Amelia left in a hurry.
She left Su Er the key to the residence and told him that if he went to Spinner's End again, he had to leave her a message, and absolutely, absolutely must not mispronounce a single word.
Su Er nodded in agreement.
As he crossed the road back to his own home, which was directly opposite, he was still pondering it. He had originally paid the old man little mind, but Amelia's complicated expression, as though she were facing a formidable enemy, had aroused his curiosity.
That old man-who exactly was he?
That night, at the entrance to an alley in Cokeworth Town on the outskirts of London, one neatly dressed figure after another appeared.
There were quite a few of them, packed densely around the alley entrance.
"According to our intelligence, that person appeared here."
"Signal immediately if you find him. Absolutely... absolutely do not attempt to use magic on him!" Fear flashed in the eyes of the person issuing the orders, bright in the darkness. "Did everyone hear me?"
"Understood," the others answered in low voices.
In the Headmaster's Office on the Seventh Floor of Hogwarts Castle, Dumbledore stood before the window with his hands behind his back, gazing out into the deep night, his eyes grave and distant...
Not until the midnight bells rang did an owl come flapping over, bringing a letter.
The letter contained only three words-all was normal.
Whatever undercurrents surged through the wizarding world that night, none of it concerned Su Er, who lay fast asleep in bed after playing with Angel.
He had already put the question of the old man's identity completely out of his mind.
Over the next few days, Su Er went to Snape's house very diligently for training (meaning one-sided abuse). It was