harry potter book of crimes

"...There used to be a weird old man living here. He was a herbalist, but he didn't seem to be very famous - at least I've never heard his name anywhere else."

"He never married or had children in his whole life. He devoted his whole life to the poisonous tentacles. Well... he died under the poisonous tentacles' spikes and venom in the end."

On the banks of the Hudson River, there is an old house that Muggles cannot see.

Last night, after sisters Leo Levi and Abigail apparated here with Sirius, they came to this clean but empty house.

The scenery here is great, with green grass everywhere and the fragrance of the soil, and you can see the sparkling river not far away. Except that the wind is a bit stronger on this small slope, there is really nothing bad about it.

Behind this old house, the original owner used a wooden fence to encircle a small garden, but no one had taken care of it all year round, and it had been filled in with weeds.

"Now, in the garden behind that -" Olivia sat by the window of the room, enjoying the rising sun, and said leisurely, "it used to be full of poisonous plants.

Tentacles, no one dares to enter!"

"……Yeah?"

Sirius was half lying and half sitting on the bed, leaning on the pillow and squinting his eyes slightly to avoid the slightly dazzling sunlight outside the window.

"Yes!" Olivia sat on the chair and swayed. "I was still studying in Ivermorny at that time, and I hadn't learned about poisonous tentacles yet! For this, I went to the library to check a lot of information...

...It turns out that the leaves of Poisonous Tentacle are valuable! Each one is worth 35 Dargot!"

"Oh, that's really expensive." Sirius said casually.

A 35-gallon pot in the North American wizarding world is equivalent to 10 gold galleons in the British wizarding world - that is indeed quite expensive, but Sirius is not very interested in the topic of poisonous tentacles at the moment.

Midnight passed, and it was already dawn, but his physical condition had not improved at all. Although he had used too many magic spells during his escape and had withstood an attack from the black mist, he would not be in the condition he is now.

Look like this.

Olivia had already given him the magic potion, and most of his injuries were gradually improving, but he still couldn't cast half of the spell - he had lost the ability to make a feather float.

When he thought that there were still very urgent things that needed to be done, he could hardly conceal the anxiety in his heart.

Early this morning, in fact not long ago, Sirius asked Abigail to send a letter for him.

She was actually a very kind and good girl. Although she said unforgiving words last night, she still helped him take out his coat.

But unfortunately, before the robe could be put to real use, it encountered an enemy.

"...It's pretty good if you can escape smoothly."

Thinking of this, Sirius couldn't help but shook his head.

When he himself was being hunted, he deeply realized the power of that strange black mist. He was once forced to apparate only a short distance, and was unable to concentrate on apparating farther away.

It's fast, has high resistance to spells, and is surprisingly destructive. That kind of unreasonable thing cannot be dealt with by just one or two wizards - not even the Aurors of the Ministry of Magic.

.

So when Abigail came upstairs to inform him that there were enemies, he immediately asked them to use long-distance apparation to escape from there.

It seems that his choice was correct. At least he did not let these two girls get hurt. This is the best proof.

"...The poisonous tentacles are very aggressive. Even their seeds will squeak by themselves if left unmoved!"

Olivia was still talking to herself about the topic of poisonous tentacles, as if she was not bored at all even if she was singing a one-man show.

"Oh, really?" Sirius forced himself to wait patiently.

To be honest, this was the first time that he felt that his strength was really insufficient. Even if he faced several Death Eaters in the past, he could always retain the strength to evacuate, and he would not be as embarrassed as this time.

.

"Later, whenever I was on vacation, Abby and I would often come here to stay for a few days..."

Olivia leaned against the window, bathing in the warm sunshine, and softly talked about some things. Looking at her pure smile, Sirius's worries seemed to calm down a little.

…

On the other side, Abigail has returned to Jackson Square, and she is now filling out the shipping form at the Owl Post Office.

Yes, the wizarding community in North America also uses owls to deliver messages. It has always been this way.

In fact, she shouldn't be the one to deliver the letter today, because her appearance was clearly seen by a "bad guy" last night.

But if this matter is handed over to her sister, that would be the biggest disaster - no one knows Olivia's unreliability better than her sister!

Therefore, although she still felt uneasy in her heart, since she had accepted the commission to deliver the letter, she had to do it for others.

