Chapter 154 Dracula finally remembered the basilisk

"Of course," Newt smiled and nodded, "I have long wanted to see the unique magical animals such as vampire bats, ghost blood vines, and bloody crows in the legendary Brown Castle."

"I won't let you down, Mr. Scamander." Dracula raised his lips and started the car again. "Greece is not too far from Romania. It won't take long."

Dracula now has a pretty good impression of Newt.

He was not unhappy because Newt had discovered his identity as a vampire, but instead used this to gain a deeper understanding of the image of the magizoologist.

It can be seen from Newt's statement that as early as the first time he saw Dracula, he had already doubted Dracula's identity because of the details of his appearance.

When he saw the way Dracula got along with the legendary invincible Andros, this suspicion basically turned into certainty.

However, Newt did not easily expose Dracula's identity as a vampire. Instead, he endured his curiosity.

It was only when Dracula invited him to visit the private castle and prepared to take the initiative to reveal his identity to Newt that the magizoologist finally revealed his guess.

What's more, Newt didn't reveal Dracula's identity in front of others.

Instead, it wasn't until Dracula and Newt were alone together after Albertar left that Newt was willing to tell Dracula his suspicions.

This also has the intention of reminding Dracula so that he can put on a more perfect disguise.

It can be seen from Newt's various performances that this gentle magizoologist does not have the common prejudice of wizards against vampires and other dark creatures. Instead, he will considerately take care of the emotions of other people, whether they are wizards or wizards. any other race.

"You seem to be very good at taking care of other people's emotions, Mr. Scamander."

Dracula held the steering wheel in front of him with one hand and rested his other elbow on the edge of the car window, leaning on the side of his face. He chuckled and said to Newt, who was sitting in the passenger seat.

It seems that Mount Olympus has absorbed too much thick fog. After the fog dissipated, the sky in Greece became very clean, like blue velvet. The sun was hidden behind the clouds, layer by layer, smearing the sky.

Dracula did not like the sunny weather.

Fortunately, after Newt guessed his identity, he no longer needed to disguise himself and directly turned on the UV protection function on the car glass to the maximum.

Now every piece of glass has turned into the same color as Dracula's special sunglasses, blocking out all sunlight from the car window and not letting any ultraviolet rays hit Dracula's body.

"No, right?" Newt still hugged his old-fashioned suitcase and sat on the luxurious chair with some restraint, his expression a little embarrassed, "Very few people comment on me like this, and I have always been good at sensing other people's emotions. It’s easy to slow down a beat.”

"I remember...Tina and Jacob prefer to say that I am a fool."

As he spoke, he laughed to himself.

Dracula glanced at Newt with interest and asked curiously: "I know that Tina is your wife, so Jacob is...?"

"Jacob Kowalski, a Muggle." Newt smiled, "He is a friend I met in America. He is a very good person."

"Oh, yes, I remember that Nico told me the story about the global wizarding war, and there was indeed a very important Muggle in it." Dracula nodded clearly, "Mr. Kowalski is that A chosen one, right?"

"The Chosen One? You could say that." Newt smiled knowingly.

"You may not know that when Tina and I were not together, Jacob once told me very seriously not to use salamander to describe her eyes."

Newt couldn't help but think about his past experiences, and his eyes seemed to sparkle.

"But I couldn't hold it back in the end... because I couldn't think of anything more beautiful than a salamander poking out of the water."

"Then you are indeed a fool, Mr. Scamander." Dracula said happily, "So what happened in the end? Didn't Ms. Goldstein give you a roll of her eyes?"

"No, she didn't." Newt smiled shyly, "I never thought that Tina actually read my book... Before I finished telling the scene, she picked up the salamander by herself. Come out."

Dracula's expression that was expecting to see a joke froze on his face.

'It turns out that this magical zoologist is showing off his affection...'

Dracula looked back at Newt speechlessly and curled his lips when he saw that he was immersed in memories of the good old days.

The car was speeding through the air, and the mountains under the blue sky were like waves. The white clouds were left behind one by one, as if they were blown away by the refreshing wind.

Dracula's eyes followed the open and flat plain ahead and saw a dense forest.

"Wait, I remember that there shouldn't be such a big forest on the route I planned in advance to Romania." He said with some confusion.

Dracula lightly stepped on the brakes, slowing down the speed of the vehicle's flight.

Newt also recovered from his past memories at this time, looking through the dark car window at the almost endless forest in the distance.

He thought for a while, then took out a compass from his pocket, held it flat in front of his eyes skillfully, and observed the direction of the car.

