Chapter 331
Harry Potter: A Certain Ancient Rune Professor of Hogwarts (TL)
Half an hour later, they were heading towards the desert on camels.
Hermione took a liking to Clammy. During the tavern banter, when Felix mentioned that Hermione had never ridden a camel before, Clammy then took them to the local market and rented three camels, and Hermione picked out a light yellow one. Afterward, Clammy helped her choose a huge sun hat, as well as a pair of Martin boots, and after putting them on, Hermione felt her whole body had become bizarre.
Nevertheless, she politely declined the âlocal foodâ recommended to her by Clammy, which did not look that appetizing.
In front of her eyes is an endless sea of sand, dunes linked together in a fluid motion, and she soon loses her sense of distance as she looks back at the distant cityâs structures. The sun became scorching hot, and in the absence of wind, the air felt like a giant sauna.
Suddenly, a pleasant coolness passed through her fingers, and she sobered up. A small, four-sided box with a chain floated in front of her, which looked like a locket. She reached out and grabbed it, it didnât feel all that frigid, and when she looked back, Felix nodded towards her.
âI only have one with me, itâs a new product of the company, itâs still in a testing phase.â He explained, âBut it can envelop twenty feet.â He called Clammy over as the three travelled together side by side, Clammy smacked her lips as she glanced at the little device.
âWe have a similar enchantment in our tent, but it stopped functioning once we got into the pyramid.â
Hermione wore the pendant, as her whole spirit went up, she became interested in every detail of the road, such as the plants growing on the rocks in the sand, or the large gecko that suddenly sprang up, they also saw a gray snake.
After walking for almost an hour, the three came near a tall pyramid, in its Shadow, seven or eight tents could be seen, surrounded by some scattered equipment, it looked like a small archaeological team.
Felixâs heart fluttered, âYou have obtained the support of the local government?â
Clammy smiled and said, âFormal papers that got recognized by the government, but thatâs just a cover.â They arrived at the tent site and tied their camels to the stakes, and out of the tents came two men who, like Clammy, were dressed that perfectly blended with the local area, and Felix saw a tourist taking pictures of them not far away.
âThis is Faisal Abdul Izzy Kampala Duim â uh,â Clammy looked at the man and asked awkwardly, âWhatâs in the back?â
The young man muttered, âYou might as well call me Faisal.â
Clammy whispered to them, âFaisalâs name has four parts, each of which is equivalent to our full name, and I was going to formally introduce â¦â but ended up not being able to recall it at all because they didnât use it often.
Another middle-aged male wizard with a brown hoodie on his shoulders said, âJust call me Rahman.â He extended his hand and shook it with Felix.
After a few pleasantries, they agreed to enter the pyramid at 2 p.m. âAnd we have to wait for someone to be sent from headquarters.â The middle-aged male wizard explained.
Clammy led Felix and Hermione to the back of the tent, âProfessor Hap, you will be staying in Billâs tent, his personal belongings are taken away, Hermione and I will stay together, so we can chat a bit.â
âBill Weasley is not here?â Felix asked, suddenly thinking that Mrs. Weasley had mentioned that her two sons â Bill and Charlie â were coming back in a few days. Sure enough, Clammy gave a consistent explanation.
âHeâs on leave, the Quidditch World Cup is coming up and most of the guys in camp are taking time off to go home,â Clammy said, âotherwise youâd be able to reunite with your old friends in person and can catch up with each other. Unfortunately, I wasnât interested in Quidditch, so I applied to stay.â
Hermioneâs eyes rolled as she heard Bill Weasleyâs name, âIs that Ronâs older brother?â
Felix nodded at her, âThatâs right, heâs working here as a Curse-Breaker for the Gringotts.â He looked at Clammy again, âRon is the youngest of the Weasley boys.â
For the rest of the time, Clammy took out a thick little book and dumped all the questions that had accumulated for a long time; Felix did not take much time to answer them clearly, but Clammyâs mood is not that good, he passed a look towards Hermione and made his own excuses to wander around.
