https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-705-Ambush-Death-Eaters-and-Fire-Dragons/12539194/
Chapter 706: The Obliviate Spell and the Lost Wand
Chapter 706: The Obliviate Spell and the Lost Wand
London.
St. Mungo's.
Cedric's injury was not serious. A young healer rushed into the ward, forcefully twisted his leg, and skillfully wrapped a few layers of bandages around it.
"There, now take a bottle of Skele-Gro, and your bones will be as good as new by tomorrow."
With that, he hurried out of the ward, while Kyle had just finished unwrapping his Chocolate Frog. The whole process took less than a minute.
"I told you, there was no need to come to St. Mungo's," Cedric said helplessly.
"It's better to be safe than sorry, Mr. Diggory," Mr. Diggory said, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "From now on, leave the task of capturing Dementors to the Aurors. You should stay at the Ministry."
"Dad, I'm fine," Cedric said. "I was injured this time because I lacked experience."
"No," Mr. Diggory insisted, determined not to allow his son to take such risks again. He had almost fainted in his office when he received Cedric's distress message earlier.
"But..." Cedric wanted to argue further.
"Listen to Mr. Diggory," Kyle interrupted. "Dementors are becoming rarer, and we don't need to go out of our way to capture them anymore."
"Besides, didn't you want a break? Now's your chance. Take a proper week off to recover, instead of just three days."
"Wonderful!" Mr. Diggory exclaimed happily. "Thank you so much, Kyle, and this time, we really owe you for saving Cedric..."
"It's nothing," Kyle said. "After all, we were acting together."
"No, I insist," Cedric shook his head. "A week is too long. The department is already short-staffed. Three days will do."
"That was before," Kyle waved his hand dismissively as he stood up. "Don't forget that the Dementor problem has now been resolved. It's settled, then."
Without waiting for Cedric to respond, Kyle bade Mr. Diggory farewell and left St. Mungo's.
...
Upon his return to the Ministry, someone was already waiting for him.
"Are you alright? No injuries?" Chris asked.
"I'm fine," Kyle replied.
"That's good," Chris said, leading Kyle into the lift. "Come, I'll take you to the Auror Office."
As the target of the Death Eaters' attack, Kyle expected that he would have to pay a visit to the Auror Office, and he was right.
They exited the lift on the second floor and walked down a corridor plastered with wanted posters.
"The Minister is taking this attack very seriously," Chris said. "We must find and capture that fleeing Death Eater at all costs! We are Aurors, yet a child not yet seventeen outperformed us all."
Before they even reached the door, Kyle could hear Scrimgeour's angry roar.
"Also, remind everyone to heighten their vigilance. If the Death Eaters appear again, we must capture them... Are we, with all our numbers, inferior to a single boy?"
At that moment, there was a knock on the office door.
Chris pushed the door open and led Kyle inside.
The Auror Office was filled with even more wanted posters than the corridor outside, covering nearly every inch of wall space. Piles of files and documents cluttered the desks and cabinets, while various odd magical objects occupied the remaining spaces.
Kyle noticed a large mirror next to Scrimgeour, reflecting numerous people, none of whom were present in the room.
Additionally, a peeping mirror, as large as a Sneakoscope, sat quietly spinning on the windowsill.
"You're here, Chris," Scrimgeour said, his tone much calmer now.
"Did we interrupt?" Chris asked.
"No," Scrimgeour replied, waving his hand. The Aurors in the room promptly left.
"I assume this is your first time here," Scrimgeour said, turning to Kyle. "Just give us a simple description of what happened. It won't take too long... Oh, and make yourself comfortable. I was a good friend of your father's."
"Alright," Kyle said, choosing a sofa that wasn't buried under files to sit down.
"So..." Scrimgeour took out a piece of parchment. "How many Death Eaters were there in total?"
"Two," Kyle answered without hesitation.
Scrimgeour nodded and made a note on the parchment. "Do you know who they were? Names or distinctive features will do."
"I don't know about the one who was captured," Kyle said. "But the fleeing witch should be from the Caro family."
"Caro... witch?" Scrimgeour thought for a moment. "That would be Alecto Caro, then. She and her brother, Amicus Caro, were suspected of being Death Eaters seventeen years ago, but they claimed they had been hit by the Imperius Curse, and due to insufficient evidence, they escaped trial."
"That situation wasn't uncommon back then," Chris explained to Kyle.
