"Now the clue is broken again." Tonks said dejectedly.

"Let's go in and check this house first. At least we have to find out why Riddle bought it and what the connection is with the magical traces left at the old Gaunt house." Moody picked up the wine flask at his waist, drank a sip happily, and then limped to the side. "I'll write a letter to Dumbledore. Maybe he will have some guesses about Riddle's purpose."

"If you find anything, tell me immediately!"

He found a stone to lean on, and a feather pen dipped in ink automatically wrote words on the letter paper.

"You only know how to order people around." Dawlish watched him walk away and kicked a stone away unhappily.

Moody was retired after all, and there was no denying that he had a great aura, but everyone thought he was almost crazy, with delusions of persecution in his mind. He was very dissatisfied that such a person was now commanding him.

"Everyone has left, what else can be found?"

Dawlish grumbled quietly, but he did not dare to disobey Moody's order. The old Auror's deterrent power was still very strong, and he would not show mercy whether dealing with enemies or his own people. Sometimes he was puzzled as to how the trainee Auror named Tonks could get along so well with him.

As Dalish was thinking, his eyes were suddenly dazzled by something.

It was like the sun shining on a colorful mirror, and the reflected light dazzled his eyes. The object flashed and disappeared in the green grass. His heart suddenly became nervous, as if he was about to grab something.

"You two go over there, I'll go take a look at the side." He quickly sent the other two Aurors away, then trotted over there.

How can I share such a good thing as promotion and salary increase with others?

He pretended to casually push aside the grass, but there was nothing inside. When he looked up, he saw a huge black and green python with scales reflecting colorful light running away in the distance.

Dawlish was filled with awe. There was no doubt that this python was closely related to Riddle. Tom Riddle himself was a Parseltongue, and perhaps he was controlling this snake to monitor anyone who appeared here.

This is Riddle's spy, but on the other hand, if he follows this snake, maybe he can find Riddle's location!

Dawlish followed without giving it much thought.

Although Dumbledore repeatedly emphasized that Riddle was dangerous, Dawlish's confidence and arrogance made him think that the so-called Riddle was probably just that.

We all graduated from Hogwarts with the best grades. Could it be that I, the great Rodlux, am not as good as Riddle? As he kept up with the python, he drew out his wand and carefully watched his surroundings.

But Dawlish didn't seem to notice that he had unknowingly left the Riddle House on the hillside and walked alone into the depths of the jungle. The light suddenly dimmed, the leaves turned dark green, and the ground covered with dead leaves was wet under his feet, causing him to slip and fall several times.

'Stopped.'

He saw from afar that the brightly patterned python stopped moving forward, so his heart tightened and he immediately hid his body behind a sturdy tree.

Dawlish swallowed, and sweat broke out on his forehead.

For a long time - perhaps only a few minutes - he could only hear the chirping of birds and insects coming from somewhere in the jungle. But just when he was about to lose control, another footstep sounded.

The sound of dead leaves being crushed by the soles of shoes became clearer and clearer, and Dalish became more and more nervous.

The footsteps were approaching.

Dawlish heard the owner of the footsteps lower his voice and make a horrible hoarse sound like "Shaha——".

It's Parseltongue!

It's Tom Riddle!

He didn't leave, and just as he had guessed, he was monitoring them through the snake.

That self-righteous Moody found nothing, and the person who finally caught Tom Riddle, the escaped prisoner, was me - Dawlish!

Dawlish's breathing became heavy.

He thought that he only needed to turn his head and shoot a "stunner" at Tom Riddle, and he could take all the credit for himself.

The rest of the Aurors in the Ministry of Magic and the guards in Azkaban had almost gone all out, but they hadn't been able to catch another fugitive. But he had caught Tom Riddle all by himself, so it seemed that he was the next head of the Auror Office.

He adjusted his breathing and prepared the spell. The next moment, he jumped out:

"Fainted!"

The magic wand shot out a red spell, which suddenly exploded!

“Bang!”

Dalish's eyes widened, his heart seemed to be hanging in the air as if he was on a bungee jumping machine, and then fell heavily.

The spell missed.

Tom Riddle, as expected, was not here, and even the python disappeared. Dawlish subconsciously wanted to turn back, but something sharp hit the back of his head.

His heart sank completely and his limbs felt cold.

It's a magic wand! "Are you looking for me?"

This familiar voice made him feel like he was falling into an ice cellar.

Only now did Dawlish remember that he should seize the opportunity to fight back, but before he could make any move, something hit the back of his hand violently, causing a burning pain, and his wand was knocked away.

"We meet again, Mr. Auror." Cyrus chuckled as he looked at the cowardly Auror. "I have to say, you are really stupid. You actually jumped into such an obvious trap by yourself."

"Tom Riddle..."

"I'm glad you remember my name sir, but--" Cyrus gently hooked his wand.

"Out of body." — "Where's Dawlish?"

After Moody finished writing the letter, he looked around and didn't see Dawlish. He thought Dawlish had gone into the mansion to search.

But soon, Tonks jumped out of the mansion and shook her head.

"This house is really nice, much better than my father's taste." Tonks sighed as she looked around. Her father was a Muggle-born wizard, so he seemed to be influenced by the wizarding world in some ways, and the decoration of the house still maintained a relatively old style.

But what about here? She could hardly imagine that this was a wizard's home. The house was fully equipped with electrical appliances, and even a Sega Saturn, a game console that was just released this year! "Did you find anything?"

Tonks shook her head. "Perhaps Dawlish has discovered something. I saw him running hurriedly into the woods, as if he was chasing something."

Moody: ??? "So you won't go help?"

"ah?"

"Dumbledore has emphasized many times that Tom Riddle is extremely dangerous. If Dawlish had really discovered something, he might have been dealt with by now!" Moody shouted, "I've said before that if you find anything, notify me immediately!"

"Which way is he going? We have to move faster! Otherwise, Dawlish will be killed!" Moody said anxiously.

But the other two Aurors and Tonks pointed to completely different places where Dawlish was going.

"Which side?"

"I clearly saw him going towards the jungle!" Tonks said with wide eyes.

"But John told us that he went to the top of the mountain to take a look." The other two Aurors replied.

Moody was about to collapse.

What is going on with the Aurors nowadays?

This kind of quality can also protect the peace of the British wizarding world? If this happened during the Voldemort era more than ten years ago, these people probably wouldn't even know how they died!

Fortunately, at this moment, Dalishi came back.

"What are you guys doing here?" Dalish came out of the woods, brushed off the fallen leaves on his body, and asked in surprise as he looked at several colleagues who seemed like they were about to start a quarrel.

"You see, I said he went to the woods," Tonks said, folding her arms.

The appearance of Dawlish broke the tense atmosphere between Tonks and the other two Aurors, but Moody did not let his guard down at all.

His magic eye seemed to sense something and started to spin wildly, scanning Dalish's body several times like a malfunctioning machine.

"stop!"

"What's wrong?" Dawlish stopped approaching and looked at Moody with a frown.

Moody kept his face sullen and said nothing, his eyes scanning every corner of his body like infrared rays.

During the last wizarding war, Moody used this magical eye to see through the Death Eaters' transfiguration more than once, and prevented many assassination attempts on himself.

now--

Thanks to Emperor Xuan Shao for the 500 reward!

(End of this chapter)