Two men suddenly appeared out of thin air and hurried through a narrow alley.
"This will be... hiss... the greatest honor of your life," said the taller of the two.
"I don't think so," Laines said without looking back. "But Mr. Crouch, could you stop sticking out your tongue all the time? It's disgusting."
"Heh!"
A cold glint flashed through Barty Crouch Jr.'s eyes. "I'll consider it... if you can leave here alive today."
To the left of the alley was a patch of thorny bushes, while the right side was lined with neatly trimmed hedges. Around the bend at the end of the alley stood two imposing wrought-iron gates.
Neither of them paused. They walked straight through the middle of the wrought-iron gates, just as if they were passing through Platform Nine at King's Cross Station.
"Such a conspicuous manor." Laines looked at the peacocks by the fountain. "This should be that Malfoy's home, right? Everyone knows he's a Death Eater. Aren't you afraid the Aurors will come looking?"
"Why should we be afraid of Aurors?" Barty Crouch Jr. stuck out his tongue. "Besides, do you really think this is Lucius Malfoy's home?"
Barty Crouch Jr. sneered twice and took the lead into the manor, with Laines close behind.
They seemed to pass through another invisible door.
As the light twisted, the original entrance hall quickly vanished, replaced by a magnificent room.
The expensive marble floor gleamed, and exquisite patterns were embroidered onto the tapestries covering both walls. A closer look would reveal that those patterns had been stitched entirely with whole Unicorn tail hairs, every strand worth a fortune.
This had to still be the Malfoy estate. Only he would make his home this extravagant.
But this was not the time to think about that.
When he and