The Ancient Wizards of Hogwarts

"What do you want to do?"

The man wearing a black robe and looking like a leader raised his wand and asked angrily.

"Nothing, Mr. Elton."

Opposite him, the strong man with three obvious scars on his face grinned, "We can't afford to offend the Ministry of Magic, so of course we don't dare to do anything to you. But since your goal is the Phoenix, shouldn't you give us something?" remuneration?"

"I already paid!"

The man named Elton looked cold.

"certainly."

The scar-faced man's tone became more and more presumptuous, "You have already paid me, but those galleons are nothing compared to the phoenix, so we hope to get more reward. And..."

He looked at Elton faintly, "You don't want us to accidentally escape from the Phoenix when we encounter it, right?"

Elton looked at the scarred man with a gloomy expression, and his inner anger was almost unbearable. It was obvious that the Phoenix was very close, but Scarface and others actually joined forces to take advantage of it!

He knew these damn poachers were unreliable, but he didn't expect them to be so unreliable!

Even if you want to add more money, can't you wait until you get the Phoenix before asking for more money? For Phoenix's sake, it's okay for him to give more.

But they have just met Phoenix now, and they have just confirmed that Phoenix is ​​in this cave. But before they take action, you can't wait to increase the money. Are you mentally ill?

Elton wanted to scold them for their greed and stupidity.

But he can't.

Because except for the seven wizards from the poacher team that he personally 'recruited', the nineteen wizards from the remaining three poacher teams all sided with Scarface.

Of course, Elton could understand that these people were working together to force the palace, and he almost laughed in anger.

Under normal circumstances, he could have used the power of the Ministry of Magic to eliminate these poachers, and none of them would have survived the pursuit of the Aurors. But now is an abnormal situation. Even if he represents the Ministry of Magic, the mountains are high and the emperor is far away. In this wilderness, these poachers are not worthy of him at all.

As for whether they would offend the Ministry of Magic, they probably didn't care at all.

On the one hand, even if Elton was threatened, he could only grit his teeth and swallow it. He did not dare to expose his cooperation with poachers. On the other hand, these poachers are simply rats in the gutter and are wanted by the Ministry of Magic. Even if he offends him, it will only make the wanted person more violent.

The problem is, these poachers don't care.

Because even if we take a step back, even if they have no place under the Ministry of Magic's wanted status, they can completely go to other countries. Anyway, your British Ministry of Magic can only control the British wizarding world, but not other countries.

So even if Elton knew that Scarface was taking advantage of him, he couldn't refuse because he had no choice!

Otherwise, these poachers who have no moral bottom line are likely to give up the job, or even kill him without stopping, and swallow the phoenix for themselves.

Elton's voice was low:

"How much do you want to add?"

Scarface raised a finger:

"One thousand galleons, one thousand each!"

"impossible!"

Elton's face turned dark. Are you having a crazy dream? Are you really taking him for granted?

Elton said in a deep voice:

"I will give each of your teams up to 1,000 Galleons!"

"If you can't accept it, you can leave now. I will never force you!"

Scarface's eyes flickered, and he obviously didn't want to push Elton for too long, so he took the initiative to speak:

"Then how about we each take a step back? 200 Galleons per person, a thousand Galleons is not easy to divide."

"Can."

Elton's eyes swept over them one by one, and his voice was low, "But only if you can help me catch the phoenix! If not, you won't even get a copper nut!"

"certainly."

Scarface's face was filled with a happy smile of success, "We are very professional."

"Professional ethics?"

Elton sneered again and again, your professional ethics are really 'high standards and strict requirements'! That is to say, he has no choice now. He can only pinch his nose and suffer the loss of being dumb, otherwise he must let these people know what the Ministry of Magic's iron fist of justice is!

Scarface turned around, looked at the other wizards standing beside him, and shouted:

"Friends, for the sake of Galleons, let us continue to work hard..."

Before he finished speaking, he suddenly felt a dazzling red light coming from behind!

Snapped!

The wand in Scarface's hand suddenly fell out of his hand, and he lost control of his body. He was thrown away and fell to the ground in a panic.

