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Chapter 116: Food and Seasoning

“Can’t we Apparate directly into the Ministry of Magic?” Harry asked.

“If you are an employee of the Ministry of Magic, you can Apparate directly into the Ministry of Magic. But guests cannot. The entire Ministry of Magic has an anti-apparition jinx, just like Hogwarts. Only those with permissions can go inside directly.” Sherlock took him to a dilapidated red phone booth, pushed the door, and walked in.

The phone booth looked abandoned, and the door seemed to be worn out. When the door was closed, it hit the back of Harry’s head. Harry squatted on the ground, holding his head in pain, and took a deep breath.

Sherlock reminded, “Be careful.”

“It’s okay. I just bumped into it accidentally.”

In the past, Harry would have thought it was because of Sherlock wishing him a happy birthday, but now he just thinks it was because he was careless.

Sherlock held the phone in his hand. Although he was entering the Ministry of Magic for the first time, the original Sherlock’s diary wrote how to enter as a guest. The original Sherlock used this method to get in on the first day he came to the Ministry of Magic to apply for a job.

He pressed the number “62442” on the phone, and soon after, a cold female voice rang from above the phone booth.

“Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please provide your name and business.”

“Kingsley Shacklebolt has asked Sherlock Forrest and Harry Potter from the Auror Command to help with a case that the Aurors have been investigating recently.”

Kingsley had apparently informed the receptionist before, and soon, the female voice responded.

“Thank you. Please pick up the badge and don’t put it in front of your clothes.”

Two silver badges slipped out of the metal chute normally used to eject coins, and Sherlock picked it up and handed him the one with Harry’s name on it. Harry saw what was on the badge. Harry Potter assists with the investigation.

“As a guest of the Ministry of Magic, you need to be checked at the security checkpoint and register your wand. The checkpoint is at the end of the main hall.”

The receptionist’s voice sounded again, and after her voice ended, Harry suddenly felt the whole phone booth falling. The crosswalk outside rose higher and higher, and soon, darkness was above them.

It took about a minute for them to sink in. Before the phone booth stopped, it suddenly vibrated, causing Harry to lose his footing. His body leaned forward, and his head hit the glass door again.

“The Ministry of Magic wishes you a great day.” Said the receptionist and the door was opened.

Sherlock walked out with Harry clutching his head again.

“I told you to be careful. Don’t get bumped again next time.” Sherlock said with a shrug.

Harry looked blank. Once, he was careless, but twice, he felt something was wrong. But at this time, he was still holding on to luck, and he followed Sherlock down the hall to register his wand.

As an agency in the British wizarding world, the Ministry of Magic was amazingly built. There is a fountain in the hall, and a group of pure gold statues, which are larger than real people, were built in the pool.

The most eye-catching one showed a wizard holding his wand high to the sky, surrounded by a witch, a centaur, a goblin, and a house-elf. The centaur, goblin, and house-elf looked up at the two wizards with admiration.

When Sherlock was being examined, he was trying to figure out the point of this group of statues. There was no benefit other than giving these wizards a sense of superiority. Not to mention the races, such as the house elves, were on the lower part, as well as the centaur and goblin.

With this statue alone, if he were a goblin or a centaur, he would never have stepped into the Ministry of Magic. No wonder the Centaur Liaison Office has been established for so many years and doesn’t even have a centaur working for them.

After Sherlock took Harry to examine the wand, he got rid of the inspector, who noticed Harry’s identity and walked directly into the elevator. There were not only people in the elevator but also many paper airplanes going in and out, and one of them accidentally nearly hit Harry’s forehead again.

“These are the notes that the Ministry of Magic uses to send letters.” Sherlock is introduced to Harry.

This was also the first time he had seen the real thing with his own eyes, and he had only seen him describe it in the original Sherlock’s diary before. They took the elevator all the way to the Magic Law Enforcement Division on the second floor.

Almost no one came down on this floor, only Sherlock taking Harry for a walk here.

“What case are we going to help with, Professor?” Harry couldn’t help but ask.

“A series of murders,” Sherlock said solemnly.

Hearing his words, Harry’s breathing became heavier, and he didn’t ask any more questions.

They walked around a corner and came to a room with the “word Case Investigation Room” on it. Just when Sherlock was about to knock on the door, it was suddenly opened from the inside.

Kingsley was wearing a cloak, and his whole body seemed to be soaked in water. There are creatures that were constantly exuding dead ashes in the room.

Sherlock frowned and glanced at the monster and recognized that this was the Azkaban prison guard, the Dementor.

“Ah, Sherlock, you have arrived.” Kingsley’s face showed a look of surprise.

Although the aura from the Dementor made him feel a little uncomfortable, it didn’t affect him, and Sherlock nodded.

“Who is this?”

“The Dementor leader who came out of Azkaban this time came here to cooperate with us to do some investigation.”

The moment Harry saw the Dementor, he was as breathless as if he had been stuffed into ice water. He saw the creature’s hand, which was covered with scars as if his whole body was rotting.

The aura was constantly wrapping around him, turning everything in front of him into a dark color. Harry gasped, and the sound of his breathing became louder and louder. Finally, he felt that the whole world was spinning.

Harry rolled his eyes, fell backward, and fell to the ground. This shocked Sherlock next to him, and it was only at this time that Kingsley noticed Harry, who was following Sherlock.

