Harry Potter and the Obscurus

Chapter 85 Simmering Over a High Heat to Reduce the Sauce

Malfoy Manor lacked powerful defensive spells against Fiendfire attacks. In fact, aside from the various national ministries of magic, perhaps only Hogwarts and Gringotts could withstand the intense heat of Fiendfire. Watching the figure suddenly leap from the window frame and precisely dart into the dragon's maw, Mo Ran's brain went blank for a second.

"What was that? Was the guy who just broke the window even human? Did I accidentally burn Lucius Malfoy to death?!"

Worry and confusion caused Mo Ran's control to rapidly decline. Not wanting to cause a larger-scale disaster, he hurriedly used both hands to give the Fiery Dragon a command to retreat.

Hey!

A deep, thunderous roar echoed throughout Malfoy Manor. Besides the deafening sound, a sense of anger and resentment emanated from the terrifyingly hot, red-black fireball.

After a while, the area outside Malfoy Manor, blackened by smoke and dust, returned to calm. The lawns, fountains, and maze gardens, which had been built at great expense and carefully maintained by magic, had all vanished completely.

"Master! You're back!"

A man in a black robe rushed out of the door, knelt on one knee, and spoke. His light blond hair was disheveled, and he looked quite disheveled.

Having already learned about the plot, Mo Ran wasted no time. He ripped off his hood and transformed into a vast expanse of black mist as he charged forward.

call!

The charred remains of the building and the still-burning embers parted to make way for the spiraling airflow. In Lucius's eyes, the Moran flying in front of him in an Obscurial form was comparable to a Muggle encountering a fifth-generation fighter jet on his first battlefield experience.

"I am not Voldemort."

Mo Ran tried his best to imitate Harry's speaking rhythm as he spoke:

Would you mind telling me who the guest who just visited your home was?

Lucius was a man who truly loved his wife and son. Judging from his current mental state, Mo Ran could tell that the guy who had just been consumed by the Fiendfire was definitely not a member of the Malfoy family. However, what put him in a dilemma was that, having not yet discerned Mo Ran's identity, he had already knelt on one knee, adopting a humble posture of a subordinate, which made it difficult for the two to continue their conversation.

The brief silence made Mo Ran realize Lucius's embarrassment. He waved his wand and, imitating Dumbledore's demonstration in the headmaster's office, conjured a rather exquisite set of tables and chairs from ashes.

Lucius was startled when he was suddenly lifted up by an external object, but in order to uphold the dignity of the Malfoy family, he suppressed the urge to break free and protect himself. Fortunately, what had just happened was merely an attempt by Mo Ran to give him a way out; otherwise, given the current difference in their strength, even ten Luciuses wouldn't be enough.

"That guy's name is Fenrir Greyback. He's a special henchman recruited by the Dark Lord, who specializes in intimidating high-ranking officials in the Ministry of Magic by biting their children. As for this meeting, the main purpose is for me to provide him with a quiet residence where he won't be disturbed by wizards and Muggles."

Lucius Malfoy spoke as calmly as possible, and his candid answer surprised Mo Ran.

Mo Ran, who was used to thinking like a normal person, couldn't understand why Lucius would increase his favorability towards him simply by giving him the most basic respect. He could only nod slightly and say:

"I see... So how do you plan to explain this to your master? At this critical juncture, the death of a Death Eater colleague is not good news."

“He’s not a Death Eater… um… I mean, there’s nothing to worry about with his death, Mr. Potter.”

Just like that previous meeting, even without mentioning cooperation, Lucius could express his attitude very clearly, a skill that only a wizarding family of the Holy Twenty-Eight could cultivate. Although Mo Ran didn't dislike the "art of language," based on the Malfoy family's wavering precedent in the original work, he still chose to speak frankly.

“Very well, in that case, I think you are now willing to let the Malfoy family become a shareholder of Lily Health Insurance. You can draft the specific contract details first. In the next year or so, earth-shattering events may occur in the wizarding world. I will not treat my partners as slaves or servants like Voldemort did, but I must remind you not to bet on both sides and lose on both.”

Lucius Malfoy chuckled dryly upon hearing this, but before he could come up with any more eloquent words, the "Harry" in front of him quietly disappeared right before his eyes.

"This is......"

Large beads of cold sweat seeped from Lucius's scalp. Born into a pure-blooded, wealthy family, he had witnessed all kinds of invisibility and teleportation magic, but even if he had reached the level of being able to cast spells silently and without a staff, no one in this world could disappear silently from under someone's nose.

"Donnie!"

Seemingly remembering something, Lucius shouted loudly, completely forgetting that he had already sent the elves to protect his wife and children. When he finally reached the vault alone, he discovered that the key to Bellatrix Lestrange's Gringotts, which he was supposed to keep secret, was nowhere to be found.

......

