"Two powerful wizards?!"
Albert was shocked. "Mr. Scamander, don't say anything careless. We have never had a wizard of this level who can change the celestial phenomena on a large scale!"
"Minister Albert, why are you so unconfident?" Young Rolf jumped up and patted Albert on the shoulder, and said to him in a condescending manner, "I grew up listening to stories about Greek mythology. Maybe there are some ancient great wizards in your magic world who have been hiding from the world for a long time?"
Albert smiled bitterly and shook his head. "I would rather believe that there are wizards from other places coming here to fight..."
"Mr. Scamander, what do you think?" He turned to look at the old man next to Rolf who was frowning and thinking.
Newt raised his eyelids slightly, glanced at Albert, then turned his head and looked at Rove worriedly.
"I want to go into Mount Olympus," he whispered.
"That's great! If you go into the mountains to explore in person, you will definitely find out the truth about Mount Olympus!" Albertel naturally wanted more than anything else and excitedly winked at another younger brother behind him.
The younger brother made an "OK" gesture and took out a small golden statue from a box he had just moved in.
"Mr. Scamander, this is a portkey to Mount Olympus produced by our Ministry of Magic!" Albert was obviously well prepared. He took the small golden statue and was about to hand it to Newt. "There are not many wizards here who can make portkeys. This thing is in short supply now."
Newt and Rolf looked at the golden statue in front of them that resembled the legendary Hermes and couldn't help but fall into deep thought.
Apparently, in Greece, door keys are in short supply.
The small statue of Hermes in front of me seems to be made of gold with a very high purity. Such a statue may weigh one or two kilograms.
According to the more conventional gold price of 10 Galleons per gram of gold, such a small statue would probably cost 8,000 Galleons, which is as high as 40,000 pounds when converted into British pounds!
The fact that the Greek Ministry of Magic processed such a valuable item into a portkey was indirect proof of the scarcity of portkeys here.
In contrast, in the British Ministry of Magic, almost every clerk in the Department of Magical Traffic and Transportation can make basic travel items such as portkeys.
And because portkeys are thrown away after being used once, most of them are made from useless waste such as old shoes, waste newspaper rolls, broken teapots, etc. The advantage of this material selection is that the Ministry of Magic does not need to recycle the used portkeys, which greatly reduces the time cost.
Therefore, looking at the small golden statue of Hermes in Albert's hand, Newt and Rove both showed sympathy and pity.
"Um... Is there something wrong?" Albert looked at the two Scamanders in confusion, "Don't you need a portkey when you go on a long trip?"
Rolf opened his mouth to explain how common these portkeys were in England and America.
But Newt interrupted him by rubbing Rolf's head.
"Rolf, we are guests, don't embarrass Mr. Abbott." Newt said in a low voice with a gentle look on his face.
Looking at his very considerate grandfather, Luo Fu nodded obediently.
Newt smiled and looked at Albert who was still confused.
"Mr. Abbott, I understand your difficulties." He asked with a gentle expression, "Since your portkeys are so rare, why don't we just Apparate to Mount Olympus?"
Albert's expression froze on his face.
"Mr. Scamander, do you mean to say... Apparate to Mount Olympus, which is a hundred miles away?" he asked stiffly.
"Yeah, is there any problem?" Newt asked curiously, "This distance shouldn't be too far, right?"
Albert covered his face in pain.
Rolf looked at Albert's expression and carefully tugged at his grandfather's dirty windbreaker.
"Grandpa, please stop talking..." He whispered, "I now feel that you are the culprit who embarrassed Mr. Abbott."
Newt: “…”
…
Newt, Rolf, Minister Abbott and his two followers, the five of them finally used the statue of Hermes to reach the outskirts of Mount Olympus.
This is because Newt, in order to take care of Minister Abbott's feelings, pretended that he couldn't Apparate to such a long distance... Although it is hard to say whether Abbott will believe his white lie.
A few people stood on an empty road and saw a desolate mountain in front of them, shrouded in thick fog.
Judging from the parts not covered by the fog, Mount Olympus is extremely majestic, with handsome and tall mountains. From halfway up the mountain, you can vaguely see the towering snow-capped mountains piercing into the fog.
The dark gray of the bedrock and the white of the snow match each other harmoniously. Perhaps only nature can create such completely different yet matching scenery.
The mountains were shrouded in mist, with white light flashing from time to time, turning the mist into pure white. However, the white light was often mixed with some faintly visible black air, adding a bit of evil temperament to this mysterious mountain with a domineering and slightly gentle appearance.
"I didn't expect that the white light and black gas in this area would become more frequent now." Abbott said solemnly, "When I came here a few days ago, it took a long time for the white light and black gas to flash alternately, but now it's almost non-stop..."
Newt frowned, looking at the misty mountain in front of him, his face gradually darkening.
"Minister Albert, this white light and fog are definitely not caused by the thunderbird." He said softly, "I once lived with a thunderbird for nearly half a year. I know very well that the clouds attracted by the thunderbird's innate magic are mostly dark and heavy rain clouds, and the light it emits is also slightly blue and electric..."
"So we've ruled out the first possibility?" asked Abbottl.
"It can basically be ruled out." Newt nodded, "But the possibility of a special thunderbird mutating cannot be ruled out."
"Well, so the second possibility you mentioned can still be retained." Albert agreed.
He took two steps forward, carefully observed the thick fog for a while, turned his head and asked curiously, "So are you more inclined to the second or third possibility?"
"There is too little information. I cannot jump to conclusions so hastily." Newt shook his head. "I must go into the mountains and collect more information."
Newt looked at Mount Olympus, half of which was hidden in the mist, with joy and curiosity in his eyes.
At the same time, Rolf, who was standing next to Newt, had the same emotion in his eyes.
