Hogwarts: Bourne Returns from Warhammer

Chapter 97 The Embers of the Ash Snake
London, Ministry of Magic.

Because of the Christmas holiday, there are not many people left on duty in this huge building complex deep underground in "White Hall".

Except for a few departments.

And among these "very few", there is no doubt that the Department of Mysteries, known as the "most mysterious department" of the British Ministry of Magic, is included.

365 days a year, 24 hours a day, the Department of Mysteries, a nine-storey building located underground in the Ministry of Magic, must have a "Silent Man" on duty.

Although except for those silent people, even the Minister of Magic and the Director of this Department do not know the specific content of their work, this rule has been strictly implemented from 1689 to the present.

In 1689, the British Muggles promulgated the Bill of Rights and established a constitutional monarchy.

At that time, the Ministry of Magic was only involved in some activities of the International Federation of Wizards in the form of its predecessor, the British Council of Wizards.

(It was not until 1707 that the British Ministry of Magic officially appeared, and Ulric Gamp was elected as the first Minister of Magic.)
However, whether it is the Ministry of Magic, the Magic Council, or the older Wizengamot Wizards' Council... these governing bodies of wizarding social order on the British Isles have actually always been headquartered where the Ministry of Magic is now. of this location.

In other words, the history of the underground office building of the Ministry of Magic Headquarters is actually much longer than the history of the Ministry of Magic.

The reason for this is because the ninth floor underground of this office building is the Department of Mysteries, and the place where this organization is located is actually a site suspected to be the ruins of an ancient wizard or a large Druid sect.

(PS. Many wizards in Harry Potter have beliefs, and Umbridge believes in druids.)
The Wizengamot's trial chamber is on the tenth floor underground, and the main hall of the Ministry of Magic (which was the original office of the British Magical Council) is on the eighth floor underground. The two sandwich the ninth floor underground where the Department of Mysteries is located.

The purpose of why generations of British wizarding authorities have deliberately created and retained such an architectural pattern is self-evident.

"Instead of being researchers, we should be called the guardians of taboos..."

In a dark, messy small office, a slovenly old man sat on a chair in his office, speaking to the air across a long ebony table that had been rubbed to some pulp.

This is his daily job: three times a day, morning, noon and evening, remind all the silent people of their true responsibilities.

His name is Broderick Bird, a silent man in charge of the Brain Hall of the Department of Mysteries and the Director of the Department of Mysteries.

And he is also the only person in the Department of Mysteries who has an independent office. However, this office only has one desk, one bookshelf, and surrounding stone walls. It seems that the size can only accommodate up to four or five people. No more than that. I can't even stand anymore.

On the table in front of him was a sink made of a whole piece of New Zealand parrot green jade, which was divided into five equal parts.

Each slot contains some translucent magic potion that emits gleaming white light. Four living brains are soaked in this potion.

Except one slot is empty.

These four brains are the brains of Director Bode's only three subordinates and himself. The moment he fulfills his duties and becomes a silent person, the silent person's brain will be taken from the wizard's head using a special magic. Come out and put it in this sink for temporary storage.

This is not only a supervision measure, but also a protection for the silent people.

The potion in the tank is taken from the huge brain pool in the Brain Hall of the Department of Mysteries. It can ensure that the brains of the Silent people remain active, and can also protect them from being destroyed by most curses, jinxes and even almost all physical means.

When ordinary mutes retire, they can use a reversal spell to remove their brains and reinstall them into their skulls.

The only exception is Director Bode.

According to the secret contract passed down by the Department of Mysteries, he still needs to have his successor perform an amnestic on him to erase some secrets about the Department of Mysteries that cannot be told to anyone before he can retire smoothly.

Originally, the director, who was already in his sixties, had arranged everything when he was in his fifties just like his predecessor.

However, something happened to the successor appointed by Director Bode eleven years ago: he was confessed by his associates to be a Death Eater lurking in the Ministry of Magic, and was sent to Azkaban Prison after trial. .