"You see, the fall of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named caused chaos in the Ministry, and with the state of things, it was difficult... no, impossible to imprison a large number of pure-blood wizards in Azkaban. Hence, we had these slip-throughs."
Kyle, of course, couldn't tell the whole truth, but he had already prepared an explanation.
There was no need to hide the fact that he was buying time; he simply replaced the mention of the dragon with a spell taught by Dumbledore.
Scrimgeour didn't suspect a thing.
All wizards knew how highly Dumbledore regarded Kyle, so it was only natural that he would teach him a few spells. This included the fire spell that had stunned everyone during the Triwizard Tournament.
However, since that particular fire spell would have left a straight trail on the ground, which didn't match the traces found at the scene, it was likely a different spell altogether.
After Kyle finished his explanation, Scrimgeour looked over the parchment and asked a few more detailed questions, to which Kyle provided perfect answers.
"I apologize," Scrimgeour said half an hour later, looking up from the three filled parchments to Kyle. "Because the Death Eater lost a portion of his memory, we had to rely on your account of the incident."
As he spoke, his gaze flickered slightly.
"It must have been done by that Death Eater himself," Kyle said calmly. "When I was chasing him, I saw him use the Obliviate spell on himself. You'll know if you find his wand."
"We've been looking for it," Scrimgeour said.
Chris frowned. "Rufus, you don't suspect that Kyle hid the wand, do you?"
"It's alright, I'm willing to undergo a wand examination," Kyle said, holding out his wand.
"No, don't get us wrong," Scrimgeour said with a laugh. "Those Death Eaters wanted to kill you, Kyle. You had no reason to do such a thing, didn't you?"
"I guess the Death Eater wanted to hide something... We've encountered this many times before. Dark wizards often use the Obliviate spell on themselves or destroy their wands before capture to conceal their crimes and escape trial."
"In that case, isn't the Ministry helpless against them?" Kyle asked.
For the Ministry, wand examinations could directly determine whether an individual had cast illegal spells, making it an important part of the trial process.
"It just makes things a bit more troublesome," Scrimgeour said. "What they've done doesn't disappear just because their wand is gone. And they can't use the Obliviate spell on everyone; we will always find new evidence."
"Wait..." Chris suddenly thought of something. "If the Death Eater used the Obliviate spell on himself, does that mean we can't find out the Death Eaters' headquarters from him?"
"I shouldn't be telling you this," Scrimgeour hesitated for a moment, but finally whispered, "Fortunately, there's a lot of that kind of memory in his head. It's not something that can be completely cleaned out with just one Obliviate spell."
"So, did you find out?"
"Yes, we did. We used some special means to get him to reveal that he had been in an alley in Wiltshire with five other Death Eaters."
"Do you need my help?" Chris asked, his expression serious.
"Thank you, Chris, but half an hour ago, when I took all the Aurors there, the Death Eaters had already left," Scrimgeour sighed.
"Obviously, they also knew that their companion had been captured and ran in advance."
"That's a pity," Chris shook his head.
"Don't worry, we'll catch them eventually," Scrimgeour assured.
"Bang bang bang!"
With a series of knocks, several Aurors rushed into the room.
Chris stood up. "Rufus, if there's nothing else..."
"Ah, we're done here. You may leave, and Kyle, feel free to drop by the Auror Office anytime if you want," Scrimgeour said.
"Alright," Kyle nodded.
The two then left the room and took the lift back to the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.
...
"That was close," Chris said as he closed the office door. He turned to Kyle, "When you took out your wand, my heart skipped a beat.
"If I'm not mistaken, you're the one who cast the Obliviate spell, right?"
"Why do you say that?"
"Do you think I'm so incompetent that I can't even recognize a dragon's fire?" Chris raised an eyebrow.
"Hehe," Kyle laughed, "I had no choice. I definitely needed some help in that situation."
"I'm not blaming you," Chris said. "And I've helped cover for you. I told Scrimgeour that the traces at the scene were from a magical fire."
"Did he believe you?"
"He should have. Different dragons produce different types of flames. The Norwegian Ridgeback primarily hunts with its strong physique, so its flames are slightly weaker compared to other dragons.
"Since Scrimgeour hasn't seen the flames of a Norwegian Ridgeback before, he naturally didn't suspect a thing."
