HP's Foreign Land

The stone walls with ravines and ravines on both sides rose in front of the eyes, continuously extending upwards into the unknown darkness, and the heavy ink color rolled over and lingered above, like dark clouds floating in the sky hiding thunder.

There is no wind here, and the oxygen in the air seems to be suffocating.Heimdall couldn't help taking a deep breath, the smell from all directions came to his nostrils, the smell in the prison can be so good, but at least it can prove that he is still living in this world, instead of being swallowed by a peakless trench.

For a moment, Heimdall really thought he was sleepwalking to the bottom of a trench, but he quickly got rid of the discomfort.Hollingworth was right next to him. This was definitely not a wild dream. It was enough for this boss to appear in reality. Heimdall would never let him appear in his dream.

As Hollingworth moved forward, they left behind the unlocked ghoul, which was responsible for opening and closing the gate.

Before entering the door, Hollingworth took a black cast iron glass lamp with orange flames from the ghoul at the door. The light spread rapidly, forming a small oval area, wrapping around the whole body, giving him a warm color. People feel safe.The light inside the prison was not too dark, otherwise Heimdall would not have been able to roughly browse the whole picture when he entered the door.

What the glass lamp is used for is temporarily unknown.

The entire shape of Hercules Prison is two black stone walls with different widths and distances. The walls are pitted and angular. When the light from the glass lamp is swept onto the stone walls, the jagged walls reflect silvery light. Heimdall took a closer look and found some viscous liquid dripping from the wall, accompanied by a pungent smell. Heimdall quickly put away his curiosity and retreated.

Considering the location of the prison, Heimdall initially judged it to be like a "trench", but there is no sea and no water is visible here, so Heimdall abandoned the definition of "trench" and changed to "canyon".

The sunken holes were probably prison cells. Heimdall narrowed his eyes slightly in the insufficient light. His sight slowly moved upwards, and his field of vision gradually widened, allowing him to see farther.

Suspension bridges built with ropes and wooden boards are scattered high and low on both sides of the stone wall. These precarious suspension bridges are the only passage in the prison.They dangled like spider webs between the huge stone walls, and the orange lights of the dots flickered ghostly among the spider webs. Those were ghouls patrolling with lanterns, or wandering unconsciously.

There was a sudden light sound in the air, as if it was an omen, and then there was a sudden knocking sound from above, and Heimdall looked up in shock, thinking that something would fall, and after a while, he finally understood what was coming What's the matter with the sound of rain? It's actually the vibration caused by the rubbing of a kind of nuts tied on the suspension bridge.This kind of sound can travel far, resembling huge raindrops hitting the glass window, shaking the glass and making the ears buzzing.

After the sound of the beating passed, Hollingworth frowned and said softly: "This is a signal from the ghouls that everything is safe to each other, once an hour, and each time lasts for 1 minute. Only the ghouls can tell the difference , and they can hear if a ghoul misses cracking a nut on time."

To Heimdall these noises are all the same.

The ghouls in the prison don't sleep, in other words 24 times a day.

As if seeing what Heimdall was thinking, Hollingworth said again, "The whole prison can hear it, the ghouls themselves; the prisoners held here; the warden."

O quiet and peaceful Eden.

Hercules is a ghost town through and through, and calling it Eden is more of a sarcasm.

Heimdall wanted to ask Hollingworth, if this prison could be called the Garden of Eden, what would those prisons that were not eligible for this title look like?Thinking of the dementors in Azkaban, Heimdall swallowed the question back.

The boss said, if you don't let you speak, you have to keep your mouth shut.

"We're going up from there."

Through the instructions of his boss, Heimdall saw a rope ladder hanging on the stone wall, and the other end of the rope ladder was tied on a [-]-meter-high raised rock formation.Hercules' first level prison is just [-] meters above.

Climb up? !Heimdall stared at the limp thing in awe. He had never climbed this thing before, so he doubted his ability to crawl with both hands and feet.