And this has also resulted in Director Bode, who has already been able to receive his pension, now having to persist in this cramped office for a while longer. Until a suitable candidate for the next director-general is found, he will be able to relieve himself of the responsibilities he has shouldered.

After completing the daily admonishment as usual, Director Bode took out a silk sweat towel and wiped the sweat from his forehead. The heating in the Ministry of Magic seemed to be getting more and more powerful recently. Some people speculate that this may be because the Magical Maintenance Service secretly connected the heating pipes of Whitehall to the Ministry of Magic in order to reduce the consumption of firewood in the fireplace once and for all.

"Haha, the Ministry of Magic is going to take advantage of the Muggles and steal their technological achievements."

As an old-school wizard, Bode is not very interested in this kind of opportunism, and even hates it.

He is even more puzzled as to why current Minister Fudge would tolerate such behavior. If we go back ten years, he would have publicly reported this unethical behavior to the Wizengamot council members during a director-level meeting.

But after all, he is now over sixty, and has long lost the spirit of his youth. What he really cares about now is the big issue of who to choose as his successor.

"August Rookwood," silently chanting the name of the owner of the brain in the vacant jade tank that was taken away ten years ago, "you are really causing me a lot of trouble."

August Rookwood is the name of the Death Eater lurking in the Department of Mysteries. Although he is not from the Holy Twenty-Eight Family, he is also a pure-blood wizard.

After entering the Ministry of Magic, Rookwood took the initiative to sign up to be a pre-selector for the Silent Man, and relied on qualifications to become a genuine Silent Man.

This Rookwood is very talented at being a silent man, at least in Director Bode's opinion, because he is a taciturn wizard.

When he was taken away by the Aurors, Director Border lamented the loss of this "talent" for a long time, and finally reluctantly handed over Rookwood's brain - it was put back into Luke Inside Wood's head - the brain is the material carrier of human emotions. If a criminal who is thrown into Azkaban Prison and is managed by dementors does not have a brain, the punishment will be meaningless.

Perhaps because of his age, or perhaps because of the holidays, Director Bode felt inexplicably sentimental when thinking of this Rookwood.

"I don't know what happened to that guy. He was imprisoned in Azkaban for so long. Is he crazy now or is he simply gone?"
-
Flamel's country estate, Devon.

The great mage Babajid from Africa appeared in the bush maze. As a guest, he could apparate in the manor with an invitation from Nico Flamel.

In contrast, uninvited people do not have such convenience. They can only reach the courtyard in the center of the manor by obediently passing through the shrub maze transformed by alchemy. However, some people are born with inability to learn to behave well.

The three people who broke into the manor all had scarves wrapped around their faces to hide their faces. In addition to wearing riveted leather jackets that Muggles called "punk style", they were also wrapped in a layer of asbestos fireproof cloth, and their hands were Wear thick fire-resistant gloves.

They all carry something like an oxygen bottle, but it is not filled with compressed gas but with some specially prepared oil.

After being transmitted through the pipe, the oil was sent into the injector they held in their hands, and then turned into a hot stream of fire and sprayed out.

When this kind of flame comes into contact with the walls of the maze outside the manor, it will immediately ignite the moist shrubs and then quickly burn to ashes.

These people relied on flamethrowers to eliminate the "Cluck and Gugu" guarding the entrance to the manor, and quickly passed through the maze in a straight line.

"Who are you?"

"Stop! Stop setting fires!"

Babajide's angry scoldings reached the ears of the intruders, but those few people responded by setting fires and rushing forward more vigorously.

This old wizard from Africa also had a bad temper. Seeing that he could not talk to these people, he immediately decided to use a spell to wake them up.

Having long been accustomed to casting spells without a wand, he waved his hand and immediately released an "Expelliarmus".

However, unlike the thin red line-like spell rays released by ordinary wizards, the spell he released was as thick as a red python - it was really a "killer weapon" turned into a "killer of your life".

