Who was Andy?
The Three Mice didn't look too good. They felt their hair stand on end. Najini wasn't affected. She quickly left the room with the Three Mice.
"What are you talking about?"
Najini hissed. She wanted to talk to Harry all the time. She wanted to say all the things she hadn't said for more than ten years.
"That painting!
Madam Najini, the girl in the painting wants us to save her mother and Andy! "
Harry crawled to Najini's head and grabbed the two small horns on its head. "What's going on?"
"Oh … that girl … I know her, but I don't understand what she's saying. She's the daughter of that old man, Bowens. If I remember correctly, her name should be Pandora. Poor little Pandora died in a fire accident when she was seven years old. At that time, Bowens responded to the Ministry of Magic's call and went to St. Mungo to replenish the manpower. He couldn't save his daughter at home …"
Najini crawled into a dirty pipe. "Bowens' wife, that Muggle named Mary, was depressed because of her daughter's death. Not long after, she was diagnosed with an incurable disease. She wanted to leave just like that, but Bowens didn't want to. Oh, that's when Bowens went crazy. I think he went crazy."
Harry felt a chill run down his spine. "He caught us … to cure his wife?
He … what did he want to do? "
"Wizards are very good ingredients. He wanted to use magic filled blood to keep his wife alive. Hiss, Bowens caught the little wizards and fed them. Every day, he would draw the little wizards' blood until they were almost eleven years old. At that time, the Hogwarts' owls that came to deliver admission letters couldn't find them and the school would find out." Najini shook her head. She wasn't used to the weight on her head.
Harry's eyes were blank. He didn't know what kind of fate he had almost suffered. The magic world was full of danger. "Then do you know Andy?
Madam Najini? "
"Andy?" Najini was silent for a moment. "You mean the … um … boy who was caught before?
I know him. He was locked up by Bowens. If he's not eleven years old, he should still be alive. "
"Him!
That boy!
Can we take him out with us? "Harry's heart was pounding." He … well … he's very special … "
Hermione and Ron both noticed the change in Harry's tone. Although they had no idea what they were talking about in Snake Language, the two mice became nervous.
"Hiss …" Najini suddenly turned around and stopped after moving a distance away. "Sure, wizard Harry," she agreed. "But in exchange, you have to help me find a way to remove the Blood Curse. Before that, you have to read the Tales of Beedle the Poet for one night. I haven't listened to that for a long time."
Najini knew that the Blood Curse was almost unbreakable, so her main goal was to listen to the story collection. A long time ago, when she was still in the circus, someone had secretly read the story collection to her outside the cage, telling her that kind people would eventually have a good ending.
Najini needed these stories to numb herself, because she realized that she would soon completely turn into a snake. Before that happened, she had to stay alert and leave Little Hangerton, where she had lived for a long time, and run to a deserted place to stay, so that she wouldn't hurt others.
The well-protected mysterious forest in Albania, which she had read about in a children's science magazine, seemed like a good place to go. Strange shadows, strange animals, and maybe no one would care about a strange snake there.
"Of course, Madam Najini!"
Harry quickly agreed to Najini's request. He didn't even know what the Blood Curse was, but he knew that it was a disease, and as far as he knew, there was no disease that Saint Mungo, who shone with a magical halo, couldn't cure.
Najini laughed.
She should be laughing, but Ron and Hermione couldn't be sure. Her fangs looked so scary. The strange snake began to move again.
— — —
"Crack." A walking stick hit the charred wood in the fireplace. A man in a brown leather coat stood in front of the fireplace and lifted the walking stick to touch the carrots that couldn't be any more charred. His fake eyes looked around quickly, and the people around him didn't dare to make a sound.
"Senior Moody," Arthur Weasley coughed, but he looked somewhat serious. "We found traces of black magic here, and the bodies upstairs are suspected to be the work of vampires. But I don't think it's that simple …"
"Little Hangerton …" Moody muttered to himself. He lifted his head and looked at Old Frank who was sitting at the bar counter, grabbing his raincoat nervously. Nodding his head slightly, he said, "How nostalgic."
Officer Harvey, who was standing beside Frank, saw Moody looking at him and subconsciously took a step back. He couldn't be blamed. Moody also knew that his fake eyes were a little scary.
"Uh … Officer …" Harvey tried to speak. "Are you the Central London Police Station's backup?"
Moody smiled, making him look even more ferocious. "Hello," he looked at Harvey's badge. "Officer Harvey, I'm glad to work with you."
