Harry Potter and the Burnt Badger

"Contract, terms, contract..." Rodriguez spread his hands, "You can call it whatever you want. In short, when Voldemort rose to power, many secret societies of dark wizards had made similar arrangements - the societies Instead of going against him, he used the two things to conquer the Ministry of Magic and defeat Albus Dumbledore to prove his own strength. When Death Eaters are moving around, those associations must shrink their power. If Voldemort If he successfully does what he said, then those associations will surrender to him; if he fails to do it, well..."

What Rodriguez said was very different from what Moon knew before, and there were more details.

But the question is, why would the Crow Party be willing to renegotiate such an agreement with Voldemort, who was just making a comeback and even failed once?

Moon tapped the long table lightly, pondered for a moment, and then suddenly realized.

Yes, after experiencing the last failure, the Crow Party intended to go into hibernation. Even according to what Rodriguez said, it was still a big hibernation, the kind that would disappear for more than ten or decades.Therefore, they had nothing to lose by renegotiating this agreement with Voldemort.

In other words, although the first piece of information given by Rodriguez was just a small bargaining chip used by Rodriguez to test him, it was actually the true intention of the top brass of the Crow Party.

After completely connecting several things together, Moon stopped his small movements and said casually: "By the way, did you guys in the Crow Party read the report about me killing a basilisk last time?"

Rodriguez laughed when he heard this, "Look, the effect is very good. Many people in the Crow Party now want to tie you up and put the Cruciatus Curse on you every day."

"Like what my little uncle once went through?"

Rodriguez's laughter stopped abruptly.

Moon tapped the table again and said, "Is there any other news?"

Looking at the young man in front of him, Rodriguez suddenly felt depressed for no reason. He picked up the long pipe, took another deep breath, and then slowly shook his head, "No, that's all."

"Then, let's end today's meeting." Moon stood up, picked up his bottle of violet water, and walked towards the door.

After arriving at the door, he suddenly turned around again and pointed to the birdcage on the table. "It's a beautiful bird."

This time, Rodriguez's expression changed completely. He held his pipe and was about to speak, but Moon had already opened the door and walked out, leaving no time for him.

Looking at the box door that had been closed again, Rodriguez looked gloomily and knocked on the birdcage with his pipe, and the door of the birdcage popped open automatically.The beautiful emerald green bird inside fluttered its wings and flew out, and then after landing, it suddenly turned into a beautiful-looking woman, but her face was full of fear, and she seemed to be very panicked.

"I'm sorry, I-" Sure enough, the woman apologized as soon as she opened her mouth.

But Rodriguez immediately raised his hand to interrupt her and said coldly: "Don't worry, Debra, tell me first, did you find anything?"

"He has been trying to look into your eyes, and...my eyes." Debra's hands were holding the corners of her robe, and her palms were already covered with thin beads of sweat.

"Legilimency..." Rodriguez slowly closed his eyes and leaned on the back of the sofa. "Even the Animagus can't hide it from him. As expected, he still needs to think carefully about how to kill this little monster in the future. That’s him.”

Debra didn't know whether she should tell Rodriguez about her encounter with Moon, so she became more and more nervous, and even her forehead began to sweat.

"Dear Debra, tell me, how will he want to kill me?" Rodriguez's voice came over again, and Debra came back from her thoughts and looked up. As he passed by, he saw that at some point, dark smoke enveloped Rodriguez's face again.

"I thought that you and him were in a cooperative relationship, and since he was a decent young wizard, he wouldn't want to kill you, he would only..."

"You only think about how to put me in Azkaban?" Rodriguez laughed. "Debra, you are too naive, and you underestimate the cruelty of our Mr. If I cooperate to take down the Crows, he won't hesitate to kill me with a spell - just like he killed Ekel Weaving."

"Although the two of us are cooperating, this does not affect the fact that we are also sworn enemies at the same time. How merciful do you think a person who can even cooperate with sworn enemies would be?"

