Chapter 428: Grand Council

In the week that followed, Ron was instead left confused by the questions Zhang Qiu had raised. He began to stare blankly at various things—first his belt and sword, then the storybook, and later, he began to flip through the Muggle novels he had once loved, but the deeper he read into those Slavic works, the more ashen his face became, which in turn led to further confusion.

Harry was slightly busier than him. Although he held a glimmer of hope regarding the actual danger posed by Evolt, in his actions, he displayed the seriousness and decisiveness of dealing with the actual resurrection of Voldemort. Letters flew in and out like snowflakes, and Hedwig had her busiest week ever.

By Saturday, Harry woke up early and pulled back Ron's bed curtains.

"Wake up, brother, we have a meeting to attend." he said.

"Meeting? What meeting?" Ron opened his eyes, but his tone remained listless.

"The Grand Council of the Order of the Phoenix. Sirius will be at the Three Broomsticks at eight-forty to pick us up." Harry glanced at his watch. "You have to go too, as our only Kamen Rider."

"Sigh—let's go then."

Although Ron let out a very long, long sigh, when he finished breakfast, perked up, and arrived at Godric's Hollow with Sirius, he still showed longing and enthusiasm for the Order of the Phoenix.

"Oh, welcome." Doge stood in front of the fork in the road, greeting them. "Harry, you haven't been here for a long time, perhaps you don't know that we have changed our headquarters..."

"I heard," Harry continued, "that you built a new headquarters on an empty plot of land here, yes, and it's quite impressive. I think this should be Ron's first time seeing it."

"I am honored, Mr. Wei Wei Silai, that you can see the best Order of the Phoenix as soon as you arrive." Doge said with a smile.

Harry and Ron followed Doge into the newly completed headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. It was no longer a single small house, but a grand building, decorated with a large amount of red and yellow, which made people think of flames at a glance. Moreover, the system of the Order of the Phoenix began to become formalized. Each of them was given a small booklet, on which the procedures for this meeting were written—a grand meeting in the morning, and a small meeting in the afternoon.

At the grand meeting, Doge introduced the appearance of Evolt to everyone without any avoidance, as well as his ambiguous relationship with Voldemort, calling on everyone to work together to crush the conspiracy of the dark forces again. The people present applauded in cooperation, but, with the expansion of the Order of the Phoenix, the personnel at the grand meeting were mixed. How many people were sincere? This was a question that could not be counted in detail.

After eating a fairly sumptuous lunch, Harry and Ron sat at the long table in the small conference room. They both knew that this was the meeting where they were truly prepared to face the problems and solve them.

"First of all, we need to reach a consensus: Evolt is our enemy. No matter what his relationship with Voldemort is, we must defeat him. We must not consider seeking peace or compromise." After everyone was seated, Doge took the lead in setting the tone. "If he is related to Voldemort, then out of the duties of the Order of the Phoenix, we must fight him to the end; and even if he has nothing to do with Voldemort, we cannot allow any ambitious person to borrow Voldemort's name, which is undoubtedly a provocation to us."

"Yes, it seems that Elphias has also considered the possibility that Evolt has nothing to do with Voldemort. At present, we are lacking in both intelligence and combat power. I think we need to put effort into two aspects." Lupin was the first to speak. His experience in Gilneas had fully changed his temperament. At this moment, he appeared confident and sharp. "First, we must investigate clearly whether Evolt has any relationship with Voldemort. If so, we can start with Voldemort, whom we know relatively well, to target his weaknesses or prevent some of his means in advance; and if not, we also need to understand why he insists on dragging Voldemort into this, and figure out his motives, which is conducive to us guessing and predicting his actions."

"The second point is to fall back on the Kamen Rider issue. Although we have discussed the changes brought about by the Rider system to the wizarding world and how to deal with them, we should not have focused and thought about it with all our strength. At this moment, since Evolt is an enemy within the framework of the Rider system, we still have to spend considerable effort on confronting Kamen Riders, whether it is cultivating our own riders," he looked at Ron when he said this, "or finding another way to use existing or new magic to confront riders, we must invest more in this issue."

"Well said, Remus." Moody agreed. "I heard your opinion and it is basically the same as mine, that is, on the basis of strategic defense, collect as much information about the enemy as possible. However, I think there is another thing that is more urgent and worth discussing, and that is the specific strategy of defense."

