Chapter 469 The Silent Black Ancestral House

Moody pondered for a moment and thought that the reason given by Sirius was reliable enough without any doubt. He carefully checked the surroundings again to confirm that there was nothing unusual inside and outside the house.

Now, all the information pointed to the same conclusion: this was just a simple newspaper.

When his eyes fell on the conspicuous number again, he had a hunch that it was related to the Black family. There was no evidence, it was purely an intuition.

"Then let's wait a little longer." Arthur made a more pertinent suggestion, "Since it's a countdown, the truth will come out the day after tomorrow."

They are not the only ones who pay attention to the strange numbers. Even Voldemort and his Death Eaters are secretly paying attention to the mysterious numbers in the newspaper.

"Master, I found out." Little Barty rushed in, his tone full of respect, "Those newspapers were bribed by Roger with thousands of Galleons, and published these strange numbers according to his requirements."

Hearing this familiar yet unfamiliar name, Voldemort's snake-shaped nostrils opened slightly, and his tone revealed a hint of curiosity: "What is his purpose?"

He picked up the newspaper, and his slender pale fingers gently swiped across other articles, as if looking for relevant clues between the lines.

Little Barty's face was a little embarrassed, he really couldn't provide an answer for the master. No matter what, he couldn't run to Roger and interrogate him with a newspaper.

Voldemort sneered and said softly: "So, have others collected intelligence?"

Bella and the other Death Eaters looked at each other and chose to remain silent. Their inability made Voldemort feel deeply disappointed, and he couldn't help but feel a surge of longing in his heart, longing for his capable subordinate Snape to return soon.

"Master, our spy in the Ministry of Magic has sent a message." Buck hesitated for a while, then said: "Rogge sold Amelia a magic mirror. It is said that the magic mirror can allow all wizards in the magic world to see and hear her."

"Hiss..." Voldemort's snake showed a satisfied smile on his face, and put the newspaper on the table to show his subordinates, "I understand, the number on the newspaper is the countdown for the magic mirror to be activated."

"Buck, can you bring the magic mirror back for your master?" He looked at the other party with a slightly gentle tone, "Our cause should be understood by everyone."

Buck felt the gaze of Voldemort, and couldn't help but feel a chill on his back. He swallowed his saliva and said firmly: "I am willing to steal the magic mirror from the Ministry of Magic for my master..."

"No, no, no." Voldemort shook his finger gently, interrupting Buck, and asked in a commanding tone: "Why don't you talk to your nephew?"

A cunning smile appeared at the corner of his mouth, as if he was weaving some conspiracy: "I know Roger very well. He is a good boy and willing to make deals with any wizard. If it weren't for him, how could I hatch a basilisk?"

Voldemort then uttered a string of hissing snake language, and a rustling sound came from the grass, as if some kind of reptile was wandering outside, which made people shudder.

"As long as the price is right, he will sell you a new magic mirror." Voldemort turned to Bella and signaled to prepare a sum of money for Buck.

The wizards in the magic world have understood the meaning behind the numbers in the newspaper, which has aroused their strong curiosity. Everyone wants to know what will happen when it becomes 0.

At dawn on the third day, the owl arrived on time. In the Black ancestral home, everyone stood at the window and looked forward to it.

"Here it comes!" George pointed to the sky excitedly, and the black spot gradually grew larger and finally showed the shape of an owl.

The two brothers hurriedly took action, ready to catch the falling newspaper. They wanted to know the number on it as soon as possible to confirm whether their guess was correct.

Moody waved his wand and shouted, "The newspaper is flying." He didn't care about the dissatisfaction on the twins' faces. After a careful inspection, he carefully unfolded it.

"1!" Ron shouted, "We guessed right, this is indeed a countdown."

Moody's magic eyes stared at the number, looking for possible hidden information, but the number did not reveal any code words or secrets. This made him frown and think to himself: "Am I worrying too much?"

"Look, the number has changed." Sirius' voice suddenly sounded, attracting everyone's attention back to the newspaper.

The black number "1" in front of everyone seemed to be hit by a shattered hit, instantly split into tiny black lines and squares. Then, one part formed the outline of a mirror, while the other part turned into a black stick figure.

Harry stared at the newspaper intently, and curiosity drove him to ask: "How is this done?"

"Magic photos." Moody answered immediately, with a hint of pride in his voice, "Just like the photo of Sirius on the wanted poster, you can see his roar in it."

Sirius curled his lips and said sarcastically: "What a good example."

"No, the magic photo can't last that long." Arthur shook his head, doubting Moody's explanation.

