Hogwarts: Bourne Returns from Warhammer

Chapter 155 The Glory of Pure Blood
"...However, this marking magic also played a great role in tracking 'House'.

In fact, on the day I received Icario's letter, I located House's traces, and it had already appeared near the Tunisian coastline.

So I applied for a transnational portkey and went directly to the city of Tunis, where I wanted to go to the sea to stop it and treat it for diseases.

But when I saw it, it had been controlled by a group of wizards dressed as Berbers using a 'bridle spell' (Note 1), and was used to drag a carriage traveling in the sea.

Horace, do you know what this means?
In the whole of Europe, only three magic schools - Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang - have mastered the magic of taming "horse-shaped" things like Yeqi, the rune horse, Iseron and the horse-shaped water monster. The secrets of animals are kept secret.

You know, in the past, if the Ministry of Magic wanted to use Pegasus to pull carts, they had to rent Thestrals from Hogwarts.

In addition, due to geographical and monster origin restrictions, water monsters are not bred on a large scale in Hogwarts or Beauxbatons.

Therefore, among that group of Berber wizards, some are definitely wizards from Durmstrang! "

After listening to Kettleburn's words, Byrne immediately thought of the information he knew about the Durmstrang Magic School.

Draco complained to him several times about the poor teaching level of the Defense Against the Dark Arts class at Hogwarts (Although Bourne is also a Gryffindor, he is not a member of the Harry Potter trio, and also He took the initiative to help Draco in the cabbage biting incident, so they have a good relationship), he said that his father Lucius Malfoy had hesitated before whether to let him go to Durmstrang.

It is an academy that never accepts young wizards of Muggle origin. This is actually related to the personal experience of its founder, the legendary Bulgarian witch Nerida Vokanova, because she is the orphan of a Muggle victim of the medieval witch-hunting movement. .

After Nerida Volkanova founded the magic school and died mysteriously, Halfon Mount became the second headmaster of Durmstrang.

He not only continued the tradition established by the founder, but also established a teaching system focusing on dueling and various forms of martial arts and magic.

After that, generations of Durmstrang principals inherited Principal Mount's school philosophy, and they were very keen on training students to become combat wizards.

As a result, Durmstrang's "Defense Against the Dark Arts Class" is said to have long existed in name only, and its real name should be "Dark Arts Practice Class".

The current headmaster of Durmstrang is Igor Karkaroff, who was originally a Death Eater.

This man was captured and brought to Azkaban after a six-month cross-country pursuit by the Auror team headed by "Mad Eye" Moody.

Karkaroff was tried after Voldemort's fall. Under the pressure of a life sentence in Azkaban, he chose to make a deal with Barty Crouch, the former head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, to name other Death Eaters in the Wizengamot Tribunal.

In exchange, Karkaroff was pardoned and released by the Ministry of Magic, and later became the headmaster of Durmstrang.

It is precisely because of his experience that some people in the wizarding world jokingly said that the school philosophy of Durmstrang Magic School should be: "Welcome to Armstrong, the cradle of dark wizards!"

The matter involves three major magic schools in Europe. Although these three schools have a lot of cooperation on the surface, in fact they are more competitive.

After all, there are only so many wizards. If there are more students in one school, there will naturally be fewer students in the other two schools.

If it weren't for the competition for students, how could Hogwarts Castle have given birth to the two magic props "Pen of Acceptance" and "Book of Admission"?

Therefore, upon hearing the news about Durmstrang, Horace's curiosity was instantly aroused, and he couldn't help but ask: "What's next? Silva, how did you rescue this horse-shaped water monster?" ?”

“I didn’t act rashly at the time, but followed those people all the way and found that they were constantly traveling between ports in North Africa and Southern Europe.

Tunisia, Malta, Venice, Greece, Algeria, the Pillars of Hercules... They have been transporting goods between various ports in the past half month. "

"No wonder," Bourne also thought of something.

That is, after the final exam, Professor Kettleburn disappeared and did not even attend the final banquet.

Some young wizards speculated what the old professor might be busy with in the Forbidden Forest, but Bourne, as the "Forbidden Forest Coordinator", knew that during that time, only Hagrid took him and the Weasley brothers to the Forbidden Forest regularly. Patrol, Professor Kettleburn was not in the Forbidden Forest at all.

It turned out that the old professor had left Hogwarts at that time and had even come to the Mediterranean.

"A few days ago, those people left Gibraltar and headed straight for Britain. This time, they did not carry any goods. When I followed them, I found that this group of people had exchanged all the goods for money.

After entering the Atlantic Ocean, the little guy 'House' suffered from acute blight syndrome because he was not adaptable to the salt content and temperature of the sea water. The calamus manes on his body lost their vitality and his underwater swimming speed slowed down.

