Chapter 1433: Inside the Fortress
Chapter 1433: Inside the Fortress
Knock! Knock! Knock! The rapid knocking on the door suddenly interrupted the tranquil atmosphere.
"What's going on?"
Isobel, still entangled in the afterglow of passion with Albert, whispered, her voice laced with annoyance at the untimely interruption.
"Something urgent must have come up."
Albert gently kissed his wife's forehead, then threw off the covers and sat up. He waved his hand, summoning his cloak from the wall, and casually draped it over his shoulders. Picking up his wand from the bedside table, he walked to the door and twisted the doorknob.
There was no one outside.
His gaze fell on a metal bookmark lying on the floor.
"What is it?" Isobel asked, her voice tinged with anxiety. Since they had moved onto the ship, they had never encountered an emergency like this before.
"A member of the association has suddenly gone missing."
Albert picked up the communication bookmark and glanced at its contents, his tone remarkably calm as if the disappearance of a person was a trivial matter.
"Disappeared? Is it a traitor?" Isobel was astonished. She knew all too well the efforts Albert had put into safeguarding the association.
"No, he was most likely tricked by his father." Albert sighed, handing the bookmark to Isobel, her hand emerging from the covers. With a casual flick of his wand, he summoned a tome and intended to use tracking magic to pinpoint Kevin Thompson's approximate location.
It took only a few minutes for Albert to find Kevin Thompson's name on the map, but the location was less than ideal.
"Tricked by his father?" Isobel fell silent after reading the content on the communication bookmark.
"Yes, tricked by his father. Sigh, it's too late now. He probably went out looking for his father and ended up being caught by a Death Eater. He's been taken to Voldemort's lair." Albert sent a message to George, hoping they could all get some rest.
"Are you going over there?" Isobel asked, reaching out to hug Albert's neck.
"No, there's no point. Let's go back to sleep, and we'll go there tomorrow to calm them down." Albert had already taken off his cloak and reached out to pull Isobel back into the warm embrace of the bed.
Albert wasn't being callous; he simply had no other choice. Even with a Time-Turner, he couldn't convince Kevin to abandon his father.
Unless he deliberately used magic to knock Kevin out, forcibly brought him back, and took the hatred upon himself? But Albert never considered himself a self-sacrificing saint.
So, he wouldn't do something so foolish.
"You seem troubled," Isobel suddenly said.
"I did warn them, but many things can't be changed by a so-called prophecy." Albert's self-deprecating tone filled the room. "However, it's understandable. Prophecies are inherently difficult to believe."
He now hoped that the tragic fate of the Thompson family would serve as a wake-up call to the others, deterring them from making similar mistakes.
As Albert had anticipated, Kevin Thompson's fate was not a pleasant one.
After finally finding his father, he was backstabbed by Mr. Thompson, who was under the control of the Imperius Curse.
When Yaxley appeared before him, Kevin was utterly devastated and regretted his impulsive decision to act on his own.
However, there was no room for regret in this world.
Even when Kevin tried to bargain, offering all the secrets he knew in exchange for his and his father's lives, he still failed to gain Voldemort's approval. The Dark Lord had never trusted a word they said and intended to use Legilimency to extract the information from Kevin's mind.
Such forceful Legilimency could potentially turn Kevin into a mindless idiot.
Nevertheless, Voldemort didn't care about the Thompsons' lives. Just before Kevin was completely broken, the Dark Lord finally discovered the secret he had been seeking.
The headquarters of the Defense Association was located in an abandoned village...
And then, there was nothing more.
Voldemort had no choice but to intensify the Legilimency, and only when Kevin was on the brink of collapse did he realize that this waste of a wizard had no idea where the headquarters were located.
What's more, it seemed that the other association members were unclear about the headquarters' exact location and had no clue where the Mudblood was hiding.
That damn Mudblood had evidently hidden his lair extremely well.
And...
Upon detecting the tracking curse branded on Kevin due to his betrayal, Voldemort disposed of the Thompson father and son without hesitation.
However, Voldemort hadn't left empty-handed.
He had uncovered the secret of Albert's mysterious disappearance from the Ministry of Magic and how he had appeared at Hogwarts.
House-elves.
Those were the tiny creatures he had overlooked.
"Master, according to Kevin Thompson's memory, it shouldn't take us too long to find the headquarters if we eliminate the possibilities one by one. After all, there aren't that many abandoned villages in Britain," Yaxley said, never forgetting to showcase his value.
The next day, as soon as Albert arrived at the Defense Association's headquarters, he was surrounded by concerned members.
"Quiet!"
He had to raise his voice to restore order among the anxious crowd.
Then, he listened as Shana recounted the events of the previous night.
The primary reason for the uproar was that the preventive measures Albert had left at the headquarters had been triggered, indicating that someone had betrayed them.
After a thorough investigation, they discovered that Kevin Thompson had gone missing, and his father, Mr. Thompson, had also disappeared without a trace.
No one could fathom what they had been thinking.
"I thought you'd be furious about Kevin's betrayal," Shana said, surprised by Albert's calm demeanor, as if Kevin were an insignificant figure.
"Why should I be angry?" Albert scanned the room, his voice soft. "Kevin Thompson only wanted to save his family, nothing more."
"Save his family?"
"However, Kevin failed and ended up losing his own life, even implicating us."
"It was his choice, and we had no right to interfere."
"But... that guy betrayed us."
"Sigh." Albert raised his hand to quieten them. "There's no need for anger, my friends, because the Thompson family's fate is most likely grim. If they chose to side with the mysterious man to survive, they might have exposed our location by now." Cedric thought of Albert's prophecy.
"The mysterious man is not as merciful as you think, especially in this situation." Albert shook his head. "Even if he wanted information, he would use Legilimency to extract it from their minds. Even if they're still alive, you might only see them again as patients in St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries."
The members exchanged glances, their faces reflecting a mix of anger and helplessness as they struggled to comprehend how the association's first casualty could be due to such a reason.
(End of Chapter)
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