Archaeologists at Hogwarts

Chapter 211 The Black Devil Foundation
Quidditch World Cup?

Harry looked shocked, and the cone in his hand gradually melted.

"It seems that you are not ready yet. The first rule of archaeology, never hope for something without sufficient preparation."

Toby shook his head in disappointment, the silver coin voucher symbolizing the Firebolt floated out of Harry's pocket and landed in Al's belly pocket.

"Huh?" Harry could see it this time, Professor Highmore snatched his prize away.

"Wait until you're ready."

Toby waved his hand impatiently, and sent Harry away with 4 Knuts, which was also the lowest value prize in the wish box.

Harry suddenly became aggrieved.

One Sickle is worth 29 Nats, but now there are only 4 in front of me.Not only was his prize stolen, but he also lost 25 Knuts.

"Take it as a lesson for you."

Toby rubbed his chin, his eyes wandered and said: "Perhaps in the future, we should combine the Wish Box and "The Quibbler", and prohibit underage students from participating in the lottery. They must be supervised by their parents."

"Professor Highmore?"

"what's up?"

Harry couldn't help but asked curiously, "What's with this wish box?"

Toby replied a little casually, as if it was no big deal in his opinion: "It's just a small business, which belongs to the Black Devil Foundation - founded by me, with the participation of professors in the school, replacing The role of the board of directors. Seriously, that’s what inspired me from the Daily Prophet.”

Harry was dumbfounded.

Has Professor Highmore finally given up on cover-ups?Directly named as the Black Devil Foundation?
It wasn't until Harry's question made Toby become a little dissatisfied, but he continued: "The Galleon Prize, which is the prize that the Weasleys drew. So I thought, why don't I also set a What about similar awards?"

"Thus, the wish box appeared. Although it seems nothing unusual, it is all because of the use of a magic circle, which is much simpler than alchemy—so, you must study ancient magic lessons carefully in the future, Got it, Harry?"

Harry nodded reflexively. His answer to this rhetoric was deeply etched in his bones, and there would certainly be no harm in expressing agreement.

"But why didn't I see you in Diagon Alley before, Professor?" Harry asked puzzled.

He didn't think it was a small business, and just communicating with so many shops was troublesome enough.

But during the time Harry lived in the Leaky Cauldron, he never once saw Professor Highmore in the street.

"It's very simple." Toby said proudly, "Of course it's because of the goblin."

"As a former trump card spellbreaker, it is inevitable to deal with goblins. They are extremely greedy, which is the most prominent character trait and the most dangerous weakness of goblins. So I discussed with the goblins on this street, let them Come to negotiate, and I will agree to deposit the gold in Gringotts."

"Of course, this alone is definitely not enough. In addition, I also promised them a condition, as long as I earn enough gold Galleons in my treasury, I will give the sword of Gryffindor Give it back to them unconditionally. It was forged by the Goblin King himself, and they couldn't refuse."

"Gryffindor's sword?" Harry asked in surprise, when did he become Professor Highmore?
"Don't make such a fuss." Toby waved his hand and said, "How could I really give them the sword. Among the negotiated conditions, the first one is to save enough [-] Galleons, and the second reason is .I never said that I would not withdraw money, so I will never reach [-] Galleons."

"Greed makes people blind, even goblins are no exception, because they are more greedy and can easily make irrational decisions. Otherwise, how could there be two failed goblin rebellions. After all, the magic world is still Controlled by wizards. Of course, idiots are an exception."

"Okay, let's stop here."

Toby stood up, and Al jumped on his shoulders, giving Harry a deep look from the back.

"Remember, when Black finds you, you must notify me in time. Now I have to go to Knockturn Alley. The goblins can't manage there. I, the boss, have to talk about it in person."

Harry didn't know how someone like Professor Highmore would talk about business, he couldn't imagine it.

In the next few days, he searched the "Daily Prophet" and "The Quibbler", but he did not see the news of the bloody conflict, until Neville, who happened to meet in Diagon Alley one day, answered the question in his heart. doubts.

"What do you imagine Professor Highmore to be?"

Although he was a student in the same dormitory as Harry, Neville always had a kind of blind confidence in Professor Highmore, and he also felt very confident in this confidence, and finally became completely confident.

"Professors can't close the confinement of shopkeepers like educating students. We must sit down and have a good talk. You should know that my parents work for Professor Haimer, right? Every shop with a wish box will get a It’s a lot of rent, and it doesn’t take up much space, so how could anyone refuse it.”

After Neville excitedly went to draw the lottery, Harry only heard the first half of the content.

It turned out to be confinement, so it is easy to explain clearly.

Who can refuse Professor Highmore's confinement?
nobody!
The rest of the day was uneventful, and Harry didn't wait for Sirius, which made him a little odd, since his winning photo had already been reported in The Quibbler, and there was no reason why Sirius didn't know he lived in the Leaky Cauldron .

