Snape, the Sunshine of Hogwarts.

Chapter 183 Lockhart's Final Success
After getting away from the raging dragons, Severus and his companions' journey became much smoother.

Apart from the animals that had also fled westward from the nature reserve due to the dragon's rampage, they encountered no further accidents. After another day and a half of walking, they finally arrived at their destination.

Lu Ping had already cleared this area, and all the timber that had been processed in the valley beforehand had been moved to this open space on the riverbank.

The yellow-horned goats that Andrews had previously kept hidden have also been moved into a new enclosure.

However, the giants didn't seem very happy with their new home.

These foolish idiots have no desire to step out of their comfort zone. Even when they are facing a fire dragon, they sometimes show fear, but as long as the scorching dragon breath and sharp dragon claws do not fall on them, they will not have any thought of running away driven by their fear instinct.

However, with Lulu's temporary suppression, they can only settle down here for the time being.

As for whether Andrews and Lulu will return to their homeland to die after they leave, that depends on the methods of the later master of the Oblivion Curse.

The day after Severus and his companions settled down by the river, they continued to help the giants complete the house-building task they hadn't finished before.

Two dragon trainers from the Fire Dragon Nature Reserve found them here.

One of the male sorcerers, who had a typical Middle Eastern appearance, was none other than the dragon tamer who had previously descended into the valley on a Swedish short-nosed dragon and given them a warning.

The other one was a typical European white man, clearly holding a higher position in the protected area than the Middle Eastern sorcerer.

"Was the red spark signal we saw in the early hours of the previous two days sent by you?"

Upon meeting, the white wizard looked at Severus and his companions nervously and asked...

“I am Arak Bajar, Director of the Department of Magical Creatures Protection and the Logara Dragon Nature Reserve of the Albanian Ministry of Magic. I am truly sorry for what happened that night.”

Andrews glared at him and put down what he was doing.

"If your plans were ahead of schedule, you should have informed us beforehand. Those crazed dragons almost killed us!"

“I’m so sorry!” Bhagar said humbly, apologizing as he explained, “I’m very sorry to have frightened you, but what happened that night wasn’t because our reserve expansion plan was brought forward, but because there was a problem with the dragon herd itself.”

"Something in the west has affected them, causing them to run eastward like madmen. Our people can't control them at all. Even the most docile fire dragons have become violent and will hurt people. As a result, two of our dragon trainers died in this accident, and six others were injured."

As he recounted the incident, the Middle Eastern dragon trainer's expression visibly darkened, whether from sadness for his colleague or grief over the accident involving the short-nosed dragon was unclear.

"Okay, I am also saddened by what happened to you, but..."

Andrews softened his tone, but he was well aware that regardless of whether the reserve had been damaged, the danger they faced was brought about by these people.

"But no matter what, the danger we encountered was caused by your dereliction of duty. You knew there was a problem on the west side of the reserve beforehand, didn't you? If that's the case, you should have controlled those dragons beforehand and prevented them from going there again!"

"This was indeed our mistake, which is why I came here specifically to apologize, check if there were any casualties, and the Albanian Ministry of Magic can also provide you with some compensation."

The Albanian representative from the Ministry of Magic sounded quite agreeable, but both Andrews and Severus knew better.

The reason they rushed over so quickly and offered compensation was that they were afraid that if they arrived any later, Severus and his group would have already gone to the Magic Newspaper to spread the word about what had happened.

For a small ministry like the Ministry of Magic, the impact of a single scandal is comparable to the emergence of Voldemort in Britain, enough to force an early change of government.

This is something that no employee within the Ministry of Magic wants to see.

Therefore, they wanted to come over as soon as possible and make a promise to provide compensation. Their ultimate goal was to confirm with Andrews that there were no casualties and to make compensation, thus silencing them and preventing them from talking nonsense in the newspapers and media.

Both Severus and Andrews knew exactly what they were thinking, and neither of them intended to use this incident to pressure the two dragon trainers into giving them exorbitant compensation.

In the end, Andrews only got some easily obtainable dragon byproducts from the fire dragon nature reserve, while Severus asked for more dragon blood.

After agreeing, Bajar indeed asked Andrews to sign a contract promising that they would not leak the news to news organizations such as the Magic Newspaper afterward, or they would have to pay a large amount of liquidated damages.

Without hesitation, Andrews signed the treaty.

Just as the two dragon trainers had completed their mission and were about to take their leave in haste, Severus suddenly looked at Bagar and asked.

"Could I find out what exactly happened that night? Why did those fire dragons suddenly go berserk?"

Pakal looked at Severus, then glanced at Lupin and Andrews beside him, and finally hesitated for a moment before asking.

"Did you blind one of the Ukrainian Iron Belly's eyes?"

Severus did not deny it.

"Are you trying to get compensation from me?"

“No, of course we didn’t mean that! In that situation, you had unlimited right to defend yourself and retaliate.” Bajar waved his hand and said, “We are just amazed by the power of your magic. We rarely see any magic that can cause such great damage to a fire dragon, even to its eyes.”

He offered a compliment, clearly not recognizing the wizard in front of him, who had changed his attire over the past two days to build a house for the trolls, and who no longer even wore a ponytail.

Pakal had no idea that the wizard in front of him was Severus Snape, the British wizard who had made a great name for himself in France a few days ago by rescuing the Lemaîtres.

