The Return to Hogwarts

The office fell silent for a moment. Sirius, realizing that things might be turning around, finally stopped winking at Fox and waited quietly.

Selena's cheeks twitched slightly. She wanted to rebuke Amelia, the girl who had only managed to get an internship in the security department by luck, for talking complete nonsense. However, when her gaze met the seriousness and solemnity in Amelia's beautiful, clear brown eyes, she couldn't say a word.

“Go check on the situation, Kebel—”

Finally, Selena gave in. She hesitated and turned to look at a tall, middle-aged wizard behind her.

But when she turned around and saw Amelia, who was relieved and beaming with joy, her expression turned serious again, and her wand remained motionless.

Those were agonizing five minutes; the atmosphere in the office seemed to freeze, making it feel incredibly suffocating. Finally—

Clang!

The tall wizard practically tumbled and crawled out of the elevator car. Compared to when he left, he looked much more miserable—his shoes were gone, the hem of his wizard's robe was corroded by something, his face and arms were covered in splattered burn marks, and he even had several strands of hair missing!

As he rushed toward the office, his panic caused him to knock over several tables, and the Aurors blocking the office door turned pale at the sight of him.

"What's going on, Kebel!"

Selena's shocked and angry gaze swept over the shoulders of her colleagues.

What did you encounter?

"Phew, I just went downstairs with my key and almost... I didn't escape!"

The tall wizard, looking relieved to have survived, panted as he spoke.

"Phew—the situation is basically as Amelia described. Phew, quite a few people have died!"

Like a drop of water falling into a pot of boiling oil, the atmosphere suddenly exploded. Amidst the frantic buzzing of a group of Aurors, a pale-faced Selena roared,

"Aiden, send a warning to Eriel and the others. We need their support. Also, Alex, get to the Department of Magical Transportation immediately. We need to know where that vampire went right now!"

The two wizards who were named strode out and quickly disappeared from everyone's sight like a whirlwind. Then, Selena named a few more people and told them to be fully prepared to go to the underground detention room again. No matter what, they had to try and see if they could rescue something from there.

The floor where the security department was located was in chaos. Without a leader, Selena and a few senior Aurors had to take on the organization's responsibilities. Aurors were sent out one by one under their orders to carry out tasks such as rescue, alarms, martial law, and gathering scattered personnel.

On the contrary, Amelia and Sirius were left aside and ignored by everyone.

Seeing this chaotic scene, Sirius frowned slightly. He stepped forward and grabbed Selena's arm.

"Hey, listen up!"

Sirius's stern voice silenced Selena, who was trying to break free. She stared at him in astonishment.

“I am also an Auror, madam. If you want to rescue your boss, that Grevis, then in my experience, this kind of mission is not suitable for a large-scale gathering of manpower. Keep your people on standby, and send a few people, along with Amelia and me, to conduct an initial investigation. If we encounter resistance, we can have them provide support immediately!”

Chapter 949 Explanation and Crime

2024-06-01

"I received your message, Selena. What's going on?"

Just as Selena was hesitating about whether to follow Sirius's advice, a group of people rushed out of the elevator lobby. The leader was Eriel and his team members, who were monitoring Amosta from the World Trade Center hotel.

After squeezing into the office, he immediately pressed for answers. Then, his attention was drawn to Fox, who was crouching on a lamp stand, observing the chaos. After a moment of surprise, he noticed the man grabbing Selena's arm.

"You are Sirius Black, the wizarding world of Britain?"

Eriel frowned and said,

"Why are you here?"

Selena quickly began to explain, and as she spoke, Eriel's expression gradually became comical, as if he had just been struck by lightning.

"So, the Muggle who delivered your food was Morgans, whom we captured earlier. He impersonated a Muggle to poison you, trying to steal Mr. Blaine's fang."

Errell said with difficulty,

"It's absurd that he could have kidnapped Mr. Grevis. How could he possibly have escaped from the detention cell and taken Mr. Grevis under his control?"

"It's not impossible."

Surprisingly, it was Selena who took the initiative to explain, her face grim as she said...

"We reviewed the visit logs to the detention cell tonight. Earlier, Mr. Grevis went to the cell via the fireplace in his office. I suspect he might have wanted to interrogate the vampire alone to find out what we don't yet know about the vampire's purpose in collecting those dangerous magical creatures."

Mr. Grevis may have been taken advantage of by that vampire. These dark creatures don't necessarily need a wand to cast those evil spells. He subdued Mr. Grevis, hid him in some way, and then impersonated Mr. Grevis to swagger out of the Capitol to steal the fang from Blaine's hand—"

Amelia glanced at Selena with slight surprise—she didn't like this witch who had barged into her home so aggressively, but she had to admit that, as an Auror, Selena's thinking was very clear.

"Fine, even if what you're saying is the truth—"

Eriel's brow remained furrowed as he gazed at Amelia.

"But how did you know that the vampire broke into the Capitol after leaving the hotel? Weren't you all drugged? And why didn't you tell me that I was right across from Mr. Blaine's room?"