Moody took out a flyer for 'Silent Books' and handed it to Harvey. Then, he moved his cane and muttered a spell. Officer Harvey took the paper and read it from top to bottom. The things on the paper were obviously ridiculous, but he felt like he was reading a serious document.
"Oh!
Welcome, Officer Moody!
We're at your service. By the way, I saw your experience, and it was really — Wow! "Harvey looked at Moody respectfully." That's amazing! "
"That's nothing." Moody nodded perfunctorily. "Do you mind taking up a little of everyone's time, Officer Harvey?
I need to know something. "
"Of course!" Harvey nodded subconsciously and then watched Moody walk towards Perkins and Arthur.
Moody's fake eyes looked at Harvey. "I learned on the way here that about two months ago, a child went missing here. Andy Walls, is this true?
Officer? "
"Yes, Officer Moody." Harvey nodded. "A short boy, Andy. To be precise, he's not a resident of Little Hangerton. He's an orphan and hasn't been in town for long. I heard that he escaped from the orphanage and secretly came here. But before we had time to verify it, he disappeared again."
"He played a prank with the kids in town and then ran into the woods. The adults in our town have almost turned the woods upside down, but they still couldn't find him. Most people think that he left Little Hangerton on a bus, and he didn't forget to make a big joke before he left."
Harvey shrugged. "Andy isn't very popular in town. He's a little weird. He always holds a very ugly chicken and keeps telling everyone that it's his friend, a phoenix."
"He also said that he came to Little Hangerton because of that ugly chicken," a man who was standing by the side and watching the show interrupted. "The ugly chicken asked him to come here to save a woman. Even a fairy tale wouldn't dare to make up such a story."
"I'm not sure how this Andy is related to our case, Officer Moody. Although we recorded Andy as missing, it's very likely that he has left Little Hangerton and returned to the orphanage where he lives. Uh … what's his name again …"
Officer Harvey touched his chin subconsciously and then nodded. "Wu's Orphanage, I remember now!
It's this orphanage. Andy may have gone back by himself. "
Moody nodded and then whispered to Arthur and Bowens, "Andy is a little wizard born in Muggles. His name appears in the entry book of Hogwarts. This book records all the little wizards who can enter Hogwarts and their approximate locations."
Looking at the expressions of the two officers slowly changing, Moody continued, "When the name in the entry book disappears, it means that the little wizard has lost the ability to come to Hogwarts. Most of the time, it's because of the magic riot that causes the wizard to be unable to use magic. The Ministry of Magic will send Auror to investigate the situation."
"In 1978, three names disappeared in Little Hangerton, but that was when the Mystery Man was in chaos. Auror didn't have time to investigate this matter in depth."
"Those children disappeared, and no one knew what happened. Most people thought it was the Mystery Man who did it. I used to think so too, and then this matter was forgotten under a pile of moldy reports." Moody became serious. "Until just now, when I checked the information in the Ministry of Magic, I found that after the Mystery Man disappeared, there were still little wizards who went missing in Little Hangerton."
"An old report said that the bodies of two missing little wizards had been found. Both children died in a fire. Because of the frequent fires in Little Hangerton, this matter didn't attract much attention at that time."
Arthur shook his head in disbelief. "Merlin, those children …"
"Now it seems that they didn't die in the fire." Moody shook his head. "And none of the children turned into ghosts. This is very unusual. Children are often the most obsessed."
Perkins sighed. "I can't believe such a thing happened here."
"Wu's Orphanage … Wu's Orphanage …" Frank, who was sitting at the bar, looked a little dull. He repeated the name over and over again, and then suddenly widened his eyes and looked at Moody. "Sir, I've seen you before," he said.
Everyone looked at Frank, which made him feel a little uneasy. "Mr. Moody, right?
We met at the Little Hangerton Police Station a few decades ago. You were still very young then. "
Moody squinted his eyes and looked at Frank carefully. "You are?"
"I'm Frank Bryce." Frank saw that Moody didn't recognize him. He rubbed his fingers and appeared to be a little flustered. "You came to ask me a question during the Riddle Villa murder case. Back then, you said that you had just started working and that you were an Ao … Ao something … I can't remember clearly …"
"Oh —" Moody touched his chin. He remembered that he had worked on a case not long after he started working in the Auror department, the Liddell Villa Murder Case. This was one of the few cases that the Muggle Police Station's Auror Liaison Department proposed to cooperate with. It was also the beginning of Moody's and Voldemort's fate. Of course, he didn't realize it yet.
"Hello, Mr. Bryce. It's been so many years, and I see you again at the crime scene," Moody joked. "I hope you're not treated as a suspect this time."
