The mastermind behind Hogwarts

Chapter 608 The Secret of Gampo's Aged Social Wine

The commotion caused by the four houses was quite significant. After Tonks knocked Hufflepuff's yellow badger into the sky, Gryffindor's golden lion, Ravenclaw's blue eagle, and Slytherin's silver serpent appeared in the night sky one after another.

The animal symbols of the four houses gradually combined in the air to form a giant Hogwarts emblem! It shone brightly.

Despite the late hour, all the wizards in Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley witnessed this scene.

In a room on the second floor of the Leaky Cauldron in Diagon Alley, Moriarty saw the Hogwarts crest resembling fireworks through the window and immediately said:

"They succeeded at school!"

"Ishcher, let's begin."

Moriarty and Ishcher exchanged a glance, and the latter nodded slightly before tearing through space and disappearing. No one knew where she went.

From the moment Tonks entered Hogwarts, everything was Moriarty's plan.

The junior wizards of the four academies have completed the prelude to their plan.

Next up is Moriarty and Dumbledore, the Hogwarts pure-blood army and the Order of the Phoenix to take the stage!

All of this was for Gamp and Larpo.

Moriarty is going to score the winning goal against Gampo and Larpo tonight!

Ishcher's departure was the final piece of the plan, a backup plan laid out by Moriarty.

"Shatter the darkness with thunder, Ishcher, it's all up to you."

Moriarty glanced at the fleeting flash of lightning on the horizon, then turned and called out, "Jellicoe! Lilith!"

"Let's take action!"

After he finished speaking, he turned and walked downstairs, with Lilith following closely behind.

"Finally, this day has come!" Jericho stretched lazily, his face full of solemnity and excitement, and followed Moriarty away.

But when I went downstairs...

All that could be seen was darkness; the bar, usually bustling with noise, was now as silent as a cemetery.

Moriarty glanced around; the bar chairs were filled with wizards, a dark mass of them.

"What's going on?"

Jericho yelled angrily at the bar, "Uncle Tom, it's not Halloween today! What are you up to?"

"Little Jericho," old Tom said, poking his head out from behind the bar, a pipe dangling from his lips, the smoke casting shimmering shadows on his face. "You see, this is your preconceived notion."

Jericho's expression changed: "What do you mean?"

"Something's wrong with him," Moriarty stepped forward, blocking Jericho and Lilith's path, his Slytherin staff gripped tightly in his hand. He stared at old Tom. "Who are you?!"

"Look at that," old Tom said, pointing with his pipe to a liquor sign hanging above the bar. "This sign is old, it's been there as long as I can remember. It has a drink on it that I bet you've never even looked at—and of course you've never drunk it."

Moriarty and his two companions looked at the wooden sign with suspicion. Much of the paint had peeled off, but the drink list was still legible.

The number one, of course, is the famous Butterbeer.

Moriarty continued reading until, at the very very end, at the very bottom of the signboard, where there was a line of small print.

"XX Aged Social Wine"

"The first two characters are blurry, what kind of wine is that?"

Moriarty questioned Tom, the boss, and suddenly realized he had missed two crucial details.

It's clearly written in the Pilliwick family's magic book that Gamp has two good helpers: the Red Dragon and Old Tom!

Moriarty stared at Tom, the owner of the Leaky Cauldron, who appeared as an ordinary wizard in the original books, movies, and fan fiction.

No one ever investigated Tom's identity or background; he was treated as if he were just a tool.

But today, Boss Tom stood in front of Moriarty and his two companions!

"Click."

He put down his pipe, took three glasses of liquor from under the bar, and said slowly, "Those two blurry words are a name, Gamp!"

Moriarty and the other two had a sudden "buzz" in their minds—it was Gamp!

"That liquor is called Gump Aged Social Drink!" Tom's voice suddenly rose. "It was created to commemorate Minister Gump's introduction of the Secrets Act, which protected the Leaky Cauldron."

"It tastes awful; even with the reward of 100 Galleons, no one can drink a pint of it."

Tom, the owner, downed three glasses of aged Gump soju in quick succession, smacked his lips, and let out a satisfied sigh. "Ah, but every Leaky Cauldron owner drinks it, because it reminds us of those past years of hardship and glory!"

He suddenly became agitated, rushed out from behind the bar, and walked towards Moriarty and his two companions: "Moriarty!!!"

"You are about to usher in a new era, but this era still belongs to the great Minister Gamp!"

"A new era shouldn't have arrived. Let me show you the most elite group of wizards of this age!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the lights on the first floor of the bar instantly turned on.

The chairs were filled with people in gray clothes, about 300 people in total. Those who couldn't sit down stood up and lined up outside.

"The Grey Wizard!"

Moriarty, who had dealt with the Grey Wizard once before, immediately recognized them.

However, behind Tom, several wizards were clearly not hiding their intentions.

Moriarty looked them over one by one: "Rufus Scrimgeour, Lucius Malfoy, Mr. Greengrass, Mr. Parkinson, Mr. Diggory, and... Mr. Abbott?"

The last person surprised Moriarty. Mr. Abbot, Hannah Abbot's father, gave a wry smile: "I'm sorry, Mr. Moriarty, but I only just learned that the Abbot family are assistants to Minister Gamp."

As he spoke, he glanced at Boss Tom, who chuckled at Moriarty, "That's right, I'm the Old Tom you've been talking about, Tom Abbott!"

