Snape, the Sunshine of Hogwarts

A tall, thin, pale-faced young man and a short, stout middle-aged man wearing glasses.

Their clothes looked new, and you could smell the distinctive scent of pure cotton fabric when you got closer.

The tall, thin, pale young man had a girl who appeared to be asleep on his back.

"Is this Mr. Layton?"

The man at the head, with a short ponytail, smiled and asked.

Layton then stopped examining the area and opened the small window in front of the pavilion.

"I'm."

“Mr. Mills sent us here; these are the documents he gave us to pick up the car.”

As he spoke, the man with the short ponytail handed a car rental receipt into the window.

Wright took the paper, glanced at its contents to make sure they were correct, and then selected one of the car keys from a pile on the counter.

"Volvo 240 Touring. Hmm, the license plate number is CV 219, and it's parked in parking space 076."

After handing the keys to the man with the short ponytail, Wright routinely mentioned some precautions and the return date, but his gaze couldn't help but drift towards the two people behind the man, one tall and one short.

Layton couldn't see what the girl on the tall, handsome man's back looked like, but he always felt there was something strange about the two of them. Even though they were dressed normally, there was something awkward about them.

But soon, the short-haired man with the car keys led the group to the parking lot to find their rented car, disappearing from Mr. Layton's sight as he was about to leave work.

The man with the short ponytail is none other than Severus Snape.

After stealing Patty from Bardemington Manor, he immediately reunited with Harry and Bloody Wolpert and prevented them from using Apparition to teleport directly to Patdemington.

"From now on, put away your wands and do not use any magic, not even the most basic levitation charm."

"Why? Aren't we supposed to move as quickly as possible?" Volpe couldn't help but ask.

“Any magic will leave a trace, let alone a spell like Apparition that allows you to trace the location of the spell.” Severus led them to the nearest phone booth and found the phone number for a car rental company.

He spoke to Henney and Volpe before picking up the microphone.

"In fact, if the Aurors didn't just see themselves as wizards and only thought about the problem from the perspective of magic, they could have identified you as the murderers on day one. But they rarely think that they can use things that Muggles can use. The long-term implementation of the Act of Secrecy has influenced their thinking, causing them to believe that wizards and Muggles are separate entities."

"However, in reality, Muggles use tools that anyone can use, unlike magic, which only works on specific individuals. Obviously, most people are still unaware of this, which is not a good thing for wizards as a whole, but for us now, it is an excellent way to hide."

“Remember, act like a real Muggle. I’ll go buy the new clothes we need and rent a car later. Wolpe, go to Gringotts and do me a favor.”

Severus directed Bloody and Volpe while simultaneously calling the car rental company and arranging to meet one of their salesmen, Mills, at a certain location to complete the rental procedures.

Subsequently, the four of them clearly defined their roles.

They temporarily settled Patty in a small inn, with Bloodny and Harry guarding the place. Wolpe went to Gringotts to retrieve the vault key Severus had given him and run some errands. Severus, on the other hand, went out to coordinate matters related to Muggles, including buying clothes and renting cars.

Finally, they reunited at the small hotel.

“I did as you said, and opened a new vault in my own name, and moved the medicine that was being brewed in the original vault into it.”

Wolpe returned the vault key to Severus, who clearly had a guess about what was going on.

"Is that the medicine that can revive Patty?"

Upon hearing this, Blood Nymph, who had just changed out of her robes and into new clothes, looked over with shining eyes.

"Mr. Snape, you...you were prepared?"

“But that pot of medicine will need to be boiled for at least another four days.” Severus held the car pick-up certificate he had obtained that afternoon. “Come on, Bloody, you carry Patty on your back. Remember to let her hair down to cover her face.”

He led Harry, Bloodny, and Wolpert, who had changed into normal Muggle clothes, to the car rental company's parking lot. After receiving the car keys from the attendant, the four of them, along with Patty, got into the spacious, boxy station wagon.

Harry sat in the front row, while Henney sat in the back with Patty and Wolper in his arms.

The vampires and wizards, who had never sat in a Muggle car before, were so curious about everything inside. They even studied the door handles for quite a while.

