256 Chapter 56, Black Mistletoe

"Black mistletoe, what's that?"

Hoffa was curious. He had seen a lot of mistletoe. In the past, Hogwarts would use this kind of thing to decorate the facade every Christmas and hang them all over the corridor.

But they're mostly green or brown, and they're a very slender parasite, very fragile.

"You finally remembered." The little monster in the glass ball said: "That is a very special kind of magical plant, but if you are wizards, it shouldn't be difficult to get it."

"How special?"

"You should ask, you should know."

The little monster closed in a circle, "Next nightmare." It finally said.

The next nightmare. Hoffa shuddered. What kind of creature would feed on nightmares, he couldn't understand. However, he decided that it would be better to sleep less in the future. If possible, he would simply replace sleep with meditation, and not give this guy any chance to pry into his heart.

Walking out of the wooden house built for him by the house elf, under the moonlight, he immediately swept away the slump of the day, full of energy and refreshed, as if he had taken a stimulant.

At this time, the wizards below who were performing tasks in Bournemouth returned to the cloud base one after another on thestrals. Under each thestrals, a dozen low-level blood slaves were tied with ropes, and they were sealed off. Mouth, unable to make the slightest sound.

The house elves on the ground shuttled like ants, and quickly built iron cages one after another to imprison those low-level blood races. After losing their leaders and high-level people, they were no match for wizards at all, and they were quickly captured by others. It's over.

There are fluorescent lights in the distance, and some newspaper reporters are standing on wooden boxes, pulling the wizards who returned from Bournemouth, and are interviewing, wanting to get first-hand news materials.

Fearful of being recognized, Hoffa put on his hat, intending to see Slughorn and ask what black mistletoe was.

As a result, after walking a few steps, a vigilant voice came from behind: "What are you going to do?"

Looking back, Tom Riddle was looking at himself gloomyly, "Why don't you leave, who do you want to find in the middle of the night?"

Beside him, there were still a few Slytherins standing. These future Death Eaters looked at him, although their faces were not disgusted, they were also repulsive.

Hoffa is happy, cooperating with this guy who has been monitoring him without sleeping, it is not easy, he is afraid that he will reveal the news of his patricide to the people in the magic school, and it breaks his heart.

But after seeing him, Hoffa temporarily gave up the idea of ​​finding Slughorn, and asked directly: "Do you know what black mistletoe is, Tom?"

"what are you saying?"

Tom Riddle was puzzled: "What black mistletoe."

It seems that I don't know. Hoffa thought he still had to go find Slughorn.

But at this moment, a hoarse whisper came from behind Tom Riddle: "I know Hoffa"

"Shut up, idiot." Tom Riddle immediately turned around and cursed: "Nothing can save you!"

Hoffa's complexion changed slightly. He turned sideways and found that Tom was still holding a familiar guy with an iron chain. The guy had a bruised nose and a swollen face, with one big and one small eyes. rickets.

It's Ryan. Since he sent the letter and left him, he has disappeared, and when he saw him again, he turned out to be Tom's prisoner. Originally Tom said he was locked up. He thought it was just a solitary confinement, but now it seems that it is far from the case. He has been subjected to very vicious physical abuse.

"What have you done, Tom?"

he asked, frowning.

"You should ask him, what did he do?"

With five fingers, Tom Riddle directly pinched Ryan's chin, forcing him to hold his head up: "He actually took advantage of his position to have an affair with a vampire in Bournemouth. If I hadn't caught him, I'm afraid this bastard It’s not certain to sell all the secrets of our school to those monsters.”

The few Slytherins behind him laughed softly, their eyes full of disdain.

Hoffa felt very uncomfortable watching Ryan's jaw being twisted. This guy liked to tease creatures weaker than himself since he was a child. Although he came to Hogwarts, he restrained himself on the surface, but his nature has not changed.

"How do you know?" He asked coldly.

"When I found him, he was actually feeding blood to a vampire. I suspected that there was something wrong with him. When I came back and asked for Veritaserum, it turned out that he still had a lot of stories."

