"Is it okay to go in?"

Somewhere on the street, at a red public phone booth, Hoffa held an umbrella and asked Miranda, "Just a phone call away?"

At this moment, the snow is falling heavily, and the whole of London is turned white, and as soon as pedestrians go out, they can only see the part above the knee, which is a rare heavy snow in history. Both of them had snow on their shoulders, and there was no one to be seen on the road.

"It's that simple. Miranda stood next to the phone booth, "Visitors have to be prepared." ”

After saying that, she picked up the dial of the phone and turned it around a few times, and after waiting for a few seconds, a man's indifferent voice sounded on the other side of the phone booth, "Ministry of Magic, please tell me your name and what you are doing." ”

"Miranda Goshak. Adebe Gosak has something left in his office, and I'll help him get it. ”

"Yes," the man said in an indifferent voice, "show me your identification, and I'll start the elevator for you right away." ”

Ding zero, the number dial used to dial the number in front of him tumbled into another kind of coin machine. Miranda hung up the phone and fumbled for a brass coin on her body.

"Show me. Hoffa held out his hand and looked at the brass coin.

"What's the matter? Miranda was confused and was about to shove the coin into the telephone.

"Don't rush down yet. ”

Hoffa covered the coin slot, "We need to discuss something to prevent something uncontrollable down there." ”

Miranda: "What's the matter?"

Hoffa withdrew his hand and shrugged, "For example, the Ministry of Magic is so big, how can I find the position of the Minister of Magic?"

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that. I know the location, just follow me, it's on the first floor, but you have to go deep inside to find it. Miranda said, and she shoved her brass coin into the metal chute of the telephone, but Hoffa stopped her again, only to see him with a hesitant look: "Will there be many people down there, will they face a lot of interrogation?"

Miranda frowned and looked at Hoffa: "There must be an investigation, ordinary visitors, the access wizard will also ask you the reason, let alone enter the office of the Minister of Magic, but with you, don't you know how to magic illusion charm, we will definitely not be discovered." ”

"Yes," Hoffa muttered, suddenly looking behind Miranda, and exclaimed, "Professor Adebay!?"

Miranda quickly turned her head, but all she could see was snow.

"I'm sorry. ”

A companion's voice came from behind him.

She reacted very quickly and turned her head, and immediately blocked the palm that hit the back of her head in the air, and at the same time did not hesitate to put the hand holding the brass coin behind her back, and said through gritted teeth: "I knew that you didn't have a good heart, and you said that you were looking for Fatil, but you have been talking nonsense with me when you get to the place!"

"Give me the coin," Hoffa said helplessly: "Good." ”

"Don't you think ....."

Miranda gradually felt that the wrist she was holding was as heavy as a thousand pounds, as if she was not erecting a human hand, but the boom of a crane, "Don't want to leave me alone!"

"I can't take any more risks. Hoffa raised his arms and leaned forward to kiss Miranda on the forehead: "When the war is over, you can go with me wherever you want." ”

Miranda was stunned by Hoffa's sudden suddenness, and blushed for a moment, and in a split second her distraction, the snow on the ground swirled and rose, locking her legs firmly.

Hoffa grabbed Miranda's shoulders and forcibly turned her around, snatching the coin from Miranda's hand and closing his palms.

Outside the phone booth, countless snow clouds formed a secret room in the blink of an eye, and he pushed Randa out of the phone booth and pushed into the secret room.

Miranda reacted, raised her leg and rushed to the ice and snow secret room.

Click!

The snow turned into countless shackles of ice, like the vaults of a central bank, sealing the small chamber tightly.

Knock knock!!

There was an angry knocking sound in the phone booth.

and the sound of a spell bombarding steel shackles.

"Bastard!"

"Bach, you bastard!!"

"The biggest mistake in my life is to know you......"

"I'm glad I met you. Hoffa stuck outside the secret room and said softly to the locked Miranda: "You rest here for the night, and when the day comes, the magic will naturally be lifted." ”

"Die! I don't know you!"

