After searching the area for a while, Severus found no trace of any ghost.
Instead, he came across a group of wild fairies.
This type of magical creature is found everywhere in the world where wizards exist.
There are plenty of them in the Hogwarts' gardens. They range in height from 1 to 5 inches, with human-like bodies, heads, and limbs, but with large insect-like wings on their backs. These wings can be transparent or colorful.
In the British Ministry of Magic's classification, this magical creature is rated: XX.
They are considered non-threatening, not very intelligent, and are mostly used as decorations.
Far from objecting to this, their strong vanity makes them quite willing participants.
From a potion-making perspective, fairy wings are also a material with medicinal value. Removing their wings causes them no physical harm but does damage their vanity.
Because of these habits, wild fairies are rarely seen anymore. Most coexist with wizards and are easily found on many magical streets, school lawns, and even in the Ministry of Magic.
Seeing this group of wild fairies gave Severus an idea.
Although these creatures aren't very intelligent, they are smarter than trolls!
They are naturally argumentative, have their own language… a sound more piercing than a fly's buzz.
Severus certainly didn't understand the fairy language, but he could extract memories from these fairies to see images of what they had witnessed.
Soon, he used some nectar to attract a few fairies. He opened one hand, letting the fairies stand on his palm and lick the honey, while he waved his wand with the other hand.
Although these creatures only looked humanoid, as in reality, trolls were closer to humans in comparison, Severus still felt a bit strange about potentially harming them.
His spellcasting wasn't brutal and he ensured the fairies wouldn't die, but they would inevitably suffer from mental confusion for two or three days afterward.
And from their memories, Severus actually made a discovery!
Most fairies live no longer than two years. In the memory of one fairy, shortly after it emerged from its cocoon as an adult, while out foraging, it saw a faint, flickering ghost drifting southeast. The ghost kept muttering.
'It hid over there... it hid over there...'
After that, no fairy in the area saw her again.
After seeing this memory, Severus released the greedy fairies. Frowning slightly, he looked southeast.
That direction was exactly where the troll valley was located!
According to the memory, it seemed this Hag's Ghost had made some unusual discovery over a year ago and moved in that direction.
But Severus had just come from there and hadn't encountered anything related to the black mist or seen this ghost.
'If she had headed that way, had she eventually left the forest, or had she stopped somewhere?'
By now, Severus decided not to pursue the matter further. It was time to return and have lunch with Harry and the others.
He used Apparition to return directly to the valley.
But upon his return, he found that the expected prepared lunch was nowhere to be seen. Even the troll camp, aside from the resting, lazy trolls, was empty… Lulu was gone too!
After scanning the surroundings, he spotted Lulu, Andrews, Harry, and the others by the lake about a mile away from the camp, seemingly doing something.
Another Apparition later, Severus appeared instantly beside them. He saw that, apart from them, Lupin wasn't there, but there was a conspicuous skull on the ground!
"What happened?" He asked.
The moment he Apparated in, Harry started exclaiming,
"There's a merperson's skull in the lake! Lupin and Mr. Andrews suspect there might be a merpeople tribe at the bottom of this lake!"
"I found it! I found it first!" Draco eagerly shouted nearby, as if afraid Harry would steal his credit.
Andrews, who had been holding his wand by the lake waiting, turned around with a look of astonishment and said to Severus.
"I just found out about this myself. Lulu and I have lived here with these trolls for over three years, and we never imagined there could be merpeople living at the bottom of this lake! How could those merpeople tolerate these trolls living next to their home?"
"Lupin went down?" Severus asked.
"Yes, he cast a Bubble-Head Charm on himself and has been down there for over twenty minutes."
After a moment's thought, he patted Andrews on the shoulder.
"Take the children to prepare lunch first. And those trolls… without Lulu, they've already started slacking off. I'll wait here for Lupin. If anything happens, I'll call you immediately."
Then, Andrews led Harry and Draco, who were still reluctant to leave, back to the camp, carrying two large buckets of fish.
Only Severus remained, waiting for Lupin.
He didn't have to wait long. About ten minutes later, Lupin surfaced with the Bubble-Head Charm still active. Seeing Severus, he immediately stretched out a hand.
"Quick, give me a hand!"
Severus immediately grabbed his arm and pulled him, along with something he was holding in his other hand, back to the shore.
Only then did he see what Lupin had brought up from the depths.
It was a huge piece of leather, taken from some unknown animal!
But just by looking closely at the hide, Severus instantly recognized what kind of animal it came from.
Dragonhide!
Dragonhide is always valuable, no matter the era or location, and this was an especially large piece.
"There's a merpeople tribe down there, but it's full of their skeletons! I couldn't find a single live merperson!"
Lupin, after climbing ashore, first cast a drying charm on his soaked clothes, then continued.
"Their deaths are very strange. Their tribe shows no signs of destruction, and their skeletons are all intact. It doesn't look like they fought any predators. And in the midst of that ruin, I found this."
By now, Severus had fully spread out the dragonhide Lupin brought up. It seemed to have been stripped from the belly of some dragon, as large as a rug.
On the dragonhide, faint lines could be seen, drawn with some unknown pigment. They didn't look like writing but more like a map of some place.
