Harry's lips trembled as he looked at the letter the pink-haired witch handed over.
"I...was I expelled from Hogwarts?" he asked with his eyes closed, his expression extremely painful.
"Expel? What are you thinking about?" The pink-haired witch seemed to be unable to hold back her laughter. "The Ministry of Magic is already cherishing you, why would they want to expel you?"
"Ah?" Harry's eyes widened, a feeling of ecstasy surged in his heart, "So... I don't have to be fired?"
"Of course." The pink-haired witch nodded, "Let me introduce myself first. I am an official Auror in the Auror Office of the Ministry of Magic. You can call me Tonks."
She emphasized the words "official Auror" and had a proud expression on her face, as if she was afraid that others didn't know that she had passed the formal Auror assessment this summer.
"Um, hello, Tonks." Harry finally breathed a sigh of relief and took the letter from Tonks. "If you're not going to expel me, then what does this letter prohibiting the misuse of the Department of Magic mean? You know... I did break the rules after all."
"You are right, you did violate the Ministry of Magic's regulations." Tonks nodded, "So there is still a process to go through. The first violation will be a warning, and no other punishment will be imposed."
As she spoke, she glanced in the direction of Privet Drive from afar, "A memory cancellation officer has already come to clean up the mess for you. Don't worry, your uncle's family won't remember what happened today!"
Harry finally felt relieved. He lowered his head, opened the letter in his hand, and read what was written on it -
Mr. Porter:
We have been informed that at 9:12 this evening you had performed a Swelling Charm in your quarters. You are aware that underage witches and wizards are not permitted to perform magic outside of school and that any further such activity will result in your expulsion from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (The Reasonable Restraint of Underage Wizards Act, 1875, section 3).
Also remember that according to Section 13 of the International Confederation of Wizards' Statute of Secrecy, any magical activity that might attract the attention of non-magical members of the world (Muggles) is a serious offense.
Have a nice summer!
Mafalda Hopkirk
Ministry of Magic Prohibition of Misuse of Magic
…
Harry looked at the letter in his hand with a feeling of sadness and relief at the same time.
He was relaxed because he knew that the violation of magic was over and he would not be expelled from Hogwarts; but he was sad because Harry just found out that there would be a warning for the first violation.
If he had known this earlier, he would have found a better opportunity to use magic on the Dursleys and teach them a lesson!
"Oh, right, I almost forgot something!" Tonks suddenly exclaimed, interrupting Harry's thoughts, "Harry, is there anything else you haven't dealt with?"
"If there's anything else you need to do or get, then I think you need to hurry up, because you may not know it, and now you are in great danger!"
Tonks's originally lively expression suddenly turned serious. She pulled Harry to a darker place beside the street and searched around very professionally, clearing away all suspicious objects nearby according to the requirements of the Auror assessment.
"Hey, why is there a big black dog here?" She saw a big black dog nearby, but without paying much attention to it, she just casually chased it to the other side of the street.
"I don't have anything else to take, and I can leave here anytime." Harry shook his head and picked up his suitcase and Hedwig's cage. "But... Tonks, why would I be in danger?"
"I'll tell you about this in detail once we're in a safe place. I need to get you to the Ministry of Magic now..." Tonks said urgently, "Can you make your attendant appear?"
"Apparating? What's that?" Harry asked blankly.
"Oh, I forgot, you are still a student who has not even reached the third grade yet." Tonks covered her forehead helplessly, "Well... Follower Apparition is the ability to follow other wizards and wizards to Disapparate. You grew up in a Muggle family, so there must be no adult wizard who taught you this."
"But the distance from here to the Ministry of Magic is too far. I dare not Apparate with a little wizard who can't Apparate. This is really troublesome..."
"We can take a taxi or the subway," Harry suggested. "Muggle transportation is actually quite convenient."
"That won't do." Tonks rejected his idea. "Muggle vehicles don't have any protection. If Sirius Black finds you on a Muggle vehicle, I'm afraid not only you will be in danger, but also the Muggles around you."
She pulled her hair in confusion, and the pink color turned into a colorful, messy color, and then turned into a gray.
"Sirius Black?" Harry opened his eyes wide in surprise before he could even begin to wonder about Tonks's ever-changing hair color. "I seem to know this name. He's a wanted criminal with a bounty on his head by the Muggle government! What's the connection between this guy and the wizarding world?"
He had seen the name Sirius Black in the newspaper subscribed by Uncle Dursley this morning. On the front page of the Muggle newspaper, he was reported as an extremely dangerous murderer.
"Ah, I let it slip by accident..." Tonks' face froze for a moment, and she covered her mouth with two fingers. "Never mind, it's not impossible to tell you now. We can just take this opportunity to wait for my colleague to deliver the key to the Ministry of Magic."
"Listen, Harry, Sirius Black is an extremely dangerous criminal who has just escaped from Azkaban! The Ministry of Magic has determined that he is most likely looking for you!"
Tonks looked Harry in the eyes and spoke seriously.
What the two men didn't notice was that not far away on the side of the street, the ears of a big black dog that had just been chased away quietly stood up.
"So, the wanted criminal named Sirius Black is actually a wizard?" Harry asked in amazement. "Then why is he in the Muggle newspapers?"
"Because the Ministry of Magic contacted the Muggle Prime Minister." Tonks said in a nonchalant manner, "You'll understand if you look at this newspaper."
She pulled a newspaper from her small bag and handed it to Harry, pointing to a paragraph on the front page -
Some members of the International Confederation of Wizards had criticised Fudge for informing the Muggle Prime Minister of Black's escape.
