Chapter 19: Clues

December 23rd, 1989, Interlaken, Switzerland, 10:16 AM

Even during this time of year, plenty of tourists were still visiting this place. The local market was crowded with people pacing back and forth, either enjoying the ambience or looking for something to spend their precious money on.

Amid the bustling trading atmosphere of the morning, Ethan and Harry seemed out of place, as the two practically ignored the specialties presented by those enthusiastic vendors.

Rather, they were moving at a quickened pace, slowing down only whenever they passed by an inconspicuous alleyway or store.

Finally, Ethan erupted and stopped in front of an old bookstore, situated quietly at a corner of the road. There were still people passing by the bookstore from time to time, yet from the look of it, there weren't any customers at all, not even the manager.

'There it is, according to Galeroy—that wandering merchant—this should be the entrance to Interlaken's magical market; it is also where he met one of the members of the Altxorra Braconier. '

His mouth curled up into a smirk as he could see dense magical thread interwoven and disappearing deep into the store. This indicated the most obvious traces of beings with magical properties.

Ethan gave the curious boy an affirming look before venturing deeper into the bookstore. "We're here."

The moment the door was pushed open, it was followed by the ringing sound of the doorbell. One could see a chubby middle-aged man behind the counter with a sleepy expression as he let out a big yawn.

"Ah…Hallo Reisender, welcome to… Benrdslovich's books store, We sell all kinds of books here, and though you may find them quite old, I guarantee you the content inside is quite intriguing-" The man was speaking English with a deep German accent.

Ethan decided to cut to the chase. "I assume this place held the entrance to the'market'."

It was at this moment that the bookstore manager squinted his eyes at the two silhouettes standing at the door.

One was a timid, petite boy with rosy cheeks clad in full winter clothes, and his pompom covered most of his forehead.

The other was a young man clad in a navy double-breasted suit, unbuttoned dark beige Ulster coat, a pair of black leather gloves and a silk half-top hat. Those dark amber eyes shone with brilliance and were hidden behind that exquisite sliver-slivery square-frame glass. His deep violet scarf draped over his neck.

Everything about him screamed elegant and somewhat intimidating, despite his scholarly aura.

'Wow, where is such a gentleman coming from? Well, he looks rich and...'

Clad in a warm outfit, the bookstore manager looked no different from any Muggles here.

Yet under Ethan's sight, he could see sparse threads of blue and red colours swivelling closely and slowly around the man.

Ethan simply pointed at the back of the store, where a row of inconspicuous bookshelves resided with a smile.

Having said the usual greeting, the man put down the tabloid in his hand as he said it nonchalantly. "Oh, a fellow wizard it is; such an interesting choice of fashion, I'd say."

Ethan just hummed in return.

"Anyway, it's behind those bookshelves, just picked the War and Peace. I assume the boy is with you; that will be... 17 Knuts." Scratching his reddish nose, the man said in a hoarse voice.

Ethan casually threw out the required fees; they landed perfectly within the man's palm. The man quickly counted the money as Ethan and Harry passed by.

"Guten Tag der Herr." Ethan said it swiftly with a friendly smile.

The man was slightly taken aback before returning the courtesy.

Harry nimbly followed Ethan to the row of bookshelves. His eyes widened with anticipation the moment Ethan touched the spine of the novel War and Peace. He could feel a sting in his finger as if a small amount of magic had been sucked away.

Those printed words on the novel suddenly glowed with yellow light and soon spread to others on the entire shelf.

Then a selected few of those glowing words floated up from the spine of the book as they readjusted themselves into two sentences.

"We can know only that we know nothing. And that is the highest degree of human wisdom." And then it continued to glow brighter.

Which made Ethan raise a nonexistent eyebrow while Harry's face was beaming with excitement.

Under the not-so-dazzling light, the standing bookshelf turned into a short tunnel for one to see what was on the other end.

The short tunnel led the two to a spacious hidden square with a small fountain in the centre.

Harry once again could see people wearing all kinds of winter robes pacing around the snow-coated square. The boy then noticed two to three distinct wizards or witches residing by the fountain.

They had their hoods on and were all wearing a mask covering most of their visage, each of them carried a rather exaggerated bag on their back all the time as they could just summon what the customers wanted.

Sensing the boy's curious gaze, Ethan began to explain to him what a wandering merchant was in the wizarding world; it was not like you would see them every day.

Those types of merchants rarely showed up in places strictly under the control or supervision of the authority; they would not stay in the same place for more than three days.

It could be extracted that Interlaken was one of their favourite resting spots, mostly due to its geographic biome and the local wizarding authority turning a half-blind eye to what business happened here.