And Frank was indeed treated as a suspect this time. The surrounding police officers were a little embarrassed. Everyone here labeled Frank as a bad guy. He would be suspected wherever he went. When he came to eat at a restaurant, he was seen as a troublemaker. When he went to a convenience store to buy something, he was seen as a robbery. Even when he went to the community hospital to have his leg checked, he was glared at by the working nurses.
Over the years, Frank had done a lot of things to help the townspeople, hoping to be accepted again. However, those people always showed a fake smile and turned around to talk about Frank's' bad intentions. 'Whenever Frank chased away the naughty kids who came to Liddell Villa to cause trouble, someone would always say behind his back, "That old man can't even stand children."
No matter what Frank did, it was wrong because he was the biggest suspect. That was how the people of Little Hangerton thought.
"I'm so unlucky," Frank Bryce said and smiled bitterly. Decades of grievance and sadness were in his words. He was a good person, but unfortunately, no one thought so.
"You're from the London Police Station, right?
I want to take up a little of your time … Is there a conclusion to the Liddell Villa case? "Frank stammered. He was so agitated that his words were a little messy.
"I went to the London Police Station last month … They told me to go back and wait for a call. I've been waiting in front of the phone every day, but the call never came …" Frank stared at Moody. He stared so hard that his eyes were sore.
"You must know, right?
Has the murderer … been caught? "
Frank was prepared to continue waiting for the results. He knew that no one was paying attention to this case anymore. It had been decades, and he might be the only one waiting for the results.
But he was unwilling to give up. He stubbornly stayed in Little Hangerton, in the dilapidated Liddell Villa, just to wait for the results. He wanted to give the dead Liddell family an explanation, and at the same time, wash away the injustice of being treated as a 'suspect' for decades.
Moody was stunned. He noticed Frank's expression. It was a determined expression. He remembered that the London Police Station had filed almost all magic-related cases under the gas explosion. The Liddell Villa tragedy obviously could not be covered up by a gas explosion. Could it be that this case was not closed in the Muggle world?
Then how much cold treatment had this' suspect 'Frank suffered all these years?
"The Liddell Villa tragedy …" Moody dragged out his voice. "This case took us a long time … to determine the murderer …"
Frank nodded. He had endured half a century of coldness and criticism for a long time. Everyone in the Hanged Ghost Hotel turned their eyes to Moody. It sounded like he was about to announce something important.
"Good news, the murderer has been caught." Moody walked over and patted Frank's shoulder. He looked at Frank's stunned expression. "The murderer is Morfin Gunter, who lived near Liddell Villa. He's not from Little Hangerton, and due to his special identity, this case was not widely publicized. The London Police Station wishes to keep this a secret —"
Moody paused for a second and looked around.
"So, Frank Bryce is not a suspect. He's an outstanding citizen who provided clues to the Auror … Ahem, the police —"
"He deserves the respect he deserves!"
There was an uproar. The townsfolk of Little Hangerton were shocked. "Frank is not the murderer of the Liddell Villa tragedy?" A lady showed a sympathetic expression. "Oh my God, what have we done all these years?"
"I even suggested that he should be kicked out of Little Hangerton … Oh my God …" A bearded man frowned and left in a hurry. "I have to go back and tell my children to be more respectful to Mr. Frank in the future …"
The voices of discussion grew louder and louder, and more and more people looked at Frank. Only then did people realize that Frank was already so old. Years of criticism and the constant pranks of the children made him look very haggard. He dragged his sick leg that was starting to hurt again, and did not notice that he had started to cry.
Frank was still staring at Moody. "Officer Moody … where is Gunter being held?
Is he still alive?
I want to see him. I want to know what the murderer looks like after so many years. Why did he kill the Liddell Family … "Frank had waited for too long.
Gunter was locked up in Azkaban. That was a prison for wizards. Did you know about wizards?
They were mysterious existences …
Of course, Moody could not say that. "Gunter is locked up in a secret place. No one is allowed to visit him …"
"Senior Moody …" Arthur who was standing aside suddenly spoke. He sympathized with Mr. Frank who had been treated unfairly for almost half a century.
Moody coughed and interrupted Arthur. "But, perhaps I can report to my superiors and let you see Gunter. It might not be as difficult as I thought."
Frank sat on the bar chair and heaved a sigh of relief. He felt weak all over. It was as if he had walked 50 kilometers while carrying 20 kilograms of rice and finally reached his destination.
"Thank you. Thank you so much …"