Until the last day of summer vacation, Ron and Hermione also appeared in Diagon Alley, waving to him outside Florin Fusco's ice cream shop.

"Finally seeing you!" said Ron, grinning at Harry, who sat down. "We went to the Leaky Cauldron, but they said you were gone, and then we went to Leigh Books, Madam Malkin's Robes with--"

"I bought everything for school last week," Harry explained, "but let's put that aside, I have something else to tell you—"

"Wait a minute." Hermione interrupted anxiously: "Let's talk about Professor Highmore first, why did he call us during the holiday? Did I miss something?"

"Well, you did miss quite a few things."

Harry began to whisper all about Sirius looking for him, Professor Higher who came later, and the devil.

The only thing he didn't mention was that the items in the magic circle would not be affected by Zongsi, which Professor Haimo asked him to keep secret.

But Hermione still noticed something was wrong, and she asked suspiciously: "But how can you use magic during the holiday? Unless the magic circle items are not under the control of the Ministry of Magic, it will not violate the "Reasonable Restraint of Underage Wizards Law" ". Is it because Zongsi can't control the devil?"

Professor Highmore will kill me.

Harry thought desperately.

Ron patted him on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry, nothing will happen. Otherwise, Professor Haimer won't tell you. Oh, yes, don't forget that he called us, which means that early Be prepared."

This made Harry feel better.

However, Hermione and Ron were not in a good mood-they knew that Sirius was actually the culprit that caused Harry's parents to be killed.

It was odd that it was Harry who was comforting them instead.

"It doesn't matter." He patted his chest and said that the skull necklace that Professor Haimer gave him was hidden inside: "As long as Black dares to come to me, I will definitely find a way to catch him."

"Let Professor Highmore catch him." Ron reminded, "Come on, Hermione has to buy pets, and I have to buy some medicine for Scabbers. That trip has tortured him. I wish I could Make more money so I can buy new pets too."

Hermione had been inquiring about the devil all the way, she couldn't help but be curious, just hearing the name was a bit evil, but after knowing that it was related to ritual magic, she completely put her worries behind her.

"The professor must have a detailed plan. He's just being strict and won't intentionally harm the students—no," Hermione suddenly stopped, her expression becoming dazed: "My magic circle item is a flame bottle, then How should I cast ritual magic?"

Ron stopped too, with a more panicked expression on his face than Hermione's.

"Mine is a sweater!" He wanted to cry without tears: "What should I do?"

"Think about the good." Harry thought hard to comfort them: "Neville's is still a memory ball, oops - I seem to understand why Professor Highmore didn't take summoning the devil as a formal course from the beginning."

The three of them exchanged glances with each other, and couldn't help but worry about the ancient magic class next semester - it would probably take a long time just to find a way to figure out everyone's magic circle items.

Harry found himself comforting the two of them again, shifting the conversation to the Firebolt he had won in the lottery, only to realize later that it had been taken back by Professor Highmore.
The atmosphere became gloomy again.

Especially when Hermione bought a pet cat named Crookshanks, the relationship between her and Ron dropped sharply-the big cat almost ate Scabbers.

They argued all the way, and Harry returned to the Leaky Cauldron with a headache and saw Mr. Weasley staring at a prize on the wishing box - a complete set of Muggle car blueprints.

"Hey, kids."

He hastily put Yin Xike back into his pocket secretly, for fear of being discovered: "Molly isn't with you, is she?"

"Isn't Mom upstairs?" Ron asked suspiciously.

Harry saw Mr. Weasley's ears turn red.

Then Harry met Percy, who had just become the head of the Boys' Union, and he shook Harry's hand solemnly as soon as he came up, as if he had just met him.

Ginny also said hello to Harry. They had an adventure together in the Forbidden Forest last semester, that is, the one with the acromantula. Fortunately, they were rescued in time.

Ginny couldn't help blushing when she saw Harry, and Harry asked to avoid embarrassment, "Where are Fred and George? Why didn't you see them?"

"I don't know." Percy tried to show off the badge on his chest and said, "They locked themselves in the room as soon as they came back. I guess they have finally been influenced by a good example."

"Don't listen to him." A door opened, and Fred poked his head out. "Is that Harry? Come here."

Harry walked into the room suspiciously, and Fred closed the door with a sneaky look.Harry didn't notice this scene, his attention was drawn to George, his hair became colorful, and he looked very bad.

"What's wrong with you?" Harry asked in surprise, "It's multi-flavored juice again? Are you still working on a new formula?"

"Not exactly." George said indifferently: "There are multi-flavored candies and so on. Finally, we have seen the beauty of the magic circle."

"And lovely gold," added Fred, rattling a bag, which Harry opened to find it all gleaming silver Sickles.

"It seems that you have earned a lot of money." Harry said enviously.

"But it's not as much as Professor Highmore's income." Fred said, putting his arms around Harry's shoulders affectionately: "We've all seen the wish box before, how about it, are you interested?"

