Theoretically speaking, Voldemort had no reason to go to Albania and remain dormant.
The Diadem of Ravenclaw was taken from a hollow tree in the forest by the young Tom Riddle, who later made it into a Horcrux, which remained in the Room of Requirement at Hogwarts for decades.
So he didn't come to Albania to find his Horcrux.
In addition, according to Nagini's memory, as Voldemort's only friend during his hibernation, she did meet him in this forest after Voldemort died in Godric's Hollow.
This means that Voldemort did not know about Nagini's existence before.
Voldemort also did not come to Albania in search of his viper companions.
In this case, there is very likely something in this forest in Albania that can attract Voldemort and make him come here from afar, dragging his soul that is worse than a ghost and more fragile than a wandering spirit.
What would that thing be
Dracula frowned and remained silent for a long time.
He really couldn't imagine what was so noteworthy about this ordinary forest...
"Pickett, don't touch other people's things!"
Newt's voice suddenly sounded, interrupting Dracula's thoughts.
Dracula lowered his head and saw a palm-sized animal with two small brown eyes standing at the cuff of his sleeve, fiddling with a delicate button.
This little animal has the color of branches all over its body, and seems to be made up of bark, leaves and twigs. If it lies on a tree, it would probably be difficult to be discovered.
Hearing Newt's voice, Pickett the Bowtruckle immediately retracted his two slender, tentacle-like claws, stood obediently on Dracula's folded arms, and looked at Newt with an innocent face.
"Picket seems to like you very much, Professor Dracula." Newt smiled at Dracula.
He reached forward, took Pickett on his index finger, and raised his hand to his eyes, looking at him fondly.
"Does this Bowtruckle have a name?" Dracula temporarily put aside his doubts about the Albanian forest and asked in surprise.
He turned his head and looked at the guardian tree he was leaning against.
The guardian tree is very similar to the common mountain pear tree in the Muggle world. Many bowtruckles that look like bark, leaves and twigs are lying on the slender branches, looking at Dracula below curiously, while some of them jump down from the tree and greet Newt in a friendly manner.
Dracula looked back and forth at the Bowtruckles on the tree and the Pickett standing on Newt's index finger, but he couldn't tell the difference between these little things.
I don't know how Newt could tell at a glance that the Bowtruckle fiddling with the buttons was the Pickett he mentioned.
"Could it be that every Bowtruckle here has a name?" Dracula suddenly thought of a possibility and looked at Newt in shock.
"It's not that exaggerated..." Newt looked at the Bowtruckle on his index finger, "But I did think about doing this when I was young, giving each magical animal a unique name."
"But then I got older and my memory wasn't as good as it used to be. I couldn't remember the names of every magical animal. Also, naming is never an easy thing, so in the end I just let it go."
"But Pickett is different. He was one of the first animals to stay with me. During the Global Wizarding War decades ago, Pickett and Teddy helped me a lot. Especially when we rescued Theseus from the Eckerstag Prison in Germany..."
Newt's eyes unconsciously revealed a hint of nostalgia.
"Oh, sorry, Professor Dracula." Newt suddenly reacted and smiled apologetically at Dracula, "That's how it is when you get old, you always like to reminisce about the past."
"It doesn't matter. I'm also interested in what happened during the Global Wizarding War." Dracula shook his head slightly.
Dracula has discovered that the hundred years he spent in sleep could probably be regarded as the most turbulent hundred years in the wizarding world.
The global wizard war caused by Gellert Grindelwald, the wizard war in the British wizarding world caused by Voldemort, and the three great wizards who appeared one after another within a hundred years...
Dracula missed all of these at once.
Now, he is extremely curious about the stories of his sleep period, but he can only rely on other people's oral narration to continuously supplement his understanding of various major events that happened in the world during this period.
As an eyewitness of the Global Wizarding War, Newt can even be regarded as one of the most important characters in it. What he tells is naturally of considerable value.
It is for this reason that Dracula suddenly had the idea of inviting Newt to visit his castle.
While the two were talking, several curious Bowtruckles quietly jumped down from the guardian tree and landed on Dracula's shoulders. They each found a seat and looked at Newt opposite them.
"Professor Dracula, it seems that you are really loved by Bowtruckle." Newt looked at this scene and said in surprise, "I just thought Pickett was just an isolated case..."
"Why, shouldn't I be loved by them?" Dracula glanced at the little creatures on his shoulder, and then he continued to lean steadily against the trunk of the guardian tree, providing them with a safe environment.
"How should I put it..." Newt scratched his chin, "Bowtruckles are gentle and shy by nature, and usually don't get too close to people."
"Pickett was injured when he was a child and was raised by me, so he tends to be more clingy. But his condition is still quite rare."
"Also, there's one more thing I'm not sure whether I should say..." Newt glanced at Dracula and spoke with some hesitation.
