Chapter 167: The Black-Haired Youth

Chapter 167: The Black-Haired Youth

Sherlock had a high aptitude for magic.

Otherwise, even with the original owner's muscle memory, it would be impossible to achieve such a high level of magic in such a short time if his talent were mediocre.

But even with extraordinary talent, like Dumbledore's, it wasn't easy to modify a highly specialized soul magic on a whim.

This wasn't a task that could be completed in a short time, especially without other soul magic techniques to help him draw connections. The difficulty was clearly much higher.

So, Sherlock wasn't in a hurry about this. He could only do his best, and whether it would have a good outcome in the end was up to fate.

After studying soul magic in the hotel for the whole afternoon, Sherlock left his room, intending to go out and find something to eat.

As he stepped out, a black-haired youth with a slightly pale complexion also emerged from the room across the hall.

The two exchanged a glance and naturally averted their eyes, then went in opposite directions.

Sherlock didn't pay much attention to the youth he had just encountered, considering him just a passerby. He went downstairs and had dinner.

However, after Sherlock turned away, the youth turned to watch his back, furrowing his brow in confusion and murmuring a name.

"Amy."

Just as Sherlock left the hotel, several dozen Wizards in black robes gathered in a hotel room upstairs from his.

Almost every Wizard wore an iron mask with intricate, eerie patterns, making them look frightening.

In a corner of the room, a Muggle father and son lay, their faces frozen in terror, their breath long gone.

"I hope this is the end of our journey", Bella's raspy, uneven voice echoed in the small room. "We've tangled with this worm long enough, and our master is already impatient!"

Only two people in the room weren't wearing masks: Bellatrix Lestrange and her brother-in-law, Lestrange.

After Bella finished speaking, one of the masked Death Eaters spoke in a muffled voice.

"He won't escape. Tonight is the night he dies. The key is the Ministry of Magic's setup."

"Very well said, Lucius!" Bella's face twisted into a grotesque smile. "This worm has no more tricks left. We've been kind enough to let him live this long. As for the Ministry of Magic's actions, they'll be at most by tomorrow."

Rabastan leaned against the wall, playing with the intricate wand guard at the end of his wand.

"Make a big noise to draw all the Aurors' attention."

"Should we blow up this building?" a voice behind a mask asked loudly.

The quiet room erupted in a harsh, mocking laughter.

Bella licked her blood-red lips, her eyes gleaming with excitement and a sinister light.

"You're still not used to our ways, Goyle. Just a building, it's not enough. I want to kill every single Muggle on this entire street!"

Dinner wasn't particularly good, and Sherlock had never been a fan of British cuisine. When he had free time, he would cook simple Chinese dishes at home. Now, he had to make do with whatever was available.

After dinner, he didn't return to the hotel immediately. Instead, he wandered around the street where he had previously spotted Auror patrols, then headed back to the hotel.

It was eight o'clock, and the sky had grown completely dark. Due to the economic downturn, Sheffield had little nightlife, and most people returned home early, thinking about how to make ends meet the next day.

As Sherlock approached the hotel entrance, his initially relaxed mood suddenly changed, and he lifted his head sharply.

He looked at the hotel lobby, which was empty. The front desk, which usually had someone on duty, was now deserted!

Sherlock furrowed his brow, sensing something was wrong.

This hotel wasn't the best in Sheffield, but it wasn't a small inn either. It had a steady stream of guests checking in and out daily. The current emptiness, even at the front desk, was definitely a problem.

He extended his control over his magic, allowing him to observe the surroundings in a unique way, even through walls, within a ten-meter radius.

Soon, he discovered that the Muggles who had been staying on the second floor had all vanished. The entire hotel seemed to have emptied out in the short hour or so he had been out to eat, leaving him as the only occupant.

The silence was eerie, and Sherlock's footsteps echoed loudly in the hotel lobby. This bizarre scenario was definitely not some Muggle TV prank or a prank show.

The only spell capable of producing such an effect is from the magic world: the Muggle-Repelling Charm!

Sherlock lightened his steps and slowly ascended the stairs, the range of his magic control expanding as he moved, gradually covering new areas.

Soon, he finally detected signs of human activity in the building.

It was in a room on the second floor, directly opposite Sherlock's own room. The person inside was the pale, black-haired youth he had encountered earlier when leaving his room.

Sherlock remained calm, continuing up the stairs. As he reached the landing between the first and second floors, he discovered more people.

This time, there were many. Through the unique perception of his magic control, he could clearly "see" the Wizards in black robes, wearing sinister iron masks.

And lying on the floor were the cold bodies of a Muggle father and son.

At the same time, Sherlock saw Bella's face.

He recognized it; her photograph had appeared countless times on the front page of the Daily Prophet in this time period.

This top general under the Dark Lord was known throughout the magic world for her cruelty and malevolence. With Voldemort rarely taking action these days, she had become the madwoman everyone feared!

The moment Sherlock saw Bella, he made his judgment.

The dozen or so Wizards in the room were all Death Eaters!

Using magic control for extended periods would exhaust his mental energy, so Sherlock generally didn't use it to constantly monitor his surroundings unless necessary.

He hadn't expected that the Muggle hotel he was staying in would also be a base for Death Eaters, and right above his own room!

But then Sherlock furrowed his brow slightly.