"Don't touch anything in the car."

Severus reminded him, but he himself sat in the driver's seat, pondering the thing in front of him for a long time.

Whether it was a car from the 1980s or a right-hand drive vehicle, Severus had to familiarize himself with it all over again.

This terrified Harry, who was watching from the side.

He instinctively believed that his teacher was all-powerful and omnipotent, but look at him now.

"Hold on tight, we're about to set off!"

Finally, Severus started the car and surprisingly skillfully shifted the gear lever!

Just as Harry caught his breath and was about to fasten his seatbelt, the car, which hadn't even moved forward half a meter, suddenly shook violently and stalled on the spot!

The car was eerily quiet.

After a long while, Xueni hugged Patty tightly in his arms and said carefully.

"Or, a flying broomstick would be a good choice too."

"Or a flying carpet would be fine too," Volpe added at the opportune moment.

"I just released the clutch too quickly." Severus turned the key again to start the engine, trying to cover up his embarrassment. "Don't be afraid, I dare say no one in the wizarding world knows how to drive better than me!"

This time he successfully drove the car out of the parking space and slowly drove out of the parking lot.

Every time Severus shifted gears, the car would shake violently, forcing Harry and the two in the back to hold on tightly to the handles above the doors!

"Mr. Snape, where are we going now?" Bloody asked nervously.

Severus gripped the steering wheel with one hand and began to get used to the car's rhythm. He rolled down the window and rested his other hand on the door.

He spoke lightly as the wind blew into the car and ruffled his black hair.

"We can go anywhere for the next four days, as long as we don't get caught by the Aurors. Also, Elder, don't forget to keep writing your book. You said you could finish it in three days at most, so remember to use your writing skills; we need your work!"

Volpe had already opened his notebook, and he was currently pulling at his hair.

"I'm trying to calm down and think this through!"

At this moment, Blood Nymph whispered something.

"Can we go to the Cotswolds?"

Upon hearing the somewhat familiar place name, Severus raised an eyebrow. Before he could even recall what this place was, Harry, who was diligently fastening his seatbelt in the passenger seat, reminded him.

“Miss Patty has always wanted to go back to her hometown, where there is a farm, and Bloody promised her that he would take her there.”

Severus laughed.

"I remember there was a huge tulip field there, wasn't there? It's perfect for a picnic! Let's go, let's go to the Cotswolds!"

Bloody's eyes reddened again, and he hugged Patty, looking extremely moved.

Upon discovering this, Harry quickly pulled the back of his new clothes forward.

"You can't use my clothes to wipe your nose anymore; it's a new one the teacher bought today!"

A burst of hearty laughter erupted from the car as it drove out of Bristol at dusk.

The fugitive's journey has begun.

Chapter 39 The more you believe, the more you investigate.

"Still can't find it?"

“We expanded our search to half of Bristol and found only three suspicious Apparition traces, but after tracing those three traces, none of them were Snape.”

"He definitely didn't commit this crime alone! What about that child who only appeared with him in the last two days? Have they been able to trace his identity?"

"No, it's difficult to count children from wizarding families who are not old enough to attend Hogwarts. We are not sure which family the child named Dudley Dursley comes from."

"What about Slughorn? Did he say anything?"

"Whether facing Aurors or interviewing reporters, he insisted that he knew nothing about the so-called potion or what Snape wanted to do. He claimed that he only purchased a batch of ingredients for the Living Hell Soup for Snape and helped him find sales channels, and did not participate in any of the pharmaceutical process."

"He says he wasn't involved, so he's not? He met with Snape twice in those three days! Both times at Snape's house!"

“There’s nothing we can do about it. Slughorn has a lot of connections. We can’t even detain him. Just bringing him to the Ministry of Magic has already prompted more than a dozen well-known wizards to write to us, including some high-ranking officials within the ministry.”

"So, the trail ends here?"

Robaz's face was grim in the temporary investigation office that the Aurors had set up in Bristol.

After the Ministry of Magic issued the most wanted warrant, he and Kingsley led their men to be stationed here, taking full responsibility for the pursuit and capture of Severus Snape.

