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Chapter 421: Vold's Shrinking
Chapter 421: Vold's Shrinking
Harry spent the entire afternoon sitting on the sofa in front of the fireplace, staring blankly at the flames. Michael, beside him, was equally lost in thought, not even bothering to speak.
They wanted to take action, but the adults had strictly forbidden them from leaving the room. Lupin hadn't returned, and an unfamiliar young witch named Tonks had been assigned to watch over them.
"Hey, come on, cheer up, you two!" Tonks tried to lighten the mood. "Look at me—"
She transformed her nose into a pink pig snout and snorted, but the two children by the fireplace didn't even spare her a glance.
"This is the first time my magic trick has failed!"
Tonks was disheartened and raised her voice, "Look on the bright side, at least the kid was kidnapped and not killed. It means they need him alive. You have to trust the Ministry's Aurors; we will definitely rescue him!"
This time, Michael finally glanced over.
"Have they caught the three escapees?"
Tonks: "..."
"What about the Silent One?" Michael asked again.
Tonks: "Umm..."
"I heard Dementors suddenly attacked passersby in Diagon Alley yesterday. Did you have any explanation for that?"
Tonks was on the verge of tears, feeling that she shouldn't be blamed for all of this, but the accusations kept coming, overwhelming her.
Michael sighed deeply, feeling defeated, and buried his face in his palms. His mind replayed the scene from that morning when everyone had left.
He had noticed something... Vold seemed unenthusiastic and tired, but assuming everyone was going shopping, he didn't suggest leaving Vold behind.
If he had spoken up about his observation... If he had insisted that Vold rest at home... Could they have prevented this?
Suddenly, the red flames in the fireplace turned green, and everyone turned to look. Tonks tensed and drew her wand, shielding the two children behind her.
A young voice followed, "Ouch! What are you all doing here? It's not necessary to have so many people!"
"Fred, you stepped on my foot!"
"Sorry, Ginny, but I'm George!"
A group of redheads seemed to be in disarray as they squeezed out of the fireplace. Ron was at the bottom, and Ginny was pushed onto the sofa by her brother, landing on her knees.
Fred and George, of course, stumbled and fell after being tripped by their younger siblings, getting covered in soot.
Mr. Arthur Weasley followed, managing to maintain some adult dignity as he stumbled out of the fireplace, muttering,
"You lot, wait for your scolding!"
"Mr. Weasley!" Harry exclaimed, poking his head out from behind Tonks in surprise. "Ron, Ginny, George, Fred! What are you all doing here?"
"Oh, it's been a while, Harry, and this is Michael, right?" Mr. Weasley patted the dust off his clothes. "We're here to pick you up, kids."
"Pick us up?"
Harry was puzzled, while Michael immediately furrowed his brows.
"What's going on with Vold's disappearance?" Fred asked as he helped his sister up.
Ginny's face turned red, and she hid behind her brother, wishing her presence could be close to zero.
George inquired, "We came to see if we could be of any help... The more people searching, the better, right?"
"Are you okay, Harry?" Ron looked at him with concern, as if handling a fragile piece of china. "I guess you're not feeling too good..."
"What happened?" Fred pushed his brother aside and asked.
A cacophony of voices surrounded Harry, but he opened his mouth and couldn't speak, feeling as if his throat were filled with sand.
How could he explain this—that he had carelessly lost his friend?
Fortunately, he didn't need to answer, as the door suddenly opened before he could speak. A gust of cold wind carrying fine snowflakes rushed into the room.
Dumbledore stood at the doorway, his expression terrifying, with thin snowflakes covering his silver-white hair and shoulders.
The old man seemed to contain a raging fire within, instantly silencing everyone. The chaotic voices vanished.
Dumbledore's anger wasn't directed at those in the room. He composed himself, scanned the area, nodded at them, and with a wave of his wand, a silver Patronus shot out.
Not long after, the courtyard erupted into a series of loud explosions, like firecrackers going off. Several wizards appeared through Apparition, striding into the living room and removing their hoods.
Harry spotted a pale-faced Lupin, Sirius whom he hadn't seen in a while, Auror Kingsley who had once tried to take Sirius away, and two other wizards he didn't recognize.
A frightening-looking wizard with heterochromatic eyes frowned upon seeing them, "Why are there so many children?"
Kingsley spoke calmly, "Because the missing person is also a child, Moody—these are probably his friends from school."
Alastor Moody clicked his tongue, "I see quite a few Weasleys... Arthur, take them home right away! This isn't a matter for children!"
"Voldemort is our friend!" George exclaimed angrily, "And we're not bad at magic either, don't underestimate us! We can help!"
"The only help you can offer is to not interfere with our rescue operation!" Moody said coldly.
"We're also involved!" Michael tried to remain calm, but his voice still trembled slightly, "We were right there when Voldemort disappeared... we might have some clues!"
Moody's blue magical eye spun around and suddenly fixed on Michael, and he asked gruffly, "Oh... and what clues have you discovered, young man?"
Michael clenched his teeth, unable to speak.
"This is entirely my fault," Lupin suddenly spoke up, "I took them out, but I was too careless and didn't notice in time..."
"At this point, it's useless to assign blame. The most important thing is to find Voldemort as soon as possible."
Dumbledore spoke, still appearing calm, as if the extreme anger Harry and the others had witnessed earlier was just an illusion.
Even though Harry was feeling terrible, he couldn't help but feel a bit puzzled—if Dumbledore's anger wasn't directed at Lupin, who was he so angry with?