"Yes, even if we simply believe the Chinese people's statement, we know that the ring and the locket must be kept properly." Aberforth patted the desk of Sirius beside him. "We must not only guard against his snatching and grabbing, but also guard against means such as theft or deception, because the Diadem was stolen."

"In fact, I am still not sure whether the stolen Diadem was really used by Evolt." Harry said calmly. "And, I am also not sure whether Evolt already knows that the ring has been destroyed. The Chinese people seem to assume that he knows this, which I think is very strange."

"If he really knows, it confirms Evolt's identity from the side. He must be a Chinese person." Doge said. "Only very, very few people know that the ring has been destroyed. At least the Order of the Phoenix absolutely cannot leak the secret. The only possibility is that during the time Albus went to China to meet Master Xuanjun, the matter of the ring was learned by someone else in China."

"It's possible." Sirius sat up straight and said very seriously, "Anyway, I agree with the conclusion of protecting the ring and the locket. We must discuss a reasonable protection plan."

"We have indeed set up many protective spells to guard against thieves, but judging from the fact that the Diadem was stolen, perhaps protective spells are no longer foolproof; and, we also know that Kamen Riders have infinite strength, so physical means may not be safe." Moody suggested. "Perhaps, what we should really do is transfer the ring and hide it, so that it can be better protected."

"If you say so, the Fidelius Charm is a very good spell for hiding things," Lupin said somewhat easily, "the locket should be safe with you, Padfoot?"

"It's safe for now, but I don't recommend that you bring the ring over, and I'm also thinking about transferring the locket to another place." Sirius shook his head. "Because everyone knows that the place is protected by the Fidelius Charm, which is actually a relatively dangerous thing. First, I am worried about implicating those who know the secret, and second, I am also worried that someone has found a way to break the Fidelius Charm. It is better to say that we hide the Horcrux in another way, so that the enemy is truly unable to start."

"At this stage, this is the best thing to do." Doge nodded, then turned to Harry and Ron. "Then, we can discuss next, if we have a decisive battle with Evolt at this moment, how much chance of winning do we have?"

"Fifty-fifty." Harry glanced at Ron. "Saber still has room for growth."

"I think it's a bit worse." Ron shook his head. "Although I fought Evolt to a draw last time, I'm not sure if he used his full strength. More importantly, we have two enemies, Night Rogue and Evolto, hiding in the dark. I dare not say how the situation will develop, but the worst case is that Saber may have to face a situation of one against many."

"What if we consider other means?" Doge looked at the others present with hope.

"At night, my werewolf partners should be able to pose a considerable threat to the Kamen Riders, it's just that we haven't tried it for sure," Lupin said hesitantly.

"We have purchased a batch of high-power Muggle weapons, but we haven't tried them either." Sirius's tone was equally full of uncertainty.

"Although everyone may not want to admit it, I have to say that the only thing that can definitely work against Kamen Riders at present is the Killing Curse." Moody said with a solemn expression. "My level of Killing Curse is not brilliant, I am afraid this matter will eventually depend on... Severus."

Several members of the Order of the Phoenix looked at each other, Snape did not attend this meeting.

"Harry, you find another opportunity to communicate with him." Doge said reluctantly. "We still have to try our best to avoid doing this... of course, if it is a last resort, we can only say... try to understand..."

"Then if this is the case." Harry simply made a decision. "I think concentrating all the Horcruxes in the school is the best plan at the moment."

"First, Hogwarts itself has a large number of protective spells, and it is not so easy for outsiders to mix in as wizards."

"Second, there are at least three students in the school at present who can use Rider power to fight Evolt, or even if other enemies appear, we are not without the strength to fight."

"Third, Professor Snape, the only one on our side who can threaten Kamen Riders as a wizard, also has a lot of time in the school, and he is one of the few people who can enter and exit the school through Apparition. Once something happens, he has the ability to rush to the scene immediately."

Finally, if Evolt is not an evil ambitious person, but just a part of the Chinese people's plan, then putting the Horcrux in the school can just give him a reason to attack the school, which is convenient for Ron to fight and grow, Harry added silently in his heart. ===== CHAPTER 429 =====