Hogsmeade Village has a lively day, and students from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Year 3 and above are allowed to rest here on weekends, which is also the busiest time for the candy shops and small toy trick shops.

The third-year students were thrilled to come to Hogsmeade for the first time, and the young wizards from wizarding families had already heard of the name of each shop here, and they ran to the shop they wanted to go to with a clear goal.

As for the students from the fourth grade onwards, they are already familiar with the place, and they either go to the three broomsticks for a few drinks or wander on the main road, the weather is not too cold during this time, and Hogwarts students can be seen everywhere on the roadside.

"Are you really not going to Duke Honey with us? Eric? ”

Astoria blinked and looked at her companion incredulously, while Dominic was silent and curious.

"Uh-huh, no, I'm not interested in sweets, I want to do it myself."

Eric? Hohenzollern stiffly refused, smiling wryly at the inquiring glances of his companions, but fortunately, Astoria stared at him and after a few seconds, he let him go.

"Well, since you're not a sweet tooth, then we won't bring you ** gummies and oversized chocolates."

After speaking, he turned around and walked along the main road in the direction where the students gathered the most, Dominic nodded and hurriedly followed.

Eric scratched his head in embarrassment, thanking the two for being so reasonable, they had become very good friends after three years of getting along, and now it was not easy to hide a secret from his friends.

Astoria and Dominic must have been curious, but they chose to respect themselves and not ask when they didn't want to say it, and Eric felt content that he was respected by others.

It's just that he still regrets it in his heart, how can he not like sweets, he actually really wants to eat ** gummies.

As we walked down the main road deeper into the village, there were fewer people on both sides, and it seemed that the students had gathered at the candy shop and magic joke shop on Front Street.

Eric pulled up the hood he had prepared and put it over his head, he had put a robe over the Hogwarts uniform today, the black robe was enough to cover it.

After walking along a rough road, at the corner, the boy finally saw the little filthy pub, perched on a small slope opposite the post office on the central avenue.

"Phew, it's not easy to find here."

Gasping for breath, he slowly climbed up the small gentle slope, passed by two drunk, wobbly wizards, and came to the door, looking up at the tattered wooden sign on it, drawing a severed pig's head, blood seeping through the white cloth that covered it.

Eric cautiously pushed open the two doors of the bar, and with a "squeak-" he stepped into the dimly lit room.

I don't know if someone is making sheep's tail soup or what's going on, the thick dust accumulated on the window makes it impossible for the light to penetrate at all, and on the rough wooden table, there are candle heads, and wax tears are piled up in the corner of the table.

When I first looked at the ground, I thought it was compacted dirt, but when my eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness, I could see that it was dirt that had been deposited for I don't know how many centuries.

The bar was cold and cold, with a few strange customers sitting in twos and threes, and Eric's dress seemed normal.

The boy was agonizing over how to find someone to meet him with among these people when he felt a burning pain in his left forearm, as if someone had poked him with a red-hot iron.

Then he looked up and saw a shadowy figure in a dark corner against the window, obliquely on the side, waving at him, covered in a black robe, hidden in the shadows, barely noticeable if he did not move.

There were two dirty glasses on the table, and you can guess that they must be filled with yellow butterbeer or flame whiskey, but it would be a shame to be in such glasses.

Eric was shocked, pulled his hood down a little more, resisted the surprise in his heart, and slowly walked towards the table with a steady stride.

"You-"

"Shhhh

Eric opened the tattered wooden stool, and as soon as he sat down to speak, he saw the man opposite him put his index finger to his mouth and made a silent motion.

So, he had to swallow the words in his stomach, and watched as the man across from him stretched out his finger and tapped it three times on the table, "Knock-knock-knock-" and whispered a mantra

"Abaronica - Usevida."

Eric felt as if a layer of water had overflowed his ears, and although it was only a momentary sensation, the air around him seemed to have become different, and the sound of several wine glasses, feet slamming on the floor, or even whispering from time to time in the tavern was now hazy, and he couldn't hear it clearly.

"Alright, Eric - now we can speak in peace."

