Shalltear couldn't help but wonder if there was a hidden way to leave the base directly from the core hub. Maybe there was a private Floo network inside, or even an Apparition zone, sealed off from the rest of the park. Her curiosity about what lay inside the tall steeple grew stronger with each passing minute, her mind swirling with questions and theories.
Just then, Alex returned from his rounds and quietly stepped up beside Fang, who was still hard at work. "So," Alex asked casually, "how's it going? Have you managed to map out the base properly yet?"
Fang didn't look up as he responded, his fingers moving across a wide scroll. "There's no way to get perfect coverage," he said.
"The base is just too big, and the surveillance spiders can't be everywhere at once. But I've managed to piece together a solid overview." He handed a sheet of parchment to Alex, who took it with interest.
Alex had years of experience keeping tabs on hundreds of Slytherin students back at Hogwarts, able to recall names and behaviors without breaking a sweat. Compared to that, adjusting to this breeding base was manageable, though the lack of proper camera coverage was a bit of a nuisance.
As he reviewed the parchment, Alex raised an eyebrow at the sheer number of people stationed here. According to the report, the wizards at the base were organized into four main groups: the patrol team, the maintenance team, the medical team, and the general support crew, who handled odd jobs and basic upkeep.
The patrol team, tasked with keeping the base secure, had 36 members in total: 16 on the night shift, and 20 during the day. Their responsibilities were split into internal and external patrols.
During the day, ten wizards were assigned to patrol the outskirts, mostly because the chances of running into curious Muggles increased. At night, that number dropped to six. The internal patrol stayed consistent regardless of the time: ten people total, split into five pairs. It was a basic setup, but effective enough.
Alex nodded. That division made sense, external patrols needed more eyes during the day to avoid unwanted attention from the outside world. Muggle campers, hikers, and the occasional journalist posed a constant risk to secrecy.
Next was the maintenance team. These wizards handled all the internal work within the park: escorting magical creatures, ensuring enclosures were secure, and dealing with any accidents or misbehavior. There were 35 of them, divided into seven teams of five. Each team had its own captain and was trained to respond quickly to creature-related incidents.
Then came the medical team. Their job was to monitor the health and well-being of the magical beasts. The team included a mix of healing wizards and experts in magical zoology, roughly 25 to 30 people altogether.
Fang's notes on this group were a little messier than usual, with some names missing and a few scribbled lines where assignments weren't clearly listed. That suggested they might be a bit more disorganized than the other teams, or perhaps they moved between roles depending on what was needed that day.
Alex frowned slightly but said nothing. He'd need to get more detailed info on the medical team later. Still, with what Fang had gathered so far, he already had a clearer picture of how the base operated, and how it could be dismantled, if it came to that.
Fang had noticed that a certain group in the base didn't seem to have any specific job title, so he just started calling them "handymen." In truth, the group was a mix of wizards and Muggles, and their responsibilities were all over the place.
Some worked in the kitchen, others prepared food for magical creatures, and a few handled general cleaning. Most of them seemed to fall under maintenance or medical support, often working side by side regardless of background. What caught Alex off guard was how many of them there actually were.
"There are 113 handymen here?" Alex asked, raising an eyebrow as he glanced down at the numbers on the parchment Fang had given him. "If we include the other wizards, that's more than 200 people, isn't it?"
"Exactly, Master," Fang confirmed with a nod.
"And that's not even the full headcount. A few folks didn't show up on camera at all.
About twenty of them are wizards, but the rest are Muggles. Many of the Muggles are family members of the wizards. Their roles shift around a lot depending on what's needed, they just pitch in wherever they're short-staffed."
Fang let out a small sigh, his frustration clear. "I didn't expect the Golden Snidget to be this secretive."
Looking at the numbers again, Alex finally started to see the shape of Silver Wand's plan. It wasn't just about running a breeding base, they were holding a large number of Muggles as silent hostages.
Still, that fact alone didn't alarm him too much. He'd already guessed the place would be crowded. But the exact makeup of the staff, especially how many Muggles were involved, made him pause.
There was no logical reason for a magical breeding base to require this many people unless Silver Wand had other motives. It was too deliberate to be a coincidence.
Alex ran through everything in his mind but didn't dwell on it long. He turned back to Fang. "Anything else?"
"Yes," Fang said quickly. "Shalltear tracked down Claremont a little while ago. He's the actual manager behind this place. She managed to get a copy of their conversation and his briefing." He handed Alex another stack of parchment.
Alex skimmed through it, his eyes narrowing with interest before letting out a quiet chuckle. "Well done, Shalltear. She's really outdone herself."
"Oh?" Fang leaned in, curious. "Did she find something useful?"
Alex nodded and laid out the key points clearly. First, aside from Claremont and his assistant Gail, the only trustworthy people in the entire base were members of the patrol team.
Everyone else, whether wizard or Muggle, genuinely believed they were just doing honest work. Still, that didn't make them useless. In fact, they might come in handy later.
Second, Claremont had expressed interest in obtaining the agency rights to distribute West Germany's products, and he made it clear where he stood on the matter. That kind of openness was valuable. It meant they could possibly use this as leverage to draw him in, maybe even turn him into an unwitting ally.
And third, and most importantly, Claremont had access to a hidden passage in the so-called "core hub," one that led directly to the outside world. That was their way in and out of the base. That was the weak point in the barrier.
With that, Alex looked up at Fang again, his tone firm. "This is huge. What Shalltear found today might just let us move things forward much faster."
But Fang still looked puzzled. "You want Claremont to help us? He's not one of us, how's that supposed to work? Are you planning to use the Imperius Curse on him?"