The Silent Bookstore Manager at Hogwarts

Ron sat at home, unsure of what to do. What should have been a pleasant holiday had become unbearably difficult. He stared blankly out the window, all because of the news his father had told him not long ago.

"Harry Potter and Red Maxwell have gone missing, and this may be related to dark wizards."

The news that Arthur Weasley received was hard for Ron to accept: his best friend, the one who had helped thwart the Dark Lord's plot, was now in danger and there was nothing he could do.

Ron looked helplessly at the sunlight outside the window. No wonder Harry hadn't replied to a single letter from him or Hermione, or even Red. The two of them had simply vanished in the vast land of England, and even Dumbledore was searching for them.

Ron couldn't imagine what would happen if Harry were to suffer such a terrible fate.

"Dumbledore has already departed for France..."

Ron was utterly helpless upon hearing the news. If Harry were still in England, he would risk his life to support his good brother no matter what. But even Dumbledore had already gone to France, which could only mean that Harry and Red were not in England at all. Otherwise, Dumbledore would not have gone to France at this point when they disappeared.

Hermione was equally helpless. If she had known that her good classmate had disappeared and gone abroad to play a great adventure, Hermione would have stopped Harry from going back to the Dursleys no matter what. Even sending him to the Weasleys would have been better than the current situation.

However, they were helpless at the moment and could only listen to the news and pray that Harry and Red would be safe and sound.

"Dumbledore is on his way to the venue for the meeting with the French Ministry of Magic... Harry, how much time do you think we have left to prepare?"

"...Just one more day, please. We really don't have enough money..."

Harry sighed. If they were rich enough, they could have avoided a lot of trouble, including arranging a retreat and repelling the enemy, but now they had to choose a more compromise.

"Honestly, don't you think I'm crazy? The two of us are going to fight a bunch of vicious dark wizards and Death Eaters, and even lure them here?"

Harry asked a question. The sun was about to set, and they had less than 24 hours left before they reached their deadline. They had to attract the attention of the dark wizards before Dumbledore ended his contact with the Ministry of Magic, otherwise all the dark wizards' eyes would be on Dumbledore, and their operation would be a complete failure.

"Why don't you say that I don't think you're crazy for not wanting to rely on Dumbledore? You had a powerful backer to cling to, yet you chose to take risks, Harry... do you think you're like a Gryffindor?"

"No, Mr. Gryffindor is certainly not as crazy as I am."

Harry burst into laughter after he finished speaking. It was the first time he had ever had such an exciting and enjoyable summer vacation, traveling around, visiting legendary figures, and even fighting crime. Everything would have been even better if the French Ministry of Magic hadn't made such a fuss over nothing.

However, Harry is about to bring his short summer trip to a crazy close.

"If you're sure, we can start the final step. I can barely mimic the power fluctuations of that thing called Voldemort about 70%... It'll definitely be fine as bait."

Besides mimicking Voldemort's power, they also prepared many baits, such as news of Harry's serious injury, or rumors that Harry harbored Dumbledore's weakness. The more valuable Harry became, the more dark wizards they could attract, and the less likely the dark wizards would stay and harm ordinary people along the way.

This was Harry's simplest thought: since this happened because of them, Harry felt that he and Red needed to take responsibility for it.

Strasbourg, a city full of secret passages and alleys, will be the first and most important part of their crazy plan.

Before that, they went into an antique shop, a type of shop that can be found in almost every corner of a city, displaying a large number of items from the past. As for their value, only the buyer and seller themselves can judge it.

"You two want this book? It's worthless, you can take it..."

The shop owner was very generous, giving Harry and Red a rather old-looking book for free, considering how much they had bought from them. After all, it was just a hand-drawn atlas, and its practicality had diminished considerably due to the passage of time.

"Thieves, merchants, and stationed soldiers have all left their mark on this 'map' that has been passed around for who knows how long. Harry...maybe we can add our own annotation to this book someday."

Red smiled. This atlas might not have been meant to exist in this world, but it was probably just a coincidence. An atlas that shouldn't have appeared still did, becoming one of their collections.

"Ammunition packed... Road preparations complete."

Harry's expression gradually turned serious. He took one last inventory of their belongings and sent most of them to England via international postal service to Red's former orphanage. He didn't want to send them to the Dursleys, since anything related to magic seemed offensive to his Uncle Vernon, and he naturally wouldn't want to offend his uncle.

"Well, how about we let everyone in the city get a good night's sleep tomorrow..." Red smiled. He had really put in a lot of effort to set up this spell. He had marked almost every mirror in the city, big and small, all for that final spell tomorrow.

Harry slept unusually soundly that night, perhaps because his body was also aware of the crazy things they were about to do, so it began to conserve its energy, to the point that when Harry woke up he wondered if he had slept too well.

On this day, Dumbledore arrived in France, accompanied by a worried Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape, whose face was so cold it looked as if several of his relatives had died.

"I'll talk to them first... From now on, I'll need your help."

Dumbledore spoke wearily, and Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape both nodded. Then the three of them went their separate ways to search for the two runaway children.