“I don’t know what’s going on.”
James was furious, trembling all over.
“They took Peter away without even saying a word to me.”
Seeing James in a bad mood, Weilan turned to Black and asked:
“Mr. Black, excuse me, I’d like to know, after Peter’s interrogation concluded, did the Aurors verify his confession?”
Black rubbed his forehead and gave a wry smile:
“We were all tied up with Narcissa at the time.”
“After you left, James wanted to check if Peter was under Imperio, but he only received a notification that Peter had been sent to Azkaban.”
“Along with Peter’s imprisonment notice, there was also a final verdict on the matter from higher-ups.”
“…Since the higher-ups had made their final decision, and the Aurors were all busy with their own tasks, who would continue to verify the confession?”
Black wanted to turn around and comfort his angry good brother, but Weilan pulled his sleeve:
“No, Peter’s confession has a big problem, he lied about a very important detail!”
So Black and James both turned back, a slight confusion appearing on both their brows:
“Didn’t you say Peter’s confession was originally a draft prepared by the murderer?”
Weilan’s palms were sweating.
A voice inside him was urgently urging him to uncover the truth as soon as possible, forcing Weilan to involuntarily speed up his speech:
“My previous deduction had a serious flaw. Peter wouldn’t lie about such an insignificant minor detail, unless…”
“Unless this isn’t an insignificant minor detail.”
Weilan told them about his discovery in the men’s restroom.
Before Black and James could respond, a trembling, tearful female voice came from outside the window:
“Are you saying… if we find the ventilation duct that short person entered from, we can find clues about the real culprit?”
Weilan recognized it as Narcissa’s voice.
Although he was somewhat displeased about being overheard, he still replied:
“You can understand it that way.”
A sound of footsteps came from outside, and when they looked back, Narcissa had already pulled her son into the interrogation room.
Clink, clank—a large pile of Galleons was generously poured onto the small wooden table in the interrogation room.
Money seemed to be the easiest bargaining chip for Narcissa to offer.
Weilan licked his dry lips and shook his head:
“Please take them back, Mrs. Malfoy, I won’t accept a single Galleon.”
Little Malfoy sneered:
“What’s a poor boy pretending to be so noble for? You’d be thrilled for ages if you picked up a Knut on the street.”
Weilan glanced at him and slowly spoke:
“Galleons are precious, but life is more so… I never earn unsafe money.”
If he hadn’t sensed that the murderer seemed to have intentions for him, Weilan wouldn’t even be here now.
Just as a small conflict was about to erupt between Weilan and Malfoy, Black timely spoke to change the subject:
“What do you say, James? Investigate or not?”
So everyone’s gaze converged on James.
James gradually calmed down from his anger, and after some thought, he nodded firmly:
“Investigate, we must investigate.”
“The Department of Magical Law Enforcement should be fair and just. I will never allow anyone to be so influential!”
“But…”
James glanced at the bustling departing spectators outside the window, his tone pausing:
“Right now, there are spectators everywhere, and the Aurors are busy evacuating and guiding the crowd.”
“There are numerous ventilation duct entrances to check, and their locations are scattered.”
“It would be better to wait until all the spectators have left before conducting the search, so as not to disturb passersby.”
“While we have this time, I’ll go find the ventilation duct distribution map for the entire venue and notify all the Aurors.”
“By the time all that’s done, most of the spectators should have left. I’ll then begin the search with the others.”
“During this time, you just wait for me here. Black, you stay and look after Mrs. Malfoy and these two children.”
“Yes—”
Black drew out his voice weakly, clearly unwilling to stay with the Malfoy mother and son for too long.
But he didn’t explicitly object, and after the proposal received unanimous approval from everyone, James walked out of the interrogation room.
His figure, moving against the flow of people, quickly disappeared.
Weilan and the others stayed in the interrogation room for a while.
Creak—
They didn’t wait long before the door of the interrogation room was pushed open again.
However, it wasn’t James who entered, but Auror Ruben Carson.
Behind him, Harry and Lily were peeking in.
“Where’s Dad?”
Harry, not seeing James with a quick glance, anxiously asked:
“Why isn’t my Dad here? Didn’t Mr. Carson say the case was closed?”
Seeing James’s wife and daughter arrive, Black quickly went up to them to explain:
“Well, it’s like this, this case is a bit complicated…”
Three minutes later, Lily, who understood the entire course of the case, said worriedly:
“Oh dear! So the murderer might be a very powerful Wizard? I truly hope James won’t get into any trouble because of this.”
