0159 Clues

With a loud bang, a cloud of dust rose up in the air, and Bryan found himself back in the bedroom on the second floor of the Potter's old house, where the tragedy had happened. 

The sun was setting behind the rooftops of the neighboring houses, casting long shadows and dimming the light in the broken bedroom. The only source of illumination was the bright beam that came out of the tip of Bryan's wand, piercing through the darkness that surrounded him. His sharp eyes scanned the room and quickly locked on the footprints that stretched from the gaping hole in the wall to the picture frame that hung on the opposite side.

He knew that the flowers that lay on the floor were given by Professor Snape, and he also guessed that the tear marks on the shattered mirror frame were most likely left by Professor Snape as well. There was no problem with that. The problem was these footprints. They looked fresh and clear, as if someone had just walked in and out of the room. But who was it? And why did they come here?

On the floor that was covered with a thin layer of dust, Bryan could see his own footprints, but also another set that belonged to someone else. His expression turned solemn as he tried to figure out the identity and motive of the intruder.

Before leaving, he suddenly thought of a question. For so many years, would Professor Snape only come to mourn his former love this year?

Impossible, if everything was as he guessed, Professor Snape probably had to come here several times a year, on the anniversary of her death, on her birthday, on Valentine's Day, or any other day that reminded him of her. Then why, there was only this string of footprints in the room and nothing else?

'Washed away by rain?' Bryan looked up at the ceiling that was mostly intact and ruled out this guess.

Or Professor Snape had never entered the room before, but because of the escape of Sirius Black, who killed the Potters, he was stirred up and broke into the room?

Bryan could not deny this possibility, but his intuition told him that this was not the case.

And what supported his intuition was his understanding of Severus Snape. Because of those unbearable past events, this man had been accustomed to hiding himself for so many years, whether it was his true inner thoughts or his whereabouts.

According to his guess, Snape should have entered this bedroom many times, but every time he left, he would use magic to cover up his traces and not let anyone notice. Not to guard against anyone, but just not wanting anyone to know.

If this was the case, then the owner of these footprints

Bryan raised his wand and tapped his temple, uttering a word that sounded like a whisper: "Sensus Amplifico!" 

This was a rare and powerful charm that he had discovered in some 'ancient' books from the underworld. It enhanced the sensitivity and accuracy of all his senses, allowing him to perceive the slightest details and nuances in his environment. But the spell also had a serious drawback: it made him more susceptible to sensory overload or distraction. He had to be careful and use it sparingly, and never in a duel. He called it the hyper sense spell.

In an instant, the world suddenly enlarged in front of him, and the fine dust on the ground seemed to turn into pebbles. Even the faint sound of air flow became extremely clear.

Bryan suddenly became like an experienced Muggle detective, using his poisonous eyes and sharp brain to analyze everything in his field of vision, trying to find more clues.

In fact, if Bryan had come earlier, the traces of personal magic power still remained in the air, then he would have some methods to use, but it had been too long, and the natural magic power flowing in the space had already obliterated the traces of magic power left by the person unconsciously. Bryan had to use this 'stupid' way to find clues.

Starting from the picture frame, his eyes moved inch by inch towards the hole. Bryan observed the footprints on the ground, trying to find traces of the owner of the footprints.

Suddenly, his focused eyes fell on the broken wall below the hole. He quickly floated over, bent down and took a small strand of silk from a sharp piece of wood. The silk was gray-white, stained with dirt, and smelled slightly foul. Bryan pinched the silk and looked at it back and forth, and unconsciously, a curve appeared at the corner of his mouth.

He had found a clue. A clue that might reveal the identity of the intruder. A clue that was left by a piece of clothing that was torn by the wood. A piece of clothing that was gray-white, dirty, and foul-smelling.

He was familiar with this fabric. It was a striking gray-white color that stood out from the dull surroundings. More than two months ago, Professor Gilderoy Lockhart, who had appeared on the front page of the Prophet for the last time in his life, wore clothes of this color, very eye-catching. 

Now, the sun had completely fallen below the horizon, and the peaceful village was lit up with dim candlelight. Only the breeze on the wilderness sang louder and louder, carrying the scent of grass and flowers. It was a stark contrast to the scene of death and destruction that he had just witnessed.

