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"The footprints appear!"
The students watched with wonder as Rossi danced around, and as the misty golden mist filled the air and whirled suddenly, they couldn't help but let out waves of exclamation.
Spells like this, which are only taught during induction training at the Ministry of Magic, are impossible to learn in school. Perhaps without relatives and friends who work at the Ministry of Magic, they may never come into contact with them in their lifetime.
Seeing Claire's image appear, Rosie felt a little relieved: at least, she was not kidnapped and left.
"This girl ran out without saying a word!"
After muttering something to Grace, the two followed Claire's image out of the store.
"Maybe she has something urgent."
Grace's tone was calm, but Rossi felt relieved.
After getting along for a period of time, the cold-tempered Grace finally took the initiative to make excuses for others, not bad!
After thinking about it, the two of them walked around to the back of the shop. Claire's image stopped here for a moment, and then disappeared.
Because this store is the last house in the southeast corner of Hogsmeade village, there is a large open space behind the house, and there are few people here.
Looking around, there is a large forest a hundred meters away.
Before Claire's image disappeared, her expression didn't change much. Well... there shouldn't be any danger.
But where did she go?
You wouldn't just run into the woods over there alone without saying a word, right?
As doubtful thoughts emerged one after another in Rossi's mind, his eyes inadvertently passed over a dilapidated well not far ahead.
"Come here."
Saying hello to Grace who was searching for clues, she quickly walked to the well.
Judging from the long-dried soil at the bottom of the well, this well dried up a long time ago.
I illuminated it with a wand that emitted soft light, and vaguely saw shallow footprints on the soil, so I raised my eyes and looked at Grace and said:
"Let's go down and have a look."
"Um!"
Rossi rolled over and jumped, followed by Grace.
The soil at the bottom of the well felt soft when stepped on, just like stepping on the beach, and there was no backlash.
You couldn't see it when you were at the mouth of the well, but it turned out that there was something else on the side at the bottom of the well.
There was a deep hole there, and he didn't know where it led. Rossi squinted and looked at it for a long time, but the light from the tip of the staff could not reach the end of it.
"These footprints have been deliberately concealed. It's hard to tell whether they belong to Claire or not." Rossi frowned as he looked at the footprints on the ground that deliberately kept his heels on the ground, as if they were walking on water.
"We'll find out when we go to the front and take a look." Grace suggested in a low voice.
"Well, let's explore this place first."
Smiling and nodding, Rossi raised his wand and took the lead in walking forward.
"This place feels like a tunnel leading to a tomb!"
After walking forward for less than a minute, Rosie felt that the road ahead was getting narrower and shorter, which forced her to lean her upper body forward a little to ensure that she did not hit her head.
"Um!"
After hearing what she muttered, Grace, who was following her calmly, nodded in agreement.
"How come there is a place like this underneath Hogsmeade?"
From the Floo Network map, Rossi saw that the two of them were under Hogsmeade at the moment and said suspiciously, "It's really suspicious."
"What is the problem?"
If she hadn't spent two months with Grace day and night, she probably wouldn't have been able to hear the slightest doubt in his flat tone.
"Of course there is a problem. There is a dry well and a secret tunnel that runs through the entire village. It must be hiding some secrets, right?"
As he said that, Rossi added in his mind: According to the routine of adventure games, there is either a mysterious case hidden here, a BOSS, a treasure chest, or even a combination of both.
"Maybe like the hidden passages in Hogwarts, this is just a secret passage created by a wizard."
When alone with her, Grace obviously talked more than when others were present.
"Well……"
You are someone who throws cold water on someone.
After muttering silently, Rosie turned around and said, "Do you think Claire will be here?"
Grace shook her head and suddenly thought that the other party was walking in front of her and couldn't see her movements, so she said, "Most likely, she's not there. I didn't smell her scent."
Seeing her holding the wand pause due to his words, Grace added: "But this does not rule out the possibility that she was kidnapped and her scent was eliminated by magic."
"That's it...then let's keep moving forward."
Rossi pondered for two seconds, then walked forward again, "Be careful, the road ahead is getting narrower."
The road ahead becomes winding, lower at the top and narrower on both sides.
"I rarely go to places like this, and luckily I don't feel claustrophobic."
"Claustrophobia?"
"It's a disease that creates a fear of closed spaces."
Grace said "Oh": "I often walk this way, especially before I can turn into a human form."
Before you can't turn into human form?
"By the way, Grace, when did you gain the ability to transform into human form?"
"Sixty-six years ago."
"Sixty-six years ago?"
"Well, I was hibernating. I vaguely remembered that someone entered the secret room and fed me a magic potion. When I woke up again, I had the ability to transform into a human form..."
Eh? It's actually a magic potion?
Muttering in surprise, Rossi looked back at Grace and asked, "Who is that person? Salazar?"
"I don't know...shh!"
Grace suddenly stopped talking, pressed his cold fingers to her soft lips, and whispered, "I heard someone talking in front of me."
Upon hearing this, Rossi immediately extinguished the light on his wand and listened.
But I can't hear anything...
Just as this thought flashed through her mind, she suddenly thought of something.
Turning around, under Grace's surprised eyes, Rosie, who had put away her wand, shrank rapidly. In just a moment, a snow-white rabbit with slightly shorter ears and black and blue eyes appeared in front of her.
Even if there is no light source, Rossi in Animagus form can see everything around him clearly.
Glancing at Grace, who was slightly open-mouthed and obviously surprised, Rossi secretly chuckled inwardly. While jumping around, he turned three consecutive corridors at nearly 90-degree angles in front of him, while secretly listening to the sounds ahead that were getting farther and farther away. sound.
"...Lucius, Draco is still at school. Will he be okay?" A female voice came into his ears.
"Narcissa, don't worry." Lucius's voice sounded, "Master will pay attention to Draco, even if it is for our loyalty, Draco will be fine."
After a moment of silence, Narcissa's voice sounded farther away:
"Lucius, is this really the right choice for us to make?"
"Don't be so naive Narcissa, we have no choice a long time ago." Lucius's voice was a little tired.
breathe--
Narcissa took a deep breath: "Okay, I understand."
…
Rossi looked out from the darkness quietly.
There was a small room of less than twenty square meters. Directly opposite was an upward staircase. Lucius and his wife held up their wands in their hands and chatted while walking up. It seemed that there should be an exit up there.
(End of chapter)
