Snape, the Sunshine of Hogwarts.

Chapter 121 Clues in the Portrait
The French witch heard Harry's words. Her English was clearly not very good. After a moment of stunned silence, she reacted and looked at the two boys.

"Did Yuma bring you back yesterday?"

Her spoken English was strange, which proved that her English was not good, but at least she could still communicate.

Harry nodded.

"Yes, it was Mr. Yuma who brought us to the French Ministry of Magic. We met the gentleman who was imprisoned there yesterday, and we have some questions for him. May we speak with him?"

The witch hesitated, clearly because Harry and Draco were too young, but she had heard some rumors last night.

It is said that Yuma's group was wiped out by two British wizards at Nick Lemay's house, which caused a lot of discussion among his colleagues.

Finally, it was Gilard who stepped forward and said that the British wizard was the headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and that losing to him and his friends was not shameful, which calmed the discussion down a bit.

The witch recognized them from the badges pinned to the children's chests; they were the children brought by the Hogwarts headmaster from England.

Faced with the expectant gazes of Harry and Draco, the witch finally nodded.

"He was not a suspect to begin with. He's currently staying here temporarily because his house has been temporarily sealed off. If you know him, please feel free to come in."

After receiving permission, Harry and Draco were both pleasantly surprised, and then they entered the cell.

Rozier, the young man sitting on the bed with his legs drawn up, was clearly at a loss when he saw the two children enter, wondering what else the Aurors needed his cooperation with.

Draco spoke first, unable to wait any longer.

"Tell me! Are you an imposter?"

Before he could finish speaking, Harry slapped him across the mouth from behind!

Draco struggled and finally managed to break free from Harry's grasp, at which point Harry said apologetically.

“Sorry, he’s a bit tongue-tied. My name is Dudley Dursley, and his name is Draco Malfoy.”

Rozier stared blankly at them; he clearly didn't recognize either of the names.

“My teacher should have met you yesterday, do you remember? In Port Dover, he was wearing a black trench coat and his hair was tied in a short ponytail.”

Harry only gave a brief description, but Rozier immediately recalled that figure.

"Are you students of that kind gentleman?" he asked in surprise.

“Yes.” Harry smiled too. “We want to know how you got here? Did you do something wrong?”

Draco, who had been glaring at Harry because he had been interrupted, couldn't help but turn his gaze to the young man.

Upon hearing this question, Rozier's face showed sadness once again.

He covered his face and couldn't help but cry.

"They said, they said I was involved in the kidnapping of Nicolas Lemaître!"

"The Rozier couple were involved in the hostage situation."

"In Yuma's office," the black wizard said with a grave expression.

"This was our initial suspicion, because there were Muggles who could testify that on that afternoon, they saw the Lemaîtres in front of the Rozier apartment in the 16th arrondissement, and that the two men led them into the apartment."

“Yesterday, we quickly sealed off and investigated the Muggle apartment, and at the same time found out information about the Rozier couple. We learned that Patrick Rozier was a Squib from the Rozier family and immediately contacted his parents.”

"But his biological parents both denied ever having this son and insulted us, saying it was an insult to them and their family."

At this point, Yuma clearly showed some helplessness.

"After that, we found out Patrick's background in Muggles and the car dealership where he worked. Then we discovered that his sales manager had been hit by a Confusion Charm and had given Patrick five days off for no reason."

"Immediately afterwards, we found out that Patrick had taken his wife on a road trip to Edinburgh and was scheduled to return yesterday morning. So we arranged for people to intercept him in Calais and bring him and his wife back to the Ministry of Magic for questioning."

"It was during this period that we learned about you and your friends, and based on your route of movement, we guessed that you might be going to the Le Maire couple's house, so we staked out there in advance, and that's how the later events happened."

Severus and Lupin went through the materials compiled by the French Aurors, and they quickly came to the section related to Patrick. "You didn't find any clues from that Squib from the Rozier family?"

Yuma nodded heavily.

"Yes. At first, we suspected that Patrick Rozier, even if he wasn't a key figure in the hostage situation, might have been forced into it. But after we questioned him in detail, we discovered that he and his wife actually knew nothing at all!"

