An Innocent Bystander

To most wizards, the dark wizards lurking in the shadows of Knockturn Alley and Cornwall were not much of a threat.

They all shared one trait: they stayed in fixed locations. People from Knockturn Alley rarely crossed that passage into Diagon Alley, while Cornwall's wandering wizards only gathered at a port near the Atlantic.

As long as no one went near those places, there would be no problems.

But was that really true?

A shotgun could threaten a starving pack of wolves and drive them into an uninhabited wilderness, but the wolves could also choose to bypass the threat head-on and find another way.

For instance, they could find foxes and moles and dig a tunnel underground. That way, they could not only avoid the shotgun, but also reach the garden behind it directly.

When Barty Crouch Jr. emerged from the passage and looked at the vastly different street before him, a flash of excitement and madness immediately appeared in his eyes.

"What an incredible project." He excitedly stuck out his tongue. "I never thought the legend was true. There really is a secret passage leading straight from beneath the sea in Cornwall to Devon."

"Unfortunately, we were short-handed. Otherwise, we wouldn't have only finished it a year ago." A wizard with short reddish-brown hair walked over and scrutinized Barty Crouch Jr. from head to toe.

The knotted muscles on his arms looked like marble, and a scar running across his entire face made him look exceptionally vicious.

"Babol Laines," the man introduced himself. "Owner of a second-hand dark magic shop."

"Barty Crouch... the Dark Lord's most loyal servant."

Seeing the other man's habit of sticking out his tongue every now and then, Laines could not help twitching his mouth.

Had his tongue been stung by a bee?

Were all