Kingsley Loses His Composure

A week earlier, two hours after the Knockturn Alley explosion.

At this moment, all that remained at the scene was an exceptionally intact, bowl-shaped crater. Ministry of Magic personnel stood around in twos and threes, all wearing troubled expressions.

The surrounding area had already been sealed off by Auror barriers, so there were not many onlookers.

Of course, there were still some people, such as reporters. They were eager to get firsthand information and secure the next day's Daily Prophet headline.

At the center of the scene, a vortex appeared out of thin air. The next moment, two figures emerged.

One wore purple robes, with dark skin and a stern expression. His name was Kingsley Shacklebolt, an Auror of the Ministry of Magic.

The other was tall and thin, his face covered in wrinkles. His silver hair and beard were long enough to tuck into his belt, and he wore gray-white robes. Behind half-moon spectacles, a pair of brilliant blue eyes sparkled brightly.

"Dumbledore, I'm sorry to disturb you, but my Retrospection Charm simply can't reconstruct what happened at the time," Kingsley said.

"All we know now is that an adult brought a child to Knockturn Alley. Then a group of people tried to rob them. During the fight, someone used the Killing Curse, and the person who was attacked suddenly turned into a cat-headed humanoid... Have you discovered anything?"

Kingsley had been talking for quite some time when he looked up and noticed that Dumbledore's gaze was fixed on the air.

"Shh!" Dumbledore said softly. "Kingsley, be patient. The more anxious you are, the easier it is to miss the truth. Look there. That is the center of the entire curved surface."

As he spoke, Dumbledore drew a wand with many round knobs along its middle and lightly tapped the air.

A white sphere of light appeared in midair. Then it gradually emitted circular waves that spread outward, eventually fitting perfectly against the entire bowl-shaped ground.

A "sphere" more than ten meters in diameter appeared within the space.

Kingsley's pupils flickered uneasily, and he swallowed involuntarily. "Within the area covered by this sphere, nothing is left... My God, what kind of spell was that?!"

Dumbledore shook his head. "I'm sorry. I don't know either."

With a flick of his fingers, he brought the wand tip before his mouth and blew lightly.

"Trace Flash—"

A massive amount of golden mist burst forth from Dumbledore's wand. Before long, the golden fog covered the entire area.

Then the chaotic golden mist gradually took on all sorts of forms, eventually reconstructing the entire scene of Knockturn Alley.

This was the Retrospection Charm. The mist it released could form scenes of events that had happened in the past.

Unfortunately, because of the magical fluctuations that had once occurred here, even Kingsley, one of the finest Aurors, had been unable to reconstruct the past.

Fortunately, he had found Dumbledore.

As the mist flowed, two figures, one large and one small, appeared at the mouth of the alley. Though their faces could not be seen clearly, Kingsley recognized them at once. They were the instigators of this incident.

Soon, seven more figures appeared in the golden mist. They surrounded the adult and child, seemingly trying to rob them.

Then the golden mist reenacted the robbers' first attack. Before Kingsley's stunned eyes, the man who had been attacked slapped the spell away with one hand.

He slapped a spell away?!!

Dumbledore raised his brows slightly, equally surprised. That method of resisting a spell... was a little too unusual.

Then the man seemed to say something to the child while snapping his fingers to fend off the many spells flying toward him...

The Retrospection Charm continued replaying what had happened, and Kingsley grew more and more alarmed the longer he watched.

Slaps, finger snaps, being knocked down by spells, the child's magical outburst, and finally that cat-headed humanoid form...

As the golden mist played out the scene, Dumbledore and Kingsley soon saw the man draw an enormous wand and lightly tap the air with it.

Then all the golden mist forming the current scene began to collapse. In the end, it abruptly scattered, sending ripples of gold flashing brilliantly beneath the sunlight.

The spell ended!

"Dumbledore, what... was that?" Kingsley murmured, dazed and numb.

Dumbledore shook his head gravely. "I don't know either. It looked like it might have been Ancient Magic. Modern wizards do not use wands that large."

"The people in Knockturn Alley said he blocked the Killing Curse. That wasn't the Killing Curse, was it?" Kingsley asked Dumbledore for confirmation, looking lost.

