"Don't bully it, it's just a janitor."

Elena stretched out her hand and pulled Grindelwald's sleeve, looked at the big dog whimpering in the corner with its tail between its legs, couldn't help but rolled her eyes at the somewhat annoyed first-generation Dark Lord, and said unceremoniously.

"Besides, if you hadn't insisted on taking that [shortcut], we wouldn't be trapped here now - if my guess is correct, this is the forbidden corridor on the fourth floor of the castle."

After once again feeling the unreliability of Gellert Grindelwald, she vowed that she would never rashly cross any so-called "shortcut" again.

Even with the double protection of Dumbledore and Grindelwald, she would definitely refuse without hesitation if she didn't have to.

Most of the ordinary demon kings are road fools - perhaps, this is the fate and curse of every strong man.

While burying her disgust at Grindelwald's unreliability, Elena's eyes paused for a moment on the trap door's pull ring on the ground that was originally pressed under Lu Wei's claws.

According to the conventional physical space structure, since this is the fourth floor of the castle, it should be the third floor of the castle.

However, after the wandering tour of Hogwarts Castle just now, the ruthless reality has taught Elena a lesson - never try to apply conventional architectural logic to Hogwarts.

In this magical castle that has been worked on by countless people, the space behind every passage hides infinite possibilities.

Therefore, she had no intention of going through the trap door to experience the "Sorcerer's Stone side-scrolling mini-game" set up by Dumbledore and the professors in advance.

Not to mention that according to the current time point, it is still unknown whether the decoration of many levels inside has been completely completed. The most important thing is...

Lunch time has already begun!

Elena, who had only eaten one fire-ash snake egg and two cheese-baked snails, was now starting to feel obviously hungry. There was no fun in playing the game while hungry.

"Instead of bullying that stupid dog, let's take a look at this door."

Elena gestured with her thumb towards the dilapidated wooden door that was closed behind her, with a look of helplessness on her face.

"The door won't open... I've tried it. No matter whether it's magic or physical opening, it has no effect. If we can't solve this problem, we may have to go back again... or call for help?"

A door that won't open?

Following Elena's finger, Grindelwald walked to the old closed door and looked at it, and suddenly smiled relaxedly.

"Oh, Albus's method is exactly the same as the protective magic installed in his office."

Grindelwald's wand clicked on the wooden door, and with a burst of magic sparks, a layer of magical protection flowing with mysterious spells appeared in the air. Obviously, this was the one that had previously offset Elena's magic and power.

s reason.

"This is normal. Let alone a little guy like you, even the professors in the school have to work hard to crack it. Elena, you must understand that knowledge is more important than brute force...

…”

Elena raised her eyebrows, pretending not to hear what Grindelwald said, and said sweetly.

"But for you, it must be easy to crack it, right?"

"Of course, but it's not necessary."

Grindelwald shook his head, took out a golden-red feather from his arms and flicked it on the door lock.

The entire wooden door seemed to suddenly come to life. It shivered suddenly, and the layer of mysterious magic protection covering the door panel temporarily disappeared.

"The habit of the Dumbledore family is always to regard the Phoenix as one of their favorite back-ups."

Grindelwald grinned, stretched out his hand and gently pushed the wooden door in front of him.

Zhiqua~

Without any obstruction, the wooden door that trapped Elena in the corridor swung open.

I see……

A flash of surprise flashed in Elena's eyes.

Since it was specifically stated at the opening banquet that as an excellent educator, Dumbledore would definitely take some additional protective measures instead of pinning his hopes on Filch's supervision and the consciousness of the students -

- You must know that the Harry Potter trio are definitely not the only naughty students at Hogwarts who are full of adventurous and suicidal spirits.

Therefore, it stands to reason that, let alone first-year students, even seventh-year wizards who are about to graduate cannot break the magic restrictions set by Dumbledore and enter. This is also an unsolved mystery that troubles most fans.

.

It was only at this moment that Elena finally understood why Harry Potter could easily break into this tightly protected door in the original plot, and even visit Dumbledore's office like a back garden.

It turns out that Professor Dumbledore set up a "backdoor" on the protective magic of this wooden door. As long as it encounters the feathers of Phoenix Fawkes, the magical protection will be automatically and temporarily released, turning it into an ordinary wooden door.

This makes perfect sense - after all, in the original plot, when the trio of saviors broke into the restricted area on the fourth floor of the castle for the first time, it was Hermione who took Harry's wand away from them in a panic and took the initiative to cast it.

The lock-picking spell.

The core of Harry Potter's wand happens to be made from the feathers of the Phoenix Fawkes.

