Amy was very happy today.
She walked along the zoo path, swaying as she held a windmill in one hand and a lollipop in the other.
They had already been on the Ferris wheel, roller coaster, and flying chairs. When they reached the carousel, Amy watched it for a while, decided it was boring, and skipped it, cutting straight through the amusement park to the zoo behind it.
"Why doesn't the lollipop spin?" she asked, looking up at Sherlock while swinging the sweet in her hand.
"Because this is something to eat, and its best destination is in someone's stomach."
Sherlock helped her unwrap the transparent packaging of the lollipop and handed it back to Amy.
Amy stuck out her little tongue and licked the surface of the sweet, then frowned and wrapped it back up.
"Amy doesn't like the taste, but it looks very pretty!"
She decided to treat the sweet as a toy, just like the windmill, and not eat it.
Snape walked alongside Sherlock, carrying the crown. His face was still gloomy, but it had clearly improved compared to before; at least the hollowness and coldness in his eyes had diminished significantly.
Having seen plenty in the Wizarding World, as well as so many Magical Creatures that he had lost count of how many organs they had, Snape was dismissive of the animals in the zoo.
Being able to make Sherlock suffer on the Ferris wheel earlier was the most pleasant thing he had experienced on this outing.
Of the three, Amy was in the highest spirits, but she wasn't excited or happy because of the animals; she was simply happy that someone was accompanying her to play.
"So many pigeons!" she exclaimed, pointing to a large flock of pigeons gathering on the stone path in the rest area of the zoo.
Sherlock felt that the scenery here was quite nice, so he took Amy to buy some breadcrumbs and fed the pigeons with her.
"Would you like a group photo, gentlemen? Our park is running a promotion; family photos get a discount!" A photographer with a camera hanging around his neck took the opportunity to walk over.
"That's a good idea." Sherlock nodded with a smile.
He pulled the reluctant Snape over and grabbed Amy by the shoulders. She was trying to place breadcrumbs on the pigeons' heads so they couldn't eat them, and Sherlock pressed her in front of him, with the pigeons foraging in the plaza behind them.
The photographer observed this strange combination that looked like a "family of three" through his camera for a moment, then said with a troubled expression, "The gentleman on the left, and the little one, can you smile? Aren't you happy to be out having fun?"
As he spoke, Sherlock realised that he was the only one smiling. Snape still had a gloomy face, while Amy was trying her best to flatten her mouth; she was clearly trying her hardest to smile.
"Smile. You need to smile for the photo, Tobias. Believe me, smiling more will definitely bring you good luck." Sherlock raised an eyebrow and persuaded Snape.
However, Snape seemed completely unmoved by his words.
Being willing to stand there and take a photo was already giving Sherlock a huge amount of face; asking him to smile was out of the question.
After persuading Snape, Sherlock ignored him. Just like last time on London Bridge, he used both hands to prop up the corners of Amy's mouth, helping her show a smile.
The photographer was a little confused by the situation.
But his work had to continue, so he raised the camera to his eyes again and aimed it at the three of them.
"Okay, wait for me to count. Three, two, one. Everyone, try to relax a bit. Three, two, one."
As he pressed the shutter, the corners of Snape's mouth twitched slightly, unconsciously levelling out, revealing a smile that was completely different from his usual sneer or mockery—a smile so subtle it was almost imperceptible.
At the same time, a well-fed pigeon happened to fly over his head, and physiological instinct caused it to uncontrollably drop an indescribable substance from mid-air.
"Click!"
Amy, holding the lollipop and windmill, had happiness in her eyes as she was helped to show a smile.
Sherlock, leaning halfway over and supporting Amy's cheeks, looked at the lens, the only one with a natural smile on his face.
Snape, stiffly squeezing out a smile that couldn't be seen without close inspection, was completely unaware of the indescribable substance falling towards his hair.
Three different smiles were frozen in this moment.
The Ministry of Magic sent someone to find Sherlock on the third day after they returned from the amusement park.
Over these three days, Sherlock had been paying attention to The Daily Prophet every day.