When the group arrived in England, they went directly to Diagon Alley and purchased a potion to treat acute blight.

However, only one of them left to treat 'House', while the others went to Gringotts to save money. And I also took this opportunity to rescue 'House' and temporarily placed it in the Hand of Glory. "

Horace couldn't help but exclaimed after hearing this: "What a bold adventure!

I still remember that when you attended the sorting ceremony, the Sorting Hat hesitated for a long time between sorting you into Hufflepuff or Gryffindor. "

"Maybe it's because I prefer taking care of magical animals. This should be more similar to Senior Newt."

Kettleburn scratched his hair sheepishly at the compliment.

"Then you secretly returned to the Pillars of Hercules this time because you discovered some secrets on 'House'?" Bourne asked.

Hearing Bourne's question, this usually carefree old man became rarely serious. He seemed very angry and his face turned red.

"I originally planned to cure 'House' and then give it to Icario quickly so that he would not have to worry about paying compensation - I didn't know at the time that Icario had already passed away - but I Unexpectedly, when I was treating this little guy, I discovered that it had actually been domesticated a long time ago."

As he spoke, Kettleburn took out his chestnut wand and chanted the spell.

"Vero Veto!"

A silk thread popped out from the top of the wand, and an oversized orange carrot was tied to the end of the thread.

He waved his wand twice.

When he saw the carrots and finished his meal of millet and herring, the horse-shaped water monster, who was about to eat some vegetarian snacks, immediately neighed happily a few times, and then swam quickly to the shore. It pressed the small half of its huge body on the wooden board of the dock, raised its head, and opened its mouth to eat this after-dinner dish.

"You can take a look at its neck. Is there a circle that is not covered by the mane of the broad-leaf calamus?
These are the marks caused by someone repeatedly applying the bridle curse over and over again. And the traces are not scattered, they are all concentrated together, which shows that the person who cast the spell on it is always the same person, and the location of the spell is the same every time. "

Kettleburn explained to Horace and Byrne.

"In that case... Mr. Crevat said in his previous letter to you that the pet he purchased for his customer was a wild horse-shaped water monster."

Byrne immediately grasped the crux of the matter.

"He was deceived!"

Kettleburn nodded angrily, and then said: "Actually, I also doubted it at first, did Ikario lie?
However, after rescuing 'House', I received news that Icario informed me that he had a severe case of dragon pox.

However, he had borrowed money from the owner of the 'Emperor's New Clothes' store and was preparing to go to St. Mungo's for treatment.

He hopes that I can help return 'House' to the store, and then help him complete the transaction, and take care of the store and Penello during this time. But when I went to look for him in the store today, I found someone talking about something - then I heard that Icario had passed away, and even the funeral had been hastily arranged, but the 'Emperor' and his men wanted to extort a sum of money from Penello.

Icario obviously only borrowed less than a thousand galleons, but the guy deceived him with word games. In just a few days, the debt including principal and interest had actually grown to more than two thousand galleons! "

"Merlin's beard!"

Hearing these words, Horace suddenly felt angry. "This is a complete fraud, that guy is a robber!"

"At that time, I thought the same thing, so I wanted to go find that person to discuss it. I thought that as a Hogwarts professor, at the very least, I could put this mysterious debt on hold first, and get rid of Penelo first. The little witch is sent to Hogsmeade."

It all makes sense.

The reason why Professor Kettleburn left the Hydra before it docked was because there was a 4X level magical creature in the "Hand of Glory" that did not have a transport permit, so he could only avoid inspection by the Gibraltar Office of the Ministry of Magic. Go alone to the commercial street behind the Pillars of Hercules.

He found the "Emperor's New Clothes" store and angrily went to ask for an explanation.

"Originally, I just thought that guy was just a fraudster, but after entering the store, I realized something was wrong..."

After eating the carrots, the kelpie shook its head with satisfaction, and Professor Kettleburn turned the wand into a brush and combed its mane.

"...I saw the group of Berber wizards who were busy unloading boxes of goods into the 'Emperor's New Clothes' store. Among them was an iron box with a ventilation hole on it. I heard humming songs coming from inside.

I'm pretty sure there's probably a manticore in that box. "

Manticore, commonly known as "Manticore", also known as "Manticore".

This is an extremely dangerous magical animal native to Greece, with a head that resembles a human's, a lion's torso and a scorpion's tail.

They make a unique humming sound as they devour food.

The manticore's skin is almost repellent to most directional spells, and its tail needle is highly poisonous. Whether a wizard or a Muggle is stung by it, it will kill them quickly. Moreover, this magical animal especially likes to prey on humans. Currently, There are still no effective domestication methods.

