The Pacifist Necromancer of Hogwarts

Chapter 359 On a Rainy Day

As planned, they prioritized visiting forest areas with towns nearby, especially those with haunted legends. They all agreed that as long as Voldemort needed to eat and had not suddenly become a master of bark cooking, he should prioritize places close to humans. After all, even Voldemort had to abide by Gamp's Law of Transfiguration.

For nearly half a month, they rushed from one place to the next every day, searching for Voldemort's possible hiding place. Once, they did detect traces of magic next to a village that had become ruins - very powerful traces of magic. Anthony and Sirius spent two days studying the nearby terrain, trying to find evidence that Voldemort had stayed here (and possible clues to the next location), but in the end they found that it was just the feces of a dragon that accidentally flew out of the protected area.

Sirius became more and more irritable every day. He woke up earlier and earlier, packed his bags faster and faster, chewed his food only briefly before swallowing it whole, and refused to stop to rest at night. Sometimes, he would suddenly become anxious, convinced that he saw a trace before leaving, or heard a sound at night, so Anthony had to go back with him to the place he checked yesterday. Whenever Sirius realized that this return trip only wasted more time, he would become unusually polite and lively, eager to share food, or invite Anthony to stay in his tent for the night, and laugh when Anthony tried to comfort him.

Only when Harry spoke to him through the two-way mirror would Sirius really stop briefly, smile, and try to find something light and interesting to talk about. But as the final exams were approaching at Hogwarts, Harry's conversations with him became shorter and less frequent.

"I really hope we haven't missed anything," Sirius would say from time to time. Or: "I wish I knew what I was looking for."

This morning, perhaps because of the heavy rain that had washed over the whole night, the automatic folding magic of the tent failed. Sirius recited several spells, but could only make the tent shake in vain. Anthony had already rolled up his sleeping bag and sat on the wet stones next to him, baking potatoes with salt, oil, tin foil and magic.

It was six o'clock in the morning, and the sky was still gloomy. There was a dreary dampness in the air. The roar of the nearby river seemed much louder than last night, almost covering up the birdsong in the early morning. A hedgehog climbed up slowly and cautiously from a low place, rummaging through the fallen leaves beside the bushes, looking for something.

Sirius suddenly cursed loudly in frustration and kicked the sturdy frame of the tent. The tent shook, and a string of water drops rolled down from the ceiling, hitting Anthony's backpack and scaring the ginger cat who was trying to bite the zipper open. It arched its back and hissed at Sirius, but Sirius ignored it and just stared at the tent with a gloomy face.

"Don't worry, Sirius." Anthony lifted the tinfoil and took a look. "Let's have breakfast first."

Sirius took a deep breath and slowly exhaled it. Finally, he compromised and walked over, sat down next to Anthony, and took the potato.

"Thank you."

"Be careful, it might be hot."

Anthony was late. Sirius' fingertips had turned red, but he still held them, as if he didn't feel any pain.

"I want to know if Dumbledore knows what we are doing." Sirius said suddenly, lowering his head and staring at the breakfast in his hands, as if Dumbledore would suddenly pop out of the tinfoil at any time. "Henry, do you know what you are doing? Or are you like me, just hearing that you are going to look for - look for that damn Voldemort, and then you were thrown into this damn forest, and then you kept looking and looking...Did you offend him at some point?"

He did not say who the offended "he" was, but from the tone of his voice, Anthony felt that Sirius was not referring to Voldemort.

"I offended the Ministry of Magic," said Anthony.

"What a coincidence that they've offended me," said Sirius grimly, peeling back the foil and taking a large bite of the potato. "We've been looking for - for days and days - and still can't find anything! I really hope Voldemort will jump out, right here, in these woods. Put a spell on me or something, the bastard! I hope there's at least a clue - I really hope there's something here, and not just Dumbledore -"

He stopped talking suddenly, lowered his head, and ate his breakfast in silence. Anthony tried to shake off the inappropriate joke in his mind ("At least you found a lot of hope") and said, "There are still a few places on the list that have not been searched."

"Yeah, the one where the giant frogs were spotted," said Sirius uninterestedly. "Sounds like Voldemort is practicing the Swelling Charm, huh?"

"The crying in the woods—"

"I believe with all my heart that Voldemort will be weeping in the dead of night over his failure."

"And that place where monsters are said to appear—"

"A monster defeated by fairies." Sirius said, finishing the potatoes in a few bites, cleaning up the remaining garbage with a vanishing charm, and stood up. "Forget it, I'll deal with the tent first, and then we'll go find the frog."

……

Sirius hadn't been able to defeat his tent until after ten o'clock. During this time, he designed three ways to die and twelve ways to go bankrupt for the owner of Davis-Bans Magical Supply Store. The rain seemed to have completely ruined his mood, and even a whole chocolate frog didn't help much (neither did Dumbledore's chocolate frog card). Anthony held the cat and studied the luck compass all morning. In the end, they decided to give up packing the tent for the time being, and only took their wands, and went to search the nearby woods while the sky cleared up.

Anthony soon began to feel lucky that they had left their luggage behind. The ground was even more slippery after the rain, and both he and Sirius' shoes were covered with mud. On some roads, they had to use their hands and feet, and climb the crooked tree trunks with both hands to avoid sliding down the slope. Anthony was trying to sense the magic of the dead all the way - if Quirrell was still alive, he would probably still have cat scratches on his body.