The battle between Aurors and Death Eaters in Sheffield had ended on the day they went to the amusement park.
After the Aurors paid a heavy price, they finally expelled the Death Eaters from downtown Sheffield before the situation spread beyond repair.
The battle continued in the suburbs for a while, ending with seven dead Aurors and twelve injured.
Of course, the casualties on the Death Eater side were even more severe than those of the Aurors, and their operation within the Ministry of Magic was ultimately declared a failure.
Such an ending naturally symbolised a huge victory for the Ministry of Magic.
The current Minister for Magic, Harold Minchum (a hardliner against Lord Voldemort, who resigned in 1980), publicised this matter in a high-profile manner.
He especially highlighted the battle in the Department of Mysteries and the great achievements of the "two heroic Ministry of Magic employees" in foiling the Death Eaters' conspiracy.
Sherlock hadn't even joined the staff yet, but he was already being called a Ministry of Magic employee; however, he had long anticipated this kind of political necessity.
However, the aftermath of the Sheffield incident was still fermenting.
Because the impact was too great, even though the Ministry of Magic sent out all their memory modification squads and they worked for two days, they only barely managed to suppress the events of that night.
There were still rumours with the nature of urban legends circulating in Sheffield.
Even the International Confederation of Wizards sent a query to the British Ministry of Magic about this, telling them not to let internal problems spread outward; if the International Statute of Secrecy were broken, the Ministries of other countries would intervene in Britain's internal disputes.
The Daily Prophet naturally reported extensively on this matter, and Minister Minchum also gave a tough response, saying that internal matters of the British Wizarding World would be solved internally, and external forces did not need to and should not intervene.
Whether it was within Britain or internationally in the Wizarding World, things had not been peaceful recently.
Sherlock only understood the situation; what he really cared about was the matter of his employment at the Ministry of Magic.
The person who came to find him was none other than Eddie Butler, who had been cleared of the charge of being a traitor and had returned safely from the Isle of Man.
"Daddy!" Amy wasn't particularly excited when she saw Eddie; she seemed to have known he would come back to find her.
"Sorry, I let you stay by yourself for a long time this time." Eddie hugged Amy and said apologetically.
"No, John took Amy to many places to play, and there were windmills and lollipops, which he bought for Amy."
Amy still hadn't eaten that lollipop; it looked like she didn't intend to eat it and wanted to keep it as a toy.
After the father and daughter chatted for a while, Eddie turned to talk to Sherlock about business.
"Really, thank you, John, not only for taking care of Amy but also for helping me with such a big favour."
He thanked him sincerely, and Sherlock waved his hand.
"Amy is very obedient, and she helped me too, so you don't need to thank me for anything."
Eddie didn't say much more about the thanks; he knew that keeping these things in his heart was more practical than always talking about them.
"The Ministry of Magic has approved your employment request, and it was specially approved by Minister Minchum. Madam Selwyn also agreed to your wish to join the Department of Mysteries. This department didn't have many employees to begin with, and you practically saved her life, so she had no reason to refuse. This is your appointment letter."
Taking the appointment letter from his hand, Sherlock finally felt relieved.
Being able to enter the Department of Mysteries was equivalent to completing more than half of his goal. If he couldn't find relevant clues in there, Sherlock couldn't think of anywhere else to find a way back.
Eddie, however, expressed confusion about this.
"I actually don't understand why you want to join the Department of Mysteries. I learned about your strength from Sophie; if you want better development in the Ministry of Magic, joining the Auror Office would undoubtedly be the best choice. This is a special period; as long as you have the ability, promotion is no problem at all."
Sherlock shook his head and said, "I am very interested in magic research, especially those niche, mysterious magics; the Auror lifestyle is not suitable for me."
To each their own. Eddie wasn't some angry youth who felt that since Sherlock had the ability, he must devote himself to the cause of fighting the Dark Lord.
After finishing talking about the Ministry of Magic with Sherlock, in the evening, in order to thank him, Eddie specially invited him to have dinner at a nearby restaurant.