"He himself was also severely affected by the Confusion Charm. During his few days in the UK, he experienced many accidents, and he was completely unaware of what was happening in his own home."

"What about the investigation into his home?" Severus pulled out a photo that was clearly taken from his apartment.

"At Rozier's house, all their furniture was cleared out and thrown away. The room was completely empty, with some alchemical symbols and runes remaining. After the department's alchemy experts examined it, they determined that the symbols were clearly made by Mr. Lemaître, whose alchemical techniques had a very personal style."

"What about the Philosopher's Stone?" Lupin asked the crucial question at the opportune moment. "Was the stone lost with the Flamels, or is it still in their home?"

Yuma simply shook her head at this.

"We have no way of knowing whether the Philosopher's Stone has gone missing or not. Only the Lemaîtres and Lemaîtres know where it is hidden, not even their house-elves."

"So, you can't rule out the possibility that their kidnappers wanted to get the Philosopher's Stone from them?" Severus asked.

“That’s one possibility,” Yuma said in a deep voice. “But the traces of alchemy left in the apartment room also make us suspect that the killer might not only want the Philosopher’s Stone, but also the knowledge that Nicolas Flamel used to create it!”

"Trying to steal knowledge?" Severus looked at the portraits of the two men again and clicked his tongue. "These two murderers look fierce, but I didn't expect them to be scholars?"

He was joking, but in his mind he was already having a discussion with Ghost Snape.

'Don't you think this slightly short and stout man looks a bit like Shafik, the one who used to serve your master?'

Ghost Snape could see the photo, of course, and he sneered.

'He has very Arab features. Although he's gained some weight and his hair is thinning compared to before, that should be true. The Shafiq family, being of pure blood, originally came from Egypt.'

Having received confirmation from Snape the Ghost that he had not made a mistake, Severus did not hide the information he had obtained.

He took out a photo of the short, stout man with distinctly Arab features and placed it in front of Yuma.

"Judging from the photo, this person should be someone I used to know."

Upon hearing this, Yuma was taken aback at first, and then a look of surprise appeared on her face!
"You know him!"

"Thoma Shafiq, a Death Eater who once followed the Mystic, but his position was not central. His main activities were not in Britain, but in some Eastern European countries, where he organized wizards who wanted to promote pure-bloodism in their homelands as a liaison."

Severus recalled.

"After the fall of the mysterious man, he also disappeared. The British Aurors failed to capture him, and he never appeared in the wizarding world again. Many people suspected that he had fled to the Middle East to hide."

At this moment, Yuma suddenly stood up from his chair and said excitedly.

"But now he's in France and involved in the kidnapping of Nicolas Lemaître! The Auror's guess in Britain was right! These events in the two countries are connected! The Death Eaters who weren't completely wiped out have regrouped, they're breaking out of prison, kidnapping, and abducting! They must be preparing some bigger plan!"

“We must inform Gilard about this first! We need to find information about that Thomas Shafik and compare it with the person in the portrait. Once we confirm it's him, we will form a joint investigation team with the British Auror!”

He quickly left the office temporarily, intending to pass on the information Severus had discovered to Gilard.

However, Severus, who remained behind, was not as optimistic as Yuma. He stroked his chin and said to Lupin...

“I think both the British and French Aurors are wrong. The Death Eaters won’t unite so quickly. Besides, Void has been missing for so long. Before he returns, those who are on the run in various places shouldn’t have the guts to provoke the Ministry of Magic, let alone the Ministries of England and France.”

Unlike Severus, Lupin didn't have as much inside information; he simply asked.

"If the people who kidnapped Nicolas Lemaître on the French side have no connection with Barty Jr.'s group, then who could they be?"

Severus didn't speak. He simply picked up the documents Yuma had given them again and went through them from beginning to end. Finally, he read through the notes about Mother Aimee for the third time.

"To get to the bottom of things, it's not enough for the two of us to just sit here. We need to go to the scene, meet with the witnesses again, and see what really happened."

(End of this chapter)