150: Chapter 150 The First Alarm

"There are two strange Wizards near the ancestral home, and they have been lingering for over an hour."

When the voice of the family crest rang out in the dead of night, Allen had just finished writing the third page of the anonymous report for Snape.

There was no fire in the fireplace, and only one lamp was lit in the study. On the parchment were written notes about Horcrux contamination, life-force extraction lines, and the toxic reaction of the Basilisk, with all the key parts redacted down to only half of what was usable.

Allen put down his quill. "Location."

The family crest projected a map of the block. "One person is by the phone booth on the street corner, disguised as a Muggle drunkard. One is at the entrance of the old bookstore opposite, disguised as a night-shift clerk. The two are rotating their line of sight and have not entered within three steps of the iron gate."

"magic signature."

"The individual by the phone booth has traces of an old defensive spell. The individual at the entrance of the old bookstore has residual fire affinity, with a high similarity to the fallen Phoenix feather ash from the Hogwarts Headmasters Office."

Allen rolled up the report and sent it into his Portable Space. "Dumbledore's people."

Void poked its head out from the entrance, its silver eyes fixed on the window. Hearing the commotion, Peter immediately shrank into the shadows inside his cage.

Allen walked to the window. Without opening the curtains, he simply stuck a knut to the underside of the window frame. His Spatial Perception spread along the street; the Muggle streetlights, wet paving stones, phone booth glass, and old bookstore sign emerged one by one.

The "drunkard" by the phone booth leaned against the wall, holding a wine bottle in his hand. There was no smell of alcohol at the bottle's mouth, and there was a hidden alarm rune at the bottom. The "clerk" at the entrance of the old bookstore was wiping the glass with stereotypically repetitive movements, a Phoenix feather-shaped rune needle hidden inside his sleeve.

"They don't intend to come in," Allen said.

The family crest responded: "The surveillance route is primarily to confirm entries and exits; no preparations for an attack have been detected."

Inside the Portable Space, the tip of Void's tail tapped against the cage.

Allen gave Peter five seconds of speaking permission.

Peter immediately lunged at the edge of the cage, whispering urgently: "The Order of the Phoenix! They are people from the Order of the Phoenix! Dumbledore's people like to do this—stand far away, rotate, don't touch the family wards, and let portraits and owls fill in the rest of the path!"

"Names of the members."

"I don't know these two!" Peter trembled with anxiety. "But the method is the same. They watched the families of Death Eaters this way back then: first recording routines, then checking letters, and then finding acquaintances to fish for information."

The seal fell back into place.

Peter's voice cut off, and he collapsed back onto the floor.

Allen spread a new sheet of paper on the table and wrote: Order of the Phoenix, exists, has targeted the ancestral home.

The family crest asked: "Shall I initiate eviction?"

"No."

"Shall I increase the iron gate's countermeasure level?"

"No."

"Young Master, they have stayed too long and have already constituted a continuous surveillance of the family residence."

Allen moved the knut onto the block map. "Record the patrol pattern. Do nothing tonight."

The tip of Void's tail scratched the ground, as if asking for the reason.

Allen looked at the night scene behind the curtains. "If I drive them away, Dumbledore will replace them with more discreet people. By letting them stay, I can see his hand."

The family crest was silent for two seconds. "Recording has started. First round of surveillance: 23:17 to 00:26. Second round is expected to rotate at 00:30."

Allen shrank the map and marked two points. "They want to confirm three things: whether I am living in the ancestral home, who comes to see me during the summer break, and whether I go out at night."

The tip of Void's tail moved toward Peter's file inside the Portable Space.

"Correct," Allen whispered. "What they fear most is me seeing someone I shouldn't."

Peter shook his head violently inside the cage; his mouth was sealed, so he could only emit muffled gasps.

"You also know you shouldn't be seeing anyone." Allen glanced at him. "Very good."

A light creaking of floorboards came from the corridor of the ancestral home outside the study. The voice of the door knocker came from downstairs: "No contact outside the iron gate, owl channel closed, Floo network access to the fireplace locked."