Behind him, Elton still maintained his posture of raising the wand, and in his other hand was still holding the wand he had snatched from Scarface!

Obviously, almost all poachers think Elton is going to regret it!

And this seems to be the case. After successfully attacking Scarface, Elton quickly pointed his wand at another poacher, with a red light flashing at the end of the wand.

The atmosphere at the scene immediately became tense!

"Expelliarmus!"

"Stupefy!"

"Reducto!"

"Confringo!"

With the idea of ​​​​strike first, almost all the poachers released their magic spells immediately. Red, blue, and purple magic spells flew between the two parties, hitting the camps of both sides from time to time. The wizard makes the opponent lose the ability to resist.

In just a short moment, this melee quickly escalated into a life-and-death fight!

But even if Elton's side had the first-mover advantage in sneak attacks, their numbers were always at a disadvantage.

With eight against nineteen, there is almost no doubt that it will end in a disastrous defeat.

In just a few seconds, the eight people on Elton's side completely lost any room for resistance. Either the wand was taken away, or he was simply knocked unconscious, or even his head was cut off by a cutting spell, and blood spurted out from his neck like a bloody fountain.

As for Elton, although he is equipped with the latest anti-curse cloak, which can automatically release the iron armor curse.

But facing the simultaneous attacks of more than a dozen wizards, the Iron Armor Curse couldn't survive for even a second, and was directly shattered by the crazy bombardment of the curse. And he himself was knocked unconscious by a shot that hit his face and flew upside down. He went out and hit an uneven stone wall, and finally fell to the ground weakly, unable to move at all.

Scarface had already gotten up from the ground, picked up his wand from where Elton originally stood, and roared angrily:

"Elton, are you crazy? You only have more than a hundred galleons a month. What are you trying to do?"

He is just asking for a salary increase. Is this too much? !

Two hundred galleons per person, totaling only eight thousand galleons, which is nothing compared to the value of the phoenix.

What's more, the money is not provided by Elton himself, but by the big shot in the Ministry of Law!

Just for such a small amount of money, which is not your own money, you actually take action directly, even risking your life. Isn't this a lunatic? Who in the right mind could do such a thing?

Originally, I only had to pay a few thousand Galleons more to get the Phoenix. Isn't this a good deal?

It's good now that all the wizards on Elton's side have been wiped out, and only twelve people on their side can still move.

What a phoenix!

They don't get paid, and Elton doesn't get Phoenix. It's a total lose-lose situation!

So Scarface can't figure out why Elton suddenly went crazy!

He had obviously agreed to his request verbally, but the next second he turned against him and refused to recognize him. Those who didn't know it thought he was under the Imperius Curse!

"Wait, the Imperius Curse?"

Scarface's pupils shrank, this terrible thought lingering in his mind, and he turned around hurriedly.

Suddenly he saw a wizard in his team raising his wand and pointing at him.

"Expelliarmus!"

A red light flashed past, and before Scarface's wand could warm it up, it was knocked out again.

And he himself was once again thrown away, and like Elton before, his back hit the uneven stone wall hard. Scarface endured the severe pain and raised his head, seeing that the wizard who attacked him was quickly subdued by other wizards.

But the next second, another wizard in the crowd raised his wand, and a melee was about to break out.

The remaining two poacher teams fell into hostility for no apparent reason, and magic spells of various colors began to fly among the crowd again, hitting the hostile wizards, but then they were hit by the spells of other wizards.

The whole process has no logic at all, just one word stands out:

confusion.

When Scarface got up from the ground and picked up his wand again, he suddenly found that he was the only person standing there.

But there was no trace of happiness or joy in his heart, only inexplicable panic and fear.

"What exactly is going on?"

Fear made Scarface's breathing become extremely rapid. He looked around nervously with his wand, trying to find the enemy.

But he found nothing. There seemed to be no one else here.

It was as if he really was the only survivor.

Even if this way of survival is not what he wants, even if his survival cannot bring him any benefits.

Phew!

Suddenly, Scarface heard a high-pitched bird call.

That's Phoenix!