Lily’s beautiful, expressive green eyes turned to Weilan, who was leaning against a corner of the wooden table, deep in thought, propping his chin with his hand:
“What about you? Little Weilan, why are you still staying here? It’s so dangerous for you!”
Weilan, whose thoughts were suddenly interrupted, felt a bit dazed.
But upon realizing that Lily was concerned about him, a warm current surged through Weilan’s heart, and he began to explain to her:
“It’s like this, Madam, I feel like something isn’t right, and this matter might involve me as well.”
Lily’s gentle smile and soft tone, like spring sunshine, instantly dispelled all the burdens weighing on Weilan’s heart.
However, his explanation clearly failed to convince Lily.
“Alright, alright, Little Weilan, but I really don’t want you to be reckless in this matter.”
Lily put her hands on her hips, adopting the posture of a mother scolding her son:
“I know that Auror work seems cool to boys your age.”
“But you should know that murderers are usually very dangerous people, and you only have one life.”
“James is a professionally trained Auror and knows many techniques to protect himself. But Little Weilan, you still need to practice many spells…”
Lily’s words were cut short by a displeased Narcissa:
“I think you’re being a bit nosy, Mrs. Potter. You are not his mother and have no right to restrict his freedom.”
Lily angrily retorted to Narcissa:
“But children his age don’t have the ability to discern right from wrong!”
“I can’t just stand by and watch an innocent child get involved in your dangerous affairs!”
Upon hearing this, Weilan let out a dry chuckle, thinking to himself:
Don’t say that, Mrs. Potter, I might have been involved from the very beginning…
However, sensing Lily’s desire for him not to take risks, Weilan ultimately chose to offer a compromise:
“Okay, Mrs. Potter, but we can’t just leave Mr. Potter here alone, can we?”
“So, can we just wait a bit, and after Mr. Potter finishes his investigation, we can all go back together?”
Harry also looked up, pleading with his mother:
“Mom, it’s so rare for us to go out with Dad.”
“I don’t want this time to be like usual, where Dad comes back alone in the middle of the night while we’re fast asleep.”
Black remained silent. Under the invisible pressure from her son, Lily had no choice but to sigh:
“Alright, but you have to promise me, you can only wait until eleven o’clock at the latest.”
Weilan, having received a response, gave Lily a big smile: “Thank you for your understanding, Mrs. Potter!”
After seeing Lily and Harry properly settled, Carson felt relieved and left.
In the interrogation room, as soon as Harry sat down, he eagerly leaned towards Weilan and shared the exciting details of the Ireland team’s miraculous comeback and desperate turnaround in the Quidditch World Cup.
“Weilan! You missed the most exciting match in Quidditch World Cup history! No, not one of, THE most exciting!”
“You simply can’t imagine what an excellent team the Ireland National Team is!”
“Their teamwork, their mentality, oh and those last few feints! So cool, you won’t find another team better than them!”
Weilan, while piecing together the fierce competition on the field from Harry’s account, frequently kept an eye on the window—
He hoped James wouldn’t make him wait too long.
Time unknowingly approached around nine o’clock. All the spectators had returned to the campsite, and the lanterns used for illumination on the main road were extinguished one by one.
Thus, only darkness remained outside the window, with only scattered specks of light marking the distant campsite.
But that was all; it couldn’t illuminate the scenery outside the window.
Weilan unenthusiastically withdrew his gaze from the window.
The prolonged staring made Weilan’s eyes ache, and his stomach uncooperatively began to rumble.
“Here you go!”
A hand holding a fragrant pumpkin pasty appeared in front of Weilan.
“Thank you.”
Weilan took the pumpkin pasty from Harry’s hand and took a big bite.
The pumpkin pasty was very sweet; the first bite tasted good, but it would become very cloying with more.
Seeing this, Harry proactively offered a cup of soda.
“Good brother!”
Weilan took a big gulp of soda and whispered in Harry’s ear: “I’ll lend you my Potion Class notes next semester!”
Upon hearing this, Harry couldn’t help but quietly rejoice:
“Really? That’s great, I finally don’t have to endure Snape, that old bat’s…”
Bang—
The door of the interrogation room suddenly opened without warning.
Harry and Weilan’s conversation abruptly ceased, and they both looked at James, who stood at the door with a grim expression.
Black and Lily immediately wanted to go up to him, but James’s gloomy expression made them stop in their tracks.
Everyone realized that James might not be bringing very pleasant news.
But this news now had to be spoken.