"Thanks," Kyle breathed a sigh of relief. "I had no choice. Even though I could have easily outrun the dragon with the speed of my Firebolt, I couldn't just leave Cedric there, could I?
"And even if Scrimgeour doesn't care about that, it's fine if he wants to inspect it. I cast the Obliviate spell without my wand."
"A wandless Obliviate spell?" Chris exclaimed, surprised.
"Yes," Kyle replied. "It's just that I'm not very proficient, so the process might be a bit rough."
Chris frowned.
The Obliviate spell was an advanced curse, and if one wasn't skilled enough, the consequences could be severe. Even Dumbledore would usually refrain from casting it without a wand.
Death Eaters? No problem!
After that, Kyle didn't go anywhere else and stayed in Chris's office for a long time. By the time he left, it was already evening.
"I have a lot of work piled up today, so I might head home later," Chris said as he escorted Kyle to the lift entrance. "You can go straight to Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place. Molly heard you're back and has specially prepared a grand birthday banquet for you and Harry. Your mom will be there too.
"Oh, and remember not to tell her about your encounter with the Death Eaters. She doesn't know about it yet."
"Are you sure she doesn't know?" Kyle asked.
Chris hesitated, "Anyway, just pretend she doesn't know."
"Alright," Kyle said. "But let's get this straight. If she asks me why I hid it from her, I will definitely shift the blame to you."
Chris stared at Kyle, his eyes wide in disbelief.
"Don't look at me like that, I'm scared too..." Kyle shrugged helplessly.
Just then, the lift door closed.
As it wasn't quite quitting time, the lift wasn't very crowded, and Kyle soon arrived in the atrium.
As always, the atrium was bustling with witches and wizards.
"Young Kyle, when did you get back...?" a passing elderly wizard greeted Kyle warmly.
"This afternoon, Professor Toford," Kyle replied.
The wizard was from the Wizarding Examinations Authority and had been the invigilator for his O.W.L.s in Charms, Astronomy, and History of Magic.
"Oh, Kyle?" Another familiar figure approached.
It was Lupin.
He had finally changed out of his faded and patched robe and was now wearing a well-fitting navy blue one.
He quickened his pace to reach Kyle's side.
"Thank you, Sirius has already told me..." He looked rather excited. "I never thought I'd be able to work at the Ministry of Magic one day, let alone as an Auror."
"You're welcome, Professor Lupin," Kyle said with a smile. At that moment, he noticed that Lupin was escorting someone who was wrapped up tightly. Curious, he asked, "What's going on here?"
"Oh, it's another imposter trying to claim a reward," Lupin said calmly. "He's from Knockturn Alley. Just now, he tried to pass off a Polyjuice Potion as the real thing and wanted to exchange it for Galleons using some robes with Freezing Charms on them.
"According to the rules, I have to send him to the detention cell."
The detention cell was where the Dementors were kept, essentially a temporary Azkaban within the Ministry.
Black witches and wizards who were captured, as well as those who tried to claim rewards with fake goods, would be locked up there.
"How many fake items did he try to exchange?" Kyle asked.
"Thirty," Lupin replied.
"Three thousand Galleons..." Kyle glanced at the wizard. "He certainly has an appetite."
"So he'll have to spend thirty days there with the Dementors," Lupin said.
Upon hearing the word 'Dementors,' the wizard, who had been relatively calm until now, began to struggle desperately.
"Let go of me... let go! I won't go, I don't want to be locked up with Dementors!"
"What you say doesn't count," Lupin said lightly, giving his wand a slight flick. Several ropes flew out and bound the wizard tightly.
"Please... please!" the wizard begged. "I'll do anything, just don't lock me up with the Dementors!"
"Unless you're willing to buy back the fake goods you tried to pass off," Lupin said, glancing at him. "One day for each item, the rules are clearly stated. There's no need for me to explain further, is there?"
"But you didn't say there would be Dementors there!" the wizard shouted. However, the people around them seemed used to such scenes and merely glanced over before continuing with their own business.
"Oh, the Dementors are kept there too. It's strange that no one in Knockturn Alley told you about this," Lupin said.
The wizard fell silent, then started jumping up and down, cursing furiously. "Damn it! Those bastards, scumbags, filthy idiots..."
But Lupin paid him no mind and dragged him away.
"See you later, Kyle," he said over his shoulder.
"See you," Kyle waved goodbye.
...
(End of Chapter)
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