But in this case, it seems that if you want to sneak into the principal's office secretly in the future, you might have to borrow Harry's wand...

Just when Elena was planning and adjusting some of the follow-up [Dumbledore's surprise plans], a warm phoenix feather appeared in front of her eyes, and Grindelwald's voice sounded in her ears.

"I've given it to you. If you go to Albus's office from now on, you won't have to worry about him locking you up again." Grindelwald stroked the girl's hair lovingly and said gently.

"Eh?"

Glancing at the "key" in her hand in disbelief, Elena nodded with a look of surprise and was about to put it away when she suddenly thought of something. She moved her hand for a moment and raised her head to look at Grindelwald, a little confused.

asked.

"But...if you give this to me, what about you?"

"Don't worry, I'll just go to Fox for one later today..."

Grindelwald waved his hand nonchalantly and answered in a relaxed tone.

After all, in a sense, that phoenix was given to Albus by him. In terms of origin, the first time the phoenix Fawkes spread its wings in the fire took place in Nurmengard Castle.

"Well, okay. If you need it, you can always ask me to return it to you."

Elena nodded and did not refuse any more.

Grindelwald lowered his head and looked at Elena, who carefully hid the warm phoenix feathers on her chest, and shook his head with a dumb smile. This "verbal little granddaughter" was really becoming more and more likable.

"What should we do next? It would be great if the food reserves are there."

Elena glanced at the empty fourth-floor corridor with a frown. Although the upper floors of the castle were obviously much friendlier to road warriors than the intricate underground buildings, this was only relatively speaking.

The wooden stairs in Hogwarts that change all the time may not be of much help to Elena, who never memorizes directions, even with the Marauder's Map - what she needs is an animal messenger to guide the way.

Rather than a cold and complicated map guide.

"Store food? Oh, you're talking about the first-of-school gift that Albus gave you...a smart little owl, right? It's the little guy who was your accomplice in the morning."

Grindelwald raised his eyebrows and looked at Elena strangely, "I didn't expect it to help you find your way?"

"Well, of course. My family's food reserves are quite impressive. Not to mention finding a way, I'm proficient in catching fish, hunting, and carrying bags."

Elena nodded and said with a proud face that in order to reserve food for training and cultivate feelings, she had been holding the little guy to sleep every night in the past few months.

"It's no ordinary owl - the food reserve is a laughing owl, which may be the last one in the world and is very precious."

Despite the small size of the grain reserve, if it were placed in the school's owl shed, it might be an exaggeration to say that one can make ten of them, but at least it would be no problem to make five of them.

The most important thing is that, apart from the bad habit of being a little snoozy during the day, Reserve Food is much more intelligent than most owls. At least the "Simplified Chinese" captured a few days ago is still doing its job.

He was imprisoned in the Hufflepuff dormitory, and he neither ran away nor successfully went on a hunger strike.

Looking at Elena who looked proud, Grindelwald curled his lips - Dumbledore was really good at coaxing children.

In comparison, he seems to have nothing to offer as a gift.

"Speaking of which, is it your birthday in half a month? I have never given you a decent gift."

"Birthday gift? No need."

Elena touched the charged "Deathly Hallows" necklace hanging on her chest, narrowed her eyes like a cute cat, and the little fur on her head shook, "Didn't you already give me a necklace?"

Yes, I like it very much."

"It's different. Now this is your [ancestral] amulet. So I still want to give you a gift."

Grindelwald smiled and shrugged, holding his chin and thinking carefully.

He didn't want Dumbledore to abduct his "granddaughter" with some small favors - when it came to future plans, although the two had the same overall goal, the specific direction and form of implementation still needed to be discussed in advance.

The old man touched the slightly raised stubble on his chin, moved his lips toward the end of the corridor, and said thoughtfully.

"In that case, I'll give you a pet as well."

"Eh?"

"Let's take that big dog, what do you think? Although it may not look that good-looking, in terms of its rarity and its role in hunting, it is definitely no worse than the little owl given by Albus."

"Ehhhhh?!"

Elena's little face was stunned for a moment, and she looked at Lu Wei, who was huddled in the corner with an equally confused look on his face, "But, not to mention that it should have an owner, even if you give it to me, I can't control it.

Bar……"

With her small body, it is easy to store food in uniform, but when it comes to raising Luwei, she will have to give the big dog extra food if she fails.

"The original owner of this magical creature that can hurt people and is extremely aggressive has obviously not tamed it in accordance with the regulations of the magic world. So according to the law, it is currently in a wild state that anyone can capture, tame and even kill.

."
To be continued...