The body was somewhat thin, with a chiseled face, soft gray hair and those incredible violet eyes that shone with deep intensity. Louise blinked and stared at the young man in front of her. Her lips went pale and hung open awkwardly.
"Mr. Brian—"
As the young man behind him stepped out suddenly from the darkness without any warning, a tall black man appeared. This was a man with professional experience, and when Louise saw him, she immediately knew that he was a serious-minded man, and the sharpness of his eyebrows made him seem even more intimidating.
Louise, frightened by the serious expression of King'slayer, who suddenly appeared, recoiled slightly. Amortara also loosened her grip on her arm, watching the muggle girl who hid a few steps away. Amortara smiled gently.
"This is Kingsley. Don't be afraid, Miss Andel, we're not bad people..."
A handsome appearance is always more likely to gain trust. Although Louise was not familiar with the gray-haired man in front of her, she immediately believed his words.
"Do you know this muggle. Well, this lady, Mr. Brian?"
Amortara glanced again at the girl who was timidly looking at her, her tone conveying a hint of strangeness.
"I wouldn't say I know her, but I've only seen her once, outside that alleyway leading to the department. And you remember me, miss –"
Louise bit her lip and nodded slightly.
"Call me Louise." "My name is Amortara·Brian."
Louise quickly stated the gray-haired man's name, but after speaking, for some reason, her cheeks flushed slightly. She clenched her lips again.
How could she forget?
Amortara·Brian—this was her first time approaching a completely stranger on the street, only to have her request rejected promptly. For a 'lady', such shame would follow her for life.
"It's truly remarkable coincidence—"
Amortara shook his head slightly, once again expressing his astonishment, but there was a somber tone in his voice.
" Louise, I'm glad to see you again, but for you, this is really a very unfortunate thing in this situation ——"
Stunned for a few seconds, Louise finally came to her senses. She immediately realized what the "bad thing" Mr. Brian meant in this situation. The faint red on her cheeks vanished immediately, and she stared at Amortara·Brian with wide eyes. However, he did not respond to her gaze, so she helplessly looked at the tall man behind Mr. Brian, and the towering King's Slayer lowered his head, revealing a somber expression.
"Fraiser," Louise covered her mouth, "What happened to him?"
Amortara and Kingsley exchanged a look, both seeing the underlying anger flicker in each other's deep eyes.
"Louise—" Amortara bit his lips, "I may ask, what's your relationship with Fraiser?"
"He is my brother—"
The crisp alleyway echoed with the girl's heart-wrenching and sorrowful sobs.
St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, fifth floor, Department of Magical Wounds.
The excruciating night finally came to an end with the faint glow of dawn at the horizon. The pale green morning light filtered through the window above a wall lined with oak paneling opposite the door, casting its rays on the hospital bed and gradually illuminating Hermione's pale, bloodless face as she slept.
A chair next to the bed was piled with a wizard's robe. Tonks was sleeping on it, but when the urgent footsteps suddenly echoed from the corridor outside and approached, breathing steady Tonks suddenly opened her eyes.
Her eyes were still dimmed by the sudden awakening from sleep, but the gradually matured her had already pulled out her wand and assumed a combat stance. As the footsteps approached closer and stopped at the door of the ward, any mistiness in her eyes was gone completely. She pushed forward to Hermione's bedside, staring with alertness at the window outside.
Thump-thump-thump—
However, after the slightly urgent knocking sound, Tonks relaxed down. She scratched her dry and withered hair from bad sleep, thought for a moment and turned her brown hair into black.
"I'm calling from Albania--"
As soon as he entered the ward, Sirius Black did not bother to greet Tonks; instead, he walked past her in large strides straight towards Hermione's bed.
"I was working with the enforcers from France on a mission. I just received a letter from Miss Black last night and I came back immediately. Oh, how's Hermione?"
"Since I got here, she's been sleeping, but Dumbledore says she'll probably come to today—"
Since Sirius Black joined the Auror's office, the two have been working together as a team, while Kingsley has been focusing on commanding the team.
Sirius looked very tired. Perhaps because he had rushed in the morning dew, his hair was wet and several strands of hair hung over his forehead, but he did not care. His gray eyes full of anger were fixed on Hermione's pale cheeks, watching her weak breath hanging on both sides of her two fists that clenched tightly.
"Mrs. Black didn't say much. She only told me that Hermione was injured severely when she got a package in Hogsmeade. Do we have any new developments now? What exactly is going on?!"
Looking at Hermione, who was still living in his own home just over a week ago, Sirius's breathing became even more urgent, and the furrowed brow created deep wrinkles on his forehead.
"Nobody knows what's going on, Sirius—"
Tonks whispered.
"But I heard that Amortara and Dumbledore were angry, and Miss Umbridge destroyed almost half of her office when she returned from Hogwarts, the Minister's mood was also not good, I guess they got angry at Hogwarts—"
Sirius's mouth twisted slightly. It was likely that Fudge and Umbridge had gone to express their attitude, and at the same time, they must have wanted to avoid the responsibility that the Ministry of Magic should take. From his understanding of Amortara, he was sure that Amortara wouldn't give Fudge and Umbridge a pleasant face.
The feeling of schadenfreude vanished instantly in Sirius's heart, and he showed a worried expression.
Perhaps aware of Sirius Black's relationship with Harry Potter, Mrs. Black specifically mentioned in the letter she sent to him that Harry was not injured in the terrorist attack. However, he knew Harry well, and Harry would certainly not feel glad about it.
"Oh, it's time now..."
Sirius was worried about Harry's current mental state. Suddenly, his companion Tonks called out. She picked up the robe lying on the chair and took out a bottle of golden potion from her pocket.
"From Dumbledore—"
Tonks, while pulling back the bedding, gently helped Hermione to sit up, who was wearing a hospital gown.
"He told me that every six hours, she needs to be fed three spoonfuls of this. It's the dosage for two days. Snape will bring the rest tomorrow evening. Please help me——"
Hearing Snape's name, Sirius Black pursed his lips, took a silver spoon from the bedside table.
Taking the bottle from Tonks, he carefully tilted the bottle mouth and placed the glowing, gold-colored liquid in front of Hermione's pale, bloodless lips.
After the potion went down, Hermione's pale and tired face quickly regained its color, and her breathing became slightly heavier.
To avoid disturbing Hermione's rest, Sirius Black and Tonks did not exchange any more words. At around 9 o'clock, the hospital's healers came to make their rounds. They administered some nutritional fluid to Hermione and applied a nose-wrenching, thick, lavender-colored potion to her right arm before hurrying off to the next ward.
"Sleep for a bit," Tonks noticed the tiredness in Sirius Black and said to him, "We have to stay alert, and be prepared for potential assassination at any time –"
Tonks' words persuaded Sirius, he nodded.
"All right, I'll sleep for two hours. If Hermione wakes up—"
Thump-thump-thump—
"Excuse me—"
Under the sudden alertness of Sirius Black and Tonks,
A cracked, hard voice suddenly appeared behind the closed door.
"I heard that there's a young witch named Hermione Granger who was brought here. She's a classmate of my grandson, so I came to see how she is."
(Chapter complete)
