harry potter book of crimes

"Good evening, Miss Betsy. How offensive it is to come uninvited at this late hour."

"No, please call me 'Mrs. Longman'." Maka's address to her seemed to arouse her dissatisfaction, "What are you doing at our couple's house so late?"

"Oh, sorry--"

Maka glanced to the side, only to find that her husband had not regained consciousness like she had.

"Well, Mrs. Longman, let me answer your question first..." He paused and said calmly, "I am a professor at Hogwarts, and she is an Auror at the Ministry of Magic."

"Auror?" Mrs. Longman immediately became wary when she heard this.

"Yes, I'm an Auror, and I thought it would be best for you-" "Tonks."

Maka gestured to Tonks before continuing: "Don't worry, we are not here to dig up your husband's criminal record..."

As he spoke, he looked at the empty potion bottles that had fallen on the floor.

"All we need is the source of that potion, and..." At this point, Maka stared closely into each other's eyes, "the details of the potion you and your wife have taken recently."

Mrs. Longman was lying stiffly on the floor, with only her face barely able to move. Coupled with being attacked by Maka and Tonks late at night, it stands to reason that such a weak woman should always be terrified.

But on her seemingly timid face, there was no fear as expected.

"Potion..." She pursed her thin lips, but showed a strong temperament, "Are you sent by the Ministry of Magic to investigate this potion... As long as you don't embarrass my husband, I will

I can tell you everything I know."

"Of course," Maka nodded, "Then let's sit down and have a chat, right?"

After that, he waved his wand, and the chair lying in the corner immediately flipped up and landed behind him and Tonks. After he sat down, he released the spell on the other party.

Mrs. Longman suddenly felt relaxed. She quickly collected her breathing, and then rushed to her husband's side with a trace of panic and inspected it carefully.

Mr. Longman was still lying on the bed motionless, but it could be seen that the madness in his eyes was still there. Other than that, there was nothing else unusual.

"Your husband is fine, I just controlled him with a full body binding spell." Maka's eyes jumped back and forth on the couple, as if they were comparing something, "Madam, please sit down first...

…We actually don’t have enough time here. Once I finish asking all the questions I want to ask, we will leave by ourselves without you rushing.”

Hearing this, the other party rubbed the corners of his eyes with his sleeves, and finally left his husband temporarily and sat quietly on the edge of the bed.

"Ask whatever you want to know!" she said softly.

"Well, the first question is very simple..." Maka pointed to the potion bottle on the ground with her wand, "Where did you get this potion?"

"I just bought it on the black market."

Mrs. Longman's slender arms were supported on the edge of the bed, her head hung slightly, and she also looked at the empty potion bottles, as if she was remembering something.

"Where?" Maka asked again.

"……have no idea."

Mrs. Longman shook her head slightly, her messy shoulder-length curly hair swaying leisurely.

"How could you not know?" Tonks frowned, "Or are you the one selling them?"

"No, I really don't know..." The other party raised his head, with a hint of pain in his expression, "I can only vaguely remember that it should be somewhere in the black market... a very dark and humid place.

…”

"Okay," Maka waved her hand and said, "Then let me ask the second question first - as far as I know, when your husband had abnormal symptoms, you should not have been exposed to this magic potion, right?"

"Yes." Mrs. Longman said sadly, "I tried my best and asked for help everywhere, but nothing worked... I couldn't save him..."

"Since you have seen what your husband is like, how did you get yourself tricked?" Maka asked doubtfully, "Logically speaking, you should stay away from such a harmful potion.

Bar?"

When the other party heard this, his confusion gradually emerged.

"this……"

She frowned and thought, her distressed look getting worse. After a long time, she finally just said "I'm sorry" and her expression became a little uneasy.

"I don't know this, I don't know that, what exactly do you..."

Tonks seemed a little irritable. But it was no wonder. After all, Kingsley was her boss and he usually took good care of her. Recently, she had been in a heavy mood.

Although she is often rough in front of everyone and always makes everyone laugh, she is actually very delicate on the inside.

She knew that as a new Auror, her abilities were still insufficient; she also knew that both Moody and Kingsley were very concerned about her growth.

