Chapter 129 "The Goblin's Underground Headquarters"

It's not safe to wait outside until nighttime. The old man seemed to be a cautious person. After closing it, he used many protective measures to protect his shop. Therefore, the safest option to go is to get in now through some way.

They walked into this bar. After entering the door, they could feel that the light suddenly dimmed, and the air was filled with the smell of a goat. In the lobby, a few wizards were sitting there, most of them covering their faces. Silk's dress had become the norm here, and Sherlock was the one who was different.

Hog's Head Inn is not crowded at all. It is very quiet inside. Even if there are people talking, their voices will be kept low, and no one will ever hear them. After Sherlock and Silk entered the door, they walked directly to the bar, and the old man who was wiping the table with the rag after wiping the glass looked at them.

"What would you like to drink?" He didn't recognize Sherlock and Silk were the ones he had kicked out of his backyard two months ago.

Sherlock didn't answer his question but looked sideways, "One room or two rooms?"

The old man's gaze at them laughed twice and recommended, "I have a couple's suite here, and the price is not high, as long as..."

Before he could finish his words, Silk had already thrown a Sickle on the counter, "One room per person."

The old man grabbed the Sickle, "Room three, ma'am."

He turned his attention to Sherlock, "One Sickel is only enough for one room."

Sherlock shrugged and took out a Sickle from his pocket. 

"Room two, be careful not to disturb the guest in Room one. He has a bad temper. I don't want you to have trouble here." The old man muttered and continued to wipe his own bar.

Sherlock and Silk walked to the room on the second floor together, and they talked in a low voice in front of the doors of Rooms three and two.

"One o'clock in the morning or what?"

"I'll reach out to you."

"Okay, then I wish you a..."

She slammed the door shut, and Sherlock couldn't help but raise his eyebrows. "She's really impolite."

He grumbled and pushed open the door of his room. Like the bar, only the old man takes care of the whole Hog Head's Inn. You can't expect a person who wipes the table with a rag to wipe the glass to clean the room.

The quilt on the bed was neatly folded; a wizard could do it with a wave of his wand. Of course, these quilts must have been treated with a Cleansing Spell, but Sherlock still didn't want to touch the bed. He brushed the chair in the room several times to remove a layer of old dirt, sat on it, and closed his eyes.

Time passes, and the sky goes dark. The streets outside Hogsmeade are no longer noisy, and the students have all returned to the castle. It's not only the day they went to Hogsmeade, but it's also Halloween.

At this Halloween dinner, which Sherlock did not attend, the students still had a good time on their dinner. Harry spent the afternoon with Lupin in his office after Sherlock had left, and he saw Lupin drink the potion Snape had concocted for him.

This made Harry concerned for him. Everyone in Hogwarts knew that Snape had always wanted a position in Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Harry and the others could clearly see that when Snape looked at Lupin, the hatred and disgust in his eyes were obvious.

Ron and Hermione brought Harry a lot of sweets from Hogsmeade and told him about meeting Sherlock at Hogsmeade.

"Hermione guess might be right. The other things that Professor Forrest is busy with this semester are related to that witch." Harry said confidently.

He told Hermione and the others about what they had encountered in the castle. The three of them did not discuss the reason, and they simply went directly to the Great Hall for the Halloween dinner.

Although there are dementors patrolling around the castle, and Black's threat has not been deal with. This semester has not been easy for everyone, with him still wandering around.

Everyone had a great time at the dinner, but this kind of fun only lasted until the end of the party. Since Harry got enrolled, the Halloween dinner at Hogwarts has been like the start of a year of problems.

In the first year, a troll broke into the castle. The first Basilisk attack occurred in the second year, and there might be another in this third year.

The students left the Hall, talking and laughing, and returned to their common rooms. Only then did the Gryffindor students discover that a large hole had been torn in the portrait of the Fat Lady, and their common room had been trashed around.

Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall soon arrived at the scene, and Fat Lady was found. The person who forced his way into the common was none other than Sirius Black.

----

Sherlock didn't know what happened at Hogwarts tonight.

He leaned back in his chair, spinning his wand around his fingertips in boredom, and looked out the window at the night sky. The weather had been good for the past two days.

Sherlock raised his hand and looked at the watch on his wrist. It was two o'clock in the morning, and he could clearly hear snoring in the next room. It's not how loud the person living in room one is snoring, but the sound insulation of the room is really poor, or the wooden board has no sound insulation at all.

Just when Sherlock was wondering why he hadn't heard any movement, the door of his room was knocked gently. He rubbed his eyes, held the wand firmly in his hand, and opened the door lightly. Silk was standing outside the door.

Neither of them said a word; they just went out and walked down the stairs along the corridor. The bar was dark in the middle of the night, and Sherlock waved his wand gently and used a spell.

The tip of his staff glowed faintly. With this light source, they approached the front of the bar.

"So what are we going to do next?" Sherlock whispered.

Silk didn't answer him but pulled out her wand and tapped the ground under the bar to determine its location. Soon, she found what she was looking for.

"Hold me."

Sherlock reached out and grabbed her arm; Silk held her wand back and gently drew a circle on the ground while chanting a spell in her mouth. 

It was an ancient lock-picking spell, and it was the only lock-picking magic for wizards before the Alohomora Spell was invented. However, because the method was too rough, it was later replaced by the recent and modern version of the spell.

After Silk finished using this, the circle that her wand aimed at didn't respond at all. Sherlock was stunned for a moment, just when he thought that there was something wrong with her movement or that the spell didn't work correctly.

His body suddenly twisted. Sherlock felt a feeling similar to Apparition, and his body spun rapidly as if he had been put into a washing machine. This feeling only lasted for a moment, and the next moment, he stepped on solid ground.

The surroundings were pitch black. Sherlock waved his wand again, using a spell to light up the area around him again. The bright white light illuminated the space around him. Silk was standing beside him, and Sherlock's other hand was still clutching her arm tightly.

"You can let go now."

After listening to her words, Sherlock came back to his senses and let go of his hand in embarrassment, "Oh, sorry."

"Are we underground now?"

They were in a narrow, dark space that looked like an underground passage with a sealed wall behind.

"The Underground in Hogsmeade." Silk walked to the wall behind them, which had several writings on it."

Sherlock noticed these, and there were several paragraphs in them that he could still read.

"Beware of the lies of wizard peace talks!"

"We will fight to the end!"

"Every goblin guards their treasure!"

These words are in line with the meaning of this underground passage. In the goblin rebellion two hundred years ago, this was their headquarters.

"Didn't you just recite an unlocking spell? Why were we teleported instead?" Sherlock asked curiously.

Silk said a few words this time, "It was a special device set up by the goblins where it activates on the door. The pre-set Apparition magic behind the door will be activated, and the person who opens the door will be sent here. Leaving no traces at all."

"Pretty smart design." Sherlock praised.

Goblins have been skilled craftsmen since ancient times, and even the swords of Gryffindor were made by them. It is indeed in line with their craftsmanship to be able to create such a secret headquarters.

After simply scanning the surrounding area, Silk also used a spell to light up the area around her, and they moved forward together into the depths. 

He doesn't know if it is an illusion or something else. The more he went inside, the darker it became. The most notable change is that the area illuminated by his spell is getting smaller and smaller.

After walking forward for about twenty minutes, Sherlock frowned and stopped, "Something's wrong."