HP: It's a snake, not a badger.

Chapter 211 Extra: Resolve it as soon as possible

Emeric started leaving early and returning late, going out before seven o'clock these past few days, and his eye bags were practically drooping. He was determined to kill those people, otherwise all his hard work would be for nothing.

"I didn't find anything wrong here." Galian threw down the case file and clutched his head. He was almost unable to read anymore. Who was behind this mess? He was going to go crazy if he kept looking at this.

"Me too." Leila stared blankly at the ceiling, her mind filled with floating words. She knew everything about this family from childhood to adulthood, except for the fact that she had never met any of them.

The other two people in the room remained silent, simply pouring and drinking tea. Reand put down his cup and continued studying the documents; he needed to finish quickly and return to Germany—the workload here was terrifying. Although the pay was high, he chose to take less money and have more time to slack off.

"Knock knock".

"Come in." Galian sincerely hoped that this news would bring clues, rather than a bunch of trivial matters.

"The patriarch of Carion has suddenly received an extra sum of money these past few days, enough to last him another two months. This money was obtained in exchange for a pair of twins from a collateral branch. The two children have been given to Patriarch Ebius."

"Are they crazy?" Leila blurted out. She was truly disgusted by this behavior. "Did their parents agree to this?"

"It's said that both parents died, coincidentally a week before they were sent away, and the two children were only 14 years old, so they had no way to resist. In order to prevent them from escaping, they were even expelled from Hogwarts."

Emeric frowned, his fingers tapping the table. It seemed he couldn't resolve the situation quickly on his own; he'd have to find Gellert to save the two children.

"You continue to keep watch, and have the others keep an eye on those two kids. I'm going to find Gellert for help." He exhaled; compared to the two innocent children, his own pride meant nothing. "Garian, you and Lyra continue to look for clues. I want them to die on the pillar of shame."

Then, he looked at Rayand beside him and said, "Pretend to be a playboy these next few days, attend more parties, and try to attract Carleon's attention. Be careful."

"Okay." Rayander thought this task was very simple, requiring no brainpower; he just needed to follow his good roommate's example.

After briefly explaining the upcoming tasks, Emeric left immediately, guessing that Gellert was in the Headmaster's office. For the past six months, Dumbledore had been forced to stay home to be with his lover, Gellert.

"Gellert, I need your help." Emeric didn't mince words and explained his purpose as soon as he entered. "My abilities are limited, and I can't quickly pull these people out. If we wait any longer, those two children might be gone."

As he spoke, he started making sarcastic remarks about Dumbledore again, "You don't even know why your students drop out. Albus, why don't you learn from Minerva?"

"Hey? How did this get dragged into my head again?" Dumbledore slammed down his quill, his beard bristling and eyes wide with anger. How could he shift the blame like that?

"Alright, stop arguing." Gellert stood up and stepped between the two, preventing them from looking at each other, so he wouldn't have to coax them back if they started arguing. "Give the information you've collected to Wenda."

Gellert sometimes found it strange that Emerick, despite his excellent information-gathering skills, could never solve problems quickly except when it came to making money, and often needed Gellert's help.

"These are the ones we've screened out; we haven't had time to look at this pile yet." Emeric took out a large stack of things and put them on the table. They only have so many people, so it's normal that it takes time to check. "I also sent two people to keep watch; this is the information they sent back today."

"Okay, I understand."

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As expected of a saint, they acted incredibly quickly. In just two days, news of Carleon's bankruptcy made it into the Daily Prophet, also implicating other families in scandals. It was quite a spectacle.

The two unlucky little ones were dumped in their studio by Wenda. Garian and Leila looked at each other, not knowing how to comfort them, so they could only let them huddle in the corner. Their injuries had already been treated.

"What should we do? They'll starve to death if this continues." Garian ruffled his hair, feeling extremely frustrated. He couldn't get close and couldn't use force; he had absolutely no solution.

Leila rested her chin on her hand and stared straight ahead, glancing at them out of the corner of her eye. "There's no other way, we'll just have to take it slow. If it really doesn't work, we'll knock them out and send them to Saint Goman. We can't let them die here."

"These freaks should be executed." Garian slumped onto the table, utterly exhausted. "How about we eat a bite in front of them? To prove it wasn't poisoned."

"Give it a try. I'll go make some soup. Judging from their appearance, they probably haven't had a proper meal in a long time. They can only recover slowly with liquid food." Leila was glad that she had some cooking skills, and the food she made looked appealing.

Soon a large pot of vegetable soup was ready. Galian placed the pot in front of the twins, ladled out a bowl of soup with a ladle, drank it in front of them, and then returned to the table in the distance to sit down.

Zarek, the older brother, kept a close eye on Garian. He dared not gamble on these people's goodwill; Alek was his only remaining family in the world, and he was determined to protect his younger brother. Alek clung tightly to his brother, trusting no one but his only remaining family.

Even though they were so hungry they were dizzy and had stomach aches, they didn't touch the soup. They just kept staring at Garian and Lyra in the distance.

Emeric arrived and saw this scene. He rubbed his temples and looked at the two people at the table. "How long have they been like this? Have they eaten anything since yesterday?"

"No, I really have no other choice. No matter how much I try to persuade them, these two stubborn boys won't believe me." Garian looked utterly hopeless. He felt sorry for the two children's suffering and wanted to change their clothes, but he couldn't get close at all and could only watch from afar.

"You two little brats, would you like to come back to Hogwarts with me? If you would, I'll go and bring Albus Dumbledore with me. With him there, you'll surely believe me, right?" Emeric was too lazy to waste words. With Dumbledore as his guarantor, these two little devils would surely believe him, wouldn't they?

"Really?" Zarek's hoarse voice rang out, and his lifeless eyes finally showed a flicker of emotion. Alek grabbed his arm, and the two of them stared at Emeric.

Seeing that they were interested, Emeric told them to wait a moment while he went to Hogwarts to bring Dumbledore over; after all, Dumbledore's rudeness wasn't a new thing.

"Hey, hey, hey, stop pulling my beard!!!" Dumbledore, wanting to snatch his poor beard back from Emeric, could only follow behind him.

When he saw the two poor little ones huddled in the corner, covered in injuries, Dumbledore couldn't bring himself to say that Emeric was being unreasonable. He sighed and said, "Would you like to come with me? I can be your temporary guardian until you come of age."

Zarek and Alec exchanged a glance, gritted their teeth, and helped each other to their feet. They walked to Dumbledore's side and said, "We're willing." They had no other choice; compared to the other three people in the room, whose character was unclear, Dumbledore was clearly the best option.