Hogwarts: Undercover Death Eater Replaces the Dark Lord

He looked at the passage, which was so low that he couldn't even stand up straight, and felt a little worried.

Before, Lycos had never imagined that the secret passages in Hogwarts would be so short and narrow. If someone had claustrophobia, they would probably have a seizure... The conditions in Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets weren't so harsh...

Lycos began to think again, if he learned the Animagus transformation, would he not have to suffer this kind of pain.

"Aren't you leaving yet, Lycos?" Harry urged from behind.

"Oh, let's go." Lycos came to his senses and could only walk forward with a hunched back.

This secret passage was very long. Even with his back aching, Lycos felt that it was even longer than the passage to the secret room...

But on second thought, it was reasonable. After all, Hogsmeade village was a certain distance away from Hogwarts Castle. Even if one walked normally, it would take more than 20 minutes to get there. It would seem even longer if one bent over to move there.

Lycos felt that this was not a solution.

So, he quietly used the magic of physical flight, lifted himself up, and floated forward leisurely in the secret passage... This way really saved a lot of effort.

"Hey, why is it foggy here?"

Harry looked at the gray mist that suddenly filled the secret passage, somewhat confused.

"Ahem... don't worry about these details." Lycos coughed twice and evaded the question.

I don’t know how long it took, but finally, the tunnel began to rise.

After floating forward for a while, the tunnel began to become winding. After passing a small turn, a vague light gradually appeared in front.

That seemed like a small outlet.

Lycos and Harry took a few more steps forward, then stopped together to catch their breath.

"Lumos Maxima—"

Lycos increased the brightness of the illumination spell, and the light from the tip of the wand suddenly became particularly dazzling, illuminating the exit of the tunnel and the scene outside the exit -

It was a house, a shabby, dusty house. The wallpaper had peeled off the walls, the floor was stained, every piece of furniture was broken, as if someone had smashed it, and the windows were boarded up.

"Where is this place?" Harry struggled out of the cave and looked around.

"It should be the Shrieking Shack." Lycos said casually, "Come to think of it...even though your Hogsmeade application form didn't have a parent's signature, you still became one of the first third-year students to come to the village."

"But I have Sirius's signature..."

Harry was halfway through his speech when he suddenly realized that Sirius's charges had not been lifted yet. Before the Ministry of Magic agreed, he still couldn't appear in Hogsmeade openly.

From this perspective, arriving at Hogsmeade early was truly a blessing in disguise.

In the light of the enhanced Illumination Charm, it could be seen that the room in the Shrieking Shack was empty, but a door on the right was open, leading into a dark corridor.

Just then, there was a creaking sound overhead, as if something was moving upstairs.

Lycos raised an index finger to his lips, signaling Harry not to speak for the time being.

Then, he looked up at the ceiling and said in a very low voice: "To be on the safe side, it's time to put on the invisibility cloak..."

"Let's go out first. If Sirius hasn't been found yet, we'll take him away from the secret passage. If the Ministry of Magic has already found this place, then we'll think of other ways."

After that, Lycos waved to Harry, and then the two of them put on the invisibility cloak together and crawled out as quietly as possible to the living room outside the Shrieking Shack.

Everything around here was covered in a thick layer of dust, but not the floor—there were many shiny footprints on it, some of which were from humans, and some that looked like they were from large dogs.

Looking at the footprints, Lycos frowned.

Sirius was so careless, why didn't he even wipe away the footprints? If the Ministry of Magic touched here...

"No one was found on this floor, but there are signs of habitation."

A sudden voice from upstairs startled Harry.

They looked up and found that the upstairs was already full of uniformed Ministry of Magic Aurors. One of them was reporting to a wizard with gold-rimmed glasses and messy brown hair.

"But these traces are a bit strange. These footprints are from only one person, but there are also canine footprints in the dust... I suspect the person living here has a dog."

"Use your brain!" The brown-haired wizard glared at the Auror coldly. "If the person hiding here is Sirius Black, how could he have the leisure to keep a dog?"

"But, Director Scrimgeour, if it weren't for the dog..."

"Does the presence of canine tracks necessarily mean there are dogs?" Scrimgeour shook his head and interrupted the Auror, "I have another guess—"

"Why was Black able to escape from Azkaban? Why has our Auror Office been unable to track down Black? I can't believe that after being trapped in Azkaban for so many years, his magical abilities have improved to a level far beyond what they were before!"

"I've been thinking for a while now. According to Dumbledore, Peter Pettigrew is an Animagus... and based on the dog footprints here, can I assume that—"

"Sirius Black is also good at human transformation?"

Lycos' heart skipped a beat.

He could feel that Harry next to him reacted even more violently.

"What should we do?" Harry looked at Lecos with extremely panicked eyes and asked silently.

"I don't know either." Lycos lowered his voice and shook his head slowly, "But at this point, even if Sirius turns into a dog, he won't be safe..."

He frowned and looked at the room behind him. There were two small rows of footprints scattered on the dusty ground - they were the footprints of Lycos and Harry.

The people from the Ministry of Magic have already found the Shrieking Shack. If the two of them want to leave no trace, they must clean up all the footprints behind them.

