A broken Hogwarts

The cold rain continued until December. The sky finally cleared up for a few days, and then came an even sharper cold wind and goose-feather-like heavy snow. The sky and the earth were shrouded in a vast whiteness.

The end of term is getting closer and closer, and Hogwarts Castle is filled with a busy and cheerful atmosphere of Christmas.

Streamers of holly and mistletoe hung in the corridors, and mysterious lights shone within each suit of armor. Colorful lights were also hung in the auditorium, and from time to time they would turn into little fairies flapping their wings, flying around under the ceiling like fireflies.

This period of time was unexpectedly peaceful for Owen and Harry. Except for the always gloomy weather, all the gloom seemed to have gone away.

After breaking the "ominous" curse, Owen no longer experienced harassment from the Death Society, and Harry was no longer attacked.

The two often communicated about learning spells in the Room of Requirement. Harry was always happy to invite Owen to duels again and again, although he was basically suppressed and beaten. Anyway, in front of Harry, Owen became more and more lazy to cover up and pretend.

It was chilly in the auditorium in the early morning, but the atmosphere was noisy and lively. As the holidays approach, the students are happily discussing their plans for the holidays and the last weekend they will spend in Hogsmeade before the holidays.

"Brace, are you still planning to go to Hogsmeade tomorrow?" Draco smirked and raised his eyebrows at Blaise.

Blaise's eyebrows twitched, he hugged his shoulders and snorted, raised his chin arrogantly, and said coldly: "No!"

The people next to him were stunned for a moment by his fearless appearance, and then they burst out laughing in unison. When Blaise was about to explode, he coughed slightly and changed the subject to talk about the arrangements for the Christmas vacation.

"I plan to leave school and spend Christmas with Sirius." Harry looked very happy, and even the fact that he couldn't go to Hogsmeade tomorrow did not affect his good mood.

"Also, Sirius promised to teach me Apparition during the Christmas holidays." He said to Owen in a low voice. He had wanted to learn this spell for a long time these days, but unfortunately Hogwarts had an anti-Apparition spell, so he couldn't practice it in school.

"Ah, good job." Owen said perfunctorily without being surprised.

Although the school does not recommend students under the age of 17 to learn Apparition, and it is illegal to perform Apparition without permission from the Ministry of Magic, Harry can't stand it and not only understands it emotionally and rationally, but also After all the hard work, how could Sirius not be confused?
"What on earth have you been doing sneakily during this time?" came a protracted voice. Draco looked at them suspiciously with his gray eyes. He felt that there was a big secret between the two of them, but he didn't want to play with it.

"Ahem, it's nothing." Harry coughed lightly, "Would you like some orange juice?"

"No, hum." Draco raised his chin, pointed his nostrils at him, and picked up the milk on the other side.

Owen smiled, finished his milk cereal, and opened the letter that the owl had delivered this morning.

This letter from Kurt Garnier is still lengthy, recording in detail the progress of the other party's investigation into the Expulsion Society in the past few days.

Ever since Kurt followed the guy stalking the bookstore and started tracking down the Death Society, the two of them had communicated frequently through letters. Kurt would report what he saw in detail, always with a strong hint of wanting to be praised, and Owen would warn him about some things to pay attention to, and then give him some funny words of encouragement.

The investigation of the Death Society was not generally difficult and cumbersome. Kurt spent a long time tracking and following, and only recently did he finally make a breakthrough. This made Owen very glad that he had taken in this silly boy. He didn't want to waste his energy on such boring, time-consuming and labor-intensive things.

"Well, it looks like the results are about to come out." Owen finished reading today's letter and stared blankly at the falling snow outside the window. "If everything goes well, we will be able to fight a counterattack this Christmas holiday..."

He was in a daze for a while, then wrote a reply, then picked up Melete, who was kicking the velvet ball like a ball, and walked towards the classroom with her schoolbag in hand.

"There are still two classes today," Draco complained faintly. "The last two classes before vacation are always the most difficult..."