The phoenix that had been avoiding the poachers suddenly appeared, its gorgeous golden-red feathers seeming to be burning with flames, showing brilliant and colorful colors even in the dark!

Its sound is like the sound of nature, which is enchanting. Its blood can heal any pain. Its feathers are the best wand cores. Each one is worth hundreds of Galleons and has always been priceless. In the city, Ollivander can count the number of wands with phoenix feather cores on one hand!

It is no exaggeration to say that the Phoenix is ​​the most precious magical creature in the world, bar none!

In front of such a magical creature, no wizard can control his greed and ambition.

But Scarface can.

He successfully suppressed his greed and used fear.

Because he saw the phoenix flying towards an open space with his own eyes, but it did not land, but stood firmly on the 'air'.

If you are a Muggle, you may find it scary, because they are ignorant enough to think that it is a ghost. And if it is a wizard, they will only be more horrified than Muggles, because they are not ignorant enough, they know that it is not a ghost, but an invisible wizard.

Scarface gritted his teeth, suddenly raised his wand, pointed it at the location of the Phoenix, and shouted:

"Confrin..."

boom!

A brilliant purple light shot out of the 'air' and instantly hit Scarface's body, causing him to fly backwards again.

Even though he is past middle age, his sleep quality is still very good and he falls asleep immediately.

The silver-haired girl with wolf ears walked out of the shadows, holding the bag that Ash gave her, and walked towards the wizards who were lying on the ground.

Ash turned his head and looked at Phoenix standing on his shoulder, his eyes extremely gentle:

"Long time no see, Fiametta, you look...well, you seem to have gained a lot of weight?"

Phew!

The phoenix screamed in dissatisfaction and pecked his arm gently with its golden beak.

What is fat? Can you speak? If you can’t speak, you don’t have to speak!

Ash laughed dumbly, but his personality was exactly the same as before.

He stretched out his hand and gently stroked the gorgeous golden feathers of the Phoenix. Although the color of the feathers seemed to be burning with flames, the touch did not make people feel hot, but was very soft.

It's actually not accurate to say he's fat.

As a divine bird, the phoenix has the most standard figure and will not die even if it does not eat or drink.

In fact, it was because Fiammetta was a little thin in the past - mainly because Ash had to draw blood every now and then, and there was no need to worry about Fiammetta being drawn to death because of it. Phoenixes can be reborn from the ashes anyway, which caused Ash to The frequency of blood draws is a little too high, and it’s hard to lose weight.

But even with such an experience, Fiametta still cooperated with Ash's touch and rubbed his cheek affectionately with her beak.

She never held a grudge.

This actually made Ash feel a little ashamed of himself, and he secretly vowed to treat Fiammetta better - for example, changing the habit from once a day to once every three days.

Ash, who was determined, glanced around and asked softly:

"It seems that Dico has taken good care of you. Is he still alive?"

Phew!

Fiametta chirped, her eyes showing human sadness.

She spread her wings and flew away from Ash's shoulders, leading Ash out of the cave.

The gentle wind blew in the empty cave, and the moonlight slanted down from the gap on the top of the mountain, making every plant and tree there clearly visible. A tall pine tree is reflected in the sparkling lake water, creating a quiet night scene.

Under the pine tree, colorful flowers surrounded a small bulge, and in front of the bulge stood a small tombstone:

Dicko wasn't dead, I just needed some rest.

"Dico."

Ash stood in front of the small bulge and said softly, "Long time no see."

As a house elf, Dicko spent the first half of his life being abused by his master.

But at least in the last period of his life, Dicko found a cause that he was willing to devote everything to, and since then he has devoted his life to the protection of magical animals.

His efforts were undoubtedly successful.

Many magical creatures were saved and thrived in the Forbidden Forest with Dicko's help.

For Dico, this may be the place with abundant water and grass in his mind.

Ash gently touched the tombstone with his palm and whispered softly:

"May you have sweet dreams."

Phew!

There was something sad about Fiametta's chirp.

Ash gently stroked the crest of the divine bird and whispered:

"Let's go and let him get some rest."