"If Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew are both Animagus, then wouldn't Headmaster Dumbledore's testimony be more credible?" Upstairs, the Auror continued to ask.

"This has nothing to do with us." Scrimgeour's tone was somewhat indifferent. "The mission Fudge gave us was only to catch Black... Besides, his act of escaping from prison was illegal in the first place."

As the two were talking, Lycos and Harry moved step by step back to the exit of the secret passage.

Harry found a piece of wall plaster not far away and fastened it tightly over the exit, hiding it; at the same time, Lycos raised his wand to the ground -

"Tergeo."

In an instant, the dust on the ground was cleared away by the spell, and all the footprints were unclear.

But this movement obviously also attracted the attention of people upstairs.

"who?!"

……

Chapter 215: Animagus Form is No Longer Safe

As Scrimgeour shouted, a burst of hurried footsteps sounded in the shed.

Then, uniformed Aurors came running down the stairs one after another, causing the rickety wooden stairs to creak.

"Lex, what should we do..." Harry asked hurriedly as he watched the Aurors rushing in from the living room, "The room is too small, they'll find us..."

"Don't panic." Lycos held Harry's shoulders and said softly, "No matter what happens next, don't move. Do you understand?"

Harry was stunned for a moment, but out of trust in Lycos, he nodded hesitantly.

Lycos no longer hesitated and looked forward.

A thin grey mist rose from beneath his feet, lifting both Lycos and Harry up... This grey mist was mixed in with the lingering dust, inconspicuous enough not to attract the Aurors' attention.

Then, Lycos activated the unassisted flying magic and nimbly floated with Harry, avoiding the detection of the Aurors one by one... Under the cover of the invisibility cloak, they were not noticed by the Aurors at all.

Once you get to the living room, the benefits of floating become even more apparent.

Even with an invisibility cloak, there would always be footprints on the dusty ground, which might attract the attention of an experienced old Auror like Scrimgeour.

But with the magic of flying, the two of them did not touch the ground at all, so naturally no footprints were left.

So, they floated out of the Shrieking Shack smoothly and landed steadily in front of a small house in Hogsmeade village... There was no more dust on the ground here, and they finally didn't have to worry about being discovered because of their footprints.

After landing, Harry looked at Lekos with wide eyes, his expression extremely surprised: "Lex, how can you... fly?"

"It's just a small prop, almost like a flying broom." Lycos made up a lie to cover it up. "It's not important. Our priority now is to find Sirius."

After saying that, Lycos began to look around, looking at the village that had been discussed by the young wizards for a long time.

According to "A School History", Hogsmeade is the only village in the UK where no Muggles live. All the residents here are wizards and can use magic here with confidence.

Not only that, the architectural style here is also very unique, filled with houses and shops with thatched roofs. The surrounding vegetation is also quite lush and the scenery is pleasant.

Looking into the distance, you can see Hogwarts Castle across the lake from the village.

The castle stood far away on the other side of the Black Lake. The red morning glow was still faintly visible on the horizon, illuminating the tops of several towers with a bright red glow. The lake water was also shimmering with red light, like pieces of red phosphorus from a koi fish.

"Rosmerta, a Butterbeer!"

Just then, a shout came from not far away.

Lycos and Harry still stood under the invisibility cloak, looking curiously in the direction of the sound.

There was a small shop with a warm yellow light. On the sign outside the shop were three interlaced brooms and a line of capital letters:

The Three Broomsticks.

This was a very famous place in Lycos's memory, but the Three Broomsticks Bar seemed to be in some trouble nowadays.

"Make way and cooperate with the Ministry of Magic's inspection!" A group of Aurors came in groups, waving wands in their hands, and drove the customers and owners of those shops aside.

A group of Dementors were following closely behind them. It was the warm season of late summer and early autumn, but the temperature in Hogsmeade was so cold that it made people shiver.

With the help of the amplification spell, the warning spread throughout the village:

"We now suspect that Sirius Black, a wanted criminal, is hiding in Hogsmeade village. Anyone who shields him or fails to report him will be treated as guilty!"

It was still early, and many Hogsmeade residents who had not yet woken up were woken up by the Aurors. They reluctantly crawled out of their beds and accepted inspection by the Ministry of Magic.

Under the cover of the invisibility cloak, Lycos and Harry saw a group of Aurors rushing into the Three Broomsticks Inn, and then a series of "jingle and bang" sounds came from inside the bar.

"Let's get closer and find out a little about the enemy's situation..." Lycos said in a low voice, "You don't have to move, so as not to leave footprints."

After all, there had been a heavy rain a while ago, and the ground in Hogsmeade village was still wet and soft in some places.

Harry nodded, and found himself floating again, all the way to the door of the Three Broomsticks.

"Can you still hold on?" Lycos glanced at Harry's pale face and asked softly.

"I'm fine..." Harry said weakly, "Lex, don't worry about me. Finding out the enemy's situation is the most important thing."

Although neither of them was discovered, the Dementors around him still put him under immense pressure... Harry's memories of his infancy were too painful, and he might be attracted by the Dementors if he wasn't careful.

"Well, remember to tell me when you can't hold on any longer."

Lycos knew there was no time for pretense, so he said nothing more and turned his attention to the Three Broomsticks.

"Gentlemen, what are you doing?"