"Do you still carry a compass with you, Mr. Scamander?" Dracula glanced at him curiously.

"I have been searching for magical animals in various places for a long time, and it would be very troublesome for me not to bring some practical things." Newt explained, "Many small things made by Muggles are very useful, such as this small compass. "

"As long as you don't encounter a place where the magic reaction is particularly strong and can determine the magnetic field normally, then this little thing will be quite useful."

He looked at the direction on the compass, and the "n" representing north was slightly to the right of the two of them.

"If we were starting from Mount Olympus, we should be heading due north. That is the correct direction to Romania through Bulgaria." Newt said, "Now our direction of travel is a bit to the west."

Dracula glanced at the compass and had to admit that he was too busy chatting with Newt to notice the specific direction of travel.

"I don't know when we started to deviate from the direction. Otherwise, we can use this to determine where we are now." He sighed slightly, "Now I don't know how far to the east we need to go to correct the direction."

"Is it really possible to apparate directly to Romania?"

Dracula was a little unwilling to deviate from the direction.

This could be regarded as the first time that he used his modified car to carry passengers, and he also officially invited the guests to Dracula's Castle.

What is the difference between this and the past when nobles arranged carriages to receive distinguished guests, but the carriage got lost halfway? No inviter can accept this happening!

If just because of the wrong direction, the two of them could only go to Dracula's Castle through the wizard's method of Apparition, wouldn't he be quite embarrassed?

So Dracula thought of a way.

He quietly transformed into a little bat, threw the little bat directly into the dark moon, and teleported it to his room in Dracula's Castle.

Subsequently, Dracula immediately determined the specific location of Dracula's castle.

"It's just a little off track, I can't help it." A confident smile appeared on his lips, "Mr. Scamander, I have found the right direction. We will head to Romania right away!"

"This should be Albania." Newt said suddenly.

"How do you determine this?" Dracula was stunned for a moment.

Judging from the positioning of the little bat just sent out, Albania is really in this direction.

"In fact, we can judge the local geographical climate through the types of trees, and then use the climate to infer which country this is." Newt explained, "If you look carefully, you can see that most of the trees in front have hard leaves, distributed in There are more around the Mediterranean.”

"The climate around the Mediterranean usually has more rainfall in winter and hotter summer. In order to reduce evaporation, the leaves in these climate environments are usually evergreen and hard, and most of them are even hairy or degenerate into thorns."

"We actually didn't deviate for too long, and it's impossible to reach a country too far away from Greece." Newt said, "So from this point of view, Albania is indeed the most likely."

Dracula looked at Newt silently, and after a while he spoke:

"So do magizoologists still need to be part-time geographers these days?"

"I have been exploring around the world for a long time, and I have unknowingly gained some understanding of the geographical environment of various regions." Newt said very modestly, "Actually, I am still far behind."

"There is no need to be modest about this kind of thing, Mr. Scamander." Dracula shook his head helplessly, "I have lived for so many years, and I have learned a lot of strange knowledge, but I still don't understand it. To this kind of geographical knowledge.”

"You just don't bother to learn it, Professor Dracula." Newt smiled.

Dracula shrugged and decided not to bother with the humble magizoologist.

"Speaking of Albania, I always feel like I've forgotten something..." He rubbed his brows and looked at the forest below.

"I really want to hear Dumbledore mention that the mysterious man hid in an Albanian forest for more than ten years after he left." Newt also said thoughtfully, "I once came here to explore animals. Strange deaths, but nothing confirmed."

"So Voldemort was hiding here before?" Dracula thought.

Scenes of several battles with Voldemort flashed through his eyes——

The last time was in a bunker built with great effort by a pure-blood family, and the previous time was on the island of Azkaban... As for the first time he fought Voldemort, it was at Hogwarts to protect the Philosopher's Stone. In the restricted area.

Dracula still vaguely remembered that Voldemort was just a weak remnant soul at that time, who could only live in the body of Assistant Quirrell, and even wanted to use Salazar Slytherin's basilisk to launch a sneak attack...

Wait, basilisk!

Dracula finally remembered that he had sent the basilisk raised by Slytherin to the Albanian forest, with the main purpose of letting it help Helena find Ravenclaw's diadem.

However, the crown has always been hidden in the Room of Requirement in Hogwarts. After taking over Tom Riddle's Horcrux Diary, Riddle took the crown out of the Room of Requirement and used it to please himself... …

Since then, Dracula gradually forgot about the basilisk he threw into the Albanian forest. It was not until he happened to pass by Albania today that he finally remembered it.

