Lippi now knew that this was not Grindelwald.
Then all that remained was to find out who this person was.
She carefully examined the corpse, hoping to find a mark that could prove its identity.
She pried open the corpse's mouth and saw the tongue inside, severed halfway.
"No wonder he didn't speak during that meeting."
Lippi felt a chill. If all of this was fake, then the truth about Inge Griffiths was enough to make one's hair stand on end.
"You are not Grindelwald. Then where is Grindelwald?"
Inge Griffiths's face appeared in Lippi's mind.
On the corpse, she really did find a mark that could prove its identity.
Lippi pressed on the corpse's abdomen. Inside the already dead body, there was something hard in the stomach.
She hesitated for a moment, then gritted her teeth and said, "This is the only way."
After placing the Hand of Glory inside the coffin, she cut open the corpse's abdomen and reached inside with a pained expression.
"Oh, dear God. Merlin's beard."
The feeling of touching a dead body like that nearly made Lippi vomit.
A few minutes later, she pulled something out of the stomach.
It was a ring. Lippi looked at it with the help of the faint light.
There was a family crest on it.
"It's him?" Seeing the skull on the ring, Lippi's pupils trembled.
"German Minister for Magic, Bart Schmidt."
The German Minister for Magic had been missing for several months, and even the German Ministry of Magic had been affected.
No one would have imagined that the missing minister had become Grindelwald's scapegoat.
After putting the ring away, Lippi could basically confirm it now.
The current Polish Minister for Magic was very likely someone else in disguise.
That person was very likely Grindelwald.
"So that's how it is. Everything makes sense now."
Why he knew the Acolyte's whereabouts, and why the Acolyte in that attack had calmly gone to his death.
This was a sacrifice, one that allowed his master to ascend the altar.
"He wants to take part in the election."
Lippi's heart pounded wildly. Given the current situation, relying on his identity as the lone hero who had killed the Dark Lord, it was not impossible for Grindelwald to succeed.
That position symbolised the highest authority in the magical world, and it was also the enforcer of the Statute of Secrecy.
Once Grindelwald became Supreme Mugwump, he could tear apart the Statute of Secrecy completely.
"I have to tell Minister Crouch."
Lippi knew how terrifying all of this was.
Taking the Hand of Glory, she quickened her pace and left the Black Zone.
Not long after she stepped into the lift, it stopped.
"We meet again."
The tall Auror pulled open the grille and asked casually, "Did you get the files?"
Lippi said in a low voice, "I got them."
"Good." The tall Auror nodded and walked in.
There were only two people in the lift. Lippi could feel the heaviness in the atmosphere.
She had no choice but to speak first and break the silence. "Another Inspection Division mission?"
"Something went wrong." The Auror glanced at Lippi, his gaze sweeping over her coat. "You people shouldn't be careless either. The Observers cannot miss a single corrupt official."
"Yes." Lippi was as obedient as a lamb.
As they chatted idly, the lift stopped.
The tall Auror had arrived.
He walked out and nodded at Lippi. "For the people..."
He hesitated slightly, unable to call out Lippi's name.
"Drogon," Lippi hurriedly answered, smiling ingratiatingly. "Drogon Dolag."
"Nice to meet you." Just as the lift doors closed, the tall Auror suddenly turned back and asked, "Do you know what my name is?"
Lippi's heart tightened. Fortunately, the lift had already started moving.
She breathed a sigh of relief and lowered her head to look at her clothes.
Then she suddenly paused, her gaze locking onto her pocket.
There was bloodstain on it.
The lift shook, then stopped.
Lippi's expression changed drastically. "Damn it!"
She understood that she had been exposed.
Without hesitation, she drew her wand and aimed it upward.
"Confringo!"
She blasted open the top of the lift and climbed up without hesitation.
The moment she poked her head out, she felt the temperature rising rapidly.
The bottom of the lift was melted through, and the tall Auror's voice came from below.
"Remember my name. Starr Rosier."
The door below opened, and Starr's wand lit up red before detonating in the narrow shaft of the lift.
Boom!
Flames surged upward, swallowing the lift.
...
"Arrrgg!!"
221B Spinner's End.
A short, sharp scream broke the silence.
Tommy turned on the bedside lamp and embraced the person beside him.
"It's all right, it's all right. You're safe." He stroked the back of the person on the pillow and asked softly, "What happened, Oz?"
