Snape, the Sunshine of Hogwarts.

Chapter 39 The more you believe, the more you investigate.
"Still can't find it?"

“We expanded our search to half of Bristol and found only three suspicious Apparition traces, but after tracing those three traces, none of them were Snape.”

"He definitely didn't commit this crime alone! What about that child who only appeared with him in the last two days? Have they been able to trace his identity?"

"No, it's difficult to count children from wizarding families who are not old enough to attend Hogwarts. We are not sure which family the child named Dudley Dursley comes from."

"What about Slughorn? Did he say anything?"

"Whether facing Aurors or interviewing reporters, he insisted that he knew nothing about the so-called potion or what Snape wanted to do. He claimed that he only purchased a batch of ingredients for the Living Hell Soup for Snape and helped him find sales channels, and did not participate in any of the pharmaceutical process."

"He says he wasn't involved, so he's not? He met with Snape twice in those three days! Both times at Snape's house!"

“There’s nothing we can do about it. Slughorn has a lot of connections. We can’t even detain him. Just bringing him to the Ministry of Magic has already prompted more than a dozen well-known wizards to write to us, including some high-ranking officials within the ministry.”

"So, the trail ends here?"

Robaz's face was grim in the temporary investigation office that the Aurors had set up in Bristol.

After the Ministry of Magic issued the most wanted warrant, he and Kingsley led their men to be stationed here, taking full responsibility for the pursuit and capture of Severus Snape.

But now it's already dark. They not only conducted a comprehensive Apparition investigation of Bristol, but also dug deep into the backgrounds of everyone who had contact with Snape during this period.

Even after learning that Snape had spoken with the three Weasley children in Diagon Alley a few days earlier, an Auror went to find Arthur and asked him to bring George, Frederick, and Percy to the Ministry of Magic for a detailed statement.

However, all of this was basically a waste of time.

They found no clues and had no way of knowing where Snape had gone with his men or who was with him.

The matter was deadlocked from the start, and the Aurors couldn't find a suitable entry point.

This made Robaz feel discouraged.

He had always considered Scrimgeour a target, wanting to bring all dark wizards to justice, including former Death Eaters like Snape and Malfoy who escaped trial after Voldemort's downfall.

Now that Snape has finally slipped up and there is an opportunity to catch him, Robazs simply cannot accept that he has escaped because of his incompetence.

Just as he was under the bright incandescent light, he laid out all the clues he had obtained on his desk, wanting to sort them out again and try to find new ideas.

The office door was suddenly pushed open from the outside.

Kingsley walked in, accompanied by a pile of neatly organized documents floating around him, as well as several pieces of evidence packed in sealed bags.

"A new discovery!"

Robards jumped up from his chair and stared intently at Kingsley.

"What clues have you found?"

“If Snape’s initial purpose in coming to Bardemton Manor was to take that Muggle away, he could have done it on the first night and there would have been no need for him to stay here for two days.”

Kingsley waved his wand, causing the documents to fall onto Robazs's desk, and continued.

"This means that either he did something else at the manor, or he made the decision to take the Muggles away after he came to the manor."

"So I followed this line and learned in detail from Madana about everything Snape did after arriving at the manor. He told me that last night, Snape had taken his students out for a walk for a while without any prior notice."

"Going for a walk?" Robards flipped through the documents on the desk, but his attention was clearly focused on what Kingsley had said.

“That’s clearly a pretext and an excuse,” Kingsley himself said.

"I led a team to investigate from Badminton Estate to Bristol city center, and got a lead from a Muggle taxi driver. According to him, he picked up a tall man with a pipe and a cane near the Bristol Police Station around 9 pm last night, accompanied by a boy wearing a newsboy cap, and dropped them off at the gate of the estate."

"That's them!" Robaz recognized the two men just from their descriptions.

“Yes, it is indeed Severus Snape and his student Dudley. I just came back from the Bristol Police Station, where a Sheriff named Nelson Gordon was apparently under a Confusion Charm the day before. He claims that he met Holmes and his assistant Watson yesterday and helped them in their own way.”

Kingsley pointed to the things on the table.

“That’s it. Snape used a Confusion Charm to confuse him last night, pretending to be a detective, and got him to take him into the police station, where he retrieved this information.”

Robaz was completely focused on the documents and evidence at that moment, and he soon discovered what they were.

"These are the investigations the Muggle police conducted on the victim before we arrived! And these are the things they found in her room!"

He turned to look at Kingsley in shock.

