"What? Snape is in Paris?"
At the British Ministry of Magic, the one who received the news first from France was none other than the Head of the Auror Office, Scrimgeour, who was currently preparing to establish a joint British-French Auror task force.
He clearly hadn't expected that Severus, who had disappeared from Britain just a few days ago, had actually gone abroad!
The person responsible for delivering the message was Robards. He placed the attached news clipping from the French side, along with the official letter from the French Auror Command, on Scrimgeour's desk.
"The French side has confirmed that the culprits who kidnapped Nicolas Flamel are Death Eaters. Last night, an attack targeted a Muggle orphanage on the outskirts of Paris. Over a dozen Muggles, one witch, and two Squibs are suspected to have died in the attack. After the French Aurors arrived at the scene, a horde of Inferi emerged from underground, and finally, someone lit the Dark Mark."
Scrimgeour's face showed clear shock and confusion at this news.
"Did Barty Crouch Jr. really take people to France to kidnap Nicolas Flamel?"
He quickly became restless, standing up from his chair and pacing back and forth in front of his desk.
"This was definitely not a spur-of-the-moment decision! Kidnapping Nicolas Flamel in Paris and attacking an orphanage! They must have another purpose! What about the Philosopher's Stone? Did they mention whether Flamel's Philosopher's Stone is missing?"
Robards was still flipping through the subsequent letters, his expression hesitant and incredulous. He muttered, "Sir, it wasn't just the attack on the orphanage. Last night, a group also broke into the French Ministry of Magic. Three goblins illegally using wands and a group of unidentified dark wizards were discovered. They stole a confidential file from the Minister's office and then attempted to capture a Muggle. In the end… in the end…"
"In the end what?" Scrimgeour turned around and stared at him impatiently.
Robards swallowed hard and handed a photograph to Scrimgeour.
"In the end, it was these two children and Remus Lupin who drove those people away."
Scrimgeour took the photograph. He certainly recognized Lupin, but the two boys standing next to him made Scrimgeour's eyes widen subconsciously.
"This is Snape's student. What's his name?"
"Dudley Dursley."
"And this blond boy? Why does he look familiar too?"
"That's Lucius Malfoy's only son, Draco Malfoy." Robards was clearly more familiar with the members of Britain's pure-blood families.
"The Malfoy boy?" Scrimgeour wasn't particularly surprised by this, "Snape and Malfoy have a very good relationship. It's normal for him to take the Malfoy boy out. But… what could these two children possibly do? They haven't even been to wizarding school yet and aren't qualified to have wands! Was it Lupin who defeated the three goblins?"
Robards didn't speak, merely handing over the thank-you letter personally written by Girard.
It clearly stated how the goblins were defeated and how much effort the boy named Dudley had contributed.
The first thing Scrimgeour felt after reading this letter was a sense of absurdity.
"The French Ministry of Magic has no one left!" He couldn't help but scoff, "They actually had to rely on two children to protect their headquarters!"
Soon, he made a decision, handing back the group photo of Harry, Lupin, Draco, and a bunch of little black cats in the main hall of the French Ministry of Magic to Robards.
"Call the reporters. Report this incident immediately! Two random British children who haven't even learned magic saved the French Ministry of Magic! The public will toast to news like this. The Leaky Cauldron won't have to worry about business for a week!"
Scrimgeour immediately sensed the enormous propaganda value in this incident.
"But… that's not all, sir…" Robards handed another letter to Scrimgeour, "It wasn't just the children. There's also Severus Snape himself. He… he rescued the Flamels!"
Seeing the information on the other letter, Scrimgeour's eyes first narrowed slightly, but soon became exceptionally excited!
"This is an even bigger propaganda point! Enough to reduce the public's focus on the Azkaban breach!"
He had previously been at odds with Severus, distrusting the former Head of Slytherin House and believing he had ulterior motives.
But these attitudes weren't based on any personal grudges, they were entirely due to Scrimgeour's prejudice against the Death Eaters.
However, after discovering that Severus had truly reformed and helped the Aurors solve the Crouch case, Scrimgeour had already changed his previous opinion of Severus.
Even though Severus had been very dismissive of the British Aurors and shown no respect for him at the Crouch house, Scrimgeour hadn't felt humiliated or angry about it because the Aurors had indeed performed very poorly in the Barty Crouch Jr. incident.
Therefore, when the news of what Severus had done in France came back, Scrimgeour's first reaction wasn't anger.
Whether from personal sentiment or a politician's political acumen, he had no reason to feel angry.
From the perspective of the current situation in the British Wizarding World, there was a desperate need for some positive news that could capture the attention of the vast majority of the wizarding public to divert attention from the bad news about Azkaban being breached twice in a row by Death Eaters!
Clearly, the actions of Severus and Lupin, along with the two children in France, had exactly that kind of impact.
Scrimgeour's pacing quickened as he immediately gave instructions to Robards.
"Send notices to all magical newspapers, inviting them to a press conference at the Auror Office at two o'clock this afternoon. Make dozens of copies of the two thank-you letters written by Girard and distribute one to each newspaper outlet!"
"Report to the Minister of Magic and the Wizengamot. Rescuing Nicolas Flamel, combined with previous achievements, is more than enough to upgrade Snape's Order of Merlin, Second Class, to First Class! The two children aren't yet qualified for medals, so award Lupin a Third Class and nominate the two children for medals! This should also be leaked to the press."
"Have Kingsley organize and conduct the press conference. He's good at handling reporters. Make sure he emphasizes at the end that the Death Eaters' operations in France have suffered a major failure! They failed to kidnap Nicolas Flamel. Additionally, the British and French Ministries of Magic will form a joint task force to investigate all cases related to escaped Death Eaters!"
