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Chapter 720: Stop, Stop!!
More and more often, Ron contributed nothing but complaints.
Only Harry and Hermione continued discussing the Horcruxes.
Harry repeated everything Dumbledore had told him.
But even together, they couldn't extract much more from the information.
Their discussions gradually became dry and fruitless.
They speculated that perhaps Albania—where Voldemort had once hidden—might hold some clues.
Ron immediately scoffed.
"So what? We search all of Albania from beginning to end?"
Harry and Hermione fell silent.
They needed another approach.
But every new idea felt unrealistic.
That night Harry sat outside the tent, exhausted.
For years he had relied on Darren's ideas.
Now that Darren wasn't here, he struggled to come up with anything useful.
Even worse—
The Horcrux's influence over him was growing stronger.
Whenever he wore it, he began seeing images.
The face of the blond boy who had once stolen a wand.
The name Gregovitch.
And occasionally—
Darren.
Every time Voldemort thought of Darren's name, there was irritation in his mind.
It seemed Darren had done something again to anger him.
Not something major.
But enough.
For Harry—whose scar throbbed when it happened—that small sign brought a strange comfort.
At least it meant one thing.
Darren was alive.
Alive enough to occasionally provoke Voldemort.
Whenever Harry shared that with Hermione, she seemed to regain some strength.
Even Ron would rally briefly when he heard it.
Days turned into weeks.
That tiny fragment of hope was all they had.
---
One evening Ron sat in the tent staring at a piece of dried fish.
He looked disgusted.
"My mum can always make delicious meals…"
Hermione glared at him.
"Food cannot be conjured out of thin air.
If you know where food is, you can summon it.
If you already have some, you can multiply or transform it.
This is the first of the five principal exceptions to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration.
If you can't remember something that basic, maybe you should go back to school."
"I'd love to go back to school," Ron muttered bitterly.
"At least the ghouls in my attic didn't eat food like this."
"Enough!" Hermione snapped.
"Harry caught the fish.
I cooked it.
What exactly have you done?"
"I try my best every day!
And you just sit there criticizing us!"
Hermione stood abruptly.
The pot tipped over.
Fish spilled onto the ground.
She opened her mouth to continue shouting—
"Stop," Harry said suddenly.
"Stop, Hermione—listen!"
"Harry, you're taking his side now—"
Hermione began angrily.
But Harry shook his head urgently.
"No. I heard something.
What if they've found us again?"
Hermione froze.
She listened carefully.
There was the faint sound of cloth rustling.
And water flowing.
"I cast Muffliato, shielding charms, Muggle-repelling charms, concealment spells… almost everything I know.
If someone's here and it isn't them…"
She didn't finish the sentence.
Instead she motioned for Harry to put on the Invisibility Cloak.
"We'll go outside and check."
They crept away from the tent.
No one could see them.
Soon they heard voices.
Quiet whispers about twenty feet away.
Then silence again.
Harry finally noticed figures standing near the stream.
"How can we hear them?" he whispered.
Hermione pulled out a pair of Extendable Ears.
She handed one to Harry and Ron.
Moments later they could hear clearly.
A tired male voice said,
"There should be fish in this season… let me try.
Accio carp!"
Several fish jumped from the water onto the bank.
Another voice asked,
"How are you holding up, Griphook?"
"Still alive," the goblin replied.
Hermione silently mouthed the translation.
Goblin.
Harry immediately remembered.
Griphook—the goblin who had once guided him through Gringotts.
"So you've been running for quite a while?" another man asked.
"Six or seven weeks," Griphook replied.
"What about you, Ted? How did you escape?"
"I'm Muggle-born," the man said calmly.
"My wife is pure-blood. They probably won't harm her."
Harry suddenly recognized the name.
Ted Tonks—Tonks's father.
Ted continued,
"I met Dean here a few days ago.
Dean, you're not even sure where your father came from, right?"
"Yeah," another voice said.
"Apparently my dad was a wizard, but he disappeared before I was born.
I never found him."
Dean Thomas.
Their classmate.
"What about you?" Ted asked the goblin.
"Why are goblins running away?"
"I'm not a house-elf," Griphook snapped.
"I won't serve wizards.
And now Gringotts is under wizard control.
That's impossible.
I refuse to return just to call a wizard 'master.'"
Ted and Dean laughed softly.
Then Griphook spoke again.
"Before I left, I heard some news.
You know Darren Potter, right?"
Harry, Ron, and Hermione stiffened instantly.
They had not expected to hear Darren's name here.
This might be the first real news they had received since escaping.
Ted and Dean sounded curious too.
"Of course," Dean said.
"He's basically the most famous guy at school.
Even though he's in Slytherin, loads of Gryffindor girls like him.
Honestly—even as a guy—I admire him.
What happened?"
Ted added,
"The Daily Prophet stopped mentioning him after saying he was taken back to school.
Sometimes I wonder if he's even still alive."
Griphook gave a harsh laugh.
"Of course the Daily Prophet won't print it.
If they did, the Order of the Phoenix would gain dozens of new recruits overnight."
He paused deliberately.
Then continued,
"When Darren Potter first arrived back at Hogwarts…
he starved himself for an entire week."
Harry felt his entire body go cold.
Griphook's voice continued calmly.
"By the time Severus Snape dragged him out of his room, he was barely conscious.
Apparently he planned to starve himself to death.
That way Harry Potter wouldn't risk coming to rescue him."
Harry, Ron, and Hermione felt chills run through them.