"Tell me, there's nothing to hide." Dracula folded his hands over his chest with interest and said to Newt, "It's not like these little guys can harm me, right?"
Newt looked at Dracula again, focusing on Dracula's back as he leaned against the trunk of the guardian tree.
"The Bowtruckle won't harm you, but the Guardian Tree might..." he said, "If you've read the herbal book 'One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi', you might know -"
"The Guardian Tree is a magical tree that protects anyone who touches its trunk from attacks by dark creatures."
Newt glanced at Dracula again and said carefully, "But as far as I know, vampires should be dark creatures, right?"
"So that's what you're worried about." Dracula laughed happily, "Mr. Scamander, apart from the characteristics of a vampire, do you think I look like a dark creature?"
Newt looked around Dracula hesitantly, and after a moment, he slowly shook his head.
"If I didn't already know that you were a vampire, I really wouldn't be able to recognize any characteristics of a dark creature in you." He said blankly, "Does that mean vampires can also not be classified as dark creatures?"
Dracula slowly raised the corners of his mouth and chuckled softly.
"That's not the case, Mr. Scamander. I have always belonged to the darkness, and that has never changed." He smiled, "But you know what? When I completely become a part of the darkness, then the darkness can no longer passively affect me."
"Instead, I can control darkness with ease, like this—"
In Newt's eyes, Dracula seemed to have suddenly changed.
Although the vampire lord was still leaning against the tree trunk without moving, his expression was still that of a sneer with the corners of his mouth curled up.
But in an instant, his entire body was enveloped by an aura of evil and darkness.
The black and red cloak fluttered behind him without any wind, and there was a faint glimmer of blood in his wine-red eyes...
The next moment, a strong wind blew!
The Bowtruckles standing on Dracula's shoulders jumped up in fright, jumped off his shoulders one by one, and climbed up the guardian tree as if escaping, with expressions of surprise and doubt in their little brown eyes.
The guardian tree was shaking wildly in the strong wind, new buds appeared on the slender branches, and the mountain pear flowers on the tree bloomed almost at the same time!
Clusters of pure white mountain pear blossoms swayed in the wind, and the entire guardian tree looked as if it were covered with heavy snow in the cold winter.
In Newt's eyes, the environment of the suitcase, which was just colorful in summer, seemed to change color in an instant, and it was full of bright white. The wind blew through the flowers that were whiter than snow, as if blowing off pieces of shining crystals.
Every flower is really shrouded in bright white light!
These white lights pressed and squeezed towards Dracula, trying to push this being full of darkness away from their spotless territory.
However, Dracula just sneered and did not move at all.
"See, Mr. Scamander," he whispered, "if I don't want anyone to know I'm from the dark... not even the guardian tree."
However, at this moment, Newt hardly heard Dracula's voice, as all his attention was focused on the guardian tree full of blooming flowers.
This is the first time Newt has seen this magical tree that looks like a mountain pear tree bloom!
"So beautiful!" Newt murmured, "It turns out that the flowers of the guardian tree are really the same as the mountain pear flowers."
The flowers of the guardian tree were still in full bloom, and the white light became more and more dazzling, as if it was going to cover this isolated island built specifically for the tree-guarding hunchback.
At this moment, Newt's child's hole suddenly contracted.
He saw that as the light shone, the flowers on the guardian tree began to wither gradually.
"Professor Dracula, stop!" Newt shouted hurriedly, "The magic power of the guardian tree is limited. It can't withstand the impact of such a strong dark aura!"
Dracula looked back in surprise.
Sure enough, the branches and leaves of this guardian tree have gradually become wilted, and all the slender branches on the tree are drooping dryly.
Countless hunchbacks jumped down from the tree in panic, carrying many small insects such as beetles as food, and moved to the guardian tree next door.
Dracula straightened up and left the territory of the guardian tree.
"It seems that the Herbology textbook at Hogwarts is still exaggerated." He looked back at the guardian tree whose light was slowly fading, and shrugged helplessly, "What about the saying that as long as you touch the trunk of this tree, you will be protected from attacks by dark creatures?"
"But you are not an ordinary dark creature, Professor Dracula." Newt said with a smile, "I have seen the guardian tree expel dark creatures many times, but this is the first time I have seen such a spectacular sight of a tree full of flowers."
"In the past two minutes, the magic power released by this guardian tree might have been enough to drive away a group of werewolves, but it seems to have had no effect on you..."
Newt sighed with emotion, walked up to the guardian tree with his wand, and began to heal the tree with plant growth recovery magic.
Dracula also retracted the dark aura around him and approached the magic tree again.
It was not known whether it was because it could no longer sense the dark aura from Dracula, or because it knew it had no way to expel this existence, but this time, the guardian tree did not react at all to Dracula's approach.