A familiar voice came, and Eric's heart moved, whether it was the burning pain in his left arm, or this familiar voice, it undoubtedly proved the identity of the person in front of him - it was Ning An.

"Y-you're really back?"

Eric didn't know what to say, this mood, after experiencing a disconnected and miserable semester, became more complicated, sitting in front of Ning An again, and there was a feeling of being separated from the first grade.

"Yes, Eric, I'm back." Ning An's voice was low, as if it was a sound made by blocking his nose.

"Whew-"

Eric exhaled, took a deep breath, regained his composure, his eyes became calm again, suppressed his joy, and tried his best to ask in a calm tone:

"And master, what do you command?"

Ning An's body shook slightly, and he understood what Eric meant, the members of the snake letter were once very willing to call them masters, which did not mean any special relationship of superiority and inferiority, or slavery, but a kind of trust, a trust that was willing to dedicate everything they had to Ning An, because they firmly believed that Ning An was their savior, so they would be called masters.

At this moment, Eric calls him his master, just to express that the snake letter is still there, the snake letter has not changed, and they are still ready to serve their master.

"Thank you, Eric."

Ning An paused for a long time and spit out a sentence, which also shocked Eric, he always felt that he hadn't seen him for a year, Ning An had changed, once in his impression, Ning An was a sharp knife, and his talent was a sharp blade, so that everyone who saw this knife would be amazed, this is a good knife.

But he will also be afraid, because he is afraid that he will be targeted by this sharp knife, and he is afraid that he will be hurt, and there are many students who joined in because of fear in the snake letter back then, including many senior students in the sixth and seventh grades.

But then the vast majority of these people quit.

However, this time, Eric felt a different side of Ning'an, this one was like a shield, a hard shield, which gave him a sense of security that he was sheltered, because he was standing inside the shield.

"You don't need to say thank you, it's nothing."

Eric looked directly at Ning An's eyes hidden under the black robe, and said sincerely.

Nodding, Ning An's fingers tapped rhythmically on the table, as if thinking about something, Eric understood that it was time to get into the topic, Ning An would not just call him out just to tell himself that he was back, there must be something very important to order.

"You're from Germany? Eric? ”

Ning An turned the topic to the topic, Eric moved forward, his face became more and more solemn, he guessed what Ning An was going to say, maybe the master finally remembered what he had said to him

"Yes, master, I am from Germany, the Hohenzollern family."

Ning An picked up the dirty wine glass in front of him, shook it, the beer in the cup immediately rippled, and a few wine bubbles appeared, he shook the glass in front of him, but he didn't put it to his mouth to drink, after a while, he put the wine glass down again, and said:

"I remember you told me about your family, about the German wizarding world, can you tell me a little more about it now?"

Erik's fingers trembled uncontrollably, he waited for this moment and forgot how long, when he first came to Hogwarts, he couldn't wait to grunt and tell Ning An a lot of things about the family, but at that time Ning An didn't have the heart to listen at all, just dealt with him hastily, but now it seems that his wait has finally not been wasted.

"Yes, master—"

He hurriedly replied, picking up the butterbeer in front of him to take a sip to moisten his throat, and suddenly remembered what Astoria had said during the small talk

"If you go to the pig's head bar, you have to bring your own glass, my mother said, the wine glasses there are dirty you can't imagine."

The girl's disgusting expression appeared in his mind, and Eric thought about it or put down the wine glass, as if he understood why Ning An was just shaking but not taking a sip just now.

"For those long-established magical families in Germany, the last fifty years have been very painful."

Turning to the point, Eric quickly forgot about such a trivial matter as moistening his throat, and he concentrated on explaining it to Soss:

"Not only the Hohenzollerns, but also Althouse, Ludwig, Schönn, these long-standing families all face the same problem – there is no successor."

When he said this, Eric's expression became extremely serious, he was no longer the same child he was a few years ago, although for many people, he was still a child, but he had already matured mentally and understood what kind of mission he was carrying.