"You don't understand anything, you don't understand anything!"

"Unless you open this door, you won't be in front of me for the rest of your life!"

"Hey, hey, did you hear that?"

......

......

A dull voice came from the chamber, and Hoffa didn't speak, he stepped back into the phone booth, closed the door, and never heard Miranda's voice again.

He shoved Miranda's brass coin into the telephone. The floor of the phone booth immediately trembled. The snowy sidewalk outside the glass window of the phone booth rose higher and higher, and he slowly sank into the ground. Eventually, there was darkness above him, and he couldn't see anything but the monotonous, shrill grinding sound of the phone booth sinking into the ground.

Hoffa's face was calm and calm, his hands behind his back.

After about a minute, the elevator fell to the ground with a slight vibration. A pale white light hit his feet, then widened and expanded to his body, the light of the elevator door as it opened.

"Merry Christmas, Goshak. ”

A voice came from above, ethereal and indifferent.

Following the sound, Hoffa could see the wizard sitting high behind the counter, looking like a bird nesting high, with a pointed hat on his head, sitting upright, staring at the open elevator in confusion.

In his view, the elevator was indeed open, but it was empty.

Hoffa didn't disturb the wizard on duty, he had already wandered into the shadows. The Ghost Walk, which was almost overwhelmed by its physical strength five years ago, can be used almost infinitely at night five years later.

Passing through the bewildered wizard on duty on a high platform, he came to an empty hall. The hall is full of fireplaces all the way to the front, left and right. They were embedded in the planks, empty, like one tombstone after another.

The floor is a polished dark wood floor. The peacock blue ceiling is inlaid with dull gold symbols, motionless. If it was the past, if it was the future, there must be people coming and going in this fireplace, and the flames would not stop dancing.

But on this Christmas Eve, there was no one in sight in the halls of the Ministry of Magic, only some pale lighting from the peacock blue ceiling shining on the empty fireplaces, hitting the ground in elongated shadows.

Lifeless.

It's on the first floor, but you'll have to go a lot deeper to find it.

Thinking of Miranda's words, he went straight inside. After walking through the fireplace hall, Hoffa came to a deep hallway.

This hallway is completely different from the ones above, it has no doors or windows, and there is a black hallway below that can be walked.

At the top, there are countless gargoyles carved in marble, perched on high places, with their wings outstretched, their arms raised, and their postures in different ways, as if they were holding something invisible.

At night, Hoffa can use the Ghost Walk indefinitely, but the Ghost Walk only lasts for ten seconds, and if he enters it after he is finished, there will be an interval of about one second.

In this second, he will pierce the shadow world and return to the real world. In the past, there was no difference between the gray shades and the real world, just the colors.

But this time, there was an accident.

For the first time in the shadow world, he saw another creature other than himself.

It was resting on the top of countless gargoyles, dragging its long tail, with a crocodile-like snout, its body was about ten meters long, transparent, and its sharp hook claws rested on the heads of those gargoyles.

Seeing the creature, Hoffa subconsciously withdrew from the shadow world, intending to strike first. But exiting the shadow world, the creature is gone.

Countless gargoyles' raised hands were empty.

Entering the shadow world again, the sleeping creature had already woken up, and it straightened up, lying on its stomach, staring at Hoffa with gray and colorless eyes, and there was some horror in its eyes.

Hoffa moved.

Like a lizard sensing danger, the guy slipped down from the countless gargoyle sculptures and disappeared into the depths of the corridor with great speed.

The moment the transparent strange dragon-like creature slipped away, the eyes of the towering gargoyles shone with a blue light, and they opened their wings with a click, and the dust fell straight away, and they all came to life, and they twisted their hard heads, staring at Hoffa in the shadows.

"There's something weird. Hoffa thought to himself, he could actually perceive himself in the shadows, and he really deserved to be the Ministry of Magic.