The heavy rain had also swollen the river. When they passed by the night before, they could easily step on the stones to cross the stream, but now the river was thirty or forty feet wide and the water was turbulent. Anthony and Sirius took off their shoes and socks, rolled up their trousers, and waded across the river. Although it was June, the river water was still icy cold.

After crossing the river, they walked east to the edge of the forest, and then headed north to look for possible traces of Voldemort. There were some mushrooms popping up in the grass, but neither Anthony nor Sirius was good at herbology and potions, so neither of them could confirm whether they were poisonous or not. They found several bunkers and houses nearby, with no obvious signs of magic. Several locals lived in the houses, and Anthony and Sirius observed for a while and thought that these people did not look like they were under the Imperius Curse.

Just as they were about to leave, Sirius frowned.

"That little girl..." he said, looking thoughtfully at the trembling blue light at the tip of his wand. "Is she a witch?"

Anthony looked in the direction he pointed and saw a little girl, about five or six years old, on dirty hands and knees, grinning and screaming, chasing each other with her companions, climbing in and out of the low wall. Whenever Sirius pointed his wand at her, the blue light indicating the trace of magic would become slightly brighter, but this change was very subtle and easy to ignore. "Where do wizards in Albania usually go to school?" Anthony asked.

"I don't know," said Sirius. "If I knew, I'd go ask if there's any good spell to make a tent here, because the alchemists taught at Hogwarts are clearly not very competent."

At this time, the children's parents came to call them for lunch. Anthony and Sirius hid in the woods, under the Disillusionment Charm, and discussed whether to pretend to be two lost travelers.

"Or one," said Sirius. "You're much better with Muggles, Henry. I'd be exposed if I spoke."

"I don't speak Albanian either," Anthony pointed out as he was pushed out of the woods. "We're probably just weird foreigners in the eyes of both British wizards and British Muggles."

"Good luck to you," said Sirius, as if he hadn't heard her. "If that little girl were Voldemort, I would certainly rush out to help you."

……

Anthony rubbed his shoes in the mud for a few times and scratched his hair to make it more messy before he lifted the Disillusionment Charm. He put away his wand and walked towards the house. There was a sound of a radio or TV coming from the window, and the people in the house seemed to be eating while listening to the news.

Anthony was about to knock when the door suddenly opened a crack in front of him. He was startled and stepped back. The person who opened the door seemed to be startled as well and slammed it shut. An adult's voice asked something loudly, and then a little girl's voice came from behind the door. The news was still ringing.

After a while, the door opened again. A man stood behind the door, frowning at Anthony. The little girl stood next to him, staring at Anthony.

Anthony smiled at them, gestured to the forest next to him, used two fingers to make a walking gesture, and gestured behind him, pretending to be carrying a bag. Seeing that the man seemed to understand what he meant, he gestured to the baggage again, and then spread his hands, indicating that the baggage disappeared.

The man on the other side looked gloomy and spoke quickly. Anthony quickly raised his right hand, tilted his head back, and made a drinking gesture, then crossed his fingers and looked at the man inquiringly.

The man said a few more words.

Anthony didn't understand anything. He pointed at himself: "Henry." He raised his hand to gesture for a drink: "Water." He crossed his fingers: "Please?"

The man seemed to finally realize the language difference between them. He hesitated, pointed at Anthony, then raised his hand and began to gulp down water. The little girl giggled beside him, glanced at the man, jumped out of the door in a few steps, and ran away quickly from Anthony.

……

Finally, Anthony drank two bowls of water, and under the other party's cautious but curious gaze, he gestured to show that he was from England. He tried to ask the man if there were any other British people nearby (at least he tried to ask so), and the man shook his head to indicate no (or that he didn't understand what he was asking); Anthony asked if there were any monsters nearby (his imitation of a lion seemed to amuse the other party), and the man gestured a shooting gesture and shook his head again.

So Anthony returned the bowl to express his gratitude. He stood in front of the closed door for a while, turned around, and saw the little girl standing behind him.

"Ah," the girl said with a grimace, imitating his lion roar.

Anthony smiled and lowered his head to tease her: "Woo." He pointed to the forest.

The girl laughed again: "Aww."

Anthony imitated the man and gestured to shoot: "Bang." Then he pointed at the forest and shook his head: "Ouch."

"Bang!" the little girl shouted with a laugh, then frowned and thought seriously for a while.

"Ouch." She pointed at the forest and shook her head. "Bang." She shook her head. She stood on tiptoe again, gestured to something very high, and nodded.

Anthony held out his hand and measured the height according to her position. The girl motioned him to move higher, higher, higher, until the object was higher than Anthony's fully extended hand. Then she closed her hands, gestured above her head, and began to run around Anthony with her body bent. She ran two circles, and seeing that Anthony seemed confused, she giggled happily again.

"What is it?" Anthony squatted down and asked seriously.

The little girl ran around Anthony twice more, and when she found that he still didn't understand, she jumped a few times in a hurry and looked around for something to use as a gesture. Suddenly, her eyes lit up, and she took a hair from her skirt and handed it to Anthony.

Even with Anthony's level of potion skills, he could recognize that it was a unicorn hair.

(End of this chapter)