Judging from what happened last night, that man shouldn't be a bad guy.

"...But we still have to go back as soon as possible!" Abigail muttered softly as she filled out the form.

This is natural. She is not only worried that she will meet the bad guy last night, but she is also more worried about her sister and that man being alone.

But when she thought about it, the pen tip in Abigail's hand suddenly slowed down.

"Isn't that right? Or...actually I shouldn't worry about them?" She tilted her head and thought.

Speaking of which, there is a big age difference between Abigail and her sister! Now that Olivia is old enough, she should have found a man to get married and have a few children.

That's not to say that no one likes her sister. In fact, Olivia has always been surrounded by suitors. But with her character, none of them succeeded in pursuing her in the end.

As time passed, those men had already given up and started their own families and careers, and Olivia finally became one of the bright remaining women in the American wizarding world.

"Let's put aside that man's troubles, at least he looks quite tasty..." Abigail held her chin and considered, "Well... no, no, the premise is already out!"

At the counter of the post office, the delivery clerk looked at Abigail expressionlessly, and the postmark stamp he held in his hand was stained with ink.

"Ah -" Abigail suddenly came back to her senses and smiled sheepishly, "It'll be fine soon! It'll be fine soon!"

She hurriedly filled out the mailing form, confirmed it again, and hurriedly handed it to the counter clerk. She saw that the other party stamped the postmark without hesitation, and then threw it into the mail basket behind her. This was considered a temporary solution.

It's over.

After delivering the letter to the post office, Abigail quickly walked out of the post office lobby. She stood on the steps at the door of the lobby and hesitated, and finally gave up her plan to go home and take a look.

Anyway, she had to postpone her business trip, so she could leave her luggage at home for now! She was about to apparate away from here, but unexpectedly, there was a sudden chill behind her, and then she found that she couldn't move at all.

"Sorry, this beautiful lady... please come with me!"

A rather gentle-sounding voice sounded behind her, and then her mind went blank, and an unparalleled sense of happiness suddenly arose in her heart.

"Follow me."

It was that voice again, but this time it sounded in her heart. That voice seemed to have some irresistible magic power, making her want to obey involuntarily.

No, or in other words, she didn't want to resist at all. Because she felt that she would be happiest only if she obeyed that order.

Abigail immediately turned around, followed a young wizard in exquisite wizard robes, and slowly left in a certain direction.

This young wizard is naturally Maka. When he left Jackson Square to follow Joshua last night, he did not take back all the Acromantulas he sent out to search. Who would have thought that when he led the group of Acromantulas early this morning?

When the child returned here, he got a piece of good news that was quite accidental from the mouth of a certain little guy.

In the post office, a witch with Sirius' aura appeared.

According to Maka's understanding of spider creatures, spiders' sense of smell is definitely not very sharp, whether in the world of magical creatures or ordinary creatures. This harvest can only be said to be a coincidence.

And just now, when Maka saw the little girl directly, he finally confirmed that there was nothing wrong with this coincidence.

He only saw one of the two wizards clearly last night, and she ran away too. How could he have thought that she would dare to show up here today?

Maka, who has always been suspicious of such things as "luck", really wanted to say "lucky" this time.

He took Abigail, who was under his Imperius Curse, and walked along the street toward the West End. As the number of pedestrians around him gradually decreased, it didn't take long before they arrived at the inconspicuous shack.

This is the place Joshua proposed, and it is just right for temporarily housing those children. After all, there are Maka's precious Acromantulas patrolling and monitoring around Jackson Square, so the level of safety is naturally higher than other places.

.

"Squeak——"

Maka opened the door and walked into the shack. There were more than ten children sitting or lying in the small space, which made the place look a bit crowded.

He walked inside the door and then took a step to the side. Behind him, Abigail looked dazed. She walked a few steps forward with her eyes straight, and then stood there blankly.

door.

Maka waved her hand casually, and the door of the shed closed again with a creak.

"Are you hungry? Eat something first--"

He took out his staff and pointed lightly at the round table in the middle, and a large bread basket immediately appeared out of thin air, filled with all kinds of freshly baked bread.

Next to the basket, several pots were steaming with steam, and a wonderful aroma of milk wafted out from the mouths of the pots, filling the entire house.