In the tent, Clammy said to Hermione with some frustration, âThere is a new Ravenclaw graduate recruited by the Gringotts, and she has a particularly good grade in Runes.â
âWho is it?â
Clammy said the name, Hermione did not say much about it, she saw that name while going through the papers, that person is not considered top in this yearâs graduates, she can only blame that Clammy graduated too early, did not catch the professorâs thinking room and a series of magical teaching methods.
âThe professor has opened a new company, did you know?â Hermione asked her tentatively.
âIâm not sure,â Clammy asked hesitantly, âwhen did it happen?â
âI think it was fairly recently, the name of the company is âFuture Worldâ and Professor Lupin â oh, he was previously a professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts and now manages Future World⦠â he said to me that the professor wants to transform the wizarding world.â Hermione said distractedly.
âTransform the wizarding world?â Clammy got taken aback.
âI guess it would be about changing the lives of wizards,â Hermione said uncertainly, âI saw the magic lamp, and this little thing,â she lifted the chain holding a small locket around her neck, âI guess the professor must have delved deeply into the Muggle worldâs technological products, which is pretty much reflected in his books directly â¦â
They chattered away, Clammyâs expression sometimes one of longing, sometimes one of hesitation. On the other hand, Felix walked around the Great Pyramid, seeing tourists from different countries along the way, but it is not too crowded, and he helped a group of families by taking pictures and harvesting seven Thanks.
In an inconspicuous hidden corner of the pyramid, he sensed traces of magic presence, âThis should be the entrance.â Felix thought to himself, but what he is more curious about is what the environment of the Egyptian magical world is like.
According to his observation along the way, there were at least twelve people suspected to be wizards â which is quite normal, after all, Cairo is the capital of Egypt, but what made him curious was that among these twelve people, five of them were dressed like shamans, they wore exaggerated outfits and sold all kinds of occult objects, such as amulets, voodoo dolls and so on.
Of course, those so-called occult objects do not have a trace of magic in them, otherwise, they would not dare to appear swaggeringly.
A pair of tourists passed by him, and Felix heard a word or two exchanged between themâ
âI heard that ⦠gypsy witch ⦠is very famous â¦â
âIs that so? Then we must give it a try!â
Felixâs eyes twinkled as he followed the two men to a conspicuous tent, where there is a long queue of people, Felix stayed quiet for a while and heard a lot about the magical story of the fortune-teller named âSoya Veraâ.
It is said that her Crystal Ball and Tarot card reading is particularly effective, many people have travelled a long way to see her.
Although the line was long, the speed of advancement is not slow, there are many people who just went inside and left in less than half a minute, hanging their heads down in frustration.
The experienced person next to them said, âThis is because the personâs fate is so obscure that the witch is not willing to put more effort to help him.â But no one felt that the witch is inferior and choose to leave, instead, everyone believed her even more.
Felix is also curious, he just switched to the magic perspective, the tent indeed has the obscure presence of aura, which indicates that the person inside is a real witch.
Uagadou⦠Divinationâ¦
Felix pondered, Africa does inherit a branch of prophecy magic, witch sacrifice, only from what he learned, this prophecy magic is not that much better than dark magic, often comes with a cost of damage of limbs or two, it is difficult to recover, and the results are not necessarily accurate.
He found it incredible that a witch would make divination for ordinary people and openly do business.
He looked at the line of people behind him and smacked his lips a little, she is not afraid that she will suddenly die a violent death the next day? Or, taken away by the Ministry of Magic?
When his turn arrived, almost an hour had passed and a calm female voice called out through the tent, âCome in.â Felix walked into the tent, the hot, dry air outside is isolated, the strong spices and herbs smelled intoxicating, he looked at the witch, she had half a dozen palm-sized incense burners around her, surrounded by a mess of various occult items, the vast majority do not have magic fluctuations, a few deserve his attention, the gypsy witch herself, the Crystal Ball in front of the witch, and⦠â¦the witchâs purple hair.
Yes, under Felixâs field of vision, the magic glowing from the odd witchâs hair is nothing less than her own.
