"Here—final check… all right."
"Mr. Trimble, the Anti-Apparition wards are finished. Please verify them yourself."
Avada habitually wiped the sweat from his brow with his sleeve, then straightened up and slid his wand back into his pocket. With that practiced ease and natural tone, he looked exactly like a seasoned technician with over a decade on the job…
The previous three days had passed without incident. Nothing unusual had occurred on Nathan Clarke's side, and he had smoothly completed Mr. Fenwick's commission as planned, earning another tidy sum of Galleons. As for Hogwarts, with the Christmas holiday over, the school had returned to normal. Aside from Professor Lupin—who had been absent for the entire break and now looked rather preoccupied—everything was calm.
There were, of course, a few minor disturbances: the sudden appearance of a Firebolt in the hands of the Chosen One, Harry Potter, nearly stopping the hearts of Quidditch players from the other three Houses; Dumbledore's announcement lifting the Saturday morning Hogsmeade ban; and Snape seeming even more displeased with Lupin than usual, among other small episodes.
As for now, Avada had just completed the commission for the highly suspicious "Trimble" and was waiting for the client's inspection—planning to quietly investigate what they intended to do afterward, using the same old trick.
"I'll give it a try…"
Trimble drew his wand and flicked it through several elegant arcs in the air, apparently verifying something. He then attempted Apparition from various spots, spinning in place each time. Only after confirming that the Anti-Apparition wards indeed covered every corner of the designated area did he finally relax and smile at Avada.
"Well done, Mr. Clarke. You truly are an excellent spatial expert," he said. "Now, how many Galleons do I owe you?"
"One hundred and five Galleons, sir," Avada replied, glancing at the man's still-tense mental state, which stood in stark contrast to his outwardly relaxed expression. "The agreed price was one hundred and twenty. You've already paid a fifteen-Galleon deposit."
"Ah, right—I nearly forgot."
Still wearing that flawless smile, Trimble took a moment to count out the coins and hand them over. "By the way, Mr. Clarke, I've heard that since obtaining your status in Britain, you've been taking on a lot of short-term commissions like this. Have you ever considered something with a more stable income?"
"I believe I mentioned earlier that I have a friend who runs a travel-tent design company. I'm sure he'd be delighted to work with a talented young man like yourself…"
"Sorry, Mr. Trimble."
Avada shook his head without hesitation. "I prefer a freer lifestyle. For me, the way things are now is already quite good."
—So he was still testing me, even now.
"Oh, my apologies. I spoke out of turn."
Trimble smiled apologetically, subtly guiding Avada toward the edge of the warded area as they spoke. He then shook Avada's hand once more. "In that case, I very much look forward to our next cooperation. Your professional standards are certainly worthy of trust."
"You flatter me. Then I suppose it's time for me to leave."
Happy to get on with more important business, Avada took a step beyond the boundary of the wards. "Until next time, Mr. Trimble."
Without even waiting for the polite reply, he twisted his body and vanished with a soft sound, slipping straight into the spatial interstice.
Let me see what you're really planning…
In normal space—
The instant Avada disappeared, the easygoing smile on Trimble's face vanished completely, as though he had changed masks. He raised his wand and lightly tapped his cheek. The somewhat weathered face of the middle-aged wizard rippled as the facial muscles twitched, his features shifting slowly like bubbles on water.
When the subtle changes finished, he had clearly become someone else. Still middle-aged, but now utterly unrecognizable—no one could possibly connect this face to the one from before. Afterward, he stepped out of the ward's coverage, pulled a delicate, compact badge from his pocket, and pressed it lightly with his finger.
Crack!
Another wizard appeared at his side in an instant—a tall, thin middle-aged man. "Has he left?"
"Yes."
Trimble nodded gravely. "The chances of him being a problem are low. At least, I couldn't detect anything at my level. From here on, it's up to you."
"Understood."
The newly arrived wizard drew his wand, closed his eyes, and began slowly circling the perimeter of the Anti-Apparition wards. A brilliant blue glow bloomed at the tip of his wand, and the surrounding space began to shimmer with shifting colors, bright and dim, echoing the rhythm of the wand's light…
"No issues."
After a moment, he extinguished the glow, his expression easing slightly. "Same as the previous three wards. It seems he truly has nothing to do with those matters."
"Can you really be that certain?"
Trimble still looked uneasy. "Don't you think his appearance was a little too coincidental? Someone with no traceable background, a forged identity, suddenly appearing just two months after everything happened—quietly, with advanced mastery of spatial magic. Even his final assessment—"
"Let me ask you something, Trimble."
The other wizard cut him off and slowly shook his head, his expression growing serious once more. "What if it's not that he arrived too conveniently… but that there are simply too many victims already?"
"Within the Ministry alone—the Department of International Magical Cooperation and the Department of Magical Games and Sports—more than ten staff members have already fallen victim, many of them in key positions. And as for the wider wizarding community… we can barely keep up anymore."
"…It's already that bad?"
Trimble fell silent for a long moment before speaking again, his voice noticeably hoarser.
"It'll only get worse. The level of support they're receiving is beyond anything we anticipated."
The wizard let out a heavy sigh. "And that's with us being lucky. If they hadn't happened to target one of our professors, who knows how far they might've grown right under our noses? Honestly, even now it's already extremely difficult to handle."
"…Any progress on Belby's side?"
"Very slow—almost no impact on the overall situation. That's why he and the Headmaster are still hoping to attempt an infiltration of Azkaban."
"Then that task falls to the two of us. All thanks to Sirius Black…"
Apparently feeling they had lingered long enough, the two wizards stepped beyond the wards together. With a loud crack of Apparition, they vanished from the spot—leaving only Avada, hidden in the spatial interstice, so stunned he nearly forgot to breathe.
That wizard who had appeared just now—
He knew him.
It was Benjamin Baker, whom he hadn't seen for three long years.
(End of Chapter)