He couldn't help laughing when he said that, he shook Ryan's chin: "Hey, next time there is such a good thing, remember to call us, don't enjoy it to yourself."

Harsh laughter came and went, and Hoffa became more and more uncomfortable. For some reason, he had the feeling that his little brother was being bullied, even though Ryan was not his subordinate.

Hoffa took a step forward, "He is a Hufflepuff. Even if he does something wrong, he should be handed over to the Hufflepuff."

"What does it have to do with you?" Tom Riddle retorted without hesitation: "This is the internal affairs of our Hogwarts, do you need an outsider to intervene? Who do you think you are, a Ravenclaw prefect? "

Hoffa didn't move, and the laughter died down little by little.

Tom pulled the iron chain with his head held high. Ryan's hands were bound, and he stumbled forward a few steps. When he walked past him, he said, "Have you finished asking questions? Hurry up and leave after asking, riding a Thestral will still change." Become a bird as you like."

"stop."

Hoffa stopped Tom.

"Is it over?"

Tom threw the chain away. "What else do you want?"

"I haven't finished asking questions, and he knows the answers to my questions."

Tom Riddle looked at him suspiciously, "Just asking a question?"

"That's right, I'll leave after asking."

Tom pondered for a moment, then pressed Ryan on the shoulder and pushed him forward, in front of Hoffa: "If you have any questions, just ask here."

After speaking, he and the Slytherins stepped aside, chatting and looking at Ryan, the eyes are similar to the police looking at the thief.

Hoffa, on the other hand, looked at the miserable Hufflepuff boy in front of him, and felt a little guilty for a while. He tricked him to have a good time in order to find the nun, and felt that everything was under his control. Under his control, their various situations took a turn for the worse. It seemed that this Hufflepuff was worse than himself.

"I'm sorry, Ryan."

Hoffa scratched his head and said.

Ryan looked at him, his lips twitched: "They are going to burn Kelia to death, and I want to see it."

Kelia Portman, Hoffa raised his forehead. He still remembered the name of the female blood race. After pursing his lips and thinking for a moment, he asked, "Are you still willing to trust me? I can take you out of here."

Ryan looked at Hoffa with his right eye that was still open, shook his head, his expression was about to cry: "You are more ruthless than the other"

"Give me another chance, buddy." Hoffa pressed his ear anxiously, "I lied to you once, and I promise not to lie to you a second time."

"Don't say irrelevant things."

Tom's warning and cold voice came from the side.

"I know, I know." Hoffa waved his hand irritably, and asked Ryan, "Tell me what black mistletoe is, hurry up, we don't have much time." He bit the word time very hard.

Ryan looked into Hoffa's golden eyes and seemed to be guessing the credibility of his words. In the end, he nodded: "I can't explain it to you directly. I have to take you to see it."

"where to?"

"Herb Warehouse."

Hoffa immediately said to Tom: "It's not clear here, he wants to take me to the herb warehouse."

"Why are you going to the warehouse again?"

Tom asked alertly from folding his arms to standing upright.

"Take a mistletoe."

It was Ryan who answered him.

"Just a mistletoe?"

Hoffa nodded.

Tom and his companion gathered together and whispered a few words, and soon they had a result, Tom pulled the chain that bound Ryan from the ground, "Okay, come with me, you really have a lot to do. "

A group of people came to the herb warehouse in the cloud base, which is very similar to the botanical garden in the Hogwarts herbal medicine class. In the flower beds made of wood, there are many colorful plants, most of which are used for healing and medicine. , Hoffa is also very familiar with, only a small part he does not know.

When he came to a crooked-neck apple tree, Ryan stopped and pointed to a touch of green on the branch, "This is what you want."

Hoffa stopped to take a look, disappointed.

I saw a few thin tender green branches growing on the branches of the apple tree. They had many branches and looked very fragile and soft.

Hoffa has seen this thing a lot. In the past at Hogwarts Christmas, this thing hung in the hallway.

"I want black mistletoe, black."

He stressed to Ryan.