All the gargoyles in the hallway came to life, and they crawled over with a clattering sound, and the sound was so loud that Hoffa didn't want to destroy the place and attract a lot of attention, and he planned to leave immediately.

At that moment, a figure turned around the corner.

"Who's where?" she asked.

All the gargoyles stopped moving, and turned into sculpture after sculpture again, only facing Hoffa's position.

The person who came was a bald woman, her palms crossed at her waist, looking very solemn, and she was still wearing the white lace dress unique to the 19th century, the skirt was tall and long, very Gothic vintage.

"Is that you, Bach?"

The bald woman asked, "If it's you, please come out, I won't do anything to you." ”

Hoffa slowly emerged from the ghost walk, and in the dark hallway, the boy and the bald woman looked at each other face to face.

"How do you know it's me. Hoffa asked Delfina.

"I guess it's you. "The Night's Watch told me that an intern had reported to the Ministry of Magic and didn't see anyone entering, so I suspected it had been invaded.

I think you are the only one who can invade the most heavily guarded magical powerhouse in the United Kingdom. Delfina said with a smile.

The slight compliment did not arouse any favor from Hoffa, he looked nervously at the pale and tall woman in front of him, and said directly: "I want to see Fatil, take me to meet him." ”

The woman raised her eyebrows and said with a smile: "The Minister of Magic is very busy, generally speaking, if you want to see him, you must first register with the access wizard, and then the door wizard will forward the application to me, I will ...... after I see it and think it is okay."

"Take me to Fatil. Hoffa repeated, interrupting her.

The woman sighed and spread her hands: "There's really nothing I can do with you, Hoffa, you're so stubborn." I won't listen to what others say. ”

After speaking, she turned around: "If you want to see Fatil, then come with me." ”

She walked deeper into the hallway, and Hoffa caught up with her in three steps and two steps. Walk side by side with her. After walking quietly for three minutes, Hoffa asked, "Did I see you before, before Paris?" ”

"Why do you say that? ”

"I think you're a little familiar, and I think I've heard the name somewhere. ”

"Maybe I owe you money that I haven't paid back?"

Delfina smiled gracefully, stopped in front of a dark door, and knocked on it.

"Come in. ”

There was a tired voice coming from inside the door.

The door opened, and Hoffa could see the familiar fellow sitting alone in his office reviewing papers, the room was dark, but it didn't interfere with his vision, he could see the piles of books and papers around Fatil, the walls dotted with branched candles, the flames were blue, and the flickering cold light cast on the shiny marble floor, making one feel that the water was dark beneath his feet.

He could even sense something sliding around the room, avoiding his gaze. Even if he didn't enter the shadow world, he knew it was the strange creature he had just seen outside.

"Hoffa Bach is here. Delfina said dignifiedly, "He said he had something to ask you." ”

The man stopped his pen and looked up from behind a pile of desks half a man tall and looked straight ahead. Under the long silver hair, the blue eyes shimmered with an unpredictable light.

Seeing his appearance, Hoffa felt a sense of melancholy in his heart.

He hated Fatil and didn't want to see him, not only because his choice had killed Aglaia, but also because his appearance was at least fifty percent similar to his daughter's, especially those eyes, which were almost identical, and he began to understand why the English always liked to say that your eyes are very similar to your father and your mother, because eyes can really make people remember a lot of things.

"I see. ”

Fatil spoke briefly, bowed his head again and began to review the papers, not at all surprised, not even caring how Hoffa got into the Ministry of Magic: "You go out, Delfina, just leave him behind." ”

"You also take a break. ”

Delfina nodded, bowing very decently. Behind his back, he slapped Hofa on the ass dishonestly.

Hoffa didn't expect this guy to come here at all, he jumped to the side, looking at her inexplicably, but Delfina had already walked out the door. It was as if the flirtatious gesture just now was not done by her at all.

"Have you had dinner?"

Fatil's question came from behind him, and when he looked back, he was already reviewing the papers at his desk again.