Fudge responded angrily, "Oh, I had to do this, didn't you know? Blake is crazy. Anyone who meets him will be in danger, whether you are a wizard or a Muggle!"
"I got a promise from the Muggle Prime Minister. He said that he would not tell anyone a word about Blake's true identity. We cannot deny one reality - if the Muggle Prime Minister told Blake's true identity, which Muggle who had never seen magic would believe him?"
The Muggles were told that Blake was carrying a gun (a metal wand that Muggles use to kill each other), and the magical community was always worried that the massacre twelve years ago would happen again, when Blake killed thirteen people with a single spell.
…
Compared to the seriousness and formality of the official newspapers in the Muggle world, the content of the official newspaper of the wizarding world, The Daily Prophet, is often as casual as this report, and even the funny quotes of Fudge, the Minister of Magic, are published intact.
In comparison, the Daily Prophet's status in the wizarding world is like the Times in the Muggle world, but its content is like the Sun in the Muggle world.
Harry stared at Blake's unclear eyes in the newspaper. In that sunken face, only these eyes seemed to have some remaining life.
Harry thought of the pictures of vampires he had seen in his Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook, and Blake, with his waxy white skin, thought he looked like a vampire.
Of course, if Dracula knew about his dangerous idea, he might have to duel four times a day in the duel club this semester...
"I never thought Sirius would look so scary now..." Tonks also glanced at the photo printed in the newspaper with a somewhat sad expression, "I saw him several times when I was a child. At that time, he was simply the most handsome wizard I had ever seen."
"You met him when you were a kid?" Harry asked in surprise.
"Not only have I seen him, I've seen him many times!" Tonks said, "Oh, I forgot to introduce him, Sirius Black is my mother's cousin."
Harry looked at Tonks' pretty face, then at Sirius Black's haggard, withered, sunken face in the newspaper. He couldn't connect the two men together, let alone believe that he was the most handsome wizard Tonks had ever said.
"Don't disbelieve me, Sirius was the most handsome boy in Hogwarts before he went to Azkaban!" Tonks saw Harry's disapproval and added, "Let me think of how to describe how handsome he is... By the way, you should know Professor Dracula, right?"
She suddenly thought of the silver-haired man whom she had met twice, in the Cairngorms and on the island of Azkaban.
"What does this have to do with Professor Dracula?" Harry looked at Tonks suspiciously.
"Sirius was only a little bit worse than Professor Dracula when he was young!" Tonks said in a very affirmative tone.
The two of them didn't notice that the big black dog beside the street raised its head proudly after hearing Tonks's evaluation of Sirius Black, and when Tonks mentioned Professor Dracula, a hint of curiosity appeared in its eyes.
"Wow, is it so exaggerated?" When Harry thought that Sirius Black was almost as handsome as Professor Dracula, he almost developed a liking for this wanted criminal.
What he didn't know was that this inexplicable liking for him was not because of Sirius's former handsomeness, but because he had a strange sense of familiarity with this face.
"No, no, he's a murderer who has killed thirteen people!" Harry shook his head violently, shaking off the distracting thoughts in his mind, "He killed thirteen people with just one spell!"
"Yes, a spell," said Tonks. "It happened in broad daylight, in front of witnesses, and caused quite a bit of trouble for the Ministry."
At this point, Tonks scratched her hair in confusion, and changed her hair color back to her favorite pink. "It's quite strange. Judging from Sirius's later behavior, he actually supported the You-Know-Who the most."
"What? Voldemort?" Harry asked subconsciously.
"Hiss—" Tonks took a breath of cold air, then looked at Harry and complained, "Don't say that name directly, you scared me, Harry!"
"I'm sorry," Harry apologized immediately, "I'm sorry, I... I forgot..."
"Okay, now I really believe that you are not afraid of the You-Know-Who." Tonks rubbed her eyebrows helplessly.
"So... so, Blake is a supporter of You-Know-Who?" Harry asked anxiously.
"Based on the existing evidence, it is indeed the case." Tonks said, her face still looking somewhat puzzled. "My mother has never really believed this, but she can do nothing about it when the evidence is irrefutable."
"According to the information provided by the Ministry of Magic, Sirius and the You-Know-Who have a very close relationship... Anyway, when you were almost killed by the You-Know-Who—"
She subconsciously glanced at Harry's lightning-shaped scar that was hidden by his hair on his forehead. "All of You-Know-Who's supporters have been hunted down. Most of the Death Eaters know that since You-Know-Who has escaped, they have also lost power, so most of the Death Eaters have become obedient."
"But those led by Bellatrix Strange don't think so. They are die-hard followers of the mysterious man, and Sirius should be among them."
"An Auror colleague told me that the Aurors once cornered Sirius on the street, which was full of Muggles... But he took out his wand and used a spell to blast half of the street, killing a wizard and twelve Muggles..."
Tonks' voice dropped to a low pitch, as if she was sad for those who had died.
"The wizard's name was Peter Pettigrew," she went on. "He was posthumously awarded the Order of Merlin, First Class."
"Sirius showed no remorse for the crime he had committed and kept laughing... He followed the Aurors without any resistance, still laughing all the way. His colleagues at the Ministry thought he had gone completely crazy."
"It was a huge event at the time, and the Muggle government went to great lengths to keep it secret," Tonks continued. "The whole street was bombed, and all the Muggles died, and the explanation they gave was..."
"I know this. Gas explosion." Harry took over the conversation. "Now I finally understand why there are so many news reports about gas explosions in the Muggle world."
…
…