Sophia led Albus back to her computer centre. She wondered how much he actually knew about how this worked. As she booted up her computer for the day, she decided to test him. She opened a few of the relevant pages, then indicated that he should take her seat.
"Here," she said. "Read this. Does any of these sound like something the man you're looking for would write?"
Albus sat down and started reading. He did know what the mouse did, and he was able to scroll down to read further. She had to show him how to move to the next tab, but after showing him once, he was able to do it himself. He caught on faster than most other wizards she had tried to teach. Most of them just grumbled that parchment was easier to read and asked to get it in print, if not handwritten. Mary was the only one who had the patience to learn, and Sophia suspected she did that mostly for her sake, not because Mary wanted to learn.
"This is not good," Albus said after reading through most of her hits. "Any number of these could be the Knocker advertising, but either way, some of them are most definitely magical people selling things to Muggles. I am starting to wonder if the Ministry is even aware of this. How easy would it be to find these things?"
"For someone with a reasonable understanding of how the internet works and some knowledge of the Dark Web, most of them are quite easy to find. They are adverts for sales, so they can't be hidden too well. But you need to know how to access the Dark Web to find it."
Albus didn't comment on that but moved on to the next question. Did he even know what the Dark Web was? The term was fairly self-explanatory, though you had to know what the internet was first.
"Is there a way to figure out where they originate from? I know that is possible with cell phones, but with computers it's different, isn't it?"
At least he knew some things. Sophia hoped he didn't know enough to get her in trouble.
"I can't tell you where they were written, but we should at least be able to find out if they originate from the same computer. Then, depending on how well protected the computer in question is, I might be able to get at least an area to search." Sophia then went on to talk about a lot of technical terms that Albus probably didn't really understand. He only nodded when she finished, unwilling to admit ignorance.
The two of them were so engrossed in the computer, they forgot to have breakfast. They both realised that they were hungry at the same time, when Sophia's stomach made a loud rumble. She blushed.
"I think it's time for breakfast. Or, looking at the time, maybe more like lunch." Albus said with a smile. Did he have any idea what that smile did to her heart? She hoped he didn't.
"I can go make something," she said. She jumped up from her seat, avoiding his gaze.
"I think I'll make the pumpkin juice today," Albus said with another smile. This wasn't fair! Why did her heart suddenly beat faster just because of a smile? She couldn't afford to let that distract her.
After lunch, they went back to the computer, reading through the seemingly endless ads.
"You know," Albus said after several hours reading through the various hits. "No matter if any of these are the Knocker, many of them are definitely wizards selling things to Muggles. I doubt the Minister is aware of this, or our caseload would have been much bigger."
"I have thought much the same." Sophia said. "I haven't searched the Dark Web much; I am surprised at how much we've found. Do you know if the Department of Technology has an email address or a website? We could leave some of these there as an anonymous tip."
"I'm afraid I don't know. Truth be told, I've barely even used a computer before. I mean, I took Muggle Studies at Hogwarts, but we couldn't get the computer there to work. Mum took us to a Muggle library a few times, so we could try the computer there. I think James accidentally broke one, we didn't try again after that."
Sophia laughed. That sounded like something she could have done.
"I could teach you, if you want."
"Teach me what?"
"How computers work. That way, you know what to do the next time you have to use them."
Albus smiled and Sophia had to work hard to prevent herself from doing something stupid, like hugging or even worse, kissing him. There was still so much he didn't know about her; she wasn't allowed to get close to anyone.
"That would be great. I've seen just how little I know about these things in the last few days."
"Don't feel bad for not knowing as much as I. Like I said, it has always been a special interest of mine. I'm sure there are topics you know a lot more about than I do as well."
"You're probably right. Maybe we can find something I can teach you later, so I don't feel so inadequate."
Sophia snorted. The way he said it made her fairly certain he was joking. But it also sounded like a serious offer to spend time with her doing something unrelated to their search.
She spent the rest of the time until dinner teaching him the basics of how to search for information on the internet, and how to find files stored on the computer. Albus was a quick study, though it helped that he had some idea of how things worked beforehand.
The other people in the Base camp saw the two of them working together with smiles and laughter. Most of them seemed to find it endearing. Some clenched their fists and seemed tempted to try to stop them. Mary Piers stopped and looked at the scene in shock, before walking away in the other direction.
After a quick dinner, Albus asked if she could show him how to search for these ads. She compromised, since she didn't want him to realise that it was illegal, and rather did an automatic search then divided the results between the two of them. Luckily, she had a second monitor he could use, so they didn't have to sit right next to each other. She didn't think her heart could take that right now.
-
Albus tried to concentrate on the screen in front of him and not the woman sitting next to him. This was important work. He was fairly certain that no one in the Ministry had ever seen any of this. He had a suspicion that it wasn't just a "regular" internet search that Sophia was doing, especially since she was so reluctant to explain it. He didn't care, but he was worried someone else would. Was that why Sophia couldn't work for the Department of Technology?
Then he found it. 6 different ads, but with almost identical text. And from the wording, he could identify them all as rare Magical Creatures they suspected the Knocker had stolen. Occamy. Porlock. Chimera. Mooncalf. Wampus Cat. He didn't want to think about why anyone would want a Chimera or a Wampus Cat.
"Where do these come from? It seems they are from the same person and could easily be who we are looking for."
Sophia grabbed the keyboard and typed furiously. Albus tried to not lose focus staring at her face as she concentrated. She looked adorable when she was in the zone like that. He mentally shook himself. He couldn't think about that now. This wasn't the time or place. Maybe it never would be.
"They are made by the same person," Sophia said after a while. "I can't pinpoint a location, since they used a laptop, not a phone or a desktop, but they all came from the same computer."
No location. Of course, it couldn't be that easy.
"I can try to trace the signal to the computer, but that might take time. And depending on how much this person knows about computers, he might notice that I'm trying to break in. He's managed to hide his IP address, so he isn't a complete novice."
Albus had no idea what an IP address was. He was way out of his depth here. He hoped he wouldn't have to explain this to the Ministry, if they ever found something useful.
"What do you need to do that?"
"Time."
"I'll keep reading the results and see if I can find some more then. You try to find where those come from."
"It seems from the way the ads are labelled, the one about the exotic cat from America might already be sold."
Great. So now there might be a Wampus Cat on the loose in Britain being used to do who-knows-what.
"That's not good. Is there any way to know who might have bought it?"
"No. The details of the sale weren't completed online, or at least not in regard to the ad itself. I can try to trace the user that replied, but I wouldn't hold my breath. They are probably careful about being identified."
Albus hadn't really expected anything different. The question was whether it was Muggles or wizards that bought it. Muggles would have no idea how dangerous the Wampus Cat was. Unfortunately, he had no way of warning anyone about this. Not yet anyway. He would have to try and contact the Malfoys once his three days here were complete.