The Death Eaters hiding in this hotel clearly wouldn't use the Muggle-Repelling Charm to drive away all the Muggles in the building.

These followers of Voldemort didn't consider Muggles as human beings but as mere sheep to be slaughtered at will. They wouldn't care about the safety of the sheep and would even prefer to kill more.

So, the only one who could have used the Muggle-Repelling Charm on the hotel was the black-haired youth in the room opposite Sherlock's.

He must be the target of these Death Eaters.

Sherlock stopped at the staircase landing, squinting as he recalled the information he had overheard from Mad-Eye Moody.

A month ago, in the battle in Wales, apart from the four Aurors who died, one Auror was suspected of defecting to the Dark Lord.

But Mad-Eye Moody didn't seem to believe this. In his opinion, the Wizard named "Eddie" didn't seem like someone who would betray easily.

Could the black-haired youth be the Eddie the Aurors were looking for?

Is he the target of the Death Eaters?

Has he not betrayed the Ministry of Magic?

Why did he use the Muggle-Repelling Charm?

These four questions quickly formed in Sherlock's mind, and he soon found his answers.

Apart from himself, the only Wizards in the entire hotel were the Death Eaters and the black-haired youth.

Without a specific target, the pure-blood fanatics who despised Muggles would have no reason to stay in a Muggle hotel.

Their target certainly wasn't Sherlock, who was completely unknown in the magic world at this time and not worth the attention of so many Death Eaters.

That left only the black-haired youth.

With the second question answered affirmatively, the first and third questions also found their answers. The Death Eaters wouldn't go to such lengths to ambush someone who was one of their own.

If he wasn't a Death Eater, the possibility that he was "Eddie" was very high.

This Auror, likely named "Eddie", hadn't betrayed the Ministry of Magic as they believed. Instead, he had been evading the Death Eaters all along.

But why didn't he return to the Ministry of Magic to explain himself?

If he could go back, wouldn't the rumors of betrayal be dispelled, and he would be protected?

Sherlock couldn't figure out the answer to this question for now, but he had a guess about the third one.

It wasn't him, and it wasn't the Death Eaters, so the Muggle-Repelling Charm must have been used by the black-haired young man.

He didn't want the upcoming battle to involve the Muggles in the hotel, but how did he know there would be a battle?

Unless he had known in advance that the Death Eaters were lying in wait here and had made preparations!

Sherlock's furrowed brows gradually relaxed. He slowly paced the room, pondering how to make a decision in this situation.

After a moment, he made up his mind. He no longer tried to muffle his footsteps and walked confidently up to the second floor, his clear steps echoing in the empty corridor.

He glanced at the closed door of the black-haired young man's room, then opened his own door and walked in.

Sherlock had already stored away his control of magic. He needed to maintain his state of readiness, prepared for the battle that could break out at any moment.

Time passed, and the street outside gradually quieted down. The night slowly enveloped the city.

The sky was not visible, as Sheffield, a famous industrial city in Britain, was no less polluted than London. The city was shrouded in a gray haze.

Sherlock lay quietly in bed, waiting for about four hours.

At midnight, a faint noise came from the floor above.

Sherlock quietly sat up from his bed. The wands he had already taken out from his pocket were scattered throughout the room, more than fifty of them.

Using his control of magic, Sherlock directed the wands to probe all objects within a ten-meter radius.

He "saw" the Death Eaters who had been hiding upstairs split into three groups. One group rode broomsticks to block the black-haired young man's window, while the other two groups approached the room from both sides of the corridor.

At the same time, four Death Eaters cast an anti-Apparition charm, sealing off the entire street and preventing any Apparition or Disapparition.

However, Sherlock observed that the room where the black-haired young man had been was now empty, containing only a few small spheres on the floor and a suitcase on the bed.

The Death Eaters, following their agreed-upon plan, broke into the room through both the window and the door. As they burst in, something seemed to trigger a mechanism, and the small spheres began to roll!

White smoke quickly filled the entire room. As the Death Eaters lost their vision, the black suitcase suddenly opened!

A shrill, piercing sound rang out. A long, snake-like creature with feathers and a pair of wings on its back emerged from the suitcase, rapidly growing in size until it filled every corner of the room, viciously attacking the intruders!

"He's not here! There's a basilisk in here!"

"Get out! Get out fast! The fog is mixed with Living Hell potion!"

"Damn! He knew we had ways to track him!"

Confused shouts erupted outside the room. The Death Eaters, caught off guard by the sudden turn of events, fled from the room filled with toxic fumes and the basilisk.

"Bellatrix! Find him! Hurry!" Sherlock heard Bellatrix scream.

A male wizard responded in a panic.

"He's gone! He removed the spells we placed on him!"

"That's impossible! He couldn't have erased that magic so quickly on his own!"

"But he's gone, I can't find him!"

"You incompetent fool! Stupid! Immediately bring your people and blow up this street! Draw all the Aurors here!"

The Death Eaters quickly rode their broomsticks into the sky, and explosions soon rang out all around!

Sherlock's brow furrowed as he struggled to understand the Death Eaters' final words.

Why would they draw all the Aurors if they had lost him?

The chaos outside had begun, and countless people, jolted awake by the deafening explosions, were in a state of confusion. Sherlock, however, remained still.

Through his control of magic, he sensed a figure return to the hotel after the Death Eaters left, approaching his door and gently knocking.

"Knock, knock, knock."

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end