Chapter 256 No. 12 Grimmauld Place

It turns out that the efficiency of wizard social media is not much worse than that of Muggle social media at the same time. The next morning, the Daily Prophet published the news about Black's release.

And because the popularity of this matter was so high, the Daily Prophet gave it a front-page headline without hesitation.

In addition to explaining the result of Black's treatment, the article also mentioned the affairs of Peter Pettigrew and Barty Crouch.

Among them, Peter Pettigrew was confirmed to have become a Death Eater, and betrayed the Potters, causing Harry to become an orphan, and also framed Black, making him stay in Azkaban for more than ten years in vain. The

result of his treatment was to deprive him of his political rights for life and take back the Order of Merlin, First Class, which was awarded to him as a posthumous honor.

In the end, he was sentenced to 996 years in prison, to be served in Azkaban.

To be honest, Mike was speechless about this.

What is the difference between 996 years in prison and life imprisonment without commutation? Mike didn't believe that Peter's strength could live for a thousand years.

But there is no way. As we all know, the UK is an extremely rigid country.

The number of years to be sentenced for each crime must be calculated clearly, not less and not more.

Moreover, in the entire Western concept, freedom is higher than life. In other words, in the eyes of those judges, the death penalty is not the most severe punishment, but making a person lose his freedom forever.

And this concept and way of doing things have been perfectly inherited by the wizarding world, so that a group of Death Eaters and Peter were not executed even if they committed a great sin, but were only imprisoned in Azkaban.

Mike thought this was really stupid.

Death is the ultimate punishment for a life. Those who think freedom is more important than life must have never experienced the feeling of near death, or have been brainwashed.

But there is no way. Regarding the treatment of prisoners, Mike's words do not count.

As for Barty Crouch.

Our dear Mr. Barty Crouch resigned directly because of the impact of this incident.

He also published an apology letter in the Daily Prophet. The sincerity of the words in the text was enough to let everyone understand how much he regretted his wrong decision.

Many people even began to sympathize with him because of this apology letter, which made Mike speechless.

Are these people brainless?

Barty Crouch is a person of this level. If he said he would resign, would he really resign?

In Mike's opinion, this operation was completely a retreat to advance, in order to eliminate the negative impact caused by the Black incident on him.

Because according to Mike's understanding, Barty has a very high prestige in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and almost everyone respects him very much.

Such a guy is afraid that he will become the director again after the rumors are over, and there will be no change from before.

Mike smiled and shook his head. Barty Crouch is really a great guy. He can turn the tide in this situation.

It's just that he has a son who cheats his father, and this son will continue to cheat him once more.

And this time, Mr. Crouch may not be able to stand up again.

Thinking of this, Mike closed the newspaper and threw some other miscellaneous tabloids into the trash can.

He knew without looking that these tabloids must be all about Black.

If it's such a big deal, these tabloids, known as hyenas, will not let it go.

"Shuke."

Mike called softly, and a house elf appeared in front of him.

"How is the construction of the base going?"

"Master, after our efforts, your laboratory is almost finished, but the living room and training ground will take a while."

After saying that, Shuke's big ears drooped down, and he looked very disappointed.

In his opinion, he had already disappointed Mike by not being able to build the base now.

How could Mike not know what he was thinking? Seeing the tired look on his face, Mike touched Shuke's smooth forehead and comforted him with a smile:

"It's okay, I'm not in a hurry. Take your time. Don't be too anxious. Take care of yourself."

After that, regardless of Shuke's look of being moved to tears, he put his hand on Shuke's shoulder and said:

"Okay, take me to King's Cross Station now."

"Understood, Master!"

With the crisp sound of snapping fingers, Mike appeared in the busy King's Cross Station after a dizzy spin.

After saying goodbye to Shuke, Mike tidied up his Muggle clothes that had become a little messy due to the teleportation and squeezed out of the station.

The purpose of his trip was Black's old nest, the legendary ancestral home of the Black family, No. 12 Grimmauld Place.

Black, that guy, actually wanted to delay his payment and used the excuse that he couldn't leave Hogwarts.

This was really unacceptable to Mike.

So he thought that he would go to the door today to inspect the treasures that already belonged to him.

Grimmauld Place is not far from King's Cross Station. It only takes about 20 minutes to walk there.

However, since Mike had not been back to the Muggle society for a long time, he was attracted by the bustling streets in front of him. In the end, he spent a whole hour walking and shopping to reach No. 12 Grimmauld Place as Black said.

To be honest, Mike felt very strange at first. The Black family, a family that despised Muggles, would actually arrange their ancestral home in the center of the Muggle city.

But after thinking carefully for a while, Mike understood that he was completely wrong.

The Black family's ancestral home was not built in the city at all, but when the city expanded, the Black family's ancestral home was wrapped in it.

This is not difficult to understand.

As a super family that has been passed down for thousands of years, the Black family was probably still desolate when they chose the site for their ancestral home?

The Black family's ancestral home that appeared in front of Mike at this moment did not disappoint Mike. At a glance, he could feel the ancient atmosphere emanating from it.

From Mike's perspective, it was a door painted with black paint. The black paint on the door was covered with scratches due to the long time, and its copper door handle was a ferocious giant snake, which fully proved that the Black family had a certain Slytherin bloodline.

Perhaps because no one had taken care of it for too long, Mike could see through the window of the house that it was very messy, and the window itself was even more filthy.

