Volume 6: Summer at Spider's End Alley Chapter 445 Not Enough People
John immediately thought that this old man with a clean appearance, especially such neatly groomed hair, could not possibly be Snape.
But for a transformation potion like Polyjuice Potion, Snape didn't need to take care of his hair before transforming. He just had to drink the potion himself.
So Jon did not dispel his doubts, but turned and looked at Lily.
Lily didn't look at Jon. After looking at the old man, she pretended nothing had happened and lowered her head to brush the grass clippings off Jon's clothes.
"Don't look. It's him. Even if he turns into ashes, I can recognize him at a glance."
Jon thought silently in his heart, if Snape heard this, he didn't know whether he would be happy or sad.
"So what should we do now?"
Lily sat back on the tablecloth, as if she was trying to suppress her emotions.
"Let's talk about it later. There are too many people here. If a fight breaks out, it's easy to get hurt by mistake."
Jon couldn't help but look at Lily a few more times. No matter how much hatred was filling her heart, Lily's heart certainly hadn't changed. After all, she was still a kind person.
However, just as Jon took out a piece of cake from the lunch basket, smacked his lips and prepared to enjoy an appetizer, Lily suddenly continued speaking.
"We are too far away from him. If we approach him rashly, it will easily arouse his vigilance. Didn't those girls just call you to come over and play? Go join them now."
Jon, who was holding a spoon and just about to put the cream dotted with half a strawberry into his mouth, suddenly froze in place as if he was petrified.
What about the vacation you agreed to take?
You still want to go play with a childish little girl, right?
As if sensing the resentful look in Jon's eyes, Lily tucked a few strands of hair behind her ears.
"Thank you for your hard work, Jon."
Jon had no choice but to stand up from the tablecloth and put the cream cake with a missing piece back to its original place.
"Okay, okay, then let me meet these girls!"
He adjusted the expression on his face, and the next second he showed the smile of a sunny and cheerful boy next door, and then walked towards the direction of the bench where Snape was sitting, where a group of little kids were gathering.
When Jon got closer, he found that this was actually a piece of sand, and there were seven or eight children playing with sand.
"Hey! Do you need a reliable helper to join us? Although I don't have any tools, I'm sure I'm a professional."
Although Jon looked depressed inside, he looked like a community hero on the outside, greeting these children with a bright and sunny face.
The three girls who had originally invited Jon were immediately happy when they saw that he was willing to join.
"Haines is building a castle! If you are willing to join, we can give you the naming rights of the castle! What's your name?"
"Alpa Black, just call me Alpa." Jon walked naturally into the sand ("Wait, didn't we agree to call it Haines Castle?" a boy said with a sad face).
"Alpa!" A little girl enthusiastically held Jon's hand, "Alpa Castle is a great name!"
"Just call me Haines. I like it better."
While dealing with the social interactions among the children, Jon glanced out of the corner of his eye at the old man sitting five meters away from him, whom Lily identified as "Snape".
He took the toy shovel from the boy who considered him a good brother because Jon recognized the name Haines, and at the same time he was sure that he had not revealed anything, and that the old man could not see anything unusual even at a close distance.
However, just as Jon was about to focus his attention on the sand beneath him, looking at the building that the children called a castle but was actually more like a mud house, a clear and obviously sarcastic voice suddenly sounded in his ears.
"The captain of the Hogwarts, Dumbledore's favorite student, and the champion of the Triwizard Tournament is actually playing in the sand with a bunch of Muggle kids."
There was no fluctuation on Jon's face, as if he didn't hear these words. He first glanced in the direction of Lily. Lily was very cautious. She only turned her head occasionally and pretended to look at the pile of sand like a mother who cared about her child. The rest of the time she was busy preparing lunch on the tablecloth.
The children around seemed not to hear anyone talking at all and were still enthusiastically planning their castle.
Jon didn't look at the old man sitting on the bench who was absolutely 100% sure to be Snape. He used a toy shovel to gather the loose sand on the surface of the sand.
"Your speaking habits mean that you will never find a wife."
He couldn't see the expression on Snape's face because he didn't look up, but the brief silence was enough to show that this sentence had caused great damage to Snape, even though John didn't mention anyone by name.
"I say, what on earth are you doing here, playing hide-and-seek? Just do whatever you want to do. I was thinking of going to the beach before summer arrives."
Jon turned sideways and lowered his head so that Lily, who was far away, could not see his mouth moving, thus avoiding her from discovering their communication.
Snape was finally able to speak honestly, his voice still as low as before.
“There aren’t enough people.”
Jon transported all the sand he produced to the group of kids and used it as a water paddle.
"What's not enough? Can't you see how many Aurors and Death Eaters are looking for you in the alleyway where you live? How many more do you want them to come?"
“There are only two gangs now .”
Jon was shocked.
"You still want a few more gangs to come looking for you. There is no one else in the magic world right now except the two gangs that are looking for you, right?"
"Shallow vision."
Jon felt a little unhappy being mocked by this old bachelor.
"It's shallow, so stop playing tricks on me. Why are you deliberately showing off your presence here today? Do you want Professor Potter to know that you are not dead yet?"
"Some people have discovered where you live. Don't treat them as fools like the current British Ministry of Magic."
After saying these words, Snape calmly stood up from the bench. It seemed that his purpose of appearing here was just to give John and the others a reminder.
