In front of the towering castle, the silver car slowly descended and landed on the ground as dark as ink.
Tesla flapped its wings and landed next to the vehicle, quickly opening the doors on both sides for Dracula and Newt.
This helped Newt a lot. He held the plump body of Niffler Teddy in one hand and carried his old-fashioned suitcase in the other, so he had no extra hands to open and close the car door.
Tesla then bent down and stretched one arm out to his side, motioning to Newt to lead him to the VIP guest room in the central tower of the castle.
"Mr. Scamander, this way please." Tesla said, "The most distinguished guests of Dracula Castle have separate rooms and courtyards, located in the center of the entire castle."
"Well, it doesn't have to be that troublesome." Newt hesitated for a moment and called Tesla. "I came to this castle mainly to observe the special magical animals here. Just put me in an area close to the natural environment."
However, what Newt didn't expect was that what he thought was a simple request actually made Tesla feel a little troubled.
"Mr. Scamander, I understand your idea, but the special magical animals here are not all located in the same area." Tesla explained, "For example, vampire bats are common species. They are found everywhere in the castle and are common pets of the vampires..."
"But rare species like the bloody crows mainly live on the dead trees on the north mountaintop. If you want to find aquatic creatures like corrupted goldfish, you have to go to the blood lake behind the castle. In addition, there are other species scattered around the castle..."
Tesla said this somewhat helplessly, and at the same time turned his head cautiously to look at Dracula.
Dracula frowned slightly.
He invited Newt to the castle as a guest, but not for him to study the magical animals here on the edge of the castle.
Dracula's main purpose was to listen to Newt tell him from an eyewitness's perspective what interesting things happened during the Global Wizarding War, when he was asleep.
If Newt lives far away from me, then what's the reason for me to ask him for stories
"It is definitely inappropriate to arrange it in a marginal area. That would be considered as poor hospitality on our part," said Dracula.
He decisively rejected Newt's request.
However, if Newt is simply placed in the center of the castle, far away from the magical creatures, it would be very inconvenient for him to observe the movements of the magical creatures, and it would also not be in line with the hospitality standards.
"How about this, Tesla." Dracula thought for a moment and came up with an idea. "Where are the rune teleportation magic circles you usually use when you go out on duty? Install a few in Mr. Scamander's room, and try to cover every location."
Then he turned to look at Newt, "This way you can go to the activity areas of various magical animals nearby at any time to observe, Mr. Scamander."
Of course, the more important point is that Dracula himself can drop by at any time to listen to the stories.
"Will this be too much trouble for you?" Newt asked hesitantly.
"It's no trouble at all, Mr. Scamander." Tesla said quickly, "It just so happens that the men who are responsible for setting up the teleportation magic circle haven't been assigned this kind of task for quite a while, so we can let them practice their skills."
He extended his hand to the side of his body again, motioning Newt to go with him to the central tower of the castle.
The issue regarding guest accommodation was successfully resolved, and Dracula nodded with satisfaction.
Then he wanted to sneak away to avoid being entangled by the various trivial matters in Dracula's Castle.
However, things don't always go as planned.
The next moment, a heroic girl descended from the sky.
Her hair was half black and half white, and the pair of small and exquisite wings flapping behind her were the same color, but in the opposite direction of her hair color.
As soon as the girl saw Dracula, she flapped her wings and flew over, landing lightly in front of Dracula.
"Okay, you came back secretly without telling me!" She stared with her big red eyes and said angrily, "If Tesla hadn't just informed me of your return, would you have taken the opportunity to escape again?!"
"Ahem, I'm not planning to run away..." Dracula's face froze, he coughed twice, and said stubbornly, "I'm just about to go back to the central tower to find you."
At the same time, he was secretly angry.
Tesla, this guy, clearly needed his leave to become friends with Robert again. However, in order to improve Selina's impression of him, this guy actually betrayed his Lord Earl!
And Dracula's sophistry obviously didn't work.
"Do you think I'm still a kid under a hundred years old?!" Selina immediately exposed his statement. "Then tell me, if you were going to the Central Tower to find me, why did you spread your wings facing the outside of the city?"
She glanced at the city wall that Dracula was facing, then turned around and began pointing at the wings behind Dracula that were about to take off.
Dracula: “…”
He really couldn't refute this.
Dracula really wanted to slip out of the city temporarily just now, so as not to be discovered by Selina, and then he might be dragged to deal with various backlogged incidents in the castle...
"Since you are here, come and help me see how to deal with these two things."
As Dracula expected, Selina grabbed his arm and flew towards the conference room while speaking.