Ginny stood on tiptoe, trying to peek at the changes on the newspaper. The changing lines reminded her of Daphne's magic picture book, where only one page of paper was needed to play a complete animation.

Arthur exclaimed: "Look, it's changed again."

Everyone hurriedly turned their eyes to the newspaper, and saw that the stickman seemed to take something out of his hand and then gently sprinkled it on the magic mirror. A speech bubble appeared above its head, which read: "All things appear."

"Is this a spell?" Ron whispered to himself, but no one answered him. Because at this time, a new line of information appeared on the magic mirror opposite the stickman:

"Tomorrow night at 7 o'clock, loyalty and betrayal, Regulus."

Tonks silently recited these words, and the lively expression on her face gradually became serious. "Regulus? Regulus!" Her tone changed from questioning to affirmation, as if she knew the owner of the name.

Under the gaze of everyone, Tonks looked at Sirius and said in a heavy tone: "He should be my uncle."

"You mean, Regulus is from the Black family?" Lupin touched his chin and tried to recall, "Sirius, I remember you have a younger brother."

"Stupid idiot." Black cursed angrily, snatched the newspaper, and turned and strode away.

His footsteps stomped heavily on the floor, and the sound of the door closing echoed in the corridor, as if warning everyone not to approach or disturb him.

"Is he okay?"

Moody had no time to comfort others. His magic eyes were turning, and his sharp eyes seemed to see through Tonks. "Is this Regulus Sirius's younger brother?"

"Yes." Tonks nodded and shared the little information she knew with everyone. "I heard from my mother that after Sirius was expelled from the Black family, Regulus became the heir."

"I don't know more." She raised her hand and pointed to the picture frame behind the black velvet. "Their mother should know more."

"She won't tell us." Molly immediately protested loudly and firmly opposed to lifting the veil: "I'm tired of the old witch's endless swearing."

"We too." The Weasley children echoed in unison.

When they first moved in, they were delighted with the luxury of the Black ancestral home. Especially compared to the Burrow, it was completely a palace. They didn't have to squeeze with their brothers anymore, let alone endure the various noises they made in the middle of the night.

However, one day when they were cleaning, they accidentally uncovered the portrait covered with black velvet. Then came the sharp curses of the old woman in the painting.

"Dirty and obscene, the shame of the pure-blood family... an uneducated and fat witch..."

If it weren't for the fact that the person in the painting was Sirius' mother, George and Fred might have burned it long ago.

Lupin suddenly clapped his hands, with a sense of sudden enlightenment in his tone: "I remember that Regulus is a Death Eater. He once followed Voldemort, but there was no news afterwards."

"Professor, was he killed by Voldemort?" Ginny asked softly.

Lupin shook his head. He didn't know much about Regulus. I'm afraid that only Sirius had really investigated his brother.

Arthur seemed to realize something and shouted, "The Ministry of Magic must have found Regulus and caught him."

He ran to the windowsill, picked up the newspaper brought by other owls, pointed at the changing numbers on it and shouted, "Look, loyalty and betrayal, isn't this a criticism of Regulus?"

"Amelia is going to use that magic mirror to hold a trial in the Wizengamot, a trial against Regulus! She wants to show her authority as a minister and warn all wizards who surrender to the mysterious man that they will be brought to justice by the Ministry of Magic." Arthur waved the newspaper, his eyes flashing with self-righteous joy.

However, the reactions of others were very flat, and the air became awkward and indifferent.

Tonks snorted coldly, dissatisfied with Arthur's playful tone. In her opinion, Arthur was mocking her uncle whom she had never met.

"Regulus is dead." Tonks roared angrily, pushing away others and disappearing in the corridor.

Arthur was stunned for a moment, then slowly came back to his senses: "Dead...dead?" He glanced at the others, muttering to himself, "But what if it was a fake death?"

Harry pulled his sleeve and gently reminded him: "On the Black family tree, Regulus's head has turned gray. Behind his date of birth, there is a date of death about 15 years ago."

The warm morning breeze blew gently into the Black ancestral home, and the crowd in the living room gradually dispersed. Arthur stood there blankly, his mouth opening and closing silently, as if he wanted to say something, but the audience had already left.

"Arthur." Molly patted his back, trying to comfort him: "You shouldn't be so excited. Regulus was once a Death Eater, but he is dead. Moreover, he is also Sirius's younger brother."

"Hasn't he been expelled from the Black family?" Arthur stubbornly argued, "Sirius shouldn't sympathize with Regulus, he is a Death Eater!"

