Chapter 261: Order of the Phoenix

In the next few days, Ivy spent most of her time writing letters. And Harry wasn't much better; he was flipping through one political book after another in the study at Dunton, and then the more he read, the dizzier he got. It wasn't until Sirius came to pick him up that he was in the middle of his third attempt to understand a book titled "Discourse on the Origin and Basis of Inequality Among Men."

"I'm not prepared at all," Harry said dejectedly. "I don't understand it, I can't figure out what to do."

"No need to be so advanced, Harry," Sirius patted his head. "First of all, most of our meeting this time will still be discussing collecting Horcruxes or obstructing the Death Eaters' actions; there's no need to study what to do after getting rid of the Death Eaters. Secondly, you are only in your fifth year now; studying political theory is too early for you."

You couldn't take the Floo Network to the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. According to Sirius, Aberforth, Deng Buliduo's brother, used a Fidelius Charm to protect the location of the Deng Buliduo ancestral home, and the Secret-Keeper is Elphias Doge. This old friend loyal to Deng Buliduo never easily tells things to others, and even if Harry hadn't heard his name from the Order of the Phoenix, he wouldn't have known Deng Buliduo had such an old classmate.

Great, Harry thought, the more I know about Doge, the better I can play the role of Hofa.

Sirius took him and Apparated to Godric's Hollow, an ancient wizarding village.

"Come to think of it, your father used to live here too," Sirius said with a hint of nostalgia. "How nostalgic."

Harry sighed lightly, but before he could continue to be sentimental, a thin, silver-haired old man with many wrinkles, looking like Filch, walked over and revealed a friendly smile.

"Is it Harry? That's great. I think you are qualified to attend the Order of the Phoenix meeting, and I'm very happy you are willing to come," he wheezed. "Forgot to introduce myself, I am Elphias Doge. I'll take you to the headquarters."

"Yes, sorry to trouble you, Doge," Sirius smiled and shook his hand.

"You should already know, the secret mission Deng Buliduo left behind, he said you hold the clue to the seventh Horcrux," Doge said. "Now it seems, did you discover the existence of Hofa from Grindelwald's memories?"

"Ah, in fact, I..." Harry was about to speak when he suddenly felt Sirius pinch him.

He realized that although Doge is trustworthy, there are so many people in the Order of the Phoenix; if a traitor appeared, things would suddenly become very troublesome.

"In fact, I knew about this before I looked at Grindelwald's memories," Harry changed his words. "I made quite a few friends at Beauxbatons last year, and I'm asking them to help investigate."

"Good, good," Doge praised. "As expected of the student Deng Buliduo valued most, you helped us a lot all of a sudden. Now all the Horcruxes are clear."

"Oh right, wait a moment," Sirius said, then suddenly leaned into Harry's ear and said, "Don't expose Regulus."

Harry nodded in deep agreement; some things are indeed like this, the more people who know, the more dangerous it is.

When they walked into the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, Harry quickly recognized Professor Moody. He was wearing a pair of sunglasses and looked very cool. Beside him was a black-skinned, bald-headed wizard with a gold ring in his ear.

"Let me introduce you," Sirius said. "This is Alastor Moody, whom you know. Beside him is Jin Wei Silai Shacklebolt."

Then, he pointed to a wizard wearing a purple top hat and said, "Dedalus Diggle." The wizard waved at Harry in an exaggerated manner.

"Emmeline Vance." Behind him, a dignified and elegant witch wearing a dark green shawl nodded slightly at him.

"Hestia Jones." A witch with black hair and chubby cheeks was standing by the bread oven, waving at him.

"Remus Lupin, whom you know." Lupin smiled at him.

Everyone laughed. Just then, a grumpy-looking old man walked down the stairs. He had a dirty goatee and a pair of bright blue eyes almost exactly like Deng Buliduo's.

"Oh, this is Aberforth Deng Buliduo," Sirius's voice also lowered quite a bit.

"Alright, despite all my warnings, you still dragged Harry in. I'm not surprised," Aberforth said grumpily. "Although he has grown up quickly, he is still too young after all, he shouldn't—"

"Forget it, we can start the meeting," he suddenly deflated. "The first question is, whether to agree to Harry Potter joining the Order of the Phoenix."

All the wizards cast their eyes on Harry. He suddenly realized that whether he was subjectively willing to join was what mattered most.

"I don't think I'm young," Harry said. "And even when I was younger, escaping death wasn't just once or twice, so I want to say, yes, I fully realize this is a dangerous undertaking, but I have still decided to join it."

"Very good, kid," Moody said. "But you must not be reckless. Before we all fall, I dare say you won't be harmed."

"Harry is much more powerful than we imagined. Think about that Sea-Opening Curse!" the wizard wearing the purple top hat shrieked.