In order to avoid attracting attention, Bryan extinguished the fluorescence at the tip of his wand, hid his figure with a Disillusionment Charm, and left the Potter's old house. He walked casually along the street, pretending to be a passerby, but his eyes were alert and vigilant. After wandering around for a few laps, he walked into a deserted alley where no one came in.

The silk thread that was two or three feet long did not fall to the ground after leaving Bryan's fingers, but stayed steadily in mid-air. As the wand drew a mysterious circle, the silk gradually turned into powder, and a small group of thin, transparent air appeared in front of Bryan.

Bryan stared at his harvest, his eyes solemn, and whispered softly,

"Avensegium–"

Hoo–

The transparent air that gathered into an irregular shape in front of Bryan showed waves, and slowly moved in a certain direction, but before Bryan could catch up, the air turned back and moved in another direction. Like this, like a headless fly, bumping around.

Bryan narrowed his eyes and silently thought about why this would happen.

'Three possibilities, the first one, Black was very alert, just like when he was active as the golden viper, he had some magic on his body to prevent tracking and positioning and conceal curses, which made it near impossible to directly locate his position.

The second one, Black was currently in a place protected by powerful magic, blocking all tracking magic.

The third one, the silk itself carried a very weak breath, and after a month, if Black was in a region with a strong or mixed magic field, then it would be difficult to locate him as well.

Then, which one would it be?' 

Bryan crossed his arms and leaned against the mud wall, quietly staring at the air that was running around.

"The first possibility. Black would need at least a wand, um. For him, it would be very dangerous to attack a wizard and snatch a wand under the full pursuit of the Ministry of Magic and the Dementors. He could be exposed at any time. He had been hiding for so long and had not been discovered. Black must be very cautious and would not do that."

After a short thought, Bryan ruled out the first possibility, and the second and third possibilities were not much different. 

'If it was really these two situations-'

Bryan snapped his index finger. 

'That meant that Black was very likely to have appeared in Hogsmeade, the Forbidden Forest, or had already ambushed in Hogwarts.'

Thinking of this, Bryan's aura became sharp.

Bryan wanted to catch Black, and the Ministry's huge bounty was only one of the purposes. He also wanted to avenge the Potters, although they did not have a relationship with him, and restore the stability of the underworld as soon as possible. These were also his purposes. And after the trip to Godric's Hollow, there was another reason.

That was to help untie the knot in the heart of Professor Snape. Although it overlapped with the above reasons, the meaning was actually different.

"Um, my contract with Remus Lupin. After catching Black, I will inform Professor Snape first, let him kill Black, maybe, it will make him feel less depressed."

Bryan stopped the air that was almost dissipated, thought for a while, and sealed it on a strand of gray hair on his head. If Black appeared near him in a certain area, then this strand of hair would react.

Thinking that Black might have been lurking near Hogwarts, Bryan felt more urgent. He raised his wand and was ready to Apparate back to Hogsmeade. In the next period of time, he might have to patrol the village like the Dementors every day, looking for any signs of Black.

Bang–

Just then, the dim yellow light from the glass window of a Muggle family a hundred feet away suddenly went out, and the whole house plunged into darkness.

Bryan was stunned, and then smiled. He wondered if the Muggles had a power outage or forgot to pay their bills. Muggle technology was advancing by leaps and bounds, but it had not reached the level of his previous life. In his distant memory, that was still when he lived in the countryside in his childhood in his previous life. At night, he often encountered such embarrassing situations, when the lights would flicker and die, leaving him and his family in the dark. He remembered how they would light candles and lanterns, and tell stories and jokes to pass the time.

Some memories of the past made Bryan feel happy. He took back his gaze and prepared to leave, but before his body was embedded in the void, a vague sentence from Tonks a few days ago suddenly popped into his mind.

"–Black's ancestral home, protected by many ancient and powerful magic, can't get in."

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Author's Note: Avenseguim is a spell that takes an object owned by someone and turns it into a way to track that person down. Newt used the spell on the feather from Kama's cap to find him.

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