"Keep one owl channel open."

The family crest immediately objected: "Summer mail might be intercepted and checked."

"That's why I'm letting them intercept it."

Allen took a blank sheet of stationery from the drawer and wrote a few ordinary sentences: Nothing to do during the summer break, the weather is humid, old books are molding, preparing to make up essays. There was no signature for the recipient, and at the end, he only wrote a code that Draco could understand: The White Peacock sleeps very early.

He sealed the envelope and handed it to the ancestral home's owl.

"Deliver it tomorrow morning, no rush," Allen said. "Let the person on the street corner see it."

The family crest's voice carried hesitation. "You want to expose the communication?"

"Expose the safe content, hide the real content."

Void retracted its head into the space, its tail tip curling up the third-year file and pressing it beside the ebony box. The cracked pocket watch was quiet, and the golden pattern on the north side did not move either.

Allen sat back down at the table and spread out Snape's anonymous report.

The beginning of the report couldn't be too smart, nor too stupid. What Snape wanted were usable clues, but also for a suspicious person to continue hiding their tail. If he gave too little, Snape would fixate on Allen; if he gave too much, Snape would trace it back to the night of the Chamber of Secrets.

Allen crossed out the two characters "Horcrux" and changed it to "attached soul contamination."

He also crossed out "life-force extraction line cut off by space" and changed it to "a reversible magical traction exists between the contamination source and the victim."

He stopped writing and muttered to himself: "Half."

Outside the window, by the phone booth, the "drunkard" changed his standing posture.

The family crest recorded: "The first person looked toward the second-floor study window for three seconds."

Allen did not look up. "Show him the light."

The brightness of the study lamp increased slightly, and warm light shone through the gap in the curtains. Inside the room, there was only the shadow of a young man writing an essay, with books piled on the table and half a cup of cold tea placed to the side.

The "clerk" at the entrance of the old bookstore stopped wiping the glass, as if confirming something, and then continued repeating the action.

If Pansy were here, she would probably say these adults were more annoying than Flint. Draco would curse Dumbledore for being too meddlesome. Nott would take notes. Zabini would ask if the observers had wives and if their names could be dug out from the social scene.

Allen suppressed these judgments and continued writing the report.

After midnight, the family crest prompted for the second time: "The two Wizards are rotating. The individual by the phone booth left, and the individual by the old bookstore entered the shadows of the street corner. A new individual took over from the east alley, carrying dust from an owlery."

"Hogwarts-related."

"High probability."

Allen added to the file: Order of the Phoenix surveillance team, at least three people, including a Hogwarts-related individual.

Inside the Portable Space, Peter suddenly bumped his forehead against the cage. The tip of Void's tail lifted.

Allen gave him two seconds.

Peter squeezed out a sentence: "Don't let them know I'm here!"

The seal fell.

Allen finished the last line and put down the quill. "So you need to be obedient."

Peter knelt in the cage and nodded, looking so disheveled that there was not a trace of the Death Eater he once was.

Just before dawn, the observers withdrew. The family crest had recorded the complete route, rotation times, stopping points, and the spells likely used. The three Wizards never once approached the iron gate, nor did they attempt to probe the wards.

They were very cautious.

Caution meant the orders came from someone who knew the rules.

Allen closed the file and wrote the date on the cover.

Order of the Phoenix, exists, has targeted the ancestral home.

The report for Snape was placed in an unsigned envelope, prepared to be delivered in three days. Draco's safety letter was placed on the owl perch, to be sent out after the next round of eyes at the street corner were in place.

When the first ray of morning light fell onto the edge of the curtains, the cracked pocket watch chimed softly.

Allen looked up.

The golden pattern on the north side of the Portable Space did not light up; instead, beside the third-year file, the line "Dementor risk" was pressed down by the tip of Void's tail.

The family crest reported in a low voice: "A temporary lockdown notice has appeared on the public magic channel from the direction of Azkaban. The content has not been made public."

Allen extinguished the lamp.

"Black is almost here."