The raven glided silently across the alley, cirg the house before nding on a third-floor windowsill. Through its eyes, Alex saw the inside of a bedroom—ly kept but clearly lived ied small personal touches that hi more than one oct.

  The raven tis sweep of the third floor, peering into ea. All were bedrooms, empty at the moment, but signs of ret activity were everywhere: an unmade bed here, a half-open wardrobe there.

  Finding no more useful information, Alex directed the raven to the sed floor. It perched on a windowsill overlooking a spacious hall. Through the raven’s vision, Alex spotted several people gathered and chatting.

  “Five of them,” he muttered, ting quickly. His eyes narrowed. “There’s Yaxley, and that’s defiorquil Travers. I reize him from the station and Sampur’s memories. The other three… Death Eaters, no doubt.”

  Alex guided the raven to s the rest of the sed floor. There were no other people, and the third-floor bedrooms seemed to match the number of octs. ‘ step: figure out the security setup,’ Alex thought, raising his cloak again. Another raven appeared, fpping its wings softly before taking off.

  He sent the sed raven to circle the house, then nd on the ey. From what the first raven had observed, all the doors and windows were sealed tight. The ey seemed like the only viable entry point.

  The first raven stayed on the sed-floor windowsill, keeping an eye on the group inside, while the sed raven desded through the ey. Guided by Alex’s magic, it reached the firep the third floor. The vision revealed nothing out of the ordinary—just a , unused hearth. "Very well, there’s n magi the ey. Let’s start by cheg the third floor first," Alex muttered, fog his trol on Raven No. 6.

  The raven poked its head cautiously out of the firepce, sing the surroundings before hopping out. It moved across the third floor with short, deliberate figure-eight steps. Despite the building being described as “small,” this floor alo spacious. It had a cozy living room and six rooms, one of which Alex already knew was a bathroom from his earlier surveilhat left five potential bedrooms.

  In the living room, two pairs of sofas faced each other with a wooden coffee table between them. ets of varyis lihe walls, alongside a rge clock that ticked softly. The entire space had a lived-i slightly old-fashioned charm.

  Raven No. 6 wahe living room a few times, careful not to disturb anything. Alex scrutihe feed through the shared vision but didn’t spot any traces of warning magi the room. “It doesn’t look like there’s any on the floor either,” Alex murmured to himself. “Makes sense—if they ented the floor, they’d be triggering it themselves stantly. That would be a disaster for them.”

  Satisfied with the living room, the raven began a more detailed iion of the ers and walls. Alex avoided making the bird touything directly. His experiences with Lily had taught him how easily protective spells could activate, even from light tact.

  At the window, the raven paused. Faint runes flickered on the inner sill, surfag briefly before fading again. Alex frowemporary entments often behaved this way, their magic leaking over time. Proper alchemy items wouldn’t have such obvious traces, but this level of craftsmanship wasn’t unon.

  “There’s definitely a warning spell on the windows,” Alex noted, leaning back thoughtfully. “I bet it’s the same for the doors. Typical. No sneaking in through the usual ways, then.”

  Raven No. 6 hopped toward the bedroom doors, each made of dark, heavy wood that had clearly seeer days. A closer iion firmed Alex’s suspi: entments covered them too. He directed the raven to check the other doors, finding the same results on all of them.

  “So, every window and door is ented. Figures. Without Apparition, sneaking in isn’t going to be easy,” Alex muttered. He thought for a moment, then smirked. “Unless... maybe I don’t have to sneak in at all. Poisoning them could work.”

  Energized by the idea, Alex guided the raven to search for food or water sources ohird floor. However, the floor yielded s—no food ste, and evehroom door was ented. He’d have to check downstairs.

  From earlier reaissance, Alex khe kit was on the sed floor. The yout of the house suggested it had been designed for ercial use at some point. The ground floor was rgely empty, the sed floor housed essentials like the kit and another living room, while the third floor was reserved for sleeping quarters.

  Raven No. 6 approached the staircase cautiously, its tiny cws clig faintly against the wooden floor. After firming no spells guarded the stairs, it began its dest. Flying would have been faster, but keeping quiet while navigating stairs on foot was a challenge.

  The staircase had a sharp 180-degree turn halfway down. Reag the bend, the raven peeked out quickly before darting bato cover.

  The stairs opened directly inte living room on the sed floor. Alex caught glimpses of several Death Eaters lounging on the sofas, engaged in lively versation. To the side, he saw the open kit. But oail drew his attention—a rge, ornate looking gss hung above the living room. Its craftsmanship was too refio be ordinary.

  “What’s this now?” Alex muttered. “A high-end looking gss? Odd that it hasn’t reacted to the raven.”

  Alex watched the events unfolding through the vision of Raven No. 1. Unfortunately, the shared vision wasn’t as clear as seeing with his own eyes. In modern terms, the “resolution” wasn’t high enough, making it impossible to identify the runes decorating the house's walls. The raven also couldn’t cast spells, leaving Alex uo disarm the warning charms from the inside.

  "It looks like sneaking in isn't an option," Alex muttered to himself. "Do I really have to go with brute force or lure them out somehow? Or maybe..." His eyes lit up as a new idea struck him. He directed the raven toward a specific door, staring ily at the gap beh it.

  “This door’s a standard size—probably around 80 timeters wide and 2 meters tall—but that gap at the bottom? That’s bigger than usual, at least 1.5 timeters. Hmm... if that’s the case, there might be a way.”

  Before diving into his pn, Alex decided to test if the walls were protected by defensive spells. He maneuvered Raven No. 1 to a nearby wall, anding it to peck lightly at the surfaothing happened. Enced, the bird tinued along the wall, peg cautiously, until it reached a se near a window. The moment its beak tapped the outer wall, a faint magical pulse rippled through the air.

  The rea didn’t go unnoticed. From Raven No. 1’s perspective, Alex saw the faces of the people on the sed floor twist in arm.