Hogwarts: Undercover Death Eater Replaces the Dark Lord

And in this photo, a listless mouse rests on the youngest boy's shoulder, its front paw missing a finger.

"Haven't you been in Azkaban all this time? How did you get this newspaper?" Regulus asked in surprise.

"It was Fudge," Black explained. "When he came to inspect Azkaban, he casually gave me this newspaper."

"That was Peter, on the front page of the newspaper, over that boy's shoulder—I knew him instantly. You don't know how many times I've seen him transformed. I could spot him even among a swarm of rats!"

"That makes it much easier." Lecos nodded. "I can go to the Weasleys' house and arrest Peter Pettigrew!"

"How can it be that simple?" Sirius shook his head. "I've already been to the Weasley family's burrow, and there's no one there. They should still be traveling in Egypt."

"Besides, even if they were there, what excuse could we have for running into their house and taking a boy's pet in front of Arthur and Jasmine? Arthur and Lily are not easy to deal with."

Sirius had obviously analyzed how to catch Peter more than once, and he explained in an orderly manner.

"Not only that, if we go directly to the Weasleys' house, there's a greater chance we'll alert the enemy... Peter's rat is so small, if he sneaks away, it won't be easy to find him again!"

Lycos folded his arms across his chest, listened to Sirius's analysis, and then nodded casually.

"What you said makes sense," he said, "but I didn't intend for you to catch Peter Pettigrew. What I meant was... I went to visit the Weasleys as Harry's friend."

"Of course Peter Pettigrew wouldn't be wary of a little wizard, and I can use this opportunity to get close to Ron Weasley, and then find the right time to catch the rat!"

Lycos had thought of a plan to capture Peter Pettigrew early on, and even prepared several alternative plans B and C.

"But before we go to the Burrow, I need Mr. Black to do me a favor." Lycos looked at Regulus, "I heard that someone in the organization has contact with Mr. Scamander. Can you help me get a special trap made by Scamander?"

"Hmm... Mr. Barebone seems to be quite familiar with Mr. Scamander." Regulus nodded hesitantly. "But is it really necessary to use Scamander's special trap to capture Peter Pettigrew?"

"It's better to be safe than sorry!" Lycos said, "Mr. Sirius Black is right. My actions are likely to alert the enemy...so the first capture will be the easiest one to succeed."

"In order to prevent Peter Pettigrew from escaping, we should try to be fully prepared."

What Lekos didn't say was that the reason he was so careful was because in various Harry Potter fan fictions, there were always some careless protagonists who would let Peter Pettigrew run away.

He didn't want to be as confused as those idiots in such a simple task.

Sirius Black naturally supported Lycos's caution; and Regulus did not refute it when he saw this, because he and his brother had not seen each other for more than ten years, and the previous conflicts had long since faded.

He still hoped that Sirius could clear his name, even if it was just for the Black family's reputation.

"In that case, our mission is clear—"

Lycos began to make a final summary.

"Mr. Regulus Black, help me prepare the props to capture Peter Pettigrew. And Mr. Sirius Black, remember to sort out the evidence of your innocence and be ready to confront Peter Pettigrew at any time."

"Also, on the day of the operation, you need to hide outside the Burrow and be ready to support me at any time."

"If my actions really angered the Weasley family and they wanted to keep me there... then it shouldn't be a big deal if we use some coercive measures..."

……

Chapter 182 Meeting at Diagon Alley

As the days passed, the sun became more and more scorching. The seventeen or eighteen hours of sunshine during the day made the shrubs on the street wilt.

England has a temperate maritime climate. Even in the summer, the temperature is not too high and rarely exceeds 30 degrees... However, due to the high latitude, the daylight hours are very long every day.

Basically, the sun rises from the horizon at around four o'clock and sets at ten o'clock in the evening, so when it is not raining, the perceived temperature is still quite high.

Lycos was lying on a mat at this time, practicing freezing spells against the walls of the room, trying to lower the temperature in the room.

He waved his wand in his right hand and held an ordinary little notebook in his left hand. There were two different handwritings on the open pages, but on the last two pages, there was only one handwriting, repeating similar words over and over again.

"How are your preparations going?"

"Is it not going well? Remember to reply when you have time?"

"Are you there?"

Just looking at the contents of the last two pages of the notebook, Lycos felt like a dog who was always staring at the chat history... But he would only ask once every few days. It has been nearly a month since the first inquiry.

Lycos still clearly remembered that at the official start of summer vacation, before crossing the wall of Platform 9 3/4, Cassandra took his hand, arched her brows, smiled faintly, and said:

"Then... contact me then?"

At that time, she took out the small notebook they used to communicate with each other and gently shook it in her hand...

"Snapped--"

While he was distracted, a freezing spell accidentally hit the chandelier above his head. Lycos' thoughts were instantly interrupted, and he quickly used a universal breaking spell to unfreeze the chandelier.

He shook his head, putting aside those messy thoughts.

Cassandra might just be temporarily stuck on something, or she might have accidentally lost the two-way notebook. Maybe an owl will deliver a new notebook soon?

