Chapter 184: Why Does Voldemort Love England So Much?
Lupin’s jaw gradually clenched, forcing Kingsley to glance at him repeatedly, lest his colleague’s jealousy flare up and he charge forward to bite the Muggle politician to death.
After waiting for a while longer, Lupin, and now Kingsley too, began to grow impatient.
According to the plan they had discussed with Tonks beforehand, Tonks should have already subdued William and obtained the confidential documents by now.
Why was there no signal?
Lupin’s hand tightened around his wand, his gaze still fixed on the small building, while Kingsley slowly shifted his gaze away from it.
Then, his voice, lowered, sounded in Lupin’s ear:
“Remus, something’s not right.”
“What?”
“There’s no activity on this street at all!”
Kingsley said, slowly drawing his wand, his gaze sweeping over the empty, clean, and tidy street.
No one was acting normally, but… why was there not even the chirping of insects in the flowerbeds?
Then, the moment he became vigilant, the attack suddenly happened!
………
Time rewound to the afternoon.
The first-floor hall of the Woolworth Building was, as at any time of day, bustling with people coming and going.
Numerous elevators, hidden within the walls, ascended and descended.
An elevator that had just risen from underground opened, and Donald Graves, dressed in a rather old-fashioned tweed suit and wearing a top hat, emerged. He paid no attention to the young wizards waiting by the elevator, who had been chattering and then fell silent in fright upon seeing him emerge.
He quickly walked out of the elevator lobby and saw another wizard, also in a suit, hurrying towards him.
“Deputy Minister Donald, we…”
Donald raised a hand to interrupt him: “Where is Jacob?”
“Uh, he’s injured, in the medical room.”
The medical room was on the second floor. Having received his answer, Donald, his expression somber, walked towards it. The male wizard hesitated for a moment, then quickly followed him.
“Deputy Minister, the Minister ordered us…”
“We’ll discuss any matters after I see Jacob!”
Sensing the Deputy Minister was in a bad mood, the male wizard wisely fell silent and followed behind him.
Donald was indeed in a bad mood. Anyone whose younger brother had been beaten, and by their own superior, with no hope of revenge, would feel aggrieved.
With a grim face, he crossed the hall, tapped a statue in the corner with his wand, and the statue, which had been bragging to a nearby relief carving, moved aside, revealing a winding staircase.
Above was the Congress Medical Area.
Led by the male wizard, Donald arrived at a hospital room. He removed his hat and tucked it under his arm, then gently pushed open the door. The room was small, with only a single bed. An Auror lay on it, his uniform already cut open, while a Healer was tending to his injuries.
Donald did not disturb the doctor. He quietly walked to the bedside and sat down. Jacob, lying on the bed, smiled at him, signaling him not to worry: “A few broken ribs, nothing serious.”
Donald remained silent.
Only after the Healer had reset Jacob’s ribs and given him a dose of “Skele-Gro” potion, and then left, did he ask in a deep voice: “Because you delivered some bad news, Michael took his anger out on you?”
“It was my bad luck,” Jacob forced a smile. The potion, beginning to take effect, made his chest and abdomen both ache and itch. “I just happened to coincide with some terrible news; those Muggles might have betrayed us… you know how the Minister is. He always looked down on Muggles, and then to be betrayed by those he wouldn’t even spare a second glance, it’s normal for him to lose his temper.”
“Hmph!”
Donald snorted coldly, but he knew that Jacob didn’t want him to clash with Michael Graves, so he didn’t say anything more in anger.
After another moment of silence, he said, “I was supervising an execution in the Hall of Death earlier. The news from the Ministry wasn’t very detailed. What exactly happened?”
“It was concerning Boston. The Dreamcatcher Control Bureau reported an anomaly about an hour ago. Our target subject appeared at a gathering that shouldn’t have existed, and the speaker at the gathering was also a Muggle Donkey Party politician who was not part of our plan…”
“…We concluded that someone from the Muggle government with whom our families cooperate must have deliberately leaked the documents to that Muggle named William, and then used him to pass the documents to Vaughn Weasley and Babajide Ajinbad.”