……

The howling cold wind was mixed with chaotic snowflakes, and the pervasive chill made pedestrians on the road speed up their pace. The white snow covered the dark stone road, and the messy footprints on the snow were dirty black.

It was approaching evening, and thick smoke was rising from the chimneys of several houses, emitting a strange, choking smell. It seemed that even the snowflakes flying around were dyed gray.

Kurt was wearing a dirty robe full of holes, squatting shivering in the dark doorway, trying hard to bury his freezing cheeks under the tattered scarf, and his shoulders were covered with a thin layer of snow.

He disguised himself as a short, middle-aged man, with sparse red hair wrapped in a scarf, a messy beard that was extremely old, a round garlic nose that was blown red by the cold wind, and even his eyelashes. There was a layer of white frost all over.

He curled up into a ball like the other two tramps around him, put his hands in his sleeves, glanced outside the doorway from time to time, and then looked away as if nothing had happened, and from time to time he made meaningless hums from his mouth.

From his angle, he could just see the end of the narrow alley outside, where a low house stood, with a rusty door knocker hanging on the black wooden door with peeling paint, and a dim yellow light coming from the crack in the door.

Ever since he obtained Owen's consent, Kurt had been smug and wanted to do something big, so as to avenge his family and prove his ability to Mr. Owen.

The members of the Expulsion Society who were watching the bookstore had stopped monitoring the bookstore half a month ago. Fortunately, Kurt had successfully tracked them to find this place long before that, and began to stay there for a long time.

He disguised himself as a homeless man who wandered here, sometimes wandering aimlessly nearby, and sometimes returning to this sheltered position, paying attention to the situation of the house and the people coming and going around it.

"There are usually only two people stationed in this house. It seems to be just a very small stronghold..." Kurt breathed out heavily, "If you want to really help Mr. Owen, you must at least find the Exorcism Society. It’s a big stronghold. It’s a pity that they can’t be restrained and tortured for information..."

He always kept Owen's warning in mind and only followed and watched in the dark, never alerting the enemy. Information cannot be interrogated through violence, because the members of the Expulsion Society have sworn an oath of confidentiality and cannot actively leak organizational information; they cannot pretend to be members of the Expulsion Society, because it is easy to be seen through...

Kurt has been squatting here for more than half a month, getting along well with the homeless people around him, and even exchanging tobacco leaves and gossip. However, no further progress has been made in the investigation of the Expulsion Society. It is extremely difficult to track those people without leaving any trace.

The people stationed in that house would occasionally come out to buy daily necessities, but Kurt couldn't attack them. Occasionally, owls would come and go to deliver messages, but he had no intention of intercepting them unless absolutely necessary. Occasionally a few people would come and leave, but Kurt didn't find a chance to follow them.

Kurt moved his somewhat stiff body and rubbed his back against the wall to calm his inner impatience. Fortunately, his grandfather not only taught him the skills of stealing, but also cultivated in him patience and caution far beyond his peers. This kind of life is not too difficult for him.

Well, I'm just a little hungry. He missed Mr. Lupine's fried steak, which was so delicious. It seems that Mr. Lupine knows everything. As for Miss Natasha... her cooking is not bad, at least she can't kill anyone.

Kurt braced himself and looked around, and after seeing his two homeless companions taking a nap with their eyes closed, he carefully took out a piece of parchment from his pocket and spread it out, staring at it with bright eyes and using beautiful words. After looking at the line of compliments written in a beautiful font for a while, he grinned happily for a while.

Mr. Irving was praising me for doing a great job... Kurt sniffed and reluctantly handed the letter in his hand to a little mouse he had tamed. He had to hide the letter lest he be caught and reveal Mr. Owen's intentions.

After watching the mouse disappear into the mouse hole with the letter in its mouth, Kurt straightened his back and his whole body became stiff again as if he had been injected with chicken blood.