According to Thor Crocker's research, continuously using the Time-Turner to traverse the temporal rifts is undoubtedly suicidal. Besides the possibility of losing one's mind due to the erratic and inverted timelines, prolonged exposure to time magic can also cause irreversible damage to the soul. Otherwise, as the chief researcher of the Time Hall, Thor Crocker wouldn't have needed to lock himself in the Department of Mysteries.

call out!

The boundaries of the real world were torn open by time magic, and Mo Ran, who was chatting with Lucius outside Malfoy Manor just a moment ago, appeared inside the Ministry of Magic. Looking at the countdown on the compass, which showed only about a day left, Mo Ran was puzzled by his new location.

If we take Fenrir Greyback's unexpected death as a pivotal moment, then he should now join forces with Professor Snape to release the news of Lucius Malfoy's betrayal to Voldemort's henchmen, thereby cutting off their escape route.

"minister!"

A sudden sound drew Mo Ran's attention back. After casting an illusion spell on his body, he found the nearest wall to hide behind.

The sound of leather shoes clicking on the obsidian-like floor filled the air as a young wizard carrying a large cardboard box ran toward Cornelius Fudge, who had just come out of his office.

"Minister, you haven't drawn the prize for the Golden Galleon yet!"

"What award?"

"The Galleon Prize, the one from the Daily Prophet, it's almost June, we need to hurry..."

Fudge waved his hand impatiently, interrupting the young wizard:

"You can just find someone within your organization to handle this kind of thing."

As he said this, he still reached his arm into the cardboard box, and the next second, a note with Arthur Weasley's name on it was pulled out.

"Weasley?"

Fudge said with an incredulous look on his face.

Given the competence of the clerical staff present, none of them noticed what Mo Ran had just done. Even Fudge himself didn't realize why the thought of "drawing it again" that had flashed through his mind had suddenly vanished.

"Forget it, let's just say this guy got lucky."

Minister of Magic Fudge frowned as he tossed the note back into the young wizard's arms, then turned and walked toward the elevator without looking back, leaving a group of young Ministry of Magic employees looking at each other in bewilderment.

"What's wrong with the minister?"

"I don't know, probably something bad has happened. Anyway, the important thing now is to quickly find someone to inform Mr. Weasley, the Daily Prophet is waiting to do an interview and take photos."

After a brief exchange, everyone in the office area returned to their respective posts. Watching them work, Mo Ran suddenly felt as if he had entered a sweatshop that practiced the 996 work schedule, rather than an administrative department that governed the British magical world.

Perhaps none of the people present had the ability to use the Confusion Charm, Displacement Charm, and Imperish Charm in succession while in a high-level state of invisibility, but to be completely undetected was quite remarkable.

"No wonder in the original books, Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix preferred to fight alongside children who were still in school rather than pinning their hopes of defeating Voldemort on the Aurors..."

As Mo Ran and Fuji were riding the elevator together, leaving, Mo Ran mentally grumbled to himself.

To be frank, if there must be mediocre people in this world to highlight his strength, he would prefer these people to come from the Death Eaters rather than the Ministry of Magic.

......

The clattering of machinery echoed from outside the high-speed, openwork elevator. The rudimentary Muggle products found in the Ministry of Magic represented both the wizards' arrogance and the undeniable changes brought about by human technology.

Feeling the cold wind blowing in his face, Fudge gradually came to his full senses from his daze. Already overwhelmed by the Grindelwald escape incident, he naturally blamed Dumbledore for the strange things that had just happened to him.

As many in the ministry know, Cornelius Fudge's position as Minister for Magic was only secured after Barty Crouch's son was accused of being a Death Eater and lost his chance, and after Albus Dumbledore refused to take the position.

At the time, Voldemort was in his prime after his downfall. Fudge, weak at heart yet greedy for money and obsessed with status, had repeatedly consulted Dumbledore on how to handle the various affairs of the Ministry of Magic. Everyone wants to seize the most hard-won opportunity in life, but precisely because of this, many years later, when the snake, accustomed to the warm environment held in the farmer's arms, would become accustomed to it, it would question why the farmer had coerced it.

Fudge, whose confidence had grown, began to disregard Dumbledore's advice, even foolishly believing that the great wizard had been plotting to usurp his ministerial position.

"Dumbledore!"

Fudge took off his top hat and muttered angrily. A few seconds later, instead of heading to the Department of Mysteries, he went to the floor with the Auror offices. After gathering dozens of so-called elites, he led a large group of people toward Hogwarts Castle.

......

Splash! Splash!

The surging waves crashed against the rocks with a breathtaking roar. Mo Ran, who had been summoned by fate to enter a new timeline, was sitting here fiddling with all sorts of pocket watches, pendants, and compasses.

"Deletrius." (vanished without a trace)

"Geminio" (copy in pairs)

"Reparo Verto" (Deformation Repair)

As various transformation spells were used, the counterfeit Time-Turner, combining fragments of the Borgin & Burke watch face and the opal necklace, slowly transformed into the pocket watch Hermione had obtained from Professor McGonagall. Recalling Kitty's brief appearance in the *Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince* film, Mo Ran couldn't help but marvel once again at the wonders of time magic.

