Hogwarts 1991

Chapter 605 London: Hidden Shadows

Emily Albert stroked the ends of her hair, curled it...wrapped around her fingers, and played with it.

In her other hand she held a letter,

She pondered what was inside.

It was a letter sent by owl mail from his younger brother, MacGuffin Albert.

It was a warning to her to stay away from London.

Because of the changes in the magic world, there will be some unknown and terrible things.

Just like terrorist attacks, alien abductions...

A horrible event that happened at an unknown time and in an unknown manner.

——Magic world?

What would that be like?What kind of mystery will be hidden in it...

I'm so envious!

Emily thought,

She is eager to participate in it, to solve the secrets of magic, and to satisfy her curiosity.

It's a pity that I don't have that talent.

Magic power, spells, magic... Although she has learned the most critical elements of it through MacGuffin's magic textbook.

But he can't sense magic power, which means he can't observe the entire magic world.

It also means that I can't touch the core of magic through ordinary means.

Although according to her own understanding, and many experiments, as well as the materials of the magic world and the help of MacGuffin... she can barely summarize the laws of magic.

But just like everyone has their inherent boundaries,
She has always been separated from magic by a layer of veil, unable to truly touch magic power.

Even if I have privately researched some results based on previous experience through the school's laboratory, it is only close to magic.

It cannot be compared to what his younger brother McGuffin Albert can do.

Emily put down the letter and flicked it lightly with her fingers.

A strange-looking golden ring on her ring finger shone with a red light.

The letter spontaneously ignited without fire, and in just two or three seconds, it turned into a pile of ashes.

Emily sighed softly.

I made up my mind.

She is not leaving London, her job, which is just beginning to stabilize.

Because according to Emily's own understanding, although magic can do things that modern science cannot explain,

But in terms of war potential, wizards are still far behind what they call Muggles, as long as they are not crazy... no one will lightly start a war.

Moreover, he is in deep trouble, and he is not in a state where he can easily leave London.

In the university where Emily Albert worked, not long ago, several freshmen... one after another, committed suicide by jumping off the building within a few days.

After media coverage, the parents of the new students took the entire school to court.

Although the police have come to a preliminary conclusion, this is indeed suicide.

No coercion or interference.

But everyone... felt that something was wrong.

This probability is too low.

Due to the fermentation of this matter, the entire school's council and management departments are now in chaos.

If she left here at this time, Emily would probably have to find another home.

Moreover, she more or less has some connections with those freshmen.

She was also barred from leaving London by the Metropolitan Police.

Therefore, Emily could only decide to stay.

……

It's almost midnight,

The Grangers were awakened by a strange yelling, slapping, and hitting glass.

Crack!
The old-fashioned desk lamp by the bed was pulled away.

There was a dim glow of orange-red on the walls.

Mrs. Granger pushed her husband, and her dizzy head finally remembered what was going on.

"Go and see if it's a letter from Hermione!"

After muttering a few words, Mr. Granger lifted the quilt and came to the window dissatisfied.

really--

A tawny owl the size of a lunch box, holding a letter, is jumping up and down on the window sill, knocking on the glass with its little claws.

Mr. Granger drew the curtains and opened the window.

A gust of cold wind blows head-on and pours into the room.

The couple shuddered and shivered at the same time.

Mr. Granger immediately closed the window again.

Then he looked at the little owl that flew in.

This little guy is not afraid of life, after he dropped the letter in his claws, he hovered over the room... as if he was looking for something.

Mrs. Granger, who had been prepared for a long time, sprinkled some bread crumbs on a small plate, and filled a bowl of water for the little owl.

While the little guy was eating and drinking.

The Grangers began to check the contents of the letter.

Their daughter, Hermione, said very simply, things she had said long ago.

—London is no longer safe, and the two of them need to get out of here as soon as possible.

Her tone was serious, even extremely intense.

To be honest, the Grangers were taken aback.

They don't even know their daughter a little bit.

He even wondered if that magic school... had poured some weird ideas into his precious daughter's mind.

The two discussed for a long time.

Of course, they were very relieved that their daughter Hermione was worried about the safety of the two of them, but they were a little disbelieving in what Hermione said.

'What a dark lord... is coming back, something is going to happen in London...'

The last time I traveled to Paris, a vacation was enough.

This kind of thing, once is enough.

after all,

The two of them still have real lives to live.

When Mr. Granger and Mrs. Granger were discussing how to use words to comfort their daughter and told them not to leave London,
The little thing in the room suddenly became restless. It jumped up and down on the ground, stopped eating, and let out various...sharp and unpleasant cries of various lengths.

Then, it flew straight to the window, but it didn't go out, just took its beak and slammed on the glass.

Like reminding the two of them.

Just as Mrs. Granger went... to appease the poor little guy, while they finished the letter first, before sending it away.

She suddenly froze in front of the window, staring straight outside.

Then, Mr. Granger's name was suddenly called out.

"Come and see, what's going on here?"

Her cry was full of panic.

Mr. Granger put down the letter paper and came to the window in doubt.

outside the house,

In the street that was mostly in darkness, there were rustling sounds.

Like something is running.

And listening to the sound, there are a lot of those things.

Mr. Granger put on his glasses and looked carefully...

what-

He almost cried out.

Mr. Granger clenched his teeth and kept his voice in his mouth.

He looked at the street, under the dim light of the street lights, a continuous black tide rushed past.

That is--

There were countless black mice, and in the darkness, the eyes of those things, like fireflies, shone with scarlet rays.

Densely floating up and down, filled in... the Kuroshio.

"what happened?"

Mr. Granger was also taken aback.

He hastily pulled his froze madam away from the window.