Kurt felt like the opportunity he had been waiting for was coming. The personnel activities in this stronghold have obviously become more frequent in the past two days. He is keenly aware that the Death Expulsion Society may be making some big moves. If he can investigate clearly, Mr. Owen will be very happy.

Just as he was thinking about it, a man shrouded in black robes hurriedly passed by the door. He stood in front of the door of the house and knocked on it, and was welcomed in.

After seeing this, Kurt's eyes lit up and he stood up slowly. He stamped his feet that were numb from squatting, then hunched over and slowly moved outside.

After just a moment, the door to the house reopened. The three people walked out of the steaming house and strode across the snow on the ground.

When the three of them were about to pass by, Kurt wrapped his robe tightly around him and staggered out of the dark doorway. He seemed to be unable to control his balance and hit one of them on the shoulder.

"What?" Kurt muttered cursingly and walked unsteadily in the other direction.

The person who was hit stared at him sharply and dangerously, and was about to pull out the hand hidden in his pocket. Kurt maintained a decadent and dazed look, passing by the three people without changing his expression, leaving his back to them.

"Don't waste time." A low and hoarse voice that was deliberately lowered came faintly. The man glared at Kurt's back coldly and followed the two people in front of him out of the alley.

When the three people could no longer be seen, Kurt suddenly breathed a sigh of relief, and his hand that tightly squeezed the wand relaxed a little. After just a moment of contact, a layer of fine beads of sweat had already appeared on his forehead. After all, if those three people had attacked him regardless, his life would probably have been decided here, and he would have failed Mr. Irving. expectations.

He maintained his persona and continued to walk unsteadily, stumbling along the way and turning into an alleyway in another direction. He walked along the less traveled path, leaving only a single line of footprints on the flawless white snow on the ground. .

After slowly moving away from the previous area, he walked faster and faster, and the energetic smile of a young man gradually appeared on his face. He quickly took off his tattered robe and scarf, the beard on his face quickly retracted, his chin became smooth again, and his hair turned into thick and low-key black.

In the blink of an eye, he changed his image and became a very inconspicuous boy with ordinary features.

Kurt took out a strange compass from his pocket, looked at the slightly trembling pointer on it, and the smile on his face became even brighter.

This is a small prop that his grandfather taught him to make, including a compass and an inconspicuous crochet hook that looks like a thorngrass seed. The compass needle will indicate the direction of the crochet hook and can be used to track targets.

Well, as a qualified thief, it is normal to be proficient in tailing.

Just now, Kurt took advantage of the opportunity of colliding with that person and quickly put the crochet hook into the inside of the target's pocket, where it would not be easily discovered.

Kurt stroked the compass in his hand with a smile on his face, watching the pointer on it turn slightly, his eyes flashing with excitement. After waiting for so long, I finally made some progress.

He took out his wand and walked through the intricate alleys in the direction pointed by the pointer.

It wasn't until night fell that Kurt finally found the right place. Although the compass can indicate the direction, it is not accurate and requires him to constantly confirm the position, not to mention that the target he is tracking has phantomed to a farther place.

The snow had stopped, and Kurt stood in the shadow of the house, silently staring at the brightly lit bar in front of him.

"The Hound Bar? This is London, right..." Kurt looked at the bar sign shining in the night from afar, and saw through the window the people mingling among them.

He hid himself in a hidden position and quietly observed the situation in the bar. Although it was a cold night, the bar was bustling with people coming and going, many of whom were dressed in strange clothes and did not look like wizards.

The few people in robes mixed in looked inconspicuous and would not attract any strange eyes at all.

After seeing a few people walking out of the bar turn into a remote alley next to them and apparate, Kurt understood that this was either a gathering place for wizards or a secret stronghold of the Exorcist Society.

"How can we determine the situation inside?" Kurt thought for a while, and first sent a letter to Owen, then ran to the shop on the other side and put on a weird Muggle costume for himself, and adjusted it at the same time. Looking at his appearance, he looks like a young man who has just grown up, with a little greenness on his face.

