Harry Potter and the Secret Treasures

They seemed stunned by the scene before them.

“We — we thought we heard —” said Mr. Weasley in surprise.

“— raised voices,” panted Mrs. Weasley.

Scrimgeour took a couple of steps back from Harry and lowered his wand, glancing at the hole he had made in Harry’s T-shirt. He seemed to regret his loss of temper.

“It — it was nothing, just a little misunderstanding. You’re right, Evan, I was impulsive! But I … regret your attitude,” he growled, looking Evan and Harry full in the face once more. “We ought to be talking calmly, thinking this through. You seem to think that the Ministry does not desire what you — what Dumbledore — desired, but that’s not the case. We are on the same side. We ought to be working together.”

“I don’t like your methods, Minister,” Harry replied coldly.

Scrimgeour’s expression hardened at Harry’s words.

“That’s enough, Harry. Leave it there,” Evan intervened, then turned to Scrimgeour. “Minister, we cannot cooperate under your terms or in your way. But our positions are aligned — we should not be enemies. If you’d like to hear it, I can share my views on the Ministry, in the hope they might be of use to you.”

“Go on then — the Ministry, and I myself, will not refuse any help that proves useful.” Scrimgeour adjusted his disheveled robes and held his chin high.

From his expression, though, it was plain he did not believe Evan; he only agreed to hear him out because of how heated things had just become. He had not expected Evan to offer actual cooperation. With the Weasleys and Hagrid looking on, he had to be mindful of appearances, and softening the atmosphere was at least politically prudent.

Scrimgeour thus gave the impression he was willing to listen — or at least acted as though he were.

Evan knew his efforts might be in vain; Scrimgeour was unlikely to act on his advice.

But he had to speak. He wanted to urge the Ministry to take measures that could truly counter Voldemort, instead of simply waiting to be overthrown.

They were already weak, and having more strength and allies was always beneficial.

“Mr. Minister, as Harry and I have always said, I hope the Ministry can announce to the public the current actual situation in the Wizarding world, including the fall of Azkaban and the fact that we have lost control of the situation,” Evan paused again because Scrimgeour snorted heavily. “I know that’s difficult, but people need to know the truth to prepare for war. Continuing like this will only benefit Voldemort. Until now, there are still wizards who don’t believe he has returned, but the reality is that there are murders and attacks everywhere, and even many people within the Ministry have turned to Voldemort or been controlled by the Imperius Curse, and what’s even more terrifying is…”

“Enough, Mason, I don’t want to listen anymore, everything you said is nonsense,” Scrimgeour interrupted Evan abruptly, his expression serious and gloomy, but much calmer than before. “I don’t know what your purpose is in saying these words, but if this is what you call help, then I can only say sorry. Things may not look good right now, but the Ministry has not lost control of the situation. I can also guarantee that every one of my Aurors is trustworthy and no one is under the Imperius Curse.”

“You just don’t dare face reality, you coward!” Harry suddenly shouted.

“Harry!” cried Mrs. Weasley in alarm.

“You are far too insolent, Potter. Think about who you are talking to. Clearly Dumbledore never taught you the most basic manners. Let me repeat myself: I don’t need two seventeen-year-old children telling me how to do my job. I know exactly what I’m doing. When I was fighting Dark wizards, you two hadn’t even been born yet,” Scrimgeour’s voice was icy as he fixed his gaze on Evan. “One last thing, Mason. Someone saw you at the end of last term leaving Hogwarts with a staff entwined by two great green serpents.”

“You mean the Caduceus?!”

“That’s it. I’m not sure if Dumbledore gave it to you, but according to reliable evidence I recently obtained, the scepter was left by Salazar Slytherin. Like the Sword of Gryffindor, it doesn’t belong to any wizard. It is part of Hogwarts and should be managed by the Ministry,” Scrimgeour continued. “Hand it over.”

“I’m afraid that’s not possible, Minister. As you can see, it’s not in my possession now,” Evan replied.

It wasn’t surprising that Scrimgeour had noticed the Caduceus.

Evan had deliberately displayed a replica of it in front of so many students at the end of last term, just to make sure people believed he had taken it away from Hogwarts and conceal the real staff. However, the fact that Scrimgeour knew it had once belonged to Salazar Slytherin was interesting. Had he dug that up himself, or had the Death Eaters told him?

Judging from the current situation, Evan doubted Scrimgeour had the energy or time to comb through historical records and trace the staff’s origins. That meant his “evidence” must have come from someone else. Other than Evan and his companions, only Voldemort knew of the Twin Serpent Staff. It had been mentioned in Slytherin’s legacy, in connection with the evil god.

If it was connected to the evil god within the statue, Voldemort would undoubtedly know about it.

In other words, Voldemort and the evil god had noticed the Twin Serpent Staff and wanted to get it.

Getting the Twin Serpent Staff through the Ministry of Magic was without doubt the easiest way, and Scrimgeour was quite easy to make use of. He believed Dumbledore must have left behind a method to defeat Voldemort — that was his last remaining reliance, or rather, his only option. At this point, he was frantically searching for anything and everything connected to Dumbledore.

All it would take was to tell Scrimgeour that Dumbledore had entrusted the Twin Serpent Staff to Evan, and naturally Scrimgeour would want to seize it.

Taking the Caduceus from Scrimgeour would then be much easier.

“The staff — where is it?” Scrimgeour pressed. “Where have you put it?”

“It vanished on its own, Minister. In fact, I’m also desperately searching for the Twin Serpent Staff — you know, it was an important magical artifact that Dumbledore entrusted to me,” said Evan, making up an excuse at random. “I brought it out from the school, but that very night it disappeared by itself. I’d wager that staff has enchantments on it similar to the Sword of Gryffindor’s — whenever a true Slytherin is in need of it, it will let itself be drawn forth from somewhere.”

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