Experience has taught us that anything weird happens for a reason. By the time Aurora learned this, it was not too late.
It was almost five in the afternoon, and Avrora was busy feeding the little ones. A strange owl flew in, delivered a letter to the counter, and pecked curiously at António de Oliveira Salazar, who was dozing off in his diary.
Then, it was a scream by the snake ancestor mercilessly hit dizzy to the ground. When he finally got up, the owl seemed to be in a daze. It spread its wings and ran on the ground, as if it had completely forgotten that it could fly.
Aurora put down the cat food box and picked up the owl. She touched its fur. When the creature recovered, it pecked Aurora's fingers and flew away with flapping wings.
At this moment, the letter suddenly jumped up by itself from the counter, "My Dear Miss John Field, this is the Ministry of Magic," she said, turning to Aurora. (to be honest, Avrora nearly died of fright at the last two words.). It is with great concern that we come to inform you that you must come to attend a criminal trial which will begin tomorrow.
We believe that you may have no knowledge of this, so please let me give you a brief introduction to the content of this criminal trial. About your father's death and a professor at your school.
Later, we will send our staff to pick you up and take you to the right place. Have a nice life.
Amelia Nathan Burns."
With that, the letter self-destructed, leaving only crumbs of paper on the ground.
Aurora was in a daze. The brief introduction in the letter was a little too brief? The criminal trial of his father and a Professor?
Is there anything else that says, "We'll have someone pick you up and drop you off at the right place later," that she's in a really bad place right now? What is all this?
Aurora felt utterly bewildered by a letter from the Ministry of Magic, and couldn't shake it, for she was the only one here.
She stared at the pile of scraps of paper for a long time, and finally turned to get cleaning supplies to sweep them all together and put them in the trash can. At the same time, the doors of the magical pet store were opened by someone, and those who came in saw Aurora for a moment, i was so relieved. "Merring! I'm so glad you're still here. I thought the ministry had picked you up, Aurora."
Aurora looked at him in amazement, then blurted out his name, "Remus? You're a Remus Lupin? !"
He took off his big, shabby hat, which was a little funny, and showed his disheveled dark brown hair, she smiled gently at Aurora. "It's me, Aurora. I haven't seen you for a long time. You've grown so big."
"Remus!" Aurora paused for a moment, then leapt forward with joy and hugged him tightly, "What are you doing here? I thought I wouldn't see you until I went to Hogsmeade after school. You've already got a job in Hogsmeade, haven't you?"
Remus rubbed her head and smiled. "Yes, I've actually been working there for almost two weeks. I've just been so busy that I haven't had a chance to write to you yet." His relaxed expression faded as he said, "Aurora, I'm here for a reason. The Ministry of Magic will be here any minute. I have to be brief. Have you read the Daily Prophet?"
"About my father, isn't it?" Aurora looked at him, puzzled. "But that was over months ago, wasn't it?"
Remus shook his head and looked into Aurora's eyes, said: "Not Yet, Tomorrow's trial is the final trial, the end of this is really over.". Listen, Aurora, in our world, there's a criminal law that says so. It provides that where there is no definite breakthrough or progress in the case, the will of the plaintiff and his family is involved in the detention of the accused."
"That is to say, if there is some credible evidence, the Ministry of Magic will take into account the wishes of the plaintiff or his family to detain the defendant temporarily to ensure that the investigation is conducted without interference and the safety of the plaintiff."
"And because each of us is registered with the Ministry of Magic, our families are also registered. In the early days of the Ministry of Magic, the Law stated that its power came from the will of all witches. When we were registered, we agreed to give the ministry the power to hunt down criminals on our behalf in criminal cases."
"At the same time, of course, we have removed the power to detain the accused, which is why the Ministry of Magic has the power to detain witches directly."
"It would have been a good thing, but your situation is a bit special. When your father, Emond John Field, joined the Order of the Phoenix, he erased your information from the ministry to avoid implicating you and your mother. In this case, the ministry could have taken the power of a deceased client directly, but now that you're here, the ministry has to take your opinion into account."
"The ministry has no record of you, so they can not make a decision on your behalf through a registered transfer of power. But you're a student at Hogwarts and they can't look the other way, so they've come to you."
"They need you to agree to suspend the Severus Snape and detain them temporarily in Azkaban," he concluded
Aurora stared at him with wide eyes, her mouth agape, unable to utter a word. The summer twilight was still bright, but there was no warmth left in the day. Aurora's face was cold and shivering as she clung to it.
Her hands were knotted together, and her fingers and palms were covered with fine beads of sweat, sticky and uncomfortable.
