36 Shock in the Wizarding World and Interrogation

Cap. 33 - Shock in the Wizarding World and Interrogation

The next day, Simon was peacefully asleep when someone invaded his room.

"Simon, wake up, it's Christmas!" An excited voice sounded in the room, waking him up from his sleep, and before he could react, his blanket was snatched away, leaving him vulnerable to the cold.

"Heloise, please. It's only 6 in the morning," Simon said, trying to continue sleeping. Suddenly, he felt himself being pulled out of bed and dragged into the hallway.

"Come on," she said after tossing him into the corridor and heading for the living room. Still groggy from sleep, Simon just sighed and went to the living room to open presents. As always, the younger children were gathered, unwrapping their gifts.

The gifts Simon had bought were also being opened, and when he saw Heloise among the children, he smiled and picked up a small package that was set aside, handing it to her.

"Happy birthday," he said.

"Thank you, Simon."

Upon opening it, she was surprised to see a small gold necklace with a beautiful sparkling emerald in the center. Heloise remained silent for a moment before smiling and hugging Simon.

While Simon enjoyed the family moment with Heloise and the others, in another part of the United Kingdom, a completely different scene was unfolding.

In an ordinary residence, a group of wizards removed the bodies of an entire family from their home and took them away. Inside the house, three aurors looked at the scene with heavy expressions on their faces. They were Rufus Scrimgeour, John Dawlish, and Kingsley Shacklebolt.

None of them had the spirit of Saint Nicholas upon them as they watched the bodies being taken away one by one. Shacklebolt even closed his eyes when he saw the body of a child being carried away.

"Who did this?" Finally unable to bear it any longer, Scrimgeour spoke, his fists clenched.

After some time, Dawlish finally responded.

"We have no idea, besides the traces of magic used by the family members, nothing else was found. Not even something that could lead us to the perpetrators."

"And what about the claw marks?"

"Initially, we believed they belonged to a werewolf," Shacklebolt replied, looking at the claw marks in various places on the walls and floor. "But we compared them and they don't match the traces left by werewolves, and we have no indication that a werewolf was involved. Instead, we believe it belongs to some other type of creature."

"And what about the family?"

"We checked the records after learning of the address. Stargrove family, it seems they were a family of common wizards. Let's see, the patriarch was-"

"Pureblood?" Interrupting Dawlish, Rufus suddenly asked as he looked at a photo of the family with some bloodstains on the wall of the living room.

"What?"

"Were they purebloods?"

"It seems so... yes. At least the core and direct descendants were pureblood wizards, those who came from outside... according to some records, mostly... half-bloods, the children... should belong to the 4th or 5th generation of the family, but we need to consult the family tree to be sure."

Listening to everything, Rufus just nodded a bit before waving his wand, trying to identify anything else that had gone unnoticed by the aurors, traces of magic used at the scene, pieces of clothing, whatever it took to identify the perpetrators of such cruelty.

After a while and finding nothing, he just sighed, and with no choices, the three aurors could only leave that place and look for other possible leads that would lead them to the culprit.

At home, Simon enjoyed a warm morning ignoring any problems that might arise. He knew Envy would act soon, if not already, but he wasn't worried.

Of course, the course of action might have been as idiotic as possible. Wiping out an entire family wasn't exactly simple, and the aurors would undoubtedly trace it back to him based on the will, but apart from a possible motive, Simon had no connection to the family, didn't even know them, much less have the means to do such a thing.

So he would be, at most, a suspect or a possible instigator, but he had strong alibis and many witnesses. Of course, if things got worse, he could always run away, and being sent to Azkaban wasn't exactly a big problem, in fact, he could even take that place as a temporary base before escaping.

"So many guinea pigs..."

Pushing aside these thoughts, Simon continued to enjoy his family time while the news of the massacre exploded in the newspapers.

"Christmas Massacre: Wizarding Family Killed in Residence"

A simple sentence was enough to shock the entire British wizarding world, causing many wizards to panic completely. It was as if suddenly they were all thrown back into the dark period where the threat of Voldemort loomed over them.

At that time, entire families of half-blood or Muggle-born wizards were killed without rhyme or reason. Many families sent their babies to orphanages outside the wizarding world in the hope that they could survive.

After Voldemort's fall and the imprisonment or escape of most of his Death Eaters, the only case that shocked the wizarding world was the attack on the Longbottom family. After that, there were 11 long years of peace, which were now shattered.

In the midst of this fog of uncertainty and fear, the Ministry of Magic worked tirelessly on this case, trying to find the culprit and maintain its reputation, and less than two days later, Simon and Heloise were in a Ministry room being interrogated.

In fact, it should have been only Simon, but since Heloise was his sister, she ended up interfering and deciding to come along. He was in an office being stared at by 4 people: Dawlish, Shacklebolt, Scrimgeour, and finally Amelia Bones.