However, as accidents happened to the two elders and officers one after another, the regret in her heart was almost beyond her ability to bear.

"Why...why wasn't I the one who had the accident?"

Lately, every night when she was lying in bed, this sentence was running through her mind.

She really began to hate herself for being powerless.

However, the atmosphere in the Order of the Phoenix has always been tense at the moment, and she cannot make the atmosphere worse just because of her own trivial matter.

Therefore, she forced herself, forced herself, tried to maintain her usual joy, and tried to help everyone where she could.

But facts have proven that suppressed emotions will always explode inadvertently.

"...Tell me everything you know! Don't think you can just say 'I don't know' to excuse you! How many people do you think have gone crazy because of this potion! What is your purpose?"

Tonks stood up suddenly, pulled out her wand, and while pressing the opponent down hard, the tip of the wand was already firmly pressed against the opponent's slender neck.

Mrs. Longman was obviously startled by her.

However, she quickly calmed down and stared at Tonks' face for a moment, gritting her teeth and saying nothing.

"Tonks!" Maka looked at the tense back, reached out and patted her shoulder gently, "Don't be anxious, calm down..."

"How can you keep me calm! Maka, seeing how leisurely you are along the way, you are not worried at all——"

Tonks suddenly stopped talking, as if regretting what she had said in a moment of excitement.

She paused, released her left hand from Mrs. Longman's shoulder, and stood up with her head lowered, but the wand in her right hand was clenched tighter and tighter.

"Don't force yourself too hard," Maka patted her shoulder again and said with a smile, "But having said that, the grimace you made outside is quite interesting, no worse than your Disguise Magus."

"Ah?" Tonks suddenly turned around and looked at Maka blankly.

"Forgot?" Maka chuckled, "Just when I entered the house just now, didn't you have a lot of fun making faces at the brick hole?"

"ah!"

As if recalling something, Tonks blinked.

"Sit down and rest for a while!" Maka pressed her shoulders and asked her to sit back on the chair, then turned to Mrs. Longman and said, "Sorry, I'm rude..."

Tonks sat on the chair, lost in thought. She almost didn't listen to what Maka and Mrs. Longman said after that.

Because of Maka's words, she thought of the faces she made outside just now. Of course, there was no one around her at that time, so naturally she didn't do it just to make others laugh.

I'm afraid even she didn't notice it, but she was born that way.

Perhaps during this period, in order to liven up the atmosphere, she often forced herself to do some off-line actions. But those grimaces before were just what she wanted to do.

"Ah...Christine and Charles?"

Tonks suddenly recalled her first destination tonight.

If I have to say it, there seems to be really no need to go there tonight. The important information was easily obtained in that strange club, and Maka seemed to have no intention of getting anything from the potion shop in the first place.

Thinking about it this way, it seems like Maka took her to meet Kristen and Charles tonight...

"Don't push yourself too hard" - Maka's words flashed through her mind.

"Did he... notice that I was forcing myself?"

Tonks gave Maka a deep look.

Putting aside Tonks's random thoughts, Maka got some new clues from Mrs. Longman...

"...In other words, after that, every morning when you wake up from bed, you will find an empty potion bottle on the floor?" Maka confirmed with a frown.

After Mrs. Longman nodded again, Maka looked at the empty potion bottle on the ground, and then at Mr. Longman who couldn't move. She didn't know what she was thinking.

After a few seconds, he pointed to Mr. Longman on the bed and said, "Where is your husband?"

"A few days ago, for some reason, he got sick again. I could only tie him up like this, otherwise he would smash things and beat people everywhere, and try to escape..."

"Really?" Maka heard this and raised her eyebrows slightly, "Let me guess... is it because since you tied him up, there has been one less empty potion bottle every morning?"

Mrs. Longman was stunned for a moment, then nodded immediately.

"That's right...how did you know?" she asked, seemingly a little surprised.

Maka did not answer her question, but just thought about it thoughtfully. For a moment, the messy bedroom became quiet, with only a few breathing sounds intertwined and inaudible.

After a while, Maka suddenly stood up, walked to the side and picked up a potion bottle. He rubbed the smooth bottle without any label on it, his eyes looking a little deep.

"This potion... is really interesting." He murmured to himself.