Even so, out of respect for a powerful wizard, he quickly replied, "As for what you want to know, it's no secret. Anyway, we've already abandoned that place. About 60 kilometers west of the valley where the trolls lived, at the westernmost edge of what used to be a nature reserve, there's a small hill with a lake beside it. Long ago, the dragons used that hill and the lake as a place for relaxation and recreation; they liked to wash themselves there."

"But starting about three years ago, there were cases of fire dragons being accidentally injured and provoked there. We also sent people there to investigate from then on, but we have never found anything."

Upon hearing this, both Andrews and Severus recalled the story they had heard in Andrews's hut about the eagle fighting the fire dragon.

Andrews brought up the matter himself, and Bajar nodded in agreement.

"Yes! That's the third time this strange thing has happened. The eagle originally lived on that small mountain. It fought with the Ukrainian Iron-bellied Dragon all the way from west to east. It didn't show any fear or apprehension like ordinary animals do when they see a fire dragon."

"There's only one Iron Belly in the reserve, the one whose eyes were blinded by this gentleman. We initially sought out many experts to try and break the spell that was causing continuous damage to its eyes, but the spell was just too powerful. Eventually, its eyes were completely destroyed and there was no way to save it, and we were unsuccessful."

He made a digression, then brought the topic back to the issue of nature reserves.

"After that incident, the fire dragons had one accident after another on that hill and by the lake, and two dragons even died as a result. We were unable to find out the cause, so we finally decided to start the relocation plan."

"Just two days ago, we were making our final preparations when we suddenly discovered in the middle of the night that all the fire dragons in the reserve had gathered on the west side, by that lake, and were drinking the lake water! And so many dragons were drinking there all night long, almost drinking the lake dry!"

"We were busy preparing for the expansion and didn't notice anything until the middle of the night when we discovered the problem. But by then it was too late. All the dragons that had drunk from the lake had gone mad. They were no longer docile and were attacking any living creature they saw."

"At the beginning, without any preparation, one of our dragon trainers died on the spot, bitten to death by his closest fire dragon! The situation then got out of control, which caused the trouble you encountered. It wasn't until the Ministry of Magic sent reinforcements in the morning that we were finally able to bring those raging dragons back under control."

He shook his head and sighed, as if he was still shaken by the chaos that night.

Severus then interjected with a question.

"Did you investigate the water in the lake that the fire dragon drank afterward?"

“There is no water left for us to investigate,” Pakal said solemnly. “There is not a drop of water left in that lake! Even the silt at the bottom of the lake has been eaten by the fire dragons. We also tried to dissect the fire dragons that died in this incident, but we did not find anything abnormal in their bodies.”

"In any case, we've finally gotten rid of that awful place. The original locations of the lake and the hill have now been completely sealed off by the Ministry of Magic. Aurors will take over the investigation. If this was a man-made disaster, the mastermind behind it will be punished accordingly."

Finally, he said through gritted teeth, clearly hating what happened that night.

After explaining the details to Severus and his men, Bjar and his men did not linger. There was still much work to be done in the newly expanded nature reserve, so they left in a hurry.

After they left, Severus and his companions resumed building the wooden house at the giants' new camp.

Meanwhile, Snape the Ghost had already discerned the unusual situation of the dragon that Severus had described to Pakal, and had some plans and intentions.

he asked.

When do you plan to go?

Severus said softly.

"No rush, let's wait here with Andrews and help him get everything sorted out."

"With Lockhart's abilities, he probably already knows where the person he's looking for is."

Saranda District, Albania.

Lockhart didn't even glance at Angelo, who had been stunned by his sudden attack with a stun spell, and began rummaging through his suitcase!

"That ungrateful idiot!" he muttered to himself. "I've said everything to you, good and bad, and you still won't tell me where I am! Don't you know how precious my time is? Don't you understand how many fans are waiting for me to finish my new book this year?!"

"You're forcing me to take action! Someone like you isn't worth the risk!"

He carelessly tossed Angelo's luggage everywhere, and finally found the letter he had seen Angelo receive a couple of days earlier at the very bottom of the suitcase. It was a letter he had been keeping from Angelo and trying not to let him see.

From that moment on, Lockhart was certain that the letter must have been written to him by his adventurer cousin, Angelo. He knew that this was exactly what he wanted to know, which was why Angelo was so wary of him.

Having wasted so much time, Lockhart couldn't wait another day.

He seized the opportunity today, pretending that he planned to give up and return to England that day. He told Angelo that he wanted to treat him to one last meal. When Angelo lowered his guard, he suddenly cast a spell on him and successfully found the letter.

Lockhart quickly tore open the envelope, and after reading the brief contents of the letter, his face lit up with excitement.

It was just as he expected!
This is the letter from Angelo's cousin, Pick Andres, who asked why Angelo hadn't come over and attached his new coordinates in Logara National Park, telling him that he had moved to a new place.

Upon seeing the address at the end of the letter, Lockhart revealed a bright yet somewhat sinister smile.

"Ha! I've finally found you, Pique!"

As he spoke, he threw the letter into the fireplace and burned it. Then he used a forgetting spell on the unconscious Angelo, carefully crafting in his mind a memory of having a pleasant dinner with him, getting drunk, and saying goodbye.

After doing all that, Lockhart picked up his suitcase and used Apparition to arrive at the nearest wizard tavern. Using the fireplace in the tavern, he used the Floo Network to reach a location near Logara National Park.

Finally, humming a cheerful tune, he strode into the forest.

(End of this chapter)