Amosta did not raise his hands above his head, or even make a vigilant gesture. Instead, he twitched the corners of his mouth, turned his back to the person behind him, and asked politely,
"Sorry, noble lady, have I broken any laws?"
"Oh, don't you know?"
The voice remained serious, but it sounded like he was suppressing a smile.
"Don't you know, sir, that the Auror Office has obtained the approval from the Department of Magical Traffic and Minister Fudge to implement traffic control in Hogsmeade. Anyone who has not applied in advance can use Apparition, Floo Network and Portkeys are not allowed to come to Hogsmeade. You have made a big mistake, sir!"
"But there is no report on this in the recent press conferences of the Ministry of Magic and the Daily Prophet."
Amosta pursed her lips and smiled.
"We posted a notice on the notice board at the entrance of the village. It's your fault that you didn't see it, sir, not the Ministry of Magic's fault!"
Amosta had already heard the gasping laughter of the man behind him. Before he could say anything, the man behind him had completely given up on pretentiousness and laughed directly.
"For your bad behavior that ignores the law, Amosta Brain, I think you need to be severely punished... Well, I have an idea, how about a semester of confinement?"
Amosta also laughed. He turned around and looked at the person behind him and joked,
"You want me to be put in solitary confinement? Of course, Tonks, as long as I have someone with me."
In the early morning, the village of Hogsmeade was bathed in the cool sunshine like water. Most of the local aborigines had not yet left home. On the commercial street where there were not many pedestrians, Amosta and Tonks smiled and shook hands. hand.
In the empty Three Broomsticks bar, the charming proprietress Ms. Rosmerta walked over with a voluptuous figure, put down a glass of syrup soda and a cup of green tea from the tray, nodded in greeting, and walked away knowingly.
"...Some things are private secrets,"
Tonks fiddled with her dull violet hair a few times, turning them into the same color as mature wheat ears in autumn. She looked at Amosta curiously and said with interest.
"The Daily Prophet said that the boy and his friends got the basilisk from Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets, but everyone in the ministry basically knows that it was you who fished those little guys out of the basilisk's mouth. Come back... However, few people in the ministry know where you came from, and many people are asking about your origins!"
"Then have you told them who I am?"
Amosta smiled, not showing much concern.
"I know you don't like drawing attention, Amosta--"
Tonks said proudly,
"There is a nasty woman named Umbridge and many young people in the ministry who are asking about you. They also approached me, but I didn't say a word."
"Grateful--"
Umbridge is the senior deputy minister of the Ministry of Magic. It is said that she is Fudge's right-hand man and is very trusted by Fudge. Amosta guessed that this woman probably wants to recruit some young wizards with good skills and low reputation for Fudge. .
In the future, if one day Fudge and Dumbledore break up... some of the people in the Ministry of Magic are more loyal to power, some are neutrals, and a considerable number of them are Dumbledore's filial 'disciples'. If one day Dumbledore were to rise up and speak out, it was hard to tell who they would listen to!
"Speaking of which," Amosta looked at the black Auror robe that Tonks wore when performing tasks, and his eyes flickered for a moment.
"You became an Auror? It's a good job. Among our batch of graduates, except for Bill Weasley who met all the requirements for the Auror recruitment, the results of the others seemed to be unqualified. ?”
"I'm a special move," Tonks said proudly, turning up her nose.
"You know, Amosta, I am a Metamorphmagus. I am gifted in concealment and disguise... Of course, being an Auror is not a job that can be dealt with easily. I still As an 'intern'... Speaking of which, Amosta, what have you been doing incognito these years, I mean, before you entered Hogwarts as an 'Inquisitor' in the first half of the year? "
"Freelance workers -" Amosta picked up the tea cup and said with a smile, "aims to help some people who are in trouble solve their current difficulties."
"That doesn't sound like a serious job-" Tonks asked suspiciously.
"Yes," Amosta nodded, his tone serious, "Aurors are our mortal enemies."
The red-red sun climbed slowly and firmly towards the sky. A carriage loaded with oak barrels stopped outside the bar door. The proprietress, carrying a money bag with a fancy pattern, hurriedly opened the door to pick up the goods. Inside the bar, there was a scene. Amosta and Tonks were the only two people left.
Amosta leaned back in his chair and smiled. Opposite him, Tonks was talking enthusiastically about the wonderful experiences of his Auror career.
"Just a little bit, Amosta..."
Tonks held up a finger and made blind gestures.
"I swear, we were only a few steps away from catching that group of dark wizards who were smuggling cultural relics... What a pity. Before that operation, Kingsley told me privately that if I could be more effective in the arrest, With his outstanding performance, he was willing to go to Mr. Scrimgeour for me to apply for shortening my internship period. But as a result, that damn dark wizard appeared from nowhere and not only messed everything up, leaving me in Saint Mungo lay down for half a month, and the Auror Office lost two months' bonus because of it. I originally planned to use the money to buy myself a broom!"
Amosta, who didn't know how to react, could only keep smiling....
Thinking of the failed mission two months ago, Tonks was so angry that she drank up the syrupy soda in her cup. She seemed to be still angry and wanted to ask the boss lady for a more exciting drink. She raised her head and glanced around. But he found that there was no one in the store, so he slammed the cup on the table.
"correct!"
Looking at the calm Amosta, compared to himself who was excited about meeting an old classmate he hadn't seen for many years, Amosta Brain had remained calm and graceful except for the moment they just met. ---Tonks was not surprised that Amosta behaved like this. Back in school, this little Slytherin wizard who seemed indifferent to everything was like this.
"Speaking of which, Amosta, why are you here in Hogsmeade? I heard that you no longer work at Hogwarts?"
Amosta knew that the Ministry of Magic arranged for Tonks to be here to hide Black, and of course he would not tell her that he actually came here with the same purpose.
"You know it all, Tonks,"
Amosta looked out the window and saw a row of old houses beside the street, with white smoke rising from their chimneys.
"I returned to Hogwarts in the first half of the year. Of course, I also came to this village for a walk. I unexpectedly found that I quite liked the living environment here. Well... it reminded me a lot of when I was studying at Hogwarts. So, after careful consideration for a period of time, I plan to live here for a while. I came here this time hoping to find a rental house in the village--"
According to Amosta's understanding of Tonks, when she heard that she said the words "good memories of studying", she should have made a few jokes, such as "good memories" refers to Professor Snape Is the office closed for a semester? 'And things like that.
But what surprised him was that this girl with a good personality didn't behave like that. Instead, her expression became solemn, and her eyes showed solemnity.
"You want to settle in Hogsmeade, at this time?"
"Does it mean that the notice posted by the Ministry of Magic on the notice board at the end of the village prohibits people from doing this?" Amosta narrowed his eyes, and after a moment of silence, he asked in a relaxed tone.
"At any other time, this would have been perfectly fine, Amosta,"
When she got down to business, Tonks became serious. She glanced warily at the landlady who was bargaining outside the door, and lowered her voice to warn Amosta,
"But now, this is not a peaceful place!"
Reading Pavilion
