"Rhys, I won't forget the place, I swear."
Sirius spoke with an air of certainty.
"Two months ago, we caught a criminal dealing in B-level prohibited items in Birmingham. However, he was very clever and destroyed all the evidence on him before we could get to him. So we decided to go to his house to see if we could find anything."
"I went to the wizarding residence registration office in the Muggle world at the time, yes. Out of curiosity, I also looked up Amorta's residence in the Muggle world."
Sirius pointed to a road sign not far away.
"Number 178, Furlong Street, I swear I won't get it wrong."
Harry stood on a section of abandoned railway tracks embedded in the ground, squinting his eyes at the opposite side. The plaque read "177 Furlong Street" for an eight-story department store, while "179" was a bakery that seamlessly connected with the department store, there was no "178 Furlong Street."
A sudden cold wind swept down, carrying with it a light sprinkle of snowflakes. Harry turned his face to avoid the wind and snow, and suddenly he saw an old stone arch bridge standing on the street that led towards the suburbs.
"What's wrong, Harry, what did you see?"
Hermione immediately noticed Harry's unusual expression. She asked with concern.
"Ahem--" Harry smiled, bringing his gaze back in, "Nothing, just the snow got in my eyes for a moment--"
"If you haven't forgotten, Sirius, this means that--"
Rhys's brow furrowed as he stared at the wall between numbers 177 and 179, lowering his voice to say, "Amorta used magic to conceal the orphanage. I'm sure that's not allowed, Sirius?"
The cold weather and poor business had caused most shops on the street to close down, and with Sirius calculating how to find someone to inquire, he heard Rhys's question and softly smiled.
"Of course, it's not allowed, Rhys. If it's a pure wizarding family, they have the right to hide their houses to prevent unwanted guests, but an orphanage. You know, Rhys, there are both Muggle children and Muggle volunteers inside. In such a case, it is not allowed to use magic on the house, of course. Amorta certainly wouldn't care, and no one in the department would be foolish enough to bother the famous Amorta Black-Bryan."
Hermione wrinkled her nose, displeased with the way he put it.
Of course, that's not what Rhys truly wanted to ask. He continued to stare at the wall, speaking in a low voice,
"The question is, has this orphanage always been hidden by Amorta, or is it a recent thing?"
Only Sirius and Hermione truly understood Rhys's implication. If the house has always been hidden, it wouldn't matter much. But if Amorta, especially, yesterday after returning here, immediately protected his place of growth with tight magic without stopping for even a moment, then that would be something else entirely.
As the sky darkened, the yellowed lampshades hanging from the streetlights on either side crackled with a sound, emitting dim yellow light. Under the light, the snowflakes that had fallen seemed to be accumulating more thickly, and the red-brown stone bricks on the ground, which had been cleared of snow, were now covered with a thin layer of white snow.
"I can't see any signs--"
Having been trying to find any signs of magic presence, Rhys finally gave up and slightly shook his head.
"In line with Amorta's style, if he decided to hide this house, he would certainly use the deepest spells. I suspect it might be the Loyal Heart Spell."
"Loyal Heart Spell?"
Harry and Ron were boredly chatting behind a lamppost, discussing who would be the next captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team after Wood left. Upon hearing Rhys say this, Harry's eyebrows furrowed and he looked over at them immediately.
"That's right, it's the spell Dumbledore used to protect James and Lily."
Sirius rubbed his hands to warm them up, and the light hit his suddenly dark face. He nodded in agreement.
"It's a very ancient and powerful spell that hides a secret in the memory of the keeper. As long as the keeper doesn't reveal it, it's absolutely safe. Unless Peter, the pitiful one, had betrayed you, Voldemort would have his nose pressed against your parents' house window and wouldn't see anything!"
"If that's the case--"
Hermione snapped shut the book she had received from Sirius last night with a click. She had to admit that it was an extremely interesting book. The book wasn't dry and boring, but rather a journal written by one of Sirius' ancestors after they returned from exploring the world. It recorded how that skilled member of the Black family, one of the ancestors, dealt with various dangers they encountered on their journey using their extensive knowledge.
"Since we can't find the house, should we leave?"
Hermione said urgently, her mind always troubled by the fact that they had come to his Muggle world residence without Professor Black's permission.
"It's not entirely impossible--"
Sirius hesitated and said.
"If the people inside the house step outside the magical protection, it seems we're quite lucky!"
Harry, Ron and Hermione were all paying close attention to Sirius's words when they saw him suddenly become animated and take off at a run towards the opposite side of the street. A middle-aged woman appeared in their line of sight.
She was a middle-aged woman in her forties, slightly underweight, wearing waterproof rubber boots, loose brown pants, and a thick emerald green sweater. She had no coat over the sweater but wore an oil-stained apron. At that moment, she was dragging a large garbage bag to a nearby trash bin. The weight of the bag was clearly not light for her; it made her thin and out of breath.
"Need a hand, ma'am?"
Sirius jumped over the fence by the side of the road and smiled warmly.
"Wow!"
Mrs. Reagan looked in surprise at the man with deep-set eyes who suddenly approached her, and was frozen for several seconds. It took her a moment to realize what this unfamiliar face referred to.
"If you can, that would be very much appreciated!"
"Thank you so much!" said Mrs. Reagan gratefully.
Sirius turned back to look at the people following him. He gave Harry and Ron a wink, and then the two boys, with an expression of grievance, walked to either side of Mrs. Reagan and lifted the garbage bag that weighed about forty or fifty pounds.
"Is there anything I can help you with, sir?"
"Goodness me, I'm sorry about that," Mrs. Reagan said, straightening up and wiping her hands on her apron in a slightly constrained voice. She looked at Sirius, Rhys, Hermione, and Harry and Ron, who had taken over her garbage bag and thrown it back into the bin with great speed. Clearly, she realized that these well-dressed people had gathered around her for something more than just to help her lift the garbage bag.
"Oh, that's how it is--"
Sirius and Rhys exchanged a glance, and after half a day of being out in the cold, they didn't beat around the bush. Rhys smiled warmly.
"We heard he lived in the area. Do you know, Amorta Black-Bryan?"
"Oh, you're here to find Amorta?" Mrs. Reagan's suspicious frown immediately disappeared, "Who are you?"
"Yes, colleagues--"
To avoid revealing their true identity, Rhys simply said succinctly.
"Oh, you are Amorta's colleagues!"
Mrs. Reagan's tone was lighter, but when she saw the two boys running over quickly, her brow furrowed again. She nodded towards Hermione and Harry, and Ron.
"That these three children--"
"We're interns, ma'am--"
Quick-witted Hermione said, her cheeks flushing.
"I'm Hermione Granger, and these two are Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. We're following Sirius Black and Remus Lupin on our internship at the school."
"Oh, that explains it!" Mrs. Reagan said cheerfully. "We've never seen any of Amorta's colleagues before. Come in, please. It's really cold outside!"
Before Sirius could even try to stop her, Mrs. Reagan quickly ran into that dividing wall, disappearing from sight of the three of them.
Eh.
(End of chapter)
