The Rogue of the Security Department searched this house upside down but found nothing. The result was so expected that even they themselves were not surprised. If Amostar Bresin really killed Chargo Pologneo, he wouldn't have been so careless about his magic wand.
Mrs. Dett and Mr. Dett leaned against Amelia's side, watching the wizards, who had made a mess of their houses after Amostar left, feeling both indignant and panicked.
Amelia watched all this with a pale face, feeling for the first time that entering the Security Department seemed like a completely wrong dream.
Like gentle notes, dawn's light filters through the living room windows, illuminating the room.
The Rogues finally settled down, waving their wands to put the house's furnishings back in place, and then gathered in the living room.
Without Amostar Bresin on site, the Rogue guards undoubtedly relaxed a bit. Selineia gave a brief, cold nod to the Dett family on the couch, then departed through the fireplace that was temporarily linked to the Floo Network.
Erell seemed to want to comfort Amelia a little more, after all, this young girl would be their colleague in the future. However, when he saw Amelia's cold expression, he sighed softly in his heart and said nothing, leaving quickly through the fireplace.
They still need to go to the hotel where Bresin was staying.
The emerald flames in the fireplace finally calmed down, a small flame burning on the ash-covered hearth, almost extinguishing at any moment.
Now only the Dett family remained, but they had not exchanged a word about what had just happened. The house fell silent once more, with Mrs. Dett softly sobbing, and Mr. Dett, with red eyes, gently rubbing his wife's back.
Amelia, with her delicate fists tightly clenched on her knees, felt that the Security Department had been very unjust. They didn't even give her a chance to explain or present evidence before entering her own home and scaring her parents. But in her eyes, there was a hint of confusion as if she didn't know what to do.
"We must go to help the child——"
Stopping her shock and grief, Mrs. Dett suddenly grabbed her husband's hand, her emotions visibly unsteady. Her tearful eyes fixed on her husband.
"We cannot let that child get into any more trouble, Amostar. If Benina knows we didn't protect her child, what will she say? She will be so angry."
Mr. Dett's broad arm showed a bulge of veins, and he seemed to be having difficulty breathing. His solemn face was full of pain.
"You are right, my dear——"
Mr. Dett's voice was hoarse to the point of being unrecognizable.
"We need to do something, Benina that child. If these bastards dare to hurt him, I swear I will sue them at the Wizarding United Nations. Now, we. We need—"
Not the Wizarding United Nations, but the International Confederation of Wizards. And this organization does not handle regular cases; they have no right to interfere in the internal affairs of each country's Ministry of Magic. As for harming Amostar Bresin, Amelia believes that the American Magical Congress would not dare do so.
Using private punishment on the most prominent wizard of the world?
Stop joking. That's Amostar Bresin, hailed as the strongest wizard of his generation. To mention some well-known titles of Amostar aside from that, he was the Deputy Headmaster of Hogwarts and trusted by Albus Dumbledore.
Amelia is certain that if the news of Amostar being 'detained' gets out, it would cause an international stir. The British Ministry of Magic would definitely send a letter of inquiry, and even a personal visit from Albus Dumbledore to New York wouldn't be an exaggeration.
But Amelia didn't tell her parents about it. Her attention was attracted to something else, and she was very keenly aware that this was a very important thing that could answer her doubts.
"Benina."
Amelia looked up, her beautiful brown eyes still confused.
"Who is Benina. Benina's child, I don't understand."
Mrs. Dett's barely audible sobbing stopped suddenly, and she looked over at her daughter, avoiding eye contact. She looked quite panicked. Mr. Dett clamped his lips together and trembled slightly with his arms folded.
"Tell me, Mom and Dad—"
Amelia suddenly stood up, staring straight at her parents who were tightly clasped together, her voice filled with anger and mistrust.
"What are you both hiding? Is Benina's child an Amostar, as Amostar suggested? Do you know the mother of the Amostar?"
Facing their daughter's question, they ashamedly lowered their heads even further, and the living room fell into a dead silence, only Amelia's gradually heavier breathing. But this suffocating silence did not last long.
Pink-tinged sunlight pierces through the layers of leaves, illuminating the living room. Mr. Dett, bathed in a mess of broken shadows, raises his hand to wipe away his moist eyes and hunches his back, which is unprecedentedly stooped.
He first looked sadly at Amelia and then, in a hoarse voice, spoke to his wife.
"Amelia. I've been considering this for some time, and we shouldn't have kept it hidden."
Mrs. Dett painfully covered her face with her hands, and her shoulder shook even more violently, but she did not object to this statement.
Amelia watched her father get up, moving with difficulty. She felt a pang of heartache and instinctively reached out to support him, but Mr. Dett waved his hand and walked back to his bedroom with a slightly shaky gait. However, a minute later, he emerged again, looking sorrowful and holding an album in his hands.
From the faded cover, Amelia could judge that this album had "a long history."
"Here you go --"
Mr. Dett's voice was so hoarse that he could barely speak.
The photos album lay there, motionless and muted. Amelia glanced at the yellowed, curled pages of the album, where in the center, beneath a sealed glass cover, was a family portrait.
Looking at the clothing of the background in the photo, it seemed to be for Christmas in a certain year. Among the three people in the photo, one of them was her. But her expression was very cold and stern. The other couple, Amelia could recognize, were her parents. They looked much younger than now, only in their forties.
"I was"
Amelia looked confused at her father, who looked much older, and at her mother, who was shedding tears, then studied the photo for a moment.
"We. When did we ever take a photo? But this doesn't make sense. You all look much younger, and I..."
Amelia turned over the cover and began to look at the pictures inside.
The first set of pictures were of a young couple and a newborn baby in a photography studio. The couple's faces were filled with bright smiles, while the baby was crying loudly.
Amelia unconsciously held her breath and flipped through the pages.
The couple grew older, and the baby grew up.
At first, everyone in the photos was smiling happily, and the smiles grew ever brighter.
However, after a certain point in time, the curve of the couple's mouths gradually flattened, and the girl who had grown up looked almost identical to her, but her eyes became more and more rebellious. She began to wear some unconventional things, such as lip piercings, tattoos, multicolored hair and strange clothing.
The last few pages of the album showed that there was no warmth between the couple and the girl in the photos. Their eyes were filled with coldness, and Amelia even noticed that the girl stood very close to both parents, but they all tried to avoid touching each other.
Amelia closed the album, her fingertips brushing over the curled edges, and found that there was no dust in the creases and cracks of the cover. It appeared to have been well cared for.
"She is --"
Amelia looked up at her silent parents, lost and desperate, asking.
"Who is she?"
The gentle breeze blowing through the window caused the leaves outside to rustle. In the midst of the rustling leaves, Amostar Dett, who had been silent for a long time, raised his head to look at his little daughter. His dry lips moved slightly.
"That is your sister. Her name is——Belina Dett."
(End of Chapter)
