Volume 6: Summer at Spider's End Alley Chapter 425: Should I go with Professor Porter?
John and Lupin came to Paris together.
Unlike Azkaban in England, the wizard prison in France is not that terrifying.
After Voldemort became the French Minister of Magic, the prisons in Britain and France were completely merged, and all the serious prisoners were sent to Azkaban.
Now that the Wizarding World has reoccupied France, a new wizard prison has been built near the outskirts of Paris. Those most guilty of serious crimes have been placed in the center of the base of the Wizarding World's most core combat members. Among these people, Snape is of course the most important.
It can be said that Snape is the highest-level Death Eater captured by the Wizarding World, except for the Lestrange couple who were killed by John himself.
Therefore, after being brought back to France, he was guarded with the highest level of security.
Not only were all his magical items confiscated, but his clothes were also replaced with simple prison uniforms, his hands and feet were shackled, and the cell he was held in had no windows except a door, let alone ventilation ducts and sewers.
Originally, for the crime committed by Snape, after all the useful information in his brain was extracted, he could be sent to death directly.
But Dumbledore postponed Snape's sentence out of consideration for Lily, who was far away in Finland handing over support materials from several Nordic ministries of magic, as if he wanted Lily to take revenge personally.
But on the morning when Lily was about to come back, Snape disappeared in the cell!
At this time, many people had come to this empty cell. Not only Dumbledore himself, but Sirius, Moody, McGonagall and Lupin also came.
Of course no one raised any objections when Jon came along. With his contributions to the Order of the Phoenix today, no one would treat him as an ordinary student.
"We only found this broken denture in this cell, and these two pairs of intact handcuffs and leg cuffs."
Moody was holding a denture that was broken into two pieces in his gruff hand. There was nothing nice about the shackles. The only thing worth noting was that Snape did not use any violent means to destroy them. It was as if a person had simply shrunk and taken his hands and feet out of them.
"This denture is hollow. Our people found potion residues on its inner wall. The preliminary judgment is that he has always kept a backup plan in his mouth. When faced with this situation, he can just bite the denture in his mouth into pieces, drink the potion inside, and escape from the cell by taking advantage of the potion's effect that we have not yet tested."
Looking around the cell, Sirius seemed more irritable than anyone else here.
"This is impossible! We checked his entire body when he first fell into our hands! Our Aurors are all professionals and there would never be such an obvious omission!"
"But Snape is also a more professional potion master than anyone else." Lupin said in a deep voice, "His talent in potions is unquestionable. In addition, he has enjoyed various resources in the UK over the years. He must have mastered many unknown potion formulas. The effects of some potions are much more magical than magic. Is it possible that our people were bewitched by some potion he drank?"
They made various guesses, but only Dumbledore kept observing the cell calmly. Finally, his eyes fixed on the wall near the door.
He walked over, and this action certainly attracted the attention of others.
Dumbledore touched the gap between the wall and the door, which seemed slightly damper than other places.
"He escaped from here."
Moody, who had decades of experience as an Auror, also noticed something wrong with this place, and his magic eye was spinning around.
"Is it a potion that can temporarily transform the human body?"
"Yes, like Polyjuice Potion, which can change a person's appearance, there are many other potions in the wizarding world that can turn the human body into dead objects, thereby replacing the effects of certain transfiguration spells." Dumbledore said softly.
Sirius had already walked out of the cell. He followed the dampness extending from the crack in the door to the outside and soon found a very shallow trace.
"He hasn't been gone long, and he doesn't have his wand in his hand. We still have a chance to find him!"
After discovering this, Sirius did not stop and could not wait to follow the trail out of the prison. Lupin and Moody followed closely behind him. Only Dumbledore and John followed slowly at the end.
After Sirius and the others had disappeared from sight, Jon looked at Dumbledore with suspicion.
Dumbledore also noticed his gaze, turned around and asked with a smile.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"For a prisoner like Snape, especially one whose life and death involves so many people, Professor, I don't think you would make such a low-level mistake and let him escape from here." Jon looked straight at Dumbledore and said.
Dumbledore blinked.
"This is just your guess, Jon. Once people get older, they will always make mistakes. I am no exception. No one will never make mistakes."
But Jon did not look away, he still stared into Dumbledore's eyes.
"But Headmaster Grindelwald has always said that I have a gift for prophecy. I don't know why, Professor, but I just feel that this has something to do with you."
After hearing his almost unreasonable conclusion, Dumbledore seemed to be at a loss. He suddenly asked Jon in a low voice.
"Have you mastered your Animagus powers now?"
Jon felt that Dumbledore was asking a serious question, not trying to change the subject.
“Most of them are already useful.”
"What about the Phoenix's unique Apparition?"
"This is the focus of my practice, and now I have basically made no mistakes."
Dumbledore lowered his voice.
"When Lily comes back and finds out Snape has escaped from prison, she will definitely want to track him down herself. You should take the initiative and say you want to go with her. Then follow her all the time. Be sure to protect her during this time. If anything unexpected happens, don't hesitate to turn into a phoenix and bring her back."
Jon twitched his eyes. Dumbledore was obviously treating him as Fawkes.
"That's fine, but Professor, you can't just not tell me the inside story, right? Why did you let Snape go?"
