Hogwarts: Bourne Returns from Warhammer

Chapter 108 If something goes wrong, there must be a demon...
At this time, the suite of Umberto Hotel seemed to have become a besieged city - people inside wanted to get out, and people outside wanted to come in...

Time goes back ten minutes to before.

With a soft "pop" sound, seven or eight old wizards and witches headed by Horace appeared in the back alley of the Umberto Hotel.

They had arrived in Palermo from London's Knockturn Alley with a portkey in the shape of a torn boot, which had a strange smell of raw leather soaked in vinegar.

However, because time was urgent, most of these wizards who had been pampered for a long time did not care about anything more. At most, they could only rub the few fingers that had touched the door key on their clothes.

They walked non-stop through the passage reserved by the Italian Ministry of Magic in the back alley and entered the hotel named after the last Italian king.

Following the pungent smell of gun smoke, they quickly found the suite where a fierce battle was taking place. At this time, some people had gathered around the door of the suite. They all heard the noise and ran out to watch the excitement. Among them were ordinary Muggle hotel guests and wizards who came up from the Ministry of Magic downstairs to see the excitement.

Horace and the others were all powerful wizards, and magic gave them extremely keen intuition, so they immediately confirmed that this blocked suite should be the place they were looking for.

"What happened?" Babajide Akinbad frowned and complained as he saw that some of the people around him included Muggle hotel guests.

Without saying hello to the people from the local Ministry of Magic in Italy, the most famous wizarding world in Africa directly used a "Muggle Expelling Curse" on the crowd.

The spell had an effect, and the Muggle hotel guests who were watching the excitement recalled that they seemed to have something important to do, so they hurriedly left here.

The only ones present were wizards.

Unlike the British Ministry of Magic, which has several important departments like the Department of Mysteries that operate year-round. The only employees of the Italian Ministry of Magic who will be staying on Christmas Eve are some Aurors who maintain minimum security throughout the territory.

These people did not know these old men and women who were "dressed very differently from Sicilian people", but fortunately the director of the Auror Office was also on duty at the Ministry of Magic tonight.

Although he was enjoying a sumptuous dinner consisting of thick macaroni with tomato sauce, roasted lamb, olives, red and green salad made with virgin olive oil, and bottled wine in bamboo baskets, after receiving the news, he promptly came from He ran from his underground office to the hotel lobby.

The director is a pure-blood wizard.

Therefore, he knew the social circle of wizards better than his subordinates, and he naturally recognized who those old men and women were.

After considering whether he should renounce wizard society or become an "unqualified person" (note), whichever was the lesser of the two evils, he first spoke to the "Shadow Minister of Magic" Don Marlowe in his heart. He apologized and planned to visit during the Christmas holiday, and then gave orders to his subordinates.

"Open the door to this suite."

However, what he didn't expect was that the few Aurors who stayed on duty could not find the gatekeeper of Don Malo's exclusive suite no matter how hard they searched.

Someone at the front desk of the Ministry of Magic told them that old Vescovo, who was supposed to be on duty tonight, had taken a temporary leave not long ago and left the Umberto Hotel.

This abnormal situation gave the director of the Italian Auror Office some bad premonitions. And when a young Auror tried to use violent means to break down the door, he actually triggered a few booby traps and triggered an explosion. It was obviously the middle of winter, but he broke out in a cold sweat.

Horace, who was eager to find his grandson, couldn't wait any longer. The chubby old man used his walrus-like body to squeeze through several Italian Aurors blocking his way, and used a freezing spell on the door of the suite.

(Although it is called "freezing spell", it not only freezes objects or creatures, but is more like a more powerful "petrification of everything". Potion makers and alchemists tried it hundreds of years ago. , used the "Freezing Curse" to deal with erroneous potions and failed magic experiments, and found that it could effectively avoid explosions. Until more than a hundred years ago, another wizard discovered that the "Freezing Curse" could also deal with explosions made by Muggles. It’s still very useful.)
Then, Horace faced the chained door and cast several spells specially used to unlock locks, such as "Open the Alaho", "Open the Door", "Open Sesame" and so on.

As a result, the chains tied to the hinges were untied, but the thick door was still closed.

Horace, who did not believe in evil, used the "blasting spell" on the door and the wall next to it. However, he found that after his spell hit the target, it was like a mud cow sinking into the sea, and the magic wave disappeared without a trace in the blink of an eye.