Debra pursed her lips and did not answer.

"Forget it, let's go. This is their territory after all." Rodriguez stood up, holding the pipe in one hand and lifting the birdcage with the other.Debra understood and took a step forward. The next moment, she had transformed back into her bird form and flew into the cage.

Rodriguez was right, she was just a pet in a cage with nowhere to escape.

"Beautiful bird, hey, do you want to use this way to warn me not to do this trick next time?" Rodriguez glanced at Debra who returned to the cage. "Or, you do know. What I want to tell you..."

"Bam—"

With a soft sound, one person and one bird suddenly disappeared into the box. Only the black smoke filling the room proved that Rodriguez had indeed been here.

But soon, the black smoke completely disappeared.

On the other side, the newly transformed Moon has arrived on the first floor.

He did not rush to find Little Rich and Rideout, but stopped here, quietly thinking about the last message Rodriguez passed to him.

Why did Rodriguez bring that Animagus named "Debra" with him?

Moon was sure that Rodriguez would never rashly conclude that he would never be able to see through the Animagus. What's more, bringing a bird inexplicably to a private meeting between the two would be very abrupt and would definitely arouse Mu En. Well, I pay special attention to it.

Indeed, Rodriguez may want to use this method to bring an extra helper to ensure his own safety; at the same time, he also uses this method to test Munn to see if Munn can see through the Animagus. Disguise, after all, Moon has shown many strange magics.

But neither of these reasons is sufficient.

Before dealing with the Crow Party, Moon will never attack Rodriguez. Rodriguez knows this well; if you want to test whether Munn can see through the Animagus, you don't have to do it. Do it when delivering important news, and there will be plenty of opportunities in the future.

Therefore, Rodriguez must have something more important that he wanted to tell him in this obscure way.

Chapter 66 Reveal·Part [-]

Regarding the relationship between the two people, both Rodriguez and Moon actually see it very clearly - just as Rodriguez said, although they are cooperating, they are deadly hostile to each other. But it has never disappeared.

However, for a common purpose, in order to bring down the huge Crow Party that was difficult to solve easily, they had to temporarily put aside their hostility to each other and reach cooperation.

When the Crow Party collapses, one of them will surely follow in the footsteps of the Crow Party shortly thereafter.

At the same time, because of this complicated relationship, the cooperation between the two people is not very frank and straightforward.On the contrary, during this cooperation, both of them had reservations and were constantly testing each other.

Just like Rodriguez, every time he holds a message, he always has to hide the truth and the lie. The more important the message, the more vague and foggy it is to express it; similarly, Moon The meeting place will also be deliberately chosen to be the night of the werewolf, delaying the time for each reply to Rodriguez, and trying to intimidate Rodriguez as much as possible when necessary.

In other words, they are the foxes and wolves in the forest, trying to seize the heart of the giant python.Killing the giant python is important, but if they want to maintain this cooperation, they cannot be at a disadvantage in front of the other.

Otherwise, the meaning of being a partner is lost.

And the result of this is that cooperation ends, and the weak one becomes the food of another.

Rodriguez brought a total of three messages today, three interlocking messages.To put it bluntly, the really important news today that requires face-to-face negotiation between the two parties should be the "combination" of these three pieces of information.Rodriguez split it into three parts. The first part was used as a superficial test, the second part was disguised as a "real bargaining chip", and the third part was also the most important part. It was hidden by him in the twists and turns.

If Moon can't see it, then Rodriguez will have to re-examine the cooperation between the two parties.

Of course, this does not mean that his "Animagus" temptation is fake, but Rodriguez just combined the two things together.

what……

Moon, who was thinking, suddenly realized.

Animagus.

If that's the case, then everything seems to make sense.

…………

That night, Moon stayed at the Werewolf Night Bar for a while and had dinner with the Rich family, Rideout, Mrs. Rubeo and the remaining female werewolves.

During the meal, Little Rich kept teasing Rideout because this year for Christmas, Moon gave Rideout a set of reading notes to make up for Rideout's inability to go to Hogwarts.As a result, for the past few days, Rideout had been flipping through those reading notes almost every day, even to the point of forgetting to sleep and eat.Now that Moon was present, Richey would not let go of this opportunity and told him all about Rideout's behavior.

On the surface, this may seem like a crude joke.But in fact, there is a unique way of doing things that Xiao Lixi has honed in the underground tavern for many years.

Rideout was reading the book without paying any attention to it. Everyone in the Werewolf Night bar knew about this, and only Moon at the dinner table didn't know about it.And coincidentally, the person who can best persuade Rideout now is Moon.Therefore, he deliberately used this incident to tease Rideout at the dinner table, so that Rideout would not feel frustrated in his self-esteem because there were no outsiders; at the same time, he could avoid communicating with Moon in private and bring this matter up. Things become like snitching, affecting his relationship with Rideout.

It is a very good way to solve this matter with a little over-the-top banter between friends.

Sure enough, after Xiao Lixi mentioned this matter, Rideout glared at him fiercely, and then quickly made a promise to Munn, saying that he would pay more attention to it in the future.

As for his behavior of kicking and hitting Xiao Lixi's calf under the table, everyone just pretended not to see it.

In order to avoid worrying his mother and uncle, Moon did not stay too long in the Werewolf Night after dinner. He walked into the basement again and returned to Shafiq Manor through teleportation.After seeing him, Golov and An finally felt relieved and handled their own affairs with peace of mind.

In the following days, the Christmas period gradually came to an end. On January 1st, Shafiq Manor became even rarer and quieter.Uncle Golov and Aunt Nora led everyone to thoroughly clean up the snow in the manor. Unable to withstand the noise of the little ones, Moon turned the pile of tall snow into A huge unicorn snow sculpture then put the younger brothers and sisters on the back of the unicorn snow sculpture one by one and took a photo of them.

After seeing the photo, uncle Edgar couldn't sit still. It happened that his girlfriend also came to the manor today. So, under his noisy calls, almost all the family members were constantly changing their arrangements and combinations. , took some photos with the unicorn snow sculpture.

By the time they set out to visit the Bones family the next day, all these photos had been developed and placed in various rooms in the Shafiq Manor.

Although this visit was not prompted by political factors and was more of a visit as a friend, it was still a bit strange that a whole family came here.As a result, Edgar, Hesper and Quaid were all left at home to take care of their younger brothers and sisters. Except for Moon, only one child, Ern, came to the Bones house.

Hmm... Putting Edgar in the queue of children shouldn't be a mistake at all.

The Bones family is not that big. Even though they are undoubtedly related to the current Minister of Magic, the family still lives a relatively simple life - but this is normal, because in fact, if Amelia Bones is excluded, Not counting the Minister, there are only three people in the Bones family: Susan Bones, and her parents.

Although the Bones family could not be said to be such a large family originally, it was definitely not so sparsely populated.Susan's grandparents had three children. In addition to her aunt, Amelia Bones, Susan had an uncle named Edgar Bones.Yes, Susan's uncle was also named Edgar, and this Edgar Bones was married and had children.

But unfortunately, during the period when Voldemort was at his most powerful, Susan's grandfather, grandmother, uncles, aunts, and even her cousins ​​all died at the hands of Death Eaters.

That's why the Bones family looks like this now.

Originally, according to the agreement between Moon and Susan, the visit was supposed to be at Ms. Amelia Bones's home, but at Ms. Bones' suggestion, the location was changed to Susan's home.When Golov led them here, Susan's father was guarding the door with her.

"Mr. Shafiq, welcome, welcome."

As soon as he saw several people, Susan's father immediately came up to them, with a natural smile on his face, and he didn't seem to have any pretensions to being a "minister's relative".Susan, who was following him, seemed to have finally gotten rid of the influence of the diary, and returned to her original elegant look with long braids.

