Chapter 264

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After a conversation with Fleur, from the side of Potter and Weasley, Krum walked towards us in his fur coat and pointed hat. He held a staff in his hands, and the thought flashed through my head to find out everything about such concentrators. It's interesting.

"Max," Victor held out his hand for a shake, which I did. A firm handshake, not like the local one. "It was nice to meet you."

"Likewise, though not immediately."

Krum smiled.

"How are you without Karkaroff? Will the ship sail?"

"He did not control the ship. We did everything, and Karkaroff was sitting in the cabin. I'll tell you guys. His body was found nearby. Headless."

"Daaamn..." said Seamus, ruffling his hair with a hand.

I considered it mandatory to dispel a little fog over the personality of the former headmaster of Durmstrang.

"Victor. Karkaroff was a Death Eater, and for the sake of freedom, he gave up many of his comrades. I think whoever framed Potter decided to take his head with him."

Victor frowned and nodded.

"I don't like traitors," the Bulgarian declared, weightily and sternly. "If you gave your word, keep it to the end, whoever you gave it to."

We nodded to each other, and Krum went off to his own. Soon it was our turn to load into the carriage, and in a small but friendly crowd, we made our way to Hogsmeade, where we quickly got on the train that was already waiting for us and took a compartment. Once again, Hermione and I rode alone, discussing the year's results, and at the same time using charms to make notes in our notebooks on meaningful topics from the Restricted Section. And so we rode the whole trip, quietly, peacefully, no one disturbed us. Although the latter was most likely due to the powerful complex locking and silencing charms, but did it really matter?

By the end of the ride, we were done with our notes and exchanged them so that we could study the material from the other half of the Restricted Section later. I had no desire to change clothes or to bother with them in general, and the school uniform is quite ordinary, if you don't know the symbols of coats of arms on it, so we just waited till we arrived in London and quickly left the train while talking about nothing.

In the parking lot, in almost the same places, the Granger couple was already waiting for us in their Range Rover, and John in his usual BMW Five. They, by the way, communicated safely with each other, having parked nearby. When we got to them, I was surprised to notice that I was already pretty stretched out in height, and Hermione represented in this very height something in between her mother and father. This is surprising and unusual. The unusual thing about this is that the enchanted magic clothes are still our size, and therefore no changes are felt. Though I'm afraid, I'll have to change my favorite black three-piece Graves-style suit.

"Good afternoon, or rather, evening," I greeted everyone with a smile, and Hermione rushed to hug her father and mother without further ado.

"Hello, Max," Mrs. Granger nodded at me with a smile, not letting go of her daughter. Mr. Granger, on the other hand, found the strength to break free from his beloved child's embrace and shake my hand.

"How do you grow so fast?" John pretended to be indignant and walked over and put his arm around my shoulders, tapping them as hard as he could.

"Three meals a day, loads and lots of adventures. That's what's pulling me up."

"I guess, Max," Mrs. Granger said, smiling, "all the girls are circling around you, aren't they?"

"Oh, tell me about it," Hermione muttered as she hugged her parents. "You look away for a moment, and that's it."

The adults laughed, and then we talked a little about our daily life, got into the cars, and drove home.

"Are you, as always, on Grimmauld, to begin with?"

"Yes," I nodded, sitting in the front seat.

"For how long?"

"A couple of minutes. I will report, so to speak, and that's it."

"Then I'll wait in the coffee shop, just like last time."

"Okay."

After twenty minutes of a leisurely drive through the light traffic of London, we reached Grimmauld Place, where John dropped me off and headed straight for the coffee shop a block away. Without wasting a minute, I went into the house and along the gloomy but well-groomed walls, pasted over with dark wallpaper with monograms, reached the hall with the portrait of Lady Walburga.

"Good evening," I nodded to the painted lady and received a symmetrical greeting in return.

"Good evening, Max. Will you stay for a long time?"

"Just for a few minutes. I hasten to inform you that Vol..." I stopped abruptly, took out my wand, and walked around, repeating the spell shown by Delphine to check the protection of the area from the Tabu charms. "Ahem, well, Voldemort has been reborn."

"This was to be expected. Sooner or later," Walburga nodded importantly, smoking.

From the stairs to the upper floors came the sound of small but quick footsteps, without the usual creaking sound. Kreacher was descending quickly, carrying a rolled-up newspaper in his hands.

"Evening news..." he babbled with inspiration, and when he saw me, he bowed respectfully. "The Head of House..."

"May I?" I held out my hand for the newspaper, and Kreacher immediately gave me the issue. "Let's see..."

On the front page was a magnificent magic photo of a quarter-destroyed Azkaban, and the headline read: "Mass escape from Azkaban!!!"

"What a twist..." I could not resist sarcasm, starting to feverishly figure out what to do next.

"What is it, Max?"

"Voldemort snatched from Azkaban... Judging by the text, almost all the criminals. Here's the list... Okay... I know him, I don't know this one... the whole Lestrange family, Jugson, Dolohov..."

"So Bella is there too?"

"Looks like it. He's in a hurry," I rubbed the paper thoughtfully. "Perhaps he needs access to the Malfoys' finances. Draco's support can be easily obtained by bringing Bella there because her mother surely loves her, whatever aunt is."

"That's right," Walburga nodded.

"The others who were out there didn't have much finances, and half of them owed the Malfoys. Yes... It's the right move. But so quickly? Perhaps Henry Greengrass said something about working with Dementors before he burned safely in the devil's fire?"

"What are you going to do?" Walburga let out a few rings of smoke and set aside the mouthpiece with her cigarette.

"A lot of things. There is a lot to do. Summer plans are changing... yes."