Study Days at Hogwarts

"Who's out there?"

Hearing a knock on the door downstairs, Katrina subconsciously stuck her head out of the window to see who was knocking on the door. Under normal circumstances, few people come to the house, but there is no one at the door.

Katrina seemed to have thought of something, but she felt cold all over. She regretted her reckless move just now. She quickly grabbed the wand on the table, breathed a sigh of relief, and raised her ears to listen to the noise around her.

Is there anyone downstairs?

"Who could it be?"

The red-haired girl was extremely vigilant. Ever since Isobel ran off with Albert, she was alone in the huge house most of the time.

Suddenly a stranger came to the door, and it was impossible for Katrina not to panic, because Isobel had told her that when Albert eliminated a Death Eater in the maze of the third project, he might provoke The revenge of the "Mysterious Man" minions.

Logically speaking, even if the mysterious man wants to take revenge on Albert Anderson, what does it have to do with his family?

Who made the Anderson family immigrate overseas? Even Voldemort would have a hard time finding Albert's family across continents. The only one who has anything to do with Albert is Isobel McDoug.

Although the relationship between the two parties is currently just boyfriend and girlfriend, who knows if they will be implicated?

It’s really hard to say how low the bottom line of the mysterious man and his minions is.

It was eerily quiet under the stairs, and Katrina was hesitating whether to retreat temporarily. She was currently occupying a favorable terrain (stairs) and could use Apparition to retreat at any time.

When Katrina was hesitant, there was suddenly some noise in the hall, which aroused Katrina's vigilance.

However, what puzzled her was that the intruder did not go upstairs, but went to the lobby.

"Not an enemy?"

If not the minion of the mysterious man, who could it be?

Katrina really didn't expect anyone to come to their house at this time. If it was her mother, she would definitely not knock on the door.

The other party didn't seem to be hostile. Could it be that Isobel was back?

After much hesitation, Katrina finally secretly used the Disillusionment Curse on herself, planning to secretly go downstairs to see what was going on.

Holding her wand tightly, she tiptoed downstairs and quietly walked towards the hall.

Then, Katrina froze.

A strangely dressed house elf is standing at the entrance of the hall. It holds a piece of parchment in its left hand and a wand in the other hand. There is a slightly familiar suitcase beside it, but for some reason, it always looks like it. One has the illusion that the house elf in front of him is ready to run away with the suitcase at any time.

The house elf in front of him seemed to be confirming something. He stared at the parchment in his hand, stuffed it back into the pocket of the cloak, and said to the corridor outside the hall: "Please don't be nervous, Miss Katrina."

Yes, the house elves seemed pretty sure they were around.

After saying that, the house elf raised his wand and waved it towards the window, and the originally open window suddenly closed.

"Who are you?"

As soon as Katrina opened her mouth, she saw that the curtains in the hall were also closed, and the originally dark hall was completely plunged into darkness.

Not long after, the lights came back on in the hall, but two more familiar figures appeared in the field of vision.

"What on earth are you doing?" After Katrina saw the two of them, she couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief, lowered the wand in her hand, and glared at the two in front of her angrily.

"Be careful, it's not a bad thing."

Albert glanced at his wrist quickly, as if confirming something.

"Kara, I'm sorry to trouble you about dinner," Isobel said to the house elf.

"Okay, Mistress, dinner will be left to Kara." The house elf opened the suitcase and went to do his favorite work happily.

"hostess?"

Katrina noticed the name the house elf had just addressed, the expression on her face became very strange, and her eyes moved back and forth between the two of them.

The house elves were very efficient, and dinner was ready in no time.

For safety reasons, Albert insisted on enjoying dinner in the box while waiting for Mrs. McDougal to return. Although Isobel had notified her mother in advance, she did not know when the other party would come home.

"Why are you hiding in the box?"

Katrina looked around at the door and was surprised to find that there had been a lot of changes here, it was almost like a small manor.