"Why didn't the Muggles give us these things willingly in the first place?"

Kingsley's voice was heavy.

“They thought we would ask them for it, but none of us wanted to ask Muggles.” Robazs, of course, wouldn’t reflect on things like Kingsley did. He believed that Muggles should take the initiative to ask for it, rather than waiting for wizards to speak up.

But he was quick-witted, and from Kingsley's discovery at the Muggle police station, he easily deduced the significance of Snape's actions.

"He didn't take away the investigative evidence, nor did he deliberately erase the Muggle sheriff's memory. He wasn't there to destroy the clues!"

Robaz was somewhat shocked by the conclusion he had drawn.

"He was also there to investigate; he was investigating his own case!"

"That's it. This proves that when he first went to Badminton Manor, he probably didn't know who was behind the poisoning. He was also looking for the killer until he found these things at the police station, which made him realize something and then he did what he did today."

Kingsley's words prompted Robards to revisit the evidence.

A tulip brooch, bearing traces of a healing spell.

A notebook with a page torn out.

There was also a whole garlic clove.

What did he discover from these things?

"We clearly lack some crucial information, so we have no way of knowing what Snape knows."

As Kingsley spoke, he pulled out a photograph from the documents, which clearly showed a wound on Patty's neck, resembling a fang.

"The only connection we can make is the garlic clove and the wound; it's as if the victimized Muggle was trying to use the garlic to ward off the vampire."

"But if she knew she was going to use garlic to fight vampires, why didn't she just ask her family for help?" Robaz frowned and asked.

After staring at the documents and evidence for a while, Kingsley suddenly shook his head and said seriously.

"We can temporarily hand over the task of further investigating these clues to our subordinates, but I thought of something because of our failure to coordinate and communicate with the police station."

Robazs looked up at him, and Kingsley met his eyes.

“Our connections with Muggles are too weak. Almost all case investigations only focus on the wizarding world. The fact that Snape thought of contacting the Muggle police means that he had already discovered this.”

"So when he's preparing his escape plan, there's a high chance he'll take advantage of our weakness and use Muggle channels instead of magic!"

Robaz was somewhat incredulous.

"Are you sure? Don't forget what he was before, he was a Death Eater! Not to mention Muggles, these people would exterminate any wizard from a Muggle family! Even during his years at Hogwarts, he rarely went out, so how could he possibly have thought of these things?"

“He has changed!” Kingsley asserted. “When I first met him in Gringotts, he seemed like a completely different person! I don’t know what happened to him, but we absolutely cannot let his past behavior and image cloud our judgment!”

"What do you want to do?" Robaz stared at Kingsley, sensing that his partner clearly had some special plan.

"You stay here and continue searching for clues from the wizarding direction. I'm going to submit an application to the ministry to have them contact the Muggle Prime Minister and prepare an identity for me. If Snape escapes through Muggle channels, then I'll use Muggle resources to investigate him!"

Kingsley's voice was calm; he had already thought of these ideas on his way here.

Robazs didn't speak immediately. He stared at Kingsley for a dozen seconds before suddenly speaking.

"I thought you would be reluctant to work because of Dumbledore's influence."

Kingsley looked up at him, his usually gentle eyes now showing contempt.

“You think too badly of me, Gadwin.”

“I believe Dumbledore. If Dumbledore also believes his Slytherin headmaster, then I have no doubt and firmly believe in Snape’s innocence.”

"If I firmly believe this, why should I conduct a passive investigation?"

"On the contrary, I am even more determined to find out the truth thoroughly, to prove that Dumbledore's judgment was correct, and to prove Snape's innocence."

After saying that, he turned around, pushed open the door, and left.

Robaz was left deep in thought.

　P.S.: In the original Order of the Phoenix book, after Scrimgeour was promoted to Minister for Magic, Robbarz took over his vacancy and became the head of the Auror's office, which proves that he is definitely capable.

　　However, after the war, Kingsley became Minister for Magic. This was largely due to his unwavering loyalty to Dumbledore and his status as a key figure in the Order of the Phoenix, but his exceptional abilities also cannot be ignored.

　　PS2: Before Fudge stepped down in 1996, Kingsley was stationed as the secretary to the Muggle Prime Minister for a period of time. He was also the only wizard whom the Dursleys liked. Although he came from a pure-blood family, he was very good at dealing with Muggles.

　　PS3: Writing fanfiction is definitely more relaxing than writing original works. Of course, I would still be very happy if you had any monthly votes for me!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)