Hogwarts: From Selling White Peppers to Becoming a God

Chapter 68

St. Munger Hospital.

Rufus Scrimgeour and Kingsley Shackle arrived in a hurry, only to be stopped outside the ward by a therapist.

"How is he?" Kingsley asked in a trembling voice.

"The situation is very bad," the therapist shook his head. "Both of his legs were almost smashed, and he had many wounds on his body. Although he used Apparition to get here as quickly as possible, perhaps due to the pain causing confusion, he also experienced a splitting phenomenon during Apparition. When we found him, there was almost no good flesh on his body."

"Will he survive?"

"We did our best."

The doctor left, and Kingsley stood outside the treatment room like a statue.

His usual gentle elegance was replaced by a deep anger; he stood there, like a volcano about to erupt.

After a while, he suddenly turned to leave, but Scrimgeour grabbed him. "Where are you going?"

"Arrest them!"

"You know we have no evidence."

"I will find the evidence!"

"Shakel, calm down, you're giving the enemy an opening..."

"Rufus..."

Kingsley's trembling voice startled Scrimgeour. He looked at his companion and saw that the usually composed, muscular black man had tears welling up in his eyes.

"Shakel, you..."

"The Basque father just had a daughter two months ago, and now he's in this state. How am I supposed to explain this to his wife and daughter?"

Scrimgeour fell silent, and unconsciously loosened his grip on Kingsley's hand.

"Don't worry, I won't be that reckless. I've received a tip that Alex Wood is Murphy Darkholm's assistant. Lucius captured him before, and he confirmed it."

"I will catch Alex and get enough evidence out of him."

Scrimgeour looked at Kingsley for a long while before finally saying, "Be careful. Remember, the enemy is very cunning."

Kingsley nodded emphatically. "I'll make him pay!"

……

"Alex Wood, he's the one who originally bought potion ingredients for Murphy in Diagon Alley," said Bald Papad, hiding behind a bush, to Kingsley and the other three Aurors.

"When I caught him before, he was still processing materials for Murphy. I'm sure I can get a lot of secrets out of him."

As he spoke, Papad rubbed his nose, which hadn't straightened since Murphy kicked it.

"Did Malfoy send you?" an Auror said with a hint of sarcasm.

"How could that be? Helping the Aurors fight crime is every wizard's duty."

"snort."

Although these Aurors were determined to bring Murphy, who was wantonly trampling on the law, to justice, they had no sympathy whatsoever for Malfoy, who also walked the line of the law and had done many immoral things.

It's just dogs fighting.

However, they are happy to see each other expose each other's dirty secrets due to internal strife.

"Have you seen Alex? Can you recognize him?" Kingsley stared at Papad, his eyes gleaming as he asked.

The Auror captain in front of him exuded a terrifying aura, making Papad feel as uncomfortable as a mouse seeing a cat.

"Yes, of course, that face is easy to recognize."

"Alright, you'll come with me on the raid later. Once we catch them, everyone immediately use the Portkey to return to the Ministry of Magic! No stopping, understand?!"

"Understood!" the Aurors answered in unison.

Just then, after a spatial distortion, another Auror appeared beside Kingsley. "Boss, he's here!"

Everyone lowered their bodies and cast illusion spells on themselves.

About twenty meters away was an owl hut. According to the Aurors' investigation, Alex Wood would come here every now and then to send a bag full of gold coins home using a public rental owl.

Sixty Galleons each time, no more, no less.

At that moment, a figure wearing a cloak emerged from the bushes opposite, looked around furtively, and crept toward the owl's hut.

"This guy is really a filial son," one of the Aurors muttered under his breath.

"Breaking the law and committing crimes is the greatest act of filial impiety!" another Auror scoffed.

Kingsley stared intently at the figure and asked Papad, "Is it him?"

"He was wearing a hat, so I couldn't see him clearly."

"Boss?" The Aurors awaited Kingsley's orders.

But the latter remained waiting, watching as the man put a few silver coins into a small box outside the shed, opened a cage, and somewhat fearfully took out an owl, without immediately giving any orders.

"Boss, he has the key to the door, and he could disappear at any time after sending the letter!" an Auror warned.

Kingsley watched as the man took a cloth bag from his waist and struggled to tie it to the owl's leg, and suddenly a sense of unease welled up inside him.

"Boss!"

However, there was no time to ponder the source of that unease now. "Act!"

Suddenly, five Aurors Apparated outside the Owl's Hut, surrounding the hooded man. As they appeared, they chanted the spell, "Faint!"

"Bang!" Before the man could even utter a cry of surprise, he was struck by five spells in succession and fell into a deep coma.

Kingsley stepped forward, pulled down the man's hood, and breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing his face.

But he still cautiously pulled Papad closer, "Look carefully, is it him?"

"It's him! It's Alex Wood!"

"Alright, take him with you, let's go!"

……

Meanwhile, on the other side...

Diagon Alley, headquarters of the Daily Prophet.

Rita Skeeter met her guest.

"You're such a busy man, Mr. Murphy. It's really not easy to get a meeting with you."

Rita Skeeter had been trying to interview Murphy ever since he sent Lucius to Azkaban, but Murphy only agreed to the interview today.

"You're a busy man too, Skeeter reporter," Murphy said, tossing a stack of Daily Prophet papers on the table. "You've insulted me dozens of times in just a few months."

The newspapers that Murphy had deliberately opened were filled with reports about him, and most of them were sensational headlines like "Dark Wizard or Justice? The Secret of Murphy Darkholme" and "A Tycoon from the Sky? Murphy's Mysterious Inheritance," but few of them were positive.

"I was just reporting the facts," Skeeter said without batting an eye. "Are you agreeing to this interview today to reveal some of your secrets?"

As she spoke, she took out a notebook, which automatically floated in the air, and a quill pen immediately began writing on it.

“I don’t have any secrets,” Murphy said. “But I happen to know one of your secrets.”

"Murphy's gloomy face was filled with vigilance. He claimed to have no secrets, but it wasn't hard to tell from his evasive eyes that he had many unspeakable stories..."

"You're quite the joker," Skeeter said, after crafting a three- or four-hundred-word essay, before finally turning to Murphy. "Let's start with your past. Your parents were dark wizards, and you were an orphan. How did that affect your personality?"

"..."

"His tragic orphanhood made Murphy reluctant to open up; he was very secretive about his past..." Rita muttered, and as she spoke, the quill pen wrote faster in the notebook.

"Oh."

Murphy suddenly chuckled and drew his wand.

With a "bang!", the quill pen and notebook suddenly burst into flames without any fire, and within moments they shook and turned into a pile of ashes.

(End of this chapter)