"This won't work." Babajide Akinbad hurriedly stopped Horace. It could be seen from the shape of his mouth that this anxious old friend was ready to summon the black magic fire spell to break the door.

In addition to Horace, Professor Newt Scamander also took out his good friend Pickett from his coat pocket, trying to get the Bowtruckle to use its retractable fingers to get into the door lock and pry open the lock core. .

As a result, the Bowtruckle's fingers reached in, but he was unable to pry the mechanical lock cylinder that had been welded tightly before a certain gatekeeper left.

Professor Hicks from Ilvermorny opened the magic book she carried with her. After using special "book magic" to detect the walls and doors, she came to a not-so-splendid conclusion.

"The walls and gates were built with goblin magic silver, or a large amount of goblin iron - this is similar to Gringotts's vault - even using extremely powerful spells can't help it for a while. Destroy them."

"Why did you build such a strong room when you have nothing to do?" Babajide Akinbad asked the director of the Auror Office in confusion.

The latter groaned and was speechless.

In fact, this room was indeed built by the Italian Ministry of Magic, but it was used as a private residence.

It belonged to Don Marlowe.

The "Shadow Minister of Magic" rarely goes home and spends most of the night in this extremely secure suite. Living here is also more convenient for him to learn about what is going on or about to happen within the Italian Ministry of Magic. Everything that happens.

"The vault of Gringotts?" Professor Hicks's comment made Horace think of a solution to the problem: "So, the craftsman who built this room is probably a goblin? Find them here, right? Can you open this door?"

His idea is correct, but it is not entirely correct - these old wizards and old witches want to enter the suite, but they are blocked by solid doors and walls. The inertia of their thinking makes them keep trying to use Magic to solve problems. And I didn't think about it at all. If I couldn't break through the door and the wall, couldn't I try to break the window from the outside and enter the room?
This is the limitation of wizard thinking.
-
Although the earliest banks for Muggles appeared in Italy in the 16th century, wizards living in Italy today have almost no way to enjoy Gringotts' services in the country.

There is no Gringotts in Italy.

As for the city of Palermo, where the Italian Ministry of Magic is located, there is only one Gringotts special exchange office. It is subordinate to the Goblin Liaison Office under the Department for the Management of Magical Creatures. It is an extremely marginalized department. .

How to describe it?
The Goblin Management Office of the Italian Ministry of Magic cannot even share the public office area on the ground floor of the Umberto Hotel with other departments.

As early as decades ago, due to the shortage of work stations, this department office was moved to the rooftop of this hotel.

Moreover, its office is simply a house that was moved from the countryside by a wizard using magic. It was a house built of stone hundreds of years ago, with window holes a foot deep, thick wooden shutters, and locks. The wooden door is very strong and reinforced with iron bars. There wasn't any light coming out of the house. Even if someone suddenly attacks, they won't be able to rush in quickly.

There are only one wizard and one goblin working in the Goblin Liaison Office - the former is responsible for liaising with goblins, and the latter is the manager, accountant, cashier, waiter of Gringotts Exchange...

Because of the holiday, the wizard went home early, leaving only the goblin who didn't care about Christmas to stay in the rooftop hut.

This goblin's human name is very easy to remember. Like most of the goblins in Gringotts, he is named after metal artifacts from human society, and he also takes into account the naming characteristics that are annoying to the locals.

His name is Caserta (a unique metal torture instrument in ancient Sicily, shaped like an iron box. During torture, boiling water is poured into it and oregano is stuffed inside). When the Aurors picked up the old goblin from his bed and brought him to the door of the suite, he was still whispering curses in goblin, but no one present could understand him.

"You want me to open this door?"

He gently touched the door with his long fingers with sharp nails, and Caserta immediately retracted his hand.

He raised his head and looked at the group of wizards surrounding him with doubtful eyes.

"Where's the key?"

He said seriously: "This is a Gringotts vault. Although I don't remember when the headquarters sent people here and built it, the elf craftsmanship on it will not be fake. I can only give the key. The owner opens the vault. And he has to charge a fee for opening the door according to regulations."

"Merlin's beard!"

After being tortured all night, and his precious grandson was kidnapped, even the good-tempered Horace couldn't help but become a little anxious.

He took out his wand and pointed it at Caserta, and a cluster of sparks suddenly shot out from the wand, shattering the marble floor under the goblin's feet.

"Open the door!" the old wizard threatened with his eyes widened, his patience reaching its limit.

"Good, good, good."