They hurriedly helped Harry up from the ground.

“Why did you bring him here?” Kingsley asked.

“I was going to celebrate his birthday, but I got a letter from you. Harry doesn’t want to go back to his aunt’s house, and I can’t leave him alone, so I want to bring him here.”

“Sorry to interrupt your activity,” Kingsley said and looked at the Dementor.

“Go first. Remember to restrain your kind. If there is any incident regarding an attack by the Dementors, the Ministry of Magic will come to you.” The Dementor didn’t respond; it seemed to glance at Harry and then left.

Sherlock and Kingsley carried Harry to the Auror Command together, asked Tonks to help take care of him, and returned to the case investigation room.

“You should also read the news in the Daily Prophet that two ago, Black escaped from prison.” On his way, Kingsley told Sherlock why he was calling him here.

“After Black escaped, the Dementors were angry. This was the first time anyone had managed to escape from there. They started leaving the prison in large numbers to hunt down Black and The Ministry approved their actions.”

“But just after these dementors came out of prison, there have been six deaths in total these days.”

“The first five were all Muggles attacked, and all died in the same way; they were alive, but their soul was sucked.”

“At that time, the department was still worried about Black’s problem, and the people who were attacked were all Muggles, so they did not pay attention to it.”

“But just yesterday, a wizard died in exactly the same way as the five Muggles before. Scrimgeour took the matter seriously and invited the leader of the Dementors to come to help the Ministry with their investigation.”

“The way those people died was exactly the way the Dementors sucked the prisoners, and we always suspected it was the Dementors. But those guys were never honest, especially when they’re free to do anything with the convicted prisoners.”

“But the leader said that they did none of the six attacks. The Dementor had feelings, something terrible landed on the island of Great Britain, and they would never do this.”

“You’ve always been an expert in Dark Arts, and at the beginning, you did more in-depth research on Dementors. So I wanted to ask you to come over and see if you could help with anything.”

Sherlock learned the whole matter from Kingsley and followed him into the investigation room. It was empty, with only six beds, and on each bed lay a body. These people are still breathing and have a heartbeat, but they behave like dead people. Their expressions are frightened and hideous, but there is only gray in their eyes.

Over the past year or so, Sherlock has researched the field that the original Sherlock has been researching the most: Dark Arts. Including the two books he wrote and published, “Dark Biometrics Guide” and “Defense Spells”,” Sherlock read it thoroughly and studied thoroughly.

There is research on Dementors in the “Dark Biometrics Guide.” Because Dementors are essentially the darkest creatures in the wizarding world, the Ministry of Magic will not let them around if there is no way to erase them, and there is no better solution than having them serve as guards in Azkaban.

Sherlock walked up to a body and tapped his wand lightly all over his body while Kingsley introduced him to the man’s information.

“John Nelson is from Norwich. He was found dead in an alley five days ago when William and I arrived at the scene as soon as possible. The Ministry of Magic later got his body back from the Muggle government after the matter was brought up.”

After a series of tests, Sherlock’s face slowly turned serious, “His soul was indeed eaten, but not from the Dementors.”

“The kiss of a Dementor starts from human emotions, and its essence is to absorb positive emotions such as happiness, hope, and the desire to live. When these emotions are completely eaten, the soul will be completely destroyed, leaving only endless despair.”

“But in this case, things are different.” Sherlock pointed to the face of the Muggle named Nelson.

“He suffered a great deal of fear before he died. He couldn’t think of anything but fear at the time, and when his fear reached its peak, something ate his soul.”

“The soul is the food, fear is the seasoning, and something or someone is enjoying the food. But it is completely different from the way the Dementors eat.”

After listening to Sherlock’s explanation, Kingsley looked at the six bodies again, “What kind of creature would do such a thing?”

Sherlock shook his head, “I don’t know of any known creatures that fit this description.”

“The creatures that rely on the soul for food are rare, and it’s the first time I’ve heard of them adding a little seasoning while eating their soul.” Kingsley’s brows furrowed deeply, and he folded his arms around his chest nervously.

“Black’s breakout has already burdened the Ministry of Magic enough, and now new things are happening. The Aurors are running out of hands right now.”

Sherlock shook his head, “You don’t need to worry about things like this. It’s Scrimgeour who should worry about it. He’s the head of the Auror office.”

Kingsley nodded. He suddenly remembered that Sherlock today seemed a little different from the one he knew. He looked at Sherlock in amazement, looked up and down, and said, “I feel like you’ve changed since you taught at Hogwarts.”

Sherlock shrugged, “Can you still be called the same if you stay the same? If you know what I went through before, you wouldn’t be surprised how much I changed.”

“Is it about the Chamber of Secrets and the Basilisk thing?” Kingsley is concerned about what’s going on at Hogwarts.

“Yup, that one.” Sherlock said melancholy, “The one time I experienced death myself.”

Kingsley looked at the current Sherlock with a smile. “I don’t think you’ve changed badly.”

Sherlock frowned, “Then shall we introduce ourselves again?”

Kingsley held out his hand and laughed, “My name is Kingsley Shacklebolt.”

Sherlock laughed too and took out his hand, “Nice to meet you, Sherlock Forrest.”