The little owl also seemed to know the seriousness of the matter, stopped making weird cries, and retreated to the other wall of the house with them.

The few dim street lights outside were extinguished one by one after a short while.

Seeing this, Mr. Granger also stooped, came to the bedside and pulled down the bedside lamp in his room.

The room was immediately plunged into darkness.

call--

Suck--

In this dead silence, the two of them could clearly feel the walls of the room... just because of the black tide outside, it was trembling slightly.

--call.

After an unknown period of time, all these furtive movements disappeared, and the walls and floors stopped trembling.

Mr. Granger moved slowly to the window, poised his head carefully and looked out.

Total darkness,
The street lights on the street have been completely extinguished.

Reassuringly, those scarlet fluorescent red dots are also gone.

"Okay, it's safe!"

Mr. Granger gently comforted his wife.

However, he still didn't turn on the bedside lamp again.

I just slowly found a flashlight in the cabinet.

In the darkness, Mrs. Granger spoke softly first, "I think...we'd better listen to Hermione and leave London for a while, shall we?"

"That's right, that's what I'm writing now."

Mr. Granger didn't expect that he would have such a day. He carefully picked up the letter paper, took the pen, hid in the 'tent' made up of quilts, and started writing letters with a flashlight in his mouth.

Word by word, he wrote down the information about their decision to leave London and go to other parts of Europe with great difficulty.

The characters are very ugly, and can only be said to be barely recognizable.

Then, as the sky was about to lighten,
Mr. Granger saw that there was nothing wrong with the street outside, so he opened the window and let the little owl with another letter go.

……

It's a gloomy, gloomy day.

The Dursley family, who lived at No. [-] Privet Drive, woke up from their sleep.

They all had a bizarre nightmare.

I can't say how happy I am.

The low-hanging sky outside the window is even more depressing.

It's not enough, it's not as good as this, what is about to happen, makes the three of them very angry.

When Vernon Dursley woke up in the morning, he knew something was wrong.

His face is purple,
He stared angrily at everything he saw.

The reason was that last night... he actually dreamed of his nephew Harry Potter.

This is not a good sign!

Being involved with that guy, even the slightest connection, meant that he had a bad day.

Vernon Dursley thought he was not a very superstitious person, he was very scientific.

In that respect, that wicked, ungrateful little thing is a superstitious ignorant fool.

He ran to that magic school!
evil--

A chill came over Dursley, he didn't want to have anything to do... with anything about it, not even in his head.

Nothing out of the ordinary is allowed in their home.

--Snapped!

Dursley turned on the TV in the dining room, trying to distract himself.

It may be a good choice to read the news.

Dursley thought so.

"...According to the staff of the City of London government, relevant professionals (rat catching experts Wright Brothers), and the cleaning personnel in the city this morning,...Last night, the rats in the whole of London behaved abnormally..."

The picture on the TV suddenly switched from the studio to a picture similar to a parking lot.

Indistinct and dim.

From time to time, there are snowflake spots flashing by.

But what happened immediately caught Dursley's heart and tied his attention firmly.

That is……

Swarms of black rats rushed past under the lights...

The blood-colored red dots are continuous and endless.

Infiltration and fear permeate the blackness.

The screen switched again, and it became the two hosts in the studio again.

"Last night, as we have just seen, all the rats in the city of London ... rioted."

"No expert of any kind can explain this situation."

Taking advantage of his parents not paying attention, Dudley Dursley, who was on a diet, quietly disposed of part of the diet package on his dinner plate, and inserted a large piece of beef from Vernon's dinner plate... stuffing it full into his mouth, chewing desperately, trying to swallow it.

Vernon didn't notice that he and Petunia were staring at the TV screen intently, trying to find a reasonable explanation for what happened just now to comfort themselves.

"Jim, what do you think caused this condition."

"Mike, I don't know either, if I'm joking...I'd say this is a harbinger of an alien invasion..."

"What about the no-joke answer?" Mike asked with a smile.

"Well, I guess it's an earthquake? Don't we often hear that when an earthquake occurs, the animals get restless and do all kinds of weird and abnormal behavior..." Jim said.

"Oh...Mike, I have a cat at home. My cat didn't respond at all. And until this morning, we haven't heard from official channels that it's related to the earthquake."

Suddenly, the two hosts were obviously stunned in the live broadcast.

Then Jim said word for word, "We've just heard some very frightening news."

"Yes, please see the following screens and photos."

"Before that, this station reminds...if you have heart disease, and people who are afraid of rats...it's best not to watch it."

The screen switches again.

This time the footage was shaky, and it looked like it was recorded by some kind of cheap home video camera.

The scene turned to the London River, with a dense layer of black rats floating on it.

All drowned.

Slowly flow down the top.

Crowds of people gathered on both sides of the strait, stopping to watch the excitement.

Many police officers are rushing over, setting up yellow lines that do not approach.

Everyone was talking and shouting.

The screen changed again.

This time it was near the exit of a sewer pipe, here again piles of black and gray mice rushed out, like a black waterfall, from top to bottom.

It's like fleeing, fleeing the city like crazy.

The two hosts were still talking, trying to explain it all... but to Dursley's ears, it was getting more and more distant and blurred.

He was stunned in the armchair!
Black rat wave?

in London?
This reminded him of that Tuesday more than ten years ago...

That owl rain!

That was the beginning of misfortune for their family...

Harry Potter came that day.

This news made the Dursley family feel bad.

But what happened next made them even more angry.

Since Dudley needs to lose weight, he needs to exercise more.

Petunia reluctantly sent Dudley to get the envelope.

"...a letter from Harry!"

But Dudley suddenly called out this sentence from the door.

(End of this chapter)