"Honestly, can you tell me why you are willing to help us again? Don't tell me that you have always been on our side and were a spy before."
Snape did not answer John's question immediately. He stood up from the bench, looked at Lily who had noticed this from a distance, and then left a promise to John before disappearing.
" Wait until you catch me. Then I can answer your question."
After saying this, he disappeared.
He disappeared in the gap where no one around noticed him except Lily and John. Even the children who were excitedly creating castles on the sand didn't notice that the old man who was sitting on the bench was gone.
But Lily couldn't stay any longer. She dropped the lunch she had just prepared and walked quickly to Jon.
"What did he find?"
Jon shook his head.
"No, I felt like it was time for him to go out and relax today, so he just left."
Lily's face looked very unhappy. Today, Snape appeared in front of them and left in front of them.
Jon comforted her with a few words, and then the two of them returned to the camping tablecloth. No matter what happened, they had to eat lunch.
But it was obvious that Lily's mood would not improve in a short time. They didn't even know whether Snape had discovered them. Who could guarantee that he would come here again next time?
Although Jon could make the promise secretly, he obviously couldn't say it openly.
Jon enjoyed the picnic very much, but Lily looked absent-minded.
After lunch, there was naturally no need for them to stay here any longer. After packing up their things, they returned to the hotel they changed every three days.
But Jon didn't go in with Lily. Instead, he took a walk around the hotel under the pretext of digesting his food after dinner.
The purpose of his walk was very clear, which was to choose some buildings around which he could see the main entrance of the hotel where they were staying. It didn't take long for Jon to make a discovery.
It was a house that looked very old. Its grey exterior matched the style of the city very well. However, the mailbox outside the yard was filled with postcards and letters. Even the delivery slot was blocked. However, the door of the house was not locked, and the shutters on the inside of the window were half-open. One could vaguely see someone walking inside.
There are people living there but no one to receive the letters. This is very much a habit of wizards. There will be no mailboxes in normal wizard families because they use owls to deliver letters and can find the recipients at any time. So if a wizard moves into a Muggle house, they will most likely ignore the mailbox.
But this is just a doubt and cannot prove anything, but Jon does not need more proof, just the suspicion is enough.
He strolled to an empty alley, then took out an invisibility cloak from his robe pocket and put it on, then returned to the suspicious house. After sneaking into the yard, Jon leaned against the wall and took out an ear-shaped object from his pocket.
He put one end against his ear, and the other end, under the influence of magic, extended itself into the crack of the door and went in.
Some of George Fred and his colleagues' inventions have already been finished products. For example, the retractable ears that Jon is using now can provide him with great help.
After the other end of the retractable ear was inserted into the door, the sounds in the room were clearly transmitted to Jon's ears.
"I've had enough! Your cooking is horrible, Kevin! At least take something from one of those Muggle restaurants! Why are we putting ourselves through this?"
"If you don't want to eat it, don't eat it! There are two carrots in the kitchen and you can eat them! Don't forget what we are doing. Those two people are very alert. If they find out that we have thrown out the garbage and there are a lot of takeout boxes, it will definitely arouse their vigilance!"
"Carrots are carrots! It's better than eating this plate of shit! Rufus? What are you doing in the kitchen? Bring me those two carrots!"
"I'm sorry, I've already bitten them. If you still want some, I see there are some onions in the basket."
"You idiot! You want me to eat raw onions? Give me the carrot in your hand!"
"You're making too much noise. Don't wake up the family upstairs."
At this time, there was a "crunching" sound coming from inside, like someone chewing a radish.
"Then cast another Stunning Spell on them. I really don't understand. Are they crazy? They actually asked us to follow Dumbledore's people. This is Britain. If there is any discovery, shouldn't the Aurors be the first to do it?"
"Don't question the decision from above. We just need to do our job. Besides, don't you know the level of the Aurors and our colleagues? They are about to turn the city upside down in the past two days."
"I just want to know how long we have to suffer here! Next time, don't cook. I think it might be healthier for us to eat the ingredients raw!"
"Stay until Snape shows up. If you want to chow down on some raw beef, you can go now."
Hearing this, Jon carefully retracted his retractable ears.
The people in the back room will just keep chattering away and won't provide any more valuable information.
Jon didn't need any other information. He could judge a lot of things based on this alone. He nimbly climbed over the fence again, returned to the alley and took off his invisibility cloak.
This group of people are obviously related to Voldemort but they are not his men. They just said Aurors and their colleagues. Now in this city, the only wizards openly doing business are the Death Eaters besides the British Aurors.
It means that these people are actually Death Eaters!
But they are obviously not working for Voldemort, so whose orders are they following?
Jon thought about this actually obvious question, which was of course easy to guess.
Death Eaters will only be loyal to one person. Since it’s not the current Voldemort, it can only be someone else!
What John didn't expect most was that the other Voldemort No. 2 had recontacted a group of people so quickly to continue serving him.
He had thought that given the state in which his soul was burned by the fire of Nirvana in Hogwarts Castle, he would have to be honest for at least a year and a half, but in the end, only less than a month had passed.
So is this group of people one of the two gangs mentioned by Snape?
If not, besides Voldemort No. 1, Voldemort No. 2, him and Lily, would there be other people looking for Snape in this city now?
Just as Jon was thinking about this question, as if fate was deliberately fulfilling his guess, a familiar figure suddenly walked past him hurriedly.