After a while of greetings, under the leadership of Susan's father, everyone walked through the courtyard and towards the house. Susan slowed down a little and took the opportunity to tug on Moon's sleeve, which was quite embarrassing. He whispered: "Moon... I feel that my family seems to be the same as before. They don't demand anything from me. It's as if the feelings I had before were all fake... Do you think I misunderstood? They?"

Moon shook his head gently and comforted: "Don't think so much, it's not your fault. Moreover, if your family really doesn't demand you anymore, it would be a good thing, right?"

Susan didn't know why Moon was so sure, but no matter what, what Moon said was correct, and this was a good thing.

only……

"So, the whereabouts of my diary are still unknown, right..." As soon as the diary was mentioned, Susan's mood suddenly became a little lower. She sighed and muttered: "I really don't know whether it was Who picked it up?"

"What's so different about that diary? Does it make you so concerned?" After hearing this, Moon simply stopped and asked tentatively.

Susan hesitated for a moment, and finally told Moon the truth for the first time, "Actually... that is not an ordinary diary, but a magical diary, and there lives a man named Tom Riddle." Man. He was also a former student of Hogwarts, a Slytherin - indeed, I even went to the school's trophy room to see it, and there was a medal of his there. Like you, he has won many awards for the school. Special Contribution Award.”

"During that time when everyone didn't understand me and treated me worse and worse, if Tom hadn't been with me and enlightened me, I might have been unable to bear it."

Susan glanced at the elder who had walked to the door of the house in front of her, and whispered: "In short, that diary really means a lot to me, but except that it contains a soul from long ago, there is nothing special about it. . Just because it really helped me a lot, I really wanted to find it."

"That's right..." Moon nodded slightly: "I understand."

The adults had already greeted the two of them, and Moon, who had already received an answer from Susan, stopped delaying and took steps again, following Susan into the door of Bones' house.

As revealed on the outside, the interior of the Bones home looks equally ordinary.Moreover, probably because Susan's mother is a Muggle, the wizarding atmosphere in this house is not that strong. If it weren't for a few portraits of people whispering and chatting, Moon would almost think that this place is a Muggle. Melon family house.

After entering the house, Ms. Bones and Susan's mother finally showed up. Susan's mother was preparing hot tea for everyone, while Ms. Bones was quietly looking at the documents, probably busy working. Ministry matters.

"Happy New Year, everyone, ah, I remember that when I saw Ern last time, he didn't seem to be so tall. Children grow up so fast, and so does Susan. I always worry that when I come here again, Susan is taller than me." Ms. Bones greeted everyone, shook the parchment in her hand, and glanced at Moon alone. "You guys go ahead, I have something else. It needs to be taken care of, right away.”

Owen was much more well-behaved than before when he was out. He didn't run around. He even insisted that he didn't look around. He just followed his mother. After being praised by Ms. Bones, he showed a smile. Sunshine's smile was surprisingly not as lively as it was at home.

After a while, Susan's mother had brought tea and snacks, and her husband stirred up the lively atmosphere and began to talk about some lighter topics with Golov, Nora and Ann.Of course, when a room of parents gather together, children are always the best topic to talk about, so as they talked, the focus of the conversation shifted to the three children present.

"Moon is now quite a famous child in the entire British wizarding world. And if I remember correctly, Susan said you will graduate in two or three years?" Susan's father looked curiously. Xiang Munn, "I wonder what your plans are in the future? Have you ever thought about working in the Ministry of Magic?"

"I haven't thought about this yet, sir." Moon said with a smile: "You remember correctly, I have three years to graduate, but I still want to think about where I will go after graduation. Maybe after graduation I I will go out for a walk first and take a look at the scenery outside."

"It doesn't matter if you think about it more, it's still important to find a job you like. Because my sister worked in the Ministry of Magic, I went to the Ministry of Magic myself, but I regretted it after only working for two years. "Susan's father also laughed. "When I resigned later, Amelia often used this incident to teach me."