"Grandpa, it looks like it's time for us to go on an adventure together!" Rolf jumped up excitedly, "I got the chance to go on an adventure when I was only twelve years old. I said I would become a great Magizoologist like Grandpa!"
However, just as Rolf was jumping for joy, Newt tilted his head slightly and looked at his little grandson in confusion.
"Who told you I was going to take you on an adventure?" he asked softly.
Rove's celebration came to an abrupt halt.
"But...but...Grandma Bunty is not here, so I am your only assistant, right?" He spoke with a stutter due to the huge emotional gap.
As if he had thought of a possibility, Rolf suddenly opened his mouth wide, "You don't want to enter Mount Olympus alone where the situation is unknown, do you?!"
“Of course.” Newt straightened his dirty windbreaker, which looked very adventurous. “When I was young, I went on adventures alone a lot. I’m already familiar with it.”
"But you are not young anymore!" Rolf said anxiously, "You can't go alone. Mount Olympus needs me! The subject of Care of Magical Creatures needs me!
”
"Rolf, you're still too young. I can't let you go on adventures with me." Newt said, "Besides, I'm not dead yet! I still have to support the subject of Care of Magical Creatures. It won't be too late to take over after you graduate."
Newt gave a rare joking smile and stuffed a tie embroidered with gold patterns into Rolf's hand.
The next moment, as the air in front of Newt and Albert twisted, the angry Rove disappeared into the outer land of Mount Olympus.
"I'm sorry to have embarrassed you, Minister Abbott." After sending away his troublesome grandson, Newt breathed a sigh of relief and smiled at Abbott. "Rolf is still too young to participate in such an adventure with unknown circumstances."
"I understand, I understand!" Albert nodded repeatedly.
Then he looked at Newt's hand that had just handed over the tie, opened his mouth slightly, but never said anything else.
"Do you have anything to tell me, Minister Abbott?" Newt saw that Abbott was hesitant to speak, so he asked curiously.
"Ahem... It's nothing important..." Albert coughed awkwardly, "I just want to ask, is the portkey that Mr. Scamander just gave to Rolf also a portkey?"
"You read that right, Minister Abbott." Newt smiled softly. "This is a portkey that Albus gave me decades ago. It can be used to return to Hogwarts from anywhere in the world. I haven't used it in all these years, but I suddenly remembered it today."
"Um... made decades ago... anywhere in the world...?"
Albert swallowed his saliva, feeling that he had been staying in this small place of Greece for all these years and had not seen much after all.
Newt smiled indifferently.
In fact, he was also surprised at first by the effective range of the door keys made by Dumbledore and how long they could last.
This is because normal portkeys are often only used within the country, and most portkeys have a shelf life of only a few days. After this time, the magic contained in them will gradually dissipate, and eventually turn into useless old shoes, waste newspaper rolls, broken teapots...
As for cross-border portkeys, they not only require approval from the Ministry of Magic, but also require more detailed magic casting; portkeys that cross continents are even more complicated - generally speaking, only the top wizards can make cross-continental portkeys, and they are only effective for a few hours at most.
Cross-border and inter-continental portkeys require extremely strict approval and extremely high fees, which is why the number of black market makers who privately sell portkeys in the wizarding world remains high.
Moreover, the portkeys sold by those black merchants usually have no quality assurance. They are often used in the wrong place, too bumpy, or even thrown out of the portkey during use...
The Portkeys made by Dumbledore never had this problem.
This most powerful wizard in the wizarding world had demonstrated his outstanding ability to make portkeys as early as the Global Wizarding War sixty years ago. He used portkeys several times to save Newt and his friends who were fighting against Grindelwald from danger.
For example, the portkey that Newt used to teleport Rolf away was obtained from Dumbledore decades ago, and it has not lost its function to this day...
Newt and the Greek Minister of Magic beside him walked side by side towards Mount Olympus, both thinking thoughtfully about the portkey.
“Ding Di—”
Just then, several loud car horns sounded, interrupting their thoughts.
Newt turned his head and saw a black car with its headlights on, driving slowly behind the two of them.
"Hey - two guys in weird clothes in front!" A middle-aged man rolled down the window and stuck his head out of the car, "Do you two have any manners? You were walking in the middle of the road, and when you heard the horn, why didn't you quickly get out of the way?"
The man spoke in Greek, and Newt looked at Albert beside him in confusion.
Albert's face became extremely embarrassed, and he quickly grabbed Newt's arm and dragged him to the side of the road.
"I'm so sorry, we were too engrossed in our conversation." Albert smiled apologetically at the man.
The man looked at Newt and Albert who had moved to the side of the road, snorted, and still angrily stretched his hand out of the window and raised his middle finger.
"You two should be careful next time." He pointed his middle finger at the gray shell of his car. "See? This is a BMW 850Ci! I can afford this car, which means I can easily deal with you two weird transvestites!"
After saying this, the man still put his middle finger outside the car window, started the car with his other hand, and sped away from Newt and Albert, leaving only the dust they raised.
Seeing this Muggle being so provocative, Albert, who was the Greek Minister of Magic and a "powerful and influential" person, became so angry that his face turned red.
Although Newt didn't understand what the man said, he could still understand his middle finger and exhaust gas. Even he, who was usually good-tempered, was a little dissatisfied.
However, both of them restrained themselves and did not use magic against Muggles. This is a matter of principle for wizards in the wizarding world.
However, just because the two of them didn't take action doesn't mean that others won't take action...
"boom!"
A loud noise came from not far in front of the two of them.
The two men looked up in astonishment and saw an incredibly handsome silver car and an equally handsome man sitting in the car.
The man had long silver hair that was more dazzling than the car body...
…
…