Snape, the Sunshine of Hogwarts.

Chapter 127 Something's Wrong and the Key to Solving the Mystery

"Are you ready?"

"Don't worry, Thomas has already lured all those Aurors to Lyon, no one knows we're here."

"Damn it, those Aurors are chasing us too closely. We can't stay in France for long. Did she say how long it would take before we can go to Austria?"

"There's no other way. Having Nicolas Lemaître alone isn't enough. We also need to get those other things."

"Who was with Thomas in Lyon again?"

"Carlo, with him by your side, you can rest assured."

"Then we need to be careful. Once we've infiltrated, we need to make contact with that little mouse."

"Don't speak, someone's coming!"

monastery.

Not long after Severus and his companions left, just as the nannies and the children in the courtyard had finished their lunch, two elderly people arrived.

They wore simple coats and dressed sloppily, as if they had wandered from a very far place.

After seeing them pleading for help outside the monastery, the nun who had greeted Yuma that morning came to the door and cautiously asked.

"What do you need?"

“Kind lady, we’ve wandered from Le Creusetco. Could you give us some food? We haven’t eaten all day!”

The one who spoke was an old man with black hair. His French accent was a bit strange, clearly not like his native language, but that's not uncommon in France.

The man with him, who looked older than him, was wearing a worn-out little round hat, and he also made a request.

"Could you find us some food? We don't want money, just some food and water will do."

After hesitating for a few seconds, the nun opened the door for them from the inside.

"Please come in, we have some hot food and soup, you can come in and eat."

"Thank you so much! Thank the Lord, thank God!"

They bowed repeatedly in thanks and followed the nun into the convent.

The front yard was empty at the time. The children needed to take a nap after lunch. After entering the yard, the two old beggars kept looking around. They seemed to be familiar with the place, but were just pretending to accept the nun's guidance.

Just then, Sister Amy, who had just finished cleaning the kitchen, heard the commotion and came out. She saw the two elderly people behind the nun.

"What's wrong, Lefebvre?"

“These two gentlemen haven’t eaten all day, and they want some food and water,” the nun said.

Mother Amy nodded. She didn't seem too surprised. Monasteries were places that helped the homeless, so it wasn't unusual for someone to come to them seeking help.

"Go and watch the children. There are some leftover sausages and bread from lunch. I'll go get them for them."

The two elderly people expressed their gratitude to Sister Aimee. They were seated at the dining table, and the nun who had brought them left to take care of the children. Sister Aimee went to get them the leftover food from lunch, leaving the two of them alone.

Should we go straight there?

"Don't rush! Let's wait for her to come back!"

There's no one else here!

"That's why I said I'd wait for her to come back!"

Soon, Aunt Amy returned carrying a basket full of food.

She placed the bread and sausages on the table, then sat down opposite the two men, as if she didn't intend to leave and would wait there for them to finish eating.

The two elderly people looked at the food in front of them but did nothing. Instead, they exchanged a glance and slowly tucked their right hands into the sleeves of their coats.

Granny Amy seemed completely oblivious to their movements; her gaze was drawn to the commotion outside the window, where she heard someone else approaching!

When she saw Severus and Lupin, who had left less than two hours earlier that morning, walking briskly down the corridor, the old woman's face clearly showed surprise and confusion.

But that perception quickly changed.

When she turned around, the two destitute old men had each pulled a small wooden stick from their sleeves!

"What are you trying to do?!"

Granny Aimei took two steps back and asked in a shrill voice!
The two elderly people were either startled by the old woman's reaction or heard the hurried footsteps in the corridor outside.

Their bodies trembled together, and then, ignoring Aunt Amy who had escaped from the dining hall, they turned to look at Severus and Lupin, who had rushed in after hearing Aunt Amy's scream!
Without hesitation, Severus brandished his wand and began to attack!
"All petrified!"

A crimson beam of light shot out from the tip of the staff!

However, these two seemingly unremarkable and frail old men reacted quite quickly and even had an extremely tacit understanding.

"Protect them all!"