When Hollingsworth climbed up the [-]-meter-high rock formation along the rope ladder with ease, and looked at him condescendingly, Heimdall grabbed the shaky rope ladder in three steps at a time, with an indomitable look. The posture of forging ahead.

The little clerk Sturlusson gritted his teeth and hurriedly climbed up the rope ladder. The sticky wall made it difficult to get his feet on it. The little clerk swayed back and forth like a sausage in the wind, and the sausage hanging in mid-air burst into tears.

I must become a judge, and I will stand on a platform [-] meters high in the future, look at people with my nostrils, and laugh at other sausages!

×××

Under the light of the candlelight, the blackness at the entrance of the cave began to stir, and the first cell was getting closer and closer. After seeing clearly what that strange surging black cloud was, Heimdall stood still.

Hollingworth, who was carrying the glass lamp, did not embarrass him at this moment. Sturlusson just stood there with a pale face and kept taking deep breaths. He was much more courageous than backing away while covering his mouth and retching.

Heimdall felt like throwing up, but unfortunately there was nothing to lift up.Probably all the calories were consumed by the stomachache and discomfort when he first arrived here, and he felt hungry after he felt better.

Isn't it just a bug? I think that when I was working as a waiter in the shop in Knockturn Alley, I didn't miss developing relationships with arthropods.

Heimdall moved forward while doing psychological construction for himself, turned sideways, squinted, and unconsciously put on a defensive posture.

Hollingworth has been waiting and observing. In fact, Mr. Judge has a plan for how far today's practical class will go. The key depends on Heimdall's performance.He neither gave the other party any form of encouragement, nor forced the other party to obey orders.

So, when Heimdall finally stood beside him and stared at the doorway covered in black bugs with a distorted face, Hollingworth said with rare tolerance in his heart: "Based on his background to judge his behavior, he has It did pretty well."

Of course, he would never make such a compliment in front of Sturlusson.

Finally, the long staring made him gradually numb, and Heimdall chose to look directly at the insects with shiny shells in the dark environment. Each one was about the size of an egg, densely covering the entire door opening, and rustling together. With the sound of rubbing and flapping wings, Heimdall felt his scalp go numb and his hair stand on end.

These insects have the appearance of coleopteran insects. The wings are folded repeatedly. The forewings cover the outermost layer and cover the body. clear.He prefers to imagine these insects as dung beetles, which, by the way, were given a deceptive name by the ancient Egyptians: scarabs.

However, when he discovered that these fake dung beetles excrete a sticky and shiny liquid, he started to feel sick again. No wonder the slippery stone walls were the excrement of these unknown insects. Holding the stone wall with his hand while shaking, he felt that the palm of his hand... seemed a little strange... and couldn't help rubbing against the robe vigorously.

So why are there copycat scarabs here?

The answer is to watch the prison door.

Hollingworth put the glass lamp in his hand on the ground in front of the door opening, and the sound of rattling came and went, and the big black insects rushed to both sides like the Red Sea opened by Moses, and climbed up the surrounding stone walls. Then he stood still as if frozen, revealing the cell door behind him.Behind the metal fence door blocked by bugs is the prison cell. The bugs are the "anti-theft door", and the light from the glass lamp is the "anti-theft door key".

"Good afternoon." Hollingworth didn't change his face, and the voice he greeted the people inside seemed extremely educated.

Heimdall knew it was about to start, and with the help of the lights, he searched along the stone walls around the prison door, and finally found the vague house number in the middle of the bow-shaped arch on the door.

Finding that Hollingworth was still chattering with the people inside like a one-man show, he quickly seized the time to search for the parchment, and then calmly handed it to Cell No. [-] at the same time Hollingworth turned his head to meet his eyes offender's data.

Heimdall was very satisfied with his performance. Hollingworth glanced at him when he took the parchment, and felt that his complacent little appearance was particularly glaring, but Mr. Judge quickly dismissed the idea of ​​properly punishing his subordinates , Can't engage in "infighting" in front of the enemy.

