After looking around for a while and finding nothing else unusual, Tver decided to move on and deal with the strange dust clouds elsewhere.
"Clean up the scene. Next, we'll split into two teams to deal with these strange dust clouds..."
"Mr. Fawley..."
Suddenly, Evans, who had just finished dealing with the sheriff and the other two, walked over and called out to him hesitantly.
Tver turned around in confusion.
"Just call me Tver. What is it?"
"It's just... I wanted to ask..." Evans swallowed and spoke with obvious difficulty. "Does that Giant count as one of your creatures?"
"Mm, not exactly, but you could think of it that way. Why?"
"But... there was a family in that house... doesn't that mean..." Evans pointed uncertainly at the ruins, not daring to meet Tver's eyes.
"Heh." Tver immediately understood what he meant. "So what you're trying to say is that people like us are letting these monsters kill your people, is that it?"
"I... I didn't mean that. It's just that these creatures..." Evans waved his hands frantically in alarm.
"Major Evans!"
Tver suddenly bellowed, startling everyone present.
"These are creatures that live in this world. Not just Giants, but even more ferocious Dragons. Countless creatures you know nothing about, yet which could easily take your lives, are living all around you!"
"And the reason you've been able to live in peace..." Tver said with a severe expression, jabbing a finger into Evans's shoulder.
"Is entirely because countless wizards are doing everything they can to keep those things away from your lives!"
"You should be thankful that there was only one family here. And that we arrived in time and saved those three innocent people!"
"Look me in the eyes!"
Evans shivered and looked into Tver's deep eyes. It felt as though he had gone back to being a fresh recruit, with Tver as the merciless drill instructor standing over him.
"We are all people who protect the lives of the British people. The ones we're meant to fight are not each other, but the villains causing all this destruction!"
"Do you understand?"
"I understand, Mr. Fawley!"
"Just call me Tver." Tver reined in his imposing manner slightly.
"Yes, Mr. Fawley," Evans replied solemnly, though his thoroughly rattled mind had no idea what he was saying anymore.
"...Pfft."
At a time like this, who else would dare laugh except Marvolio...
"Though I don't know which remarkable gentleman, or lady, saved us, I still want to express my gratitude to you."
The old man from the trio suddenly removed his straw hat and bowed to Tver and the others from a short distance away.
"Thank you very much for your help."
"Thank you for understanding," Tver replied softly.
...
For the next month, Tver spent most of his time in the Joint Operations Office, analyzing the information brought back by the various teams.
Over that month of work, they confirmed that the figures inside those dust clouds were all Giants deployed by Voldemort to cause destruction everywhere.
Even though they had moved quickly to deal with both the existing dust clouds and any new ones that appeared, panic among the British public was still unavoidable.
That was when the value of the office's Muggle staff became apparent.
Evans and Bruce were experts in the British military-police and civil-administrative sides respectively. They could tap into virtually all official resources, and with the Prime Minister's backing, they successfully convinced the public that the phenomena were just some kind of strange tornadoes.
The Prime Minister, for his part, increased his support for the office after learning what had happened, and that was also why they were able to cover everything up so effectively.
As for the Ministry of Magic...
Dawlish, Head of the Auror Office, was completely under Marvolio's control. Fudge and Barty were busy fighting each other openly and behind the scenes, and both of them wanted as little trouble as possible.
Especially since these incidents were very likely Voldemort's doing.
So Fudge was actually helping cover up the news and downplay the impact of Giants attacking Muggles.
None of that had much to do with Tver, though. It was already November now. Not only had he failed to get back to Hogwarts to teach his classes, he had not even found a trace of Hagrid's brother Grawp.
That, in turn, reminded him of the way he had planted a flag in front of Harry at the Ministry, saying he definitely would not let school matters be delayed...
So really, it was better not to plant flags at all, or at least to plant one in the opposite direction.
For example, if they still couldn't find any trace of Grawp today, then he would leave work early and go to the nearby café for a slice of cake.
Feeling quite pleased with himself, Tver stood up. The moment he opened the door, he saw Crystal hurrying over and crashing right into him.
"Ow."
Crystal rubbed her aching forehead, but the moment she saw it was Tver, she immediately broke into a delighted smile.
"Professor, we found Grawp. More precisely, Mr. Marvolio found him..."
She was still about to rummage around for photographs or something, but Tver's eyes had already widened.
Lately, Marvolio kept saying he was trying to get used to his body, but in reality he had been venting all the frustration of his former soul-state on the Giants, starting with the Cruciatus Curse and throwing out the Killing Curse like it cost nothing.
"Where is Grawp?" he asked urgently.
"Outside." Crystal pointed out the window. "Mr. Marvolio said he didn't know what Grawp looked like. He only knew this Giant was relatively short, probably only about sixteen feet tall."
Although sixteen feet was already a height humans could never hope to reach, among Giants that was an undeniable shorty.
And a height of sixteen feet basically confirmed it had to be Grawp, because there was no one that short in the Giant tribe, not even among Giant children...
Wait. Tver suddenly realized he had overlooked one problem.
"You said Grawp is where?"
"Outside." Crystal even paused to think for a moment, as though she had carefully considered her answer before giving it.
Of course, she had no idea why this required thought at all.
Wasn't it just temporarily storing a Giant on the broad avenue outside Whitehall, in front of the government offices? The professor himself had said those Muggles could handle this little issue just fine~
If Tver had known that something he had said offhand had affected Crystal this deeply, he probably would have modified her memory...
But he had no time to care about what was going on in Crystal's head right now. He hurried to the window and, with one glance, saw Grawp sitting on the ground looking aggrieved and sniffling, while the police kept a wary circle around him.
The commotion here was also getting bigger and bigger. Quite a few government officials had come out of their office buildings in curiosity and were pointing at Grawp and whispering among themselves...
It was only because Evans was standing there with a pained expression, doing his best to explain things, that they had not taken action yet.
"Take care of the memories of all the Muggles here," Tver said with a helpless sigh.
He had deliberately let some Muggles come into contact with the existence of magic, hoping for just a spark. Instead, this had turned into a full-scale blaze, more like a volcanic eruption.
"Huh?" Crystal still did not understand and blinked her wide eyes in confusion.
Tver glared at her, pretending to be angry.
"Enough with the 'huh.' I'm taking Grawp back to Hagrid. If I come back and you still haven't dealt with this properly, I'm transferring you to the Centaur Liaison Office!"