Chapter 576: Meeting with Sirius

"Give me a break, Hermione!" Ron sighed.

"Hermione, when are you going to stop that Spew thing?" asked Harry.

"When house elves have decent wages and working conditions!" She said earnestly, waving the list in front of Harry. "Now I have a lot of followers, and they all think my ideas are right."

Harry saw his, Hermione's, Ivan's and Ron's names at the top of the list.

Ivan was the president, Hermione was the vice president, Harry was the secretary, and Ron is the treasurer.

This was Hermione's initial organizational structure, and there were many Gryffindor students underneath.

Even Gabrielle's name was written on it. She was the first foreign member of Hermione's organization.

But Harry was surprised to see that there were more names he didn't know that densely filled the pages.

These were all the wizards who had spontaneously written to Hermione asking her to join S.P.E.W. after seeing the reports in the paper.

Hermione had taken on a special edition on Hogwarts magic, focusing on protecting the rights and interests of house elves. The effect of the special edition slowly became apparent. At first, everyone thought Hermione was crazy, as she wanted wages and vacations for house elves.

However, as Hermione made her point, more and more people began to identify with her. To be fair, everyone agreed that Hermione had a point and was brave enough to speak such words against the ancient traditions of the magical world that had been passed down for centuries.

Today, times were different. Both in the Ministry of Magic and in the mainstream society of the magical circle, there were more and more Muggle wizard apprentices.

Gone were the dark days when pure-blooded wizards held all the power and judgment.

As one of the worst remaining customs of the old system, the status of house elves really needed to be changed.

With Hermione's efforts, this was the result so far, but there were more wizards against her. She was getting dozens of mails almost every week, with nasty and insulting words.

"We now have 300 members. It's a great achievement," Hermione said excitedly, as she responded to her supporters. "I think it's time to take more direct action. I wonder how one could get to the school kitchen."

"No idea, ask Fred and George," said Harry, "Ivan should know too."

Hermione lapsed into thoughtful silence, as Harry sipped his butterbeer, watching the people in the pub.

Everyone seemed cheerful and relaxed. Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbott were exchanging Chocolate Frogs cards at a nearby table; both were sporting "Support Cedric Diggory!" badges on their robes.

Just outside the door, he saw Cho Chang and a large group of her Ravenclaw friends.

Harry couldn't help but think that if he had become champion, maybe Cho Chang would cheer him on...

Ron was lying there, with no intention of communicating with the others, nor did he want to talk to Harry and Hermione.

He was now very depressed and in a lousy mood, feeling unbearable anxiety and fear.

Those people out there just needed to see him, and they would attack him with a badge or words from the newspaper.

He'd had enough, especially when he was about to face a dragon! Ron realized, for the first time, that becoming a champion wasn't such a good thing.

He didn't want to go out and humiliate himself. He didn't stand a chance, unless Ivan could lend him the Philosopher's Stone.

"The Philosopher's Stone!" muttered Ron.

He couldn't help thinking that if he got the Philosopher's Stone, he could also get the honors Ivan had now.

In fact, the idea was extremely exciting.

Ivan had said earlier that the four founders of Hogwarts had each left a secret key to the treasure, which was the Philosopher's Stone.

Ron thought that he could get a share too, and even reach the most exciting secret treasure. This might be his only chance to become a powerful wizard.

He had dreamed more than once of acquiring these treasures himself....

Ivan led Gabrielle to the bar, and the pretty landlady, Madam Rosmerta, greeted them both warmly.

Gabrielle chose a drink, and Ivan saw that Hagrid and Caresius as well as Professor Moody were also seated at the bar.

Hagrid had his usual huge mug in front of him, and Caresius was drinking the Multijuice Potion from the flask Moody was carrying.

Madam Rosmerta seemed to be very unhappy about this, and was looking askance at Caresius.

Seeing her expression, she probably thought Moody drinking another wine in her tavern was an insult to her.

"We were trying to find you, Ivan!" said Hagrid, his eyes glittering, he leaned over and whispered mysteriously, "Tell Ron to meet me tonight at midnight in my hut. Remember to bring Harry's invisibility cloak, I have something to show him."

When Hagrid finished, he straightened up and said in a loud voice, "Nice to see you, Ivan. See you next week."

"Good luck!" said Caresius quietly, leaving with Hagrid.

Ivan and Gabrielle, carrying their butterbeer, returned to the small table in the corner and told Harry, Ron and Hermione.

"Hagrid wants me to go to his hut at midnight?", Ron said in amazement, "Why?!".

"Probably because of the dragon," Ivan replied.

Evidently, under Caresius' persuasion, Hagrid had finally made up his mind to tell Ron in secret. But it was also very likely that he had intended to do so.

"I'm not going...," Ron said stubbornly, "There's no dragon."

"It doesn't hurt to have a look, Ron. We'll all go with you," Hermione said, "Hagrid definitely wants to tell us important information about the task. Even if it's not a dragon, it could be some other monster. We need to be prepared beforehand."

Harry agreed, and Ron muttered and fell back.

If he still had a glimmer of hope now, after they met Sirius, that glimmer of hope was gone.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, the five of them left the Three Broomsticks Inn to meet Sirius at the Shrieking House. At Sirius' suggestion, they met in secret.

When they walked up the hill to the Shrieking House, Sirius was already there waiting for them, just as they had first met last year, when he was hiding in that haunted house.

Gabrielle was excited to see Sirius. She had read a lot about him in the paper.

More excited than Gabrielle was Harry. She was quick to ask, "Sirius, how have you been doing lately?"

"Not bad," Sirius said solemnly, "They've been good lately, haven't they?"