Tearful because of Voldemort's failure?
If you think that way, it's a bit of a stretch. Though I haven't experienced those cruel war years, from what Amortens knew about the wizards who followed Voldemort, calling themselves 'Death Eaters,' and from what he saw in Grubec and his pack of werewolves, he had some understanding of what kind of people they were.
Sirius Black – often referred to as the Number One Death Eater under Voldemort's command, he was willing to betray the Potters in order to pledge his allegiance and ruthlessly eliminate another friend who came to pursue him, without mercy.
Amortens was unequivocal in his belief that Black was a man of unyielding steel, and his loyalty to Voldemort was absolute.
But precisely because of this, Amortens would not believe that he would shed tears here. Especially after being tormented by Dementors in Azkaban for twelve years, he should be just a hair's breadth away from complete madness. It's understandable to bring flowers to an old master, but to cry out of sorrow... Does such a person even have the emotion of sadness left in their heart?
Amortens stood silently in the room littered with rubble, furrowing his brow and deep in thought.
Could he have guessed wrong?
Sirius Black's sole target was Harry from the beginning, and he had never been to this place. The flowers and the tears stains before him were not left by Black.
Judging from the degree of drying out of these flowers, the person who left the footprint had been gone for at least one month. During this long time, all magical traces in the air had naturally disappeared. Otherwise, Amortens would have some means to trace it back.
The gentle breeze from the wilderness meandered through the winding streets of the village. The overgrown weeds and nettles in the courtyards swayed gently in the wind, making a rustling sound.
The withered lilies in front of the frame, a few petals of which had also been blown up into the sky by the wind, swirled in front of Amortens, and slowly fell down.
Gazing at these yellowing withered petals, Amortens' brow suddenly moved, and he had an idea.
Five minutes later, Amortens returned to the church he had passed earlier. Behind the church was a cemetery, where rows of tombstones of the same style were neatly arranged. Most of the tombstones had a few bouquets, either fresh or dried, placed in front of them.
This cemetery was probably designed specifically for wizards living in the Goerde Valley, Amortens concluded after glancing over the inscriptions on the tombstones closest to him.
Although he didn't know the deceased buried beneath the tombstones, Amortens wasn't unaware of those ancient and noble surnames.
If there were no unexpected occurrences, the Potters should also be buried here. However, Amortens did not step into the cemetery to look for their tombstones; his purpose in returning was not to find their graves, but... Amortens turned around and looked towards the left front direction of the church, where there was a flower shop.
The flower shop with a not-so-large front was stuffed with white or yellow flowers often used for mourning. Amortens, standing in front of the shop, saw a chubby woman in her fifties with a back to him gently wiping the petals of a bunch of white roses.
She was a witch, and Amortens recognized her at a glance.
"Hello, lady, how should I address you--"
Hearing the greeting, the witch lost in her world suddenly snapped out of it, realizing that she had a customer in her shop.
"Hello, sir. I'm Eire Tramont, the owner of this flower shop. What can I do for you?"
"Well, Mrs. Tramont, I'd like to buy a bouquet..." Amortens pointed to the white lily in the flower vase behind the owner, which appeared gentle.
"Oh, that one? No problem, sir."
The chubby owner of the flower shop moved surprisingly deftly. In no time, she had trimmed the lily, wrapped it in an old newspaper, and handed it to Amortens.
"Twenty pounds, sir--"
Amortens raised an eyebrow and feigned a difficult expression, "I'm sorry, Mrs. Tramont, I only have galleons here."
"Oh, you're from our... "
Tramont, who was just smiling politely, suddenly realized and looked around to make sure no one was there before giving Amortens a surprised look. "You're a wizard? Oh, sir, I must say that your Muggle outfit is very professional. I didn't recognize you at all."
After Amortens showed his wand, Mrs. Tramont lost all her doubts and began to converse with him warmly.
"--Oh, yes, exactly, many wizards buy flowers from me. Are you also here to pay your respects to the Potters?"
"By the way..."
Amortens handed over a few gold galleons, sniffed the scent of the flowers, smiled, and asked casually.
"Many wizards come here to pay their respects?"
"Certainly, they are heroes, and their son defeated the Dark Lord and saved us from fear and despair,"
Mrs. Tramont said with a tone of respect.
"Every year, on the day the Potters were murdered, their birthdays, Harry's birthday, even their wedding anniversary, many wizards from all over come here to pay their respects... Well, the last wave was here in July when the kids were on holiday. That was probably Harry's birthday. Oh, I heard rumors that the scoundrel Black escaped from Azkaban to get back at him. But I think he will be safe and sound won't I? After all Dumbledore is still at Hogwarts!"
"Of course, I share the same thoughts as you."
Amortens nodded with a smile, then curiously asked.
"Can you remember... I mean, back then, who were the people who bought flowers from you to pay their respects to the Potters?"
A strange question...
Tramont thought that in her heart, but she didn't pay too much attention to it. Because for these years of opening a flower shop here, she had encountered many strange and weird questions. As the local native, some foreign wizards even asked her if she had seen how Harry, who couldn't even be named, defeated that terrible wizard years ago!
Absolutely not, how could she possibly know that?
"Um..."
Tramont rolled her eyes and tried to remember. After a while, she apologized with a smile to Amortens.
"I'm afraid I can't answer your question, sir..."
The flower shop owner pointed to the cemetery behind the church with a nod, "You'll see, sir. Even on ordinary days, there are many people who come here to buy flowers. I can't ask for their names and identities, can I?"
This response didn't surprise Amortens, and even if that bouquet was really from Black, he thought it was unlikely that Black would wear his original face. The reason he asked in the first place was to see if the shop owner remembered any peculiar-looking characters.
"Since that's the case--" Amortens smiled apologetically at Mrs. Tramont, "I apologize for any offense..."
The flower shop owner who was about to end the conversation and go take care of her own business heard this and suddenly froze. She stared into Amortens' eyes, but before she could ask the young wizard why he said that, she suddenly realized that the young wizard's pair of distinctive pale purple eyes suddenly flashed with a brilliant light. And then, as if the sky had fallen and the earth had split open, a bottomless darkness appeared from the pupil. In an instant, Mrs. Tramont lost consciousness and her body control.
Whew---
From the moment they met, Amortens had been skimming through the flower shop owner's memories. One after another, the still images and accelerating clips of vast information came at him like waves, making him unconsciously squint his eyes.
Two days... A week, two weeks... By borrowing the perspective of Mrs. Tramont, Amortens quickly mastered all the people who had appeared around the church in recent times.
Amortens' memory was extraordinarily good, which may have benefited from his two souls merging, and his innate extraordinary mental strength, under the full concentration, he could remember the appearance of each figure who flashed by in front of his eyes, and compare them with the wizards he already knew.
The further back in time he traced, the clearer the faces of those people became in Tramont's subconscious memory. By the time twenty days ago, their outlines were still clear.
Amortens could have made Tramont remember the appearance of those people, but he didn't want to cause irreparable mental harm to this innocent lady. Moreover, the vague faces did not cause his intuitive sense to tremble, so he didn't bother doing so.
The memory continued to go back, 28 days, 29 days, 30 days...
"I need a bouquet of lilies."
At dusk, a wizard with greasy black hair and an aura of coldness appeared in front of Amortens, making the memory world suddenly freeze!
"Snape... Professor?"
In the void, Amortens opened his mouth in shocked silence.
The Library
