"We have arrived at our destination."
"Hiss —" The sound of steam gushing out was heard. Soon, Anna felt the seat belt on her body loosen, and the thing blocking her eyes disappeared. The sudden light made everyone squint their eyes.
The spotlight in the corner focused the light on the school bus, giving the passengers the most thoughtful welcome.
"British Ministry of Magic, B9, Department of Mysterious Affairs."
The school bus was parked in a wide circular room with black brick walls and black marble floors. Anna estimated that the room was about the size of two basketball courts — an illegal building that was as big as two basketball courts.
The lights went out, and then the candles on the black wall lit up, emitting a blue flame.
"Hey!
Good afternoon, kids. "Arthur Weasley, wearing a beige suit, appeared at the door of the school bus and greeted them happily. Beside him was a bald-headed man who looked very gentle.
The bald-headed man. Anna looked at the man's bald head and then looked at Arthur's hair. She felt that she knew why Arthur was so happy.
"Please get off the bus." As the driver, Terry stood up and made a 'please' gesture. He looked at the group of children emotionlessly, like an impatient shepherd driving a flock of cattle and sheep.
Hermione shuddered and hurriedly pulled Anna and asked her friends to get off the bus.
"Hiss —" After the children got off the bus, the door of the school bus suddenly closed, and then the body of the school bus began to shake. At the same time, the frightening sound of a little girl crying came from the bus.
Terry was still on the bus.
"Terry!" Harry exclaimed. No one knew how such a turn of events had happened.
Just when everyone was worried about Terry's safety, Terry's face was still expressionless. A red shadow slowly appeared on the seat of the last row of the school bus. From the distorted shape, everyone could see that it was a ghost in the shape of a little girl.
The little girl clung to the window of the school bus, pounding on the glass with a painful expression. Countless bloody handprints appeared, and the people standing below were scared to death — this kind of stimulation was not often seen.
Terry stood in the same spot, looking very handsome. On a haunted school bus, he waited calmly for the little girl's ghost to notice him and then walk up to him.
He waved his wand and turned his handkerchief into a huge teddy bear. When the teddy bear appeared, the school bus stopped shaking and the bloody handprints disappeared.
"Dad, why didn't you come to pick me up from school?"
The ghost of the little girl let out an ear-piercing scream, and everyone covered their ears. Only Terry maintained his posture of holding the teddy bear and looked at the girl. Then he replied, "Daddy is going to buy a teddy bear as your birthday surprise."
"Happy birthday, Alice."
"Bang!"
There was a gunshot, but no one was around. A bloody hole appeared on Alice's thigh. Before she fell, she tried to hold the teddy bear in Terry's hand, but she found that she couldn't touch it at all.
Terry strode past Alice and placed the teddy bear in the last row of the school bus.
"Thank you." Alice disappeared, and all the abnormalities of the school bus disappeared. It turned back into an ordinary school bus, but no one would think that it was as ordinary as it looked.
"Ahahaha, muggles' means of transportation are as interesting as ever!"
Arthur patted Ron's trembling body and tried to lighten the atmosphere with a joke, but everyone's expression was ugly.
The door of the school bus opened, and Terry walked down while tidying up his clothes. He quickly walked to the bald man's side, took off the gas mask on his face, and put it away. Then he greeted him very mechanically, "N023, good afternoon."
The bald man touched his head helplessly. "Just call me Kors, Terry. We've worked together for three months, and I thought we were close enough to call each other by their names."
Terry was silent for a moment, staring at Kors' face in silence. It was as if he was evaluating the relationship between the two in his mind, making a precise comparison between the two numbers, and then coming to a conclusion. He answered, "No."
The atmosphere was a little awkward, and Kors laughed a few times. "Well, you've got a personality. W056, your work is done. Leave the rest to me."
Terry nodded, turned around, and walked toward one of the twelve corridors, looking like he was in a hurry to clock out.
"Phew —" Watching Terry walk away, Kors breathed a sigh of relief, and the smile on his face became brighter. Although he had dealt with many aftermath of magic disasters and dealt with many kinds of situations, he still didn't know how to deal with Terry's indifferent expression.
"Sir, ladies, please follow me. We just need to do a simple investigation." Kors led the way to a corridor, which was completely opposite to the one Terry had chosen.
Anna held Hermione's hand and followed closely behind Mr. Kors.
"Wow!
This place is so big! "
Ron curiously observed the environment of the Department of Mysterious Affairs. He, Harry, and Andy all had the unique curiosity of a little boy and the ability to cause trouble. "What's this button?" Ron pointed to a red button covered by a plastic shell on the wall.
"Don't even think about pressing it, Ron. It's not something that you can just press and someone will bring you food." Arthur walked over and put down Ron's little hand. "That's a button for emergencies. When you press it, the whole Ministry of Magic will sound the alarm."
Harry silently put down his eager hand from another button, pretending that nothing had happened. "It's really a useful device. Was it installed in order to deal with the mysterious people?"
"No, these buttons were installed a long time ago." Arthur shrugged. "But to be honest, I've only heard them go off twice in the long time I've worked in the Ministry of Magic. One time, the cleaner was drunk, and the other time, it was a prank by a little wizard —"
"Don't mention this to the twins. If they know there's such a button, I may hear the alarm a dozen times a day."
As a father, Arthur knew his twins quite well.
"Those buttons are actually designed to prevent the mysterious things from escaping," the bald Kors said with a smile. He briefly introduced the mysterious things to everyone.
"You know 'Mary'. She's a mysterious thing. The Department of Mysterious Affairs has a circular prison dedicated to guarding mysterious things, but it's far smaller than the Occult Control Bureau."
