https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-1596-A-War-Without-Victors-Forty-Six-/12529327/
https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-1598-A-War-Without-Victors-Forty-Eight-/12529337/
Chapter 1597: A War Without Victors (Forty-Seven)
Chapter 1597: A War Without Victors (Forty-Seven)
"It's a rare occasion to have you here in person."
The figure hiding from the rain under a tree suddenly lifted his head towards the source of the sound, a smile spreading across his face as he greeted the familiar figure that had entered his line of sight.
"Have you found them?"
Kingsley approached, holding a black umbrella, with two Aurors by his side, soaked from the rain.
"They're hiding in that abandoned building over there," Albert nodded towards the ruins. "Gadwin Robbins has just led a team inside. If they're not terribly unlucky, they'll surely capture your targets."
"Thanks for coming out on a rainy day. I appreciate it," Kingsley said, glancing at the ruins. There didn't seem to be much commotion, but soon, red sparks blossomed in the rain, signaling a successful capture.
"You scratch my back, I scratch yours," Albert replied.
This made Kingsley raise an eyebrow, feeling that he shouldn't have asked Albert for a favor like this.
"If you regret it, you can always compensate me. First-timers get a 20% discount, so it's only 800 Galleons," Albert said with a smile, as if seeing through Kingsley's thoughts. "Not a bad deal, I assure you."
"Not expensive?"
The two Aurors by Kingsley's side twitched at the corners of their mouths.
Eight hundred Galleons for a divination session was not expensive?
Robbery didn't even make money this fast! "Consider it a favor owed," Kingsley finally decided against paying the Galleons.
Not that he thought it was too expensive.
Well, Kingsley actually couldn't afford it. The Ministry, strapped for cash, had rejected the proposal to spend a large sum of money to hire Albert's help.
After all, he was still only the interim minister, and there were limits to what he could do.
Besides, everyone wanted a free ride, hoping that Albert would offer help for free like Dumbledore used to.
But Albert wasn't Dumbledore.
And so, the attempt to freeload had failed, and the problem remained unsolved, leading to the recent spate of Inferius attacks.
To put an end to this big mess, Kingsley had no choice but to have a thick skin and ask Albert for help.
Albert had agreed.
As for repaying this favor?
The worst-case scenario was probably offering up his position as Minister, Kingsley believed that Albert wouldn't ask him to do anything unreasonable.
So, he wasn't losing out.
The two men walked side by side towards the ruined house, where the 'battle' had already ended.
In fact, it couldn't even be called a battle.
Harry, concealed under his Invisibility Cloak, had stealthily infiltrated the ruins and waited for his moment to strike. As the Auror team noisily barged in, drawing the full attention of the Death Eaters from the front, Harry seized the opportunity to launch a surprise attack, easily subduing the three Death Eaters in mere seconds—a true disciple of Albert's teachings.
It was only due to the Death Eaters' carelessness that they had no detection items like a Sneakoscope with them, otherwise, there was no way someone could have sneaked up on them unnoticed.
However, the three of them probably wouldn't have dreamed that their secret hideout would be suddenly exposed, and so they were caught off guard and captured all at once.
"All three of them have confessed," Percy handed the recorded confessions to Kingsley and briefed him on the latest situation.
"Those Inferi were indeed provided by Death Eaters, but they don't know who the mastermind is. He was wearing a Death Eater mask," Percy continued.
"Also, these three just carried out an attack," Percy added.
"Then let's trouble our folks a bit more and have them handle the aftermath of the attack as well," Kingsley said, turning to Gadwin, who nodded. "As for these three scumbags, we'll take them with us back to the Ministry on our way."
After Gadwin bid farewell, the Aurors hurried off to deal with the Inferius attack.
"Is there any way to get the information we need out of them?" Kingsley asked Albert after the Aurors had left.
Gadwin Robbins pulled out a Veritaserum vial from his pocket and lowered his voice, "Or we could give them another dose, a stronger one this time. We should be able to pry something more out of them."
The two Aurors standing guard outside exchanged glances, feigning ignorance of the conversation.
"You knew this already, didn't you? These three were nothing but paid scapegoats from the start," Albert found Kingsley's reluctance to accept reality amusing. He didn't believe that Kingsley couldn't guess this.
Just as Albert had said, someone had hired them to create chaos every few days, paying them 10 Galleons each time.
The pay wasn't much, but the task was easy, and it was an ongoing gig. For most Death Eaters, there was no reason to refuse, especially since they weren't even British. They could just do the job and leave without a trace.
"What do you plan to do next? Will you bring them to trial?" Gadwin asked, as if a thought had suddenly occurred to him.
"Trial? No, they'll die from the backlash of the curse due to revealing certain secrets," Kingsley had already sentenced the three to death.
Gadwin looked at Kingsley in surprise. Though he didn't know what the Minister was planning, it was clear that he had something in mind.
As for these three scumbags, laden with crimes, they deserved to die, and he believed that the entire wizarding world wouldn't care about their lives.
"I won't get involved in the internal affairs of the Ministry," Albert said, turning to leave. He had no interest in getting entangled in Kingsley's struggle with the 'pure-bloods'.
"I want to know who the mastermind is. That shouldn't be too difficult, right?" Kingsley said, watching Albert's departing back.
"It shouldn't be, but... this is the second time," Albert paused in his tracks and turned to face Kingsley, "Are you sure?"
"Whether it's one or two, it's still a debt," Kingsley suddenly felt that he could very well owe a few more favors. Even if he couldn't repay them all, it didn't matter as long as he could bind their interests together.
Albert looked deeply at Kingsley and took out his crystal ball to divine the perpetrator behind the Inferius attack.
Gadwin stared at the divining Albert, and a strange thought suddenly popped into his head: If Albert were the Minister of Magic, would there even be these troubles in the first place?
Not that Kingsley wasn't competent, but the young man before him, who had ended the Wizarding War, always seemed to bring miracles. He was more suitable for cleaning up the current mess.
It was just a pity that he was too young.
"Looks like you've stirred up a hornet's nest," a voice brought Gadwin Robbins back to his senses.
The crystal ball reflected a round table, with several people sitting around it. Although some of their faces were obscured by shadows, most of their features could be clearly seen.
As Kingsley had expected, those with damaged interests had joined forces and were now causing trouble for him.
Looking at the people around the table in the crystal ball, Gadwin Robbins suddenly regretted not leaving earlier! (End of Chapter)
Chapter end
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