Chapter 231 Returning to the Riddle Mansion

The night became thicker in the icy air, and the snow-covered roofs and chimneys, the dry and tangled tree branches, and even the sculptures on the eaves of the shops seemed to have fallen into that mysterious silence.

Of course, Hogsmeade had always been like that.

There is a cold and shady feeling everywhere, and it becomes indistinct at night, a little frightening.

But the two bars here, in every dark night, use the dim red light from the windows to bring warmth to the evening guests.

Maca held a magical creature in his hand, walked slowly along the street, and walked leisurely towards the Pig's Head Bar at the other end.

In Hogsmeade Village, the Three Broomsticks and the Pig's Head are just at the beginning and end of the village, and the types of customers on both sides do not interfere with each other, and have always coexisted harmoniously.

In the past few days, it has stopped snowing in Hogsmeade, and the field of vision has also become much wider.

Maca looked around, and soon saw the faint light of fire falling on the snow.

Turning right and crossing an intersection, the old bar that hadn't been repaired for many years immediately came into his eyes. Looking at the dilapidated signboard, it was a bit too rough.

Pushing the door open, Aberforth casually glanced at the door after a muffled broken bell rang.

"Ok?"

Aberforth's bearded face moved slightly, and his eyes widened even more.

"good evening!"

Maca greeted with a smile, and looked around by the way, only to find that there were no guests here tonight.

Aberforth narrowed his eyes and twitched the corners of them.

"...Good evening," he seemed to be holding back his anger, and said dryly, "Pets are not welcome in this shop, you can tie it outside before you come in."

Maca shrugged and said, "Didn't I hear that you like sheep, look!"

He took the rope in his hand to turn the sheep he brought around, and then patted the tail of the sheep hard.

"Altay big-tailed sheep! It came all the way from Asia...Look at this perfect curve..." He said, and patted hard again, "This fat, tender and round sheep's tail is so good!"

Aberforth listened, and the corners of his eyes twitched again.

"I like goats! Do you understand? Goats!" He said in a low voice, "You brought a sheep, are you planning to insult my greatest hobby in this life?"

"Isn't that good?" Maca looked down again, and subconsciously slapped her again.

"You kid, you don't understand the beauty of goats at all!" Aberforth threw the wine glass in his hand on the bar, pointed at Maca angrily with his hips akimbo.

"Okay, okay... Can't I apologize?" Maca smiled and shook his hand, led the sheep out again, tied it to the post at the door, and then walked inside.

"Butterbeer," he said, pointing to the stove behind him, "warm it up for me?"

Aberforth casually took out a dusty wine bottle from under the bar, and took a meal in front of Maca together with the wine glass.

"Heat yourself!" he said angrily.

Maca shrugged, took out his wand and tapped the wine bottle and wine glass. After cleaning, he poured the butter beer from the bottle into the wine glass.

Immediately afterwards, he swiped his wand around the wine glass a few times, accompanied by a faint flame fluttering, the liquid in the glass gradually bubbled up.

Soon, steam rose from the top of the wine glass, and a strong smell of butter spread out along with it.

"Another so-called genius..." Aberforth muttered under his breath, "I hate geniuses."

"What's wrong with geniuses? They're not all human." Maca laughed. "When it's time for bad luck, no one can hide from it..."

"You don't deny that you are a genius?" Aberforth gave him a contemptuous look.

"Based on what I know so far, I want to deny it without the consent of others..." Maca said, took a big sip from his wine glass, and then said with a sigh of relief, "The so-called 'genius ’, it has never been self-appointed by the person concerned, don’t you understand this when you look at your brother?”

"Him?" Aberforth snorted.

"He's your age, but he has already called himself a genius, and he complains all day long that he has no place to display his talent..."

"...The older you are, the more humble you are?" Maca asked curiously.

"Hmph... How can there be such a saying?" Aberforth said disdainfully, "A 'genius' will only know how to restrain himself when he does something stupid! It's a pity...it will be too late by then!"

Maca listened and couldn't help touching her face.

The old man was really right, not only his elder brother Dumbledore, but even himself almost went on that self-righteous road of no return...

"Hmm..." Maca thought for a while, then suddenly raised his head and said seriously, "You are right! To thank you, next time I come back, I will definitely pick a goat for you!"

"Shut up!" Aberforth glared at him and said, "I don't want to hear the word 'goat' in your mouth, a brat like you who doesn't know how to know, such a beautiful word in your mouth An insult to it!"