The lines were messy and without any annotations. Only in the center was a pattern of two circles, one large and one small, overlapping. It looked somewhat like a double-layer cream cake, or perhaps a fountain viewed from above.
Lupin, now cleaned up, also turned to look at the contents of the dragonhide. He examined it and said, "What is this? A treasure map? Is there treasure in this forest?"
Severus was also pondering. Staring at the pattern in the center of the map, he said softly, "There's no legend of treasure, but there is a legend about the Fountain of Fair Fortune."
Lupin looked visibly surprised.
"The Fountain of Fair Fortune? You mean the one from The Tales of Beedle the Bard?"
Severus didn't keep him in suspense. He quickly recounted the legend of the Fountain of Fair Fortune that Andrews had told him at noon to Lupin.
Like Severus's initial reaction, Lupin also felt the effects of the legendary Fountain of Fair Fortune sounded like a specially enhanced version of Felix Felicis.
"But in theory, Felix Felicis works by enhancing a wizard's mental activity and perception, thereby indirectly bringing good luck. That's why there's a limit to how many times one can drink it in a lifetime. If the body gets used to such changes, it becomes ineffective later." Severus said, stroking his chin.
"I wonder if the legendary Fountain of Fair Fortune in this forest works like Felix Felicis or actually increases a person's luck."
Lupin rolled up the dragonhide.
"What about this hide and the merpeople's skeletons at the bottom of the lake?"
"Either the lake has a problem, or this dragonhide has a problem," Severus said, turning to look at the calm lake surface, "Under normal circumstances, large-scale merpeople deaths shouldn't occur. Especially since, as you said, they've built a tribe at the bottom of this lake..."
"Let Andrews report the merpeople issue to the Albanian Ministry of Magic when he has time. The Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures has the duty to investigate such incidents. As for the dragonhide..."
Severus pondered for a moment, then blinked at Lupin.
"Why don't you keep it? Even without any additional value, such a large piece of hide itself is very valuable. After all, it was your discovery."
"It should be said it was Draco's discovery," Lupin corrected, clearly not wanting to take credit from a child, "Then I'll keep it. After we finish building the trolls' houses, if Harry and Draco are interested, I'll take them into the forest with this map to look for treasure."
"That's a wonderful idea!"
…
France, Paris, Flamel Residence.
The Flamels both had the habit of waking up early. No matter how late they slept the night before, their nearly century-old biological clocks would wake them up promptly at six in the morning.
Just as Mrs. Flamel picked up her wand and was about to go into the garden to water the flowers, she suddenly saw an uninvited guest sleeping in the corner of the garden, a dog that didn't belong there, and nearly let out a cry of surprise.
"Nico! What's going on! Why is there a dog in our house!"
She hurried back inside and asked Nicolas, who was sitting in a recliner, lost in thought.
Nicolas laughed.
"What was the name of our last pet? Alice or Mary? Ah, that was a snow-white Kneazle. It's been over eighty years since it died, and we haven't kept any pets since. What do you think of that black dog?"
Hearing this, Mrs. Flamel breathed a sigh of relief.
"If you like it, of course we can keep it. But you should have told me beforehand. I was quite startled to see such a large dog."
"Sorry, I told Kimmie when I brought it back last night, but I forgot to mention it to you after waking up."
Although Mrs. Flamel didn't mind Nicolas picking up a dog to keep, she was still curious about its origins.
"Where did you find it? It doesn't look like a stray… it's so big!"
"At the Stalingrad metro station. It was drinking with a drunkard at the time. I found it interesting, so I brought it back with me," Nicolas picked up today's newspaper, "Let it sleep a bit more. It drank quite a lot last night and relieved itself three times on the way back."
Mrs. Flamel, however, was already thinking about the preparations for keeping a pet.
"Then later I'll need to go to Fisher's Magical Creature Supplies store to buy some dog food and toys for it. Should we have Kimmie build it a kennel? We can't let it sleep in the garden all the time."
At this, Nicolas put down the newspaper and shook his head.
"No need to buy anything for it."
"Then what will it eat? Where will it live?" Mrs. Flamel didn't understand.
"We'll let Kimmie make an extra portion of whatever we're eating for it. As for where to live, this house is big enough. It can sleep anywhere except our bedroom."
"Are you sure it won't make a mess or relieve itself everywhere?"
"I can assure you it won't, provided it hasn't been drinking."
Mrs. Flamel was persuaded.
"Alright, if you're sure. Then can I at least make it a few clothes? We need to give it a gift for joining the family."
Nicolas naturally didn't refuse this.
"You can pick out some clothes you like for it to wear."
Mrs. Flamel now had something to do. She quickly put on her coat and prepared to go out to select some clothes for the new member of the Flamel Family.
After she left, Nicolas, who had been sitting thoughtfully in the recliner, stood up. He went to his alchemy area and rummaged through a cabinet, soon finding a book with a phoenix relief carving on the cover!
Anyone in the know would recognize this as a legendary alchemical work said to be no less remarkable than the Philosopher's Stone. Its purported function was to allow communication with any wizard in the world at any time!
Nicolas carried it, struggling somewhat, and placed the embossed book on the desk.
He also sat down at the table, then opened the book's cover, picked up a quill from beside him, and after dipping it fully in ink, he slowly wrote a name on the page.
[Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore]