The woman walked into the room and gently kissed the forehead of the man lying motionless on the bed.
"Honey, I'm home."
She adjusted the blanket over him, then suddenly whipped out her wand and aimed it at where Dana was standing.
"Stupefy!"
"Protego!"
A blue barrier blocked the stunning spell just in time. As Dana revealed himself, he swiftly countered.
"Expelliarmus!"
The woman wasn't expecting such a quick response. She had no time to dodge, and the Disarming Charm sent her flying backward into the wall. Her wand spun through the air before landing in Dana's outstretched hand.
Despite being unarmed, the woman scrambled to her feet and lunged at him, her face twisted with rage.
"We already escaped! Why won't you leave Hawkin alone?"
She aimed to claw at his face with her manicured nails—painted a deep crimson—but before she could reach him, Dana cast a Binding Curse.
She froze mid-motion, completely restrained. Her body trembled with frustration as she shook her head violently, spitting out a stream of curses.
Dana found her choice of words amusing. She had grown so enraged that she'd switched from English to her native tongue.
Placing her wand at the foot of the bed, he said calmly,
"Relax, madam. I'm just here to ask a few questions. I have no intention of harming Hawkin Ricketts."
Dana had spoken in perfect Chinese.
The woman's eyes widened in shock. Her face turned red, and she quickly averted her gaze.
She had just screamed, "You weakling! Even if I stripped naked and crawled all over you, you still wouldn't be able to do anything!"
And now, it turned out that the man in front of her understood every word.
Dana sighed. Well, at least he had confirmed that the man on the bed was indeed Hawkin Ricketts. Borgin hadn't lied.
Seeing that she had calmed down, Dana flicked his wand and released the Binding Curse.
"Apologies for breaking in, Madam. That was improper of me. But I only need answers to a few questions, and then I'll leave. Naturally, I'm willing to pay for the information."
"You're paying?"
Dana blinked.
"Yes. Isn't that standard practice?"
The woman rolled her eyes.
"If you had led with that, I would've opened the door for you! Why sneak in?"
Dana shrugged.
"I did knock. You weren't home."
She sighed.
"I went to St. Mungo's to get nutritional supplements."
With a glance at Hawkin, she gestured for Dana to follow.
"Come downstairs. We'll talk in the living room. As you can see, Hawkin isn't in any condition to answer questions."
Dana followed her down to the first floor. They sat facing each other on the worn sofa.
"Madam, my name is Dirk Dentes. How should I address you?"
She replied, "Wang Shujing."
"Did you immigrate from the East?"
"No. I was born and raised in England. Third-generation immigrant."
"Understood, Madam. Now, I'm curious—how did you know I was in the room?"
She glanced at him before responding,
"I'm a clean freak. I can't tolerate even the slightest bit of dirt. Your footprints were faint, but to me, they stood out like a Lumos Charm in the dark."
So that's how she noticed.
Dana nodded.
"Four years ago, when Hawkin Ricketts still worked at the Ministry of Magic, he handled the case of a woman named Anna Avery. She was trying to secure her son's release from Azkaban. That son had been wrongfully imprisoned—he had been framed by someone using Polyjuice Potion."
Wang Shujing frowned. It seemed she hadn't known the details of why Hawkin lost his job.
"After that, Hawkin was dismissed. What I need to know is: which high-ranking Ministry official fired him?"
She remained silent for a moment before replying,
"I don't know. But I can tell you what happened that day.
We didn't always live here. We used to be in Godric's Hollow. That day, when Hawkin came home, he told me we had to leave immediately. He wouldn't explain why, but I could tell something was very wrong.
We were planning to move here—this house belonged to my grandfather and wasn't registered with the Ministry. We thought it would be safe.
But before we could even finish packing, a group of men in black stormed into our house."
Dana's eyes narrowed.
"They cast Memory Charms on Hawkin over and over again. And now… well, you can see what's left of him.
Before they barged in, Hawkin had shoved me into a closet. I was lucky they didn't find me.
After they left, I brought him here, and we've been hiding ever since."
She sighed.
"For a while, I thought you were an Auror."
Dana's mind raced.
Excessive use of the Memory Charm could leave a person in this exact state—trapped between being a vegetable and an imbecile.
"Do you know who those men were?"
Wang Shujing nodded.
"When they stormed in, Hawkin screamed at them: 'Aurors and Hit Wizards aren't supposed to bully civilians!' So I know they were from the Ministry."
"Can you identify them?"
"I wouldn't know any Aurors. I never worked at the Ministry—Hawkin was the one supporting me."
She couldn't give him names. But Dana had enough clues to figure it out.
Aurors and Hit Wizards.
Only a select few people had the authority to deploy them for such an operation.
The Minister for Magic.
The Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
The Head of the Auror Office.
The Head Auror alone wouldn't have had the power to authorize such an extreme move.
That meant the order had to have come from either the Minister for Magic or the Head of Magical Law Enforcement.
In 1987, those positions were held by Millicent Bagnold and Barty Crouch Sr., respectively.
And Dana already knew that Oliver Avery had visited Barty Crouch.
That was it.
It had to be Barty Crouch Sr.
It all lined up. His own imprisonment had been orchestrated using the same method Barty Crouch used to swap his dying wife for his Death Eater son.
Had Crouch gotten the idea from what happened to him?
Dana exhaled slowly and pulled a handful of Galleons from his pocket, scattering them onto the coffee table.
"Thank you, Miss Wang. This is for your trouble. If you recall anything else, I'll pay for that information too."
Wang Shujing hesitated, then shook her head with regret.
"I need the money, but I won't lie to you. I've told you everything I know."
She had principles.
Dana nodded and stood up to leave.
Then—to his utter disbelief—Wang Shujing began unbuttoning her cheongsam.
"Sir, I don't have any more information… but I do have this…"
She let her voice trail off as she met his stunned gaze.
"I need the money. The supplements aren't cheap."
Dana rubbed the bridge of his nose. This was… unexpected.
He was about to reject her outright when the front door suddenly swung open.
A young man with dyed-red hair waltzed in, took one look at the situation, and grinned.
"Ah Jing, you finally came to your senses!"
The newcomer clapped his hands together and smirked.
"I told you that looking after Hawkin was a waste of time! You've already done more than enough for him. It's time to move on and find yourself a real man!"
He turned to Dana, looking him up and down with approval.
"Not bad. Handsome, too. Good choice, Ah Jing! You two carry on—I'll give you some privacy. Just don't take too long, alright? I'm starving."
End of the Chapter.
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