"What interest?" Harry asked suspiciously.

"Interest in the lottery." George hugged Harry's other shoulder and said, "We made a little money, but we couldn't explain the source to Mom."

"And she is still staring at us, especially my father, who was asked by my mother to stay away from the wish box."

"Then it's just you, help, Harry."

"If you win the big prize, we won't treat you badly."

Harry looked at "The Quibbler" spread out on the bed, and it happened to be the report of his winning the lottery.

"So that's what happened." Harry understood that the twins came to him to help draw a lottery, and they planned to make more money with this, which was much easier than researching new formulas.

Under the expectant eyes of the two, Harry said sternly, "I refuse!"

He took out the four Nats, placed them on the table one by one, and told the complete story of what happened before.

"Even Professor Highmore is unwilling to let students draw a lottery." Harry said sincerely: "You should not expect to use this thing to get rich."

Fred and George exchanged a look.

"I say."

"you say."

"What multi-flavored juices are we still studying?"

"You're right, but can Professor Haimer agree?"

After communicating in this way, they turned their attention to Harry again, looking at him with horror.

"Promise what?" Harry asked cautiously, "Is it related to the Black Devil Foundation?"

"Black Devil Foundation!" Fred jumped up suddenly, and he shouted excitedly: "I like this name!"

"Come down quickly." George greeted: "What do you think we should do? Should we write a letter to Professor Haimer? Or wait until after school starts?"

Harry became more and more confused, and he quietly left the guest room, intending to take the opportunity to return to his own room.
-
Hogwarts.

Office of Ancient Magic.

Toby sat behind the desk, Al stood next to him, and together they stared at the quill on the table - the acceptance pen that Dumbledore gave them to use in finding Voldemort and those special On the trail of the item, Toby noticed other magical uses.

"A wizard's age."

Toby said: "Perhaps there is blood, which can be added later. Let's talk about age first. If we make the existing master version the same as the Book of Access, can we know that each A user's age? Take control of all wizard information, even traces"

"The magic circle is not yet known, and it is not easy to learn. The more critical knowledge is only known to the two of us-maybe plus the magic ball, although it has been lost, it is connected to me through ritual magic , there is no need to worry for the time being—well, the knowledge absorbed by the mysterious man is at best an exception."

"No matter what, I still have to find the magic ball first. I can't do so much work by myself."

"But before that, we have to study the Pen of Acceptance. This is very important. I didn't expect the headmaster to lend it to me. It would be even better if it was the Book of Access. It is clear at a glance, and the information of every existing wizard in Britain It's all up there. And it's a good thing both of those things are at Hogwarts, not the Ministry of Magic."

"The founders are really capable"

After talking to himself, Toby stood up, and Al also floated to the other side of the room on the flying carpet. The complete skeleton was already guarding the door to prevent anyone from breaking in.

Toby took the scepter from Al, his eyes fixed on the pen of acceptance.

"The inheritance of the magic circle is too rare. Using ritual magic may yield unexpected results. Let me try."

Toby slowly raised the scepter, pointed it at the pen of acceptance, and spit out a series of obscure and low-pitched spells from his mouth, his eyes became cold and cold, hidden behind the slightly raised hair.

A thick red fog enveloped the entire office in an instant, the pen of acceptance trembled violently, and soon disappeared, swallowed by the thick fog.

First there was a strange silence, followed by the roar of wild beasts, which was deafening, but they were all blocked by the prepared protection, and there was no sound at all.

After an unknown amount of time passed, the smoke gradually dissipated.

Al floats back with Toby's wand in his hand, a safety measure in case Toby loses control, or roars in the fog.

The pen of acceptance stayed quietly on the table, and Toby had already sat back on his seat, looking a little tired.

He pondered for a while, then murmured under Al's concerned eyes: "It's an amazing discovery, you think you can't imagine what I have gained. I didn't expect that the pen of acceptance and ritual magic fit so well. No, it should be A creation of ritual magic."

"Let's talk about blood first."

Toby sighed and said: "The pen of acceptance could originally write the corresponding bloodline according to the identity of the child, probably related to the identity of the child's parents. The strange thing is that there is no difference between mixed blood and pure blood, but Muggle-born are isolated."

"Let's talk about the scope. It's not just the UK. If the pen of acceptance can be used correctly, it can completely cover the entire magic world."

"Finally, the Pen of Acceptance is not as strict as the Book of Admission, but any sign of magic will be detected by the Pen of Acceptance—that is, any suspicious Muggle-born will not be let go .”

"Don't you think there's something wrong with this?"

He whispered, Al looked at him silently, not knowing how to answer.

There was a brief silence.

Toby cheered up again, handed the scepter to Al for safekeeping, reached out to pick up the pen of acceptance, and looked at it carefully in front of his eyes.

"The Black Devil Foundation. Let's start with this step."

(End of this chapter)