#298 - Collar

Therefore, Anduin thought of the street-facing shops on either side of Diagon Alley's periphery.

You should know that Diagon Alley isn't hidden in a demiplane; it's merely concealed by shielding charms. Diagon Alley is actually connected to the neighboring blocks.

So, Anduin came up with an idea: he would find a shop on the outside of Diagon Alley, closest to his own house, buy it, and disguise it as an appliance store.

Then, he planned to dig a tunnel directly from his basement to that Muggle shop, and then run a high-power electrical line back to his underground laboratory.

This would solve the energy and lathe problems, and it would also create a direct underground passage to the outside world, making it easier to get to the Muggle world if any problems arose in the future.

As for security, he would install hidden doors on both sides of the tunnel entrance, along with corresponding magical protection.

He could even cast Muggle Repelling Charms or Confundus Charms on the Muggle shop, so no one would accidentally discover the secret. Anyway, he didn't plan to actually make money from that Muggle shop. He would just pay the electricity bill every month, and then he could use the electricity legitimately.

Now, it would take at least some time to renovate that Muggle shop. Anduin planned to use this time to create the definitive version of the magical lathe, and then start digging the tunnel.

After planning everything, Anduin went back to the first floor via the stairs, and as soon as he went out, he saw Hogg still stuck there, gnawing on the railing that was trapping him. Didn't he know to ask Kiki for help?

"Master! You're finally out! Quickly, get me out of here! This damn railing is so hard for some reason. How did I even squeeze in here?" Hogg quickly let go when he saw Anduin, then stared at him expectantly.

"I've reinforced the entire house. It's normal that you can't chew through it. By the way, where's Kiki? Why haven't I seen her?" Anduin had been back for quite a while, but he hadn't seen Kiki.

"She went to help the Longbottoms. Augusta wrote yesterday, saying they were doing a big cleaning, but there are only two of them now, an old woman and a young boy, so they asked Kiki to help. You promised before," Hogg said, desperately tugging at his head.

Anduin nodded. He had indeed instructed Kiki to help the Longbottoms or Weasleys if they needed anything, and he had also sent letters to both families, so they knew that Anduin had a house-elf.

"Master, don't just stand there, quickly get me out!" Hogg was almost speechless looking at Anduin. He didn't want to be stuck in the stairs like this.

"Get you out..." Anduin looked at Hogg, whose head was stuck on the side of the stairs, suddenly thought of something, and then gave the husky an evil smile.

"Master, what are you going to do? You look so scary when you smile." Hogg felt a sudden panic in his heart, then looked at Anduin warily.

"It's nothing. I just made a new alchemical item a while ago, and I haven't tested its effect yet. It can help you get out of the stair gap." As he spoke, Anduin took out a metal ring from his space ring. It looked about as wide as Hogg's neck.

"Woof? Woof!" Hogg was terrified when he heard Anduin's words, so shocked that he couldn't even speak. Was he going to be used as a lab rat? And why did that thing in your hand look like a dog collar?

Hogg had helped Anduin test a lot of equipment before. Although some of them were quite useful, most of them were quite unreliable, so he was now quite resistant to these inexplicable props.

Anduin gently tapped the collar twice with his finger, and then the collar quickly grew larger. Then, he slowly put the collar around Hogg's neck.

"Woof! No, no, Master, Gah?" Hogg desperately shrank his head back, but he was stuck and had nowhere to hide. However, after Anduin put the collar on his neck, shrunk it, and made it fit snugly, he found that nothing strange seemed to happen.

Hogg kept twisting his neck, but the collar seemed weightless, making him barely feel its existence.

"This is a side product I developed this year while studying Transfiguration, based on my gains." Anduin smiled slightly as he watched Hogg shaking his head desperately. "Don't panic, it will fit snugly against your body after it's put on you, and it will also turn on the camouflage function. Outsiders can't see the ring."

"Then I can't see it either? What does this thing do? Could it be?" Hogg's dog face suddenly changed as if he had thought of something scary. "Could it be that if I make you angry again in the future, it will suddenly tighten and chop off my head?"

"Your imagination is very rich." Anduin couldn't help but feel amused as he looked at Hogg's terrified face. "Its function is somewhat related to what you said. Why don't you try inputting magic power into it?"

"What? You want me to input magic power myself? Is this a torture device to make me kill myself?" Hogg's dog face changed again, and then he howled and pretended to faint.

"If you pretend to faint now, I won't care about you anymore. You can just become one with the stairs." Anduin rolled his eyes speechlessly when he saw Hogg's disappointing appearance.

"I... I can still hold on for a while..."

Hogg struggled twice, as if he had exhausted his strength, and then stood up again.

"With your acting skills, why don't I send you to work part-time at a circus?" Anduin shook his head helplessly. "Okay, just input magic power into the ring, it won't kill you."

"Really? Will there be any symptoms that make a dog feel very painful?" Hogg asked cautiously, as if recalling some bad memories.

"If you keep babbling, I'll immediately let you know what pain is." Anduin glared at Hogg with an unfriendly expression.

"Gah..."

Hogg choked, as if he had made some firm decision, and then closed his eyes and guided the magic power towards his neck.

Soon, after sensing the magic power stimulation, the ring on Hogg's neck suddenly showed its shape again, and flashed with a faint magical light.

Then Hogg experienced a strange feeling. He...

Shrank!

With the injection of magic power, Hogg's size slowly decreased at a uniform rate.

A few seconds later, Hogg, who originally could raise his head to Anduin's waist, had become a small dog less than the height of a normal person's knee.

And at this time, Hogg was looking at the giant Anduin in front of him with a blank expression.