"What's illegal?" the little girl asked nervously.
Marvolio looked speechlessly at the indignant waitress. She seemed deeply displeased that, in terms of charm, she had somehow lost to a little girl.
Just as he was about to explain, the shrill wail of sirens suddenly came from the distance. In no time at all, several police cars roared past outside the window, and that was not the end of it. More sirens followed one after another.
"Did... did something happen?" the waitress asked in alarm as she looked at the endless stream of police cars outside.
For an ordinary London resident, seeing three or five police cars on duty was normal enough. But in the brief moment she had stood there in a daze, no fewer than five had already gone by.
"The police are here to catch bad guys, obviously!" the little girl replied as if that settled everything.
But Marvolio stood up with a frown and looked toward the entrance of the café.
These Muggle police had cordoned off the entire area.
And around the corner, out of sight, several police cars had already gathered. Not only had they blocked the roads, there was also a large group of officers standing by.
The waitress looked at Marvolio in confusion. This serious expression was the strongest reaction she had seen from him in months. The smile he had shown while talking to the little girl just now did not count.
But before she could ask anything, the café door was pushed open and several heavily armed, highly alert police officers walked in.
Leading them was a seasoned middle-aged sergeant. He glanced around the little café. There was only one staff member and not many customers. Aside from Marvolio and the little girl, there was just one female office worker who was clearly there to rest for a bit.
So it did not take long for his wary eyes to settle on Marvolio, sitting there in a hood.
That slightly old-fashioned outfit was simply too eye-catching.
"Who's in charge here?"
The sergeant walked up to the waitress and asked, though his attention remained fixed on Marvolio.
"That would be me. The owner hardly ever shows up. Right now I'm the only one here, handling everything," the waitress answered quickly.
This was the sort of little café you often found by the roadside. The owner was usually some artistic rich person who had decorated the place with style, then only came by once in a while to satisfy his own literary fantasies.
As for tiresome work like cleaning and serving customers, people like that were never going to do it themselves.
Understanding that, the sergeant nodded and stopped dwelling on the café itself.
"Here's the situation. We received a report that terrorists have planted a bomb in this area. You need to evacuate immediately!"
"A bomb?!"
The waitress panicked the instant she heard the word.
Because of the Irish Republican Army, Britain had not been peaceful these past ten years. It was only in the last two years, after both sides had signed a ceasefire agreement, that there had been no more terrorist attacks.
"But didn't we sign a ceasefire agreement with those people..."
"They tore up the agreement this morning. We have to be on high alert again, madam!" the sergeant said impatiently.
"The bomb could go off at any moment. It is not safe to stay here. You need to leave immediately. Do you understand?!"
The waitress was frightened by his rough manner. After hesitating for a moment, she did not dare say anything more.
"I'll close up and leave right away, but where's the bomb? I can't exactly leave London, can I?"
"We don't know where it is yet, and we don't know how powerful it is either, madam. Just get as far away from this street as you can," the sergeant said helplessly.
The truth was, the IRA bastards had called the police themselves to warn them. Right now the police were desperately trying to find the bomb.
The waitress stopped hesitating. Without even clearing the things off the tables, she immediately moved to close the shop and leave.
"I can't go! I promised Mum I'd wait here for her to come pick me up!" the little girl said in panic.
As if afraid she would be dragged away by force, she clutched Marvolio's large hand tightly and tugged on him, refusing to let him leave either.
"Your mother is leaving too. You'll meet in a safe place!" the sergeant snapped at the girl.
In an emergency like this, he had no desire to waste precious time because of one little girl's stubbornness.
But Marvolio stepped forward and blocked the sergeant's line of sight with his impassive face.
"If everyone is being evacuated anyway, then why can't we wait for her mother to arrive and leave together?"
The sergeant laughed in disbelief. He planted his hands on his hips, his right hand resting exactly where his sidearm sat.
"The bomb could go off at any second. Do you want to get blown into the air?!"
"And besides..." His eyes narrowed, full of distrust. "What exactly are you to this girl?"
"He's my dad!"
The little girl hid behind Marvolio, only sticking out her small head, completely unaware of how shocking what she had just said was.
"..."
Marvolio, the sergeant, and the waitress all fell silent.
Only then did the little girl realize that something was wrong.
"Um, how about big brother instead?"
The look of speechless exasperation vanished from the sergeant's face at once, replaced by complete seriousness as he looked at Marvolio.
"Sir, I now have reason to doubt your identity. Please present any documents or information that can verify who you are."
Britain did not have a national ID system. People usually proved who they were through things like driver's licenses, birth certificates, or even official letters containing personal information.
Marvolio had none of those.
So all he could do was take out a piece of paper and lightly hand it to the sergeant.
"...The new Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Scrimgeour, has publicly acknowledged that traces of a battle involving You-Know-Who were found at the address provided by Harry Potter... What on earth is this?"
The sergeant's shock and anger did not even have time to show before they turned into bewilderment.
"Oh. I see. I apologize for doubting you."
Marvolio calmly withdrew the clipping.
"Then may we wait here? We'll leave on our own afterward."
"Of course. We have no reason to stop a little girl from meeting her mother, do we?" the sergeant replied with a smile.
"Then we won't disturb you further. We still have a lot of people to evacuate."
With several subordinates in tow, the sergeant left the café in a friendly manner, as if he had only come in to give them a warning. The waitress looked much the same. She did not even bother closing the café door, instead hurrying after them until they vanished around the corner.
"Something's fishy!"
The little girl was the only one there who had not been affected by the Confundus Charm. Stroking her chin, she analyzed the strange situation in front of her using the very limited experience of her short life.
He had abilities beyond normal understanding.
He looked odd, but still basically human.
And he carried himself with a cool sort of indifference toward the outside world...
"So you're a superhero!" she cried out in delighted realization.