âWe need to do a test, Iâm not going to spend my hard-earned psychic power on, on-â She suddenly stammered, and the witchâs eyes, which had been feigned and half-closed, snapped open.
As Felix and she gazed at each other, the hairs on the witchâs head suddenly broke off and burst into flames out of thin air.
Her voice is no longer ancient and without a trace of emotion, instead, she said in a low and urgent voice: âThis wizard friend, I have a proper licence with the permission of the Ministry of Magic, donât find any trouble with me â¦â
âClang!â
Felix tossed her a small bag of golden galleons, and several golden coins rolled mischievously across the table, askew, slipping off the edge of the table near the witch and landing in her hands.
âDo you take this?â
âSure, A big business.â The witch carefully examined the galleons in her hand, then turned the bag on the table upside down and said with great confidence, âAt least fifty galleons, are you one of the fallen noblemen from the European side â ahem, the heir to the nobility?â
She scrutinized Felixâs appearance, her eyes pausing briefly on his dark hair and blue pupils. Before he could answer, she rose from her seat, stepped out of the tent, and spoke to the people outside as the crowd gradually dispersed.
âThere,â the witch returned with a brisk stride, stretching and wiping her hand over her face, the various thick grease and paint immediately disappearing to reveal a young, brown-black face.
She looked to be in her twenties at best.
âYouâre not a gypsy witch?â Felix asked with amusement.
The witch gave a dismissive grunt, âThere are only Uagadou witches here, no gypsy witches.â
âIâm from Britain-â
âPretty much as I guessed.â She pulled out a pear and nibbled on it.
âItâs a professor-â
âItâs Katz⦠from Hogwarts?â
âReferred by Clammy Vera-â
The witch finally put down the half-chewed pear, âYou mean Clammy? The little Gringotts girl whoâ under the guise of a science research team?â
Felix smiled and nodded.
âSince I was referred to you by my friend, Iâm definitely not lying.â The witch patted herself on the chest and said, âRefitin, my name.â She added, âReal name.ân/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
âRefitin,â Felix chewed on the name, âdoes that mean ⦠something like a genius?â
âDoesnât it sound like it? I made it up myself.â Refitin said, âI had been following a gypsy troupe as a child and wandering around, and one day in a dream, the dream messenger told me that I was the chosen one and was allowed to enter Uagadou to learn magic. When I woke up, I found myself holding a stone with an inscription in my hand.â
âStandard admission process.â
âYeah, but I was young and thought I was the Chosen One, so I urgently gave myself a catchy name and looked forward to that day and night, waiting to make my mark on the history. As a result, when I got in, I realized that there were nearly a thousand people ⦠enrolled in the same batch as me,â she said self-deprecatingly.
âSo why did you choose divination?â
Refitin scratched her head: âPerhaps influenced by my childhood, I did not select the traditionally strong subjects of Uagadou â Self-Transfiguration, potions, alchemy, and astronomy â but I selected the isolated divination, although I am indeed a prodigy of the ages, improving this extremely dangerous dark magic. â
âUsing hair as the price of casting?â Felix asked, compared with the original version of damaging limbs at every turn, this improvement is indeed very clever.
âYes, but there is only so much hair, I have to save it, do you have any good recommendations for shampoo?â
âWell ⦠I know a guy who makes an Occamy egg shampoo, but, I guess you canât buy it. The Potterâs is also good-â
âIâve heard of the latter one.â Refitin said.
âSince you have improved the witch sacrifice prophecy magic, can you make a prophecy for me?â Felix asked softly.
