Want to know where those Death Eaters are fleeing? The best way is to ask the person involved. In addition to the Death Eaters themselves, the Aurors from the Ministry of Magic also experienced the prison escape incident, and are now responsible for the search. The main purpose of Maka's visit to Black's old house this time was to get in touch with the Auror elite Kingsley.
After Lupine sent a note to Kingsley, he and Maka continued to chat for a while. The conversation between the two people almost focused on the Order of the Phoenix from now on. direction of development.
To be honest, in the Order of the Phoenix where there are many capable people, there are infinite possibilities. Even if we don’t think about what will happen in the long term, the past ten or twenty years alone are enough to try many meaningful things.
Not long after, when Sirius also came down from upstairs, the conversation here became more lively.
The three of them sat around the long table in the reception room, drinking the tea brought by Lena, chatting almost wherever they thought, and their thoughts spread freely.
Sirius said that they could develop the Order of the Phoenix into a supportive organization for Hogwarts and protect the school that trained them and even their descendants; Lupine said that they could carry out some charity projects. Activities to help those humanoid magical creatures get along well with wizards.
Maka said that both of them had good ideas, but without funds they could not find more members to help them continue the organization.
Of course, we can't let him pay for it himself, right? If Sirius was willing to contribute to the Black family's small treasury, he would not mind adding some benefits to these activities that seemed to be unable to make money.
As a capable and elite Auror, Kingsley is very efficient in getting things done. Soon, he passed back all the information he knew, and the person responsible for conveying it was his nominal subordinate Nymphadora Tonks.
"...We tracked a Muggle town called Stevekey last night, but after that, the clues were interrupted. We are not sure whether they have left in some way, or whether they are still hiding there. , but we didn’t find it…”
Hearing what Tonks said, Maka nodded immediately.
"Sirius, do you want to move your body for a long time?" He turned his head and asked Sirius.
"Is it okay?" Sirius was stunned, "If possible, of course I am very willing to accompany you - but it's not easy for me to go there, right? I think there are probably Aurors in that small town now... "
Although no one now remembers to look for him to cause trouble, his wanted order has never been removed and is still hanging in a corner of the Auror office! After all, he was also the first prisoner to escape from Azkaban, which was no small matter.
"I think as long as you are careful, you should be fine." Maka shrugged, "If possible, I will take the credit on you. Then I will have a reason to find Scrimgeour to dismantle the Ministry of Magic." You are wanted."
"Ha, that's a good idea!" Sirius suddenly became excited, "Seriously, if I stay here all the time, every joint of mine will get rusty!"
Looking at Sirius, who was exuding energy, Maka couldn't tell where he was "rusty". This guy is a restless master and has been like this since he was young. Regarding this, it is obvious just from the fact that he fled to the United States last time.
But this time Maka made an impromptu decision, but she didn't really want to let him go out to relax. Although it was indeed possible to find a way to get rid of the wanted order for him in the end, the reason for calling Sirius this time was for the suspicious Bellatrix.
Speaking of which, they are still cousins! I don’t know how they could have given birth to two people with such different personalities if they were all from the same family.
…
The air in Steveki is slightly humid. Standing in the woods near the town, you can smell the fishy smell of the sea that is familiar to Maka. The air flowed between the mouth and nose, carrying a salty taste.
The daytime in Britain is always very short. It was almost dusk now, and the sun was gradually setting in the west, illuminating the entire snow-covered town with golden light.
The streets of the town have been cast with Muggle expulsion spells. From this higher ground, there are basically no normal Muggle activities in the entire town. Only Aurors are working overtime and conducting nervous searches. and patrol.
"This is the center of Stevekey's town." Tonks stretched out her hand, blurring out the area in front of her, and then pointed to the distance ahead on the left, "just keep walking along that road. , to the northwest is the shanty town of Stevekey, and the people living there are the less wealthy Muggles."
"Then let's go over there and take a look first!" Maka said clearly, "Shanty areas are generally messy, and it's more convenient to hide people or things... Remember to put the Immortal Hidden Potion where it can be accessed at any time. The place depends on it at critical times.”
