"What! Not found??"
Audrey Astley was shouting in the Minister for Magic's office.
Once a fugitive miserably pursued by the Ministry, she, now the Ministry's biggest financier, could already glare at the Minister.
"Yes, Hydrus,"—Old Barty was still used to calling her Hydrus—"I had people go through all the files from the year you enrolled, and I didn't find that disorderly command about repeating the year."
"Impossible, absolutely impossible," Audrey spun around twice on the spot. "There was clearly such an order!"
Old Barty whispered, "Could it have been former Minister Fudge's ministerial decree? It's possible that for such oral administrative orders, sometimes the subordinates were negligent and didn't file them?"
Fudge? Fudge had been buried for over a month!
Wasn't this a case of the dead telling no tales?
Yes, dead men tell no tales!
Did this mean she could tell Dumbledore that the Ministry never issued that nonsensical order at all?
"Alright, I understand. Thank you for your hard work, Mr. Crouch," Audrey waved her hand. "Then I'll be leaving first..."
Crack!
"Wait!"
Barty Crouch spoke too late; Audrey had already disappeared from the office. His expression was very strange, but he still finished his sentence, even though talking to himself like this seemed a bit neurotic.
"The registration form for this school year's O.W.L.s has already been submitted, and your name is on it. Should I sign it or not?"
As everyone knows, O.W.L.s are only open to fifth-year students...
...
...
Audrey happily spent the last few days of summer vacation at home. Ignoring the Fifth-Year Booklist delivered by the owl, she went straight ahead and bought all the textbooks for the sixth year.
On the first day of school, she packed everything and was about to Apparate directly to school when classmate Isaline Windsor came knocking on her door!
"Audrey!" Isaline hugged her happily. "How was your summer?"
Audrey gently pushed away the enthusiastic Isaline and rolled her eyes. "You didn't send me a single letter, and now you're hypocritically caring about me! Let me tell you! I had a terrible time! The first month I was dragged away for forced study by a group of bad-hearted old men, and the second month I was so tired from the concert tour that I couldn't even straighten my back!"
"Sorry, sorry," Isaline hurriedly apologized. "I spent this summer at my grand-aunt's palace! It was heavily protected, and owls couldn't locate it! I didn't mean not to write to you!"
Only then did Audrey remember that the girl before her was a member of the royal family. Her grand-aunt... wouldn't that be?
"Alright, I forgive you," Audrey smiled. "I was just about to go to school. Need a ride?"
"Apparition?"
"Yeah! Just endure a few seconds of discomfort to avoid hours of travel fatigue. It's a good deal, right?"
Isaline shook her head: "I came to your house specifically because I knew you would Apparate to school."
"Huh?"
"Huh what! You need more friends! You need to interact more with classmates. This summer I read a Muggle research report on Increased Prevalence of Depression Due to Lack of Social Interaction, and it worried me to death! Depression is a psychological illness that easily leads to suicide!"
"You are a typical case of lack of social interaction! Your social circle is too narrow!"
"I heard that you even skipped out halfway through the celebration party for your American concert tour! I must say, this won't do!"
"So today, you are definitely taking the Hogwarts Express!"
Isaline's motherly demeanor made Audrey laugh directly.
Once upon a time, this young lady still maintained the dignified appearance of a noble, but now in front of Audrey, she had completely dropped the pretense.
Isaline puffed out her cheeks and stared at Audrey fiercely, with a posture of "if you don't agree to take the train, I'll stare you to death."
Losing to cuteness wasn't shameful. Audrey immediately raised her hands in surrender. "Okay, okay, I'll listen to you..."
She made up her mind to sleep once she got on the train. She had been busy all summer; needing rest was reasonable, right?
Anyway, even if she returned to school early, she would just be sleeping...
Audrey shouted towards the kitchen: "Momo!"
"Little Master, Momo remembers!" Momo poked her little head out. "Boiled Cabbage! The soup base will definitely be ready before dinner, don't worry!"
Audrey nodded with satisfaction. "Alright then, we're leaving!"
Crack!
...
...
How should one put it? Apparating to the station and then taking a train for several hours to Hogwarts—this behavior was somewhat suspect of taking off pants to fart.
