36

Back home from Saint Mungo, Eli's situation has not improved much.

The Daily Prophet has turned a blind eye to the evil deeds of many Death Eaters, not knowing whether it is driven by heart or fear, and has often been overly cautious when it comes to reporting on Voldemort. This time they have spent a lot of time and energy describing a boy who was"Treated differently by Voldemort", rather than ridiculing him two years ago, it was as if he had lost all memory of saying that he was above his means, and began to pay attention to him with ulterior motives.

It was a newspaper that knew how to measure the difference between the strong and the weak. It couldn't do anything about Voldemort, but it was very interested in him, a student. It used all kinds of tricks. Eli had nothing to say about it, so he could only applaud him.

Thanks to the most widely read newspaper in the wizarding world, people no longer seem to care how Voldemort dares to be surrounded by aurors in broad daylight, the Silent, swaggering King's Cross station of the platform turned into a stampede to find out what made him special enough to be seen by Voldemort.

This is a fairly unreasonable assumption, but sadly, many people seem to be really talking about it. Fortunately, it was summer vacation, and after all, there was no such thing as being reckless enough to print his home address directly in the newspapers, which made his life quite peaceful. Otherwise, he would be just like when he was running for the magical phone, every day, I was flooded with letters from owls. It was a troublesome memory that I didn't want to think about at all.

Without letters, Eli had little to do but read the newspapers of the Wizarding and Muggle Worlds. The family's plan to travel to Austria this year fell through the cracks the moment Voldemort showed up. Throughout the summer vacation, no friends came to visit him. All the letters sent to his home were opened for inspection. He was not allowed to go out too far. From the moment he left his home, he was under surveillance, the other side of the level of surveillance is also terrible, each time is extremely conspicuous, or simply not afraid of being seen.

She clearly did not believe that he could create any major problems from the bottom of her heart, yet she still wanted to waste her time with him under the pretext of doing things seriously just in case. Eli stood in his room and looked out of the window at the Muggle world as it was, the sun shining brightly on the streets, the tall trees shading the sky and casting a deep summer shadow on the ground, everything seemed to be with a carefree simple beautiful, he saw in the eyes, but a kind of already can not go back to the kind of calm life of compassion.

He stared unconsciously out of the window at the young couple sauntering through the street. Teenage boys and girls wearing wide-brimmed hats, ice cream cone in hand, comfortably holding hands through the summer without trouble. He thought of the holidays before, when he had dragged Penny's suitcase along the long streets of Corkworth with her, and the road seemed endless, but none of them found it hard, rambling all the way forward, do not care where the end, along the landscape is all the harvest.

So relaxed and comfortable, from now seems to have been a long time.

"Eli?" There was a knock on the door and a Shoot'Em Up poked his head in. "Your mother asked me to call you down to dinner -- your favorite lamb chop today, you've been so thin lately that you need to eat more."

Okay, coming right up. Eli broke free from his trance, turned around, and followed his father down the stairs. The Shoot'Em Up walked beside him, touching his shoulder affectionately and naturally, and the father and son continued to get along like brothers.

"Does it still hurt, Daddy?" Eli asked him suddenly, halfway down the stairs.

The Shoot'Em Up stopped and turned to him. The father and son stood on the landing, unknown to Mrs. Smith in the kitchen, waving her wand and directing the ingredients to fly by themselves, forming a corresponding arrangement on the plate, it was a spell that tested the precision of its application, and she applied it with great concentration.

"Of course it doesn't hurt anymore, Eli, it's been over a year," the Shoot'Em Up said gently, touching his chest -- a deep scar under his thin shirt, dark Magic had left a permanent mark on him, remembering the torment he had endured.

"But the question is not whether it hurts or not," he pointed out sharply, looking at his son, "You're worried again, aren't you, Eli? You've been looking rather pale lately. has anything happened?"

"No." Eli shook his head quickly and gave his father a frank smile. "I couldn't help thinking more... but nothing happened again, Dad. Don't worry."

"Your mother and I are really worried about you," the Shoot'Em Up said gravely, sighing softly, "Eli, don't keep everything to yourself. It's really hard, and mom and Dad would love to help you with your problems."

"Not all problems can be solved by love and unity," Eli said softly, his eyes darkening.

They looked at each other for a while longer, and Eli, with a shrug and a bright smile, pushed his father down the stairs.

"Well, dad, I know what I'm doing-we both know what's bothering us, and we can't fix it. But this sentence I also give you and mom, we do not think too much, believe each other is enough. I mean it, and you know it. I'm not going to do anything stupid. Don't worry."

Neither the Shoot'Em Up nor her ladyship felt at ease with him. Anyone who encountered such a thing would inevitably be demoralized and deprive a young man of his high spirits, it was as cruel as breaking his back and destroying him. But to their amazement, Eli did seem to be getting better after that day, with the occasional look of gloom and gloom in his eyes, in the end, apart from a bit of annoyance in the face of the ministry's ham-fisted surveillance, it was almost as good as new.

He shows no signs of vulnerability and needs his parents to worry more. As a parent, he can only respect his ideas and choose to trust him completely. The Shoot'Em Up and her ladyship both appeared to be returning to business as usual, sighing deeply to each other only in private.

Such a world, even the children have lost the capricious qualifications, it is a kind of sad.

