The Silent Witch of Hogwarts

Chapter 45: Dawn

Time flies. More than ten days have passed since Loila and Luna's phone call, and now the start of school is approaching. In other words, Loila's summer vacation is coming to an end.

During this time, she prepared the magic circle props to be used in class, carefully studied the Hogwarts map, decorated the lawn in the Space Extension Book with Miss Lovegood, and checked the Hogwarts Express train tickets more than a dozen times.

Now there's only one thing left to do before school starts.

Early in the morning, Loila wrapped herself in a cloak and put on a mask before leaving the tavern. She was going to Knockturn Alley today to buy the materials needed to make Wolfsbane Potion.

She spent a long time wandering around Diagon Alley yesterday, but couldn't find any vendors selling datura... even though it took a lot of effort.

She walked around Diagon Alley for a long time holding a sign that said she wanted to buy datura.

As a result, she gained nothing except a lot of strange looks.

So today she can only come to Knockturn Alley to take a look... Hogwarts starts tomorrow.

If he couldn't buy datura today, he would have no choice but to ask Professor Snape for help.

Just thinking about it made Loila tremble with fear... If it really came to that, she probably would faint.

However, perhaps because school is about to start, Diagon Alley was packed with people today. Even though the sun had just begun to shine on the streets, many young wizards had already come here with their parents.

Loila blended in as if she were also a Hogwarts student.

"Hmm..." Loila carefully avoided the wizards, and also avoided the entrance of Flourish and Blotts, which was sure to be extremely crowded. She had heard yesterday that Mr. Lockhart would be releasing a new book today.

His writing speed is really fast... It hasn't been long since his last book was published... He's much better than me.

Loila's notes on magic arrays are only a few tens of thousands of words long.

When will I be able to become someone like Mr. Lockhart... Of course, Loira doesn't want to become as famous as him.

Being recognized wherever you go is just too scary, isn't it?

It's actually quite nice to be unknown like this now...

"Miss Lola Hammill?"

"Alas!"

Loila trembled, carefully turned her head to look at the person who greeted her, and then paused for a moment.

"Do...do we...do we know each other?"

"You really have a bad memory," said an old man holding a wand, sitting on the steps in front of a shop, looking at Loira. "You were the one who caused me to lose a lot of money a month ago."

"A month ago?" Loila pursed her lips and subconsciously looked up, then she saw the name of the shop.

"Boginbok".

..............................

"Cough cough cough... cough cough cough!"

The boy wearing glasses coughed and slowly got up, looking around in surprise.

His name is Harry Potter, a famous figure in the wizarding world, also known as the boy who survived.

Of course, it is indeed a bit abnormal for a boy who survived such a calamity to appear in such a strange place.

Where is this place?

Harry frowned slightly and looked around cautiously.

Is this a shop?

It looks rather old... I clearly pronounced it as Diagon Alley... or did I mispronounce it?

But now doesn't seem like the time to think about that; the first thing I should do is figure out where I am.

Harry could only tell that this was a shop, and a shop that hadn't been open for a long time. It was not only covered in dust, but also... had very little merchandise.

Harry reached over the counter and shook his dusty fingers.

"Is anyone there?" After thinking for a moment, he called out, "Is anyone here?"

"..."

He was met with silence.

Harry swallowed hard and carefully drew his wand: "Flicker."

Although he wasn't very good at using spells, a point of light slowly appeared at the tip of his staff.

With the light appearing, Harry could explore the area more effectively... at least he could tell where he was...

But after taking only a few steps, Harry saw a seal on a jar.

"Ministry of Magic contraband, do not touch."

Ministry of Magic?

Harry seemed to have a vague recollection of something; he remembered that Ron's father was apparently an employee of the Ministry of Magic, so was this place related to the Ministry of Magic?

Harry looked at the jar with a bit of a puzzle in his mind. He was actually quite curious about what this thing could be used for... Could it contain an endless supply of honey tsunamis?

Of course, speculation is speculation, but Harry still knew he couldn't just touch these things, especially when there was a seal on them.

But he still reached out and poked the jar, and only after confirming that nothing had happened did he slightly curl the corners of his mouth.

If Hermione were here, she would definitely slap her own hand.

With that thought in mind, Harry walked to the shop's entrance.

As he expected, the dirty glass door was also sealed off, and he couldn't push it open even with a little force.

Could it be some kind of magic?

Thinking this, Harry wiped the grime-covered glass and then he saw two people standing outside the dimly lit window.

One of them, who was short, wore a hood and a mask and looked like a student, while the other seemed to be much older. He was hunched over with his back to Harry and was probably an old man.

They might be able to help me… Harry instinctively wanted to bang on the window to get their attention.

But the next second, he saw a red spell fly out of the old man's hand.

"Bang!"

Before Harry could react, the spell was deflected by the hooded mystery man, who had somehow produced his own wand.

They...they started fighting? And...they were so fast!

This was Harry's first time witnessing a battle between wizards... or rather, his first time seeing it outside of school.

He hid behind the glass, watching the two people facing off with curiosity.

He could vaguely hear the old man saying something, while the hooded man just looked at the old man. Maybe he was speaking too... but because he was wearing a mask, Harry wasn't sure.

"That's enough! I have nothing left..."

The old man's voice seemed much louder as he raised his wand menacingly and shouted, "Die!"

"Avada Kedavra!"

A pale green light flashed, and Harry clutched his head, collapsing to the ground. He felt a sudden, sharp pain in his forehead, followed by what sounded like a woman's scream.

It took him a few seconds, or maybe ten seconds, to recover and struggle to get up while holding onto the wall.

What kind of spell was that?

Although Harry didn't know the details, he could sense that it was definitely not a normal spell... It must be dark magic, right?

I wonder if the other person is alright... Thinking this, Harry looked out the window.

There was only one person standing outside the window, but it wasn't the old man; it was the mysterious person. The old man was lying motionless on the ground.

How did he escape that curse... and... did he kill someone?

The hooded figure looked particularly sinister and terrifying. He looked around, seemingly searching for anyone else.

Harry instinctively shrank back, trying to hide, but the next second he felt a chill.

The pale white mask was silently facing him.

"..."

The masked man didn't wave his wand; he simply took a few steps forward. Harry tried to run away, but felt a strange chill creep up from his feet to the top of his head.

He didn't know why... he couldn't move himself.

All I could do was watch as the pale white mask drew ever closer.

Finally, the mask was slowly pressed against the glass, and through the gap, Harry could vaguely see a pair of blue eyes.

"..."

Under Harry's gaze, the Mystic slightly raised his right hand and then placed his index finger on the lower edge of his mask.

That was a shushing gesture.

Then he turned and left.

Harry stood there, stunned, not knowing how much time had passed...

"Clatter".

The shop door suddenly opened with a soft creak, accompanied by a gust of wind.

It seems someone broke the curse on the shop.

"Gulp."

Harry swallowed hard again before carefully running away.

He was no longer curious about where he was; he just wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.