Leonard had put a little too much force into that slap. Rita Skeeter went flying and slammed headfirst into the wall.
"...an illegal Animagus..." Norman had barely gotten the words out when he saw Rita Skeeter sprawled there unconscious, half her face swollen up like a steamed bun. He looked at Leonard speechlessly. "Why did you hit her so fast?"
"She was too loud. She even woke Claudia." Leonard glanced down at Rita Skeeter's red, swollen face and the blood at the corner of her mouth, then looked at Norman's strange expression and, after a moment's thought, changed his wording. "Her voice was too loud. I was worried she'd attract other people."
"Why do I feel like what you said first was the truth?" Norman muttered. "Still, you're right. No one knows when she snuck in or how much she heard. In any case, we can't let her go. We're taking her with us. Come here, I'll Apparate you all out."
Leonard nodded, picked up the pouting, unhappy Claudia, soothed her a little, and stepped over beside Norman.
Fleur had finished packing as well and came to stand next to Leonard.
The two of them grabbed Norman's arms and waited for him to make a move.
"Wait..." Norman's mouth turned down. "I can't take this many people. We've got Rita Skeeter too now."
Leonard had never been to Norman's house, so he could not Apparate there by himself. Norman had to bring him.
"Leave it to me." Leonard grabbed Rita Skeeter with one hand and, under Norman's astonished gaze, shoved her into the miniature man-eating flower's storage space.
The companion plants bonded to Leonard were invisible to other people, so Norman could not see the miniature man-eating flower opening its mouth and swallowing Rita Skeeter whole. To him, it looked as though Rita Skeeter had simply vanished.
"What kind of magic is that?" Norman asked curiously.
As a battle-oriented wizard from a family with a deep inheritance of magical knowledge, yet utterly lacking any talent for potions, Norman was passionate about every kind of wondrous magic. A spell that could make a living person disappear outright was far more interesting to him than potions.
"Sorry, that's personal," Leonard said, rolling his eyes and ignoring the burning curiosity in Norman's eyes.
"All right, sorry. That was rude of me." Norman smiled apologetically. "Let's go."
...
On the outskirts of London, at the Slughorn residence.
They appeared directly in the luxurious sitting room. An old man was sitting by the fireplace drinking when he saw them suddenly appear, and he rose helplessly to his feet.
"Norman, and who are these people?"
"They're Mr. Delacour's daughter and his daughter's friend," Norman said. "They'll be staying here for a while."
"I wouldn't really advise Mr. Delacour and his juniors to stay here, after all..." The old man paused. "Never mind. Hello, everyone. I'm Horace Slughorn."
His gaze moved across Leonard and the others, and he seemed a little surprised by the girls' beauty. "These two must both be Mr. Delacour's daughters, yes? As expected of Veela blood. Their looks are astonishingly beautiful."
Leonard glanced at the old man in front of him.
He had thought the name Slughorn sounded familiar before, and now, seeing this elderly man, Leonard finally realized why.
This had to be the Potions professor who would replace Snape in sixth year.
At the same time, he had once taught Voldemort and had been the guide who gave Voldemort pointers about Horcruxes.
Judging by how he acted in the original story, he was vain and pleasure-loving, fond of associating with celebrities and successful people. Still, he himself counted as a successful man and was good at spotting other people's strengths.
And since he was not bad at heart, and the students he had helped all remembered his kindness, he had extensive connections throughout the wizarding world.
"No, Uncle. Only this one is Miss Delacour. The other is Mr. William's younger sister." Norman cut the pleasantries short. "Uncle, where's Lehende? We've still got things to do..."
"Norman, I've told you many times that social grace requires elegance and patience. If you go on like this, how are you supposed to inherit the Slughorn legacy?" Horace shook his head. "Mr. Delacour is in the basement. He told me not to disturb him, so I don't know what he's doing."
"Got it. Then we're heading down. Uncle, don't come downstairs and bother us. Have Luther prepare some late-night snacks for us." Norman looked back at Fleur and Claudia. "Girls, go wash up and get some rest. You must both be exhausted, right?"
"Claudia, go get some rest." Leonard patted Claudia's little head.
Whatever methods wizards used for interrogation, or whatever else might happen, it was not going to be anything pleasant to watch. Leonard did not want Claudia seeing that kind of thing.
"Then I'll look after Claudia," Fleur volunteered. "You go on ahead."
"Thank you." Leonard spoke politely.
"Hahaha, little Fleur is so caring. She'll definitely make a good wife someday." Norman laughed, had Luther, the Slughorn family house-elf, lead the two girls to the guest room, and then took Leonard down to the basement.
The Slughorn family basement was quite large. More than half of it was used as a wine cellar, filled with many valuable bottles, while the remaining smaller part served as a storage room for potion ingredients.
At that moment, Lehende was in the potion ingredients storeroom.
He was in the middle of preparing a concoction, while the Muggle was tied up and hanging from a beam, his head drooping as if dead or alive, no one could quite tell.
"Lehende, we're here!" Norman called out loudly. "I brought that kid Leonard along too."
"Leonard?" Lehende turned around. "Finished what you were doing?"
"Mhm..." Leonard nodded perfunctorily. "Did you get anything out of him?"
"Not yet. This Muggle's mouth is tight. I was worried a potion that was too strong might kill him, so I'm trying to mix something appropriate out of plant ingredients," Lehende said.
It was not that he cared whether this Muggle lived or died. The man had tried to kidnap his daughter. If Lehende had not wanted to squeeze some information out of him first, he would have killed him long ago.
Leonard took one look at the potion Lehende was preparing. Judging from the ingredients, it was something similar to a truth serum.
Not a wizarding Veritaserum, but the kind Muggles used.
Could it be that Lehende had some connection to Muggles? A truth serum formula like that was not something one could get casually. It was considered a state secret.
Then Leonard watched as Lehende poured the suspected truth serum straight into the Muggle's mouth, and the corner of his mouth twitched.
All right, that confirmed it. Lehende had nothing to do with Muggles. Otherwise he would at least know that truth serum was supposed to be injected, not drunk.