"Professor Dracula, I think you might be remembered by Bowtruckle." Newt said suddenly.
He was casting a spell on the guardian tree, while Pickett the Bowtruckle, who was still standing on his index finger, kept complaining to him.
"Pickett is very unhappy with you, and so are his kind." Newt relayed to Dracula, "Pickett said you destroyed their living environment, don't even think about getting close to here..."
"Hey, do these little things think they can stop me?" Dracula looked at Pickett on Newt's index finger with interest. "I just took back the dark power, and they think they can do it again?"
"Come on, Professor Dracula." Newt said helplessly, "After all, the little guys were forced to move. Why don't you apologize to them?"
"Okay, for your sake." Dracula chuckled and shrugged, "But I broke a whole tree. Will these little guys forgive my apology?"
"Can you try to compensate with a gift?" Newt said uncertainly, "In fact, the guardian tree is an excellent wand material and potion raw material. Many wizards would like to break off some branches or leaves from this tree..."
"Generally speaking, to get leaves or wood from a tree guarded by a Bowtruckle, wizards need to give them some woodlice or fairy eggs. Bowtruckles like these two things best as food."
"If we calculate based on the number of times it takes two terrapins to break off a branch..."
Newt glanced at the guardian tree whose branches had all withered, and swallowed his saliva. "Professor Dracula, you may need to prepare thousands of beetle or fairy eggs."
Dracula's face froze for a moment.
"Are you really that serious?" he asked with a twitch in his mouth.
"Bowtruckles are very vengeful." Newt nodded sympathetically. "If it's too much trouble for you, Professor Dracula, I can go with you to dig for loaches. I'm quite experienced, so I should be able to dig enough in three or four days."
Dracula took a deep breath, bent two fingers slightly, and rested them on his chin.
"Actually... it's not that troublesome." After a moment, he suddenly spoke.
"Isn't it troublesome?" Newt looked at Dracula in astonishment. "Let me make this clear first, Professor Dracula, don't give the Cloning Spell and Transfiguration Spell to the Bowtruckles. It will hurt their bodies."
"I'm not so cruel as to feed them magic creatures." Dracula chuckled and shook his head, "I really have a better way."
As he said this, Dracula suddenly snapped his fingers.
A dark moon quietly appeared beside the two of them, and a dense forest could be vaguely seen in the dark moon.
The next moment, thousands of bats flapped their wings and appeared from behind Dracula, pouring into the dark moon like a black torrent and all entered the forest in the dark moon.
Newt was frightened by the large group of bats. He subconsciously stood in front of the guardian tree next to him, thinking that Dracula was going to use these bats to cruelly get rid of the Bowtruckle...
"What are you doing, Mr. Scamander?" Dracula looked at Newt's actions with amusement and said to him, "This moon leads to the Albanian forest outside the box. I asked each bat to help me catch a beetle in the forest. Doesn't this solve the problem?"
"Oh, so that's what you think." Newt heaved a sigh of relief and awkwardly gave up the guardian tree behind him.
Dracula chuckled and shook his head, slowly closing his eyes.
In fact, Dracula's purpose of releasing these bats was not just to catch beetles for the Bowtruckle. He would not go to such lengths for a group of tiny magical animals.
His most important goal was to use the sight of many bats to explore this seemingly ordinary forest. He wanted to find out what attracted Voldemort's attention and made him travel thousands of miles from Godric's Hollow to Albania to hide.
Time passed minute by minute, and one bat after another flew back from the dark moon.
Each bat held a beetle in its claws and threw it in front of the guardian tree, then turned into a tiny point of light and disappeared.
The forests of Albania gradually became clear in Dracula's eyes, and no suspicious place was left out.
Dracula used his bat's sonar-like hearing to carefully explore every corner, even the most hidden caves and the most remote bushes.
However, he still didn't find anything special in the forest.
Until the last bat returned to the world in the suitcase, the entire Albanian forest was within Dracula's sight.
He had to admit that this was indeed just an ordinary forest...
"Professor Dracula... Professor Dracula!"
Just then, Newt's voice interrupted Dracula's thoughts.
Dracula opened his eyes and looked at Newt, seeing him standing next to a large group of ground beetles, using magic to circle them and not give these insects, who were destined to become food, a chance to escape.
Next to Newt was a large group of Bowtruckles, which excitedly danced around the group of ground turtles, thanking them for this sudden surprise.
"Picket asked me to thank you, Professor Dracula, on behalf of the Bowtruckle tribe." Newt smiled at Dracula, "He said that as long as you are willing to give them these foods, you can even take the guardian tree away!"
Dracula was stunned for a moment, then shook his head with a smile.
Sure enough, even the most loyal guardian of the guardian tree, the Bowtruckle, could not resist the temptation of bread!
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