Chapter 79 .A City in Name Only, a Prison in Reality
Lynn opened the window and took down the letter brought by the owl.
"Sorry, conditions aren't great right now, there's nothing to feed you."
The owl seemed somewhat displeased, pecking at Lynn's fingers with its sharp beak before taking flight and disappearing into the night sky.
Lynn handed the letter to Professor Fawkes.
He opened it; the contents weren't long, and he quickly finished reading it.
Professor Fawkes's face was grave.
"We're in big trouble."
"What's wrong?"
Lynn took the letter from him, puzzled, and his expression darkened after reading it.
"This is actually a wizarding prison," Professor Fawkes said in a deep voice. "It holds the former followers of the first Dark Lord, Gellert Grindelwald, the Saints."
These people should have been imprisoned in various countries' Ministry of Magic prisons after Grindelwald's downfall, like Azkaban in England.
But Grindelwald left a contingency plan for his former followers.
No one knew what it was. Rumor had it that it was likely a curse that would strip wizards of their magic, rendering them worse than Squibs, no different from Muggles.
This curse resided in the small town of Abrose.
Even the former saints could not escape this powerful curse; they survived, but lost their magic.
The Ministry of Magic couldn't send Aurors to capture them—it would only be a waste of manpower—so Dumbledore eventually laid down a rule for these saints:
they were forbidden from leaving the town for life, and the Ministries of Magic of various European countries would no longer send anyone to bother them.
Thus, it became an unconventional wizarding prison.
Because this incident was not something the Ministry of Magic was proud of, and because so much time had passed, it didn't become widely known in public.
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It was a secret that wasn't exactly a secret.
Due to its remote location, and the fact that it was actually on the outskirts of the city, the Ministry of Magic had issued warnings visible only to wizards.
But Lynn was Apparated here, and Professor Fawkes said he didn't see any warnings at all.
The two were now trapped in this prison, and the Auror Moody who sent them the letter only gave them one piece of advice:
hurry up and learn a skill that could earn a living in the Muggle world, so they wouldn't starve for the rest of their lives.
Lynn's heart sank to the bottom after reading the letter.
After learning about the situation in this city, Lynn became even more suspicious of the identity of the old master that Kira had mentioned.
This place imprisoned Grindelwald's former followers, and those followers were mostly from pure-blood families.
So, was it possible that there was a "relative" of his among the prisoners in this city,
and that what Kira had asked him to take was in the hands of this "relative"?
But if that were the case, why did his magic disappear after he was tricked into coming here?
Would he abandon his wizarding identity for the sake of the name of a pure-blood family?
Wasn't that putting the cart before the horse?
Lynn couldn't figure out the reason, but he absolutely couldn't accept the consequence of losing his magic forever and becoming an ordinary person in the future.
His only hope now was that the system wouldn't give him an impossible task.
In other words, there must be some way to restore his magic!
And the only clue now was the criminals imprisoned in the city.
He turned to Professor Fawkes, who was also deep in thought.
"Professor, I remember you told me that your parents were once followers of Grindelwald, that is, saints."
Professor Fawkes shook his head.
"I know what you're thinking, Lynn, but as I've said before, I've had virtually no contact with them since they officially joined Grindelwald's followers. The surname Fawkes isn't uncommon; the saints in this city couldn't possibly know me."
Even after hearing Professor Fawkes's explanation, Lynn still felt this was a connection that could be exploited.
"That cripple who tested us today was probably sent by that group. They've clearly discovered us through some means and will likely contact us again soon. We don't have any conflict between us. When the time comes, Professor, you can explain your relationship with them. Once you've clarified things, I think they'll share information with us."
Hearing Lynn's explanation, Fawkes thought this might be feasible.
They indeed had no conflict with those saints.
The only slight connection was that he had been a professor at Hogwarts, essentially working under Dumbledore.
But he had only been a professor for less than a year, and this place was isolated from the magical world; it was impossible for anyone to know him.
It was already late; any plans they had could only be put off until tomorrow.
Today's experience was truly unpleasant, which kept Lynn from falling asleep until very late.
The next day,
Smith and his group, having lived here for over forty years, were veritable local strongmen.
They found the hotel where Lynn and his companions were staying with almost no effort.
Simon was carrying a long cloth bag that looked quite heavy.
"Why did you bring your hunting rifle? We're not here to kill anyone!" Leon shouted in a low voice, his eyes wide.
Simon grinned, revealing two rows of large yellow teeth.
"Don't worry, this gun of mine is broken and unusable. I brought it to scare them, so they won't misbehave."
Smith and Leon were speechless; they had already given up hope on this simpleton's intelligence.
"Have you taken care of things with the police station?" Smith asked Leon.
With Rozier not leaving the church and Simon being a simpleton, everything had to be decided by the two of them.
"Everything's clear. Their leader is Hoffman's brother-in-law. I told them Simon's farm was robbed, and we want to catch the thieves ourselves. If anything goes wrong, as long as no one gets killed, he'll cover for us."
Smith nodded. Although Leon usually seemed a bit timid, he was the most reliable person when it mattered.
After all, this now inconspicuous, skinny old man used to be their Saints' top enforcer.
"Alright, let's go up now. Simon, be careful not to let anyone see your gun, or it'll cause trouble."
He gave this special instruction before leading his men up to the second floor of the hotel.
The knocking at the door startled Lynn awake.
Professor Fawkes was still snoring. He rubbed his still sore eyes and got out of bed to open the door.
Fortunately, Lynn wasn't groggy yet. He was alert and peered through the peephole to see who it was.
Of the three old men outside, he only recognized one—the cripple he'd met at the fast food restaurant yesterday.
Then he noticed a long strip of cloth tucked into the hand of one of the three, a fat man with a thick beard.
A small section of a round iron pipe was sticking out of the cloth bag.
Lynn instantly jolted awake! He was wide awake!
It was a gun!
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