After speaking, he took a breath.
Donald, who had been listening silently, quickly patted his hand: “I understand the situation. I will handle the subsequent actions. You should rest well for now.”
“No, I’m going too. A fractured rib is not a serious injury…”
Jacob struggled to get up.
He wasn’t overdoing it. During the time he had been speaking, the pain in his chest had indeed lessened considerably. After all, it was just a fractured rib, which was not a big deal in the wizarding world.
Most importantly, the potion was excellent.
Touching his chest, Jacob picked up the Skele-Gro bottle the Healer had left at the foot of the bed. He glanced at it and smiled, “I just asked the Healer to give me the best medicine, and I didn’t expect it to be brewed by him.”
Donald glanced at the bottle and saw a label attached to it:
【 Brewed by Master Potioneer Vaughn Weasley 】
His mouth twitched slightly. The best medicine promoted by the Magical Congress, actually brewed by a surveillance target. Didn’t that feel a bit like dark humor?
“It’s probably fake. Since the WAC was established, many potions claiming to be brewed by Vaughn Weasley have suddenly appeared on the market. He doesn’t have that much time. It’s likely some Potioneers are slapping his name on to get attention.”
“No, Congress is different,” Jacob said. “The Medical Office has special subsidies to acquire high-value potions from the black market. This kind of thing is likely flowing in from the English black market… I’ve seen Michael approve procurement permits for the Medical Office. Although he wanted Wolfsbane Potion at the time, unfortunately, it was impossible to obtain.”
“……”
There were too many points to criticize, and Donald was momentarily speechless. Seeing his brother get out of bed and move his arms, seemingly determined not to stay in the hospital room, he frowned slightly:
“Why are you so insistent on participating in the operation?”
“Because I think something is wrong. Why would those Muggles suddenly betray us? Why would they want to leak cooperative documents to the WAC and the Federation? All of this happened suddenly, without any warning. Don’t you find it strange?”
“Most importantly, the ultimate control of the ‘Purifiers’ rests with Michael and a few Representatives. I truly can’t understand why Muggles, who cannot perform magic and have lost control of the ‘Purifiers’, would dare to betray us?”
These were indeed points of doubt.
When Donald received the news in the Hall of Death, he couldn’t understand either.
The Muggle side was aware of the Dreamcatcher as an Alchemical Marvel. They couldn’t possibly not know that their little tricks wouldn’t be able to hide from the Pure-blood families.
Once the Pure-blood families detected their betrayal, Michael Graves and the Representatives of a few other families could immediately seize control of the “Purifiers” just by showing up.
What was the Muggles’ motive?
As he was thinking, the ring on Donald’s hand suddenly flashed a few times.
Jacob also saw it. He looked up at the ceiling, as if looking towards a floor above them: “Michael and the others have activated the Portkey… we should depart too.”
“You…”
“Donald, I really have many questions, and I must go and see.”
Seeing his brother’s insistent expression, Donald was silent for a moment, then conceded: “Alright, but you must stay with me and do not attempt to lead your squad on the front lines.”
“Okay!”
Jacob agreed, as his insistence on participating in the operation was not for combat…
………
In the early evening, Donald and Jacob, along with 8 Auror Squads, arrived in Boston.
The Aurors of the Federal Magical Congress, like those in England, had a similar system. In Muggle terms, they were all civil servants with tenure.
The only difference was that English Aurors were more akin to police officers. While they also had the responsibility of protecting national security, they primarily maintained the peace in the wizarding world and combatted smuggling.
However, Federal Congress Aurors were a quasi-military organization. Since their establishment over 200 years ago, their scope of responsibility had not been handling trivial matters like maintaining public order, but acting as a purely violent force to combat internal and external enemies.
Therefore, this was also the most pure and direct military force controlled by the 12 Pure-blood families, as its structure itself paid homage to the original 12 Aurors, maintaining the structure of 12 units.
On the outskirts of Boston, in a desolate area far from any Muggle structures, a large number of figures carrying brooms suddenly appeared. With their arrival, a completely different scene began to materialize from the void on the barren land where nothing had been –
It was a two-story building, in classic New England rural style, clean and tidy, standing in stark contrast to the surrounding desolation.
