In the dark fireplace, the flames were gently "beeping", and Durmstrang had been getting colder and colder day by day since the beginning of winter, so that Ning An had to light the stove all night in the office, of course, he also liked the feeling of the fire shining.

It's been almost half a month since I came back from Hogwarts, and under the auspices of Pani, everything at Durmstrang School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is in order, and comfort is like an illusory net, shrouded in the wizarding world, ordinary people don't know that the Dark Lord has returned, and although Dumbledore is running around, people are still living in wishful thinking.

It is impossible to penetrate the truth, so it is extremely easy to maintain the illusion.

Of course, this is not always the case.

Ning An's hand brushed off the table, revealing a piece of parchment with a diagram drawn, he frowned, and muttered: "The investment is getting less and less......"

After a moment's deep groaning, the two thin eyebrows slowly stretched out again, "It seems that our Mr. Grasso and Mr. Brin have other ideas......"

Grasso and Brin are some of Russia's most famous magical families, having once been the majority shareholders of Durmstrang, but lately Snake has received more and more financial aid, whether it is several large German magic companies such as Ellerby and Badmore Broomsticks, or the dragon egg sales company founded by the Sami themselves.

And as there are more and more financiers, the proportion of Grasso and the Brin family is gradually diluted, and if it weren't for Pani's strict personality and deliberate dissection, there would be no signs of them slowly withdrawing.

Have you already found a home?

Ning An muttered silently, if the Russians plan to switch to other factions, at present, it seems that the only choice that can be used as a choice is the pervasive Voldemort, which is not a good thing, if there is a possibility of becoming a nail, it is best to pull it out as soon as possible.

……

However, this is not the most important thing at the moment.

Ning An moved over a thick tome beside the table, and on the dusty cover, the title of the book was written in ancient magical characters, which translated as "Dictionary of the Rune Text: Ancient Secrets Second Edition".

I took my wand from the gap between the pages, took it into my arms, turned the page along the page, and continued to read with relish.

Since returning from Hogwarts, Ning An has been looking for ways to increase his strength.

With Dumbledore escaping from Hogwarts, Voldemort lurking in the shadows, and Helmo and the wizard two guys who don't know what the hell to do, Ning An is more and more eager to have more mana so that he can control the situation.

He deeply understands a truth, no matter how many subordinates are gathered and what kind of huge network is weaved, if his own strength is not enough to subdue everyone, everything will be in the air.

In the past, he only had to deal with the students of Hogwarts Slytherin, but now more and more wizards who were once famous or household names in their spheres of activity are coming into contact with Ning'an.

These adult wizards are not easy to control, and unless he uses the Imperius Charm on everyone, there will always be small actions of one kind or another in private, and Grasso and the Brynn family are good examples.

"At least to the level of Voldemort or Dumbledore." Ning An estimated that his strength would probably be able to fight back and forth with Snape, and given his attainments in the dark arts, his actual ability in battle would have to be increased, but he still did not reach Dumbledore's level.

"Still not enough time." Ning An is only in the fifth grade this year, and it has only been five years since he learned magic, and of course he can't compare with Dumbledore, who has accumulated a lot of money.

But the complicated reality is in front of us, if only the strength equivalent of Snape can not lead the growing snake letter, today it is Russian, tomorrow it may be Crouch, Karkaroff, and even Jung, Fabian, the mainstay of the German wizarding world.

Talent can't be realized into strength, after all, it's a castle in the air, and now what Ning An lacks is time.

"It seems that we can only start here......" Ning An caressed the pages of the book and said to himself.

During this time, he has been searching for ways to become stronger, from the beginning of his desire to find more powerful spells, to the ancient dark arts, and all kinds of magical news and history, Ning An has almost searched Durmstrong's library.

Fortunately, he is the headmaster, and all the forbidden books in the library are open to him. And Durmstrang's students finally had the privilege of catching a stunner glance at their legendary "Mr. Headmaster" in the library at the end of their studies.

However, the principal looked hurried every time and didn't know what he was busy with, which gradually became a question on the mind of every student.