What's even more surprising is that Katrina actually saw the steaming hot springs. She didn't see these when she came in last time.

"Of course it's for safety reasons." Albert reminded seriously, "Last night, a Death Eater appeared near my house. You should be able to guess the reason without me telling you!"

"How did you know?" Katrina looked shocked, "Aren't you already hiding?"

"They triggered the alarm. Those guys don't know yet, but I already know about it." Albert's tone was very calm, as if being visited by a dark wizard was a trivial matter.

Perhaps, he expected this to happen from the beginning!

"You came to me because..." Katrina asked doubtfully.

"Let's find a safe place for you." Albert said directly,

Hearing Albert's proposal, Katrina shook her head and said, "Are you kidding? Mom won't agree."

"It's no longer safe here."

"You should know my mother's character better than I do."

Katrina looked at Isobel, wanting her to come out and stop Albert's nonsense.

"You have to try everything, and what you did just now was wrong. In this case, you shouldn't come down to check, but should hide. Even if you want to figure out who is down there, the method is wrong." Albert looked at the food Tom, who had taken a nap after dinner, corrected several of Katrina's mistakes.

"What method?" Katrina raised her eyebrows.

"Human traces curse."

"What is that?" Katrina asked confused, she didn't know what the spell was.

"A spell that allows people to mark them on the map." Isobel explained gently, "You can tell who are the people around you just by looking at the map."

"Is this why the house elf read the parchment?" Katrina opened the parchment and saw the ink dots on the map marking the names of the house elf Kara and the three of them.

"Yes." Albert reminded, "Even if you use spells or potions to disguise yourself, you can't hide the human trace curse, unless you use a strong shielding spell on yourself, but only a highly skilled wizard can do it. Believe me, you don't know The mysterious man of love and his minions will definitely not be on guard."

"Well, this method is indeed very practical."

Katrina felt that Fake Moody's loss was not unfair at all, and it was no wonder that Albert was able to defeat Fake Moody and his helpers. It turned out that the other party had been planning to ambush him under Albert's nose.

Despite the advance notice, Mrs. McDougal stayed late at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Magical Injuries and came home looking very tired.

However, when he saw Albert and his daughters emerging from the suitcase, he was not too surprised. Instead, he was more interested in the house elf's dinner.

"So, you hope that I can find a place to hide like your family?" Mrs. MacDoug asked while eating paella and listening to Albert's story.

"right."

Albert admitted, although he knew it was rude to say so.

"Did you predict that the mysterious man would attack me?" As soon as Mrs. MacDoug finished speaking, the atmosphere in the hall became very depressing.

"I didn't try to predict, but I don't think you should trust the integrity of the mysterious people. No matter what those people do, I won't be surprised." Although Albert knew that the chance of success was very small, he still had to try.

"I have my own work, and I won't hide it." Mrs. MacDougal said, shaking her head.

"Perhaps, you can temporarily change your job, such as writing a book that teaches everyone how to treat magical injuries." Albert suggested sincerely: "I know it's rude to say this, but I think you have also experienced the first wizarding war. , it’s clear what was going on then, and it’s going to be even worse this time.”

"worse?"

"The Ministry of Magic will collapse and be controlled by mysterious people. I'm worried that they will implicate you because of my relationship." Albert did not hide it, "The Death Eaters were defeated in my hometown yesterday."

"Death Eater, are you sure?"

"I'm sure that even if I can strengthen the defense measures around the house, it's not safe. A powerful wizard can easily crack them." Albert paused for a moment and continued: "Even if I change my place to live, it's actually not safe. If you eat death If the gangsters want to catch you, they will rush into St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Magical Injuries and catch you."

"Has the situation gotten so bad?" Mrs. McGonagall frowned deeply.

"Not yet, but it will be hard to say in a while." Albert reminded.

"Why don't you and Isobel leave England?" Mrs. MacDougal never worried about her own safety.

