Noticing Harry enter the pub, Tom the innkeeper immediately hurried out from behind the bar, looking incredibly relieved.
"Harry, my boy, where on earth have you been?" Tom asked, his voice hushed and urgent. "Minister Fudge was here personally demanding to see you exactly thirty minutes ago, and he looked absolutely furious! He even brought two Ministry Aurors with him! They thoroughly searched your room upstairs and combed through every single shop on the street looking for you!"
Hearing this, Harry's stomach tied itself into a cold, hard knot.
He finally comprehended the sheer magnitude of his current situation. There was a highly dangerous, mass-murdering fugitive actively hunting him, and the Ministry of Magic had practically placed him under protective house arrest.
And now, his unauthorized, undocumented excursion had undoubtedly triggered a massive panic within the government.
"I... I merely lost track of time while browsing the shops," Harry lied smoothly, trying his best to sound nonchalant.
Tom stared at him for a long, highly scrutinizing moment before offering a tight smile. "I see. Well, the important thing is that you have returned safely. Would you care for something to eat or drink? You look incredibly pale."
"No, thank you. I am perfectly fine."
Harry turned back to Maurise, his expression tense. "Would you like to come upstairs to my room for a bit?"
"Perhaps another time, Harry," Maurise waved a hand dismissively. "I have a few pressing matters I need to attend to this evening. Get some rest. Goodnight."
"I understand. Thank you again, Maurise. Goodnight."
---
Maurise turned and walked out of the Leaky Cauldron, stepping back out into the bustling evening crowds of Diagon Alley.
He walked leisurely for several blocks before suddenly turning down a narrow, entirely deserted side alley.
This particular alleyway was completely isolated from the main thoroughfare, and it was not a path leading toward the illicit markets of Knockturn Alley. The cobblestones were lined with abandoned, boarded-up storefronts. Massive piles of rotting garbage were stacked haphazardly against the brick walls, completely blocking out the faint glow of the distant streetlamps and filling the air with a thick, rancid stench of decay.
Reaching the midpoint of the dark alley, Maurise suddenly halted his steps. He slowly raised his left hand.
On the back of his hand, the highly complex runic matrix for Point-to-Point Teleportation was emitting a faint, pulsating crimson glow.
He had already established his anchor point back aboard the Ship in a Bottle. If he desired, he could instantly bypass all spatial restrictions and vanish without a trace.
He could also simply use standard Apparition, though he preferred avoiding the subsequent wave of nausea if possible.
At that exact moment, his undead owl, Cinder, swooped silently down from the dark, cloudy sky. It landed lightly atop a rotting wooden barrel near the entrance of the alley and let out two sharp, highly specific hoots.
Maurise narrowed his eyes. He instantly comprehended the encrypted message his familiar was conveying: You are currently being tailed. Two individuals.
He didn't immediately turn around to confront them. Instead, he smoothly lowered his left hand, concealing the glowing runic array beneath his sleeve.
"Have they been tracking me since I exited the Leaky Cauldron?" Maurise whispered softly.
Cinder offered a single, distinct nod.
Maurise had already accurately deduced the identity of his pursuers. They were Ministry of Magic Aurors.
When he and Harry had initially stepped into the pub, his sharp senses had immediately picked up on a pair of "patrons" nursing drinks in the corner. Their posture was overly rigid, and their eyes had remained entirely fixed on Harry.
He simply hadn't expected them to actively pursue him after he separated from the Boy Who Lived.
Clearly, the Aurors had been ordered to conduct a thorough background check on any unknown individuals making contact with their primary VIP.
A sudden, thrilling spark of genuine excitement ignited within Maurise. This was his very first opportunity to directly interact with fully trained combat specialists from the Ministry.
He was incredibly eager to test his current combat capabilities against professional Aurors in a controlled field environment.
'Let us play a little game, shall we?'
Waiting until the two pursuers had officially stepped into the mouth of the dark alley, Maurise whirled around without warning and shouted at the top of his lungs, "You absolute buffoons!"
Before the final syllable had even finished echoing off the brick walls, Maurise spun back around and sprinted frantically toward the dead end of the alley.
The wildly unexpected reaction completely threw the highly trained Aurors off guard.
The two pursuers exchanged a brief, baffled look, flashing a rapid series of tactical hand signals before drawing their wands and instantly giving chase.
Hidden amidst the deep shadows above, Cinder watched the unfolding pursuit with unblinking eyes.
"You there! Halt your advance immediately!" the male Auror barked authoritatively, his voice echoing loudly in the narrow space. "Ministry Aurors! Submit to a routine compliance check!"
A violent streak of magical light shot from his wand, zipping past Maurise's shoulder and impacting the brick wall just inches from his head. The spell erupted, instantly generating a massive, highly adhesive spider web designed to entangle and immobilize fleeing suspects.
'A specialized capturing jinx. Impressive,' Maurise noted. 'Unfortunately, your aim is atrocious.'
The corner of Maurise's mouth curled into a wicked smirk as he continued his frantic sprint.
