In the morning, a chilly wind blew across the grass, and sunlight filtered through sparse leaves, casting mottled shadows on the ground.
Originally a desolate garden now housed four or five people, and in front of them stood a small stone monument surrounded by piles of nuts, seeds, and corn.
Dressed like a priest, Ferdinand spoke in a low voice:
"Today, we gather here to bid farewell to a small life. She brought us much peace and joy during her brief two years."
"And now, she has gone to another world, leaving us with eternal memories."
"Dear Mirene, may you run freely in that world, may you enjoy endless food, may there always be warm sunshine there."
"Rest in peace, friend."
Fiona sobbed, and tears began to fall.
——Well, she wasn't actually sad because she knew from the start that hamsters, such pets, have very short lives.
But perhaps Ferdinand's eulogy was really well-written, triggering her empathy, causing Fiona's tears to flow.
Until the funeral ended and she returned to the living room, she finally calmed herself down.
"Sorry, I couldn't quite control myself…"
Fiona choked up and said, "Thinking back now, Mirene was so obedient… even later, when she couldn't run on the wheel, she would crawl into my palm…"
"You've lost a friend; it's normal to be sad… Mirene has merely shed the aging and heavy body, and in heaven, she's surely a beautiful and healthy little hamster…"
Ferdinand hugged her shoulder for comfort, while Vid felt he didn't have space to speak, seeing the sole guest standing by the window, staring solemnly outside, he walked over.
In the kitchen, several small dolls were busy preparing a meal. The clinking sounds filled the room with a sense of life.
"Mr. Moody," Vid went over to ask, "what are you looking at?"
"Just now, a man dressed like a Muggle rode past on a bicycle on the road outside, passing that truck parked by the roadside."
Moody said solemnly and cautiously.
Vid glanced outside.
The place they were staying at wasn't in the outskirts of London but was next to Moody's house. This place was near a small town where regular people lived, and vehicles often traveled on the road.
On the roadside, there was an ordinary red truck with a few normal passersby passing by.
"Uh…" Vid cautiously asked, "someone biked past… is there a problem?"
"Of course there is!"
Moody slowly drew out his magic wand, speaking heavily, "At that guy's speed, he should have appeared from the other side of the truck forty seconds ago… but I haven't seen him anywhere."
Vid looked outside again where everything was calm and without any anomaly.
Moody sneered, "Hmph, disguised as a Muggle, what a clever idea. But I'm more cautious than they think! Also, beware that the surrounding passersby might be their accomplices!"
He glanced at Vid, who was standing with a slouched posture, and intently whispered:
"Stay alert, lad!"
"Although it's possible the attacker is coming for me… it could also be looking for you all, compared to your parents, you're a big target, maybe someone plans to kidnap you…"
Before Moody finished speaking, a young man emerged from behind the truck.
His clothes were covered in dust, his hands grasped a slightly deformed bicycle, and his left leg was scratched with bloodstains, causing him to limp.
It seemed that the reason for his delay in emerging was an accidental fall.
Moody watched the man suspiciously for a while until he vanished from sight.
Then, he swallowed the unfinished words, as if he hadn't been outwitting the air just now, and naturally changed the subject:
"I heard Lockhart taught you all before?"
"Yes," Vid said, "he taught us Defense Against the Dark Arts for over half a year until he was exposed and taken away from school by Aurors, then replaced by Professor Abigail."
"What did he teach you?"
Moody limped to a side chair to sit down, asking.
"Nothing useful, mainly talked about his past heroic stories—of course, now we all know he was impostor—and also let students perform plays." Vid said.
"Performing… plays?"
Moody asked perplexedly, a little unsure how this relates to Defense Against the Dark Arts.
Vid then briefly described the process of Lockhart's lessons.
The retired old Auror remained silent for a while before speaking, "Sounds like a bungling fool… Just from this segment, no one can imagine how he managed to escape from Azkaban, right?"
His blue magic eye and normal eye together looked at the newspaper on the small table.
It was the Prophet Daily.
Ferdinand always subscribed to the paper to understand more about the world Vid belonged to.
The front-page headline of this newspaper was the news of a jailbreak in Azkaban, and three people escaped together!
This almost caused an earthquake in the Magic World.
Over the past two weeks, Fudge has been messily assuring under the camera that the Ministry of Magic would promptly capture the escapee convicts to ensure everyone's safety.
But two weeks passed and the three were still at large, with not a single capture by the Ministry of Magic.
The voices of public questioning almost broke through the text and hit Fudge's face, forcing Fudge to expand his pursuit strength, and even the Muggle news showcased the faces of those three guys.
Some people began criticizing Fudge, saying he shouldn't communicate the matters of the Magic World with the Muggle prime minister.
Both sides kept accusing and explaining themselves on the newspaper, and then reminding the public of how evil and cunning the three escapees—especially Peter Pettigrew—were.
"Beware every rat around you! They might all be Peter Pettigrew!"
On the paper, the Ministry of Magic called to attention, with the author vividly elaborating on Peter's Animagus form.
Then at the bottom of the paper, followed closely were several Rat Extermination Potion advertisements.
…
When Vid saw the newspaper, he realized he made a preconceived error.
He assumed Peter Pettigrew was like Sirius in the storyline, using an Animagus form to evade Dementor surveillance and escape from Azkaban secretly.
Animagus was not common; without necessary Magic Materials (like Mandrake leaves), it was impossible to teach others even if willing.
So for Peter to escape alone was already impressive; Vid never thought he'd also have companions.
Two, in fact.
Setting aside the bungling Lockhart, what was the identity of the man named Gall?
The Ministry of Magic's published information only stated he's a Vampire, arrested for violating the Confidentiality Law and harming a Muggle working at a hospital, but nothing more detailed, nor knowing his magic skill level.
Probably because the man's crime wasn't anything significant enough, and he didn't resist much during his arrest, so the Ministry of Magic had little information on him.
The focus repeatedly remained on "Mysterious Man's crony—Peter Pettigrew."
At that time… when Vid found Peter, where were Gall and Lockhart? Did they know Peter's cause of death?
Vid mused in his heart.