Chapter 328: Mission Three : In Search.
Loki frowned when he heard Daphne's response. But since he wasn't the team leader he didn't speak up. Instead, Loki thought about why Ethan was forcing them to take this case.
'He isn't corrupted and most likely is not a Death Eater or even under the imperious curse. That only leaves one reason…'
' 'Adam' and Harry Potter?'
'Hmm…troublesome.'
Ethan left the room shortly after to pick out an appropriate mystical item for this case. So that they could be safe and wouldn't end up like the Aurors who had gone to confiscate the item before them.
"Daphne, are you sure we should take this mission? I've got a bad feeling about whatever's going on."
Daphne only looked at Loki and then back at the file in her hands.
"I think we don't have a choice. I think 'He' will use up a few other cards to force us to take up the mission even if we don't want to."
Loki understood Daphne was talking about Dumbledore so he abided by Daphne's decision, not only because she was the team leader, but also because she probably understood the politics of this situation better than him.
Minutes later Ethan returned to the office with a gun holstered to his side.
"Is that going to keep us safe?" Daphne asked unconvinced.
"Yes. It has five uses. Each shot is a sure-hit shot that will kill anyone under Sequence 4 because of the corruption in its bullets. And if a saint is shot using this they'll end up dying unless they use a special ability to avoid it."
Daphne nodded, but Loki frowned, "Another smuggled item?"
Ethan nodded but did not elaborate. "Let's go. If the situation calls for it we need time to inform Laura."
Soon using the floo network, the entire team teleported to the ministry's checkpoint, a shabby broken-down house, at Knockturn Alley.
Once everyone was stable, Daphne gave out her first order.
"Hermione, can you divine the location of the item in question?"
Hermione nodded and sat on a chair as she slipped into a half-asleep state using cogitation. It was Harry's first time seeing someone perform Dream divination so he paid attention to everything.
"The place where the mystical item that escaped from the Aurors currently hiding."
Hermione repeated the question seven times.
Unfortunately, she received no response, since the Sefirah Castle didn't power her dream divination.
Hermione woke up, shook her head and spoke up, "It's probably able to use anti-divination techniques."
Daphne nodded and then spoke up after some thought, "Alright, since we don't know where the box is using divination, let's go to the 'crime' scene and see if we can figure out something from there."
Everyone found that order reasonable so they followed Ethan as he took the lead to take everyone to the house where the CoinBox was last seen.
Knockturn Alley was as dirty and terrible as Loki remembered it being the last time he was here. There were several broken and dilapidated houses around which poorly dressed wasted people hung around, doing nothing but staring into the souls of those who passed by.
It was Hermione's first time here so she was a little jumpy but she moved closer to Loki and walked by his side.
Harry surprisingly walked with a little bit of confidence while Daphne walked with a surprising amount of acceptance towards the impoverished people around them.
Loki spotted a few people begin to follow them but the moment he pulled out his spiky wand, they dispersed, choosing to mind their own businesses instead of targeting a group of trigger-happy children.
Nearly fifteen minutes later, Ethan stopped in front of a dilapidated shack. There were no Aurors around the scene this time, but a single man was sitting on a similarly dilapidated chair, which was probably borrowed from the house, to keep away all the residents of Knockturn Alley who might have unsavoury ideas about the corpse that was inside.
Ethan nodded to the man and walked inside the shack.
"This is it?" Harry asked, feeling a little pitiful for anyone who lived here.
'It seems worse than the broom cupboard I used to live in.'
There were several leaks in the room.
Recent rain had turned the bed wet, while the only table in the room had its drawers open, causing the clothes in it to become soaking wet.
The most eye-catching thing in the room though was the body of the self-decapitated man who was wearing rags.
Hermione closed her eyes to mentally adjust to the lingering sight and stench of death and rot in the room since she'd never really seen anyone dead like this before.
Everyone looked around the room for various things, with Ethan looking directly over the body to see if he could perform a mediumship ritual to talk to the soul of the deceased.
Harry and Hermione looked for physical clues around the house while Daphne looked at the several ritualistic ingredients the man had in his drawers.
Loki was the only one to look at the mirror in the room.
Hermione spoke first, grabbing everyone's attention, "There are clothes that belong to a woman in these drawers, perhaps that's the next victim of the coin box?"
"That might be our only lead." Ethan concluded, "His soul has long since vanished from this area. I won't be able to use a mediumship ritual."
Daphne instead turned to Loki, prompting him to speak, "If possible, I'd like to try and perform a ritual to see all the people the mirror has reflected in the last few days, that way I can ascertain who the accomplice or next victim was."
Daphne nodded in acceptance, "You can do that."
Loki immediately pulled out the materials required for the ritual as he began to set up an appropriate altar to talk to Salazar Slytherin.
"I"
"I pray for the power of darkness."
"I pray for the power of crimson."
"I pray for the God's loving grace."
"I pray for God's great powers to reveal to me the faces that have been reflected in this mirror in the last ten days."
"Night dew, a herb that belongs to the night, I pray for you to bestow powers to my incantation."
"Vanilla, a fragrance that belongs to the darkness, I pray for you to bestow powers to my incantation."
Loki's' eyes turned to the back of his head as he performed the ritual. His vision shifted and soon he was looking at the same room he was in, specifically at the mirror in front of him.
The first person to look in the mirror was the man who'd died. He had a bushy eyebrow, dressed in rags. He had a smile on his face but it soon turned into a frown. It was clear he didn't like looking into the mirror at all.
The second one to look in the mirror was an old woman. She had red hair, one of her eyes scarred and blind, she wore a nose ring and had several wrinkles on her face.
The next three were well-dressed wizards who Loki assumed were Aurors.
The final one was the guard who was waiting for them at the entrance of the shack.
The vision ended and Loki came back to himself.
Performing another ritual, Loki sketched out the figure of the old woman onto a piece of paper.
"This is the only other woman that I didn't recognise and was reflected in the mirror.", Loki said handing over the paper with the image of the old woman and her descriptions in it.
"Hermione, can you figure out the location of this woman using divination?" Daphne asked and Hermione tried dream divination but failed once again for the same reason as before.
"Why don't we ask around for her?" Harry suggested.
Daphne frowned when Harry did that since she didn't want the team to split given how dangerous the object they were tracking was.
But Hermione performed a simple divination using her topaz pendulum and this time the divination said they could split up without facing any life-threatening dangers.
"I see." Daphne nodded.
She thought for a while before speaking again, "Mister Ethan you'll be on your own, I'll go along with Harry and Hermione with Loki. We'll meet up at this spot in the next two hours irrespective of what we've learnt."
Everyone agreed with her decision and split up to look for the old woman, or even gain a little bit more information about her.
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A/N : An extra chapter for crossing a hundred and fifty powerstones!!!! Thank you for reading everyone!!!! Let's goo!!!!!!
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