Two fireplaces stood beside the building, with green flames constantly rising, and wizards emerged from them one after another.
Donald, with his brother Jacob and two other Aurors stationed at this outpost, took to the air on their brooms, gazing at the distant city, which glittered under the night sky.
“How is the investigation progressing?” Donald asked, withdrawing his gaze.
The two Aurors accompanying him, knowing that the Deputy Minister was addressing them, quickly replied: “As per your instructions, we have mobilized agents from the local MSA, including local Muggle informants, and have located all residences of the Muggle named William in Boston.”
MSA was the abbreviation for the Department of Magical Security, another armed force under the Ministry.
However, unlike Aurors, their role was more akin to a Muggle intelligence agency. The so-called “agents” were “employees” hired by the Magical Congress, who were usually dispersed throughout various regions. Their backgrounds were complex, and some were even double agents.
As they spoke, the two cast a Mist Charm, using the hazy mist to outline a map of Boston. One pointed to several locations on the “map” with his wand, drawing circles, and finally pointed to one of them:
“According to our analysis, the place where he is hiding the documents is likely this property.”
“Why?”
“Because it is located in a wealthy district, and these streets have quite comprehensive security forces. It’s relatively safe and the furthest from his residence in another wealthy district, making it the most discreet.”
Donald frowned: “What is the basis for this judgment?”
“Uh, this Muggle’s personality is rather… unrestrained… we judged that he actively offered to reveal he had confidential documents, possibly to attract the attention of the English Aurors protecting the WAC, Ms. Nymphadora Tonks…”
“……”
Donald froze for a moment, exchanged a glance with Jacob, and both found it absurd.
“…So, the confidential documents that could very well cause conflict between us and the WAC, and the Federation, were exposed simply because that Muggle politician wanted to use them to flirt?”
As he uttered these words, Donald’s teeth were almost clenched the entire time.
The two Aurors looked embarrassed: “Yes, Deputy Minister… based on the detailed surveillance intelligence from the Dreamcatcher Administration, and the past experiences of this Muggle gathered by our agents and informants, that’s roughly how it is…”
Donald suddenly understood why Michael had lost his temper.
It was truly inexplicably unbelievable and unreasonable!
Damn Muggles, don’t they have any sense of secrecy? Using confidential documents to flirt? What kind of thought process could lead to such a foolish act?
Forcing down the desire for destruction within him, Donald managed to calm himself before continuing to ask: “What about the WAC side?”
“Currently, there are a total of three people involved in the confidential documents incident. Besides Ms. Tonks, mentioned earlier, there is Remus Lupin, the Vice President of the WAC and a trusted right-hand man of Vaughn Weasley; and Kingsley Shackle, a senior English Auror who once visited the Federation with the Muggle Prime Minister.”
As they spoke, they handed over the profiles of the three individuals and continued:
“To this day, Dreamcatcher has not detected any other wizards in the vicinity. The WAC and Federation personnel are all staying at the hotel without any unusual activity.”
No unusual activity?
Donald looked somewhat puzzled. He perused the profiles of the three individuals, pondered for a moment, then waved his hand, signaling the two Aurors to leave.
After the two had left, before he could speak, Jacob said, “Donald, should we reconsider the operation?”
“Although I don’t know what the exact situation is, it’s clear that those three WAC wizards haven’t reported the matter of the confidential documents back, otherwise the WAC and the Federation wouldn’t be so inactive… Since they are not involved now, I think we might not need to resort to force to retrieve the documents!”
Saying this, he looked down at the team below, which had already gathered over a hundred wizards as time passed, looking worried:
“8 Auror Squads, nearly 200 people, fighting a major battle in a Muggle city with the visiting WAC and Federation… Do you want to see a headline like that in tomorrow’s 《 Daily Prophet 》?”
Hearing this, Donald hesitated.
During their previous conversation, Jacob had already pointed out that there were many strange aspects to the leak of the confidential documents.
Jacob’s concerns were also his own.