Even so, Mr. Judge has other means.

Hollingsworth threw back the parchment in his hand, and the newspaper boy took a part-time job as a recorder.

Heimdall held the parchment with a dazed expression on his face. He waited until he was sure that his boss was not joking with him. Heimdall pursed his lips, his sense of victory that had just risen was easily thwarted by the vicious boss.Taking out the quill and ink bottle that came with the package, Heimdall looked around for a place to put these things.

After confirming that there is no imitation scarab poop on the ground, he put the ink bottle on the ground, hesitated for a moment, and then moved the cloth bag towards his buttocks...

"How dare you put that bag under your ass!"

dare not.Heimdall sat on the ground with the cloth bag in his arms, then held the parchment as hard as a piece of wood, dipped the matching quill pen into the ink bottle, raised his head and winked innocently at Hollingworth squinting.

Hollingworth narrowed his eyes, turned his head and continued chatting with the silent prisoners in the cell.

Heimdall looked inside curiously, and sadly found that even the prison cell was bigger than the pigeon cage office where he stayed.There are only two things in the entire cell: a suspended iron bed fixed to the wall by two chains; and a toilet-like utensil in the innermost part, which cannot be seen clearly because of the angle of the light.

Prisoner No. 1 huddled up on a narrow bed, allowing Hollingworth to talk endlessly, and he only listened to it.

Finally, Hollingworth had had enough of the one-man show, and told him regretfully, "Well, then I'll just let the ghoul tell me how you're doing."

A dramatic scene happened. A ghoul carrying a glass lamp happened to wander around them. Prisoner No. 1 fell off the bed and rushed to the railing like an electric shock. The language roared and roared.Dirty and messy long hair hung over his face, and through the gaps in the hair, Heimdall saw a crazy, twisted face full of dirt and a pair of bloodshot eyes.

Hollingworth bent down to pick up the lamp, the light moved away from the door opening, and the fake scarabs spread like a flood. Prisoner No. 1 was still roaring madly, and the insects hungrily rushed towards the pair of hands stuck on the fence. Go, the painful wail sounded from behind the fence, and disappeared in the rustling of wings in an instant.

"Don't be in a daze, I will check today's records when I go back."

Hollingworth's calm voice drew Heimdall's attention back. He looked down at the detainee profile of Hercules No. 1 in his hand, and quickly signed his name and Hollingworth's , and then drew a circle in the safe column, and finally wrote "do not communicate with others, manic" in the supplementary column.

Hollingworth glanced at it, and said slowly: "Don't invent and create without authorization."

"Can't you write it like this?" Heimdall flipped up and found that the record supplement column above was blank, and suddenly realized that he was unnecessary.

"Forget it, just write it, but be careful not to make it up." Hollingworth saw that he was serious about every stroke, so he relieved him.

Heimdall smirked twice, put away his things and jumped up, he wanted to help his boss with the lamp, but was rejected by the boss mercilessly, Heimdall didn't care, and followed behind the boss Go to the next number.

×××

"I'm wronged! I'm wronged! I'm wronged—"

This person has been barking for more than a minute, and it seems that he has no intention of stopping. Now Heimdall's patience with Hollingworth has sublimated from admiration to admiration.

This prisoner who has been complaining for himself is located in cell No. 6. Don't be fooled by this number. In the past two hours or so, he has not hooked [-] people, and No. [-] is the No. [-] prisoner they contacted.There is no direct working relationship between the International Wizengamot and Hercules. The prisoner files in the cloth bag on Heimdall’s back do not include all the prisoners here. The number of prisoners who have been tried by the International Wizengamot is only occupies a quarter.Ten years ago, the number was even higher. In recent years, several people have met Merlin in prison. In addition, the International Wizengamot no longer sent people here, so the rest of them were detained for ten years. The above "old friend".