After all, they came here this time to avoid being noticed. The Ministry of Magic was not yet completely under Scrimgeour's control, so they had to be careful. If Scrimgeour's political opponents found out, he would alert the enemy for no reason. He was not in the habit of throwing vested interests into the trash can.
It was rare for the Minister of Magic to take the initiative to show kindness, and this favor was worth saving for Maka.
After the three of them looked at each other, Maka raised her staff and cast a disembodiment spell on all three of them, and then quietly walked to the northwest of the town.
Along the way through the center of the town, they bumped into several Auror teams, and Maka even caught a glimpse of Kingsley from a distance. If Tonks hadn't been just a new Auror with little presence, I'm afraid it wouldn't have been so convenient for her to sneak out and lead Maka's way.
There is a lot of sea breeze blowing everywhere in the town, and most of the townspeople are very clean, making the town look very tidy. I have to say that although this Stifki is only a small seaside village, its environment with red tiles and white walls is quite pleasing to the eye.
The three of them didn't stay in the town for long and moved forward along the main road extending to the northwest. When they passed the welcoming trail between two woods, the shanty towns that Tonks mentioned gradually came into Maka's sight.
The houses here... well, at least they have roofs and walls, so they can barely be called houses, right
Yes, most of the houses here are very simple. You can see wooden boards, iron wires and old metal pipes inserted horizontally and vertically everywhere, and they are built against trees. The roofs, which were bolted together with tarpaulins and wooden battens, were piled thickly with snow, which looked as if they might collapse at any moment.
However, these crudely built houses are still crowded together, clustered together one by one, with dense groves between each gathering area. Maybe they do this to keep it warmer? But it undoubtedly makes the place look more disorganized.
This place was worse than Maka expected, even more chaotic than Torpoint, where he had lived in the past. Think about it, at least Torpoint is still a port town. Even if it is far less wealthy than those big ports, it still has excellent conditions for the circulation of money and goods and the creation of profits.
But here, there is nothing!
"It's simply a refugee center," Sirius sighed in a low voice. "There are too many people in the Muggle world, and Britain is pretty good! I heard that in some countries, this kind of scene can be seen everywhere..."
"Perhaps one day, when wizards and Muggles can coexist harmoniously, this kind of scene will become less and less common." Maka said casually, "Of course, even if that day does come, it will definitely be a long, long time later. ”
It was not like he had never seen such a dilapidated scene before, so it was nothing to be surprised about.
"Let's go in and have a look!"
Maka looked around a few times, then walked first to a shack gathering area at the intersection.
From the perspective of people like Sirius and Tonks who have been living in a privileged environment since they were young, just taking a look outside will leave you with a lot of emotions. Even though Sirius had been squatting in a hellish place like Azkaban for many years, it was a prison and could not be compared with this kind of hell in daily life.
But when they stepped into this barrenness and were surrounded by chaos, they had a new experience.
The real traces of life will give people an inexplicable sense of reality. Looking at the bonfires, clothes drying racks, tattered shoes and old clothes in the middle of the dilapidated shacks, as well as household garbage everywhere, their walking pace became much slower, as if they were afraid of disturbing something if they were not careful.
A spell has also been cast here, and it can be heard that the poor Muggles are all hiding in their "houses", and no one is left wandering outside.
Maka knew that on normal days, the dusk here would still be very lively.
"Tonks, haven't you seen the scene of those poor Muggles living here?" He couldn't help but asked quietly when he saw that Tonks' expression seemed a little desolate.
"Are you talking about before the expulsion spell was cast?" Tonks shook her head, "I came here with the second search team. At that time, everything here had been cast."
"After the curse is lifted, you can come and observe again." Maka smiled, "You will understand that human beings are naturally optimistic creatures - whether they are Muggles or wizards, it is the same."
"Unless it's in a place where you can't be happy." Sirius seemed to recall some unpleasant experiences, and he added with a sigh.
"Um?"
At this moment, Maka's expression changed, and she turned her head and looked in a certain direction.