"We are safe. Others don't even know the specific location of the town we settled in. Even if they know, there is nothing they can do. The Red Loyalty Curse can ensure that no one can find us." Isobel comforted.

Mrs. McDoug looked at Albert, "It seems that you have been prepared for a long time."

"Yes." Albert admitted directly: "If the situation goes bad, I will take Isobel and leave the UK. The way back is ready."

"Then I'll be relieved." Mrs. McDougal knew that Albert's arrangement was entirely for her safety, but... she had no intention of giving up her current job.

"I won't hide." She looked at her daughter and said, "However, you can arrange a safe place for Katrina. The ones I worry about the most are their sisters."

"Mom!" Katrina frowned dissatisfied. She would not leave her mother and hide.

"Albert is right. If the mysterious man comes back, you'd better find a place to hide." Mrs. McDougal looked at Katrina and said, "Anyway, you'd be bored staying at home, and you'd better hide somewhere." It’s not safe. Don’t blame Albert. I experienced the first Wizarding War and know what it was like. Many of your relatives died because of it. Hiding and staying away from right and wrong may be the best choice.”

"how about you?"

"Death Eaters rarely kill pure-blooded wizards who remain neutral." Mrs. McDougal is very precise. Albert seems to reveal everything, but he reveals nothing. Even if he is caught, he can't extract anything. Useful intelligence. "

Mrs. McDougal could favor purebloods when necessary, and as for her daughter about to marry a Muggle wizard?

Mrs. MacDougal will tell everyone that Albert is actually the heir to a very famous surname, but he just changed his surname after a bad fight between the two parties.

Is this wrong?

That's right.

"What about three meals?" Katrina was still making her final struggle.

"I can handle it myself," said Mrs. McDougal. "Don't forget, I raised you."

"I can ask the house elves to help solve the problem," Albert came up with the prepared backup plan, "but I still recommend that you change your place to live temporarily. If someone invades here, we will know it as soon as possible and respond. As for the plan, as for the house, I’ve already prepared it.”

Katrina glared at Albert fiercely, knowing that the man in front of her had thought of all the problems.

"Katrina, go pack your things and leave with Isobel tonight!" Mrs. McDougal turned her head and said to Isobel, "Take care of your sister."

"I will." Isobel said seriously.

Not long after, the house elf picked up the suitcase and apparated away.

Looking at the empty hall, Mrs. McDougal sighed softly, her eyes fell on the photos in the frame, listening to the music on the radio, closed the Wizarding Weekly in her hand, and slowly closed her eyes.

"Here we are?"

Coming out of the box, Katrina found herself in a dilapidated house.

"Apparition is prohibited here. Only house elves can go here directly, so you don't have to worry about being tracked."

After checking that there was no one else around, Albert called on a few people to follow him.

"Be very careful."

Katrina knew that Apparitions could be tracked.

But... it would be a big mistake to apparate directly into an area where apparation is prohibited.

God knows what will happen.

When Katrina followed her out, she found herself in a remote place. No wonder Albert said that no one knew the location.

"follow me!"

Albert raised his wand and introduced to Katrina: "This place is completely deserted, and no Muggles will bother us."

"Of course, as long as no one knows we're here, no one can find us, and..."

Albert took out a silver card and handed it to Katrina and said: If you don't get the secret, you can't find where we live at all.

As he spoke, he raised the glowing wand and came closer to let Katrina see the words on the silver card clearly: "Keep the content in mind, don't read it out, think about the words you saw in your heart."

"Rose Manor is located in the small town of Quimper."

Just when Katrina was thinking about the contents on the silver card, a house that was not too small suddenly appeared in front of her. It looked like it had just been renovated, but it was still obvious that the house was old.

"If you have anything to do, let's talk inside." Albert opened the door and walked in first.

"But, can this be considered a manor?" Katrina's eyes fell on the door number of Rose Manor, and Isobel pulled her into the room. The house elf closed the door at the end, and the room disappeared again, as if Never appeared.