Molly sighed. She didn't understand why her husband couldn't understand why everyone left. Even if there was hatred between them, blood ties still tied them together. Their last name was Black, and they were brothers connected by blood.

"Don't you think George and Fred don't think Percy is their brother?" Molly asked back.

"Percy is not a Death Eater..." Arthur's voice gradually weakened.

The old house lost its former vitality on this day, and everyone stayed in their rooms silently. The evening glow gradually disappeared, but no lights were on in the house, and the whole mansion was shrouded in silence and shadows.

Molly looked at the cooling dinner on the table and sighed helplessly. She took the food into the kitchen to heat it up again.

"Are you going out?" She saw the black figure at the door and apologized hurriedly, "Arthur didn't mean it..."

"I know." Black nodded, his voice was a little tired, "You don't have to care."

He opened the door, took a step forward and then turned back to add: "I'll be back tomorrow morning."

Black walked along the street and finally came to Diagon Alley. When he pushed open the wooden door of the Leaky Cauldron, he remembered that the newspaper office of the Daily Prophet had been burned down. Although he wanted to do so that night, someone else did it.

"Old Tom, a beer." He walked to the bar, ordered a beer loudly, and then sat down against the wall.

"Who is Regulus?" The wizards in the tavern held newspapers and talked about it, and their voices echoed in the tavern.

"The heir of the Black family."

"Heir?" Someone suddenly shouted, "Isn't he the youngest child of the Black family? How can he be the heir?"

"Who made his brother Sirius expelled from the family..."

Black's expression was as stiff as a potato in an ice field. He picked up the wine glass and drank it all. Then, he threw a Sickle and prepared to leave.

"I know what the matchstick man in the newspaper sprinkled!" Joey had just returned from Diagon Alley and excitedly showed off to others, "See, diamond light and shadow powder."

He unscrewed the box, gently pinched a pinch of powder with three fingers, and then slowly sprinkled it. In the dim candlelight, the light and shadow powder shone brightly, as if countless diamonds gathered into a sea of ​​sand, flashing a charming light.

"Light and shadow powder? Where did you get it from?" Someone asked curiously.

"Diagon Alley." Joey asked Old Tom to find a mirror and prepared to demonstrate the effect to everyone. "Gringotts is distributing it, and everyone can get a box for free."

"It looks good, but it's useless." A disdainful laugh came from the table. "I thought the stingy goblins were finally generous and distributed Floo powder."

"Hey, you don't know this." Joey snorted coldly, pulled out his wand and shouted at the mirror, "Clean it up."

As soon as the voice fell, Old Tom's mirror, which was covered with dirt and scabs, instantly became brand new, reflecting a dazzling light. However, the missing corner on the edge of the mirror could not be repaired.

"Watch it!" Joey deliberately exaggeratedly swung his right arm to the sky, letting his sleeve slide down and revealing his wrist. He carefully pinched a handful of Floo powder from the box and sprinkled it on the mirror, muttering: "Appearance of all things."

As the spell was recited, ripples appeared on the surface of the ordinary mirror, as if awakened by magic. The cartoon story of cat and mouse was vividly played in the mirror, accompanied by clear sounds, as if there was a theater in the mirror.

"Isn't this a two-way mirror?" A tall, big-nosed wizard questioned, with a hint of dissatisfaction in his voice, "Did you secretly replace Old Tom's mirror? Or did you two collude to deceive us together?"

"Cheating?" Joey's voice became sharp, and his expression revealed incredible grievance, as if he had suffered a great injustice, "This is just an ordinary mirror. If you don't believe it, you can just find a piece of glass to try it."

"Is the bottle okay?"

"It should be okay." Joey scratched his head, revealing a hint of uncertainty in his tone.

The wizard who asked just now said dissatisfiedly: "What do you mean it should be okay? Will it work?"

"I haven't tried it, how can I know."

"Give me some of that shiny and powdery stuff." The man continued to urge.

"Shadow powder!" Joey shouted, holding the box tightly, fearing that it would be taken away. "Just a little bit, it's made of diamonds, very precious."

"I know, I know." The other party was a little impatient, "Why are you as stingy as a goblin?"

There was a chuckle in the tavern, and Blake also smiled.

This wizard scholar Joey just sprinkled shadow powder on the bottle. When he finished the spell, the surface of the glass bottle immediately showed the same content as the mirror, which attracted everyone's amazement.

"Wow!" Someone shouted, "It's amazing!"

"That's right." Joey said proudly, "With it, you can see the content of the newspaper preview tomorrow night."