"So you'll find out as soon as you get back to London, Minister Gump," Old Tom slowly took out his wand. "Here gathers the most loyal officials of the English and French Ministries of Magic and 300 of the most elite grey wizards in all of Europe. Minister Gump will be here soon. Moriarty, you're doomed."

"You're dreaming!"

Lilith shouted sharply, taking two steps forward. Within those two steps, she switched to Snake Queen mode.

Covered in white snake scales, Lilith's two red snakes transformed into red high heels, making her appear even taller. Snake wings extended from her back, and her red snake hair formed a snake crown behind her head. Magic surged, accompanied by the hissing of snakes.

"Do you know why I was able to pull out the Gryffindor sword?"

Lilith's cold voice rang out, her snake-like eyes fixed on Old Tom and the others—all the wizards being watched felt a chill run down their spines.

"Because I'm going to break the Secret Service Act!"

"So? Let your Minister Gamp and the Secret Service Law go to hell."

Lilith raised her right hand and swung it down forcefully, and thousands of white snakes flew out from behind her, rushing towards the gray wizard.

Moriarty understood immediately when Lilith switched to "Snake Queen Mode." He was prepared and waved his staff, the silver-white staff sparking with fire!

"boom!"

A massive fire broke out inside the bar!

The white snake flew through the fire, absorbing Moriarty's magic, its body swelled up, and it transformed into a series of fiery pythons. The enormous creature destroyed the bar into ruins!

"brush."

Moriarty and his two companions flew into the sky before the bar collapsed. Old Tom and his men rushed out in a panic, but more than half of the hundreds of wizards had already perished.

"Wuhu~"

Jericho let out a strange cry, looked at Moriarty and the imposing Lilith, and said, "Your magic can actually be mixed together? That's insane."

"But you're not the only ones who have made progress; I haven't stood still either!"

Jericho raised his wand toward the sky.

"Imprisonment of the Void!"

Jericho's only spell that he invented himself.

Previously, it could imprison the air on the left, causing the air on the right to strike the enemy on the right.

He now possesses enough magic to imprison the air above, causing the air below to strike the enemy on the ground!

The air below gathered together and blasted towards Old Tom and his group like an air cannon.

"Bang!"

The Break the Cauldron bar was blasted to pieces by an air cannon, and a giant crater was created in the ground!

Old Tom, wounded, got up and looked at Moriarty and his two companions standing proudly in the air. He gritted his teeth, but felt a sense of powerlessness.

Moonlight fell on Moriarty and his two companions' shoulders. The boy and girl who first stepped into the Leaky Cauldron had grown into leaders of a new era.

Neither the Ministry of Magic nor the grey forces of European wizards could stop their advance.

"Has Minister Gamp's era come to an end here today?"

Old Tom was terrified.

"Old Tom, you weren't wrong, I was."

A voice drifted from afar.

Gamp flew over at top speed!

Meanwhile, at the Miracle Magic Item Shop in Hogsmeade, the small shop run by Narcissa was packed with wizards.

They all have one thing in common: none of them are over 20 years old!

Led by William, the moment they saw the Hogwarts crest, they rushed out of the shop, split into several small teams, and skillfully found the secret passages of Hogwarts, sneaking in quietly.

"Hogwarts, we, the purebloods of Hogwarts, are back!"

William thought firmly to himself.

……

Meanwhile, in the Hog's Head pub in Hogsmeade, the members of the Order of the Phoenix stood in a row: Moody, Lupin, Kingsley, Mundungus, the Weasleys... and Krum—the Durmstrang student who had parted ways with Moriarty in the Beautiful Country and had followed Grindelwald all the way back.

They were all holding magic wands, ready for battle.

Hagrid sat behind them, slowly pulling a wand from an umbrella, his face filled with excitement.

"Splash!"

The small door at the far end of the bar was pushed open, and Dumbledore and Grindelwald strode in front of the crowd.

"A signal has come from Hogwarts. We shall begin our operation."

Dumbledore, now in his youthful form, is decisive and efficient.

"We can't let the children fight this battle alone."

Dumbledore drew his wand, and a brilliant burst of fire appeared. Several phoenixes flew out of the fire toward the members of the Order of the Phoenix.

"Take these with you—I have left a mark at Hogwarts, and the Apparition of the Phoenix will take you into Hogwarts."

"Very good."

"Hurry up and go."

Lu Ping and the others left quickly. Before leaving, Moody turned back to Dumbledore and said, "No one has ever seen Dumbledore with his heart at peace. Let us see."

Watching Moody's retreating figure, Dumbledore's eyes were filled with emotion. Just as Moody had said, he had made a clean break with Grindelwald and Aberforth, and the knot in his heart had been untied.

"Gale," Dumbledore turned to Grindelwald, "let's go."

The moment they stepped out of the Pig's Head, a roar came from Diagon Alley.

"That's in Moriarty's direction. Something's happened." Dumbledore's eyes were sharp and gleaming with the flame of youth.

"It's most likely Gampo's back," Grindelwald said without blinking, uttering a single word: "Let's go!"

(Gump's vintage social wine isn't something Ah Hong made up; it's real and an official setting. So there's a lot to explore in the background of the HP universe, especially the Act of Secrecy and the Ministry of Magic. The earlier the timeline, the more room there is for creative interpretation, like The Legacy of Hogwarts, which is set in the late 19th century.)

(End of this chapter)