"The Occult Control Bureau has a lot of mysterious things locked up, and most of them are difficult to control. Sometimes the alarm will go off twice a day, which means we may have to work all night." Kors sighed. "This may be the important reason why my hair abandoned me."
Arthur patted him on the shoulder comfortingly. "It's okay, Kors. They'll grow back." Arthur's gradually rising hairline made his words less convincing.
"Mr. Kors, what happened to the school bus just now?" Anna came up to Kors.
"Oh!
It must have scared you, but that's actually a very normal situation. This school bus is a mysterious thing, and it has the ability to teleport, "Kors explained with a smile.
"At first, we found that most mysterious things are difficult to control, but gradually, through research, we found that mysterious things can still be used. For example, this school bus, a bear doll, and a happy birthday can be controlled." Kors explained to Anna with a smile.
"What's the matter with the ghost named Alice?" Andy asked, hiding behind Harry.
"This story …" Kors was silent for a moment, and decided to tell the story. "The girl named Alice is a little wizard. She lives with her father. Her father works in the Ministry of Magic. He usually goes to the community elementary school to pick her up after work …"
"That day was her birthday. Her father happened to be working overtime, so he asked her to invite her classmates to take the school bus to her home for the birthday party. He ordered a cake and birthday gifts. The house elves decorated the house very well. Everything was beautiful. If there was no accident, Alice would have had a happy birthday."
"But the accident happened. When the school bus opened at a stop, two men wearing rabbit masks rushed up and shot the driver to death. They then took control of the school bus." Kors sighed. "It was a terrorist operation. They didn't do it for money or anything else. They just wanted to kill. They liked the feeling of controlling life. These weak and pitiful children were good targets."
"Alice was shot in the thigh, and there was a body on top of her. It was her best friend. Then … Alice lost a lot of blood, but her consciousness merged with the school bus."
"A boy who escaped from the school bus called the police. He was one of the seven children who survived. The police rushed into the school bus and found the bodies of the murdered children sitting on the seats. If you didn't look at the bullet holes on their bodies, they looked like they were asleep."
"The two murderers disappeared. Two rabbit masks were left in the aisle of the school bus."
For a moment, there was an inexplicable silence.
"Have they been punished?" Harry broke the silence. "The two murderers?"
Kors glanced at Harry and nodded. "I think so."
"That's good."
"The school bus was kept as evidence at the Chicken Police Station for a long time." Kors pushed open a black door with a white handshake icon.
"It wasn't until more and more hauntings like the one just now happened that the bus came to the Occult Control Bureau. We found that it will protect the young passengers who are not malicious. The range of 'young' is about 20 years old … After a period of research, it became the first batch of Occult objects to be put into use … Please come this way."
"Terry isn't 20 years old yet?" Ron noticed the strange question.
"No, he's almost 40," Kors answered Ron's question in a good-natured manner. "He's now the school bus driver. He's … um … special."
"Special?"
"He's Alice's father."
This was a sad story, and it seemed to have an explanation for Terry's emotionless face. Everyone walked in silence for a while, passing by one office after another surrounded by glass. Some of the people inside were wearing long robes, while others were wearing suits. They were gathered together and seemed to be discussing something. A small blackboard was densely packed with all kinds of materials.
"This is the temporary office of the Occult Control Bureau in the Ministry of Magic. We will conduct some research on Mary and test the stability of the circular prison of the Ministry of Magic to help with maintenance … The circular prison is not like Azkaban," Kors grumbled.
"Your Azkaban is said to be the most secure prison in the Magic World. I've been there. The walls are old, the facilities are damaged, and the bars are wide enough for a thin man to squeeze through!
We've given the investigation report, but the Ministry of Magic is still unwilling to spend money on maintenance. They're just relying on the Dementors gathered on the island to control the prisoners. If you ask me, the escape of Sirius is a small matter, but the collective escape of Azkaban is not far away. "
Arthur touched his nose. "Maybe it's not as bad as you say …"
Anna also touched her nose. In a sense, Kors' prediction was right.
"Mr. Kors." Hermione looked at the name tag on his left chest. It was Kors Nicholas N023. "I remember Terry called you N023, and you're Terry W056. Is that your code name?"
"Yes, young lady. You're very observant."
"What do W and N mean?" Hermione was a little confused.
Kors smiled. "It means Wizard kind and No-Majs. Oh, No-Majs is what the British call Muggles. You'll also find some staff with the letter'S '. They're Squib. The Occult Control Bureau is different from the Ministry of Magic. We allow No-Majs staff who sign confidentiality agreements to work with wizards."
"You're a Muggle — I mean, a No-Majs?!" Arthur's attitude changed instantly. He became enthusiastic. "Hello, sir!
A No-Majs friend from abroad! "
"Hello, hello." Kors had to shake Arthur's hand again. He was a little confused by Arthur's sudden enthusiasm. He did not know that Arthur was a fanatic Muggle lover. He did not think much of it and led everyone to a glass room.
A short-haired lady in a professional suit was already sitting in the room. Her code name was W079. She held a huge notebook and a quill in her hand. She smiled at the few people who came in and nodded. "Just call me Jane. Please sit on the sofa against the wall. Don't be nervous."
Kors drew the curtains, and the glass room suddenly darkened. "Click." The dim yellow floor lamp lit up, illuminating the surroundings. Kors leaned on the edge of a desk, picked up a file on the table, and opened it.
"Okay, let's review the whole thing first …"
Jane waved her wand and put the biscuits and tea on the table. Hermione cleared her throat and prepared her words to tell the story.
But a sudden sound interrupted her thoughts.
"Bzzt — Bzzt — Alert — Alert —"