Before coming, he had heard that Sherlock had an uncle who also stayed at the pub and was prepared to call him along as well.
However, he was politely declined by Sherlock.
"He hasn't been in a good mood lately; let's not disturb him. Let him stay by himself for a while."
Amy blinked.
"Tobias is still dwelling on what happened at the zoo that day."
Sherlock stifled a laugh and pushed Amy towards the front of the corridor.
He could clearly perceive that in Room 12, Snape, upon hearing Amy's words, had a face as black as the bottom of a cauldron and crushed a frog eyeball in his hand.
"Alright, don't rub salt in the wound, Amy. Let's go eat."
Eddie chose a Muggle restaurant on the street where Diagon Alley was located.
"In some respects, the Wizarding World is indeed behind Muggles, but even those who don't have prejudice against Muggles will have arrogant attitudes. Even if it is good and useful to Wizards, as long as it involves Muggles, they are very resistant."
They chatted about some things in the Wizarding World.
Eddie had a very good personality; he was upright and responsible, as could be seen from his performance in Sheffield.
After chatting with him for a while, Sherlock asked a question he had been puzzled about for a long time.
"How old are you this year?"
There was naturally nothing to hide about a man's age.
"I'll be 24 after October."
Sherlock's eyes widened instantly. He had always felt that Eddie just looked young on the outside, but he didn't expect his real age to be about the same as his own!
"Amy said she is 7 years old this year!"
Eddie shook his head with a bitter smile.
"That's right. Before I was 17, before I had graduated from Hogwarts, I already had a daughter like her."
Sherlock's expression was complex.
He knew that in the Wizarding World, early marriage and early childbearing were the norm. Basically, most Wizards got married as soon as they graduated from Hogwarts at 18 and had children before they were 20.
Like Harry's parents and Mr and Mrs Weasley, they were all like this.
But for Eddie to have a child while still attending Hogwarts was still an extremely rare thing.
Eddie held his wine glass, looked at the pedestrians outside the shop window, took a big gulp, and then sent Amy away, asking her to go and ask the restaurant for another bottle of wine.
"My situation is a bit complicated, but there's nothing that can't be said. It's just that I've always been busy with work at the Ministry of Magic and rarely mentioned this to others. It's also to protect Amy; basically, no one knows I have a daughter like her."
"If you pay attention to The Daily Prophet, you should have learned about the incident a month ago where the wife of the Head of the Department of Magical Transportation divorced and married into Germany."
Sherlock's memory was quite good; he still had some impression of such gossip news.
"You mean that Mrs Evans who married and divorced six times in five years?"
Eddie nodded gently.
"She is Amy's biological mother."
Sherlock was stunned.
According to that lady's track record, she was completely a fickle woman. He felt that given Eddie's vision and personality, it was unlikely he would have any relationship with such a woman.
Eddie also saw Sherlock's confusion. He exhaled a breath of wine and continued, "Just saying it like that, you might think it was me being young and ignorant at the time, but... well, it was indeed me being young and ignorant, not able to resist temptation. However, from the reports about that woman, you should also know she is not an ordinary person, otherwise she wouldn't have been involved with so many high-ranking officials in the Ministry of Magic."
Sherlock seemed to have thought of something, and he asked hesitantly, "She... is not a normal Wizard?"
"She is a Veela," Eddie said lightly. "A fickle, thrill-seeking Veela."
"During the summer holiday when I was 17, I met her by coincidence. She seduced me with her unique charm and had a relationship with me."
"At first, I didn't know her identity and really thought I had fallen in love with her. Afterwards, she got pregnant and had a child, so I thought about getting married after graduation. As a result, I didn't expect that after she gave birth to the child, she said she had played enough with me and wanted to break up. She didn't want the child and left her for me to raise."
"I was very angry, feeling that my feelings had been betrayed, so I had a big argument with her."
"Her emotions also became agitated at the time; you should know what kind of changes occur when a pure-blood Veela becomes agitated."
"It was at that moment that I learned her identity and realised that I had never liked her; that so-called affection was just the unique allure magic that comes with a Veela."