From what Ethan gathered through numerous exchanges with them, they also seem to have formed a somewhat loose Alliance of Wandering Merchants some time ago. With the quote "Merchants have no country, the mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains" as their code,

Harry showed a contemplative expression as he pondered about those services of Wandering Merchants.

Ethan then cast his gaze over the entire place, looking for today's target.

His mouth curled up into a smirk as he finally spotted two not-so-fit-in vendors. It was a man and a woman in their thirties, with obviously matching face tattoos; the man had it on one of his cheeks, while the woman had it on her forehead, barely hidden under the shadow of the bucket hat.

Their expression was rather cold than friendly, and they weren't exactly engaging in the bustling trading atmosphere of the market.

Checking the time in his pocket watch, Ethan began finalising his plans on how to pry out the exact location of their hideout. He intended to directly engage in friendly conversation with them, disguising himself as a prominent customer, lest any mishaps alert him.

Having considered everything for one last time, Ethan turned his gaze to Harry. His eyes were also fixed in the direction of the two intimidating vendors. Gulping subconsciously, the boy turned his gaze towards Ethan with a determined look despite his trembling hand, squeezing Ethan's hand firmly.

Ethan had already conveyed his true intention of coming here to Harry while they were having breakfast, which rendered the boy speechless as he tried to take everything about the poachers, dark wizards, and other dangers lurking in the dark side of the wizarding worlds.

The boy was certainly terrified at that time, partly because of the mention of those dark wizards but mainly because he feared for Ethan's safety.

Harry knew not what Ethan was researching that involved dealing with these poachers, but one thing for sure was that he would not stay still and watch his Dad plunge himself into deadly trouble.

Before Ethan could raise his voice to reassure Harry that he would be back in no time, the boy had crashed into his embrace. Despite the curious looks of other guests in the shop, Harry grabbed onto his clothes tightly. Those emerald-green eyes burned with determination.

Patting the boy's head gently Ethan smiled contently at his precious boy as he promised to bring the boy with him.

Back to the two Altxorra Braconier. One could literally perceive the boredom etched on the two faces.

For them, it was supposed to be another uneventful, chilly day at this market. Their jobs were mainly watching the shop and keeping an eye out for the authorities should they decide to sweep the market for any reason.

As well as looking out for any potential, meaning rich customers... such as the young gentleman and his little son right here!

The two turned their attention to the gentleman, as he looked like one of those wealthy nobles of the last century, travelling around the world in his lucrative suit whilst watching everything on the way curiously.

To the two poachers, they were no different than those stupid-looking magical creatures worth for sale only.

The two exchanged knowing glances as the man slid back into the shelter and came out with an alluring'sample' while the woman put on the friendliest smile she could, waiting for the fat sheep to come by.

"Hallo Reisender would like to take a look at our shop."

The gentleman was slightly taken aback by the assertiveness of the local vendor. Gulping subconsciously, he tried to answer in a pretentious tone.

"Ah, ah, well, that depended on what exactly you were selling." The man said, scratching his nonexistent bread slightly, while the boy seemed to be rather shy and curious at the same time.

"Of course, sir, I guarantee that it would spark your interest! As well as this young master here." The woman exuded hospitality and enthusiasm with every word coming out of her alluring voice.

It was also at this time that the man came out with cages containing the exquisite-looking magical creatures, ashen feather Jobbernolls, gracious white Diricawls, and well-groomed golden kneels, all laying quietly in their cages.

Both the man and woman smiled contently once they saw the bewilderment of the gentleman. The woman then went to introduce their business and before the man could raise a question concerning the safety of harbouring such creatures, the man immediately showed off a few tricks with a Forst Salamander clawing out from his back.

"As you can see, they were perfectly tamed to be obedient pets and if you like, we could also provide other services procured from these creatures that would…" Her hazel eyes curled up into an inviting smile as she scrutinised the blushing gentleman.

"Ahem! I believe we should discuss this matter in a more personal space."

"Ah yes, you are right, sir. Please come in; we have much more to show."

The woman shot her partner a sinister look while the man returned with a wide grin indicating that they would have plenty to spend on luxuries once this fat sheep was done.

The male vendor turned to make way for the 'customer'.

 His smile was wide enough for Harry to see his yellow teeth which only further terrorized the boy, he could feel the insidious aura permeated as well as those malicious intents in the two vendors' eyes.

Unbeknownst to them, Harry had broken out in cold sweat the moment the woman started talking to Ethan. Had it not been for the dazzling blue moon in his mind and Ethan's discreet gesture meaning that everything would be fine.

He might have had a meltdown long ago.

The insidious man closed the opening as soon as the two guests had set foot inside the tent.

Harry and Ethan followed the woman deep into the tent while the man closely monitored behind them.

They came into a clearing illuminated by the yellow light of various floating lamps. The place was filled with enchanted cages stacked upon each other.