Maca stroked his forehead vigorously, and shook his head helplessly - this guy is definitely hopeless!

At this moment, the door of the bar was pushed open again, the broken bell rang again, and a man in a black cloak strode in from outside.

"go out!"

Aberforth just raised his head, almost took a second look, and immediately roared.

"Well?"

Maca turned around, and found that the man stopped at the door because of Aberforth's loud shout. It was a bit of a dilemma. It seemed that it was Snape.

"What's wrong?" He turned his head and looked at Aberforth strangely.

"This kid came to eavesdrop on other people's conversation fourteen years ago, and I kicked him out!" Aberforth pointed at the door.

Maca turned around again, and took another look at Snape - he was wearing a hood! And... fourteen years ago? Can you recognize this?

"……time to go!"

Snape's voice sounded rather irritated, he turned around and walked out immediately after dropping a word.

Maca looked at Aberforth with a complicated expression, and couldn't help but take a few more glances.

"Your memory is really good!"

After he finished speaking, he picked up the wine glass and finished in one breath, then put down the money for the drink and walked out the door, while Aberforth behind him just snorted impatiently.

The air outside was obviously much colder than that in the room, Maca couldn't help shrinking his neck, and then looked at Snape.

"Do you still need me to take you there?" Snape frowned and said, "With your ability, you don't need it?"

Maca smiled wryly and shook his head: "It's not impossible, it's just that there are always deviations from the target, and it doesn't work no matter how you try..."

Apparition is not spatial movement, and it cannot be solved by calculation alone. It is more of a long-distance movement that relies on memory and perception residues.

For ordinary wizards, just do it by feeling. But if Maca relies on feeling to cast spells, there will always be deviations.

At least, until he studies and understands all the broken rule runes contained in the apparition spell, he will never be able to rely on accurate calculations to correct the offset of the coordinates.

"As for what's wrong, I still don't understand..." He spread his hands helplessly.

"You'd better figure it out sooner."

As Snape said, he stretched out his hand to grab Maca's arm, and with a twist, the two immediately disappeared in place.

...

It was another feeling to come to the Riddle Mansion again.

For Voldemort, Maca no longer had the confusion of the unknown at the beginning, and now he probably knows the secret behind Voldemort's resurrection.

As for whether to continue to explore the "Monument of Bewitching", he also has a preliminary plan.

The original plan has been terminated, but part of it can be carried out under the current situation. It's just that he won't do anything casually until everything is fully understood.

Following Snape, after he pushed open the slightly dilapidated door, the two walked into the hall together.

"Hiss--"

A giant snake comparable to the basilisk at the time was entrenched in the hall, and it was obviously the snake named "Nagini" raised by Voldemort.

When Maca came here last time, it wasn't here, but this time he bumped into it.

Although it is not clear what Voldemort...or the Bewitching Tablet did to it, since it has become so big, it has obviously grown a lot.

From the looks of it, most wizards would probably only run away when they saw it.

In the darkness, Nagini's eyes shone with wisdom, and his body was covered with a lot of black energy like a black dead, looking extremely fierce, but secretly shrewd.

Maca didn't understand Parseltongue, so he had no idea what it was "hissing" about. Judging from the behavior of this snake, it is obviously not difficult to guess-it seems that it instinctively does not want to get close to this side.

"Isn't it much more stupid than Aragog?" Maca pondered, "Is this a basilisk transformed by Voldemort?"

"Don't speculate on the greatness of the Dark Lord!"

Before he knew it, Snape had gotten into the act, and now he was seriously criticizing Maca.

Maca just shrugged, and then stopped looking at the big snake, and followed Snape up the stairs to the upstairs study.

"Tuk Tuk"

There were two light and cautious knocks on the door, and the Death Eaters in the study all turned their heads vigilantly and looked towards the door.

At the other end of the long table, Voldemort, who was sitting with his eyes closed, suddenly opened his eyes.

Compared with the last time, there was obviously a strange black flame in his pupils, which kept beating inside, looking mysterious and abnormal.

"Come in."

His voice also seemed to have a hoarse feeling, as if he hadn't drank water for a long time, dry and dignified.

Following his words, the study door was gently pushed open, and Snape walked in first.

"Master, Maca McClain has arrived."

Before the words were finished, even before the Maca came in, all the Death Eaters immediately opened their eyes wide, staring at the deep and dim doorway cautiously.