The Return to Hogwarts

After hesitating for a few seconds, Harry abandoned his plan to go upstairs to get the Invisibility Cloak and quietly followed him from a distance of less than two hundred feet.

In the past, when Harry and Ron went out for nighttime walks at Hogwarts, they were always successful with the help of the Invisibility Cloak. No one, whether it was the castle caretaker Filch and his Mrs. Norris, or the prefects and professors, could ever spot them. This made Harry never realize that his actual tracking skills were terrible.

Even though he tried his best to act nonchalant, passersby still looked at him with strange expressions, as if they could tell what he was doing at a glance.

Harry's face was flushed, partly because he was doing something taboo and exciting, and partly because of the mocking looks from passersby.

He hurried after him, keeping the distance between himself and Professor Blaine within a relatively constant range. As he passed in front of Gringotts’ tall, majestic, snow-white building, Professor Blaine suddenly darted into an inconspicuous alley.

At first, Harry didn't realize that this alley was different from others. In order to avoid losing him, he just quickened his pace to follow. However, when he stood in front of the winding alley with no end in sight, Harry suddenly realized what was going on and broke out in a cold sweat.

In the past few days, Professor Blaine had led him to explore most of the alleys in Diagon Alley, but there was one that they had never entered.

Knockturn Alley—Harry accidentally went in there once last summer, and frankly, it scared him half to death.

Even though Harry wasn't very experienced in the ways of the world, he could tell at a glance that most of the wizards coming in and out of the alley and the business people doing business there were not exactly respectable people.

Why did Professor Blaine venture into Knockturn Alley?

Standing at the alley entrance, Harry hesitated and looked puzzled. After a moment, he came to a relatively reasonable answer: Professor Blaine had discovered a criminal operating in the area and was there to arrest him.

"This is important business; I shouldn't disturb it—"

Staring into the deep alley, Harry muttered something to himself with unease, then stepped inside.

A year later, Harry, returning to Knockturn Alley, had to admit that he simply couldn't like the place.

The cracks in the floor tiles were filled with foul-smelling mud, and the walls on both sides of the narrow alley were covered with mold and dark reddish-brown spots. As you walked, the temperature in the air dropped rapidly, and even the sky seemed to darken.

Suppressing his heart palpitations, Harry continued walking. After a bend, he came to a long straight road. Through the hazy mist, a row of eerie shops appeared in Harry's field of vision.

Harry remembered these shops. Last time, he accidentally traveled through the Floo Network to one of the dark magic shops called Borgin Burke, and happened to run into the Malfoys, who were there to deal with dark magic items.

Should we continue forward, or turn back?

Harry stared blankly at the alleyway that exuded an eerie atmosphere, his steps halted, a fierce internal struggle raging within him.

A gentle breeze brushed his face, and Harry suddenly shivered. His nose tingled, and he covered his mouth, letting out a muffled sneeze.

“You should have put on your socks before you came out, Potter.” Suddenly, a deep, amused voice came out unexpectedly from behind Harry.

The sudden sound startled Harry, making his heart pound and giving him goosebumps. He jumped up and tried to run forward, but a hand grabbed his collar. The hand was very strong, and Harry couldn't break free no matter how many times he jumped.

"Don't be nervous, Potter, it's me."

The voice, tinged with laughter, rang out again, and this time, Harry finally recognized it as Professor Blaine's voice.

"Oh, Professor Blaine!"

Harry, his face deathly pale, clutched his still-rapidly beating heart. He turned to face the young, handsome face with a mocking smile, panting heavily. After several seconds, as he calmed down slightly, Harry's face showed embarrassment and shame.

"I'm sorry, Professor, I...I didn't mean to."

“Ah, ah, I understand. It’s normal for a young wizard your age to have a great deal of curiosity—” Amosta said with a smile, looking at Harry. “Especially since you’re from Gryffindor.”

Professor Blaine's words did not make Harry feel any better; instead, he felt even more ashamed. He lowered his head, his earlobes turning red, and mumbled apologies repeatedly. Amosta comforted him several more times before the young wizard, realizing his mistake, finally dared to raise his head.

"When did you find me, Professor Blaine?"

Once he calmed down, Harry immediately asked the question he most wanted to know. He knew that his tracking skills might not be outstanding, but Professor Blaine hadn't even turned his head once along the way. How did he find him?