"Are you all right?" Remus sighed, squatting down and gently taking Aurora's arm. "Do you understand what I mean, Aurora?"
After a while, Aurora finally got her mind back. "What is wrong with the man who wrote this law?" She murmured
Remus was stunned. He had no idea that Aurora was so biased, "This is a political move," he explained, with some amusement. To put it bluntly, the ministry is essentially no different from the Muggle court in this respect. It is through evidence and the law that the accused are detained. But the ministry has taken the extra step of making its actions seem more in line with the popular will and more democratic, which will make more wizards willing to obey it."
"What if there's another one like me and she doesn't agree?" Aurora asked. "Isn't there nothing the ministry can do?".
Remus gave her a long look. "Not yet. No one, Muggle or sorcerer, can refuse to lock up a suspect when it comes to his or her own family, especially when there is enough evidence to prove that this person is the one."
"The only possibility is that they settled out of court, which is why the ministry is coming to you right now."
Aurora didn't know what was going on, but she suddenly remembered the daily prophet reporter who had been chasing her all afternoon. She misinterpreted everything she said to mean the exact opposite, and she was obsessed with the question of whether or not she had actually met Severus Snape.
It seems that if it does not agree with the ministry's offer of imprisonment, then the daily prophet may be able to spin this non-existent"Out-of-court settlement" into reality.
But...
Aurora looked up at Remus, puzzled. "I thought you and Professor Severus Snape had a bad relationship."
Remus's eyes flickered, but he didn't deny it. "That's true.""Then why..." Avrora said, nodding as if he had thought of something. "Professor Dumbledore sent you, didn't he?"
After all, Professor Dumbledore was very protective of Snape.
"Yes. You guessed it," admitted Remus, "But he has asked me to explain to you in advance what is going on, not to pit you against the ministry. You know, maybe when you get to the ministry, you'll hear a different explanation. The choice is still yours, Aurora."
She lowered her eyes and said, "I-I was..."
Before she could finish, there was a knock on the door and a deep, strange man's voice. "Is this Miss Aurora John Field?" He asked
"Yes," she answered, looking up. Remus stood up, smiled a little at the questioning scrutiny, and said, "I am the child's guardian, Remus Lupin."
"Oh, that's a new one," said the man, wrinkling his nose strangely, as if he were no stranger to Remus's name. Then he said to Avrora, "I believe you have received our letter, so please come with us."
Aurora looked at Remus and walked out the door with him into the glow of the yellow sun that covered the floor.
...
It was a solitary hut on the edge of a forest road. Gray was the dominant color of the walls, and the roof was dark brown, almost black. The house, with its back to the silent, lush temperate forest, faced a wide, tarmac-lined road that stretched straight across the plain.
The heavy, irresistible night wore down the fine contours of the distant peaks in the daytime, making them look like a fuzzy mass of color, which was swallowed up by the thick darkness. Then the plain with its flowerbeds, the low scrub, and finally the highway, and the view of Aurora.
The fireplace in the living room is connected to the Flyway network by the Ministry of Magic and is accessible only to the ministry.
Remus came out of the kitchen with a freshly brewed pot of tea and said to the girl sitting on the balcony, "Don't sit there. Come and have a cup of tea. I hope I haven't lost all my tea-making skills."
Aurora jumped down and dusted off her skirt. She sat on the sofa and raised her teacup as she said, "If the Ministry of Magic can not prove a crime, how long will this temporary seizure order last?"
"A week," replied Remus, looking at the girl whose face and eyes were obscured by the pale steam of the hot tea, "After a week, the ministry must release the prisoner until there is evidence to convict him. There is no such thing as bail in a witch prison, unlike a Muggle."
"I see," said Avrora, nodding and not speaking again, his eyes unfocused on the intricate carvings at the edge of the fireplace.
Remus comforted her. "You have to be under a lot of pressure," he said. "As long as he didn't do it, whether you agree to the ministry's seizure proposal or not, it won't affect the outcome."
"Can I ask you a question?" Aurora asked hesitantly, turning suddenly to look at him.
"Of course."
"Why are you on bad terms with Professor Severus Snape?"
Remus paused, put the empty cup back on the table, and then put it back on his hand and looked at the patterns.
The brightly colored lines, projected in his dull eyes, were quickly twisted into strange patterns, it was hard to tell what his expression was like: "That was a long time ago. At that time I was very weak, afraid of being excluded, so I did a lot of things I regret. He's different. He doesn't seem to care if he has any friends at all, except... .. ."
His expression froze for a moment, then quickly returned to normal.