However…
Donald sighed: “This is the Minister’s order. You know, even though I dislike him very much, an order is an order.”
“I know, I don’t intend to disobey Michael. He’ll kill us. But Michael only asked us to get the documents, not necessarily to use force, right?”
This argument was, of course, sophistry.
When Michael left, he had signed 8 Auror dispatch orders. If the other 4 squads hadn’t had their own missions, he would have probably deployed all the Aurors.
Such a strong reaction might suggest that Michael was blinded by anger, but his attitude already indicated—
Perhaps the long-drawn-out bickering in Congress had exhausted his patience. Perhaps he was indeed angry, but compared to his anger, he was more eager to use this opportunity to create a fait accompli with the WAC and the Federation, thus ending the endless wrangling in Congress!
Donald, who understood Michael’s temperament, naturally grasped Michael’s subtext.
He believed Jacob understood as well, but it was clear Jacob had his own ideas.
Donald remained silent.
After a long hesitation between faithfully executing orders and his brother’s advice, he finally sighed inwardly: “I hope your intuition is correct…”
“I just don’t want our family to fall into a potential conspiracy. Don’t worry, if my judgment is wrong, I’ll admit my mistake to Michael myself. At worst, I’ll have a few more bones broken!”
Hearing Jacob say this, Donald sighed and said no more.
As the afterglow of dusk completely faded, the assembled team below was ready. The two returned to the team, and a series of orders were issued.
Soon, the nearly 200-strong Auror team, under the cover of Dreamcatcher, entered Boston.
At this time, dear William was still sitting in a leisurely luxury car, attempting to foster a connection with Ms. Tonks.
Tonks was playing along with him.
Lupin and Kingsley were following the car at a distance, casually acting as helpful citizens and cracking down on street crime.
While this intelligence was continuously being relayed to Donald, the Auror squads under his command had already fully occupied William’s residence.
More people were scattered around, setting up wards like Peace Town Boundary, and also driving away Muggles—
Although he had agreed to Jacob’s request to temporarily refrain from using force, some preparatory work still needed to be done. After all, anything could happen.
“Squads 1 and 2, search the entire residence. Find any documents labeled ‘Confidential’ and any place that could hide something. Do not overlook a single brick!”
“Squads 3 and 4, go to the surrounding buildings and drive away the Muggles, especially those patrolling Muggle police officers. I authorize you to use Memory Charms to make them leave this area.”
“Other squads, follow standard combat procedures and search for and establish tactical positions within 100 feet of the mansion… Jack Graves, you are responsible for compiling and recording tactical information.”
Having skillfully assigned the tasks, Donald surveyed the Muggle politician’s residence, habitually moved a sofa, sat by the fireplace, and looked at the parchment in his hand, which was continuously revealing writing.
It was surveillance information transmitted by the Dreamcatcher Administration.
As soon as they had initiated their operation, the Dreamcatcher Administration had “descended” numerous nets to confuse wizards with Alchemy Talent, preventing them from sensing their surveillance intentions.
Now, all the wizards at the Dreamcatcher Administration had taken up their positions, fully analyzing information from the area where the WAC and Federation were located, as well as the vicinity of this residence.
Apart from the sewers, even if a mosquito flew by in these two areas, they would not be able to escape Dreamcatcher.
“As of now, the WAC and Federation at the hotel have indeed shown no unusual activity. The slight magical fluctuations are all from domestic spells like Cleaning Charms… Have they really not received the news?”
Donald frowned and re-read the intelligence. He suddenly noticed that one name had not appeared on the parchment: “Vaughn Weasley isn’t here?”
Hearing this, Jacob, standing beside him and looking somewhat anxious, replied: “He took a suitcase on which an Undetectable Extension Charm was cast. Michael had entered it before. It’s his experimental field. Since arriving in America, he hasn’t left that suitcase. The WAC’s official explanation is that he is busy with potion experiments, but Michael doesn’t believe it.”
