Ten years ago, New York was prosperous, filled with feasting and exaggeration; ten years ago, New York was also crazy, with sewage flowing across the land and decadence everywhere.
Perhaps just separated by a street, the so-called "upper class" and the more "unfashionable" appear to be clearly defined.
It is not unusual to huddle in a pile of waste paper shells, looking up at the nearby high-rise buildings while smelling the stench emanating from the ditches, looking past the cluttered neon signs overhead.
When a lot of dollars are intertwined with homeless people everywhere, absurdity is no longer a fantasy that can only appear in a writer's pen, but a reality before our eyes.
And in the depths of such an absurd city that was moving forward like crazy, in that era, the American wizarding world, which had just gotten rid of most of the bad influence left by Gellert Greenwald, was actually inextricably linked to New York. The Muggle world is still out of touch.
"...At that time, the Magic Congress actually didn't have much spare time to pay attention to No-Majs... Oh, do you call them 'Muggles' in the UK? In short, if you hadn't noticed the cases of missing Muggle children in many details, It may be related to that case, and Congress did not plan to investigate in depth. However, since there was the possibility of merging the case, which was related to the appearance of dark wizards, Congress took action immediately - our team was responsible for investigating Congress at that time. Aurors assisted."
Speaking in such detail, John seemed to be gradually returning to that night ten years ago without even realizing it. At the neon-lit intersection on the streets of New York, he and a companion followed a five-person Auror team and began to investigate the murder case that may have affected his younger brother Brooks...
"You two, please follow closely... Because we need to avoid disturbing anything, we cannot use Muggle banishing spells during this operation. Moreover, we may have to deal with some No-Majs - the targets of the criminals are already very clear, and most of them choose They are children among those No-Maj homeless people. Such a target is easy to get, and once successful, it is difficult for others to detect. The previous robbery method of killing an entire family was accidental. "
The Auror deputy captain walking in front was a bit chatty, but he seemed quite calm, as if he was already used to this way of handling cases. Wearing No-Maj civilian clothes at this time, they were walking on the street not at all like a team of Aurors corresponding to the No-Maj police officers, but more like a few laughing street gangsters.
However, when following the other party through a dark alley, John saw a sharp light flashing in the vice-captain's eyes, and then he raised his chin and gestured towards the colorful wall at the alley entrance and said:
"Did you see those graffiti? The pattern of bloody fangs biting through gold coins in the lower left corner shows that the vampires are having a party on Wall Street tonight - those guys are connected to some No-Maj underground gangs and often organize parties. . Originally, it was possible to get some information from them for this case, but... Hey, we just arrested a few unscrupulous guys last month and brought them in as targets. It would be hard to find them now. It’s appropriate. If you’re not careful, you might get tricked by those sharp-toothed guys!”
As he spoke, he walked forward, his steps swaying and messy, but beneath the frivolous and exaggerated surface, he hid his tempered prudence and sophistication.
The American Aurors of this era have come all the way on the tail end of the chaotic situation of previous decades, and their strength and abilities are quite outstanding. On the contrary, John and the fellow from the institute beside him, although their magical strength is even slightly higher than that of these five Aurors, their experience is relatively weak.
Fortunately, the two of them who were allowed to participate in this mission could at least be said to be smart people. Both of them knew exactly what to do at this moment.
"So?" John, who was still young at the time, smiled and asked casually, "Then who are we looking for now?"
"Of course it's a werewolf." The vice-captain shrugged. "You two must also know that many werewolves cannot actually transform as they wish, and in human form, some even look thin and weak - originally They are all ordinary people, aren't they? And this kind of werewolves basically live together with No-Majs, so compared to those sharp-toothed guys who always can't control their mouths, they actually get along pretty well with No-Majs. … Oh, this way.”
As he spoke, the other party suddenly stretched out his hand and grabbed John, leading the two of them to turn a corner with other teammates and walk towards another intersection not far away.
This street is actually much narrower than the main road outside, but because there are a lot of people, it suddenly seems more lively.
It was actually raining lightly in New York right now, but this street was covered by various awnings and store sign light boxes. As he walked among them, John thought the rain had stopped for a moment.
The surroundings became noisy.
"Hey! Where's old William!"
Suddenly, John saw the deputy captain suddenly take a few steps diagonally, squeeze through the crowd and get to the door of a store on the side, and start shouting loudly at the top of his voice.
"William? Over there, the bar, the new one that opened a few days ago-"
Maybe they knew each other, or maybe not—John couldn't be sure. However, the other party had obviously asked about the specific location of the person he was looking for, and after hearing the other party say a random thank you, he squeezed through the crowd again and walked to John's side.
"We know the place, let's go!"
"oh."
John nodded subconsciously and watched the other person continue walking forward after finishing speaking. He thought about it and shrugged, then took big steps to follow.
"John, by the way, have you figured out why Brooks skipped school?" Beside him, his companion who was assigned to follow the team this time suddenly asked.
The street was indeed too noisy, and among the noise, I couldn't hear clearly what the other party was asking. After asking his companion to repeat it, John shook his head, frowned slightly and said:
"Although I haven't seen Brooks for a while, as far as I know, based on his character, he shouldn't act impulsively. There is probably a reason why he skipped school as soon as school started this time."
After saying this to his companion, he murmured to himself - the other truant was Tia, maybe Brooks' truancy was related to her
However, as John, who knew both children fairly well, he didn't think too far ahead at the time. Because as far as he knew, the two didn't seem to have much friendship in the past. Thinking about it this way, it was more like a coincidence.
Without thinking any more, John and his companions quickly followed the Auror and hurried to the destination.