Dark clouds carrying a storm covered the skies above London. A black skull-shaped cloud opened its mouth wide.
Three streams of black smoke rushed out from the mouth.
The smoke streams bypassed the Thames, racing toward the Leaky Cauldron. They burst open its door, smashed through the brick entrance to Diagon Alley, plunged into Ollivanders Wand Shop, and triggered a massive explosion.
All the surrounding wizards dove to the ground, covering their heads. Fenrir Greyback led Ollivander out through the smoke.
"Sectumsempra!"
A spell flew over and severed his arm.
"Ah!" Fenrir retreated several steps, clutching his arm.
Diagon Alley had been surrounded by another group of wizards wearing grey robes.
"It's the Knockturn Alley Guard!"
One of the wizards lying on the ground recognized the newcomers' identities. He'd clearly visited Ministry-prohibited places quite often.
Several Death Eaters, seeing they were outnumbered, wanted to grab Ollivander and Disapparate away.
But several grey-robed wizards raised their wands toward the sky. White magical threads flew from their wand tips skyward.
A protective barrier formed. The Death Eaters used Apparition, hitting it like glass with a sharp crack, then collapsing to the ground.
"What?" Several Death Eaters were stunned.
Then the grey-robed wizards raised their wands coldly at them. Green light flashed. Two Death Eaters lost their lives.
Fenrir Greyback seized the opportunity to shatter the barrier with a Blasting Curse and Disapparated away.
Several grey-robed wizards repaired Ollivander's shop while leaving two guards as security.
Inside Knockturn Alley, in the Queen's office, several grey-robed wizards stood with lowered heads.
"Mr. Ollivander has been protected, and Fenrir was also let go," Caius Quirrell said, reporting to Arthursi.
"Well done. In the coming days, expand our scope of activity and oversee Diagon Alley's security. Also, keep a close eye on Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes for me."
After giving instructions, Arthursi waved her hand, dismissing the grey-robed wizards.
Inside Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, the twins were introducing their new products to customers in the shop.
After the presentation ended, the two came to the back room. A young man sat with his legs crossed on their sofa, reading a newspaper.
The newspaper blocked his upper body, but two protruding dragon horns revealed his identity.
"Look at this," George said, coming over and snatching away the newspaper, revealing the youth behind it.
"Planning to move out and live with your brothers?"
Fred also walked over and put his arm around Aiden.
"Mum sent me to check on you. The family clock shows everyone in a dangerous state. Besides, Death Eaters have been too active recently," Aiden explained.
Since the two dropped out of Hogwarts to run their shop, Mrs. Weasley had to acknowledge their talent.
So she no longer mentioned the Ministry to them. And to better operate the shop, the two spent most of their time living at Wizard Wheezes.
However, the twins' distance also made Mrs. Weasley worry daily about their safety, which led to Aiden's visit.
"Bring them on, then," George said eagerly.
"I'll catch a few Death Eaters. Maybe I can exchange them for an Order of Merlin at the Ministry," Fred said, raising his eyebrows at Aiden.
"You two, be serious. If you're hit by a Killing Curse, you're dead—there's no cure. Are you still wearing the bracelets?"
Aiden nagged his two unreliable brothers like Mrs. Weasley herself. At this moment, he understood her constant worry.
George and Fred both pulled up their sleeves, revealing metal bracelets engraved with strange runes on their wrists.
"By the way, which runic system is this thing using?"
George mysteriously leaned in to inquire.
"We've searched through all the books—Runes, Gobbledegook, Mermish... found no similar symbols," Fred said, also fiddling with the bracelet.
"But if it's not magical script, why does magic flow on it?"
George extended his hand and injected a bit of magic. The runes on it flickered with silver light.
"Secret," Aiden said, showing a smile.
In fact, Aiden was too embarrassed to tell them these runes were copied by Aiden from his own body after transforming.
"Alright, you two quickly write a letter to reassure Mum. I still have some matters—I'm leaving now."
Aiden stood up, put on his hat, and Disapparated from the shop.
Cokeworth. Once an industrial area, it now seemed desolate with industries relocated.
Spinner's End. A youth with heterochromatic eyes visited here.
Knock knock. Aiden concealed his magic and knocked on the door.
"I said, no newspapers!" Snape opened the door with an unhappy face.
But what entered his field of vision wasn't the newspaper boy's ridiculous bald head, but a pair of dragon horns.
"Good evening, Professor," Aiden said, performing an ancient wizarding courtesy to him.
Snape's expression soured further. After his internal struggle , he opened the door reluctantly.
"Tea, thank you."
The dragon's bright smile didn't match this dark, cramped room at all.
Wormtail Peter had been sent by Voldemort to Snape's side during summer vacation—ostensibly to help, actually to monitor.
But this loyal servant's pupils were currently occupied by amber and deep blue.
Stupidly catching butterflies in the air.
Snape gripped his wand and, with a flick, grabbed some herbs from his potion ingredients room to make Aiden a cup of black tea.
Aiden didn't mind at all, picking it up and gulping it down.
Snape's jaw tightened in irritation.
"What exactly do you want?!" Snape couldn't help but speak first.
"A mother in distress is about to come find you. Poor Narcissa Malfoy, she's at her wits' end and has set her sights on you."
Aiden elegantly set down the teacup and settled back on Professor Snape's sofa. Rock hard.
"So?" Snape said, with a 'continue your performance' look.
Aiden didn't reply. Before him, he slowly faded in color and disappeared.
Then Snape heard knocking again. Peter returned to normal and hurried to open the door upon hearing the knock.
"Good evening, Severus," Narcissa Malfoy said, bowing to Snape.
Beside her, Bella leaned against the threshold. Looking up, she saw a white fox outside the window and threw an Avada at it.
Then she looked at Snape with provocative eyes.
"Come in," Snape said, his voice very dull, the state when using Occlumency.
"And don't enter my parlor, Wormtail," Snape said, waving his wand. The door slammed shut hard.
All summer, Narcissa Malfoy had been unable to eat or sleep. At this moment she looked haggard.
Last year her husband was captured and imprisoned for the Department of Mysteries battle.
To punish Lucius for his incompetence, Voldemort gave Draco Malfoy an almost impossible task—kill Aiden Prewett.
When she heard this news, Narcissa felt her world collapse.
As someone from the Black family, Narcissa also knew about the clan that had thrived on battlefields for a thousand years without decline.
Their war weapons were forged through generations of dragon-people.
Voldemort's order was for Draco to confront this kind of thing and bring back his corpse.
Under Dumbledore's watch, kill an almost unkillable target and successfully escape.
One could foresee how slim Draco's survival probability was.
So to keep her husband and son alive, Narcissa could only search desperately for help, finally setting her sights on this old schoolmate.