"Thunderous Explosion!" A powerful area-of-effect armor spell firmly blocked Severus's petrification spell, proving to be even more powerful than the armor spells used by the French Aurors!
The next second, the deafening explosion of the Explosion Curse rang in Severus and Lupin's ears!

"The curse stops immediately!"

Lupin used a universal dispelling spell on the still-spreading explosion, and managed to stop it with great difficulty.

Severus waved his wand again, and a gust of wind blew by, clearing away the smoke and dust from the explosion. The two old men had vanished!
Severus and Lupin both frowned as they looked at the craters left on the ground from the explosion.

“They are no ordinary people! Normal wizards simply don’t have this kind of strength and teamwork, and even many Aurors can’t do this!”

“There’s no one like that among the Death Eaters. They might have used some method to conceal their true identities. But I’m certain that, apart from those imprisoned in Azkaban, even if Barty Jr. came, the Death Eaters currently outside wouldn’t cooperate with anyone like that!”

"Can we track down the location where they appear in phantom form?" Lupin asked.

Severus shook his head.

“This is France. Only the French Ministry of Magic is authorized to track all Apparitions and Manifestations. We can’t do that. Today we’ve stopped them and determined their purpose, and that’s good enough.”

Just as the two were talking, Aunt Amy came running back, holding a wand in her hand. Clearly, having lived in Muggle society for so long, she had long since lost the habit of carrying her wand with her at all times.

I left immediately to get my wand.

"What about the other two?" she asked, her breath coming in short gasps.

“They ran very fast after they found out we were wizards,” Severus said, looking at Granny Aimee.

Lupin also asked.

"Are the children safe?"

"The child?" Granny Amy frowned. "They came for the child?"

Severus stared into Mother Amy's eyes.

"Since you've already confessed this morning, could you please tell us how many duds you have here?"

"Two, there are only two left in the courtyard now. One was abandoned by his parents, and the other was abandoned by his witch mother after his father died."

It is possible for a wizard's descendants to produce a Squib, but the probability is clearly not high enough for such people to be everywhere.

While they were talking with Mother Aimee, Yuma finally arrived at the monastery with his men.

Soon, they learned from Severus what had just happened, and they also learned his speculation that the group of murderers wanted to come to the orphanage to take away the Squib children.

"Are they planning to use the dud as a necessary material for some alchemical ritual?"

Yuma's eyes were filled with shock.

"I did fairly well in alchemy class at Beauxbatons, but I've never heard of any special alchemical elements in Squibs!"

“But it’s clear their target is this monastery,” Lupin said. “The people who appeared in Lyon were bait; this is where they really want to be!”

Yuma took a deep breath and nodded.

"I understand! I will pass this message on to Girard immediately and protect these children!"

After seeing that Yuma had arranged for her men to report back to the Ministry of Magic, and then she and her men stayed behind to guard the place, Severus left with Lupin.

"I always felt that something was wrong."

Severus frowned and said softly.

Lupin, however, did not sense anything amiss.

“We arrived just in time, didn’t we? If you hadn’t thought of these things, we would have reacted a step too late, and those two would have already attacked Granny. She was no match for them, and the children would have been in trouble.”

“The problem isn’t here,” Severus was still recalling the brief encounter that had just taken place in the monastery.

"Those two are behaving strangely. Why didn't they act sooner? Now that their companions have already drawn the Aurors away in Lyon, this is the best opportunity. Why haven't they made a move even after they've entered the orphanage? Why did they wait until they met with Aunt Amy before pulling out their wands?"

"Perhaps...perhaps they don't quite understand the situation in the orphanage and can't determine exactly how many wizards are here?"

"No, judging from their demonstrated strength, they don't need to be this cautious at all."

Severus shook his head. He took Lupin back to the apartment building in the 16th arrondissement and then stood on the other side of the street, gazing at the large, towering building.

“I have a feeling that this building is the key to solving the mystery. They kidnapped Nicolas Flamel and conducted some kind of alchemical ritual here, but was it really just for experiments?”

After muttering to himself, Severus suddenly spoke.

"Can you do me a favor, Remus?"

"What do you need me to do?" Lupin simply pulled out his wand.

“Go back to the French Ministry of Magic and get me a camera from them.”

(End of this chapter)