Refitin shook her head hastily, âNo, no, I canât give powerful wizards a prophecy.â
âAt a high price too?â
âDid you see that burning hair? Before I graduated, I tried to give the principal a divination, and the result was the same as yours.â Refitin made a burning motion, âMy teacher pulled a handful of my hair before telling me that if I did divination to a powerful wizard, I would even lose my life!â
She picked up the pear again, âThat was the last lesson she taught me, and I graduated after that. Then I realized that it was hard to find a job for people like me, and I thought, âSince it costs too much to perform divination for a wizard, what about ordinary people?â â
âSo you chose this place? Divination for tourists?â
âClever, isnât it? I carefully select the divination object, make vague prophecies, there is always some trajectory that is easier to judge. I also used these things as camouflage, the mundane people recognize this â¦â she pointed to the various occult items in the tent, âIt cost a total of 2000 Egyptian pounds.â
âLess than a hundred pounds, cheap indeed. However, you said before that you obtained permission from the Ministry of Magic-â Felix is very curious whether this is considered as a violation of The International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy or not.
â Well, of course, Our Ministry of Magic allows it.â Refitin looked at him with a troubled expression, âI know the secrecy law, you want to ask about that, right? But every country is different â¦â
She bit the core of a pear with her teeth, as her both hands crossed from side to side, and she said vaguely, âIn Africa, the occult is very common, it is difficult to distinguish the true from the false, everyone is used to it, it is not strange to see us, I was even invited by the tribal chief to share the experience of praying for rain.â
â You also know how to pray for rain?â
â Well, neither of us can do that! When the time comes we have to show our skills in rituals, and then boast a few words to each other, and then there will be a lot of gold to take.â
Felix felt enlightened, these things can not be seen and heard in the black market, the two chatted for a while, before leaving, Refitin called out to him.
âAre you the helper that Clammy called over for help?â She asked cautiously.
âHow do you know?â
âIt was a pretty big deal, that guy almost didnât make it back, I went to take a look, his face was swollen like a coconut, weeds were overgrown â¦â
She looked at the galleons on the table and gritted her teeth, âSince youâre paying me two monthsâ salary, Iâll take a look for you â but I wonât divine anything for you! Donât even think about it!â
âSo, what do you mean?â
âCall the other people, the weaker the better, the companions who enter the pyramid with you.â
Ten minutes later, Hermione sat with a bewildered face in front of Refitin, who had turned back into that gypsy outfit with a face full of painted patterns.
âItâs just the three of us here.â Felix said with amusement.
â This is my respect for magic.â Refitin retorted seriously.
Hermione asked timidly, âThis ⦠professor? What are we going to do?â
âDivination, child, Iâm going to give you a divination.â Refitin said in a calm, distant voice that reminded Hermione of Trelawney, who pretended to be a diviner in school.
Are this worldâs diviners are carved out of the same mould?
Refitin stared at Hermione carefully, âI need a strand of your hair ⦠you have a lot of hair, but the hair quality is not very good.â She suddenly poked her hand out and pulled down a few strands of hair, âOuch!â Hermione screamed in pain and glared at her.
âTake it easy, take it easy, Iâll buy you a Pear later.â Refitin reassured her, she twirled Hermioneâs hair, her brown hair constantly twisted, and with the contact of Refitinâs fingers, it continued to fuse into a silvery-white colour, like a silver wire.
When the edges of the hair were also completely fused, Refitin let go of her hand, then her hair like fragile porcelain hit the black velvet on the table and broke into pieces.
Refitin held her breath and watched the powder carefully, twisting it with her fingers from time to time.
âStrange â¦,â she said.
âHa, that answer doesnât come as a surprise to me.â Hermione muttered, reaching up to rub her head.
âNo, Iâm surprised that your figure is hidden in the mists and not particularly clear, but itâs not like ⦠it hasnât happened before.â Refitin shrugged, âDonât worry, you guys safe this time, or at least you are.â
âItâs really a hard work from you.â Hermione gave a mocking expression, she felt a bit distressed about her hair.
âYouâre welcome.â Refitin showed off her face-changing technique in front of her, as astonished Hermione, even forgot to refuse the pear given to her by the fake diviner.
On the way back, Hermione asked where Refitin came from, and Felix briefly recounted everything before they returned to camp, where they saw a short figure in a suit, about three or four feet tall, with a pair of pointed ears.
If it werenât for the right skin colour, he would have almost thought he is Dobby the house-elf. But he is actually a goblin, from the Gringotts.
ââââ-
Note:
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