"Mr. Simon R. Morgan, 12 years old, first-year student at Hogwarts, without parents or close relatives. Legal guardian Victoria Leblanc," Amelia read Simon's information from a file before looking at the boy in front of her and then at Heloise, who was behind him, and sighed a little tiredly.

The stress caused by the case was not small. As the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement at the British Ministry of Magic and directly responsible for the aurors, she had spent the last few days almost without rest coordinating the investigations, and now the only clue led to a first-year Hogwarts student.

Although Amelia did not believe that Simon would have any possibility of acting against an entire family of wizards, she still did not rule him out. Whether he liked it or not, he was the closest to being guilty, or at least involved.

"Mr. Morgan, I'll be quite direct. Two days ago, a wizarding family was killed in their own home, and after investigations, some clues lead to you," Amelia kept a serious expression the whole time, as did the aurors present. Since it was only an interrogation and not a trial, and Simon and Heloise were without their wands, there weren't many people present in the room.

"Do you mind if I ask what evidence these are, Miss Bones? And first of all, which family was attacked?"

Amelia looked at Simon's calm expression and frowned slightly, but quickly returned to her calm expression and continued with her words.

"The Stargrove family. Mr. Morgan, could you inform me of your connections with this family?"

"I never had any interaction with any member of the Stargrove family."

"And what about Stephanos A. Stargrove?"

"Miss Bones, Stephanos may have been born into the family, but he was forbidden to use the Stargrove name and was kicked out of the house after being diagnosed as a Squib. He did not belong to the Stargrove family."

Hearing this, Amelia remained calm. Indeed, they found a few things about Stephanos, but they were so few that they almost didn't identify him as a Squib.

"And what about Sophia Stargrove?"

"I never met her, heard her name only two or three times. The first time was when Stephanos drank too much and ended up telling me how she was taken from him by his parents, and the ministry took no action to help him, as he was a Squib."

Hearing these words shocked Amelia a little, but she couldn't say anything as Simon continued.

"Then, I think it was when he told me he had written a letter to her that should be delivered after his death, it should be some sort of apology. I sent the letter after learning of his death. And finally, I think it was a few days ago when I found out she was contesting the inheritance left to me."

Amelia nodded slightly. She saw no lies in Simon's words because everything was true. Stephanos didn't talk about his daughter to Simon, and he didn't ask.

"And what about the inheritance?"

"What about it?"

Amelia looked at Simon for a moment and began listing everything Stephanos left to Simon. Heloise and the aurors were astonished by the amount Simon inherited; even Amelia choked when she saw the list for the first time.

After finishing reading, she looked at Simon, who still maintained a calm expression, and said, "This amount is immense, so undoubtedly someone could kill for it."

"Indeed," Simon said, but then he smiled a bit. "However, I wouldn't need to get rid of the family. First, they disowned Stephanos and even erased his name from the family tree, second, no court would be on their side, whether in the wizarding world or the Muggle world. Having them killed would just put a target on me."

Listening to Simon, everyone couldn't help but agree, but if he wasn't responsible, nor involved, who was? When Amelia was about to ask more questions, Simon just stood up and said, "If my words are still not enough to prove my innocence, I am willing to undergo Legilimency."

Hearing this, Amelia was a bit surprised, but she understood and simply accepted it, calling an auror to perform the process.

As for Simon, although he maintained a calm expression, he was actually feeling a little nervous. This was not a strategic step at all but rather a crazy gamble to see if he could manipulate what the wizard could see through Legilimency.

After a few moments, a middle-aged wizard arrived, and after hearing Amelia's request, he cast the spell on Simon and began to see his memory. Simon felt only that his mind was suddenly being opened, and although it was a horrible pain, he endured it for not resisting much.

In his mind, the wizard jumped from scene to scene. He saw Simon growing up in the orphanage and living a common life, but everything changed suddenly when he saw Simon performing experiments and all sorts of atrocities. He was shocked and began to tremble in fear; Simon was only 12 years old, but his hands had been stained with blood since he was 6.

However, this moment of weakness was exploited by Simon, and before the wizard could react, he saw a strange blue eye staring at him, and suddenly his memory became a bit confused, and the images were all replaced, and what he saw was just a boy leading a normal life.

After a few seconds, he put away his wand and just nodded to Amelia, saying there was nothing wrong with Simon, and then left.

Amelia just sighed a little and then turned to Simon, who was still a bit dizzy but seemed fine.

"Mr. Morgan, I apologize for the inconvenience. I hope you understand that the Ministry is only thinking of what is best for the wizarding community. You may leave now."

Simon left the room with Heloise, who, although a little worried and even a little upset, was relieved that Simon could go home.

As for Amelia, she just watched Simon leave in silence and then let out a brief sigh before sending the aurors in search of new clues. This case was still far from being closed.