Amelia's brow twitched; she finally understood the keenness and professionalism of her colleagues, who had precisely seized upon the flaws in her hasty explanation.

That's because Amosta didn't completely lose consciousness—

Sirius said calmly,

“Amosta resisted some of the drug’s effects. He left a tracking spell on his fang and sensed that the vampire had broken into the Magical Congress building, so he arranged for us to give chase. When we entered the building, the wizards guarding it told us that only Grevis had entered the building before us, so we deduced that he had already fallen into the vampire’s hands.”

"How did you know?"

"Because Amostella guessed that the vampire risked breaking into the Magic Congress building again, most likely for the venomous leopard he failed to obtain."

Sirius said impatiently,

"If we continue to waste time here, then perhaps the only thing we can do is collect Grevis's body."

After a brief silence, Selena turned to look at Alex as he returned.

"Have you found out where the vampire who just used the fireplace in this office went?"

"I've figured it out--"

The wizard named Alex said in a deep voice, "Isaac from the Department of Magical Transportation found out for me that the vampire was heading to a place on Manhattan Island."

After hesitating for a moment, Alex continued.

"A villa belonging to a Muggle."

Normally, Muggle houses are not allowed to connect to the Floo Network, so this was definitely not the work of that vampire, but rather a violation of regulations by their superior, Mr. Grevis.

However, this was hardly a problem for the powerful Trak Grevis. It's likely that Mr. Grevis's inclusion of a hidden Muggle house into the Filo Network was intended to serve as his 'secret base.' Experienced Aurors would usually prepare a safe house for themselves.

After committing a series of horrific crimes, the vampire desperately needed a safe place to hide, so he extracted information about that place from Mr. Grevis—this was the Aurors' speculation.

After a brief discussion, Selena accepted Sirius's suggestion. She, Errell, Sirius, and Amelia went to the Muggle villa first. With the magical power of the four of them, if there was only one vampire at the house, they could handle it.

The remaining Aurors remained at the Security Department, ready to provide support should a large-scale attack occur.

"Fox—"

Sirius looked up at the phoenix on the lamp stand.

"Stay here and don't move. If you hear my summons, then bring these Aurors with you. Can you do that?"

Fox spread its wings, raised its head, let out a melodious cry, and nodded to Sirius.

After the brilliant blue flames faded from sight, Sirius Black appeared first in Grevis's safe house. The moment he landed, he rolled out of the fireplace. His sharp eyes scanned the surroundings, and after confirming that he was unharmed, he breathed a sigh of relief and slowly stood up. Amelia and the others also emerged from the fireplace.

"Looks like we've come to the right place—"

Sirius nodded toward the ground and said in a low voice.

On the gleaming floor, a series of large animal footprints stretched from the fireplace up the spiral staircase to the second floor; they appeared to be those of the controlled venomous leopard.

The first floor of the villa is clearly visible, but if you listen carefully, you can't hear a sound from the second floor either.

Apart from Amelia, everyone here was an experienced wizard. Sirius and the two Aurors from the Magical Congress exchanged a glance and simultaneously cast Disillusionment Charms on themselves. Seeing them do this, Amelia quickly followed suit.

Sirius led the way, with Amelia sandwiched in the middle, and Selena and Eriel providing support from behind—they used this formation to ascend the spiral staircase and enter the second floor.

The leopard's footprints on the ground clearly guided them, saving them the trouble of scouting every room. The four followed the footprints to the villa's study—the study door was open, and Sirius quickly peeked in before dispelling his illusion spell.

There's also a fireplace here. I think they've already left--

This was a very ordinary study, neither simple nor overly luxurious. Selena and Eriel, who had dispelled their illusions following Sirius, walked briskly toward the desk and toward the fireplace, respectively.

click!

Selena pointed her wand at a drawer in the desk, which opened with a click, revealing neatly stacked letters. Selena pulled out the top letter, glanced at it, and paused briefly.

“This house does indeed belong to Mr. Grevis. I found the letter that Mr. Scamander wrote to him.”

Selena showed Sirius the sender and recipient information on the envelope, then put the letter back in the drawer and locked it again with magic.

These are Mr. Grevis's private letters, and they have no right to view them.

"I don't know if this is good news or not, but--"

After casting a few minor spells on the fireplace and inspecting it, Eriel retreated, turned to look at the people in the study, and spoke in a somewhat heavy voice.

"This fireplace is special; it's a one-way fireplace. It can only travel back and forth between fixed locations. This means we don't need to bother investigating where that vampire took Mr. Grevis. We can just throw some Floo Powder into the fireplace and we'll be in the right place."

“Isn’t this good news?” Amelia blurted out.

But when faced with her question, Eriel and Selena remained silent, their expressions somewhat somber.

Sirius was also confused for a moment, but he quickly recovered and explained to Amelia, his tone slightly gloating.

“I guess this fireplace isn’t connected to the Floo Network. It’s completely private. This is much more serious than secretly connecting a Muggle’s fireplace to the Floo Network. If this were in England, you’d be in Azkaban for at least two years for this crime alone!”