"I've eaten it. ”

"Adebay takes care of you?"

"Yes. ”

"I'm sorry I've been busy and haven't had time to see you. He said as he reviewed the papers.

Hofa was a little curious, and he walked forward. Stopping at Fatil's desk, he picked up a document on the desk and flipped through it. "Conference to Promote the Integration of Wizards of the Alliance", the document is circled and drawn, and there are many places that have been marked in detail, he put down this document and picked up another copy, "American Wizarding Congress War Assistance Program" and flipped it over.

Fatil didn't stop him from doing anything, and after the first glance at him, he never looked up again, just went about his own business.

"You know, the thing I hear the most out there is your inaction. Hoffa chatted casually while flipping through the papers: "I said that you don't go out all day and don't care about political affairs, but now it seems that you are not very diligent, and you work all night on Christmas Eve." ”

"Humph......"

Fatil, who was working at the desk, laughed briefly and sarcastically, and said calmly: "If you sit in my position, they will say the same about you." Wartime leaders have nothing more than two outcomes, deified and scandalized, and unfortunately, I am the latter, because I, like you, disdain and philistine interpretations. ”

Hoffa put down the papers, looked at his silver hair, and thought that he was Aglaia's father after all, and his heart softened.

He pushed away the piles of papers on the table, leaned down in front of the table and whispered, "Do you know that you are dangerous, Fatil?"

Fatil wrote and drew in his hand, and his voice did not fluctuate at all: "Adebay told you about his plan?"

"No, I overheard. ”

"Even if he knows each other, he didn't drag people outside the political circles into the water. ”

Seeing that he was like a dead man, there was no mood swing at all from beginning to end, and he couldn't help but be a little anxious, he pressed Fatil's hand to review the documents, and didn't let him write and draw again: "Tell me, what are you busy with, why do you want me to help you send Chloe Lemay to England?"

"It's none of your business, just mind yourself. Fatil said lightly.

"Are you going back a year and a half?" Hofa lowered his voice to the limit.

Fatil finally stopped reading the papers, and he slowly raised his head, his blue eyes looking at Hoffa, and for the first time there was a different kind of sheen in it.

"Do you want me to go back a year and a half?"

He put down his pen and leaned back in his chair and asked.

Hoffa didn't speak, he didn't know what to say, the tearing and torment in his heart was almost magnified to the limit at this moment, as if two souls were tearing and wailing in his body at the same time, making the muscles of his whole body tense, and after a while, he nodded, extremely difficult: "Yes, I hope." ”

Fatil, who was leaning back in the chair, smiled, smiled, he actually stood up, walked around the table, came to Hofa, and held his hand: "I really didn't misread you, sure enough, ......" He grabbed Hofa's hand excitedly, such as Boya grabbing Zhong Ziqi, Guan Zhong grabbing Uncle Bao: "You love Aglaia, which means that you are still on the same front as me." ”

Hoffa stared blankly.

"I don't have anyone around me who can be trusted, only you can still be trusted. He grabbed Hoffa's hand tightly: "Tell me, will you help me?"

"I've helped you, Fatil. Hoffa pulled his hand, "But I must say......."

"I'm sorry, Hoffa, I wasn't going to resurrect her a year and a half ago. ”

"I ..... What?"

Hoffa had prepared a set of rhetoric, but Fatil suddenly came to catch him off guard.

I saw Fatil turn around and stand with his hands in his hands: "What's the point of resurrecting a person, although it is my daughter, and I love her very much, but after all, it is just a symptom but not a cure." ”

Hoffa was incredulous.

I saw Fatil clenching his fists, "If Grindelwald is still alive, he will come up with countless ways to torture the world, he is the real root of all evil." ”

Hoffa: "Then you ......"

Fatil turned sharply, his black cloak projected against the wall, like a dragon spreading its wings, the anger and hatred in his eyes burning like flames: "I want to go back to fifty years ago, kill Grindelwald before he was ready, and cut off the source of all calamities." ”