Chương 48: The French Embassy
A/N: Sup guys, your resident writer here. I know I haven't uploaded in a while, but I was busy with the other series. Enjoy, leave a review and throw some stones!!
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In a dark room, a single light flickered unnervingly. With a white tiled floor and grey walls, the room seemed empty, except a wooden round table in the middle with a few chairs placed beside it.
A pile of maps, books and scrolls cluttered the tabletop as one man shuffled through them all. Using a swift flick of his wand, a few pages levitated encircling his head.
His gaze ran through them as he flicked his wand again, neatly stacking the pages on the table. Like a machine the man repeated the process.
If not for his immense command of the mind arts, the man would have likely gone insane. The wizard had combed through thousands of documents with excruciating detail.
Yet his work didn't stop. If there was one man responsible of holding up the Romanian information network. It was Ivan.
Within the recent week, he had developed a bit of a stubble. His unkept appearance also derived from his workload.
Ivan sighed, as he heard three familiar footsteps nearing the door.
"I am too busy for your shenanigans. Take it elsewhere." He barked, and the door flung open.
"Calm down old man. People might think you've finally gone insane." Zack retorted, as bodies covered in thin films of fiber floated above him.
Zack twisted his wand as the hostages flew into the empty chairs, their bodies slumping down.
"We brought you a gift." Zack smirked.
Ivan glared at his pupil, perhaps for a second imagining unspeakable things he wished to do. But he found the boy grinning and surrendered his anger.
"My apologies, Ivan. It seems we've disturbed you." Zagreus walked into the room, dragging a few hostages himself.
Dmitry followed the two in, hurling a small sickly boy over his shoulder. He glanced at Ivan, slightly nodding.
His frown deepened. Ivan smacked his forehead and mumbled a few curses.
"Just put them down."
He sighed, as a few more chairs appeared at the center of the room. Ivan swiped his hand and all his scattered work was neatly arranged into a pile.
Zagreus and Dmitry obliged, setting the hostages down in the chairs.
Ivan grabbed his wand and ready to begin as he motioned Zack to do the same. But the odd appearance of the boy stuck out from the others.
In the first place, Ivan had instructed the teams to not grab any useless hostages
"What's with this one?"
He glanced at the boy, the only hostage that wasn't restrained.
"Apologies, he wasn't in the plan." Zagreus lowered his head.
Ivan raised a brow, but Zack was quick to interject.
"That one's on me, he was running away from the camp. I caught him." He shrugged.
Ivan clicked his tongue as he glared at Zack.
"Tell me the truth, where'd you kidnap the boy from."
"What." Zack furrowed his brows
Ivan shot him a look that screamed, 'really?'
"You expect me to believe this malnourished kid, is a death eater? Come on now, where'd you pick up the kid. "
"Huh? Have you gone senile old man?" Zack glared.
Zagreus and Dmitry simply watched the master and disciple shenanigans from afar, a slight smirk hanging on their lips.
"Boy, I am just saying, why is it always a kid you kidnap? You can't mix in your personal habits with work." Ivan retorted.
Zack immediately jolted with anger
"HAH? Me? Kidnapping? Old man, is the work load too much? The dementia finally setting in? You can tell me you know, I will take real good care of you in an old home. " He replied, words laced with fury.
"You? Face it boy, even when I grow frail and weak, I will still dwarf you in ability. Fine, I won't say anything about your habits, just know that if you keep doing this, there'll be an intervention."
Ivan cackled, inching closer to the unconscious boy. A flick of his wand and the wooden armrests distorted, clamping the boys limbs down like chains.
Zack gnashed his teeth as he scoffed. He looked towards Zagreus and Dmitry for some backup as he found the two had already quietly slipped away.
'Bastards' He clicked his tongue.
"Get to work, don't just stand there like an idiot." Ivan barked, as he shooed Zack away.
"Fine, fine."
He replied, walking over to the nearest hostage, wrapped in vines and wood. Zack held his palm over the man's forehead, and exhaled slowly.
Suddenly his vision flashed, as a surge of memories rushed to his mind. Zack sorted and arranged the memories, skimming through them all.
A few minutes later, the unconscious man twitched, foaming at the mouth as his fingers curled in. Zack let go of the hostage and stepped back.
