Chapter 858: Mundungus (Patreon)
Content
Next, they focused on Evan’s broom production plan.
Hermione decided to buy all the professional books on broomsticks on the market to figure out the entire production process.
The others started from the actual use of brooms and put forward many improvement requirements to design a broom in their minds.
Evan thought these suggestions were quite good, and he hadn't thought of many of them before.
He had no problem at the technical level, but after all, he didn't have much contact with the brooms before, and there was no way for him to compete with Harry and the others in this field.
At the end of the discussion, they decided to write to the students via Owl Mail to solicit their opinions.
At the very least, the opinions of the players of the Quidditch teams of the various Houses must be solicited, but the people in Slytherin House should be excluded.
Fred and George also asked Evan to come to their room after dinner to see their prank product newly developed this holiday.
In the words of the two of them, everything was ready now and only needed East wind.
They were eager to graduate from Hogwarts, open a joke shop in Diagon Alley, and engage in this great business.
Twenty minutes later, Mrs. Weasley came up to tell everyone to go down for dinner.
There was another loud crack and he and George vanished. They could now Disapparate at will, not wanting to take a single step more than necessary.
“Can't the two of them just walk?" said Mrs. Weasley unhappily. "And who’s left all those Dungbombs outside the kitchen door?"
“Crookshanks," said Ginny unblushingly. "He loves playing with them!"
“Oh, it might be Kreacher cleaning up," said Mrs. Weasley. "It's really helpful to have a house-elf in the house, but that guy has a weird temper. It's best not to provoke him. Now don’t forget to keep your voices down in the hall. Ginny, your hands are filthy, what have you been doing? Go and wash them before dinner, please.”
Ginny grimaced at Evan, Harry, Ron, and Hermione and followed her mother out the room.
“I don't like that house-elf. He’s the most unpleasant thing in this house," said Ron.
“Kreacher has changed a lot..."
Kreacher's changes were beyond everyone's expectations though he did not treat everyone equally, but differently.
It was simply not realistic to think that he would abandon his previous ideas completely and make a radical change.
He was only showing a better attitude towards Evan, Harry, and Hermione, because they and Sirius helped him bring Regulus’s body back. The funeral, which seemed a little humble in Evan's eyes, greatly touched Kreacher. In particular, Evan had given him a replica of Slytherin’s Locket, which helped him regain his confidence and faith in life.
For others, his attitude was still bad.
Kreacher always muttered bad things about them behind their backs and did some odd things.
Sirius must have commanded him before he left, so he went on doing what he had to do, not too outrageous.
Hermione was interested in Kreacher’s change. It made her realize that with enough effort, the house-elves would also change.
She had not given up her efforts to help the house-elves improve their rights and status. However, under Evan’s subtle influence, she had not taken too many radical actions, such as sewing sweaters directly to house-elves, which would only scare them.
What she was doing now was to tirelessly communicate with every house-elf she could come in contact with, and make friends with them to increase their relationship. She would keep telling them about the successful examples of Dobby and Kreacher, telling them the benefits of defending their rights, and let them take the initiative to fight for their rights and status.
Of course, up to now, she had not succeeded in influencing other house-elves.
The group carefully bypassed the portrait of Mrs. Black and saw Kreacher cleaning the kitchen door.
“Master Evan, Master Harry, Miss Hermione, Kreacher has prepared dinner for you alone, as well as special pudding," said the elf. Seeing them, his eyes brightened and he ran to them in a hurry. "After Kreacher finishes cleaning up here, he will bring it to you, not to be stolen by those greedy ghosts."
“Well done, Kreacher, you did a good job." Hermione encouraged.
“Thank you, Miss Hermione." He bowed and said with a smile, "Kreacher lives to serve the noble house of Black!"
“Separate dinner and special pudding?!" said Ron unhappily, wrinkling his nose. "I don't like this elf. He’s only very kind to the three of you, but not to the others at all. I am kind of fed up with him."
“You’ll get his respect as long as you treat him better," said Hermione sharply. "You should look at Kreacher's attitude towards us before and you’ll know how much he has changed."
“Be nice to a house-elf. It's crazy," said Ron, waving feebly. "I don't see the point. Kreacher is a freak, and the house-elves in the school are not like this."
“That's because they don't know how to protect their rights and interests..."
“Come on, Hermione, stop telling me about spew." Ron interrupted.
“It's not ‘spew’!" said Hermione heatedly. "It's the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare, and it’s not just me, but also Evan and Harry, and you too, and Dumbledore also says we should be kind to every house-elf."
“You forced me to join," Ron whispered.
Obviously, he didn't listen to Hermione.
In the kitchen, many chairs had been crammed for the meeting and a long wooden table stood in the middle of the room, littered with rolls of parchment, goblets, empty wine bottles, and a heap of what appeared to be rags.
Mr. Weasley was sitting at the end of the table, rolling up the lengths of parchment left on it, and he jumped to his feet when he saw them coming in.
“You are here, children." Mr. Weasley said, hurrying forward to greet Harry and shaking his hand vigorously. "Good to see you, Harry!"
“Hello, Mr. Weasley," said Harry.
He looked around, and his gaze fell on a roll of parchment on the table, which seemed to be a floor plan of a building, and then Evan, who was following him, saw the drawing.
“We have more people eating tonight than usual," said Mrs. Weasley, snatching the plan off the table and passing it to Mr. Weasley, so that Evan and Harry would not peek. "Remus will be here in a minute. We’ll leave something for him. All right, girls, can you go inside and help me bring out the dinner? We’ll eat now."
“I’ll help too!" Tonks said, striding over, and immediately sending a candle toppling onto a piece of parchment. "Oh no … sorry..."
“It's okay, dear." Mrs. Weasley said, her voice a little annoyed. "You'd better sit down."
With a wave of her wand, she repaired the parchment.
“Evanesco!" Mr. Weasley also took out his wand and waved it gently and all the scrolls on the table vanished. He pointed to the pile of rags on the chair and said kindly, "You’ve met Mundungus, Harry, haven’t you?"
Mundungus gave a long, grunting snore and then jerked awake.
“Did someone say my name?" he mumbled sleepily. "I agree with Moody..."
He raised a very grubby hand in the air as though voting, his droopy, bloodshot eyes unfocused.