Snape, the Sunshine of Hogwarts.

Chapter 52 The Farm That Has Changed
[Given the considerable interest shown by many gentlemen and ladies in the story "Blood Ties: Vampires and Muggles," we have contacted its author.]

Mr. Hoffman (Wolpert's pseudonym) replied, telling us that although he was eager to present the ending of the story, today was clearly not a suitable time.

This Saturday at 8 PM, a special edition of *The Quibbler*, authorized by Mr. Hoffman, will be released. Besides providing a complete ending to this touching story, it will also answer any questions or doubts you may have about the book.

When today's "Quirk" newspaper was delivered to its subscribers, the wizards who had been eagerly awaiting its publication were in an uproar!

Saturday, which is tomorrow!

After seeing this announcement in the newspaper, many people suspected that the truth about the poisoning case and Snape's escape would also be revealed on this day!
Of course, many more people scoffed at this, believing that "Singing the Divergence" was deliberately hyping up the show and trying to attract attention!

Most importantly, although Lovegood wrote it in a very subtle way, anyone with normal thinking ability can see what he meant by "today is not a suitable time"!
Some people already suspected that he had connections with Snape and his gang who were on the run, and this moment further confirmed that suspicions.

The Ministry of Magic could no longer stand idly by.

Scrimgeour sent a squad of Aurors to Lovegood’s house and conducted a thorough search, but they found no valuable clues or evidence of any correspondence between Lovegood and Snape.

Ultimately, the Aurors chose to bring Lovegood back to the Ministry of Magic.

However, less than half a day after they took the people away, countless wizards sent angry shouts to the Ministry of Magic!
The Auror office was so disrupted by the letters that it was almost impossible to work. Scrimgeour was forced to respond to the public through the Daily Prophet, stating that the Aurors had no intention of using illegal means to extract a confession from Lovegood and that he would be released that afternoon.

This shows that the Ministry of Magic is a rather loose small government for wizards; in other words, it is even more democratic than the democratic Muggle government.

When public opinion is strong enough, they have little autonomy.

In other words, government decisions can be influenced and swayed by public opinion.

And this is exactly what Severus wanted to see.

The Cotswolds is an area located west of Oxford, south of Shakespeare's birthplace.

This area preserves a large number of historical buildings and has a strong English town flavor, making tourism a pillar industry for the local economy.

On Friday evening, in the farm district of eastern Cotswolds, Severus parked his car in front of a farmer's yard.

He left Harry and Volpe in the car to look after Patty, while he, wearing sunglasses, got out of the car with Henney.

Hearing the car, a middle-aged Muggle dressed as a cowboy came out of the house and looked at Severus and Bloodny with a puzzled expression.

"What's the matter with you?"

Severus didn't speak, but instead sent Bloodny to inquire.

“Sir, have you ever heard of Polk Farm?” Bloody looked at the Muggle with a nervous and expectant gaze. “It was called that about ten years ago, but after old Polk passed away, the farm was sold to someone else.”

The middle-aged Muggle took off his cowboy hat and frowned as he recalled.

"Old Polk? I seem to remember him."

“When my father passed the farm on to me, he told me that the land in the southwest was his family’s. He also said that the old man was incredibly stubborn and had a piece of land specifically for growing flowers, even though those flowers didn’t make any money at all, just because his granddaughter liked them.”

“Yes!” Bloody exclaimed excitedly. “It’s a field of tulips, isn’t it? White ones! A huge field!” The middle-aged Muggle looked him up and down.

"Why are you asking about this? Old Polk died a long time ago. I heard that his only daughter died in an accident before he died. His aristocratic son-in-law had no intention of managing that farm, so he disposed of it and sold it to someone else."

“We are friends with old Polk’s granddaughter,” Xueni said sincerely. “She misses that place very much, especially her grandfather’s flower field.”

Upon hearing his words, the middle-aged Muggle couldn't help but shake his head.

"Then don't get your hopes up too high. I heard a few years ago that the person who took over that farm didn't make much money due to management problems. He probably already cleared out that flower field and planted something else."

He lit a cigarette and gossiped.

"But recently the prices of tulips and daffodils have gone up again, and I guess that unlucky guy is going to regret it."

Bloodny's face turned somewhat pale. Severus patted him on the shoulder, thanked the middle-aged Muggle, and said goodbye before returning to the car with him.

"Don't think too much about it. Let's go and take a look at the farm first."

They quickly drove to the farm in the southwest that the middle-aged Muggle had mentioned.

But this place has completely changed, and it has undergone tremendous changes from the place that Patty described to Henni.

Although the sky was still a clear, bright blue, half of the farm had been converted into pastures for raising cattle and sheep.

The remaining half of the land, let alone flower fields, was planted with very little wheat; instead, large areas were planted with sugar beets.

Next to the beet field, you can still vaguely see a dilapidated building. It used to be a red windmill, but it has obviously been abandoned for a long time. Most of the windmill's blades are missing, and the exterior walls are covered with ivy and exposed cement.

They eventually stopped in front of the farm, which was run by an elderly couple. The old woman had a bad temper and a fierce expression.

"Old Polk? Yes! That's right! We were the ones who took over this wretched place from him!"

An old woman wearing a headscarf and an apron, leaning on a hoe, pointed at her husband and shouted in her loud voice.

"I've toiled half my life! That old man lied to me, saying that buying this land would allow me to live out my retirement in peace, but look what happened! I'm going to have to work myself to death here!"

Hearing her loud voice, Xueni hesitated for a moment, but after a few seconds of hesitation, she still asked cautiously.

"May we borrow your farm for one day tomorrow, madam?"

The old woman glared at him sideways.

"What did you say? Borrow?"

“No, it’s not a loan.” Severus spoke up for Xueni at this moment, “It’s a rental. We will pay you a price that you find reasonable to rent your farm for one day.”

　I really want to update more, write more, write four or five chapters a day, 10,000 words, but I can't during the new book period, brothers. I already failed in the first round of promotion, and now it's the second week of running naked. I'm waiting to see if I can win the revival round this week. The word count has seriously exceeded the limit. If I write any more, it will be 300,000 words before it goes on sale.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)