Chapter 276: Scarlet
Chapter 276: Scarlet
How fast can a Peregrine Falcon fly?
The average flight speed is 140 kilometers per hour, and it can even exceed 300 kilometers per hour during a dive.
This was the first time Vold had fully utilized his speed in his Animagus form.
High in the sky, the howling wind tore through the clouds, leaving them behind. An eagle seemed to have its eyes on the falcon, but it soon gave up the pursuit.
On the parchment, the black dot continued to move.
Vold occasionally glanced at it, adjusting his direction to avoid flying off course.
The black dot on the parchment represented the location of Peter Pettigrew.
When Vold captured Peter, before he was taken away, Vold had stuck a tracking parchment on him.
After all, the man was an escape expert, and Vold had taken precautions to prevent a repeat of the original plot.
The parchment had been shrunk with a Shrinking Charm, appearing no larger than a piece of dandruff, and Vold wasn't worried about it being discovered.
However, at the time, he hadn't found a way to use the Permanent Adhesive Charm on a person without being noticed. So, as soon as Peter Pettigrew took a bath, the parchment would likely be washed off.
Fortunately, neither the Wizengamot Court of Judgment nor Azkaban was kind enough to offer criminals the opportunity to bathe.
That tiny piece of parchment had remained intact until now.
Vold wasn't surprised by Peter Pettigrew's escape.
Although the Ministry of Magic claimed to have sufficient means to deal with Animagus wizards and prevent their escape, the size of a rat was simply too small, and their gnawing and burrowing abilities were formidable, making it extremely challenging to ensure absolute security.
Vold had initially thought that Peter Pettigrew would escape from prison soon, but he had remained there for almost a year.
Did he only recently find an opportunity to escape?
Or did Peter Pettigrew do something during that year?
Vold felt a sense of unease. He flapped his wings and flew faster.
Below the Peregrine Falcon, there was an endless sea.
The tracking parchment had very limited functions; it couldn't display environmental changes like the Marauder's Map or show paths and distances like Google Maps. Vold could only roughly confirm the direction of his target.
After flying for a while, Vold suddenly realized that Peter Pettigrew had instantly shifted from the north to the south, indicating that he had flown too far.
He immediately drew an arc in the air, changed direction, slowed down, and began a meticulous search.
The Peregrine Falcon's eyesight was eight times better than that of humans, allowing it to spot prey up to a kilometer away. However, to find a gray rat, Vold needed to fly even lower.
After searching back and forth, there was no sign of a bald man desperately swimming or a small rat, but there was a Muggle fishing boat.
As expected, Peter Pettigrew was on that boat.
This guy was much more cunning than Sirius... In the original plot, Sirius had escaped by dog-paddling, swimming across the North Sea and returning to land.
Vold gained altitude and followed the fishing boat for a while.
The people on board were resting lazily. Some were smoking and reading in their rooms, some were sleeping, and only one person was mending fishing nets.
After a while, someone came out carrying a large basin. He called out, and the others sat directly on the deck and started eating.
At that moment, a rat emerged from somewhere, sneaking around to observe its surroundings. It scurried along the wall and into the kitchen, and as it leaped forward, it transformed into a small man.
Peter Pettigrew had extensive experience in stealing food.
In the past, when he was with the Weasleys, he only received a small handful of mixed grains or cookie scraps each day. It was only through stealing that Peter managed to survive.
At this moment, he didn't even glance at the few sandwiches on the table or the basin of freshly cut carrots prepared by the chef.
Peter dashed straight to the corner, grabbed a few raw vegetables and fruits, stuffing them into his pockets. He rummaged through the cabinets, found a sugar jar, and shoved a handful into his mouth. He stole a pinch of salt, took two chocolates, and a piece of jerky.
The food he stole was originally abundant on the ship, and after taking it, he rearranged it so that it looked untouched.
However, on the sea, water was more important than food.
Peter directly stole a bucket of fresh water, hugging it to his chest. Taking advantage of everyone on the ship being busy eating, he quietly slipped out.
With one foot outside the door and the other still in the kitchen, his mind was calculating how long these supplies would last when his sixth sense suddenly started screaming at him.
The man's watery small eyes instantly grew in surprise, and without thinking, he began to back away. However, the rest of his body below the neck didn't follow his head's movement.
Soon, even his head became immobile, and only his eyes could still move.
Petrificus Totalus? Who called it? Or were those two guys...
Before Peter Pettigrew could finish his thought, he felt his clothes floating up, then lifting him as well, pulling him firmly towards the ship's side.
"No, no, no..."
Peter's mind screamed frantically, his will to survive almost breaking through the limits of magic, bursting out from his eyes! He strained his eyeballs, trying to see something behind him.
"Plop!"
The immobilized body, heavy as stone, was swallowed by the sea with a loud gulp, creating a small whirlpool on the surface that was quickly dispersed by the ripples from the ship's engine.
Standing above the pilot house, Vold didn't let his guard down. He cast a Bubblehead Charm and leaped into the sea.
"Plop!"
A fisherman eating on the deck suddenly looked up, tilted his head to listen for a moment, and asked the others, "Did you hear someone falling into the water?"
"Maybe a dolphin or a swordfish?"
The others had also heard it but didn't pay much attention, laughing as they said, "It can't be someone falling into the water... There's no one else on this ship."
"Yeah, that's right." The man relaxed and continued eating.
Below the surface, Vold, protected by the Bubblehead Charm, finally spotted Peter Pettigrew.
The Petrificus Totalus had worn off, and the man was desperately swimming upwards with all his might. Upon seeing Vold in the water, he instantly showed a terrified expression, his eyes simultaneously filled with pleading and ferocity.
Vold didn't hesitate and cast spells one after another, the light of the spells shooting forward like raindrops—
"Immobilus! Petrificus Totalus! Stupefy! Stupefy! Stupefy! Splinching! Thunderclap Explosion!"
Peter Pettigrew quickly transformed into a rat, dodging the first three spells, but the fourth spell hit him, followed by the fifth, sixth...
The crimson blood slowly spread in the water.
Not far away, a shark turned and swam towards them.
(End of Chapter)
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