"Rip."
It sounded like something had been torn open, and warm crimson liquid splashed across Fleur's face.
All Fleur saw was a shadow like a python sweeping through the mist, and then the pig-snouted man in front of her was simply gone.
There seemed to be some kind of monster in the fog, yet Fleur felt no fear at all. She could sense that whatever it was, it had come to help her.
"Ahhh...!"
A shrill scream rang out. The pig-snouted man standing in front of Fleur was dragged away by something in the mist, and mixed in with his screams was the sound of flesh being ripped apart.
"What is that?" The other pig-snouted man had not even had time to react before he realized his companion was gone. In terror, he hurriedly pulled out a pistol and aimed around in all directions.
But the surrounding mist only grew thicker. The pig-snouted man could not find his target at all. All he could hear were his companion's screams and the scalp-crawling sound of flesh and bone being torn apart.
Fear gained the upper hand, and the hand holding the gun began to tremble slightly.
In the end, the pig-snouted man could not take it anymore. With a scream, he bolted toward where he remembered the door to be.
A sharp tearing sound cut through the air. From the dense fog, a black shadow shot out like a venomous snake, moving as if it meant to pierce straight through the pig-snouted man.
Just then, an explosive crash came from the doorway. A violent force blasted the door apart, and the remaining force, still undiminished, struck the pig-snouted man square in the chest.
His body flew backward like a rag doll and slammed into the wall. His head lolled to one side, and he passed out.
"Scourgify."
A voice spoke the incantation, and magical force carried the thick mist in the room out through the blasted-open window.
The room had barely been cleared when Lehende rushed in, his face tight with anxiety.
"Fleur!"
At the sound of her father's voice, the tension holding Fleur upright finally snapped, and she fainted.
Terrified for his daughter, Lehende immediately threw himself forward to check her condition. When he saw the burn on her arm, he was overwhelmed with guilt.
"Lehende, now probably isn't the time to worry about your daughter."
A man in robes walked in.
His skin was pale, as though he had not seen sunlight in a very long time, and he had the look of a reclusive researcher. His robe was patterned in intricate designs, but it was a little old, with dried stains in many places and even holes eaten through or burned through in spots.
Wand in hand, he looked around warily. When he saw the blood on the floor and walls, and the mutilated corpse on the ground, surprise showed on his face.
"What?" Lehende looked up, only then noticing the other person collapsed on the ground, his condition unclear.
There was rather too much blood. Even Lehende, who liked to think he had seen all kinds of storms in life, felt a chill run through him.
No. The important thing now was whether the man was dead or alive.
"Norman, check on him for me," Lehende said.
The man called Norman walked over to the blood-soaked figure, examined him, then shook his head at Lehende.
"Seventy percent of the bones in his body are broken, and he's got a penetrating wound. Are you sure your daughter didn't inherit the Veela transformation gift? He looks like he got skewered through by a bear's claws and swung around like an ornament."
"Fleur only has a quarter of the bloodline. Inheriting the hypnosis gift was already the limit." Lehende shook his head, then asked when he saw Norman's grave expression, "Why are you making that face?"
"He's dead. I think we've got trouble."
"What do you mean?" Lehende laid Fleur and Claudia on the bed and walked over.
"He's a Muggle," Norman said seriously. "A Muggle died here."
"That's not the real problem. They attacked my daughter first. The real problem is whoever sent them." Lehende let out a cold snort.
"This is Britain. The Ministry of Magic here is best at shirking responsibility. They'll probably try to pin the blame on you," Norman said. "Unless we find the mastermind. Clearly, the people who sent them and the people who held us back are all in the same group. You know who they are, don't you?"
Lehende's gaze flickered.
Norman was his friend, a member of the Slughorn family, a terrible potioneer, and at the same time a powerful wizard.
He and Norman had been secretly protecting Fleur all along, trying to catch Raven's people. They really had discovered a group of suspicious wizards and planned to capture them alive, only to be stalled instead. They had only just managed to drive that group off and hurry back.
He had never imagined the other side would send Muggles to capture his daughter. Lehende had been watching the wizards the whole time and had never considered that Muggles might enter the Leaky Cauldron and threaten Fleur.
"They won't be easy to find... what I mean is, this is going to be troublesome," Lehende said.
He did not really want to drag this friend of his into it.
"Ha, troublesome? What in the world is more troublesome than brewing potions?" Norman shook his head. "Come on, tell me. What secret is hiding behind all this?"
Lehende hesitated for a moment, then said, "To be honest, I suspect Raven."
"Raven? That charity organization? You've got to be joking." Norman looked unconvinced.
"It's the truth, Norman. Around this time last year, they attacked me, and I was the target back then." As he spoke, Lehende walked over to the other Muggle and bound him with a Transfiguration Spell.
"Believe it or not, I'm going to interrogate this man now." Lehende said, "Let's see what connection this Muggle has with Raven."
"Then take him and leave first. Leave the corpse here. You slipped in illegally, so it's best if you don't show your face. This incident is big enough that reporters and the Ministry will probably show up soon. Leave things here to me."
Lehende nodded.
...
On a street corner, space suddenly twisted, and then Leonard, now changed into his school uniform, appeared out of nowhere.
No one noticed Leonard's arrival, which left him a little disappointed. He had wanted to get some practice with the Memory Charm.
Leonard suddenly looked up, his eyes shifting slightly.
"As expected, Fleur ran into danger." Leonard rubbed his chin. "Could it have been Raven? Doesn't seem likely. That trap was way too crude. Anyone with a brain wouldn't have fallen for it."
Knowing someone was after him and still letting his daughter go out alone in a situation like that already sounded suspicious.
But if Raven did not care about any so-called ambush, they might still have risked it.
"Fortunately, the people who attacked this time weren't strong. The stronger wizards were probably all busy dealing with Lehende." Leonard had not sensed any of the plants he left behind being destroyed, which let him roughly guess the condition Fleur and Claudia were in.
So he was not in much of a hurry. Whatever needed handling, Lehende could deal with it first.
Leonard bought a few things at a Muggle shop, and only then did he head to the Leaky Cauldron.
The moment he pushed open the pub door, a wave of noise nearly knocked him over. The pub was packed with people, reporters and Aurors alike.
The reporters had the Aurors surrounded, apparently trying to get information out of them. Amid the chaotic noise, Leonard vaguely caught the word Muggle.
Muggle? What did what happened here have to do with Muggles?