No. 16, who always believed that he was wronged, was one of them and served [-] years in prison.

Heimdall knew this man, and his case was famous 16 years ago, and it was the headlines of the major wizarding newspapers that year.Heimdall had seen his report in the area of ​​the old newspapers and periodicals related to the case in the reference room. Because of the quarrel with the neighbor, he killed the whole family of the neighbor. To make matters worse, his neighbors were Muggles.The wizarding world strictly prohibits wizards from harming Muggles in various ways. The wizarding world's attitude towards the Muggle world is completely indifferent. You can treat them as air, but you must not dislike them.

If Muggle killings and wizard killings are tried together, generally speaking, the wizarding judiciary will regard the former as more serious.

The unfortunate Mr. No. [-] will therefore spend a long, long, long time in prison here, to confess his crimes, and in short, to die here for the rest of his life.

But Mr. No. [-] doesn't seem to think so.

Hollingworth took a step back and cast a look at Heimdall. Just like the previous analysis, there was no tacit understanding between them, so Heimdall completely misunderstood the meaning contained in Hollingworth's eyes.He thought that his boss allowed him to speak, and asked him to give No. [-] a way to stop his yelling—in fact, he later realized that Fei's little look was telling him to pick up the glass lamp.

"Of course you were wronged!" Heimdall roared, heart-piercing.

The hog-killing screams stopped suddenly, and Heimdall felt the creepy eyes shifted to him through the iron fence.At the same time, he yelled so hard just now that his throat hurt a bit, look at how dedicated he is.

Heimdall looked at Hollingworth, thinking that you are always screaming, and he has stopped screaming, but he saw Hollingworth staring at him with a cold face.

Oops!Heimdall yelled inwardly that it was not good, dare to be affectionate? !The central idea of ​​the spirit of the shop assistant: the customer says yes, and no; the customer says no, then no, yes and no; the customer is Meilin!Accidentally took this set out, but it worked, and Mr. 17 stopped calling.

"What did you say?"

"No..." It suddenly occurred to him that the words did not come from the boss's small mouth, but from behind the iron fence...

"I said you were wronged." Heimdall said sincerely.

Number [-]'s left eye twitched convulsively, looked straight at Heimdall for a long time, and suddenly said, "Are you from the police force?"

"It is."

"What do you mean by 'count'?"

"I'm still a student."

"You just said that I was wronged." No. [-] smiled, as if very happy, but very abrupt and a little nervous.

Heimdall felt that his eyes were very wandering, not the eyes that a normal person should have, and he should not continue to entangle with him.

Heimdall stood up and walked away. The man was still sitting there holding the fence, his eyes did not move. Heimdall looked at the lamp hesitantly. Hollingworth stepped forward to mention it, and the fake scarabs were overwhelming Spread out, wrapping up the cries of pain.It was pitch black again at the cell door.

"You'll get used to it sooner or later." Hollingworth's voice was cold. "It's safest to harden yourself in prison."

Heimdall silently followed him and moved to the next cell. Judge Hollingworth did not blame him for his unnecessary actions. Heimdall decided to keep his mouth shut from now on, even if the other party broke his throat by shouting. indifferent.

The lamp is put down, and the light rolls the insect curtain.

The back of the iron fence gradually became clear under the dialysis of the firelight. On the ground close to the fence, a person suddenly turned over and sat up, looking at them through the fence.He was wearing a tattered robe, even though such a robe was not decent at all, he still buttoned it up carefully, and the too long bangs were in front of his eyes, and he pushed it behind his ears——when Heimdall raised his hand, he saw the sleeves The metallic luster on the button disappeared in a flash - revealing a face that was eroded by dirt and could not see the facial features clearly, without sadness or joy, without worry or worry.

The dancing candle flames were imprinted in the light brown eyes, and the bright yellow and the brown under the eyes perfectly blended together, like two endless flames, burning quietly in the darkness.

"Good afternoon." The owner of the eyes said politely.