Robards quickly left the office to carry out Scrimgeour's instructions.
After he left, Scrimgeour still didn't return to his seat. He continued pacing back and forth behind his desk, though his steps were noticeably slower than before.
Aurors might be rough around the edges, but that didn't mean the Head of the Auror Office was a fool.
Both Scrimgeour and Girard were quite shrewd wizards.
The Death Eaters' activities in France, combined with Severus suddenly and quietly appearing in France to assist the French Ministry of Magic and retrieve Nicolas Flamel, struck him as a bit too coincidental.
Of course, he wasn't suspecting that Severus still had any connections with the Death Eaters. His actions against Barty Jr. in Britain had essentially meant a complete break with that group, with no possibility of reconciliation.
Scrimgeour was only wondering if Severus had some special source of information.
After all, he had been very close to the Death Eaters in the past, and even after the Dark Lord's fall, he had maintained good relationships with pure-blood families like the Malfoys.
After the incident with Barty Jr., if Severus had more crucial information but was unwilling to share it with the Aurors, choosing instead to handle it himself, that wouldn't be hard to understand.
But Scrimgeour knew the recently escaped Sirius definitely wasn't involved in the events in France.
Nicolas Flamel had been kidnapped long before Sirius's escape. Those people couldn't have gotten messages into Azkaban in advance.
And now, news of Severus and the others in Paris was about to spread far and wide. If Sirius's target was them, Scrimgeour knew he would definitely go after them!
At this point, Scrimgeour's expression turned serious.
'The matter with Snape wasn't over yet!'
…
England, Little Hangleton
Since leaving the Gaunt Shack two days ago, Barty Jr. had taken his followers and found a house in a nearby village.
The owner of the house was the caretaker of a nearby cemetery. They had used the Imperius Curse to control the Muggle, making him stay at the cemetery all day, only returning when the curse was about to wear off.
At the moment, there weren't many people in the house, and the only one who knew Barty Jr. had been to the Gaunt Shack was Rowle.
Only Rowle truly knew what Barty Jr. had found in that old, dilapidated house!
Just as Severus had previously speculated, after the meeting with the former Death Eaters from the Malfoy Family, those pure-blood family Death Eaters hadn't kept their promise to Severus to completely cut ties with Barty Jr.
Instead, true to form, they had begun playing both sides, hedging their bets.
In addition to promising Severus funding to help him find the Dark Lord, they had also made promises to Barty Jr.'s faction.
They promised to regularly report any developments within the British Ministry of Magic, pass on any known Auror's action plans, help conceal their whereabouts within their means, and provide financial support.
Like Severus, Barty Jr. didn't expect these snakes to be of much help.
But he understood clearly that until his Master was found, these people had to be kept stable. Even if they couldn't help, they mustn't cause trouble!
Once the Master truly returned, they would all become as docile as pet dogs, submitting at the feet of those they should submit to.
However, while Barty Jr. was lying low in Little Hangleton, avoiding the heat, the British Wizarding World was anything but quiet.
He soon learned about Sirius's escape from prison.
Regarding Sirius Black, he didn't know much. His time in Azkaban had been too short, and he hadn't been a Death Eater for long. He wasn't as familiar with the details of undercover operations as people like Bellatrix.
He only knew that there had been a traitor among Potter's circle, and it was because of that traitor's tip-off that their Master had found the Potters' location, leading to the events of that night.
After the incident, almost everyone pointed to Sirius Black as the Potters' Secret-Keeper. Following that logic, Barty Jr. believed the betrayer could only be him!
Especially since the Ministry's Aurors had actually caught him and sentenced him to life in Azkaban, which perfectly confirmed he was the deeply loyal fanatic hidden within Potter's circle, utterly devoted to the Dark Lord.
Therefore, wanting to unite all possible allies before finding the Dark Lord, Barty immediately planned to try and make contact with Sirius, who had single-handedly escaped from prison.
But no matter what signals he sent or what marks he left, Sirius seemed to have vanished into thin air. Neither the Aurors nor his own people could find any valuable information.
Eventually, Barty Jr. gave up hope of finding Sirius.
After the Dark Lord's disappearance, the now fragmented Death Eaters were clearly divided into five factions:
The [Azkaban Faction], completely locked up and unable to get out.
The [Crouch Faction], led by Barty Jr. himself.
The [Snape Faction], led by Severus.
Sirius alone formed the [Lone Wolf Faction].
And the [Fence-Sitters Faction], consisting of Malfoy and his ilk.
The once mighty Death Eaters, who had dominated the Ministry, were now split like this, which infuriated Barty Jr.
But the angrier he got, the calmer he became. He clearly understood that to change this situation, only one thing needed to be done:
Bring back the Dark Lord!
Whoever brought back the Dark Lord would gain authority over all the others!
Regarding the Dark Lord, Barty had made his most significant discovery.
In the caretaker's room, all the curtains were drawn. Only a dim desk lamp illuminated the corner where a single armchair stood.
Rowle sat on the sofa opposite.
Among the dark wizards following him, Rowle was the only one with some brains and loyalty to the Dark Lord. Barty kept him close, as he couldn't handle everything alone.
"You... you're sure you found some information from that ring? That ring?" Rowle's voice was stammering. Since leaving the Gaunt Shack, he had been both excited and uneasy.
Barty didn't look at him. His gaze was fixed entirely on the old ring with the black stone in his hand. After obtaining it, he hadn't dared to probe its deepest secrets but had superficially gleaned some information that excited him tremendously.
His voice was soft, tinged with a fascinated madness.
"No mistake. There's a curse laid by the Master on this!"