Ben took the newspaper, glanced at it, and let out an exaggerated exclamation. "You know what? He looks exactly the same! Only this time, he hasn't got Goyle beside him to back him up. Speaking of which, where's Goyle? Why didn't we arrest him too?"
"Goyle wasn't on my list." Lin Ze picked up the coffee on his desk, took a sip, and frowned.
Cold. Tastes awful.
"Why? Aren't he and Crabbe practically joined at the hip?"
"Goyle is, to put it bluntly, a follower with no mind of his own. If Crabbe tells him to go east, he goes east. If Crabbe tells him to go west, he goes west." Lin Ze put down his cup.
"I checked all his activity records and financial dealings, and found no evidence of any direct contact with the Death Eaters. He didn't even know what Crabbe was doing."
"Seriously?" Ben clearly didn't quite believe it.
"It's true," Kingsley interjected from beside them.
"I was next door when Crabbe was being interrogated. Crabbe said it himself: Goyle was so stupid that he wouldn't dare entrust anything truly important to him, for fear he'd mess it up and embarrass him in front of the Death Eaters."
Ben stared blankly for quite a while before remarking, "So Goyle saved his own life by being stupid?"
"You could put it that way."
"That's really something." Ben leaned back in his chair.
"Still, even though Goyle wasn't arrested, he's not having an easy time at the Ministry now."
"That's to be expected. He was too close to Crabbe, after all."
Lin Ze smiled and shook his head. He was about to say something when the office door suddenly swung open.
Amelia strode in, a kraft-paper envelope in her hand, her expression even more serious than usual.
"We have news of Parkinson." She placed the envelope on Lin Ze's desk.
Lin Ze opened it, pulled out the documents inside, and quickly scanned them.
"This is..."
"Our informant in Knockturn Alley just sent this back. Parkinson tried to meet the Carrow brothers last night, but they turned him away."
Lin Ze raised his eyebrows. "Turned him away? Why?"
"Because he's no longer of any use to them. An informant under Ministry scrutiny is a ticking time bomb to the Death Eaters. He could expose them at any moment." Amelia sat down opposite Lin Ze.
"The informant said Parkinson spent the entire night in an abandoned basement in Knockturn Alley. He left before dawn today and looked terrible when he went."
"Understandable, but why didn't the informant notify us in time?" Lin Ze asked, putting down the documents.
"You have to understand that although the Dark Lord has fallen, the Death Eaters he left behind still haven't been completely rooted out. Our informants aren't Ministry employees. It's already good of them to be willing to pass information to us..."
"All right... I didn't think that through..." Lin Ze nodded.
"Where's he run off to now, then?"
"The informant said he might have gone to the Scottish Highlands... He hired a Thestral carriage outside the Leaky Cauldron, and the informant asked around after the driver returned."
"The Scottish Highlands..." Lin Ze nodded thoughtfully.
"There are several secret Death Eater hideouts there. He's probably trying to bypass the Carrow brothers and go straight to someone else," Kingsley reasoned.
Ben could no longer sit still either. He stood up and slapped the desk. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go arrest him!"
"No rush." Lin Ze leaned back in his chair, tapping his fingers lightly on the desk.
"The hideouts in the Scottish Highlands are widely scattered, and we have limited manpower. Rushing after him would be too risky. Besides, Parkinson is already like a startled bird. Cornering him could easily lead to something going wrong."
"What do we do, then?"
"Miss Bones, where is Parkinson's family?" Lin Ze turned to Amelia.
"We already have them in custody. His wife and child tried to travel to France through the Floo Network yesterday, but people from the Department of International Magical Cooperation stopped them."
"Good." Lin Ze picked up a blank sheet of parchment from the desk and began writing.
"We'll start with his family. Parkinson's wife should know most of his secrets..."
"I'll list some techniques for interrogating spouses. You can try them out on Mrs. Parkinson first."
Amelia took the parchment, glanced at the densely packed writing, and raised her eyebrows slightly.
"These things... how did you come up with them all?"
"When I have nothing to do, I like finding books from the East to read. They contain plenty of... well... flights of fancy... I read all of this in books." Lin Ze stuck the quill into its holder.
Amelia was silent for a moment, then nodded earnestly. "I'll find a few to read later."
Lin Ze: "..."
He had actually only been joking with Amelia.
But Amelia's expression didn't look remotely like she was joking.
"Right, there's one more thing." Amelia put away the parchment and took another envelope from her pocket.
"Our new Minister has just taken office. She specifically sent word that she's summoning every member of the Special Operations Team at nine tomorrow morning."
"The Minister?" Ben nearly sprang out of his chair.
"Minister Millicent Bagnold? She wants to see us in person?"
"That's right." Amelia's expression was rather grim.
"As far as I know, she's also summoned Mr. Crouch from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Mr. Scrimgeour, the Head of the Auror Office, and several High Inquisitors from the Wizengamot."
The atmosphere in the office immediately grew subtle.
Ben rubbed the back of his head. "Why do I get the feeling... this isn't an awards ceremony?"
"It certainly isn't. The Special Operations Team has only existed for a day. What achievements would there be to commend?"
Kingsley put down the broom he was holding, his brow furrowing slightly. "So this meeting has another purpose?"
"Most likely, someone has complained about us." Lin Ze picked up his coffee cup, found that the coffee had gone completely cold, and put it down again.
"You mean..." Ben lowered his voice. "Someone's afraid our investigation will lead to them, so they've struck first and complained to the Minister about us?"
"Isn't that perfectly normal in official circles?" Lin Ze looked quite calm.
"We're digging up other people's pasts. Sooner or later, we'll reach certain people whose pasts aren't supposed to be dug up. As if they'd just sit there and wait for their doom."
"Then tomorrow's meeting..."
"Don't worry." Lin Ze leaned back in his chair and crossed his legs.
"We ought to have a little faith in our newly appointed Minister."
"All right. Hopefully, she won't make an example of us. After all, we're a special team set up by the previous Minister at the very end of their term."
"Don't worry," Lin Ze reassured Ben with complete confidence.
According to the original story, this woman was a steadfast, principled, and highly authoritative leader.
Faced with the frenzy following Voldemort's downfall, she hadn't gone along with the crowd. Instead, she had remained rational and done everything she could to uphold the International Statute of Secrecy and order in the wizarding world.
When she stepped down in 1990, the Ministry of Magic had held a grand farewell banquet for her, a clear indication of the widespread respect she had earned during her term.