Harry's heart ached for the longest time as he saw various species of magical creatures including those that were cited as endangered by the ministry such as Occamy and Threstral.

Many of them were injured after being extracted mercilessly for their magical properties, those wounds were barely treated enough for them not to die that soon.

All of them bore a dreadful, helpless look which the boy could fully understand for he had once had that look for 9 years.

Despite her friendly smile, the woman's visage turned hideous as it was hidden away from the light of the lamp. The woman then signalled for the man to execute the 'deal'.

Harry felt a shiver down his spine as he sensed the approaching danger, but soon the feeling slightly faded as he caught Ethan's playful wink.

Just when the man was about to out two spells from his wand hiding behind his back, The entire world was engulfed in darkness for all the light went out at the same time. The man only felt a heavy tuck before he lost consciousness.

The sudden light out also caused a ruckus among the captured; surprisingly, the woman wasn't heavily affected by the chaos as she quickly pulled out her wand, preparing to fire all kinds of curses, hexes, and jinxes to where the gentleman and the boy were.

'Something is off about the gentlema-' Before she could finish her thought, there was blinding light enveloping the entire area, rendering the woman in a daze.

Then fear crippled her mind for at that moment someone grabbed her wand-holding hand, and a sense similar to a subtle electric shock ran through her body as the woman fell with a thud, paralysed.

It was the Full Body-Bind Curse—Petrificus Totalus.

When everything settled down, the woman's eyes filled with terror as she turned to look at the gentleman, who seemed to be a completely different person.

Not the ignorant, wealthy nobleman but rather a capable gentleman with a cold smile on his face as he played with the wand nonchalantly.

Harry had covered his eyes for the entire ordeal, which happened in just a few seconds before he heard Ethan's reassuring voice again.

Now, laid before the boy's eyes, were the two shady vendors; one was out, while the other had a terrified look on her face.

The gentleman's eyes shone with star-like brilliance, staring deep into the woman's soul as she felt a subtle stinging pain in her mind.

Ethan simply posed a few simple questions about their organisations as psychological cues so that the process of getting what he wanted using Legilimancy was less than a few seconds.

He gave a woman a pity smile as he proceeded to fabricate a false memory on her, erasing everything that happened this noon lest alarm others at the hideout.

He also repeated the same procedure with the man, double-checking the information he got from their memories.

Once the deal was done, Ethan restored everything to the point before they set their gazes on him and the boy with a wave of his wand.

Harry spared no second thought for those criminals as he walked away with Ethan. They deserved much worse for what they had done to those poor creatures, as well as those who scrammed before he and Ethan came.

Ethan promised Harry that they would soon unite with their accomplices under the judgement of justice.

…

December 23rd, 1989, Interlaken, Switzerland, 11:35 PM

Ethan sat quietly in the dimly lit room in the hotel they rented. It had a perfect view of Lake Brienz.

Harry was sound asleep; the boy was exhausted.

Though Ethan was chilling on the sofa, savouring a mug of hot chocolate, his gaze was somewhere far away, literally.

Amid the serene night, there was a small dot of faint light passing through the rustling dark wood, deep into a mountain.

Upon closer look, the dot of faint light turned out to be an Eurasian Eagle Owl. The owl appeared to be ethereal, as it was Ethan's Patronus who was now seeing everything through the owl's perspective.

After a few minutes of slight flying, the owl finally landed on one of the high branches as it spotted its target.

It was a dilapidated tent, seemingly abandoned. Yet under Ethan's unique Sight, the area surrounding the tent was filled with various defensive wards, present as clumps of dense magical threads.

It took Ethan some effort before he figured out a loophole.

Owl swiftly made an arc, avoiding all those threads under Ethan's guidance.

Before it finally ventured into the tent, the owl was developed with a translucent veil, rendering it invisible as it came into a brightly lit, spacious area, with various goods and crates stacked upon each other, orderly, with various poachers guarding at every corner.

The owl made a swift, silent glide as it tried to take in the full picture of the place.

The hideout seemed to be separated into three main floors, with the lowest one serving as storage for all the goods and supplies. The second floor was where the poachers resided and discussed their plans, and the top floor connected to the entrance was where they executed the business.

Each could be seen from the upper floor, as each floor was defined circularly, leaving a big hole in the middle.

Ethan commanded the owl to fly down to where they kept the magical creature.

Letting out a long sigh, Ethan was slightly disappointed that there were no signs of Re'em. He knew the possibility was extremely low. This could indicate that the Altxorra Braconier hadn't captured the beast, and this hideout might provide some important clue, as Ethan had divined.

It was then that something caught his full attention as the owl spotted a small, distinct pale golden egg. It was no doubt a Golden Snidget egg.