The golden mist of the Retrospection Charm could reconstruct scenes, but it could not reproduce sound or color, so he could not be certain that it had been the Killing Curse.

He could not be certain...

Dumbledore looked at Kingsley and patted him on the shoulder. "Kingsley, do not deceive yourself. You and I both know that the trajectory of that person's wand was the Killing Curse."

Dumbledore's words shattered Kingsley's final stubbornness. His brows twisted together as indistinct mutters kept escaping his lips.

Dumbledore looked straight at Kingsley. "More than one person can resist the Killing Curse, can't they? It has happened before.

"And perhaps that person was a cat. Cats have nine lives, don't they?"

To steady his old friend, Dumbledore even made a small joke and smiled.

Kingsley also realized that he had lost his composure. He shook his head, just as an Auror approached from behind.

"Captain Shacklebolt, there's new information from the Ministry."

Kingsley took a deep breath and composed himself before looking at the newcomer. "Speak!"

"This man is the same person who was flying over London twelve days ago. After injuring several people from the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes and disarming them, he disappeared."

Kingsley nodded grimly, then looked toward Dumbledore and asked quietly, "How should this be handled?"

Though Kingsley served the Ministry of Magic as an Auror, he had also once been a member of the Order of the Phoenix. At this moment, he was more willing to seek Dumbledore's advice.

"That is your business." Dumbledore's eyes flickered, but he did not give Kingsley the answer he wanted.

Kingsley sighed. If Dumbledore was unwilling to get involved, then he could already roughly predict how things would proceed.

Turn a big matter into a small one, and a small matter into nothing.

After all, Cornelius Fudge, the current Minister for Magic and the second Minister after The Dark Lord, only needed to maintain stability in the Wizarding World and promote business and public welfare policies to leave his name in history.

Faced with such a mysterious and powerful suspect, he would certainly be unwilling to investigate too deeply, much less let the public know.

Mu En had not expected to eat an entire rack of lamb in one meal. Honestly, that was a little excessive for a human. But considering that he had slept for a week, it seemed reasonable again.

As for Harry, he ate this meal somewhat nervously. Uncle Mu En kept looking at him from time to time, as though he were brewing something in his mind, and it frightened him a little.

Mu En was not especially meticulous today. He had merely tidied his mane, put on an ordinary shirt, and draped a wide-collared robe over himself.

Harry had previously seen a crescent moon and skull emblem on the back of that robe. He felt it might be related to the pirate past Mr. Lucifer had mentioned.

But what Harry still could not understand was... were there still pirates these days?

In any case, the meal ended amid his wild thoughts.

Harry had just wanted to clear the dishes when Mu En waved his hand, and all the plates floated up by themselves and settled in the kitchen sink.

"Harry, sit down," Mu En said, gesturing with a wave.

Harry took a deep breath and sat down nervously.

"Given your excellent performance at work recently, I have some ideas. I wonder whether you would be willing."

Harry grabbed at his trouser leg beneath the table and stared fixedly at Mu En. "Uncle Mu En, go ahead. I'll definitely be willing."

As long as he didn't make me go back to the Dursley Residence, I'll do anything.

Though he had to work in both places, at the Dursley Residence, he was scolded when he worked, Dudley toyed with him when he did not, and he never had enough to eat.

Moonlight Castle was different. Every day, he could do some work, chat with Mr. Lucifer, and play with Meteor. It was incredibly fun.

Oh, right. He had named that flying broomstick Meteor. Their relationship had warmed quickly lately, and Harry had become very good friends with it.

"That's good. But I should tell you that taking part in magical research can be very dangerous," Mu En said with a smile.

"Magical... research?" Harry did not react at first. Then his face filled with uncertainty. "But I... I don't know anything."

Mu En lightly twirled his cat whiskers, completely unconcerned. "Don't be silly, boy. There will obviously be job training."

"Job training?"

Mu En nodded. "That's right. Learning a little magic."

Harry shot to his feet, his face flushing red as he shouted, "I'm willing! I... I... I'm absolutely willing!!"

The child had been so excited that he started stammering.

But Harry's excitement was understandable. The helplessness he had felt in Knockturn Alley a week ago had kept him from sleeping well all week.

If Mr. Lucifer had not had him make a cup of Energy Potion for himself every day, he probably would not have been able to hold on.