Chapter 129: The New Neighbor

"I am your new neighbor," Murphy said gently. "My name is Murphy Darkholm. You can call me Murphy."

"Murphy!" Fred and George exclaimed in surprise. "I knew it was him."

"Ron, go call Mum!"

Soon after, a plump middle-aged woman wearing an apron came out from the shabby house, holding a spatula in her hand.

She looked somewhat bewildered at Murphy. "Sir? Is there something I can help you with?"

"Oh, I'm your new neighbor, Murphy, Murphy Darkholm." Murphy stepped forward and handed her the flowers he was holding. "My friends told me the Weasley family lives around here, so I came to visit."

"Oh! My goodness!" Molly was somewhat flattered as she accepted the flowers. "You are too kind, sir. It's been many years since I've received flowers."

"Especially from a handsome wizard," one of the twins joked.

Molly blushed and glared at him, "Watch your back, George, or I'll spank it into blooming."

"But I'm Fred, Mum."

"Sorry, George, I didn't mean to hit you…"

"But I am Fred, Mum. George tricked you…"

"Oh! You two little devils!"

Molly was embarrassed by the twins' antics, and Murphy found it amusing that the twins indeed had a sense of humor.

"If it's inconvenient, I'll come another time?"

"No, no," Molly felt embarrassed, "my house is a mess, but if you don't mind, please come in for a cup of tea."

After entering the house, Murphy realized that Molly's description of the house being a mess was not out of modesty.

The Weasley house was indeed chaotic.

The living-dining room was filled with furniture, shelves, and small boards everywhere, covered with various items. A large dining table took up a lot of space, surrounded by nine chairs and several stools stacked in a corner.

The open kitchen on one side was even more cluttered, with pots, pans, and stacks of dishes everywhere.

Luckily, wizards don't need extra open flames or stoves for cooking, otherwise, the house would have easily caught fire.

Considering that the house accommodated seven children of various ages, it was already quite tidy and diligent of Molly.

"Sorry, Arthur isn't home. He took Bill and Charlie to Romania. Charlie wants to manage dragons after graduation, and Arthur is trying to find a connection to introduce him."

Molly said, handing Murphy a cup of tea.

Despite being looked down upon by other self-proclaimed noble wizarding families, the Weasley family's long history and wide connections were undeniable. They had relatives all over the British wizarding world and even abroad.

"Ah, I also have a business related to magical creatures, but dragons are too dangerous for us to handle for now," Murphy commented after sipping the tea.

And carefully put it down.

"Who would say otherwise!" Molly said worriedly. "I think it's much better to find a safe job at the Ministry, but neither Bill nor Charlie wants to do anything safe. They always choose the most dangerous jobs, making me worry every day."

Bill worked at Gringotts as a curse breaker.

His job essentially involved tomb raiding, often facing various magical traps, indeed very dangerous.

But if we're talking about loving adventure, your husband is no less adventurous.

The two casually chatted for a while, and during this time, Ginny even brought Murphy a small cake.

Ron and the twins eavesdropped for a while but left disappointed when they realized the conversation was very ordinary. "Wasn't he said to be a dark wizard? He doesn't seem scary at all."

Ron was considering using his mother's wand to try out a spell the twins taught him when Scabbers, apparently bored, ran out from his arms.

Murphy had been paying attention to the goings-on and frowned at this moment, "Excuse me, Mrs. Weasley, may I use your bathroom?"

"Oh, of course, Mr. Murphy," Molly quickly directed him. "It's the second room on the left. Shall I show you?"

"No need," Murphy declined politely, entered the bathroom, and locked the door. Then, he cast a Disguise Charm on himself and Apparated outside the house.

He walked to a corner, where he indeed found a fat gray rat, seemingly asleep, holding a piece of cheese.

"Catching you with a piece of spiked cheese... You've really become a rat, Peter."

Murphy picked up the rat, put it in an Undetectable Extension Bag, and then took out a similarly looking gray rat. Holding it, he Apparated back to the bathroom.

After flushing the toilet, pretending to have used it, he exclaimed, "Ah! What is this! A rat! There's a rat!"

Following the commotion, the Weasley family came to see what was happening. Molly quickly approached the bathroom, "Mr. Murphy? Mr. Murphy? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, I found this little guy in the bathroom. Is it your pet?"

"Scabbers!" Ron grabbed the rat, hugging and stroking it desperately.

The rat struggled to escape, but Ron held it tightly, "He must be scared."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know it was a pet…" Murphy looked apologetic.

"Oh, don't worry," Molly reassured him. "Sometimes I mistake him for a common rat too. This is Scabbers, Percy's pet. But Percy didn't want to take him to school starting fourth grade, so he gave him to Ron."

"Thanks for finding him for us. This little guy often runs away."

As if to prove Molly's point, the rat suddenly jumped out of Ron's arms and disappeared into a corner.

"Scabbers!"

Ron was anxious, not realizing that the rat was no longer his pet.

After all, who would look closely at a gray rat?

"Thank you for the tea, Mrs. Weasley. It was a pleasure meeting you all, but I have some matters to attend to and must leave."

After capturing Scabbers, Murphy took his leave.

Molly still warmly invited him to come again and have a good chat with Arthur.

Murphy agreed, "I've always admired Mr. Weasley's work, and I'm quite interested in Muggles as well. Looking forward to our next meeting."

Returning to Diagon Alley, Murphy found Rita Skeeter interviewing at the Watchers' Security Shop and handed Scabbers to the interviewee, Brancho Lloyd, a retired Auror, who took a few photos with the rat.

Although neither the retired Auror nor Rita quite understood what was happening, they didn't question their boss's actions.

The photos of Scabbers then appeared in the Daily Prophet.

Afterwards, Murphy visited the Minister for Magic, Mirrison, requesting a personal visit to his parents' graves to bring their remains back to the family estate.

The Darkholm couple, having died in Azkaban, were buried on the island. Naturally, visiting their graves meant going to the island. Although Mirrison found it a hassle, he didn't want to offend a major benefactor of the Ministry, so he found an excuse to inspect the magical prison with him.

Murphy happened to bring a few newspapers on the trip.

Thus, three days later, news came from Azkaban.

Sirius Black had escaped.

___________________

(Support with power stones, comments or reviews)

If you guys enjoy this story, In support me on Patreon and get access to +200 advance Chapters

Read Ahead

Patreon.com/INNIT