"Why didn't I make the connection when I saw the fake Hermione? The corpse looked exactly like the one that appears after touching a cursed object. But it's not too late to realize it now. At least I still have time to plan when to make DB Cooper look like Hermione."

As Mo Ran muttered to himself, he carefully wrapped the fake time converter tightly with wrapping paper and cloth.

The night sky was dark and gloomy tonight. After several hours of busy work, Mo Ran's stomach inevitably started to rumble. He took out the food he had stolen from the Hogwarts kitchen and took a bite, only to find with dismay that, because of Malfoy and his group's "mischief," he had absentmindedly put the uncooked ingredients into his bag, mistaking them for a delicacy.

"Pah, this..."

Feeling somewhat helpless from the fishy taste in his mouth, Mo Ran stared at the raw fish fillet and shellfish such as oysters in his hand, speechless.

He could indeed use magic to create fire and cook food, but being almost completely ignorant of domestic magic, he had absolutely no culinary skills. If he rashly started cooking, he'd probably kill himself with an unpalatable meal before even engaging Voldemort and the Death Eaters in their final battle.

Or should I use Apparition to fly somewhere else and buy some food?

A somewhat absurd idea suddenly popped into Mo Ran's mind, but before he could use rational thinking to deny it, a familiar magical force came from behind him.

"What?"

Mo Ran turned around abruptly, staring incredulously at a location two nautical miles away, speechless for a long time.

Just as he had sensed with his magic, a large black dog that had just escaped from prison was desperately swimming toward him on the sea.

"Go get some food from the fairy; you might need it later."

"The waters around Azkaban are unpredictable, with varying water levels that sometimes expose reefs. I would walk around, stopping occasionally, and sometimes I would find some shellfish to eat. Once, I even bumped into a cod that flew ashore on its own..."

Dumbledore and Sirius's words struck Mo Ran like a hammer blow. Before he could even consider whether his headmaster had actually calculated this step accurately, he cast another Illusion Charm on himself.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Mo Ran swiftly waved his magic wand, and soon, the reef beneath his feet was transformed into a "naturally formed" buffet table after his arrangement.

In the original novel, Harry's conflict with Aunt Maggie didn't erupt on the first day. The dog-loving, obese old woman stayed at the Dursleys' house for several days before being blown up like a balloon by a furious Harry at the last minute. In other words, if Sirius had crossed the Channel at a normal speed, he wouldn't have been able to reach Little Wheelingham on Maggie's first day at the Dursleys'.

Mo Ran may never know the details of this story, but the integrity of time requires him to transform into a butterfly with fluttering wings in the cracks of time and space to complete every piece of history that should exist.

......

The minute hand slowly completed half a circle on the dial. Only when Sirius swam to the rocks to rest did Mo Ran understand how heavy the burden was behind the words "so thin that it could squeeze through the gaps in the iron fence."

Aside from his skeleton and fur, Sirius's Animagus no longer resembled a dog. Beneath the sparse hair around his lungs, his ribs, as if carved by a knife, had long since transformed into the mummified remains of a puppet created by some form of dark magic.

Faced with the wrongly accused hero who could only gasp for breath with his tongue sticking out, Mo Ran used a Displacement Charm to manipulate a fish fillet shaped like a cod into the other's mouth. Afterward, he began to carefully consider the information Dumbledore had previously revealed—that Black had not been exonerated.

"Although Professor Snape disliked Sirius Black, after clearing up the misunderstanding, he didn't need to seek revenge on Fudge, did he? Besides, the task of delivering the message to the Ministry of Magic was given to him personally by Headmaster Dumbledore. Could it be that many things I hadn't noticed before were already brewing back in the early days of the third year?"

“Rennervate......” (Silent version of restoring vitality)

Under Mo Ran's control, the Rejuvenation Spell alleviated Sirius's fatigue to the slightest extent. Once the black dog had rested and swam back towards freedom, Mo Ran, who had been hiding on the reef waiting, once again felt the vibrations transmitted from the compass and time converter.

Da da da da......

The scene in the real world transformed back into lines of light and shadow amidst the soft whirring of gears. By the time Mo Ran regained his senses, he had already arrived in the Forbidden Forest of Hogwarts.

"You told me you'd gotten Harry Potter's blood? How did you get it?"

"It was Bug Tail who said he got it while the kid was sleeping."

"Sleep? Have you all forgotten what the master said—that it had to be forced! Forced?"

"What should we do then? Are we going to sneak into the castle? That old geezer Dumbledore is still sitting in there."

"Have Fudge find a way to get him away. Once that old man is gone, we'll use the Dementors to attack the school. As long as Harry Potter gets injured in the battle, we can use his blood."

......