"Did Dumbledore send you?"
Colleen raised her hands, taking a deep breath. The panic on her face faded, replaced by a calm, almost relieved expression.
"If that's the last thing you plan to say, then there's probably no point in us talking anymore."
Adam's wand remained pointed directly at her, his gaze fixed on her empty hands. He frowned. "Were the people who set fire to the manor also Followers?"
"You really shouldn't have come here," Colleen said, looking calmly at Adam. She noticed the faint blue light glowing in his eyes. "Since you can see what I'm thinking, why bother asking me?"
"You think I'm the Dark Lord?" Adam retorted instantly. "Madam Colleen, I must remind you again: if you think I'm afraid of getting blood on my hands, then keep avoiding my questions."
Adam raised a hand, and the Emicat behind him tugged at Shirley's sleeve, a signal for her to stay quiet.
Ever since Tina once mentioned that her sister Queenie was a natural Legilimens—someone who could easily read minds just by looking into a person's eyes—Adam had been fascinated. There was even a time when Tina and Newt were in danger, and Queenie could clearly feel Tina's sadness from halfway across New York.
To learn this skill, Adam had once paid a steep price of three entire boxes of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans to a man named Gryffindor, only to receive a few simple sentences of advice.
If you don't want to go insane, don't casually pry into the minds of others.Even in our time, very few people did this—because you never know if those tangled memories will affect your own thoughts.There was once a wizard who, in his search for goblin treasure, read dozens of goblin memories in a short time. In the end, he not only developed a second personality but also became extremely greedy and tyrannical in his actions.
But when Adam took out his little notebook, Gryffindor taught him another trick: to judge the truthfulness of someone's words by observing the fluctuations in their emotions.
"Fine. Can I talk to Dumbledore? He can't keep hiding behind a couple of..."
Colleen's words suddenly stopped. Feeling the pressure from Adam's wand and the dangerous dragon behind her, she couldn't bring herself to say the word "children."
"There's no need for that," Adam said expressionlessly, raising his wand. A shower of sparks rained down, scorching small pits into the ground. "Tell me what happened two years ago, and why the other Followers are hunting you."
"If you insist, then fine. But you'd better pass this information on to Dumbledore."
"Fourteen years ago, I accidentally overheard my father talking in secret with others, and I discovered that the entire Abraham Family were remnants of the Followers."
"Ever since Grindelwald was locked away in Nurmengard, they've hidden their true identities, secretly providing assistance to the other Followers."
Colleen's voice was cold, her tone as if she were talking about a stranger. Adam frowned and pressed her. "But you brought Shirley back there later. What was the purpose?"
"It had to do with my sister," Colleen said, after a moment of silence. She looked over at Shirley.
"Back then, Grindelwald was obsessed with the power of the Deathly Hallows, and he was willing to spend a lot of time and resources to find the other two Hallows."
"Every generation of the Abraham family has an exceptional Seer. Based on the last prophecy left by the previous Seer, our family chose to willingly join Grindelwald's ranks."
"In just two years, the family regained its former glory. Our businesses were spread across almost all of Europe. Even the Sacred Twenty-Eight had to give us a wide berth. Even after Grindelwald fell, those people still held onto that prophecy..."
Adam cut her off. "I'm not interested in prophecies, but I can confirm one thing—your power was definitely not just from a prophecy."
Colleen gave Adam a meaningful look and nodded slightly, continuing. "It seems you do know a lot. The artifact that our family has worshipped for generations could only be somewhat controlled by the person with the purest blood in our family, aside from the person it chose."
"So Mrs. Anne was the one who picked up the ring? But later..." Adam pressed.
"Not everyone agreed with that so-called ideology, and I was no exception."
"At the time, Anne didn't want to accept those ideals. Even though my father repeatedly demanded that she join the Followers' cause and find the other two Hallows to send to Nurmengard, she always avoided it and returned the artifact."
"My father cursed her every day, calling her a traitor to the family, and my naive sister underestimated their madness. They forcibly branded her with the Follower's Mark, planning to make her continue the bloodline."
Colleen's hands clenched into fists, her fingernails digging into her palms. Her chest rose and fell sharply.
"I sent Anne away on a Muggle ferry in the middle of the night, telling her to get as far away from this place full of lunatics as possible, and never come back!"
She screamed the last part, tears streaming down her face. She was trembling, and her legs were unsteady.
"So you've been taking Anne's place all these years? And that's why you claimed to be Anne at the orphanage two years ago?"
Adam gently tapped his wand, conjuring a chair next to her. The faint blue light in his eyes quietly faded as he spoke softly.
"That's right. After I sent Anne away, I rarely heard from her. But from the few words in her letters, I could tell she was very happy after she left. Until two years ago when I accidentally met Shirley..."
Colleen's voice was hoarse. Her long, wine-red hair hung over her face, obscuring her expression, but the suffocating sadness was palpable. It was as if her long-held belief had shattered before her eyes, and she was left with the realization of how foolish and futile all her efforts had been.
"So when you used a spell on Mrs. Cole at the orphanage, you were worried about the other Followers?"
Adam raised his wand, using the Levitation Charm to set a small round table in front of them. With a gentle motion, he poured her a cup of tea and pushed a plate of pastries closer to her.
Colleen's face stiffened when she saw the tea cup. She nodded with difficulty and continued. "I had no choice at the time. To hide Shirley's existence, that was all I could do. But later, her identity was still exposed, and I had to find a way to send her to Hogwarts."
"Anne! Come with us..."
Two figures in black robes approached from a distance. Their robes were riddled with holes from scorched embers, looking as though they had just escaped a fire. But the moment they saw the scene in the woods, their voices came to an abrupt halt.
A pair of bright, vertical pupils was looking down at them.
The treetops behind them shook violently, and a small, blue-green figure suddenly charged out.
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