The broken lock socket returned to its original shape as if going back in time, making a clicking sound as the lock clicked together.
If there are other "guests" hidden in the house, they obviously can't slip through the door silently.
As for the uninvited guests outside the room who may visit again?
On the contrary, Elena hoped that they would notice the abnormality, which would save her the effort of looking for them.
Immediately afterwards, the curtains around the living room were lowered one after another to block possible prying eyes from the outside world.
Elena put away her wand, walked to the extinguished fireplace on the right side of the living room, and raised her palm.
"Kenza(fire)——"
Crack...boom!
A small flame suddenly exploded, igniting the fireplace in an instant.
The soft orange firelight quickly dissipated the darkness and coldness in the living room.
Unlike the immature entry-level witch a few months ago, after being taught by top wizards such as Dumbledore and Grindelwald, Elena may not be able to integrate magic into her words and deeds as easily as she can, but after she becomes clear
According to logic, she is not much worse than the top wizards.
"Be careful not to step on those mud marks, and don't put down the shotgun!"
Elena turned back to look at the scientific research department director of the "Great Arcana Council" who was still holding a Remington M870, and tilted her head in the direction of the wooden stairs at the end of the living room and the ajar kitchen door, "
If there is any movement over there, just shoot, the bullets will be faster than many magic spells."
"no problem--"
Arkhipovna nodded with a murderous expression, walked around the mud marks at the door, and looked up at Elena.
"Did you notice anything? Be careful, there is someone behind you!"
"Calm down, calm down. I know."
Elena hurriedly said, shrugging disapprovingly, "He does not pose a threat for the time being-"
When she opened the door just now, she saw a dark figure sitting slumped on an armchair on one side of the living room.
And as the fire in the fireplace lit up, they could finally see the figure clearly. Arkhipovna frowned heavily, her eyes quickly passing over the armchair, a trace of disappointment and a trace of happiness flashed in her eyes. This figure
The man is not Gilderoy Lockhart.
The man slumped in the armchair, his gray and dry hair was as messy as a chicken coop, his old face, and his wrinkled and spotted hands all told the traces of erosion left by the years on his body.
The old man had a big ugly tumor on his chin, and a centipede-like scar spread from his lip to behind his right ear. He wore brown baggy pants and a shit-green robe, and he looked like an evil wizard from a fairy tale.
His wand fell on the carpet beneath the armchair, as if he had intended to use it to fight back.
Judging from the white scratches under the chair, it can be inferred that the old man was pushed back several meters with the chair by someone with great strength.
Arkhipovna looked at her surroundings warily, took a breath, and spoke proactively.
"Who is he? Is he—dead?"
"I don't think so," Elena glanced at the old man's slightly heaving chest, "He probably just fainted."
She bent down to pick up the wand that the old wizard had dropped, and then pressed her right hand on the old man's chest.
"Wyrd(cure)——"
A soft gleaming white light bloomed.
The eyelids of the old wizard with a shabby appearance and tasteless clothes trembled a few times. Just when Elena was thinking about whether to "make up for it", the old man suddenly took a breath of air and let out a breathtaking cry.
He coughed and his eyes suddenly opened.
"...You bastard! Damn it! I will definitely kill you!"
The old man jumped up from his chair with a ferocious expression, waving his withered right hand in the air like an eagle's claw.
But the next moment, his movements and expressions stopped as quickly as being petrified.
Not far in front of him, a little witch held his wand with one hand and pointed it at him with the other hand.
And behind and to the left of the little guy who looked vaguely dangerous, a strange woman was holding a metal stick in both hands and facing him.
As a wizard living in a Muggle town, the old wizard certainly understood what this was - the death curse launcher of the Muggle world: a firearm. But compared to the styles he had seen in the hands of other Muggles, the strange
The gun in a woman's hand is obviously larger and more dangerous.
"Who are you? Why are you at my house? What...are you here for?"
The old wizard's pupils shrank, his eyes wandered between the black muzzle of the gun and the wand in Elena's hand, and he raised his hands.
"What did he say?" Elena turned her head and looked at Arkhipovna helplessly.
Except for the first few rants, she didn't understand a word of the long string of tongue-licking words the old wizard said.
Fortunately, unlike the helpless language barrier in the non-magical world, thanks to the Age of Discovery centuries ago, almost every magical community with a mature education system uses English as a second language. After all, mainstream magic textbooks
The pronunciation of spells and spells is mostly still in English.
Before Arkhipovna finished translating, the old wizard immediately asked again in English after hearing Elena's accent.
"Who are you? Why are you at my house? Foreigners?!"
"Should you introduce yourself before asking someone for their name?"
Elena put her hands on each other and sat on the table in the living room. The magic light in her hands flashed away.
"Especially... with the therapist who revived you."
"Therapist? You - wait - are you really a therapist?"
The old wizard raised his eyebrows, and before he could say the sarcastic words, his expression suddenly straightened.
The little girl, who looked to be no more than eleven or twelve years old, took out a badge and pinned it on her left chest:
A special mark made of a cross between a bone and a wand, with three bronze stars branded underneath.
In the magical world, this mark is even more famous than the emblems of most magical governments and magic schools - the Healer emblem. The way to obtain this emblem is very simple. It is the official official of the thirteen magic hospitals in the wizarding world today.
therapist.
Judging from the style of this emblem, she is only one step away from being an intermediate healer.
As for forgery, the possibility of impersonating someone else is almost zero, as the Healer Emblem does not carry any privileges, it only represents liability.