"Black Mistletoe"

Ryan was a little dazed and didn't know what he was thinking. After being pushed by Hoffa, he bowed his head and said: "It is said that when the gods were prosperous, the queen of gods, Frigga, blessed her youngest son Baldr and made all things swear Do not harm him, and all things swear by Baldr's beauty, never to harm Baldr.

Only one creature did not swear, the mistletoe.

Before the dusk of the gods, the god of death plucked the mistletoe and gave it to Hodur, the god of darkness, to throw the mistletoe at Baldr. Badr died because of it. After Ragnarok, the mistletoe that killed the god of light turned from green to black. "

When he finished, Hoffa froze.

Tom Riddle on the side laughed out loud.

"Okay, I thought you were looking for something, Bach. We don't have things from mythology here. They are all ordinary wizard's household items."

Regardless of Riddle's sarcasm, Hoffa asked Ryan, "Is there only one plant?"

Ryan shook his head, "That's just a legend, it's not rigorous, and it can't be verified. However, according to the unrevised original version of "A Thousand Miraculous Herbs and Mushrooms", mistletoe is a plant that must kill other creatures for a living , it cannot survive on its own, and usually parasitizes common trees such as poplar trees, apple trees, and squirrel trees. This kind of plant will insert roots into the bark to absorb nutrients, thus causing damage to the tree , some also cause deformed death in parasitized trees. But it doesn't just kill plants, in fact, if mistletoe can also feed on other things, including humans. After green mistletoe is used to kill a person , it turns black. Once a mistletoe has tasted the soul, it only feeds on the soul. So the only thing black mistletoe does is to kill the soul.

In the Middle Ages, it was used by the church to kill ghosts or destroy the souls of pagans, but now it has been completely eliminated because it is too inhumane. Now, even possession of black mistletoe is punishable by murder. "

After he finished speaking, there was silence in the herb warehouse.

Tom Riddle touched the small green plant in front of him curiously, his eyes sparkled, as if he was looking at a novel species.

Hoffa stared blankly at the fragile green plant in his hand. Who would have thought that this harmless little thing, which hangs all over the corridor at every turn, would have such a hidden use.

He understood why Aldo asked him to try black mistletoe. Mance's body was blessed by the god of death, and he would not die no matter how severely injured he was, so all he could do was destroy his soul.

"So, if you want it to turn black, you must let it taste the soul?" Hoffa asked uncertainly.

"That's right."

Ryan whispered: "Humans, or other creatures with souls, centaurs, murlocs, etc. But there is no doubt that black mistletoe is an extremely evil plant"

He didn't say the rest, but Hoffa understood what he meant. Had to kill to make it black?

It's not enough to kill Mance directly with mistletoe, because only physical damage can't hurt him at all. Doesn't that mean that he has to kill another person before killing Mance?

Damn it, where can I find someone to kill me?

"I don't know why you want to know such unpopular knowledge." Ryan pulled Hoffa to persuade while those Slytherins were focusing on the mistletoe: "But I advise you not to try, your Polymorph can conjure hundreds of weapons at your disposal, why use black mistletoe?"

"you're right."

Hoffa dropped the idea of ​​using black mistletoe.

The surging power of the night gave him a lot of self-confidence. He felt that he could reach the threshold of a top wizard at night. If Mance only had the characteristic of being invincible, he didn't think that the opponent could defeat him in a head-to-head confrontation. Own. Besides, he hoped to capture that guy alive.

At this time, Tom Riddle also spoke: "You also saw that there are no black ones here, or take a green one and go."

Hoffa nodded, picked a mistletoe casually, and grinned: "Okay."

When he smiled, Ryan panicked, he dragged the chain and asked, "Are you leaving now?

"Why don't you go?"

Hoffa was surprised.

"You said you would help me."

"You believe what I say,"

Hoffa laughed, "It's not that I haven't been fooled before."

Looking at the bright smiling face of the guy in front of him, Ryan's face was ashen, and he felt dizzy for a while, and could hardly stand up.

"Fuck me, bastard!" He said with difficulty, then rushed forward struggling, waving his fists, about to greet Hoffa in the face.

