Chapter 296 Seemingly Normal Working Atmosphere

"The second tier, the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, contains the Misuse of Magic Department, Auror Command and the Wizengamot Governing Body."

After the indifferent female voice sounded, the golden fence door slid open again, and the witch beside her hurriedly dragged a long scroll of parchment outside.

"Here we are, Harry," Mr. Weasley greeted Harry, and followed him out of the elevator to a corridor with doors on both sides. "My office is on the other side of this floor."

In this corridor, there is occasionally a window embedded in the black brick wall, from which the bright sunlight shines in. Harry looked outside, but found that he couldn't see the ground, only the endless sea of ​​clouds, and the sun floating above the clouds.

"Mr. Weasley," Harry asked hesitantly, "we...should still be underground?"

"Yeah, that's right." Mr. Weasley said as he walked, "These windows are enchanted, and the Magic Maintenance Service decides what the weather will be like every day for us... Last time we had a hurricane here for two months, it turned out But it's because they want a wage increase ... it's almost there, Harry."

They turned a corner, passed through two heavy oak doors, and entered a messy, noisy open-plan office area divided into cubicles.

The note paper planes carrying the news kept flying in and out of the cubicle, making it even more busy inside.

As soon as Harry reached the main door, he saw a sign crookedly hung on the nearest cubicle: AUROR COMMAND.

As he walked along the outer corridor of the office area, he noticed that the Aurors had covered their cubicle boards with things.

From the head portraits of wanted wizards, to photos of their families, to posters of their favorite Quidditch teams, and articles clipped from the Daily Prophet, it seems that from those details one can guess the distance The personality and preferences of the host.

After passing the cubicle of a purple robed wizard, Harry saw a blindfolded witch talking to Kingsley through the partition of the cubicle!

"Good morning, Weasley," Kingsley said carelessly, seeing them pass by, "I've been meaning to say something to you, can you give me a second?"

"Fine! If it's really a second," said Mr. Weasley, "I'm busy right now."

They talked as if they didn't know each other very well.

Harry froze for a moment,

Immediately, he remembered all the knowledge he had learned about the current status of the Order of the Phoenix during this period of time. He understood that the members needed to hide their identities when they were outside, so he suppressed his desire to say hello to Kingsley.

They followed Kingsley through a row of cubicles and into a cubicle at the very end.

Immediately afterwards, Harry was really taken aback by the sight in the cubicle.

On the partition of the compartment, winking at him from all sides, was Sirius' face.

The bezel was cluttered with newspaper clippings and old photographs - including one of Sirius being best man at Harry's father's wedding.

Harry understood the true meaning of "wanted by the Ministry of Magic". Not to mention being hunted down, just being picked up and pasted on the partition made Harry feel a little terrified up.

In the only place not occupied by various Sirius data, there is a detailed map of the world, and the little red pushpins on it shine like gems.

"Here," Kingsley said stiffly to Mr. Weasley, thrusting a roll of parchment into his hands, "I need a Find out as much as you can about the situation..."

"...we have intelligence that Blake may still be using his old motorcycle."

Upon hearing the news, Harry immediately thought of the Lenilana sisters.

They got an old bicycle from nowhere, could they have been seen?

At this time, Kingsley blinked hard at Harry, then lowered his voice and said to Mr. Weasley: "Give him this magazine, he will probably find it quite interesting..."

Then, he said in a normal voice: "Don't delay too long, Weasley, the report on the shining legs was late, which caused a delay in our investigation for a month."

"If you've read my report, you'll know that word is flasharm," said Mr. Weasley coldly. "I'm afraid you'll have to wait for your information about motorcycles. We're very busy at the moment."

Then he lowered his voice and said, "You try to leave before seven o'clock, Molly is making meatballs!"

After the routine conversation was over, Mr. Weasley motioned to Harry and led him out of Kingsley's cubicle.

They went out through another oak door, and then turned left and right until they came to the end of a dimly lit and especially dilapidated corridor.

On the left, a door was slightly ajar, revealing a broom closet. And on the door on the right hand side, there is a faded brass sign:

Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Division.

This was Mr. Weasley's office. It was dark, shabby, and seemed smaller than a broom closet.

Two desks were crammed into it, surrounded by a line of overflowing filing cabinets along the wall, with crumbling stacks of papers on top.