Heimdall glanced at the number on the arch coupon, and pulled out the parchment with serial number [-]. The name on it was written: Andrews Lange. Heimdall squinted at the name, and after a while, he thought "Wow !” cried out.

"There's a newspaper in there."

Heimdall stopped writing, and Hollingworth said again: "Take out the newspaper." Heimdall rummaged through the cloth bag, and pulled out the newspaper that was pressed at the bottom by the parchment.Quickly glanced at the newspaper headlines, "Wednesday Brussels" is a local Belgian newspaper. Most of the content published is gossip and gossip circulating in the streets and alleys. It is a bit similar to the British "Witch Weekly", full of unrealistic fantasies.One thing is slightly better than "Witch Weekly", at least this newspaper will not slander others.

Hollingworth shook his hand and pointed to the newspaper, "Read it."

Heimdall was surprised, "Here?"

Hollingworth ignored his doubts and turned to the person behind the cell door, "What do you want to know?"

"My ideal is to hold the "Wizards Union General News" in my hand, but you have always turned a blind eye to my little wish, and I know nothing about the outside world now, so," No. 24 looked at Heim Dahl, "Please feel free."

"Your little wish means a lot to us," Hollingworth reminded him.

The corners of No. 24's mouth were slightly raised, ignoring Hollingworth's ulterior motives, but focused on Heimdall, with a calm and comfortable expression, and a kind of anticipation in his eyes, as if he was about to start admiring a A wonderful ballet, not behind an iron cage listening to gossip.

Heimdall opened the newspaper, scanned the side facing the eyes with the light from the glass lamp, and his gaze involuntarily stopped on a certain page.

"Just read that."

Heimdall glanced at No. 24, admiring his keen observation skills.

Heimdall cleared his throat and began to read in English, Hollingworth raising his eyebrows as he read.The more Heimdall read it, the more interesting he found it. He actually recited the gossip news about his boyfriend to his boss and the prisoner he met for the first time. He almost laughed when he reluctantly gave up the child in his womb due to his reputation.

It was more entertaining than the Encyclopedia of Mad Talk and Mad Talk recommended by Fred and George, and he even began to consider subscribing to it.

"Please change your language." Heimdall had just finished reading the first stanza at this time.

From the second stanza, Heimdall reads in German, but at a much slower pace because the newspaper is in English.

"Another one." When he finished reading the second section, No. 24 made a timely comment.

Heimdall was amazed at how accurately he could tell how the passages were arranged, including when he would catch his breath.

After he began to read the third section in Russian, which was a little far from his proficiency, No. 24 made no other requests.

He read for an entire hour, and his throat was almost smoking, and he only finished one third of the reading.Hollingworth stopped him from reading any further, and Heimdall really wanted to pounce on him and kiss him.

There was a slight regret on the face of No. 24. It was obvious that he hadn't heard enough.

"Your foundation in Russian is good, and there is a lot of room for improvement." On the 24th, he raised his opinion without mentioning the other two languages.

Heimdall felt a little bit shocked at first, but after thinking about it, Professor Katenin would speak his native dialect to him from time to time, so his Russian language was corrected more authentically.

"See you next week." No. 24 nodded to Hollingworth and then to Heimdall, seemingly expressing his gratitude for his recitation today.

Heimdall's face turned green, is it possible that he will continue to read next week?He didn't think he wanted to see a newspaper for another month, any newspaper.

Truth be told, the former Estonian Minister of Magic reminded him of the discomfort of Honeydukes creamy mints sitting alive in his stomach.

When he left there, Heimdall couldn't help muttering to Hollingworth: "Is this the original?"

"To be honest, I'm very glad that he is willing to listen to you read the newspaper. He told me to shut up after I read it for only 5 minutes." Hollingworth said pointedly. "This job is complicated, so don't just take it literally. Many times, many situations vary from person to person, and some prisoners need to be 'served', so, Stulusson, everything has just begun .”