"Oh, this one—"

Amosta responded to Harry's inquisitive green eyes with a smile, saying, "I probably knew the moment you left the room and rushed out of the bar."

Harry stared wide-eyed in surprise, hoping for an explanation he could understand.

"--Heh, you didn't actually think I was completely unprepared and just left you alone in the room, did you?" Amostella chuckled. "Besides setting up some defensive spells in the room, I also placed a tracking mark on you. This mark allows me to always sense your location. Don't mind it, Potter."

Amosta chuckled as he watched Harry rummaging through his clothes, checking if he had found anything extra.

"I believe that if someone does break through my defensive spell and kidnap you, at the very least, I will be able to find out your location."

Chapter 149 Seeing the World (Three Chapters Combined into One)

The walls on both sides of the alley were not tall, but Harry felt as if he were walking through a canyon with steep cliffs on both sides, and a deep sense of oppression made his breathing become shallow.

Greasy, fishy, ​​and murky—the air was filled with a mixture of smells that Harry couldn't quite place. But the smell always made him want to vomit.

As Harry passed a small restaurant—he never imagined that there would be people doing business deep in Knockturn Alley.

The window frame was covered with a thick layer of dust, and the old window glass was greasy with many claw-like fingerprints. Looking through the window into the dark interior, one could see that there were actually customers dining in this small restaurant that looked like a medieval black workshop.

It was a guy covered in bandages like a mummy, feasting on a large piece of something stained with green blood, which looked like pancreas or something similar, on a plate in front of him.

Perhaps sensing Harry's gaze, the customer slowly turned his head to look outside the shop, baring his teeth, dripping with green slime, at Harry.

Harry shuddered suddenly, remembering Professor Blaine's earlier instructions, and quickly looked away, pretending nothing had happened.

"Well, it's not impossible for you to come with me, but the place we're going to is rather dangerous, and there are some rules you must remember. First, no matter what, stay by my side and don't leave for even a moment. Second, no shouting, no matter how incomprehensible you see. And, well, don't stare at anyone for more than five seconds, unless you're planning to pull out your wand and fight them. Understand, Potter?"

Harry nodded frantically, unable to contain his excitement.

Just now, Professor Blaine told him that he needed to go deep into Knockturn Alley to take care of some business, and he only asked Professor Blaine if he could go with him on a whim. But to his surprise, after a brief moment of thought, Professor Blaine actually agreed.

“I will follow every rule you have made, Professor!” Harry said eagerly, as if afraid that Professor Blaine might change his mind.

Harry had already witnessed the dangers of Knockturn Alley, and he could imagine that the 'deeper' that Professor Blaine mentioned would be a place many times more sinister than Borgin Burke's. If he were alone, he would never venture there rashly, but with Professor Blaine, Harry saw it as a good opportunity to 'broaden his horizons'.

Just think about it, even Aunt Peggy knew about St. Mungo's Hospital in the wizarding world, while he knew almost nothing about the wizarding world except for Hogwarts and Diagon Alley. This was indeed something that made him feel very ashamed and dejected.

After receiving Potter's unequivocal assurance, Amosta pulled out his wand and shook it. Two brand-new, unremarkable black cloaks and a plain-colored mask floated out from the swirling air.

"Put them on, Potter. It would be unwise to reveal your true form where we're about to go."

Although his expression was blank, his heart was pounding. Harry kept fiddling with the collar of his black cloak and adjusting the fit of his mask and cheeks to make sure that not a single inch of his skin was exposed to the air.

Now, more than ten minutes have passed since they passed that small restaurant. Amosta is walking forward at a leisurely pace, familiar with the area, while Harry has completely lost track of his location.

As you go on, in the narrow alley with its many branching paths, you can gradually see other wizards.

Some of the wizards were traveling alone, while others were in pairs or small groups. Harry also saw about a dozen wizards standing under an arched doorway at an inconspicuous bend in the road, whispering among themselves. The atmosphere was quite tense.

"What are they doing?" Harry asked in a low voice.

“I’ve cast a spell, Potter. No one can hear us, as long as we don’t make any exaggerated gestures,” Amosta said calmly in a normal voice.

"I think those people are probably making a deal."