"Also, tell me clearly in advance how long you plan to stay this time, so that you won't sneak away again!" Selena said angrily.
…
It is almost impossible to tell the change of seasons inside Dracula's castle.
The days passed quickly, but even though the temperature was a few degrees colder, the scenery inside and outside the city did not change at all.
The castle was filled with too much negative energy, and all the plants and animals in the nearby mountains and forests began to mutate.
The plants all over the mountain are dead trees with few leaves, trees covered with strange tumors, vines stained with blood, and bushes with charred leaves...
No matter what season it is, these plants seem to look the same, because under the influence of the dark atmosphere, they have long developed special abilities to resist drought, severe cold, strong winds and heavy rains.
These plants never rely on the outside weather to survive, but instead absorb the blood and energy hidden deep underground.
The surrounding animals are all mutated species, such as carnivorous rabbits with bright red bodies, rotten goldfish living in bloody water, and crows that feed on sucking blood.
Newt expressed great satisfaction.
The time he spent in Dracula's Castle was truly eye-opening. The magical animals here were almost never seen in the outside world, and these species only existed in this area.
Newt went out early and came back late every day, and he had used up several leather notebooks used to record magical creatures.
It is said that the world's most famous magizoologist is preparing to write a new book in the "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" series, called "Fantastic Beasts in Vampire Territory."
This will include all the special magical animals in and around Dracula's Castle.
Not only Newt was satisfied, Dracula was equally satisfied.
After all, there are still considerable dangers near Dracula's Castle. Both magical animals and various strange plants are obviously more aggressive and destructive than animals and plants in the outside world.
So, Newt often encounters species that one person cannot handle.
At this time, he needs to ask Dracula for help.
And Dracula is very happy to help Newt solve these problems.
After all, to him, these are all animals and plants in the vampire territory. They have become what they are now thanks to the blood and yin energy brought by many vampires. Each of them is very sensitive to the powerful aura of the Vampire Count.
Whenever they sensed Dracula's approach, these aggressive animals and plants would seem to wilt, and obediently allow Newt to study them repeatedly and cooperate with his quick sketches with his quill pen.
Dracula would also ask Newt about things during the Global Wizarding War while he was studying new animals and plants.
During this time, he had basically learned all the major events that had occurred in the first half of this century, and also had some understanding of the trivial details of the events that Newt had known.
It can be said that even if he were to communicate with older wizards like Dumbledore and Professor Kettleburn about what happened in the past few decades, he would not be as clueless as when he just woke up!
Of course, this period of time also had its drawbacks for Dracula.
As the actual manager of Dracula's castle, Selina is always dissatisfied with Dracula's behavior of being a hands-off boss, and every once in a while she has to find a way to find something for him to do.
Dracula also felt a little guilty about leaving such a big castle to his adopted daughter to manage. He could not bear to directly offend her, so most of the things assigned to him were dealt with casually.
After all, Selina now has a grasp of Dracula's concern.
If this cheap daughter also learns from me and becomes a hands-off manager, then the whole castle will be in complete chaos...
…
Before we knew it, November and December had slipped by.
Christmas, a very important festival for both the Muggle and wizarding worlds, is coming soon!
However, vampires have never had the tradition of celebrating Christmas, as the meaning of this holiday conflicts with their identity.
In comparison, Halloween two months ago still caused some waves in Dracula's Castle.
Therefore, there was no Christmas atmosphere in Dracula's Castle on Christmas Eve, and the vampires were still doing their own things in an orderly and calm manner.
Newt, who was deeply immersed in this atmosphere, gradually forgot the time and was completely immersed in exploring the life of new and strange animals...
Until one day, a magical animal that was incompatible with Dracula's castle broke this harmonious atmosphere.
Early in the morning, it was the time when the vampires were just beginning to rest.
Dracula had slept long enough in the past hundred years, so now he had basically no desire to sleep.
So he walked out of his luxurious room again and headed towards Newt's room where seven rune teleportation magic circles were placed.
He was going to listen to Newt's stories about the past of the two great wizards, Dumbledore and Grindelwald.
At this moment, a golden-red flame suddenly appeared out of nowhere and burned violently at Dracula's door.
In the firelight, a large golden-red bird emerged and walked towards Dracula with a proud step.
"Fawkes?" Dracula looked at the big bird with some confusion. "What's wrong? Headmaster Dumbledore finally remembered to let me go back to teach the students?"
He muttered to himself, wondering what had happened to Tom Riddle's Horcrux diary that caused Dumbledore to send Fawkes to find him...