The old wizard's originally repulsive expression softened slightly, and was replaced by deep confusion and curiosity.
"Aghashyan, you can call me Hash," he said, "This is my own house, hell, at least that's what I thought for decades, but today is obviously special - counting you
You two, it seems that there are more people here today than before combined?"
"So," Old Hash frowned and glanced at the two women in the room, one large and one small, "Who are you?"
"Arkhipovna, this is my daughter, Siel - she is a wizard like her father."
Arkhipovna answered in fluent Russian.
The Remington M870 in her hand continued to point at the old wizard sitting in the chair.
After a slight pause for a few seconds, she switched to a fluent London accent, looked at the old man with a serious expression and asked.
"What happened to you? Where is Lockhart now?"
"Lockhart? You mean Gilderoy Lockhart?"
Old Hash twitched the corners of his mouth, and glanced at the woman who exuded mature feminine charm, and then at the cute little witch.
That bastard guy who made people miss the curse actually had such a wife and daughter. The world was really unfair - and what made him most angry was that when the guy left at the end, he actually cheated hard again.
Hit him once.
"Damn, that guy is just an irresponsible bastard——"
The old wizard's expression became indifferent, and he stretched out his hand towards Elena, "Okay, if you want your father to come back, you'd better return the wand to me immediately, and then inform the Ministry of Magic to send more Aurors -
-Forget it, those corrupt bureaucrats are simply unreliable..."
"It's a werewolf, there's more than one, right?"
Elena asked softly, then put the wand on the table and rolled it towards the old man.
"So what are you going to do? Subdue them like in the book? It will be difficult, right?"
Aghaxiyan's expression suddenly froze, and he didn't even pick up the wand that belonged to him immediately.
"A werewolf?" Old Hash grabbed the wand just as it was about to slip off, held it tightly in his hand, and stared at Elena with a stern expression, "Who told you that you were a werewolf? Did that boy Lockhart say anything?"
How do you know I did it—I mean I was the one—ah?”
"Lockhart told us his purpose of coming here before he came here," Arkhipovna said.
"Oh, so you came here after you found out he didn't come back?"
Aghaxiyan said, still looking at the two of them with some suspicion and mumbling vaguely.
"That guy is more or less a celebrity. I haven't heard in the newspapers that he is married and has children - and - the children are so old?"
"Mr. Gilderoy Lockhart is a celebrity. It's difficult to be a celebrity in the wizarding world."
Elena shrugged, showing just the right amount of dissatisfaction, imitating Lockhart's tone of voice.
"If everyone knew that he was married, started a business, and even had children, then his books would not be able to sell so well. Huh, I hate what he said the most - promises that can never be fulfilled.
It’s been like this for so many years…”
"Xier, after all, there is nothing we can do about this. After all..." Arkhipovna touched Elena's long hair.
"I know, I know - girl idol, single image - I'm not a three-year-old kid anymore! It's okay now, he's gone!"
Elena shook her head impatiently, screamed, and turned her head to look at the old Armenian wizard.
"The big liar said that he wanted to atone for his sins. He wanted to double the honor and profits from the book "Wandering with the Werewolves" to you. He said that after he completed his atonement, he would go home to be with us - but he did not go home today.
The magic clock at home also said that his life is in danger. Can you tell us what happened? Please. Even if we cannot save him with our strength, at least let us know what happened..."
Elena's voice went from rapid and high-pitched to low, and finally turned into a distressing murmur.
"Yeah, if you can't survive even if you join forces with that big liar, then you can't save him even if you go now..."
In Gilderoy Lockhart's personal confession, his views on various "victims" are recorded in detail.
Regarding the description of the real prototype of "Wandering with Werewolves", in addition to being "ugly, old, and tasteless in clothes", there is also a particularly important note: he eats soft things rather than hard things, is extremely stubborn, and has a certain tendency to violence.
The lonely old wizard.
Aghasheyan stared at Elena and Arkhipovna in silence, hesitating to speak.
Elena looked at him, her lake-blue eyes filled with straightforwardness and determination.
"Oh, okay." Old Hash said helplessly.
He sighed heavily and threw the wand aside.
The old man's menacing appearance quickly dissipated like a deflated balloon. He fell back into his armchair, picked up the already cold teacup and took a sip. He sighed again and looked at
The door not far away said.
"Yes, the stories in "Wandering with Werewolves" are my real experiences, and that bastard stole it from me years ago—"
"I have to admit, that bastard's forgetting spell is really powerful - if he hadn't taken the initiative to return his memory, I might not be able to recall what happened before until I entered the grave. To be honest, I almost couldn't help but directly
Kill him, but..."
The old wizard shook his head, "It would be a pity if a brave bastard like Gilderoy Lockhart died like this, so after he published an explanation in the newspaper, I chanted a few curses on him,
I forgave him - of course, he seemed to think I was going to kill him."
"Heh," the old wizard grinned and sneered, a complicated expression flashed across his ugly old wrinkled face, "If he had been smart enough to mention you two at that time, maybe he wouldn't even have to suffer the physical pain.
I don’t know whether he is really stupid or just lost his mind.”
Well... maybe it's just because he's a coward.
Arkhipovna cursed quietly, frowned and looked at the old wizard.
"So, what happened next? What happened to the werewolves? It sounds like he should have gone home a long time ago."
"A werewolf can read a newspaper, kid."
Aghaxiyan's expression darkened and he breathed a sigh of relief.
"You know, the werewolves have been looking for Gilderoy Lockhart...or rather me, for a long time -"