"Unfortunately, in the entire British wizarding world, the only opponents truly worthy of my attention are almost all at Hogwarts, and the only one I fear is Dumbledore."
"At the Ministry, only Moody and Scrimgeour could be called masters; the rest are no stronger than children to me. Instead of worrying about me, you should worry about your colleagues."
Watching Thunderbird burst into laughter, Aseria felt her heart grow cold. She actually had a good impression of Silver Flash and Alan. But now, it seemed they were in grave danger.
"What exactly are you planning to do? Alan is currently cooperating with the Ministry and is a student at Hogwarts. If you lay a hand on him, neither the Ministry nor the school will let it go." Aseria looked at Thunderbird with a grim expression.
"Don't worry, no one goes to great lengths for a dead person." Thunderbird straightened his tall frame indifferently. "As for my plan, have you forgotten what I'm best at? You don't need to worry about this matter implicating you; I wouldn't trust you with this kind of task anyway."
Though she heard his reassurance, Aseria's heart was in turmoil. She truly didn't want to be involved in taking a life, even indirectly.
"But I'm still worried. What if this affects the Club's future plans?" Aseria's mind was a mess. She had never considered herself to be on the same path as this lunatic, but she was under his control now, with no room to resist.
"Why are you always so hesitant? Dealing with a small problem doesn't take much effort," Thunderbird said carelessly. "Moreover, this young alchemist is still at Hogwarts. To deal with him, we'll have to wait until at least Christmas, which is still nearly a month away. It won't affect our 'Box' operation at all. On the contrary, remember your own job. Don't meddle in things that aren't your concern."
After he finished speaking, he turned to leave. Halfway out, he suddenly paused and added, "I'm returning to headquarters soon. The 'Box' operation will be handled by Sphinx's infiltration unit. If anything unusual happens, remember to send him a message."
"What about the jammers? Don't we need to bring the new equipment for this operation?" Aseria asked quickly as he prepared to depart.
"Someone will come to pick them up. You don't need to worry about that." Thunderbird let out a sneer at Aseria's flustered appearance, then Apparated away.
"This bastard! He completely disregards me! Have someone pick them up? Is he treating my home like a temporary warehouse?" Aseria gritted her teeth in anger, unable to resist picking up a glass and smashing it fiercely against the floor.
---
Meanwhile, Alan, who had observed Aseria's entire infiltration from Hogwarts, silently closed the monitor.
"Aseria's strength is actually quite good, especially that spell she used to break open the safe. I've never seen it before. Is it some kind of secret Dark Art?"
"But her behavior... why does she seem so naive? She actually stayed to play with things after breaking into someone's house. It seems she hasn't done this kind of work often."
"She's clearly not an expert in alchemy, and she likely doesn't understand runic magic well. Otherwise, she could have solved the lock through the magical patterns; the runes on my safe weren't that difficult. Instead, she relied entirely on brute force. Is that her personal habit, or does it represent the modus operandi of the Silver Spears?"
Alan lowered his head in thought. It was now confirmed that Aseria was involved in the smuggling case from the night before. Judging by the goods in her home, she definitely had accomplices.
However, since she already knew the Ministry had powerful tools like jammers, why did she wait until the smugglers were caught before stealing them? Was it overconfidence, or some other reason? Alan was still puzzled; he had been setting these baits for some time.
"Regardless, you stole equipment worth a thousand Galleons. As your creditor, I can't remain indifferent. Let's see what you're really up to." Alan smiled coldly and climbed back into bed.
The next day, Alan found Kiki, who was well-rested. He told her everything that had happened and gave her a few more trackers, asking her to monitor the stolen jammers. After Kiki left, Alan decided to take Hog and leave Hogwarts. The academy was already back on track, and staying in school felt pointless when he could be at the shop, giving Kiki more freedom to monitor their targets.
When he and Hog returned to Diagon Alley, he noticed Aseria's attempt to clean her tracks was quite clumsy; he could tell at a glance that evidence remained at the scene. He wasn't planning to expose her immediately, though. Aseria didn't look like a leader; he was more curious about the mysterious organization, the Silver Spears, standing behind her.
His equipment was already entangled in this smuggling war, and he didn't know how the Silver Spears viewed him. After the theft, he knew he was definitely on their radar. He looked at the safe Aseria had "repaired" with Transfiguration. Should he fix it? No, he'd leave it as it was. Maybe she would want to come back and check on it later.
Alan nonchalantly opened his shop for business. Hog quickly climbed onto the cash register; the dog had a restless personality and found great pleasure in handling the money. Alan pulled up a chair and sat behind the counter, beginning to enjoy the leisurely pace. Christmas was only twenty days away, and Diagon Alley was busy with wizards looking for gifts.
Not long after opening, however, an unexpected customer arrived.