About half the people in the werewolf community could speak English.
In fact, these werewolves weren't as fierce and brutal as Adrian's stereotypical impression suggested.
After some conversation, Adrian learned that this group were actually marginalized people living in the forest depths, huddling together for warmth.
This made sense—truly vicious werewolves like Fenrir Greyback would never hide in such desolate places.
The people here had come to avoid harming others.
This made Adrian feel somewhat favorable toward them.
When Adrian asked how they survived in this primitive forest, Kasa smiled: "We have our own supply methods. Actually, living here isn't much different from outside. If you need supplies, go south—there's a large lake there. Follow the lake east for a while, and you'll see a small village where we live. We even have a fireplace connected to the Floo Network if you need to leave."
His tone carried both pride and hidden bitterness.
It seemed these werewolves hadn't completely cut themselves off from society.
Adrian decided to follow them to see this village.
After walking through the forest for more than ten minutes, Adrian's view suddenly opened up.
This was a large clearing with a rushing river winding through it, sparkling in the sunlight. The village sat on high ground beside the riverbank.
Upon entering, Adrian was surprised to find that rather than a village, this place was more like a small town.
There were well-arranged houses, clean and tidy roads.
It seemed no different from towns in the outside world.
"Locals mostly know about this place," Kasa said helplessly, seeing Adrian's surprise. "They just don't want to come near. You know the reason, sir."
"Remarkable." Adrian looked around curiously.
To think such a place was hidden in Albania's Dark Forest—he found it quite magical.
Indeed, traveling more often allowed one to see different scenery.
When they reached the town square's center, Kasa said, "You can look around freely, sir. If you want to use the fireplace, go to the tavern on my left. However, the town will be rather quiet today—everyone's resting in their basements. Most werewolves fall into a weakened state after transformation."
Adrian nodded.
After Kasa and his companions left, only Adrian remained.
Adrian strolled along the cobblestone path and unknowingly walked to the village edge.
In an open space, he saw a hunched old man feeding a flock of ravens.
"Caw—caw—"
The ravens' cries echoed in Adrian's ears, making him feel somewhat irritated.
The old man wore a faded dark green cloak, his gray-white hair sticking up messily.
He was scattering grain into the air with his calloused hands, dozens of ravens circling around him.
However, wasn't the number of ravens... a bit too many?
"Good day, sir." Adrian approached and politely greeted him.
However, when Adrian approached, all the ravens turned their heads toward him in unison, their eyes gleaming with strange light.
Hearing Adrian's greeting, the old man turned around and asked with slight surprise, "Hello, child. You're an unfamiliar face—are you new here?"
"I'm just passing through." Adrian nodded in explanation.
"People like you are rare." The old man greeted him then turned his head back to continue feeding the ravens.
Just as Adrian was about to leave, a massive raven appeared from somewhere, suddenly flapping its wings and landing before Adrian.
Under Adrian's puzzled gaze, the raven cawed strangely and dropped a sapphire-blue gem in front of Adrian.
Immediately after, another raven dove down and dropped a roll of yellowed parchment.
"What is this...?"
Adrian picked up the gem and parchment, looking toward the old man feeding ravens.
"These ravens are very intelligent," the old man's eyes flashed with a strange light as he said, "They've been lingering here for a very long time, as if waiting for someone."
At this moment, the previously quiet flock suddenly became agitated, all ravens taking flight simultaneously and quickly disappearing from Adrian's view.
Having lost his feeding targets, the old man looked at Adrian and shrugged: "Looks like they've been waiting for you."
Adrian held the gem and parchment, puzzledly asking the old man, "They were waiting for me?"
However, the old man just waved his hand and said, "I come feed them in my spare time—I don't know anything."
With that, he leaned on his walking stick and slowly walked back toward the village.
Adrian felt he wasn't lying. He focused his attention on the gem and parchment in his hands.
The parchment looked very ancient—Adrian was certain it was older than he was.
A thin dark blue string was tied around the parchment, looking quite ordinary.
However, when Adrian tried to untie it, it wouldn't budge.
More strangely, when he touched the string with his wand to cast a spell, sparks flew from the wand tip, but the string remained perfectly intact.
"Strange..."
Adrian murmured.
This string must have powerful magic cast upon it—he couldn't find a way to open it immediately.
So, Adrian looked at the blue gem.
He felt he had seen similar gems somewhere before but couldn't recall where.
In any case, it felt very familiar.
Why had those ravens given him the gem and parchment?
Surely not because of his outstanding charm.
Adrian walked back to his tent, pondering and playing with the gem along the way.
Fortunately, he had the Point Me spell, so he didn't get lost.
The Point Me spell was a magical version of a compass, making the caster's wand point north.
However, when Adrian returned to camp, something unexpected happened.
Silver-white threads began streaming from the blue gem in his hand. Only then did Adrian realize that somehow, a thin crack had appeared in the blue gem.
The silver-white threads slowly condensed in the air, eventually forming the shape of a woman.
This face...
Adrian was surprised to find that the woman looked exactly like the person he had seen in Mr. Flamel's crystal ball—black hair, black eyes, with a slight smile.
The woman's sharp gaze fell upon Adrian, and he immediately tensed.
However, the woman merely nodded at him before slowly dissipating in the air.
She left nothing behind and took nothing away.
Then Adrian turned his attention to the gem.
Inside the blue gem, silver-white substances resembling clouds had appeared—neither gas nor liquid.
As far as Adrian knew, only one thing exhibited this magical state: memories.
In other words, this gem contained stored memories.
Unfortunately, Adrian didn't have the relevant tools to view these memories.
Perhaps when he returned to Hogwarts, he could borrow Dumbledore's Pensieve.
The secrets of the blue gem and parchment should be hidden within these memories.
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