The high-speed pursuit lasted for exactly two minutes before Maurise finally came to a complete halt.
Looming directly in front of him was a massive, impenetrable stone wall covered in thick, damp moss.
'Ah, what incredibly terrible luck. A dead end.'
Pressing his back firmly against the cold, damp stone, Maurise slowly turned around, his face an expertly crafted mask of sheer panic as he watched his pursuers rapidly approach.
The two Aurors—one male, one female—came to a synchronized halt roughly fifteen feet away, maintaining a highly precise, tactically sound engagement distance.
The tense standoff stretched on for five long seconds before the male Auror finally broke the silence.
"Sir, why on earth did you flee?" he asked, holstering his wand slightly to appear less threatening. "This is merely a routine background check. We have absolutely no intention of harming you. Please, cooperate with us. Accompany us back to the Ministry for a brief interrogation, and this will be over quickly."
Maurise, however, had absolutely zero intention of ending his field test so prematurely.
He frantically yanked his wand from his robes, aiming it unsteadily at the two Ministry officials. "You are lying! You are dark wizards trying to kidnap me! Stay back, or I swear I will defend myself!"
The male Auror blinked, utterly bewildered.
He had personally watched Maurise walk out of the Leaky Cauldron. He knew the suspect was merely a highly emotional, terrified teenage boy.
"Sir, we are officially licensed Ministry Aurors," the man repeated, forcing his tone to remain calm and highly reassuring. "Please, try to calm down and slowly lower your wand."
"No... I don't believe you!" Maurise shook his head violently, his voice trembling with perfectly fabricated terror. "Why would real Aurors be hunting down a student in the middle of the night?!"
"Oh, for Merlin's sake, stop coddling him!" the female Auror snapped impatiently. She aggressively raised her wand, aiming squarely at Maurise's chest. "Expelliarmus!"
A blinding flash of scarlet light erupted from the tip of her wand, tearing through the darkness directly toward Maurise!
"Protego!"
Maurise snapped his wand up, his incantation perfectly crisp and devoid of any panic.
An incredibly dense, highly condensed, shimmering silver barrier instantly materialized in front of him.
The scarlet Disarming Charm slammed into the Shield Charm with a heavy, concussive thud.
As for the final result...
The powerful offensive spell shattered upon impact, splashing harmlessly against the silver barrier like a weak stream of water hitting a solid boulder. The magical energy instantly dissipated into thin air.
The impatient scowl on the female Auror's face completely vanished, instantly replaced by a look of profound, utter disbelief.
A seemingly terrified, utterly ordinary teenage boy had just flawlessly cast a Shield Charm potent enough to entirely negate her sudden, full-powered offensive strike?
She was absolutely certain that even her seasoned partner would struggle to conjure a shield of that density on such short notice!
"Oh my," Maurise's voice lost all trace of panic, dropping into a smooth, highly amused drawl. "You were the ones who initiated hostilities. I am merely exercising my legal right to self-defense."
The atmosphere in the alley shifted instantly. Both Aurors went rigid, their wands raised and locked onto Maurise, their eyes burning with intense tactical focus.
They finally realized that the individual standing before them was not an ordinary, helpless student.
Suddenly, both Aurors' expressions shifted simultaneously. Their combat instincts screamed at them, and they reacted with flawless synchronization.
"Protego!"
"Protego!"
The exact fraction of a second their silver barriers formed, two incredibly thin, practically invisible wisps of highly condensed grey mist slammed violently against their shields.
"Oh?"
Maurise raised an impressed eyebrow.
Those two wisps of mist were heavily condensed, highly lethal Curse of Frailty projectiles.
'And they actually managed to block them.'
His necromantic curses were by no means completely unblockable, but they were entirely invisible to standard magical senses and incredibly difficult for ordinary wizards to react to in time.
It was glaringly apparent that these two Ministry operatives possessed a significant degree of genuine combat proficiency.
'Not bad at all.'
Unfortunately for them, their proficiency was entirely useless against him.
The two Aurors were now sweating profusely, their expressions grim and highly alarmed. They hadn't even perceived how or when the suspect had launched that insidious, invisible counterattack!
"This is your absolute final warning!" the female Auror barked, her voice cold and completely devoid of mercy. "Lower your wand and cease all hostilities immediately! If you refuse to comply, we will officially designate you as a highly lethal hostile target and utilize lethal force!"
Maurise tilted his head slightly, offering a wicked, highly amused smile. He didn't utter a single word in response.
Instead, he simply raised his left hand and snapped his fingers.
SNAP.
The sharp, incredibly distinct sound echoed loudly in the tense silence of the dead-end alley.
In the very next fraction of a second, three colossal, heavily armored skeletal warriors materialized out of thin air, forming an impenetrable physical barricade between Maurise and the Aurors.
The undead constructs gripped massive, rust-covered battleaxes in their bony hands, and twin orbs of menacing, pale blue soul fire blazed brightly within their hollow eye sockets.
"Merlin's beard!"
The male Auror sucked in a sharp, terrified breath, taking an involuntary step back.