Ning An really found a way - the Lune script.

This ancient magical script was learned by Ning An when he was studying magic at Hogwarts, and Professor Binns had also rigidly introduced the past and present of this script in his history of magic class.

To this day, he recalls the dull, lullaby-like tone: "Rune words are...... Norse wizards...... Under the old trees...... ...... discovered"

Ning An grinned a little, he remembered that Daphne used to like to imitate Professor Binns to speak, and he could learn it well.

Phew, shook his head, and came back to his senses from the train of thought that was almost deviated, Ning An looked at the heavy book in his hand and pondered, although Professor Binns's statement is recognized as common knowledge in the wizarding world, and the rune script is difficult to learn, and it is not very useful in the current wizarding world, except for those old wizards who specialize in alchemy or love to do handicrafts, few people bother to study.

But Ning An still found a completely different statement in a book, although it did not directly provide any power, but if the statement in the book was true, it might ......

"Bang, bang,"

Ning An was still pondering, and there was a knock on the door.

"Mr. Principal"

Pani stood outside the door, usually in the school he would call Ning An "Mr. Headmaster", and in private he would prefer to call him "master", although Ning An sometimes felt weird when he heard it, but it was regarded as a certain characteristic of wizards, didn't Voldemort like this tone, and he would get used to it when he listened to it.

"Samantha brought back the news that someone had been found."

Ning An's eyes lit up, he removed his hand from the yellowed page, closed the book casually, squinted his eyes, and showed a happy smile.

"Good." He said aloud, not afraid that the heavy door would drown out the sound, "Let Walter and Nils wait for me in the break room, and I'll be right there." ”

"Understood."

Parney replied dryly, the sound of "stomping" footsteps came from outside the door, and gradually moved away, he had developed the habit of being vigorous and resolute, which was also the key to the young wizard's ability to handle many complicated things in an orderly manner.

"This guy is getting more and more like a robot." Ning An muttered quietly, while carefully putting the wand into his arms, tidying up the black wizard robe, he didn't wear a high hat, because he always felt that it was too conspicuous, just simply pulled up the hood behind the robe, buckled it on his head, thought about it, opened a compartment from the small shelf where the wine was stored in the office, and took out a small bottle containing a transparent liquid from it.

It's a truism agent.

"I hope it's simpler and I don't have to use that." Shrugging his shoulders, Ning An casually sprinkled a handful of Floo powder into the fireplace, and stepped into it in the next second, and with a turn of effort, he had already come to the spacious rest reception room, which was still empty for the time being.

Ning An was not in a hurry, sat down on the sofa, and waited for Walter and Nils to arrive.

Walter was one of the first wizards to join the snake letter, he was only a third-year student back then, but now he is an adult, Ning An trusts him very much, after all, he is an existence that is relied on as a henchman to organize the elders who have squatted in Azkaban.

And Nils is the eldest son of the German Ministry of Magic/Zhang Leohard Althouse, and now teaches dark magic knowledge in Durmstrang, compared with his younger brother Linus, Nils is more stable and mature, and is more appreciated by Ning An, after joining the snake letter, he is also trained by Ning An as an important cadre in the future.

This time I simply took the two of them with me on a business trip.

Ning An didn't wait long before the door of the lounge was pushed open, and two completely different figures met the eyes of "Mr. Principal" through the light reflected by the snow outside the tall floor-to-ceiling window.

Walter hasn't seen him for a few months, as if he has become shorter again, he is already a head and a half shorter than Ning An, like a withered/suo hobbit, with his back bent, just from the appearance alone, he doesn't look like a wizard, but it seems to be a weirdo who believes in some evil/jiao, if combined with his appearance, it is estimated that he is a vicious sacrifice that kills people without blinking an eye, and it is estimated that people believe it, of course, he does not blink when he kills......

"Master."

Walter opened his mouth hoarsely, his fierce face was like a wolf who wanted to devour people, but fortunately, Ning An knew that when he showed this appearance, he was not angry, but happy, but the strange scars on his face were twisted together, which made him look fierce and vicious.

