Snape, the Sunshine of Hogwarts.

Chapter 189 Going to Albania
In a secluded house in England.

In the lavishly decorated living room, two men sat facing each other, and an incessant murmur of complaints emanated from one of them.

"We've been to every place, and tried every method! But after that, we've still gained nothing! Nothing at all!"

Hearing Dino Perkins' complaints, Barty Jr. simply smiled and stared at the locket in his hand without saying a word.

Seeing that he was still the same as always, completely ignoring everything else, made Perkins even more impatient.

"Rol disappeared the day you left the cave and got this useless pendant! You have to tell me! Where did he go!"

“I’ve answered this question to you many times.” Finally, Barty’s gaze was no longer limited to the locket in his hand, but turned to meet Perkins’ eyes.

"Perhaps your memory isn't very good, or perhaps your hearing isn't very sharp. I can pretend you didn't hear my answers to the previous questions, but now I'm saying that this is the last time I'll answer this question for you."

“I sent Rolle out of England on a top-secret mission concerning the master. He will not return until the master is fully welcomed back.”

Perkins met his empty, indifferent gaze, but after less than two seconds, he instinctively looked away, a chill running down his spine.

"But he didn't leave us a single letter before he left."

"What do you think we're doing?" Little Barty said indifferently. "We're preparing to find our master and plunge the wizarding world back into fear of us! And you're thinking of maintaining unnecessary contact with anyone while doing something like this?"

“I… I didn’t mean that,” Perkins stammered, trying to justify himself. “But we haven’t gotten anything these past few days, have we? Not only that, we almost got discovered and hunted down by those Aurors!”

"And there's trouble in France too. Nicolas Flamel has been kidnapped, and the French Ministry of Magic has been unexpectedly broken into! And, there's Thomas Shafiq! We all know him, don't we? He used to be by Master's side, and he's actually been captured by the French!"

"The French say that the people who did those things are connected to us. I'm thinking, I'm thinking, are those people really connected to us? Could they be members of Black's organization? Or Snape?"

"I think it's very likely Snape! Those idiots in France were completely fooled by him! They're all spreading the story that he rescued Nicolas Flamel! This must have been a show he orchestrated with some people!"

"Perkins said angrily."

"The intruders at the French Ministry of Magic stole a top-secret document! That must be their real purpose, and now Snape has achieved his goal and gained an even better reputation! He wouldn't do this for no reason!"

"He was always doing something, but we never noticed. We were just staring at this locket and didn't find anything!"

Little Barty's fingertips were gently tapping on the armrest of the chair.

Perkins heard about this news, and naturally, he knew about it much earlier.

At first, Barty Jr. never thought that what happened in France would actually be related to the Death Eaters. He just thought that the group of stupid Aurors in France were being led by the nose by the real murderer and had changed the direction of the investigation.

But it wasn't until Thomas Shafiq was captured, the massive undead attacked Paris at night, and the Dark Mark lit up that even Barty Jr. began to have doubts.

Ever since he witnessed the countless undead corpses underwater in the cave where the locket was hidden, he knew that his great master had the ability to mass-produce undead corpses.

This is exactly the same danger they encountered that night in Paris.

What Perkins suspected, Barty Jr. naturally suspected as well.

If the people who did those things in Paris were indeed Death Eaters, then who organized this group of Death Eaters?
Blake?
Snape?
If it's Blake, then Barty's impression of this escaped lone wolf needs to be changed, which means that he was obviously arranged by his master in his place, otherwise it would be impossible for him to organize those people in Paris.

If it's Snape, then that proves one thing.

His public declarations of "repentance" to the Ministry of Magic and the British wizarding community were a complete hoax; he had a much bigger scheme to salvage his public image.

The same applies to the incident in France. As Perkins said, if the group of Death Eaters in France was indeed led by his organization...

In just a few days, he got what he wanted from the French Ministry of Magic and gained immense prestige for rescuing Nicolas Flamel!

Now, Snape's fame is not only widespread in England, but his deeds are also circulating in various magical communities, including England, France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.

This is due to two main reasons: firstly, Wolpe's book had completely expanded beyond Britain and begun to sell well in various European countries; and secondly, Nicolas Flamel's own influence in the European magical community.

Little Barty always finds this matter terrifying when you think about it more closely.

What exactly does Snape want to do?
He gathered Malfoy's group together, using the same pretext of finding their master to win them over. He also organized such a group in France and continued to promote his reputation throughout Europe!

Cultivate influence, accumulate wealth, and spread fame.
Whenever he thought of this, Little Barty's face would turn exceptionally cold.

He was certain that Snape was no longer loyal to his master!

Regardless of what he is doing now or what banner he is using, such behavior already constitutes a betrayal of his loyalty to his master.

Perkins was right in his last statement.

Snape has done a lot of things outside, but these days, they have accomplished almost nothing in England.

Since obtaining the locket through Rol, unlike the ring, Little Barty has never found anything unusual about it.

Besides, during this time, Barty Jr. also led Perkins and others to search all over England for people related to Hepzba Smith. In the images that Barty Jr. saw in her dreams after getting the ring, there was an image of the owner taking a golden cup from her hand.

Barty Jr. is trying to indirectly find the whereabouts of the golden cup by searching for people connected to Hepzibah Smith.

But in the end, they gained nothing.

Now, they can no longer waste their time in Britain!
"Pack up, we're heading to Albania tonight."