The goblin named Caserta was so frightened that she waved her hands, then turned and walked towards the door while whispering: "Follow your order."

No one noticed that when he said the word "follow", his tone seemed to be different from before.

Caserta's fingers brushed through the cracks in the door, from the keyhole to the floor. No one knew how he did it, just as no wizard knew how the goblin unlocked the door above the Gringotts vault. However, everyone present heard a sound, that is, the "click" sound made by the flick of a metal pick. Even though the lock cylinder had been welded to death by Vescovo before, the door lock on the door was still opened by this goblin.

He took a step back. The closed door seemed to be pushed by an invisible big hand, the hinges made a soft "click-click" sound, and the two doors automatically opened and turned toward the interior of the suite.

"Bourne!"

"Teacher Flamel!"

Seeing the door open, the group of old wizards and witches headed by Horace squeezed into the suite door while shouting people's names.
-
"Why are you here?"

In the underground Ministry of Magic in Whitehall, the only brightly lit small office in the Department of Mysteries, Broderick Bird looked at the visitor in surprise.

He recognized who they were.

"No...I mean...welcome everyone. Principal Dumbledore, Principal Dippet, and Ms. Bagshot, welcome you three."

The silent director, who had to stick to his post even though he had reached retirement age because of the lack of talent in the department, greeted the three seniors who walked into his office after knocking on the door in a lively tone that was rarely seen in ordinary times. road.

He said it very politely. Because these three were his teachers and principals when he was in school.

"Mr. Bald, I wish you a Merry Christmas too." Dumbledore took off the cotton wizard hat he wore to keep warm and said hello to his long-ago student.

Dippet and Bagshot may be too old, or they may simply not have as good a memory as Dumbledore. These two old men, who are more than 500 years old combined, just nodded and signaled.

It was mainly up to Dumbledore to explain the whole matter to Broderick and seek help from the Director of the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry of Magic.

When Dumbledore finished telling the story of the "kidnapping case" and then pointed out that the kidnappers used the "Hawthorn Hall" tent, Broderick immediately understood why these three old seniors came to the Ministry of Magic at starry night.

Unlike ordinary Ministry of Magic officials and civil servants, the Silent Men of the Department of Mysteries are more like scholars. Therefore, when faced with a problem, he did not open his mouth to say a "universal negative" - ​​"Impossible, this thing is absolutely impossible" - but thought about it carefully first, and then learned from the magic desk Fish out your own brain from the Emerald Brain Pool in New Zealand.

He pointed his wand at the wet brain and drew out a silvery thread of memory. The hazy thin thread floated on the tip of its wand, constantly swaying.

"Principal Dumbledore, I don't have a pensieve here. We may have to go..."

"It doesn't matter, I've already prepared it." As if by magic, Dumbledore pulled up the wide cuffs of his robe and happened to be holding a hookah skull in his hand.

There were originally some memories of Grindelwald inside, but on the way here, Dumbledore temporarily moved them into another glass bottle.

He took the Elder Wand and gently lifted it, and the memory thread on the tip of Broderick's wand fluttered towards the hookah skull and sank into it as soon as it came into contact with the transparent crystal outer wall of this magical item. , into some liquid contained in a hookah skull.

Dumbledore took a deep breath from the cigarette holder, and then blew the liquid smoke out of his mouth.

Like a holographic projection, the content of Broderick's memory appeared on the surface of the smoke and was displayed in front of the four people present——

The "Horn of Horntails" tent was put on display in the collection room of the Ministry of Magic...

A woman in pink clothes comes to the Department of Mysteries repeatedly, disturbing the work of the Silent People...

Broderick took the trouble to agree to her request...

The witch packed up some of the "useless, harmless and of little historical significance" Ministry of Magic collections and sold them all to the goblins of Gringotts to attract financial aid for the project of rebuilding the magic fountain in the hall... …

"Merlin's beard!"

Seeing this scene, Armando Dippet, the oldest old wizard present, could not help but frown, and the wrinkles on his face were squeezed into knots.

"Who is this person? How can she be so brave and depraved? For a few gold galleons, she is actually willing to sell magical items to goblins? Doesn't she know that in order to set up the goblin clan?' Due to the prohibition against holding a wand, how many talented young wizards have died fighting goblins?"

　Note: "Unqualified person" is a secondary coinage of "qualified person". "Qualified person" and "respected person" are a "Sicilian-style" title, referring to those who endured in the Mafia. Backbone elements who have passed the test.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)