape was installed under Voldemort." spy? You said he was such a master of Occlumency that even Voldemort couldn't see what he was really thinking."

"Dumbledore can't see his real thoughts. Who knows if he is Voldemort's spy in the Order of the Phoenix?" Harry said coldly, "Dumbledore was also very sure of Peter Pettigrew, otherwise Nor would he join the Order of the Phoenix. He's not all-powerful, Hermione."

Ron nodded: "Harry's words are also very reasonable. But he has disappeared, and we can't follow him." Noticing the tense atmosphere, he scratched the hair on the back of his head and said carelessly, "It's rare Holiday, maybe we should enjoy it?"

After downing another bottle of Butterbeer, Ron burped. He rolled up his sleeve and wiped his mouth. He didn't care about the others present, and smiled and left a wet kiss on Hermione's face.Hermione frowned, and hammered Ron's chest half coquettishly and half annoyedly. The latter was rocking back and forth with a smile, and his happiness was clear at a glance, which made more and more eyes focus on their table.The witch raised her head proudly, blood had already crept up to her ears, but she still insisted on pretending to be indifferent.Drunkenness seemed to make Ron more daring. He reached out and grabbed Hermione's collar and gave another deep French kiss. Harry was so shy that he buried his head in his arms and refused to lift it up.

A sudden loud click of the tongue nearby made Harry glance up, and Draco and Bryce were standing not far from their table, both with similar expressions of disgust on their faces.Draco snorted heavily, and pulled out the silk scarf in his pocket to cover his mouth, as if seeing a pile of fritters.Bryce wasn't too far off from his fussy performance, the dark-skinned wizard leaning limply on top of Draco, looking hugely agitated.

"Go away, Malfoy!" Ron jumped up suddenly, his robes tripping over the stool and staggering.Draco and Bryce rolled their eyes at the same time.

"Ron." Harry grabbed his friend and said calmly. He glanced around the crowded crowd and felt a little embarrassed to be surrounded. "We don't need to cause disputes in the public. It's a rare good day." Harry Noticing the uncertain look on Draco's face, as if he was playing with the Gallon in his hand unintentionally, Bryce didn't say a word, just glanced out the window from time to time.Something was wrong, and Harry's nerves kicked him.

Hermione also obviously noticed their eye contact, and cleared her throat: "Maybe we should find a place with fewer people to resolve the conflict." As she spoke, she reached out and covered Ron's mouth, which was still about to refute.

"Of course, I can't wait to see you crying stupidly." Draco said nastyly, leading out of the noisy bar, Bryce tilted his head towards the door, Harry nodded, and the Slytherin quickly disappeared in view.He turned to face Hermione and Ron, the girl's expression was as firm as her tone: "No, Harry, I'll stay with you, you can't keep hiding it from us."

Ron responded vaguely.Harry sighed, beckoning them to follow.

The three of them poked around in the narrow gaps between the houses, and about ten minutes later, a fairly tidy house appeared in front of them, without a trace of light inside.Harry pushed open the door, climbed the creaking stairs, and tapped three long and one short signals on the closed wooden door at the end of the corridor.There was a faint sound from inside, the door opened, and Draco and Bryce leaned against the window, noticing the presence of the other two, their faces turned cold quickly.

"You shouldn't have brought them here." Draco condemned angrily, "This news is about our life and death, and even Gaunt doesn't know it yet." He clenched his wand tightly and looked at Hermione and Ron vigilantly, "Both of them will kill us."

"Harry, Draco's suspicion is well-founded," Bryce paused, his eyes fixed on Ron, "Especially Weasley, who knows whether he is strict with his words, we all It is risking your life to inform you, you should at least guarantee privacy."

"What do you mean?" Ron asked suspiciously.

Harry ignored Ron, and he also looked at the two Slytherins with the same seriousness: "Bryce, Draco, I trust Ron and Hermione, they will not leak a word about anything that happened here .”

"Whatever you want." Bryce curled his lips unwillingly.

After hesitating for a moment, Draco explained the reason for his visit: "I don't know if you have noticed that Professor Snape has been behaving a bit strangely lately. I saw him exhausted when I went out with Bryce at night a few days ago, with his right hand clenched Grabbing somewhere on his left arm." Draco seemed dissatisfied with his explanation, tugging at his hair in frustration, "We just caught him talking to McNeil, he's a Death Eater, I was in my house Saw him at the Christmas party."

"A sneaky man with a hood?" Harry noticed that Hermione and Ron were unusually quiet, and he glanced at them from the corner of his eye, seeing betrayed expressions on their faces.Harry pushed his discomfort aside and continued, "Where's Marvolo?"

"Dumbledore called him to the principal's office." Bryce fiddled with the silver and green tie uneasily, his eyes still stayed outside, as if he was afraid that Tom would suddenly appear from some corner.

"I saw him hand a bauble to Snape, what do you think it was?" Hermione whispered.

Draco wrinkled his nose and looked very uninterested in talking to him, and if it wasn't for Harry's sharp gaze, he seemed eager to leave sooner rather than breathe the same air as mudbloods and blood traitors.Harry pressed again before he replied sullenly, "Cursed gadget? Or an illegal port key?"

"Damn it!" Harry's sudden shout made them frown at the same moment, the boy clenched his wand tightly, and just as he finished speaking, there were explosions outside the house one after another, the soaring flames enveloped the entire sky, mixed with loud shock Call and help.Harry rushed to the window quickly, and there was a crackling sound, and a group of Death Eaters in black robes surrounded the whole house.The man in the middle had an ugly snake face. He seemed to sense Harry's gaze, and he looked up with a cruel smile.

The red light of the curse was shot at Harry, and he bent down, pinning the panicked Draco and Bryce to the floor, and the thick dust made both of them cough uncontrollably.Harry turned his head to look at Hermione and Ron who were near the door and shouted: "Death Eaters attack! Hermione took Ron, Bryce took Draco, and followed the manifestation directly to the Pig's Head Bar! Find a way to get more people Can escape from the secret passage smoothly! I will divert Voldemort's attention!"

"That's too dangerous, we'll be with you," Hermione murmured, her body tensing even more at the sound of approaching footsteps.The wand was tightly grasped in the girl's palm, and Ron quickly sobered up from his drunken state, facing the door and blocking his girlfriend behind him.

Harry walked quickly up to the two, their determined expressions telling the boy that there was no turning back.Harry shook his friend's hand, turned his head to Bryce and nodded, and the two Slytherins quickly disappeared into the air.

"Ready, guys?" Harry said with mock ease.

In the next second, the fragile door panel exploded.