A week had passed since returning from Sherlock's home in this time period.
During that week, Sherlock and Amy did not go out again, staying in their room at the Leaky Cauldron.
The weather was excellent that day; London rarely saw such a clear sky. Amy sat by the window, hoping for some wind to make the windmill Sherlock had bought her earlier spin.
However, she waited for a long time without any wind, so she could only pout and blow on the windmill herself, making it spin in the sunlight.
Sherlock paid no attention to Amy's self-amusement. He had spread out a map of England on the table.
He marked all the locations of the biggest Death Eater attacks in the Wizarding World this year since he and Snape arrived in this timeline—the "Wales Violent Conflict"—as well as the subsequent Death Eater activities over the past month.
He discovered that these attacks were indeed connected.
One day after the "Wales Violent Conflict," another incident occurred in Hereford, not far from Wales, where Death Eaters tortured and killed two Muggles.
Two days later, in Birmingham, not far from Hereford, a Wizard witnessed Rabastan Lestrange, a core member of the Death Eaters, leading three people in bombing a Muggle residence.
Another two days passed, and in Northampton, a fire broke out, killing one Muggle. The Ministry of Magic clearly detected elements of the Dark Arts in the fire.
Three days later, in Luton, over forty kilometres from London, two masked Death Eaters rode flying broomsticks, continuously casting the Killing Curse at the ground from mid-air. Fortunately, the location was in the wilderness, so only a few Muggles witnessed people flying on broomsticks, and there were no casualties. It was unknown whom the Death Eaters were attacking.
One day later, the day Karkaroff and Rowle came to the Leaky Cauldron to search for Amy, a large explosion occurred in the wilderness near Cambridge. No one died, but Muggles witnessed the abnormal explosion and saw the Dark Mark flashing in the sky. Afterwards, the Ministry of Magic's Memory Charm Squad erased their memories of the incident.
Two days later, in Peterborough, north of Cambridge, a Muggle-born Wizard was captured by Death Eaters passing through the area and tortured to death before the Aurors could arrive.
Then, three days later, in today's new issue of The Daily Prophet, it was reported that more than a dozen Death Eaters had appeared in Lincolnshire, northern England, led by the Dark Lord's most trusted lieutenant, Bellatrix Lestrange.
Sherlock circled all the places where the Death Eaters had appeared since Wales with red circles on the map.
He found that, starting from Wales, the Death Eaters' movements had consistently approached London, but after reaching Luton, the closest point to London, they suddenly turned and headed north-west.
From Cambridge to Peterborough and then to Lincolnshire, the Death Eaters had appeared in a new location every two days.
They seemed to be moving towards a target according to a plan. Initially, that target appeared to be London from Wales, but for some reason, after reaching Luton, they changed their objective.
Given the timing, Sherlock suspected this was very likely related to the Death Eaters' search for Amy.
If their subsequent movements were any indication, continuing north-west, they were highly likely to appear next in the central English city of Sheffield.
Of course, it was also possible they might travel even farther north and choose York instead.
Sherlock looked at the map of England, covered in the circles he had drawn, and realised that the Death Eaters were making no effort to conceal the direction of their movements.
If he, relying only on The Daily Prophet and gossip overheard from Wizards at the Leaky Cauldron, could deduce the Death Eaters' destination, there was no reason why the Aurors, with better intelligence and more capable investigators, could not do the same.
He drew a large circle centred on Sheffield, extending as far as York.
Every city within that circle could potentially become the next battlefield between the Death Eaters and the Aurors.
Lord Voldemort's followers had created major headlines with their successive attacks over the past month. The Ministry of Magic would certainly not allow such negative news to continue unchecked and urgently needed a decisive victory to restore confidence among the magical public.
Sherlock looked at the circle he had drawn, thought for a long time, and finally decided to go and see for himself.
There would undoubtedly be danger, but it was also his best opportunity to make contact with the Ministry of Magic's Aurors. If things went smoothly, he might even be able to use the opportunity to infiltrate the Auror Office.
After all, there were many people serving as Aurors at this time whom he already knew.
For example, Moody, who was still one of the pillars of the Auror Office. Even though his body had been permanently crippled, he remained one of its finest Aurors.
And Kingsley, who had only recently joined the Auror Office but was already displaying remarkable talent, standing out among the younger generation of Aurors.
Although Sherlock certainly could not reveal his true identity to either of them, he could use his familiarity with their personalities and temperaments to gain their trust and have them introduce him.
Having settled on his plan, Sherlock prepared to set off.
Unlike last time, he naturally could not take Amy with him. At first, Sherlock considered entrusting her to Snape and asking him to look after her.
But after thinking carefully about Snape's personality, it was difficult to say who would end up looking after whom.
Amy, who was playing with the windmill, noticed Sherlock's hesitation. She tilted her head and asked,
"Is John going out?"
Sherlock rubbed her head.
"Yes, but where I'm going this time is a little dangerous, so I can't take Amy with me."
"Amy can stay here by herself, you know."
"Aren't you afraid of having no one to play with?"
Amy shook her head, her light golden hair shimmering like white silk in the sunlight.
"Before I met John, Amy was always alone, so I'm not afraid."
Hearing her words, Sherlock fell silent. After a long moment, he gently pinched her soft cheek.
"When I come back, I'll take Amy to an amusement park, alright?"
Amy had no idea what an amusement park was, but she was happy as long as he was taking her somewhere.
"Okay!"
She removed a charm hanging around her neck and handed it to Sherlock.
"This was given to Amy by Dad. He said it would bring Amy good luck. Amy can lend it to John, and John will definitely have good luck on this trip too."
