Hogwarts wizards who signed in to Middle-earth.

Chapter 39 Making a Voodoo Doll
"Dui!" Bilbo was very happy to see Dui come back, and ran out of the yard to greet him.

Dui smiled warmly and said, "I'm back!"

Then he waved his hand, made everything on the carriage float down, and picked out a dwarf-forged dagger and handed it to Bilbo.

"Is this for me?" Bilbo asked in surprise.

Dui nodded.

This was a gift he had chosen specifically for Bilbo. Although it was not as good as a real divine weapon, it was also carefully crafted by dwarf craftsmen.

He remembered that Bilbo would encounter his Sting sword in the Trollwood, but until then it would be a good idea to use this dagger as a substitute.

"Thank you! I like it very much!" Bilbo was very excited holding the dagger, and kept stroking it as if it were a treasure.

"I'm glad you like it. Oh, by the way, can you prepare a darker room for me? I need it." Dui said.

"A dark room?" Bilbo was a little puzzled, but he did not ask any further questions. Instead, he answered, "Then it can only be the cellar at the deepest part of the cave. There is nothing there except some wine. You can go there."

"Okay, thank you. I understand." Dui nodded. He then placed the petrified mandrake back into the glass greenhouse, shielding it from sound with several layers of glass.

Then another pot of mandrake was brought into the cellar, along with a pot of black mud, thirteen bats in cages, a large bag of sea salt, and an earthenware basin.

The cellar was indeed dark. Apart from a small skylight that let in light, there were no gaps for ventilation.

But as soon as Dui arrived here, he sealed the last small skylight, preventing any light from coming in.

Then Dui pulled the mandrake out of the pot and replaced it with the black mud he had brought with him.

This black mud was dug from the cemetery at midnight on a full-moon night. Dui didn't want to recall the excavation process, as it would damage his image as a wizard.

After replacing the black mud from the cemetery, Dui grabbed a bat from the cage, expressionlessly cut open the bat's chest with a dagger, took out the heart inside, dripped the blood on the mandrake roots, and then buried the dead bat in the black mud.

The whole process looks bloody and weird. If others saw it, they would suspect that he was an evil wizard!

After doing all this, Dui stopped.

In the days that followed, he only needed to water the mandrake with the blood of a bat every day, and he didn't need to do anything else.

So in the following days, Bilbo could see Dewy going to the cellar every day and coming out with a faint smell of blood.

Although Bilbo was curious, as a good friend, he restrained his curiosity and did not ask too many questions.

On the 13th day, Dui took the last bat out of the cage, took out its heart and dripped its blood on the mandrake roots, then buried the bat in the black mud.

At this time, the soil of the mandrake grass became fishy and smelly, and the mandrake grass also became gloomy, as if it was a plant growing in the dark, exuding a weird and ominous feeling.

At midnight on the thirteenth day, Deuy pulled the mandrake out of the black mud.

Then fill the basin halfway with sea salt, place the mandrake in it, and cover it completely with the remaining sea salt.

And tamp it down to make sure the mandrake doesn't struggle out of the salt.

After doing all this, Dui covered the pottery basin with a black cloth to ensure that no light would be exposed to the basin.

Only when the moon comes out at night will the black cloth be removed and the skylight opened to allow the moonlight to shine directly onto the sea salt.

After seven days, the sea salt became darker and darker, and finally turned completely black.

Dui retrieved the mandrake plant from the sea salt. The mandrake was now dead; its features were distorted, its small, dark eyes held an eerie quality, and it exuded an aura of darkness and misfortune.

This is the cursed object made of mandrake - the voodoo doll.

"Dark Forces: Defense Guide" mentioned: "Using Mandrake to make curses is like handing the scythe of the god of death into your own hands - it reaps not only the pain of the enemy, but also the soul of the caster."

Although Dui took the warnings in the book seriously, he did not avoid them.

After all, black magic like curses will indeed affect people's character and easily distort their souls if used too much, but its power and effect are unmatched by other magic.

And now he has also learned music magic from Tom. Music magic has a positive and cheerful appeal and can offset the side effects of black magic.

So he had no worries about being influenced by black magic.

Thinking of this, he was very grateful to Tom. This musical magic seemed to have no lethality, but it was of great help to him.

After completing the voodoo doll, Dui carefully wrapped it in cloth and placed it in a small wooden box. This thing cannot be kept in contact for a long time, otherwise it will easily bring bad luck to people, so he had to keep it carefully.

After dealing with all the remaining things, Dui left the cellar.

He has spent more than half a month making the voodoo doll.

During this period, Gandalf never came to Hobbiton and no one knew what he was busy with.

However, according to Dui's prediction, Gandalf and the dwarves will arrive here in a few days, thus officially starting the expedition.

So in the following days, Dui spent his time reading the magic dictionary and waiting.

That evening, just as Dewi and Bilbo sat down to enjoy their dinner, there was a knock on the door.

Bilbo looked puzzled and looked at Dewy in surprise. "Who could be knocking at the door so late at night?"

Dewi had some guesses, maybe it was Gandalf or the dwarves who had arrived.

However, he did not express his guess, but said: "Go and see and you will know."

Bilbo agreed, rising from his chair and going to open the door.

When the door opened, a bald dwarf stood at the door.

"I am Dwalin, at your service," he introduced himself.

Before Bilbo could react, Dwalin walked straight into the house and started to scrape his muddy feet against the wooden box at the door.

"That's... my mother's dowry chest~" Bilbo didn't even have time to stop himself.

However, before Dwalin's foot could touch the box, it was moved away by an invisible force, causing him to kick empty air and almost stumble and fall.

Dwalin stared at the empty box with wide eyes, then noticed Dui sitting at the dining table in the living room. Suddenly, he realized, "Amazing magic! You must be the black-robed wizard Dui'ir that Thorin mentioned. Nice to meet you!"

But he was immediately attracted by the food on the table. He walked to the table and sat down in Bilbo's seat.

"I've been walking for so long, I'm starving!"

As he spoke, he reached out and grabbed the food on the table, stuffing it into his mouth. His movements were rough and quick, and his thick beard was covered with food crumbs, as if he had been hungry for days.

(End of this chapter)