Oz Hild's face still carried the fear left by her nightmare, and she clutched Tommy's hand tightly.
The strong woman spoke in a helpless, trembling voice. "I dreamed that something happened to Lippi."
"Lippi?" Tommy paused slightly, then chose his words carefully and said, "She's at the Ministry..."
"She's not at the Ministry!" Oz's dream had been too real. She said, "After she went to Poland, she was assigned another mission."
Lippi was the head of the Auror training class, and her position was not low. What kind of matter required a director to personally take action?
Oz showed her weakness in front of Tommy and asked in fear, "I saw something happen to her just now. That dream was very real."
In a Muggle family, if you dared to make a fuss because of a dream, your mother would let you know that reality was far more terrifying than anything in your dream.
But this was the wizarding world, and wizards possessed mysterious powers.
It was not strange for someone to sense danger befalling someone close to them.
Tommy held Oz, kissed her cheek, and said seriously, "I'll have people go to Poland to investigate. Don't worry. Lippi will be fine."
The terrified Oz clung tightly to the person she relied on.
It was not that she was too fragile.
Lippi was her good friend. The three of them had once been inseparable.
During the period when Tommy had left after being bitten by a werewolf, it had been Lippi who had tried every possible way to help Oz walk out of that shadow.
Although she seemed somewhat mercenary, she had never shown greed toward her friends.
After Tommy finally got Oz to lie down, he went to the bathroom, washed his face, put on his clothes, and silently left the house.
His heart was heavy.
"Poland."
He thought of John's arrangement for the Star Disciples to go to Poland. Something had probably really happened.
Without hesitation, he hurried back to Johnny Silverhand.
"Send me every piece of information about Poland!"
With his current status, his words carried more weight than those of the Minister for Magic.
With his arrival, the vast intelligence network under the Silver Hand began operating.
Pieces of information regarding Poland's recent situation were sent over one after another.
Tommy read them carefully.
He continued until morning arrived.
Then, when a piece of intelligence appeared, his movements stopped.
"Remnants of Grindelwald broke into the Polish Ministry of Magic, attacked more than three Ministry employees, and caused part of the building to collapse."
This was in the newspaper delivered that morning.
The Silver Hand used its connections to obtain backup copies of photographs from the scene.
The blasted lift shaft, and the Ministry employee who had fainted at the mouth of the alley.
He flipped through them one by one. Grindelwald's corpse had been damaged.
His gaze stopped on the final photograph.
It was a hand crushed beneath the collapsed building.
The hand was still gripping a wand, while the furious crowd around it threw stones in that direction.
The instant Tommy saw that wand, he felt as if he had been struck by lightning.
He recognised that wand. It was Lippi's.
Lippi had never changed her wand. Back when she had once pursued a Dark wizard, that wand had been chipped.
She herself had also nearly been hit by the Dark wizard's curse. Tommy had dragged her away and helped her dodge the attack, while Oz had rushed forward and knocked the man down.
Although the credit afterward had still been stolen by someone else, they had all been immensely grateful that they had arrived in time.
The sound of something exploding came from Tommy's office.
His roar was hoarse.
That newspaper was torn to pieces, and the fragments flew out the windowsill, all the way into Knockturn Alley.
In Knockturn Alley, a paperboy was holding a newspaper and shouting loudly to sell it.
The hand crushed beneath the ruins in the newspaper loosened its grip on the wand.
...
Ministry of Magic.
Barty Crouch Sr. looked at the newspaper and remained silent.
Pierce asked cautiously, "Minister?"
Barty Crouch Sr. took a deep breath, folded the newspaper, and set it down.
His expression was calm, but sorrow was hidden in his eyes.
"Apply for an investigation," Barty Crouch Sr. said to Pierce. "Find her."
"If we enter Poland, would that..." Pierce hesitated.
British Aurors crossing the border to investigate would likely cause an international dispute.
Barty Crouch Sr. said coldly, "Enter secretly and investigate. We cannot allow one of our people to disappear without explanation."
No one could guarantee that the person beneath the ruins was Lippi.
The fact that Barty Crouch Sr. had brought Lippi to Poland proved that she was someone he trusted.
The unexplained disappearance of a trusted subordinate was unacceptable.
With Barty Crouch Sr.'s order, an operation began around the missing Auror.
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