Chapter 401 Underground Pipeline Encounter

When they stood still again, Loren and Hermione found that they were standing on the edge of the roof wall of a high-rise building, with lights shining on the street and people coming and going.

"Nice to see you in New York, Loren, Hermione..."

Looking forward following the sound, an old wizard with a white beard wearing a solemn magic robe smiled and waved to them.

"Nice to meet you too, Professor Dumbledore." Hermione replied in a brisk voice.

"Principal Dumbledore, does it have to be on such a dangerous rooftop?" Loren asked as he and Hermione leaned towards him.

Dumbledore chuckled and nodded, looking at the endless flow of pedestrians and streets downstairs.

"I do enjoy admiring the scenery, and it would be better if I could see it more clearly."

Dumbledore said softly and waved slowly. The deluminator in Loren's pocket arched and came out. The top cover popped open, and the street light bulbs he had just collected floated out, trailing a bright tail like a meteor. Returning to its original position, the nearby neighborhood became brighter as a result, with lights flowing like stars in the sky.

Loren and Hermione looked at the street lights that were flying like fireflies, their eyes sparkling.

"I didn't expect you to find me in this way, what a clever idea." Dumbledore praised and put the Deluminator back into Loren's pocket.

Loren glanced at the Woolworth Building not far away, squatted down, held up his hands, and sat down on the top of the wall, his feet dangling in the air:

"I don't really trust the Magical Congress of the United States of America and people from various countries who come to attend the conference, and I'm also worried that if I meet you in a normal way, someone with ulterior motives will target me. This is the only way."

Dumbledore also sat down next to him. Although he was wearing a serious magic robe, he was swinging his legs more like a child:

"Sounds like an urgent matter. Do you have any special news to share with me?"

"It's a long story, but I believe you have got some information." Loren stroked Hermione who sat down, "So we can make it short. This matter started when we met Miss Beetle..."

"oh……"

Dumbledore exclaimed. He was more concerned about Rita Skeeter's integration into Muggle life than the news about the werewolf corpse in the Brooklyn underground pipe:

"She passed this information to me, but she didn't say that she started publishing articles in Muggle newspapers to observe Muggles here from the perspective of a foreign wizard. I can't wait to read that newspaper. What's it called? , The New York Times, right?”

Dumbledore's eyes began to glance around, looking for the newsstands on the street, looking eager to buy a few copies of the New York Times.

"What's more important now is the werewolf, Professor!" Hermione felt anxious and couldn't help but remind her.

"Werewolf, sorry to werewolf..."

Dumbledore smiled and looked more serious: "I received some news not long ago that MACUSA also sought help from other wizards attending the meeting, but to no avail."

Loren glanced at him suspiciously, feeling that the old man didn't really care about this matter. He tried to tell his speculation: "Since last year, the formation of the werewolf community, the temporary change of location of the International Federation of Wizards, and the disappearance of werewolf corpses. The purifiers cannot do these things. I think it has something to do with Voldemort."

Hermione nodded in agreement: "Voldemort is planning a bigger conspiracy!"

Dumbledore really didn't seem to care, he said calmly: "Don't be obscured by the fog in front of you, Loren, Hermione, learn to see things with your heart..."

"What's the meaning?"

Facing the two people's puzzled looks, Dumbledore ruffled their hair: "Use what has happened to speculate on the future. When multiple events appear in front of you at the same time and there are too many clues and each clue points to various possibilities, guessing It will stagnate and we will be stuck in circles.

"At this time, it is better to abandon the clues, observe from a longer-term perspective, and think with more abstract thinking."

"I still don't understand..." Hermione whispered, a little embarrassed.

Dumbledore had a kind smile on his face: "Think carefully, what enemies might we face?"

Hermione frowned and counted them one by one: "Voldemort, the Purifier, some bad werewolves..."

"Think about the wizards gathered in New York now, and you will find that the Purifiers and Werewolves are not enough to cause trouble that everyone cannot handle, and Voldemort..."

Dumbledore paused: "What he wants to do most now is to be resurrected! Under this premise, the incident that happened this time will not consume too much of his energy, which also means that it will not be too difficult for us to deal with it. .”

