“Lily, you need to be honest with me. Where were you and what were you doing from seven to seven fifteen this evening?”
James bellowed as he strode into the interrogation room, unrolling a blueprint he carried onto the wooden table.
Weilan leaned in and glanced at it.
It was a floor plan of the stadium’s seventh level, with several checked marks in ink on it.
These checked marks were closely adjacent, extending all the way to the women’s restroom on the seventh floor, where they were terminated by a circled mark.
Apparently, James was responsible for inspecting the ventilation ducts on the seventh level.
As he checked them one by one, all the way to the women’s restroom on the seventh floor, he actually found traces of Peter’s presence in the ventilation duct entrance there!
“James, what are you talking about? Weren’t we just passing through the ticket gate together and on our way to the box at that time? Wait…”
The quick-witted Lily soon realized what James was suspecting.
Her jewel-like green eyes instantly widened, and she looked at James incredulously, her voice filled with suppressed grievance:
“Are you, are you suspecting me, James?”
Harry, seeing a quarrel about to erupt between his parents, immediately panicked and tried to intervene:
“Dad, Mom! Don’t you…”
Weilan pulled on Harry’s sleeve at this moment.
His experience of two lives made Weilan much calmer than Harry at this moment.
After a flash of thought, Weilan asked Harry the first question:
“Harry, from the moment you and Mrs. Potter sat in the box until now, has Mrs. Potter left you?”
Harry shook his head, puzzled: “No, Mom and I have been together the whole time.”
Weilan’s eyes lit up, and he asked the second question:
“Then did you observe Mrs. Potter drinking… well, something that looked very much like a Potion?”
After Harry’s second shake of the head, Weilan leaned into Harry’s ear and whispered a suggestion to him:
“Mr. Potter, after all, is a professionally trained Auror; he wouldn’t falsely accuse someone without evidence.”
“Besides, it’s not impossible that someone used Polyjuice Potion to impersonate Mrs. Potter and cause trouble, is it?”
“Mr. Potter wants his wife to be innocent more than any of us.”
“How about we wait for Mr. Potter to list the evidence he’s found, and then see how to handle this matter appropriately.”
“But…” Harry’s lips parted slightly, wanting to say something, but he was interrupted by James’s booming voice.
As expected, although a hint of guilt flashed in James’s eyes, he did not give up his questioning of Lily.
He began to loudly tell everyone present about his discovery in the women’s restroom on the seventh floor:
“On the seventh floor of the East Wing of the stadium, there is only one women’s restroom.”
“For ventilation purposes, there’s a ventilation duct about nine feet from the ground in the women’s restroom.”
“I just found Peter’s claw marks there, left after he transformed into a rat.”
“And for ventilation purposes, there’s a spell on the fan blades of every ventilation duct in the stadium, allowing them to rotate all day.”
“I used some spells to reverse the magic on the ventilation fan blades.”
“The result showed that these spells were forcibly interrupted for a few minutes between seven and seven fifteen this evening.”
“Immediately after, I questioned the cleaner responsible for the women’s restroom.”
“She said there were only a few first-class boxes on the seventh floor, so there were very few people. Around seven o’clock, almost all the spectators had taken their seats.”
“Except for… us!”
James’s lips were pale, and he was trembling all over:
“We were late. During that time, as far as we know, only the four of us spectators entered the seventh-floor restroom in the East Wing!”
“Among us, I, Harry, and Weilan used the men’s restroom, and Lily, you are the only woman, you entered the women’s restroom!”
By the time James finished speaking, Lily’s green eyes were already brimming with tears.
She looked at James and choked out:
“James, do you dare to look me in the eyes and say those words again?”
“I…” James lowered his head, not daring to meet his wife’s gaze.
“Hmph.” Lily scoffed, then turned and rushed towards the interrogation room door.
Weilan was quick, lunging forward to block the interrogation room’s only wooden door with his body.
“Mrs. Potter, please forgive my rudeness.”
Weilan’s wand, tucked in his pocket, was damp with sweat from his palm, making it slightly slippery in his hand.
He had to increase the pressure in his grip to firmly hold the wand handle with his right hand.
“The last time you left everyone’s sight was about two hours ago, just before the match was about to begin, when you went to the women’s restroom alone.”
“Now, two hours are about to end, and you cannot leave our sight again.”
“Otherwise, no one can say for sure whether you are truly Mrs. Potter or someone impersonating her after drinking Polyjuice Potion.”
Lily’s chest rose and fell rapidly.
She tremblingly drew her wand and pointed it at Weilan:
“Little Weilan, I liked you so much. Even you are suspecting me now?”
As she spoke, glistening tears shimmered on her long, curved eyelashes, making her appear pitiable.
Unfortunately, Weilan was unmoved:
“Mrs. Potter, I hope you understand that clearing suspicion requires evidence, not emotion.”
“Your attempt to persuade me with emotion will only make your suspicion grow…”
“Stupefy!”
Weilan’s words were only half-spoken when they were interrupted by a cold, merciless Stupefy.
The moment the red Stupefy shot towards him, Weilan, who had been on edge, immediately drew his wand from his pocket and powerfully chanted the Shield Charm:
“Protego!”
The red light was blocked by the Shield Charm, but the immense impact still slammed Weilan heavily against the door.
A temporary numbness, caused by the severe impact on his spine, spread from his back to his limbs.
Gasping for breath, Weilan laboriously lifted his head, his gaze fixed on his attacker—
“Lily Potter”!
The “Lily” in front of him was panting heavily, her wand still suspended in the air.
But her fiery red hair began to fade, turning silvery as if bleached by moonlight.
Her emerald green eyes gradually filled with a blue-gold gradient iris, and her delicate features became exquisitely refined and profound.
“Oh no, this person’s true form is a Veela!”
Black roared, reaching for his wand to respond.
With some residual effects of the Polyjuice Potion remaining, the Veela, still bearing a face somewhat resembling “Lily,” decisively brandished her wand at Black:
“Avada Kedavra!”
James, momentarily dazed by the fake “Lily,” had his muscle memory instantly reawakened by this malicious spell!
Years of training played their proper role at this moment.
James erupted with astonishing speed and strength in just a brief instant.
Sprint, tackle, roll—all completed in a flash.
By the time Weilan finally broke free from his temporary paralysis, James had already pulled Black to a relatively safe corner.
And the green spell light, representing Avada Kedavra, only struck the tapestry on the wall.
All of this happened in less than a second.
When Weilan adjusted his body and regained his ability to move.
A question arose in his mind:
Why did the Fake Lily only use a Stupefy against him, but unleashed the vicious Avada Kedavra when confronting Black?