Such a dirty tall building formed a sharp contrast with the bright shops on the side. It stands to reason that the city management department would not allow such a building that damages the city appearance to appear here.

But the magical thing is that everyone ignored this building.

Mike knew that it was because of the Fidelius Charm, and he didn't care. He took a few steps forward and came to the door.

There was no keyhole or mailbox on the whole door except the door handle. Mike knew at a glance that this door should be opened purely by magic.

Fortunately, there was a doorbell on the upper right side of the door. Mike gently shook the doorbell and it made a crisp and pleasant sound.

Not long after, the door was opened. To Mike's surprise, it was not Black who appeared in front of him, but an old house-elf.

"Oh! What do I see? A Muggle! Get out! Despicable Muggle! Your unclean blood will taint this sacred Black family house!"

The house-elf screamed as if he had seen something terrible, and his shouting seemed to have awakened something in the house, and a woman's voice came out immediately.

"What did you say, Kreacher? A Muggle! This is simply too terrible! Ah!!! You all wake up! Get this damn Muggle out of my house!"

The woman screamed, although her voice sounded muffled, as if it was blocked by something, but the huge volume still penetrated the entire villa.

Then, the dilapidated villa in front of him became lively, and the voices of countless men and women rang out from inside.

Mike frowned and slowly stepped back. With a flick of the wand in his hand, the old house-elf who wanted to attack him froze in place.

At this time, Blake, who heard the noise, also ran down from upstairs. He was slightly surprised when he saw Mike, and then he shouted at a portrait covered by a piece of rag:

"You crazy woman! Stop it! Stop shouting! That's my friend!"

However, the female voice obviously didn't buy his account. After a pause, she shouted in a slightly crazy tone:

"Why did you come back, damn guy! And you brought this dirty and lowly Muggle to defile my house! Why didn't you die outside? Ah..."

Before the female voice finished speaking, Blake wrapped it tightly with a dirty curtain. In just a moment, the female voice that made Mike's head ache became quieter.

As the female voice became quieter, the other portraits in the house gradually quieted down.

"It seems that this house doesn't welcome you."

Mike smiled and looked at the panting Blake, teasing.

"Damn it, why did you come here suddenly? Hogwarts shouldn't be closed for the holiday yet, right?" Black came to the door and said to Mike with a bad face, "Merlin, I haven't even had time to clean the house yet!"

"It doesn't matter, I'm just here to receive my reward, and I'll leave as soon as I get what I deserve."

Hearing this, Black frowned but didn't say anything else, and directly made a gesture of inviting him in.

When Mike stepped into the villa, Black suddenly said,

"Can you remove the petrification spell on Kreacher first? I still have to rely on him to clean the house next."

"Stop Curse."

Mike casually cast a Stop Curse spell without looking back, and continued to walk into the house.

The porch on the first floor of the villa is very long, with peeling wallpaper, worn carpets, gas lamps, and a spider web chandelier and candlesticks in the shape of a big snake on the wall.

Most of the decorations in the entire corridor use snake-shaped patterns, except for an umbrella bucket at the door, which looks like... a giant monster's foot?

Mike's attention was not attracted by the strange umbrella barrel for too long, and he soon focused his eyes on the portrait that was still cursing.

"That's my mother, you saw it, she wants me to die." Blake complained angrily, "Okay, stop looking, let's go."

After that, Blake stepped sideways past Mike and disappeared at the end of the corridor.

Mike followed Blake to the basement through the stairs at the end of the corridor, and Blake turned on the lights in the basement early.

The structure of this basement is very different. A long table similar to the one in the Hogwarts Great Hall is placed in the middle of the basement, and a fireplace is placed on the wall at the end of the long table.

There are two rows of huge bookshelves on both sides of the long table, and the books Mike needs are neatly placed on them.

"I have already moved the books in the vault here in advance. You can choose them yourself."

Mike looked at Black and said with a smile:

"It seems that you have already gone to withdraw money. Then, Harry's Firebolt was broken by the Aurors. Why don't you give him another one?"

"Do I need you to remind me of this? I have already placed an order with the Quidditch supplies store. The new broom will be sent to him as soon as it is made."

Seeing Black's smug look, Mike chuckled and ignored him. He walked straight to the bookshelves and looked at the books on them.

It must be said that the Black family is indeed a super family that has been passed down for thousands of years. The number of books in the basement is almost comparable to the restricted area of ​​Hogwarts.

But after flipping through it for a while, Mike found that although there are many books here, the quality is not as good as the restricted area.

Let's not talk about other things, but the books on history and potions are pitifully few compared to the restricted area.

But what made Mike happy was that the Black family, as a family that has studied the dark arts for generations, had more books on the dark arts in their collection than in the restricted section of Hogwarts.

Mike casually searched for a few times and found what he wanted most on this trip.

The method to cast the Fiendfyre!

And, right next to the Fiendfyre, the methods to cast the three unforgivable curses were also lying there quietly.

Mike was overjoyed and immediately stretched out the bag with the Invisible Stretching Spell, and used the Levitation Spell to make the books about black magic fly neatly into his pocket.

On the other side, Black saw Mike's reaction and frowned immediately.

"Mike, I suggest you not to learn those terrible black magics." Black said, "Many ancestors of our Black family died because of studying black magic!"

Mike ignored Black's advice, nodded perfunctorily and continued to pack the books.

When Black saw that Mike ignored him, he stopped talking.