Loren and Hermione felt as if their eyes were suddenly enlightened.

"What's next?"

"The next step is to make some preparations. I found a friend who lives in Brooklyn to investigate this matter. There is still one day left before the International Federation of Wizards. You can walk around the city more and pay attention to abnormal wizards. "

Dumbledore warned: "Of course, under the premise of ensuring safety."

…

New York at night is not a city that never sleeps. After leaving the Woolworth Building, the bustling and affluent streets are as bright as daytime, while some dilapidated alleys are like small rural cities with dim street lights.

The gangsters who were robbing the alleys at night were lucky that they didn't run into Loren and Hermione.

A streetlight not far away was flickering, but other streetlights around it were normal. Excluding the problem of unstable voltage, it was probably due to poor contact of the bulb.

Wizards usually use repair spells to repair light bulbs, but Loren came up with a wonderful idea while walking. He took out the deluminator and released a previously stored light source. It was the light source of a candle, and the burning wax oil released The warm yellow firelight is dimmer than the color of street lights.

Loren directed it to float into the streetlight bulb. The bulb flickered and the light gradually stabilized.

Just when the wind blows over the street lamp, the shadow under the lamp will sway gently, which looks very magical.

Hermione hurriedly saw that there were some scattered light sources in the deluminator, two of which were the brightest, one was a strange orange, and the other was a cold green.

What a strange light source.

Hermione tilted her head.

Loren happily put away the Deluminator and developed another use. He turned around and asked, "Hermione, let's take a walk around New York City tomorrow and attend the International Wizarding Conference the day after tomorrow. What do you think?"

Hermione glanced at the street lamp, thinking about the arrangements for the next few days, and didn't pay too much attention to the strange light source she just saw: "I feel less interested in the International Federation of Wizards... But we are all in New York, and the conference is the first Let’s wait and see for now, and if everything goes well on the first day, we’ll go and sit in.”

Loren nodded, looked up and saw the McDonald's fast food restaurant on the roadside, and asked casually: "What's for dinner?"

Following his line of sight, a smile appeared on Hermione's face: "Why don't you go back to the hotel for dinner? Are you worried about the mint-flavored ice cream balls?"

"Tsk, you still said..." Loren smacked his lips, "The hotel dinner was indeed sumptuous, but I suddenly want to eat some junk food."

Hermione's eyes moved slightly, and she slowly met his gaze.

…

1994, July 14.

There is one day left before the International Federation of Wizards.

There are still nine days until the full moon night.

In Brooklyn's underground pipes, a group of people stepped in the dirty sewage and carefully searched for something along the pipes.

Wet cardboard, rotten vegetable leaves, mouse corpses, moving mice, and moldy bread slices... all kinds of garbage floated in the sewage. The water was dark in color and exuded a pungent rancid odor.

"My lord, Merlin, I have never thought that having a keen sense of smell would be a form of torture before!"

Jimmy Ebell, a young werewolf who fled to the United States, complained.

Several other werewolves participating in the search also had the same expression, but they did not complain when they saw the boss in front of them, nor did they complain when they saw the mysterious John Moon, so they suppressed the restlessness in their hearts.

Lupine led a few people to slowly explore the pipeline, with bloodshot eyes hidden in his eyes. He also wanted to take a rest, but thinking of the information Dumbledore had passed on, he couldn't rest for a moment.

If there really is a large-scale magical incident involving werewolves, regardless of whether it causes serious harm or not, whether they are involved or not, whether the werewolves who appear are corpses or alive, the "Anti-Werewolf Act" may become a world like the "Act of Secrecy" There are universal wizarding regulations for sex.

Except for Jimmy, the several werewolves around him are all native American werewolves. They are extremely united. The leader Taylor Lautner has a high prestige. Lupine has hinted at his werewolf transformation plan from the side, but Lautner did not express his position. Don't fully trust him yet.

"John Moon, are you sure those missing werewolf corpses appeared in the sewers?"

Taylor Lautner frowned, her ugly face showing a bit of exhaustion.