After putting on a disguise, he cast a confusion spell on two men who seemed to be going to a bar to drink, making them think the three were friends. They entered the bar together.

Sitting near the bar, Kurt ordered a random cocktail, frowned and took a sip, it was so spicy that he almost stuck out his tongue. Several men next to him laughed and joked. Kurt smiled shyly and used this as a cover to quietly observe the crowd around him.

He sat in the bar for more than an hour and saw several waves of people walking directly to the bar after entering the bar, and then entered the back kitchen at the signal of the clerk. Since the bar was very busy, no one paid much attention to this scene.

Kurt sipped his wine and waited until another man in a robe walked in. He whispered to his two drunk companions: "There are many people walking into the back kitchen. Is there a VIP area inside?" ? Is there better wine there?"

"Go and have a look!" The two drunken men stood up and walked towards the bar. Kurt followed them and adjusted his position, intentionally or unintentionally blocking the man who had just entered the bar farther away from the bar. s position.

"...Why don't you let us in! Don't stop me from going in to drink!"

The clerk behind the bar stopped the two Muggles with a smile, and the two clerks on the other side came over with unfavorable expressions and wanted to reach out to grab their arms with bored expressions.

Kurt quickly pulled his two companions away from the bar, said sorry to the clerk, and at the same time caught a glimpse of the man in the robe making a hidden gesture.

After watching the man walk into the back kitchen, Kurt dug out a companion's wallet and paid the bill, then dragged them out of the bar.

After walking around the surrounding streets, putting on a black robe, and using magic to remove the smell of alcohol from his body, Kurt returned to the bar again and waited patiently. Until he saw a man of medium height come out of the bar and turn into the alley next to him and apparate. Kurt quickly changed his appearance and figure according to the impression just now, and then added raised insoles to his shoes. Soon He becomes just like that person.

He took a few deep breaths, encouraged himself in his mind, and then calmly walked into the bar again. He flexed the index and middle fingers of his left hand and made that weird gesture to the clerk behind the bar.

The clerk looked at him obviously surprised, wondering why he came back just after leaving, but he didn't ask any more questions and just nodded to him.

Kurt stepped into the back kitchen and saw a door behind a row of wine racks. Sitting next to the door was a middle-aged man wearing a dark green robe, with a sleepy and impatient expression.

"Ah, Henry, why are you back again?" After seeing Kurt, the middle-aged man raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"I forgot something." Kurt frowned, his expression impatient with a hint of embarrassment, "Stop talking nonsense, I'm in a hurry."

The man looked him up and down for a while, then showed an "I understand" expression and grinned meaningfully, showing his yellow teeth: "It's impossible to lose the wand, right?"

Kurt tried his best to hold back his blush, and looked at the other party fiercely, as if his embarrassment had been exposed, and then hurriedly ran in the door. There was a burst of hoarse ridicule outside.

Behind the door is a staircase going down, with oil lamps lit on both sides, and no one else. Kurt breathed a sigh of relief, holding his wand tightly in his right hand, carefully walked down the steps and entered the spacious underground passage.

The surroundings were extremely quiet, as if all sounds had been blocked out, and the air was damp and cold. Kurt took out the invisibility cloak he borrowed from Natasha and put it on his body, then walked forward along the dark passage.

His choice was wise, because there were two ferocious guys standing outside the door at the end of the passage. They were guarding there meticulously, holding their wands tightly in their hands, staring at the front of the passage without blinking.

Kurt stopped far away from them. He had no confidence that he could get away with it under the eyes of these two guys who looked like they were not perfunctory at first sight.

"What should I do? Do you want to quit?" Kurt thought hesitantly. Judging from the current situation, there is a high probability that this place is a very important secret location, but it has not been confirmed whether it is the stronghold of the Death Expulsion Society.

But if you continue, the risk of being discovered will greatly increase.