“I don’t believe it either,” Donald snorted. “This kind of behavior only indicates that he likely has Alchemy Talent, and not a weak one, able to clearly sense Dreamcatcher’s movements… Why do such geniuses always appear in England? Dumbledore isn’t dead yet, and here’s another one. What’s more troublesome is that he’s also a Master of Potions!”
Even Dumbledore wasn’t a Potions Master!
Jacob shrugged: “When I was in school, I heard a Seer from the Wilkinson family say that fate has once again favored England, perhaps it applies to him?”
“That prophecy was about Potter and Voldemort… Hmm, Voldemort, I almost forgot him…”
Undoubtedly, Voldemort was also a genius, and a Legendary Wizard.
Donald increasingly felt the injustice of fate. The only thing that comforted him was that Voldemort’s mind seemed somewhat unstable.
Recalling more than a decade ago, the whole world feared that the legendary Dark Lord would set his sights on Europe, Asia, and the Americas.
However, until his demise, he had never left England.
Truly a man of great affection!
To this day, many gossip tabloids internationally still endlessly speculate why the Dark Lord was so devoted to those three small islands. Even a few years ago, a newspaper unearthed the fact that Dumbledore had once made a blood pact with Grindelwald, attempting to steer Voldemort’s emotional inclinations in some strange direction.
Unfortunately, under pressure from the Federation, that tabloid in France soon stopped updating their “rollercoaster” stories.
While his mind wandered, Donald continued to focus on the parchment in his hands.
At this point, the searches by teams 1 and 2 finally yielded results.
An Auror walked over, a stack of about dozens of documents labeled “Confidential” floating beside him: “Deputy Minister, Captain Jacob, here are all the confidential documents we found.”
“Good work, Tom.”
Jacob took the documents and quickly flipped through them. Finally, he pulled one out and let out a sigh of relief: “This is it… Heh, that Muggle was quite honest. Looking at the crest, it’s a budget approval document signed by the Muggle Congress, detailing our experimental projects with Muggles, lab scale, address, and asset and outcome evaluations.”
“No wonder Michael was so nervous. If this were to leak, we’d be all over the world!”
Sighing, he handed the document to Donald, and while he was looking at it, Jacob asked, “Do you want to destroy it immediately?”
“Wait a moment, and that Muggle too, his memory also needs…”
As he was speaking, Donald suddenly paused.
Jacob also looked out the window.
Hidden by a magically created illusion, the window, unable to reveal light or sound, showed a car slowly approaching within the small field of vision, illuminated by the streetlights along the road.
Donald and Jacob exchanged a look.
Snap!
He snapped his fingers, and the hut plunged into darkness. He stood up, and together with Jacob, and the other rigorously trained Aurors in the hut, they silently melted into the shadows.
Nymphadora Tonks had been very excited all afternoon.
She had proven her capabilities, uncovering an important clue when Lupin and Kingsley were at a loss.
The strong sense of accomplishment even made her temporarily tolerate the verbal harassment from the middle-aged Muggle beside her.
Of course, tolerance did not mean condoning. Once she got the document, she would make that pervert know the meaning of consequences!
And this goal would soon be realized, all it took was for him to open the door, for her to walk in!
Then, she was taken hostage…
What’s it like when you walk into a room, turn on the light, and see dozens of wizards emerge from the shadows, pointing their wands at you?
Tonks didn’t know what others felt, but her legs were shaking, and she very sensibly raised her hands.
In contrast, the ignorant William was less sensible. When he saw a group of strangers pointing small wooden sticks at him, his first reaction was a laugh: “Ha.”
His second reaction was to hide behind his “dear Miss Tonks” and loudly order his bodyguards:
“Shoot! Shoot them!”
Bang!
It wasn’t a gunshot, but the sound of the main door automatically closing.
As for the two bodyguards… to Mr. William’s bewildered gaze, they turned into two cats, squatting on the ground with bewildered expressions.
Two feathers drifted beside him—
He swore that those two feathers had been handguns a second ago!
“You… you…”
“Shut this Muggle up.” Donald glanced at William with annoyance, ignoring the man’s panicked struggles as his lips suddenly stuck together. He walked up to Tonks, examining her up and down: “Madam, we are Aurors from the Department of Magical Security under the Magical Congress, and we hope you will cooperate with us. I can guarantee that you will not be harmed.”