But now it's already dark. They not only conducted a comprehensive Apparition investigation of Bristol, but also dug deep into the backgrounds of everyone who had contact with Snape during this period.

Even after learning that Snape had spoken with the three Weasley children in Diagon Alley a few days earlier, an Auror went to find Arthur and asked him to bring George, Frederick, and Percy to the Ministry of Magic for a detailed statement.

However, all of this was basically a waste of time.

They found no clues and had no way of knowing where Snape had gone with his men or who was with him.

The matter was deadlocked from the start, and the Aurors couldn't find a suitable entry point.

This made Robaz feel discouraged.

He had always considered Scrimgeour a target, wanting to bring all dark wizards to justice, including former Death Eaters like Snape and Malfoy who escaped trial after Voldemort's downfall.

Now that Snape has finally slipped up and there is an opportunity to catch him, Robazs simply cannot accept that he has escaped because of his incompetence.

Just as he was under the bright incandescent light, he laid out all the clues he had obtained on his desk, wanting to sort them out again and try to find new ideas.

The office door was suddenly pushed open from the outside.

Kingsley walked in, accompanied by a pile of neatly organized documents floating around him, as well as several pieces of evidence packed in sealed bags.

"A new discovery!"

Robards jumped up from his chair and stared intently at Kingsley.

"What clues have you found?"

“If Snape’s initial purpose in coming to Bardemton Manor was to take that Muggle away, he could have done it on the first night and there would have been no need for him to stay here for two days.”

Kingsley waved his wand, causing the documents to fall onto Robazs's desk, and continued.

"This means that either he did something else at the manor, or he made the decision to take the Muggles away after he came to the manor."

"So I followed this line and learned in detail from Madana about everything Snape did after arriving at the manor. He told me that last night, Snape had taken his students out for a walk for a while without any prior notice."

"Going for a walk?" Robards flipped through the documents on the desk, but his attention was clearly focused on what Kingsley had said.

“That’s clearly a pretext and an excuse,” Kingsley himself said.

"I led a team to investigate from Badminton Estate to Bristol city center, and got a lead from a Muggle taxi driver. According to him, he picked up a tall man with a pipe and a cane near the Bristol Police Station around 9 pm last night, accompanied by a boy wearing a newsboy cap, and dropped them off at the gate of the estate."

"That's them!" Robaz recognized the two men just from their descriptions.

“Yes, it is indeed Severus Snape and his student Dudley. I just came back from the Bristol Police Station, where a Sheriff named Nelson Gordon was apparently under a Confusion Charm the day before. He claims that he met Holmes and his assistant Watson yesterday and helped them in their own way.”

Kingsley pointed to the things on the table.

“That’s it. Snape used a Confusion Charm to confuse him last night, pretending to be a detective, and got him to take him into the police station, where he retrieved this information.”

Robaz was completely focused on the documents and evidence at that moment, and he soon discovered what they were.

"These are the investigations the Muggle police conducted on the victim before we arrived! And these are the things they found in her room!"

He turned to look at Kingsley in shock.

"Why didn't the Muggles give us these things willingly in the first place?"

Kingsley's voice was heavy.

"They thought we would ask them for it, but none of us wanted to go to Muggles."

Robazs, of course, wouldn't reflect on things like Kingsley did. He believed that Muggles should speak up about such matters immediately, rather than waiting for wizards to do so.

But he was quick-witted, and from Kingsley's discovery at the Muggle police station, he easily deduced the significance of Snape's actions.

"He didn't take away the investigative evidence, nor did he deliberately erase the Muggle sheriff's memory. He wasn't there to destroy the clues!"

Robaz was somewhat shocked by the conclusion he had drawn.

"He was also there to investigate; he was investigating his own case!"

"That's it. This proves that when he first went to Badminton Manor, he probably didn't know who was behind the poisoning. He was also looking for the killer until he found these things at the police station, which made him realize something and then he did what he did today."

Kingsley's words prompted Robards to revisit the evidence.

A tulip brooch, bearing traces of a healing spell.