Moreover, under his control, this curse swept away the three intruders.

However, what he didn't expect was that the three intruders were only knocked away by the magic spell, but none of the flamethrowers they held were released!
They were firmly fixed in the hands of these three people by bonding spells or other means.

Moreover, even if they were knocked out and hit the ground heavily, the three people immediately stood up in unison with almost exactly the same movements. No cry of pain came from their mouths, but they continued to breathe fire and move on.

Babajid realized something was wrong.

But at this moment, with a soft "click", a series of explosions sounded behind the three intruders. At the same time, there were flames flickering more than one meter above the ground.

Someone is shooting an automatic weapon!

Because of the area he was in, Babajide Abakinde was no stranger to the weapons called firearms used by Muggles.

He knew he was being shot.

Moreover, the person who shot him only then revealed himself. It turned out that this guy had been following the three intruders just now and was wearing an invisibility cloak made of invisible beast hair.

Kemo combined with is...

Seven steps away, the gun is fast; seven steps away, the gun is steady and fast. In particular, the man who shot Babajide put the butt of the gun against his shoulder and fired from a half-kneeling position.

It can be seen that the shooter was not only prepared, but also planned for a long time. So not surprisingly, Babajide was hit by more than 30 bullets almost instantly.

"This thing is much easier to use than a magic wand."

With a sigh in his heart, the shooter took off the camouflage of his invisibility cloak and revealed his body. Then he picked up the gun and was about to step forward to reload. The man was worried that he had failed to kill Babajid just now.

Even less than 30 meters away from him, Babajid's body had collapsed on the ground, smelling of rust, and liquid reflecting the moonlight was flowing out of Babajid's body rapidly, forming a layer of blood under him. A large "water pool".

"Old wizard, have a good trip."

The man walked up to Babajide. In these few steps, he had already replaced a magazine. However, before he could pull the trigger, the face on the ground that was already black and white due to excessive blood loss suddenly opened two eyes.

"What the hell are you!"

Babajid stared at the guy in front of him and asked in a deep voice. In fact, not only was he extremely surprised, but the man who was about to refill his gun was also a little surprised after seeing Babajide.

It turned out that, somehow, the old black wizard, who had obviously been seriously injured and died tragically, except that he was still lying on the ground, could not see any wounds on his body at this time. Everything that had just happened seemed to be a dream!

That's exactly what happened.

As an experienced wizard, although he has a bad temper, it does not mean that Babajide is not smart enough. After seeing three intruders armed with Muggle weapons such as flamethrowers, Babajid adjusted his plan. The "Babajid" who had always appeared in front of the group of intruders was actually just a version of the latter. The spell of "Dream Messenger".

At Ouagadu Magic Academy, qualified young wizards are selected to attend school, and owl messengers are rarely sent to deliver letters. They usually use a spell called "Dream Messenger" to send invitations to the little wizard from a distance by entering dreams.

In fact, from the time he started to attack until he was shot, Babajid had been using this spell to make himself appear in the mind of the intruder.

However, what puzzled him at this time was how the guy who shot him with a gun in front of him was pulled into the dream?
It doesn't look like it has a brain.

The attacker who appeared in front of him was obviously a humanoid alchemy dummy made of mechanical structure using alchemy!
Is it possible that he still has a brain?
　【Brain Hall】

　　The Brain Hall of the Department of Mysteries is a slender rectangular room with a huge glass tank filled with dark green liquid in the center. Translucent brains are floating around inside - a bit like the brains of the DND Mind Flayer. Chi - In the original Harry Potter novel, Ron was injured by the thought tentacles in his brain, and finally recovered after using forgetfulness ointment.

　　【Fire Ash Snake Party】

　　This is a villain organization in "Legacy of Hogwarts". The leader is Victor Rookwood. It can be regarded as a large wizard gang that specializes in doing illegal but profitable things. And Victor Lukewood is the ancestor of August Lukewood.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)