“You can rest assured, we Aurors never let dangerous people like that roam free.” The Auror laughed as well, then turned to the others. “You lot, take him back. I’ve got something I need to double?check.”
Strictly speaking, this wasn’t in line with procedure, but since their superior had spoken, they couldn’t very well object. They could only leave first with their prisoner.
After that, the Auror who stayed behind went to Gringotts not far away, and when he came back out, there was an extra pouch in his hand.
He shoved the pouch at Boss Tom. Neither of them said a word; their eyes flickered, and some kind of understanding was reached between them.
Once all the Aurors had left, Diagon Alley gradually returned to its previous bustle. The first?years went on buying all sorts of school supplies; no one paid any attention to that shop whose door had once again been closed.
The owner of that shop seemed to be in a hurry; after shutting the door, he headed straight for the Leaky Cauldron.
He had to run—because the person they’d just taken away was fake.
The Aurors might not care much about that Willie Tom, but when it came to their own Galleons, they were more serious than anyone.
Wait any longer and he might not be able to get away.
…
Sure enough, it wasn’t long before the Aurors who’d just left came rushing back yet again. This time they moved even faster than before; whoever got in their way was shoved aside without mercy.
Bystanders who had no idea what was going on watched curiously and whispered among themselves about what might have happened.
The leading Auror marched up to the shop with its door tightly shut, pulled out his Wand without a word, and blasted the door open.
A thunderous boom made everyone jump.
But when he saw the scene inside the shop, the leading Auror’s face went green, then red.
The place had been completely cleared out; shelves that had been crammed full a short while ago were now bare—there wasn’t even a scrap of Parchment left.
“You lot are useless.” Flames seemed to be shooting off the top of his head as he roared, “Not one of you noticed the culprit was under a Transfiguration Spell. Is this how you lot do Auror work? Useless!”
You didn’t notice either, so why are you dumping all the blame on us… everyone thought silently, but no one dared say a word.
“Hurry up and find him!” the leading Auror bellowed in a fury. “Even if you have to dig up the ground, you’ll drag that damned swindler out for me. I’m going to lock him up with the Dementors forever!”
The Aurors scattered at top speed.
But they were destined to be disappointed.
Because by this time, the “Boss Tom” they were looking for had already used a Portkey and arrived a thousand miles away in Romania.
Dumbledore tensed at once when he saw the stranger suddenly appear.
“Who are you!” He drew his Wand and pointed it at the newcomer.
“Easy, Professor, it’s me.”
Dumbledore froze. At this time, there was only one person who would address him as Professor.
“Kael?”
“It’s me,” Kael said.
“Mm… that should about do it.”
As “Boss Tom” finished speaking, his body began to change. The belly vanished, and short black hair sprouted on his head.
“Kael,” Dumbledore was even more puzzled, “what on earth have you been up to?”
“Oh, just a small issue. It’s been taken care of.” Kael, restored to his original appearance, said with a grin. “Couldn’t be helped—someone was far too generous and insisted on giving me a huge pile of Galleons. I really couldn’t turn him down.”
Insisted on giving him Galleons?
Dumbledore didn’t believe a single word of Kael’s explanation.
He’d made a bit of a name for himself over the past few years, with more friends than he could count—how come none of them ever insisted on showering him with Galleons?
He was sure Kael was hiding something from him.
And that look just now, that had clearly been Polyjuice Potion. But what had happened that would make Kael go around disguised as someone else?
Dumbledore was very curious, but one sentence from Kael made him give up on asking further.
“Professor, it’s time we went back. You must be dying to see Arianna again.”
“All right.” Dumbledore came over at once.
Whatever Kael had done, it wasn’t as important as seeing Arianna again.
Kael took out the golden Pocket Watch and pulled a long golden chain from the top.
The chain was long enough to loop around both him and Dumbledore together.
Then Kael began to turn the hands. The Philosopher’s Stone gave off a burst of red light that spread over the hands.
Compared to when they came, the red glow looked much dimmer now, but taking the two of them back shouldn’t be a problem.
Mm… it should be fine.
“This is the spot.” Once Kael had set the hands to the correct position, he let go.
The red light on the Time Turner began to spread, racing along the chain from one end to the other. Dumbledore and Kael were soon wrapped in the glow.
Their figures began to fade, and in a moment, they vanished from the spot completely.