He hesitated for a while, and when he was about to walk back, a series of hurried footsteps came behind him.

Kurt quickly pressed his back against the wall to avoid being hit. He watched a group of five or six people walking past him, and showed what they were holding to the two people guarding the end of the passage. Each person said a different code... This made Kurt extremely happy. .

But it also gave Kurt a chance. He rolled his eyes and followed the group of people quietly, even his breathing became so gentle that no one noticed anything strange.

This is what Kurt is good at. Maybe he is not sure that he can hide it from the gatekeeper when he is alone, but now the messy footsteps and voices are very suitable for him to get through.

Kurt passed the last person with nimble steps and quietly passed through the crowd, without even touching anyone among them with the hem of his clothes. Mixed in among a group of people, he passed the guard without any danger and successfully entered the door at the back.

After carefully getting away from the crowd, Kurt let out a long sigh of relief and showed an excited smile.

Only then did he have time to look at his surroundings. This is a fairly spacious square room with passages on all sides. Kurt followed the group of people into the passage directly opposite, and soon heard vague voices coming from the front.

At the end of this passage is a conference room. After the group of people in front walked in, Kurt stood outside the door and glanced in, finding that many people were already sitting inside. The familiar skull and scepter pattern carved in the center of the conference room reassured Kurt that he had indeed found the right place.

An unclear voice came from the conference room: "You are here, there is a task you need to do..."

Kurt stretched his ears and tried to distinguish the sounds coming from him.

"...This is the whereabouts of the key. Bring it back tonight. Kill anyone who resists..."

key? What key? Kurt thought doubtfully. Owen did not tell him in detail the information about the sapphire that the Exorcist Society had been looking for.

He squeezed into the corner and watched a group of people walk out of the conference room and quickly disappeared into the darkness at the end of the passage.

The voice in the conference room continued to float: "How is the progress of the elimination plan for the boy from Shafiq's family?"

Hearing Owen's news, Kurt was instantly attracted to all his attention, and he threw away his doubts about the "key" just now.

"'Ominous' missed the mark. The person who cast the spell was backlashed and died miserably."

"Hogwarts' defense is too tight, it's difficult for our people to sneak in..."

"Dumbledore is there, and he has the anti-Apparition spell. It's not a good idea to do anything there."

"There are Dementors everywhere around Hogsmeade, and we haven't found any opportunity to assassinate him... That boy is not easy to deal with at all."

"Who let the prisoners of Azkaban escape?"

The buzzing chatter in the conference room made Kurt grit his teeth and clenched his fists.

Kill! Anyone who wants to harm Mr. Owen should be killed!
"So, you haven't made any progress?" the voice at the beginning said coldly, sounding very unhappy, "With so many people and forces, it took so long, but you can't even deal with a boy... The president is very Disappointed and asked me to come over and deal with the mess for you."

The conversations stopped for a moment, and then a voice came out again: "We plan to do it during the Christmas vacation..."

"Are you sure Owen Shafik will leave Hogwarts on Christmas Day?" the voice asked leisurely.

There was silence again.

"Start with the Shafiq family!" The voice decided, "From now on, we will fully target the Shafiq family's property and direct forces, and set up a trap to deal with the Shafiq family couple, who can hurt or capture them. It’s best, it doesn’t matter if you kill him…”

"I don't believe he will still be hiding in school like this."

"As long as he dares to come out, there will always be a way to kill him." The voice said eerily.

"But... wouldn't this be too overwhelming? It's just a boy. We don't need to sacrifice too much strength for this..." someone retorted.

"No! That boy must die!" the voice said coldly, "This is the highest order given by the president. He must be killed at all costs."

Now no one objected.

Kurt bit his lower lip, his nails digging into his palms. He resisted the urge to immediately notify Owen to come and deal with these people, and listened to their plans in silence.

I don’t know how long it took, but the meeting finally ended. People came out of the conference room in twos and threes, most of them wearing hoods. Kurt could only write down a few people whose faces were not covered, but unfortunately he couldn't tell who the leader was.