The clothes on his body were covered with a lot of pudding. Although the money in the tribe was more abundant, Taylor never sought any benefits for himself, which was one of the reasons why he maintained his prestige.

The other werewolves said nothing. Compared with the illusory magical events, what supported their search in the sewers was the belief in recovering the corpses of their people.

Lupine slowed down slightly and said without looking back: "You know the answer, Mr. Lautner. You have confirmed it with someone from the Magical Congress of the United States of America."

Taylor was silent for a moment and sighed: "Keep looking!"

The group quickened their pace again, turned a corner, and entered the next section of underground pipes.

As the sound of their footsteps trampling on the sewage gradually faded away, the two mice huddled in the corner came out, shaking off the sewage and hair stained on their bodies, revealing their original appearance.

It turned out that one of them was not a mouse, but a snow-white stoat with a slender body and a soft tail.

The two animals stood upright, with ripple-like ripples swaying from their tails to their heads. The animals gradually grew larger, their limbs began to extend, and their hair retracted under the skin.

As soon as Hermione revealed herself, she immediately took out her wand and aimed a few cleaning spells at her body. Even so, she still felt dirty, and every pore and hair reeked of the stench of sewer pipes.

I'll take a shower five times tonight, no, ten times!

The little witch silently made up her mind.

Loren slowly cast a cleaning spell, and then put a bubble head charm on their heads to isolate the pungent odor from the bubbles.

He clicked his tongue and said, "John Moon, Professor Lupin's new name is too cliché."

"Stop talking about this, let's follow quickly!"

Hermione held his hand, stepped into the flowing sewage, and chased after him with difficulty.

They wandered around New York City as Dumbledore said, looking for some clues, and naturally came to the Brooklyn werewolf community. With the help of Loren's magical vision, they naturally discovered Professor Lupin, and then followed them underground. pipeline.

Hermione stepped in the sticky sewage, making every step forward with great determination, at least her face didn't look good.

Loren suggested: "You can transform back into Animagus form, and I will take you and follow them with the Disillusionment Spell."

Hermione looked back at him, thought for a few seconds, and finally thrust the wand into his hand, then transformed into a stoat and climbed onto his shoulder.

After standing still, the ferret subconsciously licked its paws and wiped them on both sides of its face. After realizing what it was doing, its movements suddenly froze.

The ferret calmly put down his little paws and picked at Loren's clothes.

Loren pretended not to notice, put away Hermione's wand, and used his own wand to touch his body a little. Invisible waves spread, and his figure gradually disappeared in place.

In the empty underground pipe, water splashed from deep to shallow, and invisible footsteps moved towards the next section of the pipe.

"Haw?"

"Shh, keep your voice down. I'm worried about you falling. Please hold me in my arms to stabilize you."

"Haw!"

"Hey, you just rubbed your belly, but you actually bit me..."

"..."

About five minutes later, Loren and Hermione caught up with Lupine and his party.

The underground pipelines in New York are so intricate that even in one area of ​​Brooklyn, it would be very difficult for just a few werewolves to search, especially in the sewers with complex smells. Their excellent sense of smell is limited and they can only use ordinary people's methods. A little fumbling.

When they encounter a branching pipe, they can only sit down and mark according to the map, choose one of the roads while leaving the other road to find next time. When they stopped at a fork for the third time and took out the map to discuss which pipeline to choose, there were some faint sounds coming from the pipeline on the right.

The dull roar of the explosion rolled along the pipe. The sound was not loud, but it made people's ears tight.

The werewolf leader Taylor and Lupine looked at each other with solemn expressions, and quickly led the team towards the right pipe towards the source of the sound.

Loren and Hermione followed closely behind.

After walking through a curved pipe, the scene in front of you comes into view——

The life-killing curse exuding a dark green light collided with the dim white crushing curse. The beams of two colors burst out, and crystal clear sparks scattered around, disappearing into nothingness.

"【Avada Kedavra】"

The woman's harsh and shrill voice echoed in the pipe: "Poor Longbottom, you survived the heart-cutting curse last time, but you will not have good luck this time!"