"Since everyone agrees, let's sit down and start this meeting," Doge suggested. "Severus said he couldn't come; he was informed at the last minute that he needed to attend the Wizengamot meeting, but he sent me a secret letter, telling me an exciting piece of good news."

After everyone was seated, Doge spoke first. "That good news is, the seventh Horcrux we have been looking for has been found. It is being guarded by a close friend of Voldemort from his childhood, a German named Hofa."

Harry felt a bit confused; he had never mentioned that Hofa was German.

"We need to discuss, now the Horcruxes left outside are only the cup, the sixth Horcrux guarded by the Malfoy family, and the mysterious seventh Horcrux in Hofa's hands," Doge said. "In what order should we deal with them."

"Hofa is a living person, unlike the ring or the locket, which are hidden in a fixed place and can't run away," Moody said. "If he is determined to hide, it will be very difficult for us to catch him."

"But if he hides, he won't be able to come and look for the painting again," Jin Wei Silai suggested. "I think we can directly raid Malfoy Manor and search out the sixth Horcrux."

"Great, we can also disguise ourselves as members of the Lestrange family," Dedalus shrieked. "I can't wait to take action."

"Then the only person who stops Lestrange from going crazy will lose their right to speak," Sirius said. "Get ready for war."

"Actually, it's also a good idea for us to go to Gringotts and steal the cup first," Emmeline said. "Then, while Lestrange's attention is diverted, we can launch a surprise attack on Malfoy Manor."

"Can you all think of an idea that isn't so easy to provoke a war?" Lupin said helplessly. "Don't be too hasty."

"Then let's secretly arrest Hofa and send someone to disguise themselves as him," Doge wheezed. "The Death Eaters might not be familiar with Hofa. Pretend he is still searching for the whereabouts of the diary, or is trying to steal the ring."

Harry could tell that only Doge was considering recovering the Horcruxes; everyone else just wanted to find an excuse to launch a surprise attack on Malfoy Manor.

"The main problem is that the Ministry of Magic might not be on the same side as us," Moody said very discontentedly. "The Aurors are like they're all dead."

"Not like they are, they are," Doge said dejectedly. "The forces of justice are not strong enough. We must adopt strategies; we can't rush to our deaths."

"Then we should take action even more," Dedalus said. "Recruit new members. Everyone will be very enthusiastic when they hear Harry Potter is here."

"But the people recruited might not be reliable. Better to try to develop some kind of new weapon," Hestia suggested. "The Time-Instant Rectangle is a very good precedent."

"Don't forget the original intention of the Order of the Phoenix!" Aberforth interrupted their discussion loudly. "We must try our best to avoid any innocent people getting hurt!"

"But there's no way to defeat those Death Eaters like this," Emmeline spread her hands helplessly.

"My suggestion is, we set a trap and ambush Hofa," Doge whispered. "Then use Veritaserum to force him to reveal the whereabouts of the seventh Horcrux, and steal it first."

"I think Doge's method is the most feasible at the current stage," Moody said seriously. "And it's very safe, but the problem is, how do we bypass Regulus."

"Sirius, you are the person who knows him best. What is your opinion?" Moody turned his head and asked.

"Ah, I don't know any more than you do," Sirius said seriously. "I even suspect that the current Regulus is not my own brother at all. You all know I've been tracking the Evil Wolf, right?"

"Do you think the current Regulus is an imposter from the Soviet Union?" Lupin asked, feigning surprise.

"He has never returned to the Black ancestral home. I think Kreacher should be the person who knows Regulus best, so he is afraid of meeting Kreacher," Sirius said solemnly. "Besides, we also just learned not long ago that the Dark Night Godfather claims to be Regulus, didn't we?"

"I think Doge's line of thinking is very good, it's just a bit difficult to do," Sirius continued. "If we catch Hofa, we can also get more intelligence from him."

"I think the diary being exposed is a matter of time. Why don't we use this to set a trap," Moody offered a suggestion.

"I don't want you to let the Hogwarts students get hurt," Aberforth said firmly.

"Then there's nothing to talk about. If we use the ring, all the Death Eaters will come," Moody pushed the table angrily and stood up. "This won't work, that won't work, I might as well go catch him myself."

"If we can use any means to deal with the Death Eaters, then what difference is there between us and the Death Eaters." Doge also stood up. "Alastor, this is the reason why Deng Buliduo founded the Order of the Phoenix—"

"You!" Moody pointed at Doge and Aberforth. "You have learned Deng Buliduo's principles."

"You have learned Deng Buliduo's confidence," he pointed at the rest of the people. "But not a single one of you has Deng Buliduo's strength!"

"This won't work, it won't work." Moody shook his head while limping out. ===== CHAPTER 262 =====