Hogwarts Raven's Claw

Chapter 421: Night Visit to Gaunt's Old House
"Are you free tonight?"

As soon as he heard Dumbledore's words, Mike stopped pouring the wine.

This time he did not continue drinking regardless of the consequences like last time. Instead, he decisively put down the bottle in his hand, frowned at Dumbledore and asked:
"What's the matter with you?"

"I seem to have found some clues about Horcruxes." Dumbledore picked up the red wine that Mike put down and poured himself a glass. "And considering that you have considerable experience in eliminating Horcruxes, I plan to invite you to go with me tonight."

"Let me guess, you found Chris, didn't you?"

Dumbledore took a sip of wine and shook his head slightly without saying anything.

Seeing this, Mike couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth, because he had already guessed that the Horcrux that Dumbledore said he found should be the Gaunt Ring made of the Resurrection Stone!
However, in the original book, Dumbledore went there alone. Why did he invite me this time?

Is it really as he said, simply because he has rich experience in removing souls?

Mike was lost in thought for a moment.

However, Dumbledore obviously did not intend to give Mike too much time to think. He drank the red wine in the glass in two or three gulps, then looked at Mike's slightly tangled expression and said:

"It seems that you are not willing to go. Forget it, this matter is indeed a bit too dangerous for you."

After saying this, Dumbledore turned and prepared to leave.

"Wait!"

Mike's voice brought a smile to Dumbledore's face, who had already turned around. He stopped and turned to look at Mike again.

"Huh!" Mike exhaled heavily and said with some evil humor, "I think I have more say in the matter of destroying Horcruxes, so I'd better go with you, otherwise you might get seriously injured!"

Dumbledore didn't pay much attention to Mike's somewhat humorous words. He laughed for a while, clinked his glasses with Mike, and turned and left.

It was not until Dumbledore walked a long way away that his voice rang in Mike's ears.

"We'll meet at the entrance to the manor after the wedding tonight at 8 o'clock."

Mike raised his eyebrows and continued to think about the purpose of Dumbledore inviting him to go with him. At the same time, his right hand instinctively reached for the glass of red wine he had left.

However, he caught nothing, and it was not until then that he realized that his wine had already been taken away by Dumbledore!
……

Everything about Lupin and Tonks' wedding went smoothly except that the etiquette was a bit 'simple'. After the host announced that the two had officially become husband and wife, the whole wedding officially began.

The tables and chairs originally placed in the garden were all removed by the staff and replaced with the same pure white dining tables, on which were placed a variety of pre-prepared wines and delicacies.

These were all arranged by Mike. In addition, there were two house elves barbecuing on the lawn not far away. A large number of musical instruments were piled up beside them. At this time, the magic on these instruments had been fully triggered. They slowly floated in the air and played by themselves.

The atmosphere at the scene suddenly became cheerful. Ron, who had not eaten anything since he got up in the morning, could no longer bear it. He screamed and rushed towards the table piled with food.

Looking at Ron's miserable appearance with a chicken leg in one hand and a steak in the other, the two Weasley brothers closed their eyes in pain. Mike felt that if they could, they would really want to dye their hair black, because then they could pretend not to know Ron.

As Ron's best friend, Harry obviously wanted to join this 'battle' as well. Unfortunately, Black beside him was holding his shoulders tightly, which made his plan of fighting alongside Ron abort.

At the same time, as the protagonists of today, Lupin and Tonks also walked down from the platform and entered the feast.

Black, who had just been restraining Harry to prevent him from being rude, returned to his true nature after seeing Lupin and started to force Lupin to drink like crazy.

Perhaps because he was afraid that he couldn't get Lupin drunk by himself, he even dragged the brothers George and Fred along!

Seeing how enthusiastically they were drinking, Mr. Weasley felt envious, but the occasional glances from Mrs. Weasley not far away made him give up the idea.

There was no way. George and Fred's hospitality in France had completely conquered Mrs. Weasley. Now the two brothers and Mr. Weasley were not treated the same at home!
On the other side, Tonks was not idle either.

At this moment, she was talking to Hermione and Mrs. Weasley aside. Due to the distance, no one could hear their conversation at all.

But judging from Hermione's blushing face and her occasional glances at Mike in the distance, it should be a pink topic.

The banquet lasted from the afternoon to the night, and after a whole afternoon of fighting, Black achieved his goal - Lupin was drunk like a dead dog and couldn't be woken up even if he was shouted at!
However, Black and the three Weasley brothers were not feeling well either. At the moment, they were not much better off than Lupin.

As soon as the banquet ended, the drunk Lupin and the Weasley brothers were helped into the room by Mrs. Weasley and Tonks to rest.

As for Black, it was not known whether it was revenge for him forcing the Weasley brothers and Lupin to drink, but Mrs. Weasley and Tonks instinctively ignored him, which led to him lying alone on the lawn after the party.

Mike understood this very well, after all, Black had ruined Tonks and Lupin's wedding night!
But he didn't lie there for long, as Harry, who was full, soon discovered the miserable condition of his godfather. So he used magic to send him into the villa with his bloated belly.

At this point, the wedding of Lupin and Tonks was successfully concluded, and at this time Michael and Dumbledore also met quietly at the gate of the manor.

"Good evening, Headmaster Dumbledore."

Mike, wearing a pure black combat uniform, greeted Dumbledore in front of him.

"Oh, good evening."

Dumbledore looked at Mike's combat suit with a strange look. You know, the weather tonight was quite good, just like during the day. The bright white crescent moon hung high in the sky, casting bright moonlight down.

With its help, tonight is brighter than usual.

In such an environment, pure black clothes would not only fail to conceal one's whereabouts, but would make one more obvious.

