The sky at London is as gray as ever.
Lin Ze and Sirius walked along the road for more than ten minutes. They coincidentally did not use "Apparition" to hurry.
On the road Sirius had a sudden idea and took a ride into the city on a passing truck.
The driver was a middle-aged man who didn't talk much. He glanced at the two of them several times in the rearview mirror, probably thinking that the two young men in robes came from some exhibition.
12 Grimmauld Place As soon as the door was opened, the familiar musty smell mixed with the smell of old wood hit my face.
Kreacher poked half of his head out of the corner. The moment he saw Sirius, his eyes suddenly widened.
"Master... the scum master is back..."
"Shut up and make us some tea."
Sirius sank into the sofa, kicked off his boots, and lay on the cushion like a piece of parchment soaked in water.
Lin Ze picked up "Daily Prophet" on the table and looked at the date.
"Is this the latest newspaper today?" Lin Ze turned around and asked Kreacher.
Kreacher opened his mouth to curse, but was stared back with fierce eyes by Sirius, so he could only nod silently.
Three days.
Three days have passed since the three of them traveled back in time.
River of Time took a trip and came back to find that it had only been three days. To be honest, they were lucky.
He sat on the squeaky chair in the study room and flipped through the newspapers from the past three days.
There was no big news at Ministry of Magic. The news at Diagon Alley was still the same. When he turned to the third page, his fingers stopped.
"Wizengamot will conduct a hearing on the case of Malfoy family suspected of funding Death Eaters in the near future."
The accompanying picture shows Lucius Malfoy walking down the steps of Wizengamot, with his snake-head cane tapping on the stone slab, and a smile that is hard to fault on his face.
Lin Ze folded the newspaper and put it on the table, leaned back in the chair, and suddenly felt a little funny.
When I read this news in the past, my thoughts were "Is there enough evidence?" "Is there any loopholes in the program?" "Will I be bitten back?"
Now that he looks at this, he feels that pursuing procedural justice may be meaningless?
The magic power flows quietly in the body, and the circuit is nearly twice as wide as before he left. After Dragon Transformation, he can hear the sense of power calling out from every cell in his blood.
Although his finger bones have been shattered into powder, his improvement in strength has given him the confidence to face Dumbledore (probably).
"Why are you sitting there giggling?" Sirius took the tea from Kreacher and took a sip and asked.
"Nothing, just thinking about work."
"Going to work?" Sirius's expression looked like he had heard something ridiculous.
"You just came back from the King Arthur era and you are thinking about going to work?"
"What else? I'm different from you. I don't have any mines at home." Lin Ze said and looked at the gloomy old house Black. At least they live in a villa.
Lin Ze folded the newspaper and placed it on the coffee table. He stood up and moved his shoulders twice, making a cracking sound in his joints.
"Where are you going?" Sirius raised his eyes from the sofa.
"Ministry, if I haven't shown up for three days and if I don't go back, I will probably be buried in a tomb."
"The thing about Mia..."
"Don't worry yet." Lin Ze straightened the collar of his coat.
"Morgana said there is no need to look for it, not to mention..."
He paused and said, "If Mia falls at another point in time, there is no use worrying here."
Sirius snorted dullly and said no more.
When Apparition landed on Ministry Atrium, the water from the fountain splashed Lin Ze's sleeve.
He waved his hand and walked towards Department of Magical Law Enforcement, passing by the tea room and grabbing a cup of coffee.
Well...
I still miss this taste, and now I taste this thing with a different aroma. It is probably because my taste buds were tortured by all kinds of coarse grain hard biscuits in the King Arthur era.
Special Operations Team Third Subgroup The door of the office was ajar. When Lin Ze pushed it open, the people inside all raised their heads.
Ben poked his head out from the pile of documents, his expression undergoing a drastic change from "Another one asking for leave" to "Fuck me".
"Lin! Did you know you were coming back? You disappeared for three days. The director tried to find you but couldn't find anyone. He was so anxious..."
"What's wrong?"
"The director asked you to go to his office when you come back." He said and handed a document on the table to Lin Ze.
Lin Ze took the document and glanced at it. It was a summons signed by Crouch. The date was signed on the second day after he disappeared.
In other words, Crouch sent this order on the day he disappeared.
"What else did you say?"
"I didn't say anything, I just asked you to go."
Ben paused for a moment, then lowered his voice and added, "I heard from Kingsley that Crouch has been in a bad mood these days, and there has been some friction with Wizengamot. It seems that something went wrong with Malfoy's case."
Lin Ze put the documents on the table, stood up and straightened his coat.
"I'll go there."
When Lin Ze pushed open the door of Crouch's office, the director was standing by the window, with his back to the door, holding a cup of cold black tea in his hand. There were several documents spread out on the table, one of which was stamped with the red seal of Wizengamot, and an open envelope was placed next to it.
"Sit." Crouch didn't look back.
Lin Ze sat down on the chair.
"You disappeared for three days. Where did you go?"
"Dealing with some personal matters, Director." Lin Ze said calmly.
Crouch turned around, and those gray eyes stopped on Lin Ze's face for two seconds.
"Private affairs." He repeated the word, there was no special fluctuation in his tone, but Lin Ze could tell that the old man was suppressing his anger.
"Lin, you are one of my most trusted people. But you have to understand that Special Operations Team is part of Ministry of Magic's staff. If you disappear and the case cannot be pushed forward, the people over at Wizengamot will cause trouble for me."
"Sorry, Mr. Director." Lin Ze made no excuse.
He is now explaining River of Time, King Arthur, Shedding Gods to Crouch, all these messy things, except to make the other party think that he is talking nonsense, which is of no use.
Crouch put the cup of herbal tea in his hand on the table, sat back on the chair, and tapped his fingers twice on the document with a red seal.
"Malfoy's case, Wizengamot postponed the hearing."
"I heard about it, but what reason did they use to postpone it?"
"Procedural flaws. It is said that part of the evidence we submitted was 'obtained through unconventional channels' and has no legal effect."
Lin Ze raised his eyebrows. The unconventional channels were probably referring to the materials he asked Harper to get from Records Management Office, and the flow records that Grot obtained from Gringotts.