Lin Ze did not actually care whether he was a fence-sitter or a spineless coward.
"Mr. Harper, I saved your life, right?"
Harper nodded frantically. "Yes, yes, yes! My savior, you're my savior."
"Then do me a favor." Lin Ze crouched down, leaned close to his ear, and lowered his voice.
"You work in the Records Management Office, so you should have access to a lot of people's travel information, right?"
Harper's face went from white to green, then green to white, changing faster than the neon signs in Knockturn Alley.
"Th-this... Mr. Auror, according to regulations, the records are... confidential..." Harper swallowed with difficulty.
"Oh, confidential." Lin Ze nodded, stood up, and brushed the dirt off his knees.
"Then is the fact that you were about to give information to Death Eaters confidential too?"
Harper's face turned completely green.
"I'll look it up for you! Anyone you want!" He dropped to both knees with a thud and shouted.
"Oh, come on, look at you. No need to kneel. Aren't you treating me like a stranger now?" Chuckling, Lin Ze pulled him up off the ground.
"We're colleagues. We help each other, right? You help me, I help you. That's what makes a united, friendly Ministry of Magic."
Harper nodded mechanically, his mind already racing as he tried to work out just what sort of trap he had fallen into.
The man did not seem to be on the Dark Lord's side, but... he did not seem like a proper Auror either...
What proper Auror needed to look up information in secret?
Coupled with the terrifying combat prowess the man had just displayed, Harper could not muster the slightest thought of resistance.
Before long, hurried footsteps came from the direction of Diagon Alley.
Four wizards in Hit Wizard uniforms jogged onto the scene. Leading them was a tall, slender witch, her long dark brown hair tied into a neat ponytail, her gaze sharp enough to pierce walls.
Dorcas Meadowes.
A legend in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and also a member of the Order of the Phoenix.
She was said to have taken on ten Death Eaters single-handedly and subdued them all.
She was also one of the few people in the office whom Lin Ze genuinely admired, but in the original storyline, Voldemort would personally kill her sometime within the next month.
"Lin?" Meadows visibly paused at the sight of the scene.
Three securely handcuffed Death Eaters, one trembling Ministry employee, and one young Auror lounging leisurely nearby.
"You handled this all by yourself?"
"Just lucky, just lucky." Lin Ze waved a modest hand.
"They cast their spells so slowly, I would've been embarrassed to lose."
Meadows: "..."
"That Petrificus Totalus..." Meadows frowned slightly as she studied the Death Eater still petrified on the spot.
"The residual magic is very strong. It should last almost another half day at least."
She turned to Lin Ze. "Quite impressive, young man. How were your grades at school?"
"O's in both Defence Against Dark Magic and Charms," Lin Ze answered honestly.
"No wonder." Meadows nodded.
Then her tone shifted. "But you've got some nerve, charging in alone. Against three Death Eaters, no less?"
"Not quite." Lin Ze chuckled.
"I was originally planning to watch from the shadows for a while."
"Then why did you act?"
"They were about to hurt my Ministry colleague. How could I stand for that?"
Meadows: "..."
"All right, let's take them back to the Ministry first." Meadows gestured to the Hit Wizards behind her.
"Take all three to the courtroom. Mr. Harper, please come along to give a statement too."
The Hit Wizards acknowledged her orders, stepped forward, and hauled the three Death Eaters away.
As one young Hit Wizard passed Lin Ze, he lowered his voice.
"Hey, mate. Nice work."
Lin Ze grinned at him.
Once everyone had left, Meadows suddenly called out to Lin Ze as he was about to resume his patrol.
"Lin, wait a moment."
Lin Ze stopped and turned to her.
Meadows hesitated, seemingly weighing her words.
"You haven't been at the Ministry long. There are some things you might not know yet."
"Not everyone... in the Ministry can be trusted."
"Especially Crabbe and Goyle. Those two have been asking about your patrol schedule and route lately."
The smile on Lin Ze's face did not change, but his eyes narrowed slightly.
"Thanks for the warning. I'll be extra careful."
Meadows looked at him and nodded, then turned and strode toward the Ministry of Magic.
Lin Ze trailed behind, the soles of his boots scraping leisurely along the ground.
As he walked, he reached into his pocket and felt a small glass vial.
Inside the vial was a mass of constantly swirling silver mist.
It was a memory.
Just moments earlier, Lin Ze had quietly extracted this memory from the mind of the man named Harper.
Though it was no important piece of evidence, he could still use it at any time in the future as a means of controlling him.
Lin Ze toyed with the glass vial.
Dorcas Meadowes was right. Not everyone in the Ministry could be trusted.
But she had missed one thing.
He had never intended to trust anyone either.
He would dig up those people's secrets, then hold them firmly in his own hands.
Every colleague in the Ministry of Magic, every superior, every person who might be useful to him.
Once Voldemort fell, those secrets would become his strongest bargaining chips as he climbed to the heights of power.
"One month..."
He tucked the glass vial deep into his pocket and looked up at London's gray sky.
"Not a long time, but not a short one either."
"Enough for me to build up a few things."
That was right. Lin Ze had no intention of saving Harry's parents, nor did he intend to change certain people's fates. He was no saint. In this world fraught with danger, what he could do was secure more resources and keep growing stronger, until those uncertainties could not pose the slightest threat to him.
That evening, Lin Ze returned to the small flat he rented in South London.
It was called a flat, but it was really a single room converted from an attic, pitifully small, with a bed, a desk, and a wardrobe filling it to the brim.
Still, it had the advantage of being cheap, at only two Galleons a month.
Lin Ze took off his uniform, hung it up, and checked it to make sure it had not been damaged in the fight.
Though today's battle had been somewhat dangerous, the gains had been considerable.
Harper was only a small beginning.
He would weave an information network after Voldemort's fall, holding leverage over everyone in his hands.
As for whether that was a little unethical?
Sorry.
In an age when everyone feared for their own safety and a colleague might point a wand at your head at any moment, preaching morality meant you were tired of living.
Besides, he was not going out of his way to hurt anyone.
He only wanted to live a little better and, along the way, gain a firm foothold in this chaotic world after Voldemort's fall.
That should... not be too much to ask, right?
Lin Ze yawned and was about to wash up and go to bed when he suddenly heard wings fluttering outside his window.
He looked up and saw a gray barn owl clawing at his window frame.
He opened the window. The owl flew in, dropped a letter, then flapped its wings and left.
Lin Ze opened the envelope. Inside was a brief notice.
[To Lin Ze of the Auror Office: In recognition of your outstanding performance in today's operation, and with the approval of Office Head Rufus Scrimgeour, your weekly pay will be increased from ten Galleons to twelve Galleons. This notice takes effect on October 1.]
Lin Ze stared at the letter for quite some time.
Then he slammed the parchment down on the desk.
"A raise!"
"Only two Galleons..."
"This lousy department really is dirt poor..."