After settling Giovanni in, Severus made another trip to Venice, to Giovanni's residence.
Fortunately, the estate was large enough and had plenty of detached houses, so Felix and Fiona had not been affected.
To run into something like this even while on vacation—Pomona almost thought she had caught some sort of superpower from the Golden Trio.
It was around ten at night when Severus finally returned. The news he brought was neither good nor bad. The people who had attacked Giovanni had turned his house upside down, as if they had robbed the vampire.
"What do you make of it?" Severus asked.
"I don't know." Pomona frowned deeply. "Was it really that simple?"
"We've run into too many bizarre twists and turns lately. Maybe this really was that simple," Severus said. "Don't overthink it."
"That smuggler of prohibited goods—who is he?" Pomona asked Severus. "Or is he some mysterious figure I'm not allowed to know about?"
Severus stared at her for a moment, then took a business card from his breast pocket.
It was green, with an elegant line of silver lettering:
Ali Bashir, providing you with the finest flying carpets
There was also a tiny figure sitting on a flying carpet, endlessly turning somersaults across it like an acrobat.
"A flying carpet dealer?" Pomona said in surprise. "Do people in Britain use flying carpets?"
"No. The Ministry of Magic considers flying carpets Muggle artifacts, items listed on the Register of Prohibited Objects. He was once arrested for trying to smuggle flying carpets into Britain." Severus drew out the words. "After he was released, he started dealing in other goods. Such as Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder."
Pomona raised an eyebrow.
Arthur Weasley had once worked in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office. Whether flying carpets were on the Register of