The scorching flame suddenly emerged, and accompanied by the crisp sound of birdsong, a bright red phoenix appeared out of thin air.
Rolf let go of Fox's long golden tail feathers and landed on the soft mud with his feet. He looked around and found that he was standing in a pine forest.
Through the gaps in the leaves, he could see a black castle standing on the top of the mountain in the distance, with three crooked towers reflected in the leaden sky.
"That's Nurmengard."
Dumbledore stood with his hands behind his hands and looked at Nurmengard. He said with a complicated expression:
"Long ago it was the fortress of Grindelwald and the Wiccan Party, and it was also the prison he built to imprison his opponents.
After Grindelwald was defeated by me, this became a prison for him...a prison for him alone!"
Luofu looked at the dark castle and said softly: "It's more like a ruin."
"No one has taken care of it for almost half a century." Dumbledore wrapped his traveling cloak tightly around his neck and sighed:
"Time is such a cruel force, it can destroy everything."
"Go this way." The old man warned: "In order to prevent others from entering Nurmengard, the International Federation of Wizards has arranged a lot of magic and traps here... You have to remember the route."
Luofu was stunned for a moment. It wasn't enough to come here once. He wanted to come again in the future?
When the boy saw that Dumbledore was already moving forward, he hurriedly followed him. The principal led him through the forest, around winding and intricate paths, and came to a cliff.
The road uphill is hidden between the cracks in the rocks. It is a steep and rugged stone path.
As Rolf climbed up, the road winded, first down, then up again, becoming steeper and narrower.
The road is also full of cracks, broken rocks and large falling rocks.
Rolf could fly, and he was about to propose flying up. Dumbledore seemed to know what he wanted to say, and said:
"Flying is prohibited here to prevent anyone from approaching on a broomstick."
The young man could only continue to remain silent and follow the principal to climb up.
Halfway through the climb, Rolf was out of breath and faced a strong wind that made his robe crackle.
Dumbledore suddenly asked: "Rolf, did you find anything when you went to Azkaban?"
"I found something." Luo Fu said quickly: "I found a corpse by the lake where the Dementors were born."
"Corpse?"
Dumbledore looked surprised. He originally thought he was a fugitive from Azkaban, but as the boy described it, his expression became serious.
"Are you sure his name is Kurga and he went to find the Fountain of Good Luck?" Dumbledore confirmed repeatedly.
"When Captain Carlos told me this, he had only encountered the ghost ship and had not seen Kurga's body." Rolf replied cautiously: "He should have no reason to lie."
"Well, I will go find Carlos to confirm this matter." Dumbledore narrowed his eyes, looked up at the growing Nurmengard, and reminded:
"About the Fountain of Good Luck, you can ask Grindelwald. He... also went to look for the Fountain of Good Luck and has a more detailed understanding of this aspect."
"The skull I asked you to fetch is what he brought back from there."
Rolf nodded. He already knew this when he learned that the skull was the son of Scylla, the three siren sisters.
However, asking Grindelwald to ask him something like this made him a little scared. He was the first Dark Lord, and he was Newt's grandson.
Will he kill himself when they meet?
Rolf's eyes flickered, and he suddenly asked: "Did you also hand over the basilisk to Grindelwald?"
"That's right." Dumbledore nodded and said, "Grindelwald's research in the field of dark magic is much more advanced than mine, so I left it to him."
Rolf nodded lightly. He had been curious about who the professional Dumbledore was talking about... If it was Grindelwald, he was indeed professional enough.
But...huh
The young man secretly cursed. Dumbledore must have handed the basilisk to Grindelwald because he was more professional, or did he want to come to Nurmengard more times?
Silent for a moment, the two continued to climb along the cliff. The last few hundred meters were the steepest and most dangerous. Loose stones rolled under their footsteps and they fell along the stone path behind them.
When they emerged from the cracks in the rocks, they were already under the castle.
Only then did Rolf notice that Nurmengard was embedded on a steep cliff, looking down at the earth like a black eye.
The castle is built of ancient unmortared rocks, and each stone is different. Thick moss and clusters of poisonous tentacles grow between the cracks in the rocks.
At the gate, there is an iron gate, the tips of which are deeply sunk into the muddy ground, and the iron gate is covered with red rust.
When Luofu stepped forward and pulled the rusty iron ring, the iron door was stuck for a while, and then slowly opened with the harsh protest of the door chain. Hu
The young man looked up and saw a leafy outer courtyard in front of him. The courtyard was full of weeds and fallen pine needles, with rows and rows of solemn pine trees standing upright everywhere.
The main castle was also engulfed in green and purple moss, with dark green shades everywhere.
Nurmengard, which once made people fearful, is now completely deserted and dilapidated... with no sign of human existence.
And the once-prominent Dark Lord is imprisoned here!
A breeze blew by, and the leaves and weeds rustled, as if they were sighing deeply.
Dumbledore took Rolf and continued to walk forward, and soon came to the entrance of the castle. On the door edge directly above, there was a German sentence engraved on it:
Furdash??hrWohl!醐
"For the greater good," Rolf muttered.
Dumbledore looked at the words with a complicated expression, and the restlessness that had been suppressed deep in his heart suddenly came to his mind.
After standing there for a long time, the old man let out a long sigh.
"Professor?" Luofu asked concernedly, "Are you okay?"
"It's okay." Dumbledore's voice was hoarse and low, "I just recall the past more than a hundred years ago as if it was yesterday."
"You may be curious as to why I gave something as important as the basilisk to Grindelwald, and why I brought you here to see him."
Dumbledore said slowly: Huh
"Actually, Grindelwald and I have known each other for a long time. He went to Godric's Hollow to look for the tomb of Ignotus Peverell, one of the three brothers, and I lived there."
The old man looked sad and said:
"that summer,
I'm eighteen years old.
He is sixteen years old."
Dumbledore raised his face towards the castle, as if the brisk mountain breeze could blow away the memories.
At this time, in the tallest castle in Nurmengard, a lonely old man stood quietly at the window and looked into the distance. Hu
…
…
(Thanks to "I'm Just a Sheep", "Japanese Living Well" and "Moon Moon Bay Hot Spring" for their tips.)