Chapter 276: Scarlet
How fast can a Peregrine Falcon fly?
Its normal flight speed can reach 140 kilometers per hour, and when diving, it can even exceed 300 kilometers per hour.
This was the first time Wade had utilized the full speed of his transformed form.
High in the sky, the wind howled, and ripped clouds were quickly left behind. An eagle seemed to target the Peregrine Falcon, but after following for a short while, it gave up.
On the parchment, the black dot was still moving.
Wade glanced at it from time to time, adjusting his direction to avoid flying to the wrong place.
The black dot on the parchment represented Peter Pettigrew's location.
When Wade had initially captured Peter, before he was taken away, Wade had stuck a tracking parchment on him.
That guy was, after all, an escape artist, so to prevent the original plot from recurring, Wade had prepared for it.
The parchment had been shrunken with a Shrinking Charm, appearing no larger than a piece of dandruff, so Wade wasn't worried about it being discovered.
However, at the time, he couldn't use a permanent Sticking Charm on a person without it being noticed. Therefore, as soon as Peter Pettigrew took a bath, the parchment would most likely be washed off.
Fortunately, neither the Wizengamot court that tried him nor Azkaban were kind enough to offer prisoners a chance to bathe.
That tiny piece of parchment had remained there until now.
Wade wasn't surprised by Peter Pettigrew's escape.
Although the Ministry of Magic claimed they had sufficient means to deal with Animagus wizards to ensure they wouldn't escape, a rat's body was simply too small, and its ability to gnaw and dig was very strong. It was extremely difficult to make it foolproof.
However, Wade had originally expected Peter Pettigrew to escape from prison quickly, but he had stayed there for nearly a year.
Had he only recently found an opportunity to escape?
Or had Peter Pettigrew done something during this past year?
Wade felt a sense of unease. He flapped his wings and flew even faster.
Below the Peregrine Falcon was a boundless ocean.
The tracking parchment's function was very simple; it couldn't show environmental changes like the Marauder's Map, nor could it display paths and distances like Amap. Wade could only simply confirm in which direction his target was.
After flying for a while, he suddenly noticed Peter Pettigrew instantly shifting from being north of him to south, and he knew he had flown past him.
He immediately arced through the sky, turned around, slowed down, and began searching carefully.
A Peregrine Falcon's eyesight is eight times better than a human's, capable of spotting prey a kilometer away. But to find a grey rat, Wade needed to descend even lower.
He searched back and forth, but there was no bald man swimming desperately or small rat on the sea, only a Muggle fishing boat.
If he wasn't mistaken, Peter Pettigrew was on this boat.
This guy was much smarter than Sirius… In the original plot, when Sirius escaped from prison, he had relied solely on doggy paddling to swim across the North Sea back to land.
Wade gained altitude and followed the fishing boat for a while longer.
The people on the boat were resting, all quite lazy. Some were in their cabins smoking and reading, others were sleeping, and only one person was on deck tidying fishing nets.
After a while, someone came out with a large basin. He called out, and everyone sat directly on the deck and began to eat.
It was then that a rat scurried out from somewhere. It furtively observed its surroundings, slipped along the wall into the kitchen, and transformed into a short man with a leap.
Peter Pettigrew had ample experience stealing food.
When he was with the Weasley Family, he only received a small handful of grains or biscuit scraps each day. It was thanks to stealing food that Peter hadn't starved to death.
At this moment, he didn't even look at the sandwiches still on the table, nor did he touch the basin of carrots the cook had just chopped.
Peter went straight to a corner, grabbed a few raw vegetables and fruits and stuffed them into his robes, then rummaged through cupboards to find the sugar jar, shoving a handful into his mouth. He stole a handful of salt, took two chocolates, and a strip of dried salted meat.
He stole food that the boat already had in abundance. After taking it, and tidying up, it looked as if nothing had been touched.
But at sea, water was more important than food.
Peter directly stole a bucket of fresh water, cradling it in his arms. While the others on the boat were eating, he stealthily slipped away.
One foot was outside the door, the other still in the kitchen, as he calculated how long these provisions would last, when his sixth sense suddenly began screaming warnings.
The man's watery little eyes immediately widened. Without thinking, he recoiled, but the rest of his body below his neck didn't follow his head backward.
Then, even his head became immobile; only his eyes could still move.
A Body-Bind Curse? Who found me? Or are those two guys…
Peter Pettigrew's thoughts hadn't finished forming when he found his clothes floating up, then pulling him along, dragging him with extreme determination towards the ship's rail.
No no no…
Peter screamed frantically in his mind, his will to survive almost bursting through the magical restraints from his eyes! He strained to roll his eyeballs back, as if trying to see something.
*"PLOP!"*
The immobilized body, heavy as stone, was swallowed by the seawater with a gulp. A small whirlpool formed on the surface of the sea, then was immediately churned away by the ripples from the fishing boat's engine.
Wade, standing atop the pilothouse, didn't let his guard down. He cast a Bubble-Head Charm and leaped into the sea.
*"PLOP!"*
A fisherman eating on deck suddenly looked up, tilted his head, listened for a moment, and asked the others, "Did you hear something fall into the water?"
"Probably a dolphin or a swordfish?"
The others had heard it too, but paid it no mind, laughing as they said, "It can't be someone falling in... There's no one else on this boat."
"—You're right." The man relaxed and continued eating.
Below the surface, Wade, protected by a Bubble-Head Charm, finally saw Peter Pettigrew.
The Body-Bind Curse had worn off, and the man was frantically swimming upwards, using both his hands and feet. Upon seeing Wade enter the water, he instantly showed a look of terror, with both pleading and ferocity appearing in his eyes.
Wade didn't hesitate, casting spells one after another, bolts of light shooting forward like raindrops—
*Incarcerous! Petrificus Totalus! Stupefy! Stupefy! Stupefy! Diffindo! Confringo!*
Peter Pettigrew transformed into a rat extremely quickly, dodging the first three spells, but the fourth spell still hit him, followed by the fifth, the sixth...
A crimson stain gradually spread in the sea.
Not far away, a shark changed direction and swam towards them.
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