Malfoy Manor

Murphy returned to Darkholm Manor and found Alex.

"This place isn't safe anymore. Hurry up and pack. Put away all the finished potions and the remaining materials, and take them with you."

After saying that, Murphy went to the basement, opened a cabinet, carefully arranged the dozen or so bottles of potion inside into a small case, and put it into his undetectable extension bag.

Alex had already finished packing, looking rather frightened and uneasy. "Those people... will they find this place?"

"Yeah. Is everything packed?"

"It's packed."

"You didn't miss anything, did you?"

"No."

"Good."

After Murphy finished speaking, he drew his wand and aimed it at Darkholm Manor. "Blaze Like Plague (pestis incendium)!"

A vast torrent of flame gushed from Murphy's wand, and as he swept the wand in a circle above his head, the fire whirled with it, forming a raging tornado of flame over the old manor.

The tornado spun faster and faster, and the flames grew hotter and hotter. Rolling waves of heat forced Alex to keep retreating.

"Th-this is the Fiendfyre Curse?!" He was stunned.

This was Dark Magic!

If even a bit of this magical flame touched someone, they would be burned to ash, and ordinary methods could never put it out. It was terrifying in the extreme!

Just who exactly was this Mr. Peter Parker he served? How did he know such profound Dark Magic?

And what was he trying to do? This should have been his own home, right?

Alex had seen several portraits in the corridor on the second floor. Although they had all been damaged and could no longer move, the people in the paintings looked very much like Mr. Peter Parker.

But before he could figure it out, Murphy pressed his wand downward.

"Boom!"

Darkholm Manor was crushed directly by the tornado and instantly ignited. The violent flames clung to it as though they had found food, turning the old manor into a gigantic torch in an instant.

Since Lucius Malfoy already knew his true identity, he could easily find this place.

He had carried out many potion experiments here, and the house had too many traces of him left behind. To avoid missing some clue and giving others leverage over him, it was safer to burn it all down.

In any case, he had nothing here worth clinging to.

"Let's go."

Murphy gave no further explanation. He grabbed Alex and directly used Apparition.

They appeared inside a warehouse.

"Stay here. I'm going to take care of something."

Murphy stuck several old wands into his belt, tilted his head back, and drank a bottle of Polyjuice Potion. Before long, he had turned into a black middle-aged man.

He had just been about to leave when he thought for a moment, then tossed Alex an undetectable extension bag. "If I'm not back within two hours, take these Galleons and go. Hide in Scotland or France for a few years."

Murphy's words made Alex tense up again. "Mr. Parker, what are you going to do?"

"Rescue people," Murphy said lightly. "And if possible, kill a few."

With that, he vanished from Alex's sight.

Murphy rode a flying broom, patrolling over a stretch of countryside.

Though there was plenty to complain about, as a personal flying vehicle, the flying broom was still extremely useful in many ways.

For example, searching for a house in the countryside.

By now, he had more or less figured out Lucius Malfoy's goal.

The fact that they had found the factory meant Lucius Malfoy had already connected him to Umbrella Corporation and discovered that he had been selling potions to Muggles.

He had to admit that, on this point, Murphy had underestimated wizards' intelligence far too much, to the point of excessive carelessness.

Lucius Malfoy attacking the factory was easy to understand. It was nothing more than revenge.

But kidnapping the factory workers and taking the materials and finished potions was a little strange.

To Muggles, Essence of Dittany was an unbelievable miracle drug, so a pharmaceutical company had motive to kidnap workers and steal samples in order to seize the formula. That was also why Patrick believed this attack had been the work of a pharmaceutical company.

But to wizards, the formula for Essence of Dittany was written plainly in their textbooks. They had absolutely no reason to do this for the formula.

If he considered it from Lucius Malfoy's perspective, when Lucius Malfoy learned that Murphy had sold potions to Muggles, he would understand that what Murphy feared most was for this matter to become known to the wizarding world. And if he wanted to prove that Murphy had violated the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy, he needed evidence.

As long as he had evidence that Murphy had sold potions to Muggles, when the time came, whether he used it to threaten him into cooperation or directly send him to Azkaban, it would be effortless.

Obtaining evidence was the reason they had kidnapped the workers.

To obtain conclusive evidence, they needed to interrogate those workers, and they also needed to understand those sample potions.

Perhaps Lucius Malfoy was even thinking of studying and borrowing Murphy's methods, figuring out Murphy's operating process, then taking over the business himself and quietly making a fortune after getting him locked up in Azkaban.

So Murphy guessed they most likely had not turned those workers and samples over to the Aurors. In all likelihood, they were still at Malfoy Manor.

Murphy had previously obtained the approximate location of the Malfoy family from the bald wizard Papede's mind: somewhere on the outskirts of Chippenham in Wiltshire.

But because it was far from any Muggle community, with no specific Muggle roads or streets connected to it, he would have to find the exact location himself.

After searching for nearly half an hour, just as Murphy was beginning to think the Malfoys had used the Fidelius Charm on their house to hide it, he suddenly saw a stretch of woodland.

Yet the next second, that woodland vanished from his sight again.

He frowned and flew back a few meters, and the woodland abruptly appeared at the edge of his vision once more.

He tested it for quite a while before understanding. In front of him were two invisible barriers, converging here to form an angle. Just now, he had passed through the inside of that angle, which was why he had discovered the existence of the woodland.

"Finally found you."

Murphy cast a Disillusionment Charm on himself and quietly flew closer to the woodland.

Sure enough, he soon saw a manor, enclosed at the center of that woodland.

He landed silently behind the manor house, used a Silencing Charm to eliminate his own sounds, then opened a window with the Unlocking Charm and climbed into the residence.

He did not need to search hard. As soon as he entered, Murphy heard a scream. "Ah, no, please, I really don't know..."

There was also another woman's voice. "We really don't know anyone named Darkholme. Our boss is Patrick, and there's a big boss called Murphys—Murphys Anon. Please, don't kill me..."

Then came the roar of a vicious man. "Talk! You Muggle! Without wands, how did you brew Essence of Dittany? Talk, or I'll kill you!"

"E-Essence of Dittany? We didn't... We produce White Medicine... We use machines, distillation, extraction... Please, I'm just an ordinary worker. I only know how to operate the machinery, check the gauges and things. I don't understand chemistry..."

Murphy leaned over to look. In the central hall off the corridor, all five workers were there, and three wizards were interrogating them.

He was just about to go save them when he heard a woman's dissatisfied voice come from a nearby room. "Lucius, you should not have let those 'friends' of yours into the house! And you let them torture those Muggles right in front of Draco! Draco was terrified!"

"Mummy, I wasn't scared!" a little boy's voice retorted indignantly.

"It's normal to be scared, Draco. You're still a child," the woman's voice soothed him, then continued, "You should be more cautious, Lucius. Things aren't what they used to be..."

There were five adult wizards here. Even without counting Narcissa Malfoy, there were still four enemies. Lucius Malfoy had once been a Death Eater, and his fighting ability might not be as weak as his personality suggested. The remaining three were all ruthless dark wizards as well. Murphy had no confidence in taking on four at once.

He had to be cautious. Perhaps he could take the young Malfoy hostage?

Just as these thoughts were turning through his mind, a voice suddenly came from behind him. "Sir, who are you? You are not a guest invited by Master."

Murphy turned back in astonishment, only to see a wide-eyed little cutie looking at him in confusion.