"I told you, Jon, Snape is actually a very pure person. It is this purity that turned him into the Death Eater and executioner he is today, but it is also this purity that makes him hateful and pitiful at the same time. Moreover, he is much more important than anyone can imagine. Even though I only learned this yesterday, I believe Voldemort will soon discover this, so his departure is very useful to us."
There was some inconsistency in what he said. If Snape was so important, why would it be useful for him to leave?
But Jon seemed to have thought of some of the problems, and looked thoughtful, but did not continue to ask.
At this time, they had already walked out of the prison and came to an Auror base outside the prison.
At this time, because of Snape's escape, the lights here were bright, and every Auror was searching every corner of the base, and soon they made more discoveries.
Someone's lost their wand!
This was no small matter, but the one who threw the wand was not the Auror in the base, but the French wizard in charge of logistics.
The cook was responsible for preparing food for the Aurors on night patrol. He had just gone to bed in the morning, but before he had rested for an hour he was woken up by the noise of a search in the base. He then discovered that his wand was missing.
When Jon and Dumbledore came over, Sirius and the others had already arrived in the room, and there were obvious signs of moisture on the ground.
"This base is under anti-Apparition magic. Even if he gets the wand, he won't be able to just leave like that!" Moody's face was gloomy. He was the main person in charge of guarding Snape, and now that the prisoner had escaped, he was of course the one who had the greatest responsibility.
Sirius rushed out first. The traces left by Snape were still there, but the air was very dry today. If they didn't hurry up, these clues would eventually be lost soon.
The group followed the traces left on the ground and chased outside the base. After they had completely left the range covered by the anti-Apparition magic, Sirius and the others' faces became more and more ugly!
At this moment, Lily, who had rushed back from Finland via Floo, finally arrived at the Auror station on Wizarding Level.
There was no emotion on her face. She just followed them out of the camp with an expressionless face.
"What's the result?"
Seeing her like this, Sirius became a little nervous.
"He stole a wand, and now according to the traces he left behind, he has left the prohibited Apparition range. Our professionals are conducting a reconnaissance of the surrounding area with a flashback spell to look for any remaining records of Apparition."
Lily said nothing more, she just looked up at Dumbledore.
"Why didn't you tell me in advance that you had caught him?"
Now, five days have passed since the end of the Triwizard Tournament, and Lily is busy with work in Finland and has no time to pay attention to information from the UK.
Due to its location in the northernmost part of Europe, Finland does not pay close attention to the situation in Britain and France. At the beginning of the Triwizard Tournament, the reporters from the Finnish magic newspapers were the first to run back for fear of death, so now they are conducting secondary reports in the country based on news from other newspapers.
Therefore, without notifying anyone, Lily only received the news from the Wizarding World yesterday that Snape had been captured alive. But when she rushed back today, he had already escaped!
Dumbledore said with a sigh.
"I wanted to give you some buffer time ."
Jon looked at the old man sideways. If he didn't know the inside story, he would really think that Dumbledore had no idea how Snape escaped.
Lily did not continue to question Dumbledore.
Hatred filled her heart but did not cloud her mind. She was not the one who captured Snape, so she had no reason to blame anyone.
"It's just right to escape."
She said coldly, as if she were facing that empty look.
"I have to catch him with my own hands and kill him, only then can I be worthy of my husband and my son!"
Everyone around fell silent. Everyone knew what a deep hatred there was between Lily and Snape. If Snape had not overheard the most ridiculous prophecy in history and then reported it to his master, James and Harry would not have died.
After this silence lasted for a long time, Dumbledore nodded slightly and spoke.
"Let's wait for the results. If he really used Apparition to leave, he wouldn't be too far away from the base, because that would leave more traces, so we probably won't have to wait too long."
Just as Dumbledore had expected, because this was the base camp of the Wizarding World Aurors, it did not take much time to scout the area around the base, and soon a team of Aurors found traces of Apparition in the woods near the edge of the base, and then used a spell to reversely deduce the landing point of the Apparition.
"It's in Knockturn Alley."
After learning where Snape had gone, Sirius said anxiously.
"He must have gone back! Back to the Dark Lord's side, serving him at his beck and call!"
Lupin said calmly.
"Not necessarily. Don't forget that it was the Dark Lord who gave up on him at Hogwarts Castle. If he goes back now, let alone whether he can be reused, it is still unclear whether he can still have a foothold around the Dark Lord ."
"Then why Knockturn Alley? If he doesn't want to go back to the Dark Lord, he can go anywhere in Europe!"
Lily had already drawn her wand, and her voice was cold.
"He is not a fool. Neither his future nor his life can be guaranteed if he returns to Voldemort. But he is also very clear that his destination cannot escape our search. And now in the whole of Europe, Britain is the least convenient place for us to investigate and act."
Moody frowned at her.
"You want to track him down in England?"
Lily didn't answer his question, but looked up at Dumbledore.
"You know what keeps me alive in this world, Professor Dumbledore."
She used the address she had received during her school days, while quietly waiting for Dumbledore's answer.
Dumbledore rubbed his brow.
"We can't send many people into Britain, so it would be very dangerous to continue chasing them in Knockturn Alley. That's why I won't agree to you taking this risk alone, Lily."
The air became extremely quiet.
At this moment, Jon, who still maintained the appearance of a six-year-old child and whose height was just up to Lily's waist, tugged at her sleeve at the right time.
"Um, well, the Triwizard Tournament is over anyway, and I don't have anything to do, so how about I go with Professor Potter?"