But Audrey did it anyway. Just for the friendship Isaline showed by running fully armed to support her last semester, she couldn't ignore Isaline's request.
"The Unrecognizable Journey to School"
Once on the train, Audrey grabbed a seat, threw her suitcase onto the luggage rack, and then fell asleep immediately. No matter how Isaline chattered in her ear, she remained unmoved.
Until the Hogwarts Express was forced to stop.
Audrey opened her eyes and looked out the window. The sky was very gloomy, and the surrounding air gradually became cold. This feeling...
She shook her head to clear her mind.
Then she did a quick calculation.
Hmm, it was indeed Harry Potter's second school year, clearly the time point of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, but what was with this sense of déjà vu from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban?
Voices of Aurors came from outside the door: "Please do not panic, we are just pursuing a fugitive. All teachers and students, please remain in your seats and wait for inspection!"
"Do not panic, please cooperate with our work!"
Fugitive?
What fugitive?
The compartment door opened, and two Aurors Audrey didn't recognize walked in.
"Hello, young ladies," the leading Auror with an ear stud spoke. "We are just doing a simple check. Please quietly tell me the names and houses of the others in the compartment individually."
Audrey was called out first. She felt slightly awkward.
"That's Isaline Windsor, Slytherin."
"The one who looks a bit like a hag is also our Slytherin, seems to be from the Bulstrode family, I forgot the name."
"The other one is Ravenclaw. I've seen her in the Great Hall, but we don't know each other."
The Auror raised an eyebrow. "You are in the same compartment, yet you don't even introduce yourselves to each other?"
"I held a concert tour over the summer and was exhausted. I was sleeping as soon as I got on the train just now!"
Although Audrey's answer was suspicious, the Auror let her off easily.
The other three also passed smoothly.
"Alright, have a pleasant journey."
As if it were just routine procedure, after the questioning, the Aurors greeted the four and were about to leave.
Audrey nodded secretly. Under Old Barty's leadership, the Ministry of Magic at least wouldn't casually use Dementors as the main force to hunt fugitives.
Like now, a matter where clues could be seen with just a few simple questions—wasn't it better than having uncontrollable Dementors inspect, which would cause panic?
Only...
Audrey looked out the window. Under that gloomy sky, Dementors were faintly visible in the air...
Clearly, there were enough Aurors, yet the Ministry still deployed Dementors. Why exactly?
"Mr. Auror," Audrey spoke up. "I'd like to know, what kind of fugitive requires such a big operation from you?"
The Auror turned back and looked at Audrey. "Actually, that fugitive has some relation to Miss Astley..."
Audrey looked blank. Related to her?
Bellatrix and Rodolphus?
No, her identity hadn't been made public yet; the Aurors shouldn't know.
Sirius?
Probably not either, same reason as above.
"It's Bode Gray!"
The Auror said, "Bode Gray was rescued. The reason we came here to search is knowing the grudge between Miss Astley and Bode Gray. We believe there is a high probability he might harm you!"
So it was that old man! No wonder out of three people, she couldn't name two, and the Auror didn't react much. If the fugitive was him, then it made sense!
Never heard of disguising as the target themselves to approach the target!
Hmph hmph!
If he didn't come, fine. If he dared to come, she would definitely let him taste the combat skills honed by Grindelwald for half the summer!
"Oh, it's him," Audrey's face remained calm as an ancient well. "I just wonder how he escaped?"
"From underground!" the Auror said. "The other party used some unknown equipment to drill all the way up from the seabed."
"Bode Gray is nothing to fear. If I can catch him once, I can catch him a second time."
Audrey's confident statement made the two Aurors look at this seemingly delicate young lady with newfound respect. "If it were just a Bode Gray, you wouldn't have made such a big fuss, even sending out Dementors. So, there must be something else you haven't told me."
"Keen insight!"
The Auror with the ear stud nodded in affirmation. "Correct. Bode Gray escaped last week. We have been secretly pursuing him for a week."
He paused. "But unexpectedly, last night, a heinous Death Eater also escaped. He once blew up an entire Muggle street!"
"Sirius Black!"
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