After everyone in the conference room was gone, Kurt returned to the square room at the beginning, intending to take the opportunity to explore the situation in the other two passages.

He first entered the left passage and walked around, and found that this was the accommodation area, which was divided into small rooms. Some of them have signs of living in them, but most of them are empty. It seems that few people live here for a long time.

Then he turned into the passage on the right and saw a dying old man in the prison inside.

Kurt looked at the other person's pale face and felt a little familiar. While he was thinking hard about where he had seen this person before, he slowly approached him.

Listening to the other party's bellows-like breathing getting softer and softer, Kurt opened his mouth and suddenly remembered who the other party was.

He remembered that when he was very young, before he moved to this country, this man had visited his grandfather at home several times and given him gifts... They had never seen each other since they moved here. .

"Is he a friend of his grandfather?" An idea flashed in Kurt's mind. "Is he a traitor that the Exorcist Society has been tracking? Is he an accomplice who stole treasures from the Exorcist Society with his grandfather?"

Kurt looked around to make sure there was no one around, so he took off his invisibility cloak and moved in front of the iron bars of the cell.

"Grandpa Bourque?" Kurt called softly, not sure if he remembered the other person's name correctly.

The dying old man moved, his thin body trembling, and he tried his best to raise his head and look at Kurt outside the railing. A glimmer of light flashed in his dead gray eyes.

"Ho ho..." He opened his mouth full of blood and gasped hard. Just when Kurt was worried about whether the other party would die, the old man seemed to have regained some energy and crawled towards this side slowly.

"Are you... Co... Cote? Garnier's grandson?" The old man finally climbed to the railing and collapsed on the ground panting. The short distance of more than one meter exhausted all his energy.

"I am." Kurt nodded and began to look for his own healing potion, "I will treat you first."

"No... no, listen to me..." The old man stretched out a hand and grabbed the railing tightly, and his cloudy eyes seemed to burst into bright light, "I can't do it anymore, Kurt... I can't Being able to withstand...torture, revealed things that should not have been revealed..."

He coughed heartbreakingly for a while, and continued in a hoarse voice: "But they must not be allowed to get... that thing... He must be stopped, ambition will... will breed disaster..."

"The thing is...in the cave on the west side of the mountain east of Rockwold Village...ahem...don't get yourself involved. There is...under the stone monument by the river at the bottom of the mountain...there is a badge. Use it to Contact that group of people, they will take action... they will deal with them..."

"Did you hear that clearly?"

Facing the old man's astonishingly bright eyes, Kurt couldn't think of refusing and could only nod.

"Good boy..." The old man's hand on the railing loosened weakly, his eyes became lifeless again, and his expression became confused, "Let's go...it's dangerous here..."

"I'll take you with me..." Kurt's nose was sore and his eye circles were red. He thought of his grandfather.

He hurriedly took out a bottle of healing potion, but when he looked over again, the old man in the cell was already lying there motionless and stopped breathing.

Kurt was stunned for a while, then suddenly wiped his face with his sleeves and put the potion back in his pocket. After bowing deeply to the old man, he put on his invisibility cloak and walked out.

He waited by the exit passage for a while, and finally slipped out while the gatekeeper was changing shifts.

Kurt walked a little further away, found a place to quickly write a letter, and after thinking for a while, he took out the badge Owen gave him for emergency contact and rubbed his thumb on it a few times.

The black flames ignited next to him with a "hoo" sound, and the gorgeous and elegant black phoenix flew out of the flames. It glared at him fiercely with its red eyes, and its expression was full of the feeling of being summoned as an owl. accurate.

Kurt trembled involuntarily, and with a submissive smile on his lips, he raised his hands and handed the letter over.

Nyx clicked his beak open and closed, raised his head and glanced at him arrogantly, then picked up the envelope and disappeared into the strange black flames. (End of chapter)