"Ha, thank you for saying it." Ms. Bones put the parchment aside and took off the glasses on her nose. "I advised you to think about it when you joined the Ministry of Magic. But in the end, Well, I was right, and I resigned within two years. If I don’t tell you about this, what if you find a job hastily in the future? All time wasted?"

Susan's father responded repeatedly and secretly winked at the three children at the same time, making them all snicker.

"By the way, Moon, I heard Professor Dumbledore say that you have something very important to tell us?" Sensing that the atmosphere was pretty good, Ms. Bones didn't seem to intend to delay it any longer. Let’s break down today’s most important topic right away.

Moon nodded slightly and took out the diary from the inner pocket of his coat.

Professor Dumbledore finally chose to tell Ms. Bones about the matter. Although he did not explain everything in detail, he made it clear about what happened.Therefore, after learning about this incident, Moon also asked Professor Dumbledore to contact Ms. Bones again, and told Ms. Bones about his Christmas visit and the purpose of the visit.

This is also the reason why Ms. Bones took a special look at Moon after they came in - Moon nodded at her, which meant that today's matter could be told in front of Susan without having to The two men went to talk privately.

When she saw the diary in Moon's hand, Susan's face was filled with disbelief and deep surprise.This also made Munn very happy. If Susan had been the same person a few months ago, her first reaction after seeing Munn take out the diary would have been to immediately suspect that Munn had been hiding the diary secretly. It’s not that Moon actually helped her find the diary.

Of course, this also made Moon feel a little apologetic.

"Yes, Ms. Bones, there is indeed something very important, and it is related to Susan." Moon held the diary and said softly: "This is a black magic item. Someone tried to use it to steal it." The items were left here to trap Susan, Mr. Bones and Mrs. Bones - I think Mr. Bones should also remember the inexplicable search during the summer vacation, right? The target of those searches at that time, It’s actually this diary.”

Susan's expression had changed from surprise to horror. She looked at Moon in disbelief and then at the diary, as if she was completely frightened.

Susan's father nodded doubtfully and said, "That's true, but... uh, if I heard correctly, you said this diary is a dark magic item. When the search team came over, they were actually looking for this diary, right? But the search team didn't find anything at that time—"

Before Mr. Bones finished speaking, he seemed to have thought of something. At the same time, his wife gently squeezed his palm and gestured in the direction of Susan.

"Susan?" Mr. Bones's voice was full of hesitation. "Do you have anything to say?"

Susan swallowed and took a small step back. She felt a little aggrieved and said in disbelief, "How is it possible? How could that diary be a dark magic item? I..."

She looked at Mu En, as if expecting Mu En to give her an explanation.

"It's not your fault, Susan. In fact, the black magic in this diary is very profound. Even some ordinary adult wizards, let alone you, can hardly detect it. It is reasonable to be deceived. Things." Moon comforted Susan: "Remember what you just said, that your family doesn't seem to be harsh on you anymore, and those previous feelings were just like your illusions?"

"That's not your illusion, but the bewitchment this diary exerts on you."

Chapter 67 Reveal·Part [-]

If Susan hadn't already behaved the same as before, and when Moon asked about the diary, she didn't try to hide it, but explained everything clearly.Perhaps, this diary will never appear in front of Susan again, and everything will go in another direction.The conversation would only be between Moon and Ms. Bones, and Moon's best-conceived ideas would have to be put on hold.

Fortunately, Susan successfully got rid of almost all the influence of the diary, which is good news for all of them.

It was precisely because Susan had gotten rid of the influence of the diary that she did not immediately refute Moon's words fiercely and defend her precious diary. Instead, she looked at the diary suspiciously and began She seriously thought about whether the problem really came from her and the diary, rather than the people who had been by her side.

Seeing this, Moon completely let go of all worries. He did not hide anything anymore, but directly revealed what was probably the most shocking news today.