But the combat suit on Mike was not like that. It seemed to have a strange magical power that distorted the surrounding light, making Mike look hazy.

Noticing Dumbledore's look, Mike tugged at his clothes and joked:
"Do you want one? I still have some left. I can give you one."

"Really?" Dumbledore's eyes suddenly lit up, and he said with a smile, "Thank you so much, my size is..." Looking at Dumbledore who started to report his size excitedly, Mike's expression was a little dull.

I swear to God, he was really joking just now!

In his opinion, combat uniforms are just dispensable toys for wizards of Dumbledore's level and they are of no use at all!
I didn't expect Dumbledore to be so playful!
"Ahem! Okay, I got it." Mike coughed to cover up his embarrassment, then changed the subject, "Um, it's getting late, should we set off?"

"Oh! Look at my memory! Let's go now."

Dumbledore said as if he had suddenly realized something, and then extended his hand to Mike.

Looking at Dumbledore's big wrinkled hands, Mike hesitated for a moment and finally reached out and grabbed it.

"Are you ready?" Dumbledore said with a smile, "Apparate!"

As Dumbledore chanted the spell, a twisting black hole quietly appeared and sucked Mike and Dumbledore in!
At the same time, a similar black hole appeared on a small hill thousands of miles away. Accompanied by a crackling sound, two figures suddenly appeared on the open space!
It has to be said that Dumbledore had a very high level of attainment in Apparition and Disapparition. After landing, Mike didn't feel any discomfort at all.

But this did not make Mike relax his vigilance. On the contrary, as soon as he stepped on the ground, Mike took out the blackthorn wand and began to observe the surrounding environment.

With the help of the moonlight, Mike could clearly see that he was on a small hill. Mike instinctively felt that something was wrong.

You know, it’s July now, the time when everything grows.

Normally, a small hill like this would have been covered with various trees long ago.

But now, there are no trees on this small hillside, not even a blade of grass. The whole hillside is dead silent, making people feel extremely uneasy.

Mike clenched the wand in his hand again and slowly raised his head.

When he looked up, a deserted and dilapidated villa appeared in front of him.

Mike's pupils shrank suddenly, and he almost instinctively muttered to himself:
"Gaunt's old house!"

As soon as these words came out, Dumbledore, who was originally looking at Mike with a smile, immediately became serious. He frowned deeply and asked:

"You know this place?"

"Of course!" Mike, who knew that he had let the cat out of the bag, was not at all flustered and explained, "The place where Voldemort was resurrected was nearby. I also investigated this place afterwards. Look, it's that cemetery!"

Following the direction Mike pointed, Dumbledore saw the cemetery full of scorched earth, and the expression on his face finally looked better.

Seeing this, Mike quickly changed the subject:
"You brought me here because you think Voldemort has hidden a Horcrux in this house?"

"Yes."

"But..." Mike pretended to be confused and said, "Why? Does this have anything to do with Voldemort?"

Dumbledore was silent. He looked at Mike and said slowly after a long while:

"This is a long story. I will tell you slowly after this matter is over. But now, our first priority is to get rid of the Horcrux inside."

"Ok."

Mike nodded in agreement. Seeing this, Dumbledore said no more and led Mike towards the Gaunt mansion.

The old Gaunt house was a rather dilapidated villa, or rather, the name shed was more suitable for it, because it was so dilapidated at that time.

Its walls were covered with moss, and many of the tiles on the roof had fallen off, revealing the rotten rafters inside.

There were dense nettles growing around the house. These tall nettles grew all the way to the windows, covering the small windows that were covered with thick, old dirt.

This is completely different from other places on the hillside. You have to know that except for the area of ​​Gaunt's old house, the rest of the hillside is completely deserted!
Mike not only felt a little confused.

However, all his doubts quickly disappeared when he stood in the Gaunt house, because he suddenly found that the entire Gaunt house in front of him was wrapped in a special magic barrier, and this barrier also contained rich magic power, but this magic power gave people an indescribable sense of foreboding, which made Mike feel a little uncomfortable.

"Did you discover it too?" Dumbledore said with a smile, "This is a powerful dark magic barrier. It can constantly absorb all the vitality around it and convert it into magic power to maintain itself and other magical prohibitions. It is because I sensed the existence of this barrier that I guessed that there is a Horcrux hidden here. Otherwise, this powerful barrier would have no meaning to exist."

Listening to Dumbledore's explanation, Mike's eyes suddenly lit up.

He was very interested in this barrier spell. As long as he set up one in the Masonic secret realm, all the facilities within the Freemasonry could be fully automated!

As for this barrier, does it belong to black magic?
Mike doesn't care at all!

Dumbledore on the side obviously guessed what Mike was thinking. He raised his eyebrows and added:

"But I have never seen such a spell anywhere else, so if my guess is correct, this should be a self-created spell. There should be only a handful of people in this world who can cast this spell."

Hearing this, Mike's expression suddenly turned cold, and he walked towards the gate of Gaunt's old house without saying a word.

It was not until he got closer that Mike discovered that there was a dried-up dead snake nailed to the door of the old Gaunt house, and it was emitting an ominous magical fluctuation.

Mike stopped instinctively. Although he didn't know the specific effect of this spell, there was no doubt that it was a warning spell used to resist foreign enemies.

Dumbledore smiled, walked past Mike, stretched out his hand and pushed the door.

As he moved, Mike clearly saw that the ominous magic power wrapped around the wooden door was crushed by an invisible force and instantly turned into ashes and disappeared!
“Crack!~”

The old wooden door opened and Dumbledore made a inviting gesture to Mike.

(End of this chapter)