Phoenix Fawkes walked up to Dracula with a proud step and gently raised his sharp claws.
Dracula looked down and saw a rolled up piece of parchment and an elaborate package tied to Fawkes's foot.
He waved his hand gently, and the ropes binding the parchment and delicate packaging fell off by themselves.
The two items flew up lightly and landed in Dracula's hands.
Fox looked at Dracula arrogantly, as if he was not used to the overly gloomy environment nearby. After delivering the things, he turned into a ball of golden-red fire and left.
Dracula first looked at the exquisite package in his hand and found that it was a pack of Honeydukes' latest trial version of bloody jelly. He nodded with satisfaction.
"Headmaster Dumbledore is quite capable!"
He smiled and opened another item in his hand, the rolled up parchment.
On the parchment was written a passage in very elegant handwriting:
“To my dear Professor Dracula:
Before I knew it, we hadn't seen each other for nearly two months, and now I miss you so much.
First of all, I want to wish you a Merry Christmas in advance! I have asked Fox to bring my Christmas present to express my sincere friendship.
In addition, I would like to remind you of two things, Professor Dracula:
First, unfortunately I have to tell you that in the past two days, the assistant teacher you arranged, Tom Riddle, had some teaching accidents and now has to spend some time recuperating.
Therefore, we have no choice but to ask you to end this vacation early and return to Hogwarts to continue teaching the young wizards.
Second, from what I understand, Mr. Newt Scamander should be staying with you. The Unplottable and Repellent Charms at Dracula's Castle are too strong for ordinary owls to find their exact location, so his family has not been able to contact him for some time.
If you see this letter, please find an owl that has been wandering around for a long time outside Brown Castle and give the letter in its hand to Newt.
Hopefully we'll meet again soon.
Sincerely,
A.D.
Dracula was slightly stunned after reading Dumbledore's letter.
Something happened to Tom Riddle's Horcrux diary? It actually takes some time to recover
Dracula knew very well that as a Horcrux that had received most of Voldemort's memories before the age of sixteen and also possessed his own unique body, Riddle's strength and magical knowledge were actually not weak, and were still growing rapidly.
So what did he do to put himself in a situation where he had to rest
In addition, he also realized that Newt had been here for quite some time and had even completely forgotten to contact his family...
Dracula's castle's protective spell is largely to blame for this.
No owl could find this place. Only a powerful and spiritual magical animal like the Phoenix could, with the help of Dumbledore, break through the numerous protective spells and successfully find Dracula.
Dracula snapped his fingers lightly.
A vampire bat quietly flew out from the dark eaves and landed on his fingertips.
"Go to Brown Castle and bring in an owl from nearby. When it comes in, escort it for a while and don't let other bats get their hands on its blood."
The vampire bat nodded in a very humane way and flew out of the castle along the shadows of the continuous buildings.
Dracula went to Newt's room as planned.
"Professor Dracula?" Neutra opened the door, and his expression became somewhat helpless after seeing Dracula. "I really don't have anything to say. As for the past of Dumbledore and Grindelwald that you are interested in, I mostly just heard about it..."
"Don't be impatient. I'm not in a hurry to listen to your story today." Dracula chuckled and shook his head.
Newt couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
During this period, the Earl was almost exhausted. He needed help from others and wanted to record the magical animals here with the help of Dracula, so he was embarrassed not to tell...
"I came here for something else today," Dracula said, "Do you know that it's almost Christmas?"
"Christmas is coming soon?!" Newt was stunned for a moment, then shocked, "Oh no, I have to go! I have promised Tina that I will definitely come back home for Christmas this year!"
Then he began to pack his luggage in a hurry.
Judging from Newt's tone, Tina may have agreed to go home for Christmas for several years.
But every year he was so obsessed with observing magical animals outside that he forgot the time and missed the festival...
"Mr. Scamander, don't worry, take your time to pack up." Dracula persuaded, "It's still not too late to go back now. At worst, I can teleport you home directly!"
"There's an owl outside the castle right now that's trying to deliver a letter to you, but it hasn't found a spot. I just sent a vampire bat to pick it up."
“Oh, by the way, I forgot to write to Tina again!” Newt covered his face in annoyance.
Not long after, a starving owl flew over with a red letter.
The vampire bat just now followed closely and escorted the bird carefully, fearing that the weak bird would fall from the sky and delay the mission assigned to it by the Earl.
"Why does this envelope look familiar?" Dracula murmured as he looked at the red envelope in the owl's hand.
At the same time, Newt's face changed drastically.
"This is... a howling letter!"
…
…