But before it reached his face, the chains tightened, and he could no longer take a step forward. The corner of Tom's mouth raised in the distance, and he held on to the chain tightly to prevent Ryan from moving in the slightest.

"What a fool to pin your hopes on others."

After criticizing Ryan, Tom Riddle looked at Hoffa approvingly: "I have to say, you are much smarter than before."

Hoffa shrugged, ignoring Ryan's angry eyes. "Thank you for the compliment, Tom, but I have a small request."

"I'm in a good mood, let's hear it."

"I want to borrow the female vampire you caught yesterday for a few days."

"What?"

Tom let go of the chain: "What do you want her for? Could it be that you fell in love with her beauty?"

"That's not enough. All the high-ranking vampires in Bournemouth died, and only one survived. I promised Professor Slughorn that we will find the culprit of the Bournemouth murder within a week." , but the city is complicated, and I need someone who is familiar with the terrain to lead the way."

"impossible."

Tom Riddle immediately refused, "I caught her, she is my trophy, I have the final say on how to deal with it, and we are going to purify those vampires with flames soon, and the reporters from the Daily Prophet will come to see her, at this juncture , it is absolutely impossible for you to take her away."

"Hey man!"

Hoffa sighed like he was chatting with an old friend. He unceremoniously untied the chain on Tom's hand, pushed Ryan aside like trash, and whispered into Tom's ear: "I don't care if you think about it." I understand, calling those reporters over is just to make big news?"

"Stay away from me"

It was the first time that Tom was so close to Hoffa, and he was very unaccustomed to it, and pushed him away with disgust on his face.

Hoffa smiled and took his arm. "Burning her, and those low-level vampires, how much prestige can you get? Such a small amount of credit can also allow you to become a teacher at Hogwarts after graduation?"

Tom didn't move, he looked at Hoffa suspiciously: "Why do you know so much, who told you these ghost things, or is it that some of my friends are your spies?"

"Don't think too much, Tom, you've seen it too. I'm not the ignorant person I used to be."

Cough cough, he coughed: "Well, you hand over that vampire to me, and I'll take you down with me. When you find that guy, you'll be credited with all the credit. You can say whatever you want."

"I don't believe it. I don't believe any bullshit stories about Muggles poisoning vampires at all, and I don't believe that you will be kind enough to help me."

Tom Riddle sneered and said, "Get out of my sight immediately, that's the best way to help me."

Hoffa looked at him sadly, "Just because of those little things in our childhood, why have we come to this point? To be honest, I have almost forgotten those things."

Tom Riddle was unmoved, and pulled Ryan forward with a sneer.

"It's a pity, then I'll have to do it myself."

Hoffa sighed behind him, maybe this is over and I can consider going back to Hogwarts.

"Love can't come back."

Tom Riddle left the next sentence firmly, and walked further and further away.

"Why go back to Hogwarts, Hoffa continued to think to himself, maybe I should apply for a teacher's job as well. I heard that Professor Mellas of the Defense Against the Dark Arts class is going to retire."

"XXX!!"

There was a sudden bang.

Tom Riddle blew up like a cat whose tail was stepped on. He no longer ignored the astonished eyes of other people around him, smashed a box carried by a passing house-elf with his fist, and kicked the house-elf out by the way. far away.

"Hoffa Bach!" His voice completely turned into a deep hiss like the language of a snake. He bit his finger tightly and let it go after a while, leaving bloody spots on his finger. Tooth marks, he clenched his fist and let go: "If you can't find it when you go down, what do you say!?"

"You have to look for it to find out." Hoffa spread his hands.

"What else do you want, just say it quickly, don't squeeze toothpaste, one after another." He said with difficulty suppressing his fury.

"OK,"

Hoffa pointed to Ryan who was lying aside, "Then take this guy with you."

"Why do you take him?"

"Blood bag, in case the vampire dies of starvation on the way, wouldn't it be a waste of our trip."

Hoffa said with an evil smile, Ryan, who was leaning on the ground, turned pale.