HP: Fantastic Beasts And The Right Way To Use Them

Standing at the room's entrance, Evans quickly surveyed the furnishings inside.

Just as he had thought when outside, this house didn't look like a place for human habitation at all. All sorts of miscellaneous items were randomly piled up, filling every available space. Bag after bag of potatoes and corn were stacked against the entire wall. It was clear that the owner here never went out, surviving solely on these foods.

This was probably also the reason for his emaciated appearance.

His gaze focused on the owner of the small house before him.

It was a man with a panicked expression and disheveled clothes. Although according to intelligence reports he was at most just over fifty years old, anyone who saw him would think he already had one foot in the grave.

That skull-like face seemed to have no flesh at all. His legs and arms were hidden in loose trouser legs and sleeves, but just looking at his exposed hands, you could tell they weren't much better than his face.

If not for the fairly abundant magic power within his body sustaining his life force, Evans would have been ready to ask for his last words.

He clutched a photo album tightly in his hands, his eyes filled with fear as he looked at this uninvited guest. Evans could sense that the album was covered with magical restrictions, possibly to conceal some magic.

Why does it feel like I'm here to rob someone?

Pursing his lips helplessly, Evans removed his hat and bowed slightly, speaking softly.

"Hello, Mr. Smith. I apologize for the intrusion. My name is Evans Kahn, and I come at the behest of Professor Dumbledore..."

"Ah!"

For some reason, when Evans mentioned Dumbledore's name, the man before him suddenly cried out. He hugged the album and shrank into the corner, his body trembling constantly, looking as if he had heard a name that absolutely should not be heard.

Is Old Dumbledore that scary?

But after the scream, the man began quietly explaining about Dumbledore.

"No, Dumbledore is a good person, a good person, a bad person... is good, is the Headmaster of Hogwarts..."

Hearing the man's incoherent words, Evans crouched down and spoke gently.

"Yes, Dumbledore is a good person. I was sent by him, and I'm also a good person."

He had a unique way of communicating with people whose minds weren't quite clear, something he had developed through conversations with that Bathilda Bagshot lady.

Evans's words seemed to have an effect. The old man huddled in the corner gradually calmed his trembling body, his arms slightly relaxing.

Perhaps because his sleeves were far too oversized, the moment his arms relaxed, both sleeves slipped down, revealing half of his forearms. Although he immediately pulled the sleeves back up, Evans still saw what appeared to be some kind of mark on the lower part of the man's left arm.

A tattoo? Why would a wizard tattoo something on themselves for no reason?

His eyes sharpening, Evans made note of this suspicious detail, but he didn't pursue it for now and continued with his previous line of inquiry.

"Do you know about a cup? Hufflepuff's cup?"

"Cup... cup?"

"It should be golden, with a badger painted on it, or other animal patterns..."

As Evans described it, the man seemed to remember something. His eyes were instantly filled with terror, and his arms holding the photo frame tightened.

"I... I don't know anything. It was Hepzibah who killed Grandmother. Yes, it was her! She put poison in Grandmother's tea, she killed Grandmother!"

"It has nothing to do with me, nothing..."

"I was the one who opened the door, I was the one who pointed out Grandmother's location to that person... I caused her death, it was me..."

The man kept convulsing, looking as if he might faint.

Evans's expression gradually became serious. He had gleaned quite a bit of information from these words.

But before Evans could ask other questions, the person before him suddenly stood up, clutching the photo frame tightly, his facial expression becoming extremely terrifying.

"No, you... even if you're not his person, if he finds out about this, he won't spare me."

"I have to survive, I must survive."

"He is my friend, my comrade, my master..."

Evans gradually sensed something was wrong.

"Mr. Smith?"

Master, comrade, friend?

What nonsense was this? Some kind of role-play?

No good, this person's mental state was too poor. He looked like he could go mad at any moment.

He needed to find a way to relieve his mental pressure.

Thinking this, Evans placed his case on the ground and opened one of the case's clasps.

"Tim, help me out, hypnotize..."

Before he could finish speaking, Evans's pupils suddenly contracted. His entire body transformed into a silver-white arc of light flashing forward, but he was still a step too late.

The man had somehow produced a wand, his entire body instantly twisting into a ball and disappearing from the spot, leaving only half a finger on the ground that gradually lost its color.

Standing where the man had been, Evans looked at the finger on the ground in disbelief.

Such a decisive forced Apparition?

He didn't think he had shown any aggressive intent, did he? He hadn't even asked many questions before this person just ran away?

A head that looked like both a cat and a leopard emerged from the case, looking at Evans with some confusion.

"Meow?"

Hypnotize what?

"...Never mind, go back inside."

Watching Tim retract his head, Evans didn't rush to close the case's clasp but instead recalled the scene of the man's Apparition.

In the final moment before the man's Apparition, his sleeves had completely fallen down, allowing Evans to clearly see that on the inner side of the man's left arm was a somewhat faded tattoo pattern.

It was a skull with a snake protruding from its mouth.

A trace of meaningful expression flashed in his eyes as Evans's lips slowly curved upward.

Interesting.

This time, Dumbledore seemed to have found quite a big fish.

He patted the side of the case, and before long, Nana's furry head poked out, curiously surveying the surroundings.

"Search around and see if there's anything left behind in this house."

Originally, he had felt somewhat guilty about breaking into someone's home and scaring them away.

But since he had confirmed this was a Death Eater, and an unregistered Death Eater at that, there was no need to be polite.

Nodding, the Niffler crouched down and began sniffing around the area. But after searching the entire three-story building, it only found what appeared to be a clasp made of gold.

This clasp had the same style as the one on the photo frame the man had been clutching, but it didn't have any restrictions attached to it. It should just be an ordinary clasp.

Whatever, he'd report this to Dumbledore and let him get the headache.

Anyway, the task he'd received was just to pay a visit, and he'd completed that visit. Mission accomplished!

Vacation time!

Pursing his lips, he put the clasp in his pocket. After Nana had crawled back into the case, Evans re-latched it, waved his wand to move aside the debris on the floor, and walked toward the fireplace in the corner of the room.

Fortunately, there was still a fireplace here, so he didn't need to flash to another house with a fireplace.

It's just that this fireplace wasn't connected to the network, requiring a little technique.

Streams of dark green light flowed from his wand tip toward the fireplace. After waiting for the light to completely merge in, Evans stood in the center of the fireplace, pulled out a handful of powder from his pocket, and scattered it around.

"Orléans outskirts, fireplace of hut number 132."

The dark green flames suddenly expanded, completely engulfing Evans's figure.