Harley glanced at Professor Blaine's retreating figure with a discreet look, but didn't ask any further questions. He had a feeling that Professor Blaine seemed to have changed his personality after putting on the cloak, becoming somewhat aloof and less willing to talk to people.

Just as Harry was pondering why Professor Blaine had changed, a huge white head peeked out from behind the high wall blocking his path, catching his attention. He stared at the head for a few more moments before realizing that it was the head of a statue.

How strange! How could there be a statue deep in Tumbler Alley? Whose statue is this?!

When the two of them rounded the high wall and saw the scene behind it, Harry's mouth, which had been closed the whole way, opened even wider.

Before us lies a small, circular square with an ancient style. Every stone paving stone in the square bears the marks of time. In the center of the square stands a statue of an old man, which is about two stories tall and is carved entirely from snow-white stone.

Harry stared at the statue's face for several seconds before asking uncertainly,

"Merlin?"

“Good eye, Potter.” Amosta nodded approvingly.

Harry pursed his lips and remained silent. In fact, the reason he could recognize who the statue was was entirely because the commemorative coin that Professor Blaine gave to Ron had a Merlin engraving that was almost identical to the one on the statue in front of him. Ron treasured the coin after receiving it, and he even asked Hermione to borrow books from the library to learn about its value.

"But why?" Harry asked a seemingly unrelated question.

Amosta did not answer immediately; he stared silently into the eyes of the tall statue, his mind a jumble of thoughts.

Over the past three or four years, he had entered and exited the underground world through this place many times, and had long since lost his curiosity about the Merlin statue at the entrance. However, since returning from the island of Avalon, he has become much more curious about Merlin, who only exists in legends.

"Hmph, the place where Merlin rests forever."

Amosta scoffed inwardly, a sinister glint in his eyes as he stared at the statue.

To destroy the Twin Serpents Staff, the four founding leaders of Hogwarts laid out a millennia-old mystery, which is probably also somewhat inexplicably connected to this legendary wizard who has been mythologized.

"Beneath the statue lies a massive cavern, just like the one in Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets. It's ancient and has a long history; it's the lair of the most secretive schools of wizarding and the most unscrupulous dark wizards in Britain and even Europe. That's also our destination. Rumor has it—"

Just as Harry couldn't help but ask again, Amosta slowly said, "The cave was built by Merlin. It's because of that cave that we have Knockturn Alley, and Diagon Alley outside. Of course, these are just oral traditions and not entirely accurate accounts—"

Harry blinked incessantly, unsure of what words to use to describe the turmoil in his heart. He suddenly realized that his understanding of the magical world had always been far too superficial.

click-

The hoarse sound alerted Harry. He gripped his wand tightly under his robes and stared in astonishment at the hem of the statue. The old-fashioned wizard's robes were lifted diagonally upwards, revealing a dark, howling cave entrance.

Another wizard, whose face was also obscured, jumped down from a rusty cart at the entrance of the cave. He then strode out of the cave, glanced around at the dozen or so alleyways surrounding the small square, found his way, and walked straight ahead. His figure quickly disappeared into the alleyways. Throughout the entire process, this wizard did not look at Amosta and Harry even once.

“Let’s go, Potter—” Amosta started walking towards the cave entrance again. “It would be unwise to linger here any longer.”

After getting off the 'crazy' trolley, Amosta stood at the exit, panting as usual. Even though he had ridden it many times, he still couldn't get used to the trolley, which was many times more thrilling than a roller coaster. Harry, on the other hand, stood steadily beside him, which surprised Amosta. But when he thought about how Harry was the youngest Quidditch Seeker in Hogwarts in a hundred years and how talented he was, he understood.

The air in the underground world, which has remained unchanged for thousands of years, is still terrible. Amosta stares at the familiar environment before him, and suddenly, the brow behind the mask furrows slightly.

Compared to usual, this place is much quieter. Not only the 'consignment market', but even the usually bustling 'pet market' and 'trading market' are much quieter than usual.

The reason for this phenomenon is a group of people scattered throughout the underground world, wearing uniform black cloaks, whose aura is completely out of place here.

"The Auror of the Ministry of Magic--"

Amosta squinted at the guy closest to him, who was also sizing him up and Potter, and his lips twitched a few times.