Seconds later, the man's eyes rolled back, and the body slumped in the chair.
Zack moved on to the next hostage as Ivan glanced at the body.
"Your control needs work." He quipped
"Why bother with something useless, they're all dying after this anyway." He replied, confused.
Ivan chuckled as he flashed a wise grin, "The useless opportunities are where the excellent shine and the subpar grow lazy. Don't grow complacent boy."
Instead of arguing like always, Zack thought his words made sense. Hence, he swallowed his ego and whipped out his wand to refine his control.
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[A few minutes later]
Zack and Ivan had cycled through all the hostages, contemplating and forming their own opinions on what they had seen.
"Sit down, tell me what you found."
Ivan conjured another set of chairs as he gestured Zack to sit. Although this was still classified as work, Ivan was a diligent mentor, and was still actively training and quizzing Zack on his legilimancy skills.
Every mind read he had done, would then be questioned by Ivan to ensure he had done a good job.
Zack nodded, as he aligned his thoughts, and began explaining all he had learned from each hostage.
"....Lastly, the boy. There wasn't much to see, he's some sort of errand boy or slave. Got dragged into this mess, perhaps he has a slight talent with potions but that is all."
Zack concluded, waiting for Ivan's comments on his assessment.
Ivan contemplated, rubbing his chin as he leaned forwards.
"Excellent work on the first few. It seems your skills haven't deteriorated by all the dueling training."
"First few?"
Zack's ears perked up at the words.
"Unfortunately, on your last target, you were quite biased. Only skimmed through the surface thoughts and grew complacent in your legilimancy." Ivan replied, gesturing to the boy.
Zack was baffled as to what he meant, he could only sit in silence and nod along.
"What exactly have I missed?"
At his question, Ivan got up and walked over to the unconscious boy. With a flick of his wand the boy's satchel flew over.
He glanced at Zack,
"Sophie taught you potions, yes?" Ivan asked.
"Somewhat, I can't claim to be an expert." Zack replied, unsure if he should brag to Ivan.
"Yet you still missed the clues." Ivan shook his head as he sent the satchel to Zack.
"Open it."
Zack obliged, rummaging threw the satchel as he was surprised to find that it had a very poor quality extension charm.
Peering inside, the satchel was full of old potions, empty glass vials and shocking ingredients that Zack recognized from Sophies potions lab.
He frowned, "A lot of potions and some expensive ingredients. But what does that mean."
"Take a closer look at the potions." Ivan replied
Taking a second glance, Zack grabbed a potion flask swirling it around, it was then that it clicked.
"Minor recovery potions." He narrowed his gaze. Recovery potions were indeed one of the hardest to brew, yet this unknown boy seemed to have dozens in his bag.
Not only that, if the ingredients were any indication, it was even possible that he had brewed them. Zack stole a glance at the boy, slightly impressed.
"The death eaters were quite foolish. To treat their one and only potioneer this poorly. However, the fact that he was sent here, and given these ingredients is not a coincidence." Ivan spoke up.
"You might not know, but these ingredients aren't common to the British Isles. In fact most potion masters specifically buy these from France. For a nameless boy to have seemingly fresh ingredients and bottles of potions in Romania;" Ivan stopped, letting Zack think it over.
Zack's eyes widened, "You don't mean the French embassy supplied these...." A lull filled the room.
Ivan nodded, "The French embassy, and in line, the French ministry. It seems that things have finally gotten out of hand. We had suspected their minister of magic to be embezzling funds and leaking intel."
He frowned, taking a pause.
"But to think he provided direct aid through ingredients and potions. If anything, this is a declaration of war."
Ivan pursed his lips, prompting Zack to look to at the potion with astonishment.
His mentor had somehow figured all that out with a single potion. It only meant that he had a lot to learn.
Ivan marched towards the stairs, gesturing Zack to stay down.
"Keep everything under control here. Move the other hostages to the dungeons. As for the boy, tell me when he wakes up. We need to have a long conversation."
Ivan ordered, and disappeared.
Zack sighed, stuffing the potion back into the bag as he called for some members to take away the other hostages.
He grabbed a chair lying around and sat down facing the boy, patiently waiting for him to wake up.
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A/N: Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Leave a review!!! Stones! Comments!!
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