When the nine-and-three-quarters of the platform was again filled with Hogwarts students, the platform was visible to the naked eye, full of aurors who were tense and alert, as if they thought Voldemort had been here the last time, this time they will still be in the same place, to meet their appointment. Eli did not comment on the ministry's preparations, and it was true that they were not well prepared. It was always good to be prepared, but it was somewhat naive to expect another meeting with Voldemort, i don't think he would do such a thing.

Many of them thought as the ministry did. When they saw him, their eyes changed. They peeked at him from afar and whispered to each other. Eli was unfazed by the sight, unperturbed by the fact that the Ministry of Magic had unashamedly formed a large circle around him, preventing anyone from approaching him.

He looked over at the noise, and saw Jaime standing just outside the circle of workers, already arguing with them. He seemed to have no idea what they were doing, why should his friends be isolated. The baud, clearly disapproving, let their son run wild and frowned at the ministry.

Eli caught Jaime's eye, shook his head at him, and glanced at the train. Jaime paused for a moment, then understood-there was no need to haunt them here, nor to meet them on the train or at school. Dumbledore would never allow them to do so, this is the last time they'll be able to keep an eye on Eli like a criminal.

He looked at Eli, then at the man in front of him, weighed his options, and finally nodded. Eli looked back at Jaime, and naturally thought of Sirius, of Lupin, of Lily, of--.

His eyes suddenly narrowed, and on the other side he saw Lily and Penny.

"Can't you keep him isolated?" Said Lily angrily. "The train is about to leave! Please get out of the way, my sister wants to talk to Eli!"

"Why don't we talk about this on the train, Dumbledore's children," the ministry staff complained impatiently, apparently, they also think it's a waste of time to look at a child this way. "Don't give us any trouble. Go away."

Lily's angry face froze, and her voice faltered.

"My sister... She... Um..."

"I'm sorry, but I'm a Muggle," said Penny, her face turning pale and her voice dropping, and she was obviously cowardly to say such a thing in front of the Wizard, "I couldn't get on that train, so..."

"Muggle?" Someone asked, with surprise and interest in his voice. "You're friends with a Little Wizard? Why?"

"I. . ." Penny opened his mouth, not knowing what to make of it. She was stunned for a moment. Then, she gritted her teeth and looked up firmly, but her voice was a little shaky. "We have the same personality! We've known each other for years! I don't think I need to explain more to you-"

"Get out of the way," said someone standing behind the ministry staff in a soft, cold voice. "You're in the way of my friend."

Penny's voice stopped immediately, and she jerked to look, calling out urgently, "Eli!"

The ministry turned, apparently not expecting Eli to approach. "Hey, can't you just stay put?" He said disapprovingly. "Don't make trouble for our work."

"Can't you focus on the search for Voldemort, who might be waiting at one of the pillars," said Eli coolly, for the first time, he sounded so impatient that the Ministry of Magic was stunned and stared at him for a few seconds.

Ignoring their gaze, he stepped out of their circle and into Penny's presence.

"Hey!" The staff said incredulously behind him. "Get Back! Get back inside the Cordon!"

Eli looked back at them, and the corners of his lips suddenly curled slightly.

"If I don't go back, what are you going to do? Violence Against Me as a minor? Without an official surveillance order on me?" He asked softly, he narrowed his eyes slightly and said calmly with a faint smile, "I've noticed before that you guys seem to be the only ones who can't do anything about bad people. Don't push the law-abiding people too far."

Ignoring the changing expression of the Ministry of Magic Staff, he turned to look at Penny, who had just turned his head when he was startled-for a moment, Penny looked at him blankly, his eyes suddenly filling with tears, the tears were falling down in huge drops.

"What's Wrong?" He was startled and looked nervously at Lily. "What happened?"

I don't think so. ... Lily paused, and shook her head blankly. Penny raised her hand to wipe away her tears, but she couldn't help it. She looked at him steadily, more vulnerable than she had ever been to her.

"I'm sorry, I was just scared..." she sobbed, the voice became broken and sobbing, "Lily -- that you -- are being targeted by the great evil, and your government is taking it out on you, and it's staring at you. They wouldn't let me see you -- i-i don't know -- Your Mom said you were okay, but I couldn't see you, and I was worried all summer, and I --"

Eli was startled by her words, and after a moment he sighed very softly, almost as if with a wry smile.

"I'm the one who should be sorry," he said. "I'm sorry I made you worry. Don't cry. Do you need a handkerchief? You were very good at holding back your tears the day I met you. Why Can't You Hold Back Your Tears Now?"

I don't know! Penny shook his head and refused to let him give her another handkerchief. She looked at his helpless and smiling face with tears in her eyes and asked him worriedly, "Aren't you scared? I was so scared that I couldn't sleep well for the first few days..."

After a brief pause, Eli smiled a small smile.

All that tossing and turning about the future, the cold sweat that had woken him up in the middle of the night from a nightmare he had never told anyone, all the while weighing on his heart, and now suddenly it wasn't so hard to speak, these repressed emotions don't seem to matter as much anymore.

"Of course I'm scared," he said softly, raising his hand to touch her cheek with a hollow palm, wiping her tears with his thumb and lowering his eyes slightly.

"But I don't feel so scared now," he said. "Maybe it's because you helped me cry all my tears."