Tonks blinked and raised her hands a little higher: “I am cooperating!”
“Not just you, but your companions as well.”
Saying this, Donald motioned for her to look out the window. Tonks turned her head, and saw that the magically enhanced window glass clearly and largely reflected Lupin and Kingsley, who were crouching in the shadows of a corner diagonally across the street, looking furtive.
“…”
Tonks was speechless and could only force a slight smile: “Uh, I think there might be some misunderstanding. This gentleman Muggle and I are engaged in legitimate sex…”
Before she could finish her fabricated story.
Donald had already raised the document in his hand: “You want to get this, right?”
“…”
Staring intently at the document, Tonks’s smile faded. After a moment of silence, she finally lowered her hands: “Alright, it seems you guys were faster… I already said, when this greasy Muggle revealed the information to me at the afternoon meeting, we should have captured him and gotten the document quickly. But Vaughn wouldn’t let us, always saying to take it slow, take it slow, I…”
“Hmm?”
Donald, who had been relaxing, suddenly sensed something amiss upon hearing Tonks’s words.
Beside him, Jacob, who had drawn his wand and was preparing to cooperate with other Aurors to check William’s memory, turned around with a look of surprise.
“Wait!”
They interrupted Tonks, who was still grumbling and complaining, “What do you mean? Vaughn Weasley? He knew about the classified documents? And told you to take your time?”
Tonks blinked, “Yes!”
Wrong!
Donald and Jacob simultaneously had the same thought.
Before they could ask further, there was no opportunity.
A bright flash of fire suddenly bloomed on the street outside, reflected on the glass that showed Lupin and Kingsley.
The giant fireball expanded, engulfing them and the surrounding area in an instant.
In the next moment, a deafening roar and a terrifying blast wave rumbled towards them.
The glass shattered instantly!
Under the impact of the shockwave, it poured into the house. Almost at the same time, Donald, Jacob, and the other Aurors in the house cast the Full Body-Bind Curse.
Milky white shields protected them.
Only the room was torn apart and shattered by the rampaging blast wave.
But Donald could no longer care about that. He looked in shock at the street not far away, which had been destroyed and was shrouded in thick smoke. Beside him, Jacob’s voice hoarsely roared:
“Who! Who acted without orders?”
Jacob frantically grabbed everyone and demanded answers, but no one replied. Everyone was stunned by the sudden turn of events.
Tonks also stared blankly at the scene. She tried hard to blink her eyes as before, but the shrewdness was gone, replaced by confusion, as if she couldn’t believe what was happening before her eyes.
The silent stunned moment lasted for a while before ending with a scream:
“Listen, someone is shouting in the smoke, they’re still alive!”
…
“Cough cough—”
Amidst the billowing smoke and shattered ruins, Lupin coughed violently and waved his wand, pushing aside a piece of wall debris that was pressing on him.
The light of the Full Body-Bind Curse around him flickered a few more times before dissipating.
He didn’t have time to bother with that. He quickly cast a Bubble-Head Charm on himself. The spell filtered out the smoke, and he took a deep breath.
“Whew, I didn’t get blown up, but I almost suffocated… Kingsley! Are you alright?”
After calling out several times without a response, just as Lupin thought there was a problem, a black hand emerged from a pile of bricks and rubble a few steps away.
“Kingsley!” Lupin quickly crawled over, dragged Kingsley out, and cast a Bubble-Head Charm on him.
“Cough cough…” Kingsley coughed up a mouthful of blood. He looked at Lupin, then at Tonks, who was running towards them from across the street through the occasional gaps in the swirling smoke, and the Congress Aurors behind her, guarding in all directions. He smiled:
“Mr. Weasley guessed correctly, there is indeed a third party trying to manipulate us, create conflict, and start a war!”
“Yes…” Lupin lay down beside him, exhausted. He heard screams, exclamations, and the whistling of spells tearing through the air, constantly coming from many hidden corners nearby.
“They finally couldn’t hold back!”