"Master." Nils stood beside Walter and leaned forward, he was well-proportioned, blonde and blue-eyed, he looked quite handsome, and the contrast was particularly strong when he stood with Walter, in the end, he was from an ancient magic family, and he had a unique self-confidence temperament.

"Well, let's go." Seeing that the two of them arrived, Ning An didn't talk nonsense, his wand slipped into his hand, and he lightly tapped a silver goblet on the coffee table

"Mentos," he said in a flat spell, motioning for the two of them to come over and grab the cup, "Come, Samantha is waiting for us on the other end." ”

After saying that, the three of them held the silver cup at the same time, and there seemed to be a gust of wind blowing in the room, and in the next second, everything was spinning at high speed, Ning An had long been accustomed to traveling with a door key, so it was just a matter of closing his eyes, the rest room was gone, the smell of wet/run earth penetrated into his nostrils, and a few hoarse crows hissed echoed in the forest, the sky was dark, the moon was semicircular, and the moon halo shone on the phantom of the rows of tombstones on the ground, and it was only after a careful look that the three of them were standing on a cemetery at this moment.

"Samantha is really a good place to choose......" Ning An silently complained to his rough subordinates, beside Walter and Niels beside him, they had already flicked their wands, lit up with fluorescent, illuminating the surroundings, through the light, they could also see the tombstones engraved with the surnames of the ancient wizard families, and the quiet bushes not far away seemed to be staring at them, and if they extended their gaze a little, they would see a small church standing in the darkness.

Nils's eyes lit up, as if he remembered something, this place always felt like it should know......

"Master-" deliberately lowered his voice but couldn't hide his sharp voice, a thin and thin black shadow flashed from the small narrow door at the back of the church, and ran towards Ning An and the three of them.

"I guess this is Godric's Hollow." Nils whispered, "The most famous half-wizard colony......"

However, he didn't ask what he was doing here, as a smart person, he knew very well that since he had already come, he would definitely have something to do, just listen to Ning An's instructions, and he wouldn't seem to be smart if he asked more, but would only add to it.

"Master......" After a while the shadow came closer, and by the light of the wand Samantha's face could be discerned, illuminating half of the face, which showed a certain twisted madness in the night.

"She's right there, stay in that room......"

Samantha licked her lower lip and looked at Ning An with a certain wistful glint in her eyes, "I can deal with this old lady, if you need it - I'll make her spit out everything she knows." ”

Ning An stood in the darkness, looking at the town with a few dim lights behind the chapel, and waved his hand, "No need, Samantha." ”

He lifted the wizard's long black robe, as if he had left something behind him, his feet lightly stepped on the ground, the soil sank a few centimeters slightly, and Ning An silently walked through the tombstones beside him, which were two identical tombstones.

Some are old but not as dirty and corrupt as others, and the tombstone is deeply engraved with the words "The last enemy to be destroyed is death", and down the line is the name of the person buried—James Potter, Lily Evans Potter.

Taking a deep look at the two tombstones, Ning An stepped through them and walked towards the square obelisk that stood tall in the center of the village, the square in the center of the village.

"Lead the way, Samantha, and hopefully Lady Bathilda hasn't rested yet, and we're going to have to disturb her tonight." Ning An said in a low voice.

"Understood, master."

Samantha immediately trotted over to Ning'an to lead the way, and Nils and Walter put on their hoods and followed closely behind.

The four black images were some kind of snake slowly sneaking into the tall grass of a person, and the sound of "rustling" footsteps added a bit of eerie to the restless night, and the yellow dim light of the square in the distance could not illuminate the silhouette of the person passing through the church.

They walked around a tavern and past a monument that had been transformed into three humanoid statues, of course a monument to Muggles, and the four of them finally came to the deserted street.

At one end of the darkness is a grim street leading out of the village, with houses becoming scarce, flanked by windows that shimmer with colourful light to reveal the silhouette of a Christmas tree.

They walked as fast as they could, faster in the darkness of the night, as if they had only walked for a quarter of an hour, and the four of them had passed through a gate and stood in a garden of ruins tangled with branches.