There is literally nowhere to move freely!

If there was any room that was more disorganized than this one, maybe the study where Maca was located had the potential, but that study had much more space than Mr. Weasley's office.

Judging from the little usable space on the wall, one could tell what Mr. Weasley had a soft spot for:

Several car advertisements, including one showing a disassembled engine; two illustrations of letterboxes, which he apparently cut out from a Muggle children's book; and a schematic diagram of how to install a socket.

On the table, the high stack of documents makes one wonder whether the document basket underneath is still meaningful.

Next to the file basket lay a magical family portrait of the Weasleys, and Harry noticed that Percy seemed to have stepped out of it.

"There's no windows here," said Mr Weasley apologetically, taking off his bomber jacket and throwing it over the back of his chair. "We asked, but they don't seem to think we need to - sit down, Harry." , it seems that Perkins has not come yet."

Harry squeezed his way into the chair behind Perkins' desk while Mr Weasley flicked through the sheaf of parchment Kingsley had just given him.

"Ah!" He grinned, and pulled out a magazine from the parchment, "Yes, he's right, I'm sure Sirius will find it very interesting..."

"Oh! It's The Quibbler?" Harry asked in surprise. "I remember Maca likes this magazine very much—he subscribes to every issue. I heard there used to be a whole stack in his dormitory!"

"Really? Maclean doesn't quite think he'd like this kind of—well, what's the matter?"

Before the words were finished, a note flew into the open door and slowly landed on top of the pile of documents in the document basket.

Mr. Weasley opened the note and read it aloud: "'A third case of backflush from a public toilet has been reported at Bethnar Green. Please investigate quickly.'...This is hell!"

"The sewage from the toilet flushes back?"

"Anti-Muggle pranksters did it," said Mr. Weasley, frowning. "Twice in the last week, at Wimbledon and at Elephant Castle. When the Muggles flushed the toilet, As a result, not only did the dirty things not disappear, but... oh! Just imagine for yourself!"

"That's too bad..."

While talking, Harry bent down and took out his trousers, as if he was confirming something.

At this moment, a stooped old wizard with gray hair walked into the office panting slightly, and Harry sat up straight.

"Harry, this is Perkins."

"Ah, Arthur!" He looked at Harry, then waved a piece of parchment in his hand, "Urgent news."

"I already knew about the backflush in the toilet," said Mr. Weasley.

"No, no, it's not the toilet, it's the trial—they changed the time and place—to the old tenth court room down below at eight o'clock—"

Upon hearing this, Mr. Weasley immediately took the parchment and read it.

"Oh! The time and place have been changed—they can't wait," Mr. Weasley said, looking at his watch again. "It's a good thing we left early today, didn't we?"

"But then there's no time to rest...Harry, we've got to go now!"

Perkins pressed his body against the filing cabinet to make way, and Mr. Weasley and Harry walked out of the office quickly.

"Sure enough, I guessed with Maca—"

"Stop talking, it shouldn't be mentioned here." Mr. Weasley immediately interrupted Harry, "It's fine in the office, no one will be interested in our company anyway...but don't mention it outside."

"Oh—yes, sorry." Harry also realized that something was wrong, and nodded quickly.

Mr. Weasley stopped beside the elevator and tapped the "Down" button quickly.

The elevator appeared with a clatter, and they stepped into the elevator.

"I have to ask you again, Harry," Mr. Weasley leaned into his ear and said, "'That' doesn't have to be done, it's a trial with peace of mind—remember?"

The elevator sank down a few floors, Harry hesitated for a moment, and was about to say something, but saw a fat witch walking in with a smoking goblet, Harry had to shut his mouth again.

"main hall."

After a while, the indifferent female voice reported again, and the golden fence door slid open.

Harry only caught a glimpse of the golden statues in the fountain from a distance, and then the fat witch went out and another gaunt, grim-faced wizard entered.

"Good morning, Arthur," he said in a low, melancholy voice as the elevator began to descend, "I haven't seen you coming down much lately."

"Good morning, Bode." Mr. Weasley said casually, "very busy recently."

When Harry heard the name, his heart skipped a beat.

At this moment, following the pause of the elevator, the indifferent female voice suddenly sounded again:

"Department of Mysteries."