Just as he was thinking this, he saw the Headmaster look over, "Harry, Michael, this place might no longer be safe. You'll need to stay at the Weasleys' for the time being. Arthur, take the children away."
"Yes, Dumbledore," Arthur Weasley hurriedly replied.
"We want to stay!"
"I can help!"
"We're not kids anymore!"
The room erupted into a chorus of protests, and some of the adult wizards frowned, their expressions showing their annoyance at the unruly children.
"I know," Dumbledore remained calm, "When we need help, I'll ask for yours. But for now, we need to act quickly to handle this matter. I hope you can cooperate, can't you?"
The Headmaster's voice seemed to have a magical quality, calming the agitated, worried, and indignant crowd.
His tone was gentle, but his attitude was firm, and Harry felt that if they continued to argue, wouldn't it just prove that it was right not to involve them?
Michael clenched his fist and stood up first, "Let's go, Harry. They're right, we can't cause trouble at a time like this."
Arthur Weasley breathed a sigh of relief and quickly sprinkled Floo Powder into the fireplace while speaking to Michael, "The Burrow, kids, this is your destination."
The green flames took the children away one by one, and the room fell silent.
"Tell us what happened, Lupin," Dumbledore said.
"Yes," Lupin's voice was low, "This morning, I accompanied them to a Muggle supermarket to buy Christmas gifts..."
Transportation methods, travel routes, addresses, and times...
Lupin quickly explained everything that had happened.
"I've brought the Pensieve," he said.
Without hesitation, Lupin pointed his wand at his temple, his wand tip touching his hairline.
After a moment, he withdrew his wand, and a few strands of silvery-white, ethereal substance floated from its tip, like fluffy clouds.
Lupin poured his memories into the Pensieve, and Dumbledore tapped it twice with his wand. A miniature scene of a supermarket appeared above the Pensieve, where Vold was pushing a cart and selecting items. An elderly bald man seemed to approach him naturally...
Dumbledore's face turned cold.
...
Vold, in his sleep, suddenly heard a strange gust of wind. He opened his eyes groggily and, upon recognizing the object in front of him, his heart nearly stopped—
A beast with a head as large as a house lowered its head to look at him, then extended a tongue as big as a bedsheet, covered in white barbs like standing spears, trembling as it lunged towards him.
Vold's hair stood on end, and he leaped up like a startled fish. He drew his wand and swung it forcefully! A trail of sparks flew from the wand tip, harmless but startling the beast, which let out a "meow" and jumped several dozen meters high, instantly darting out of sight.
Vold looked at his ineffective wand in shock, then at the "beast" that had jumped away, only to realize it was just a cat with long fur.
He was usually the one challenging others' nerve with the Engorgement Charm, but now someone had turned the tables on him.
Wait...
Vold suddenly remembered the height of the cat's jump and paused, then slowly looked up.
The ceiling seemed abnormally high, far beyond what he had expected. The chandelier was also shockingly large.
He surveyed his surroundings—
He had thought the floor beneath him was white, but it was actually a white woven fabric, its fibers crisscrossing in a clear pattern.
An enormous bed, spanning eight hundred square meters.
A spotted book louse the size of a rabbit crawled by, its yellowish-brown carapace gleaming, and its long, feathery antennae waved a couple of times, either in a friendly greeting or to assess if the strange creature before it was edible.
Vold finally realized that he hadn't been pranked with an Engorgement Charm; instead, he had been shrunk.
—No problem. He had just learned about the Shrinking Charm and its corresponding antidote in Professor Snape's Potions class last semester, and he had both in his possession...
He reached into his pocket, but his hand froze midway.
—That's right, he hadn't brought his Wardrobe Dimension on this trip.
But perhaps it was a blessing in disguise... Although he couldn't immediately resolve his current predicament, if he had brought the Wardrobe Dimension, that hard-earned magical item might no longer be in his possession.
Vold quickly calmed himself and waved his wand to search for other solutions.
As expected... The room was indeed warded with an Anti-Apparition Jinx, and the enemy wasn't as careless as he had thought...
Large-scale Repelling and Blocking Charms... Even an owl couldn't find him now, and it was unlikely for any wizard or Muggle to stumble upon him by accident...
The room had only a few small windows, located high up and unable to be opened. But there was a vent near the ceiling...
Vold glanced at the dark grilles, feeling the call of freedom.
If he transformed into an eagle, he could fly up there.
However, he was currently in an abnormal state, and he wasn't sure if he could perform the Animagus transformation successfully... Moreover, this was his last resort, and if he exposed himself to the enemy in a moment of impulse and failed to escape, there would be no second chance.
Vold wasn't sure if anyone was secretly observing him at this moment, but he suppressed his urge to transform and fly away, opting to test the situation with conventional means.
"Diffindo!"
The spell's light struck the glass, leaving only a shallow crack.
And perhaps due to the dissipation of magic, when he cast the spell, a fine, golden powder-like light surrounded the wand tip, reminding Vold of the fairies Professor Flitwick used to decorate the classroom during Christmas.
That's how those little creatures looked when they used magic.
He looked at the toy-like wand in his hand and couldn't help but sigh.
Not far away, the cat that had jumped off the bed earlier looked at the tiny person on the bed and then at the fine, golden light. Its round, black pupils dilated slightly.
It bared its teeth, lowered its body, and silently placed its paws on the ground, taking a couple of slow steps forward...
(End of Chapter)
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