Hogwarts: From Selling White Peppers to Becoming a God

Chapter 72 Framing

"Impossible!" exclaimed an Auror. "He looks exactly like the one in the photo!"

Murphy leaned closer. "Yes, Alex works at the Potions Supreme, he's my employee, and I recognize his face. This person really does look like him, practically identical..."

Of course, it's exactly the same. This face has been sculpted and repaired countless times, and it's almost a one-to-one replica of Alex's appearance.

Yzak had a square face, while Alex had a round face. In order to make their features match, they went through bone shaving, bone regeneration, bone shaving, bone regeneration, and bone shaving again... It took three whole cycles to finally replicate the same face shape as Alex.

It must be said that Nicholas, the researcher, does indeed possess a certain craftsmanship when it comes to plastic surgery.

However, Yitzhak suffered terribly, undergoing bone shaving, liposuction, leg amputation, and skin grafts. Although the surgery was performed under anesthesia, watching himself being transformed into another person caused Yitzhak indelible psychological damage.

However, Murphy had no sympathy whatsoever. The sins this guy had committed, even if Murphy had multiplied the pain she had caused him by a hundred times, would still not be enough to pay off his debt.

"When did Alex pass through the fireplace?" Kingsley asked Davis.

"Today, not long ago, around 4 PM, I think," Davis replied nervously as Kingsley approached.

"Boss, wasn't that the time we were about to make the arrest?" one of the Aurors said. "What a coincidence!"

"It can't be that much of a coincidence!" Kingsley said.

"Yes, it can't be that much of a coincidence!" Murphy said, looking at Kingsley. "What kind of trick are you guys playing?"

Kingsley ignored Murphy; the vague unease he felt had intensified. He suddenly realized he might have fallen into Murphy's trap. "Chief, please approve sending an Auror to Germany immediately to bring back that 'Alex Wood,' to see who the real Alex Wood is!"

"Do you even know where he went in Germany? How many days will it take to bring him back?" Murphy scoffed. "By then, he'll be stinking, and I'll probably be locked up in Azkaban by now!"

"So what's your idea?" Crouch asked.

Murphy thought for a moment and said, "Fingerprints."

As he spoke, he looked at Davis, "That international flying route application form has his fingerprint on it, right?"

"Yes, of course," Davis said.

Although fingerprint recognition technology is not yet widely used in the Wizarding World, there are still basic applications such as leaving a fingerprint on important documents.

Moreover, the Aurors are no strangers to these basic criminal investigation techniques.

The Auror who broke into Murphy's warehouse had consciously cleaned the place thoroughly to erase any traces he had left behind.

The experts were able to confirm the Auror's identity by finding residual fingerprints on the warehouse door.

"Go get it," Murphy said. "Alex Wood should have some documents that require fingerprints left at the Ministry, right? Like an application for the Apparition exam or something? Compare them, and we'll know who the real Alex Wood is."

Alex didn't have an Apparition license, but he still applied to take the test.

"Okay, I'll go look for it right away." Davis hurriedly left.

A short while later, Davis returned with several documents in his hand. He compared the fingerprints on the documents Alex Wood had left behind with the fingerprints on his international flight application form, and then compared them with the fingerprints of the deceased.

Now the evidence is conclusive.

The real Alex Wood had already left the country, and the fact that the dead man in front of them was not Alex Wood had been confirmed.

All the Aurors' faces were filled with shock and bewilderment.

Rita Skeeter was so excited that the photographer took a bunch of pictures.

"What did you do? Who is he?!" Kingsley glared at Murphy.

"Captain Kingsley, that's exactly what I wanted to ask you," Murphy said. "And where did you find this guy, and why did you have him frame me?!"

"This...it was all your conspiracy!" Kingsley understood. He now understood where the vague unease he felt when capturing Alex came from.

Alex went to the owl's hut to send money every month, but his movements were extremely clumsy. Kingsley initially thought it was because Alex was nervous and acting suspiciously, but now he realized that it was indeed the first time the fake Alex had sent money using the owl.

"You planned this all along, didn't you? You blew up the Basques to provoke us? That informant... no, Lucius... he's switched sides with you too?" Kingsley was shocked. "Why? Didn't you send him to Azkaban?"

"Mr. Lucius?" Murphy shrugged. "What happened to him? I thought he was still in jail."

Kingsley looked at Murphy as if witnessing a demon king being reborn from the ashes.

He felt a deep-seated fear, a bone-chilling resentment, a complex mix of emotions that made him tremble slightly. "Our Legilimency cannot read his thoughts, not because he knows Occlumency, but because you have destroyed his mind..."

"You trained him to be a puppet, a sacrifice. You set this trap at the cost of a human life."

"All of this was just to make it look like he died under torture..."

"You're not trying to exonerate yourself, you're trying to make us criminals..."

Kingsley's once serene face contorted and twitched. "Murphy, you're a monster!"

"Captain Kingsley," Murphy said calmly, looking at him, "is this your excuse after your plot failed? Then I can only say, you really should be more careful!"

"As for your accusations, I simply don't bother to refute them. Why would I find some random person to testify against me in front of you? Would I fabricate evidence against myself? Am I insane, or are you?"

After saying that, he turned around. "Reporter Rita, you must report everything that happened here properly. To frame me, the Aurors went so far as to torture an innocent man into confessing, and even went so far as to transform him into the likeness of Alex. In the end, to prevent this lie from being exposed, they even killed him to silence him!"

"Illegal arrest! Malicious framing! Torture to extract confessions! Murder to silence witnesses! If they can do these things, what else wouldn't these Aurors dare to do?!"

Rita Skeeter's eyes lit up.

Framed!

Without a doubt, this is a setup to frame these Aurors.

Murphy Darkholm found him before anything happened, which clearly meant it was all part of his plan!

Horrible, terrifying, insane!

To fabricate a lie in such a crazy way!

However, isn't framing others exactly what one excels at?

Murphy presented a good story with sound logic. Most importantly, the fact that "the Aurors arrested the wrong person and killed them" was enough to condemn them to the pillory of shame. The rest was her show.

As for justice?

As for the truth?

To hell with them all!

As long as the news is sensational enough, explicit enough, or full of conspiracy theories, there will always be countless people willing to follow it.

Human beings' instinctive belief in evil is based on a precise self-awareness.

Such is human nature; Rita Skeeter is simply using her writing to reflect it.

What's wrong?

(End of this chapter)