"It's all in the past, Aurora." Remus smiled kindly at her, looking rather tired. The lines around his eyes were much deeper, "To be honest, I feel really sorry for myself. There were things I knew I was doing wrong, things I should have stood up to stop, but I was too afraid to do them. I let a lot of things go wrong."
"So even though you weren't close, you promised Professor Dumbledore that you would come to me." Aurora nodded knowingly and stopped asking questions.
"I'm only here to give you an objective explanation of the In & Out of the whole thing. No one can interfere with your choices," he said, tilting his head in a boyish gesture.
"Do you know why Professor Dumbledore trusts Professor Severus Snape so much?"
Remus frowned slightly, sighed, and shook his head, refill the teacup in your hand: "I really don't know about that.". But I believe him for a reason, and I want to believe him. Dumbledore was not a man to take sides. He was kind and used to looking on the bright side of things, yes, but... ... that doesn't mean he's gullible."
"On the contrary, I don't think anyone can fool him. The difference is whether he does or not."
"I see."
"Get some rest and don't worry too much."
"You too."
...
Back in her room, Aurora opened António de Oliveira Salazar's journal and told him all about it. António de Oliveira Salazar seemed unfazed, agreeing with Remus that Avrora's influence in the matter was negligible.
"They're just looking for an excuse for what they've done. When the time comes, they'll be fully prepared to put your professor of potion in jail. They won't change the ending just because of your consent or not." The patriarch snake used the tip of his tail to smear a piece of paper filled with pleasing ER flowers, "It's no use thinking about it."
"But I ran into the daily prophet this afternoon-it's one of the newspapers of our time-and it was a bit complicated. In short, they made something up. And I have a feeling that if I don't agree with the ministry, then the Daily Prophet will be reporting to the entire English wizarding community, saying... .. ." Aurora recalled what Remus had said, it went on to say, "Settlement? I'm not sure this is illegal, but I have a feeling it could have more serious consequences."
António de Oliveira Salazar stared at her handwriting for a long time before spitting out a message. Her golden pupils looked down at the little girl, and her narrow snake eyes were sparkling. "Looks like you've already made up your mind."
"What?" Aurora didn't know what to say. It was as if she had never caught up with the founder.
"You're not going to do what the Ministry wants you to do, are you," António de Oliveira Salazar said with a smile, his long tail racing across the page in a series of words, "It looks like the trial tomorrow will be interesting. Remember to bring me with you."
Aurora almost vomited blood:"... he is the dean of your school Ah." You are still such a bystander attitude, really good?
"Haven't you already made your decision?"
"Did I? Why didn't I know?"
"Why don't you start by telling me what you're really worried about. Is it your decision that doesn't affect the outcome at all, or is the daily prophet's nonsense potentially worse for your professor?"
"..." Aurora looked at António de Oliveira Salazar's words for a long time before she realized something was wrong." I thought you were talking funny."
António de Oliveira Salazar sneered. "I think you're strange. Isn't it normal to wonder if he really ordered your father's death? You're worried about him."
"I'm just afraid that if I don't, I'll embarrass myself by accusing him of something he didn't do. I still have a few years to go, and potions is my biggest fear. And like you said, this is about my father, and I don't want there to be any misunderstanding."
It sounded like a good reason, but the snake wasn't convinced by Aurora's explanation. He had a point. "That means you're saying he didn't have anything to do with it," he said
Aurora felt a sudden urge to jam the journal into the Shredder, and her partner's tone of voice made her queasy, almost instinctively, I wanted to deny it: "Why do I Feel Like You Talk Like You've known me for decades? Who Do you think I am?"
Words are magic.
I don't know who has ever said such a thing.
Now, it's almost a curse.
The moment she finished, António de Oliveira Salazar's expression changed. A dark and frightening look shattered his previous lazy look. The golden color in his eyes was so bright that it was like the noon sun, stripped of all temperature, leaving only the cold brilliance that stung your eyes and nerves.
He was more changeable than the weather in England, and it was not raining, it was stormy.
For Some Reason, Avrora thought that the paper snake was going to come out of the journal, rip her apart, and eat her alive. It was more oppressive than being surrounded by the red snakes, as if the darkness and silence around her were suddenly weighing on her.
"How hard is it to know what you're Thinking?" António de Oliveira Salazar's handwriting was so sharp and black that it almost broke free from the pages. She shivered at the sight of it, cutting the edge of her pen into Aurora's skin, "Or is there something else you want to say?"
"... No, I just think it's amazing that you know me so well."
"Trust you tomorrow will be even more incredible, am I right?"
The diary snapped shut and disappeared into the Satchel.
Aurora tried to call out to him, but there was no response.
It seems that I really made him angry. It's been a hell of a day.
It'll be the same tomorrow, she's sure.