"Ahem, Mr. Scamander." Dracula suddenly coughed twice, looked at Newt and said, "I suddenly remembered some other interesting magical animals. Are you interested?"

…

"So is there really a basilisk in this forest?"

Newt held up his wand and illuminated the spell, walking hard in the sun-blocked jungle, and asked Dracula beside him.

The forest was too dense for even a modified car to drive here, so Dracula and Newt got out of the car and prepared to walk to find the basilisk.

Dracula put the Rolls-Royce into his pocket, and at the same time secretly decided to take time to add more functions to the car in the future, such as jungle driving, water walking, etc., so that it can cope with various terrains. So as not to have to get out of the car and walk like now.

"I remember that the basilisk became extinct more than a thousand years ago," Newt said. "No one, except Slytherin, has ever been able to replicate the despicable Herbo's creation again."

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He sighed with regret, "Actually, I also tried placing an egg under the body of a toad to hatch, but nothing hatched in the end."

"So you really dare to try to hatch a basilisk..." Dracula glanced at Newt, but he was not surprised at all. He even felt that Newt, an avid fan of magical animals, had never tried to hatch a basilisk. That's the bizarre thing.

"When Salazar gets old, it's true that no one can replicate the basilisk anymore," he explained to Newt, "but the basilisk can survive for thousands of years."

"You mean, the basilisk hatched by Slytherin a thousand years ago is still alive in the world?" Newt asked in surprise.

"Yes, the basilisk I want to show you is the one that was born a thousand years ago." Dracula nodded.

Walking to a relatively open location in the forest, Dracula stopped.

"It's almost here."

Immediately, he raised his wand and pointed it at the dense tree crown above——

First, a green snake-print mark appeared over the forest, and then, a blood-red mark composed of devil wings bloomed side by side.

"Is this..." Newt asked curiously.

"The green one is Slytherin's mark, and the red one is mine." Dracula simply explained, "If you feel the breath of these two marks, the old and mature basilisk will come to us. "

Newt nodded slightly, then closed his eyes consciously.

As an excellent magical zoologist, he certainly knows that the Basilisk is a cruel magical talent - its gaze can kill you!

Dracula also saw Newt's cautious movements and shook his head with a smile.

"Mr. Scamander, you don't actually need to close your eyes," he said to Newt.

"Isn't it true that the basilisk's magical talent recorded in the book is wrong?" Newt opened his eyes and looked at Dracula in surprise, and asked, "I remember that the basilisk's eyes can instantly kill anyone who makes contact with them. and animals.”

"That's true, but this basilisk will close its eyes on its own." Dracula raised his lips happily, "Now that he knows he's here to see me, I guess it won't be willing even if someone forces it to open its eyes. of."

The poor basilisk was so tortured by Dracula more than a thousand years ago that it not only evolved eyelids on its own, but also suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder in response to Dracula. It can't bear the thought of Dracula. Keep your eyes closed.

Newt: "?"

So what exactly did this vampire count do to the poor little basilisk?

Not long after, a big green snake crawled out from the depths of the forest. Its body was as thick as an oak tree trunk, and it reached an astonishing 50 feet in length. There was also a bright red feather on its head.

As expected by Dracula, because he knew he was coming to see the count, the basilisk had already closed its eyes tightly before arriving, without exposing its big yellow eyes at all.

The basilisk came to Dracula with the help of its sense of smell and heat induction, lowered its big head tamely, and lay in front of Dracula.

"Very good, it came quite quickly." Dracula patted the basilisk's green head with satisfaction.

Newt looked over curiously, especially looking at the red feathers on the basilisk's head.

"Is this a male basilisk?" He tentatively touched the bright red feather and asked, "The female basilisk should not have this feather."

The basilisk shook its head slightly dissatisfied.

I don’t know whether it was because Newt’s affinity with magical animals was too high, or because he felt the pressure from Dracula standing next to him, but the Basilisk didn’t react too much and let Newt grab the feathers on its head. Study it.

"It should be a male, right?" Dracula said uncertainly.

After knowing the basilisk for so long, he really never cared about the gender of this big guy.

Newt also saw that asking Dracula was unreliable, so he did not ask any other questions. Instead, he emotionally took out a notebook and a quill and began to record the form of the basilisk.

Dracula watched as the magical quill began to draw on the notebook automatically, and in the blink of an eye, it sketched out a lifelike image of the basilisk.

The next moment, the pictures on the notebook started to move.

"Are all the animals in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them drawn like this?" he asked curiously.

…

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