The Ministry of Magic in various countries has strictly prohibited the trade of manticores. This ban is not as easy to exploit as the ban on kelpies.

Even more, this ban not only restricts the trade of manticores, but also prohibits private or corporate breeding of this magical animal.

This is because some scholars in the field of magical animals and defense against the dark arts have discovered that the manticore is most likely a monster created by ancient Greek wizards who abused Animagus or human body transformation.

In other words, they are suspected to be black magic creatures that are not naturally born, so their reproduction is likely to cause some hidden dangers.

"Anyone who dares to smuggle manticores will probably do some murdering and smuggling.

Then I think of the series of encounters that my friend Icario experienced - being deceived into using orders to steal away all working capital, losing goods and inexplicably contracting dragon pox, being deceived into borrowing a loan shark at a high interest rate...

I have every reason to suspect that the so-called 'Emperor' is the culprit who killed Icario, or at least one of the culprits.

Moreover, he must be related to this illegal gang that smuggles magical animals, and he is probably also a very important figure in the gang.

When I was following those Berber wizards, I discovered that when they went from Gibraltar to England, all their goods were exchanged for gold galleons.

This 'Emperor's New Clothes' must be an important sales channel for them! Kettleburn said seriously.

"What happened next? You were also responsible for the airship that blocked the commercial street this morning?" Bourne asked.

"Well, yes, that's the case." Kettleburn admitted cheerfully.

"Maybe it was because those people noticed that I was observing them, and I was not a regular customer of the 'Emperor's New Clothes', so they became suspicious.

The blue-turbaned clerks and the Berber wizards in the store all wanted to catch me, but I had been to this commercial street before and was familiar with the environment here.

By passing in front of 'Gargamel's Magic Herbal Shop', I used a spark spell to detonate the airships decorating the wall, using their cover to escape those people's pursuit. "

Kettleburn explained everything he knew without reservation.

In fact, when he saw on the street that his former teacher, later old colleague, and former head of Slytherin wanted to intervene in this matter, he knew that he no longer had the control over the whole matter.

What he can do is to provide as detailed information as possible, because it depends on how much human resource network Horace has to use.

Unlike some new generation wizards, although he has retained a pure heart at nearly sixty years old, he has experienced the rise and fall of the two villains Grindelwald and Voldemort. I actually have a certain understanding of the name "Noble" and the power behind it.

For example, the two generations of Dark Lords (Note 2), no matter how rampant and unscrupulous they and their supporters are, in the process of their rise, they all chose (and had to) deliberately win over a group of pure people. Blood noble.

As for the destruction of two generations of Dark Lords, although it is generally accepted in the wizarding world that Dumbledore, the greatest white wizard of our time, turned the tide, most of those who unite around this white wizard are also wizards from pure-blood noble families!
On the surface, Horace is just a retired old man who takes care of his children at home, but he is not only a representative of the pure-blood aristocracy, but also one of the few potion masters in the contemporary era, and he was also a former dean of Hogwarts. …

The last three identities determine it. If he is really full of firepower, at least 90% of the forces or so-called "big shots" in the entire magic world will not be able to suppress the anger of this fat old man.

As for whether Horace will end up taking action, Kettleburn already has the answer in his mind - he is a kind and honest man, but he is not a fool either.

Out of righteous indignation, Horace used the Patronus Charm to attack the "Emperor's New Clothes" clerk, and a feud was forged.

If we go back more than ten years and there is only one member of the Slughorn family, Horace, with his attitude of "doing more is worse than doing less", maybe after thinking about it, he will just let it go because it is too troublesome. .

Anyway, those people would most likely not dare to make mistakes while he was alive, and would not have the chance to pose a threat to him.

However, now that the Slughorn family has an heir, whether it is to take precautions for Bourne's future security, or to increase the family's influence and pave the way for his nephew, etc., since the incident with that group of people. Without the contradiction, the best solution for Horace is to uproot and eradicate the villains.

One will be a million bones.

The glory of every pure-blood noble family is actually accompanied by blood and killing. Only the most stupid and down-to-earth pure-blood families would think that galleons and rich delicacies are the standard for measuring a family's heritage.

What's more, they completely occupied justice and morality in this matter, and Horace had every reason to use the topic to establish prestige for his family.

So Kettleburn said everything he knew and simply shut up.

He waited for Horace to express his opinion.

　Note 1: The effect of the bridle spell is to put a bridle on some magical animals. It has a miraculous effect on the horse-shaped water monster. As long as it is successfully cast, it can become tame. But once the bridle spell is released, the horse-shaped water monster will launch a desperate attack on the wizard who cast the spell because of the previous humiliation.

　　Note 2: In fact, Grindelwald does not seem to be the Dark Lord, but saying so does not affect the understanding, so I will set it like this first, don’t spray.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)