Sherlock smiled. He did not refuse. Taking the charm from her hand, he hung it around his own neck.
He then got up and first went to Diagon Alley. At the sweet shop and the magical food shop, he bought a large pile of snacks and several magical foods, such as self-heating pumpkin porridge and sandwiches that stayed fresh as long as the packaging remained sealed, leaving them for Amy while she stayed alone at the inn.
After settling Amy in, he informed Snape that he would be leaving the Leaky Cauldron for a while. Snape, of course, made no comment, merely telling him to get lost quickly and stop disturbing his potion-making.
Finally, Sherlock instructed Tom not to clean his room before using the Leaky Cauldron's fireplace to travel to Sheffield.
His destination was the Ministry of Magic's Owl Post Office in Sheffield.
Green flames enveloped Sherlock's body, filling all the surrounding space. After a violent spin, he once again found himself standing on solid ground.
Fine dust swirled around him. This season was certainly not the time to use fireplaces, and the unused hearth had accumulated a thick layer of dust.
Sherlock cast the Scouring Charm on himself as he stepped out of the fireplace, while an elderly Wizard sitting in a chair reading a newspaper looked up at him and asked,
"Oh, a young man. What brings you to Sheffield?"
Sherlock blinked, looking at the old Wizard, who was most likely the administrator of the Owl Post Office.
"Do I need to state my purpose for using the Ministry of Magic's public Floo Network?"
The old Wizard lowered The Daily Prophet in his hands and replied nonchalantly,
"Of course not, but if you don't have something very important to do, I'd advise you not to stay in this city for too long."
His words were deliberately cryptic. He sounded as though he was giving friendly advice, but in reality, he clearly wanted to hint that he knew something important and tempt Sherlock into asking about it.
It was the typical mentality of an elderly person who found it difficult to keep a secret.
Sherlock, naturally, played along.
"I'm here sightseeing, sir. Is something happening here?"
Hearing the question, the old Wizard looked pleased with himself, but still did not reveal the "secret" he knew.
"You only need to know that if there's nothing important keeping you here, you should leave as soon as possible."
He spoke in riddles before sighing.
"Things are getting more chaotic these days. I need to hurry the Ministry along with my retirement application. It's about time I went home and enjoyed my retirement."
After hearing him, Sherlock quietly left the Owl Post Office.
Even though the old Wizard had not said it outright, Sherlock could already guess that the Ministry of Magic had taken action in Sheffield.
The Aurors had clearly recognised the Death Eaters' movements and, like Sherlock, believed they would appear in Sheffield next.
Of course, it was also possible that the Aurors had deployed personnel not only in Sheffield but also in York and several surrounding cities, since Apparition made rapid reinforcement possible.
Moreover, they had not gone to great lengths to conceal their preparations. Even the elderly employee guarding the Owl Post Office—someone on the outer fringes of the Ministry—knew enough to suspect something, so there was clearly no strict secrecy.
The Death Eaters' movements were also unusually suspicious. Their continuous attacks appeared aimless, and their route was completely unconcealed, as though they were deliberately luring the Aurors into an ambush.
It was an open trap.
If the Aurors failed to respond, public opinion accusing the Ministry of inaction would spread throughout the Wizarding World and fuel widespread dissatisfaction.
Therefore, the Auror Office had no choice but to deploy personnel—and a large number of them—to Sheffield.
As the defending side, the Ministry of Magic was at a constant disadvantage, forced to react to every move the Death Eaters made. Their only option was to rely on overwhelming force to counter such an obvious trap.
Sherlock had no way of knowing how the Aurors had been deployed. After leaving the Owl Post Office, he immediately hailed a taxi to Sheffield city centre and booked a room at a hotel.
Sheffield was going through a period of industrial decline. It had once been the steel capital and industrial heart of Britain.
Now, because of increasing international competition and the collapse of Britain's coal industry, local manufacturing was in decline, and many residents were leaving the city.
It would not be until the 1990s that Sheffield successfully transformed itself into a centre for sport and technology, developing a more diversified economy.
After booking the hotel, Sherlock did not remain in his room. Instead, he headed back out onto the streets and wandered through the city.
His objective was clear: to find people who behaved noticeably differently from ordinary Muggles and carried a small stick with them.
Although Hogwarts offered Muggle Studies, the rapid pace of Muggle development meant that Wizards were still decades behind in their understanding of non-magical society.
As a result, Wizards whose lives rarely intersected with Muggles often made unintentionally amusing mistakes when dressing in Muggle clothing.
Such mistakes were naturally rare among specially trained Aurors, but they still retained certain Wizarding habits. More importantly, Aurors were accustomed to keeping their wands in hand at all times.
On the very first day of Auror training, instructors warned them never to keep their wands in their pockets or sleeves unless they wanted to risk mysteriously blowing off their buttocks or arms.
As a result, almost every Auror developed the habit of carrying a wand in hand whenever possible.
Using these subtle details, Sherlock spent half the day riding around Sheffield in a taxi.
After paying thirteen pounds, he finally spotted a man in a trench coat standing on a street corner, holding an inconspicuous stick while casually wandering the area.
Sherlock got out of the taxi but chose not to follow the Wizard directly, as he could have been an Auror, a Death Eater, or simply an innocent Wizard.
Instead, he entered a secluded alley, cast the Patronus Charm, and summoned his Patronus.
He then sent the silver crow soaring silently into the sky to follow the Wizard.
Muggles could not see Patronuses, so the silver crow would not attract any attention. It merely needed to stay out of the Wizard's direct line of sight.