Perkins stood up from his chair, puzzled.

Why go to Albania?

You don't need to know why.

After capturing Lockhart, Andrews, who had taken a walk along the river, asked Severus what would happen to the thief.

“He has already ambushed and altered the memories of many adventurers.” Severus had already made his decision. “I will send him to the Aurors in England so that they can investigate how many victims there are and then help those victims restore their lost memories.”

In the original story, Lockhart attempted to ambush Harry using Ron's broken wand, but was instead struck by his own Oblivion Charm, losing his memory and being sent to St. Mungo's. Surprisingly, neither Dumbledore nor Harry and Ron revealed Lockhart's true identity, preventing the Ministry of Magic from finding the wizards he had harmed and restoring their memories.

Even when Harry and his friends were in their fifth year, they received news that Lockhart's treatment at St. Mungo's was quite effective, but he was puzzled by the letters he received from enthusiastic fans and couldn't remember that he had ever been a celebrity.

Now that Lockhart has fallen into Severus's hands, he naturally won't just let him go like that. Instead, he'll hand him over to Kingsley and let the Aurors handle the aftermath.

Just then, Andrews suddenly said to Severus.

“This evening, Lockhart told me something else. He said he came from the west side of the forest and accidentally wandered into the area that was blocked by the Albanian Aurors. It was the small hill and the dry lake that the two dragon trainers had mentioned to us before.”

Severus was somewhat puzzled.

"Wasn't that area sealed off? How did he get in?"

"He told me that the Aurors made a mistake, which led him to wander in by mistake. Then, between the hill and the dried-up lake, under a tall but withered fir tree, he found a trapdoor with a brass handle!"

Andrews said, stroking his chin.

"He even suggested that I go with him to explore under that trapdoor, but now it seems he probably didn't have good intentions about it either."

This matter clearly caught Severus's attention.

When he went to look for the banshee's ghost, he was told that it had drifted westward toward the Fire Dragon Nature Reserve. However, during the time he spent in the valley, Severus was unable to find any trace of it, so he suspected that it might have gone into the nature reserve.

Furthermore, the unusual events that occurred after the fire dragon further proved that the protected area was quite extraordinary. Even if there was no banshee ghost, there must be something else there.

"Besides these, did he tell you anything else?" Severus pressed.

Andrews shook his head.

"Because I rejected his offer outright, he didn't say anything more to me afterward."

Severus didn't find this troublesome; Lockhart was in his hands now, and he could just ask him whatever he wanted to know.

Thinking of this, Severus turned and walked toward the wooden hut that Lockhart had been locked up in, a hut that had been specially built for him.

Upon seeing Severus walk in, Lockhart, who had been leaning against the wall and dozing off, immediately woke up and stared at Severus.

"What are you going to do!"

Things have already come to this bad point, but Lockhart clearly has a fear of Severus. He knows very well what kind of person his senior Snape is.

Don't be fooled by his pleading that if he could go back to his student days and encounter James and his gang bullying Severus again, he would definitely speak up for him.

In reality, he dared not offend either the James Group or Severus!

If James and his group were merely active members of Gryffindor, then Severus was the cold-blooded vipers of Slytherin!

He spent all his time with Malfoy and his gang, who all believed in the Mystic's bloodline theory, and outside of Hogwarts, this group had already gained the power to overpower the British Ministry of Magic.

He left a very deep impression on Lockhart during his student days.

So even though Severus's reputation has improved, Lockhart still instinctively fears him, especially now that he's been caught red-handed. If Severus were to suddenly decide to kill him, Lockhart would have no recourse!
Severus simply stared at Lockhart.

It would be easy for him to extract memories related to the protected area from this conman's mind, but he would eventually have to hand Lockhart over to the Aurors. If the Aurors discovered that Lockhart had been subjected to mind-stealing, that would be bad.

So, Severus spoke softly.

“I can give you a chance, Lockhart.”

Upon hearing his words, Lockhart's body suddenly trembled, and he looked at Severus in shock.

"You...you're planning to let me go?"

“Don’t even dream about letting you go, but I can let you go to the Ministry of Magic and confess to the Aurors yourself.” Severus stared into his eyes and said, “If I send you directly to the Aurors like this, given the crimes you’ve committed, they’ll very likely send you to Azkaban.”

“But if you turn yourself in, it’s different. If your sentence is reduced, you can go to a more comfortable prison.”

Lockhart swallowed hard.

He knew, of course, how terrible Azkaban was. Not to mention the Dementors on the island, the prisoners held there were all extraordinary. If he were sent there, he wouldn't last six months; he would either go insane or die!

However, he was even more aware that Severus would never give him a chance for no reason.

"What do you want from me?"

Seeing how self-aware he was, Severus asked directly.

"Pike said that before you found him, you accidentally wandered into that abandoned fire dragon nature reserve that was sealed off by the Aurors?"

Lockhart shrugged.

"I didn't stay there long before the Aurors caught me and kicked me out!"

“But you also made an unexpected discovery there, didn’t you? A trapdoor with a brass handle,” Severus said calmly. “What else did you find besides that? I need more information.”

Lockhart curled up, not wanting to lose the rest of his life completely, and naturally dared not hide anything.

"Besides that trapdoor under the fir tree, I also saw many dead animals on that hill!"

"Animals? What kinds of animals?"

"There are all kinds of animals! There are magical creatures, and there are ordinary animals! It's full of their corpses!"

(End of this chapter)