I received your letter, Selena. What's going on?
As Selena hesitated whether to follow Lord Black's advice, a group of people rushed past from the elevator hall, led by Eryl and his team members who were monitoring Amostus in the hotel of the World Trade Center.
Upon entering the office, he immediately asked, then his attention was attracted to Fox who was crouching on the light fixture observing the chaos. He was startled for a moment, and then he noticed the man holding Selena's arm.
“Are you the Sirius Black of the British magical community?”
Eryl said with a furrowed brow,
"How did you get here?"
So Selena quickly explained, and as she spoke, Eryl's expression gradually became comical, like he had just been struck by lightning.
"So, the Muggle who was delivering the food to you was actually Mugengus, the one we captured earlier. He disguised himself as a Muggle to poison you and take away that fang from Mr. Bane."
Eryl struggled to say,
"He could also have kidnapped Mr. Grayves, which is ridiculous. How could he escape from the containment room and control Mr. Grayves?"
"If we continue to waste time here, we might as well just prepare to bury Grayves."
After committing a series of heinous crimes, that vampire urgently needed a safe place to hide himself. Therefore, he questioned the information out of Grayves' mouth - this was the guess of the Aurors.
After a brief discussion, Selena accepted Sirius's advice. She went to the Muggle villa with Eryl, and Sirius, and Amelia. With their combined magic, they believed that if there was only one vampire at the house, they would be able to handle it.
"How do you know that?"
This is Mr. Grayves' personal letter, none of them have the right to read it.
On the polished floor, a series of large animal footprints stretched from the fireplace up the spiral staircase to the second floor, apparently belonging to the controlled Mugengus.
"This house indeed belongs to Mr. Grayves; I found a letter from Mr. Scamander to him."
Fox spread its wings, flew up, and nodded towards Sirius after producing a melodious trill.
It was a very ordinary study, neither simple nor overly luxurious. Selena and Eryl, who had just undone their Illumos disguise following Sirius, rushed towards the desk and the fireplace respectively.
A moment of silence, and Selena turned her head to look at Alex returning.
hesitated for a moment, Alex continued.
"A villa for Muggles."
Amelia gave Selena a slightly surprised glance—she didn't like the witch who had boldly invaded her home, but she had to admit that as an Auror, Selena's thought process was clear.
However, such things were not a big deal for the powerful Travers Greywizard. Perhaps, Mr. Greywizard had included an unknown Muggles' villa in the wizarding network as his "secret base," and experienced Aurors would usually prepare a safe haven for themselves.
Muggle houses were normally not allowed to be connected to the Floo Network, which could not have been the work of that vampire. It must be a violation by their boss, Mr. Greywizard, on his own initiative.
Sirius led the way, with Amelia in the middle, and Selena and Eryl bringing up the rear as support—they ascended the spiral staircase in this formation to the second floor.
"There's another fireplace. I think they've left—"
Selena showed the letter's sender and recipient information to Sirius, then put the letter back in the drawer and relocked it with magic.
"Not without possibility."
"Amostus resisted some of the drugs on him. He left a tracking spell on his fang, which detected when the vampire entered the Magical Congress building. He arranged for us to pursue, and when we entered the building, the wizards guarding it told us that only Mr. Grayves had entered before us. So we guessed that he had fallen into the vampire's hands."
"Got it— "
Unexpectedly, it was Selena who spoke up, her face darkened as she said,
Sirius said impatiently,
"It's because Amostus wasn't fully unconscious— "
"Have you found out, where exactly did the vampire who just used this office fireplace go?"
Sirius said calmly,
"Alright, even if what you're saying is the truth—"
The first floor was clear, and even if one listened carefully, there was no sound from the second floor.
Amelia's eyebrow twitched, and she finally grasped the acuity and professionalism of her colleagues. She stumbled over her explanation, leaving gaps that were quickly caught.
Everyone here, except for Amelia, was an experienced wizard. After exchanging a look with the two Aurors of the Ministry of Magic, Sirius and the other two, they all cast a Disillusionment charm on themselves without saying a word. Seeing them do so, Amelia quickly followed suit.
"Isn't that good news?" Amelia blurted out.
After placing a few small spells on the fireplace and checking it, Eryl returned and looked at the people in the study. His voice was somewhat heavy as he said,
"This fireplace is special; it's a one-way, round-trip fireplace. It can only travel between fixed locations. This means we don't need to investigate where the vampire has taken Mr. Grayves; we can just throw some Floo Powder into the hearth, and we'll appear at the correct location."
"It seems we haven't found the wrong place."
Eryl's brow remained furrowed, and he looked at Amelia.
"But how do you know that the vampire went to the Congress after leaving the hotel? You were all knocked out, weren't you? And why didn't you tell me? I'm right across from Mr. Bane's room, aren't I?"
"We reviewed the visit records from the holding cell tonight. Earlier, Mr. Grayves had visited the holding cell through a fireplace in his office. I suspect he might have been trying to interrogate the vampire alone, to find out information we haven't yet obtained, such as the purpose of collecting those dangerous magical creatures."
Mr. Grayves might have been caught off guard by the vampire, who didn't necessarily need a wand to cast those dark spells. He subdued Mr. Grayves, concealed him in some way, and then impersonated Mr. Grayves to leave the Magical Congress building and steal that fang from Mr. Bane's possession—”
As the brilliant green flames faded from view, Sirius appeared first in Mr. Grayves' safe house. Rolling out of the fireplace upon landing, he swept his sharp eyes around to ensure there was no danger, took a deep breath, and slowly stood up. The others followed him out of the fireplace.
Sirius raised his head and looked at the phoenix on the light fixture.
"Stay here and don't move. If you hear my call, bring these Aurors with you. Can you do that?"
"Fox—"
Sirius was confused for a moment, but he quickly recovered and explained to Amelia in a somewhat triumphant tone, "You see, Selena's family has been a Muggle since generations ago. The closest relatives they have are her cousins who are also Muggles."
"I guess this fireplace is not connected to the Floo Network. It's completely private. Compared to privately connecting a Muggle residence's fireplace to the Floo Network, this is much more serious. If it were in Britain, just this one charge would mean you'd have to spend at least two years in Azkaban!"
But in response to her questions, Eryl and Selena both kept silent, their expressions somewhat sullen.
"Because Amostus suspects that the vampire risked entering the Magical Congress building again in order to get his hands on the Vampiric Toxin he failed to obtain."
"I'm not sure if this is good news, but—"
Click!
Selena pointed her wand at the drawer of the desk, and it opened, revealing neatly stacked letters inside. She pulled out the one on top, skimmed over it briefly, fell silent for a moment, then turned to Sirius.
Sirius nodded towards the ground and whispered, lowering his voice.
The remaining Aurors stood guard at the Department of Magical Security, ready to provide assistance at any time in case of a large-scale attack.
The footprints of the Mugengus on the ground led them directly to the study, allowing them to bypass the need for a thorough search of every room. Following the prints, they entered the study - the door was open, and Sirius quickly peeked inside before disapparating.
The wizard named Alex said in a low voice, "I asked Isaac at the Ministry of Magical Transport, and the vampire was heading to a location on Manhattan Island."
(Chapter Complete)