Lycos had tried sending the letter by owl, but Cassandra's location seemed to be under an unmappable spell and a repellent spell, making it impossible to find her. So the owl sent the letter back the same way...

Just then, there was a sudden knock on Lycos's door.

"Lex, we can act now." Regulus' voice came from outside the door. "Our informant has sent news that the Weasleys have returned from Egypt via the Portkey."

"I understand." Lycos nodded.

He rubbed his brows and completely shook off his previous distracting thoughts.

Anyway, it's most important to complete the mission first and resolve Sirius's issue. As for the rest, we can talk about it after the incident is over...

……

The Leaky Cauldron is a dingy, small bar.

It is located at 1 Diagon Alley, which is also on the Muggle street of Charing Cross Road.

The Muggles hurrying by didn't notice the dingy bar sign at all; their eyes were fixed on a large bookstore on one side and a record store on the other.

"Good morning, old Tom."

Lycos walked into the dark and dirty interior of the bar and greeted the person behind the counter in a familiar manner.

He was an old wizard with a bald head and a head like a toothless nut.

Last summer, Lycos booked a room at the Leaky Cauldron and stayed there for quite a while. During that time, he and Old Tom got along pretty well.

"Good morning, Lycos." Old Tom waved to Lycos enthusiastically. "It's been a while since I last saw you here... Anyway, do you still want to book a room?"

"Book a room for me." Lycos nodded. "By the way, I have a friend who should be staying here now. Can you help me book a room next to his?"

"Your friend is...?" asked Old Tom.

"You must know him. His name is Harry Potter." Lycos said, "We are students in the same grade."

"So you and Harry are in the same grade, what a coincidence," Old Tom said with a smile, "but the room next to Harry's has been booked by the Aurors... Harry is very valuable right now, and Fudge is afraid that he will be found by Sirius Black!"

The corners of Lycos' mouth twitched slightly.

Fudge's worries were unnecessary, because Sirius had helpers and there was no need for him to act recklessly like in the original book.

"Then let's open the empty room closest to Harry." Lycos said to Old Tom, "Just open it for two days. I won't be staying long this time."

"No problem!" Old Tom responded, then looked down at Lycos, "Where's your wand?"

Lycos took out his wand.

Then Old Tom raised his wand and touched the tip of Lycos's wand, and a white light penetrated into Lycos's wand from the tip of his wand.

"Okay, you should have remembered how to open the door, right?" Old Tom clapped his hands and asked.

"Tap the door lock twice with your wand, right?" Lycos put away his wand. "Well, if you don't have any upgraded equipment here..."

"Of course, the equipment here hasn't been upgraded in four hundred years!" Old Tom laughed.

After saying goodbye to Old Tom, Lycos went up to the accommodation floor on the second floor of the Leaky Cauldron, threw his large luggage casually in the room, and then walked to the door of Harry's room according to the information he had inquired before.

As expected, there were several uniformed Aurors guarding the door of Harry's room in shifts.

When they saw someone walking towards Harry's room, their eyes became obviously alert, but when they found out that the person was just a young wizard, they relaxed their guard again.

However, the necessary procedures still need to be followed.

"Name?" asked the leading Auror.

"Lex Hayden." Lex answered honestly.

"age?"

"Thirteen years old, almost a third year student at Hogwarts."

"College?"

"Slytherin."

"What are you looking for Harry for?"

"I'm Harry's friend, it's normal to come to him, right?"

After a series of questions, the leading Auror looked at Lycos in surprise and asked, "How can a Slytherin student make friends with a Gryffindor?"

"There are always exceptions." Lycos shook his head helplessly. "Sir, your stereotypes about a few colleges are too severe, aren't they?"

"I can't help it. After all, I also came from Hogwarts." The Auror also chuckled softly, "Okay, I've almost finished asking questions. Next, I just need to verify whether you are disguised..."

As he spoke, he pressed a small magical device that looked like a glass spinning top into Lycos's hand.

"This is a looking glass. If you're doing something suspicious or wearing disguise, it will light up, spin, and make a sharp sound..."

The looking glass, like a glass gyroscope, stayed in Lycos's hand for a long time without any response.

Lycos breathed a sigh of relief.

Because he wasn't sure whether a young wizard like him who used black magic all day would be judged as a suspicious dark wizard by the looking glass...

"Okay, you can go in." Seeing this, the leading Auror retracted the peephole and waved to Lycos.

At the same time, it seemed that Harry also heard the noise outside and opened the door a crack.

"Lycos!" he cried in surprise. "Why are you here? And how did you know I was here?"

"Oh, I have some elders who have connections in the Ministry of Magic." Lycos said, glancing casually at the Auror from before, "They told me you were here."

The Auror wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and thought to himself that it was a good thing that he didn't offend this little guy just now... He was indeed a Slytherin student, and any one of them would be related to the Ministry of Magic.

"You're just in time." Harry let Lycos into the room. "I've been so bored these past few days. I can sleep and eat whenever I want, but I can't leave Diagon Alley... I've almost run out of shops here."

"Haven't you finished your summer homework?" Lycos asked. "Holiday homework shouldn't be that easy to finish, right? Why are you getting bored so quickly?"