"It's chilling to watch familiar wizarding families decline one by one, that no more gifted wizards are born, and that many families don't even have wizarding offspring, becoming ordinary Muggle families."

Eric shuddered as he spoke, and Ning An nodded in agreement, for those wizarding families with a long history and pure-blooded ancestors, it was an unimaginable terrible encounter to become ordinary and their descendants became Muggles.

This was no longer an emotion of shame or discomfort, but a kind of despair, and for them the descendants of Muggles would be nothing less than despair.

"What do you think is the problem?" Ning An put his finger on his chin and asked Eric seriously.

"Education."

Without hesitation, the boy said: "My father has said more than once that German wizards do not get the best education. ”

He saw that Ning An nodded, looking like he was willing to hear the details, so he sorted out the thoughts in his mind a little and continued:

"Of the three major schools of witchcraft and wizardry in Europe, Hogwarts will only accept students from the British Isles in most cases, and they will only send admission letters to these students, and students on the mainland usually choose to go to Beauxbatons or Durmstrang."

Ning An nodded, it was true that he had hardly seen young wizards from other countries in Hogwarts.

"And neither of these schools is willing to accept German students!"

Eric's tone became heavy, and it was not difficult for Ning An to imagine that if the three major European academies all had certain prejudices against wizards from Germany, or refused to accept them, it would indeed be an unimaginable huge blow to the German wizarding community, and I don't know how many children with wizarding talents would not receive the admission letter and grow up without guidance.

And those children who were born into wizarding families will not be able to go to their own schools, they will have to overcome language difficulties, they will have to travel thousands of miles from home, and they will not receive special attention at school, because the professors will probably not be treated well, although the professors at Hogwarts are basically the same, but there are a few German students who can come to Hogwarts.

"Why are Beauxbatons and Durmstrang reluctant to recruit German students?"

Ning An asked softly, he wasn't worried that his conversation with Eric would be overheard, and he had cast a spell at the beginning to ensure that the conversation between the two would only go in and out of their ears.

Eric's face darkened, he thought for a moment, and spat out a name

"Gellert? Grindelwald—" he said slowly

"When Grindelwald once walked the shadow of terror throughout the European continent, it was Germany as its base camp, and during that time, basically all German magic families were subjugated to Grindelwald-"

A bitter smile appeared on the corner of Erik's mouth, the cause and effect of the matter is so wonderful, he said that these families, once attached to Grindelwald, were invincible on the European continent, but suddenly, from the opposite island across the sea, came an incredible wizard, Dumbledore - he defeated Grindelwald, and the magical order with Grindelwald as the core collapsed instantly.

All the family forces were reshuffled at that moment, those magical families, were jointly purged by wizards from other countries, Durmstrang was Grindelwald's alma mater, and even they began to stop welcoming young wizards in Germany.

Not to mention the French wizarding world, which was once ruled by Grindelwald by terror, the French Council of Wizards in Beauxbatons would never allow Germans to enter their magic school, even if young wizards from other European countries were welcome and did not want to mix with a German.

As a result, the German wizards entered a very embarrassing situation, and the three major European schools of magic and magic all rejected the German students, either explicitly or implicitly, and the admission letter would not be delivered to them.

A lot of people have to go to Africa, or to the Americas, or to Asia, and to send their children to those three schools is only possible with some really old families, and that usually takes a lot of people, and after using it once, it's very difficult to do it next time.

Therefore, the German wizarding world has been in a closed state for such a long time, and wizard families can only teach their children at home, but the purge after Grindelwald was arrested has caused many families to lose their precious inheritance, and their magic props and spells have been taken away, and the inheritance has been broken, so that wizards cannot educate the next generation well.

Although he also thought about establishing his own magic school, but in the end it was still unsuccessful, and the complex entanglement of interests needless to say, when people realized that it was too late to end up sooner or later, all the families gathered together did not have the strength to start a magic school.

"When I first came to Hogwarts, the shock - it really felt like I was in another world, everything around me - everything was so - full of magic - you know ......"

Eric sighed with a wry smile, and Ning An gradually understood what he meant.