The Slytherin statue told Dracula a lot about Horcruxes and Death, which were the results of his life-long research as the founder of the great Slytherin House.
Dracula remained silent, and no one knew what he was thinking.
"If you hadn't come to see me, I would have told you all this a long time ago." Slytherin said with some complaints, "I exist as a statue just for this purpose. You really made me wait for a long time!"
"So, you have been waiting to tell me these things all these years?" Dracula glanced at the statue of Slytherin and said thoughtfully, "Could it be that..."
A surprising idea came to his mind -
"Do you want me to fulfill your wish of replacing the god of death?" Dracula's eyes suddenly shrank.
"Ah, you are worthy of being my good friend. You really understand what I mean!" Slytherin stroked his stiff beard and said with satisfaction, "Of course, it still depends on your own ideas."
"Don't I know you? Unless something can completely arouse your interest, no one can convince you."
Dracula raised his eyebrows in surprise and stared into Slytherin's eyes.
Slytherin also stared at Dracula with meaningful gray stone eyes.
"I am indeed somewhat interested... Can you tell me more about it?" After a moment, Dracula suddenly laughed happily, "It has been difficult to find any fun in the magic world these years. It might be more interesting to become a so-called god of death."
Slytherin's two stone palms clapped together, making a crisp sound.
"Okay! I knew you would be interested!" He said happily, "The conditions for replacing the God of Death are actually very harsh. The first point is that you must collect all three Deathly Hallows!"
Dracula was stunned for a moment, and suddenly an intriguing smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.
"What's wrong? Do you think it's difficult?" Slytherin saw Dracula's expression and comforted him, "Don't worry. Although it is difficult for a wizard like me to collect all three mysterious Deathly Hallows in just a hundred years, it's different for you..."
"Brad, you have a lot of time. As long as you pay more attention, you will be able to collect all the Deathly Hallows sooner or later! So there is no need for you to worry about this."
"I'm not troubled." Dracula shook his head with a half-smile, "I just... suddenly felt like laughing."
"Want to laugh? You're such a weird guy." Slytherin gave Dracula a strange look and continued, "We must have the protection of the three Deathly Hallows to fully display our true strength in the world of Death—"
"The place where the god of death resides has a great suppressive power on the people in the world. The energy there will restrict the flow of magic power, affect the clarity of the mind, and will continue to erode our bodies."
"And the Deathly Hallows can resist this: the Elder Wand can restore the flow of magic, the Resurrection Stone can protect the sanity of the holder, and the Invisibility Cloak can resist the continuous erosion of the outside world... These functions may not be visible in the world, but they will become extremely obvious in the realm of the God of Death."
"It is rumored that this was a product specially created by the three Peverell brothers to fight against the god of death after they had a conflict with him... But before the three of them could gather the three Deathly Hallows in one person's hand, they were divided and destroyed by the god of death."
"In the end, only Ingnotus Peverell, who possessed the invisibility cloak, escaped the pursuit of the god of death, but he was no longer able to fight back. In the end, he could only pin his hopes on future generations..."
After hearing Slytherin's story, Dracula fell into deep thought.
According to Slytherin, replacing Death has almost become an imperative.
First of all, Dracula was indeed very interested in this legendary character in the magic world, and when he went from the Hall of Death in the Department of Mysteries to the world of the God of Death, he did have a feud with the God of Death, so it was quite reasonable for him to take revenge.
Secondly, many of Dracula's friends, descendants, and other close people need someone to guide their souls.
Dumbledore wants to go to the Lost Realm to guide Harry back at the cost of his own life; Helena Ravenclaw, as a ghost soul, needs the power of the god of death to guide her to salvation; even Andros' soul attached to the patronus can be said to be homeless and has nowhere to go...
If Dracula could replace Death, these problems would be solved.
"Oh, there's one more thing." Slytherin suddenly added, "I think there's something you might be able to use."
He pointed to the corner, where a scepter was that Dracula had just kicked aside.
"See that walking stick? It's actually Herbo's Horcrux... Herbo thought he had disguised it well and placed it in his warehouse like an ordinary collection. But I knew at first glance that it was something special."
Looking at Dracula whose eyes gradually widened, Slytherin said proudly:
"After all, I have inherited Helbo's legacy. I am embarrassed to destroy the Horcrux that he relies on for survival..."
"It's fine if I give it to you. I'm entrusting you to help protect it. Even if you do something to it, it's just because I don't know you well. It has nothing to do with me!"
…
There is a small village in a valley in the west of England.
There is a small square in the center of the village, and in the center of the square is a war monument carved out of stone.
There are a few shops, a post office, a bar, and a small church with stained glass windows that radiate jewel-like brilliance across the square.
There was a drizzle in the sky. Dracula was walking in the rain without an umbrella, but every drop of rain would automatically tilt and scatter when approaching him, and fall on the stone-paved ground.
Dracula passed by a few Muggles who were hurrying to and fro and came to the monument in the center of the square.
The monument suddenly changed. It was no longer an obelisk with names inscribed on it, but a statue of three people.
A man with messy hair and glasses; a woman with long hair, beautiful and gentle face; and a baby boy sitting in his mother's arms.
The raindrops hit gently on the heads of the three of them, and then miraculously slid down their shoulders, leaving not a drop of rain on their bodies.
Dracula looked at the statues of the family of three with great interest and easily recognized who was carved here: the man with disheveled hair looked very similar to Harry, except that he did not have the famous lightning-shaped scar on his forehead.
The statues of these three people were spontaneously cast by local wizards to commemorate the first defeat of Voldemort.
This is Godric's Hollow, the most famous of the semi-wizard settlements.
This village in southwestern England is the birthplace of Godric Gryffindor, founder of Gryffindor House, and is also where wizarding goldsmith Bowman Wright forged the first Golden Snitch.
During the 100 years that Dracula was asleep, this place was still the pillar of the current wizarding world. It was where the great wizard Albus Dumbledore once lived, where Dumbledore and Grindelwald first met, and where Voldemort was defeated for the first time...
Dracula walked around the statue and headed towards the cemetery behind the church opposite.
There is a narrow door at the entrance to the cemetery, and rows of wet tombstones stand on the moist soil.
There was a tombstone that seemed to have been cleaned recently. There was not a single weed around it, and unlike other tombstones that were covered with moss, it was very clean and tidy. In front of the tombstone was a bunch of white flowers that bloomed in the rain.
Dracula's eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at the dark stone tablet.
"Kendra Dumbledore, and her daughter Ariana."
There is also a motto engraved below: Where the treasure is, there the heart is also.
"Is this why you want to find the Resurrection Stone?" Dracula looked at the tombstone, thoughtfully.
When Dumbledore first saw the Resurrection Stone from Voldemort's hands, he was extremely uneasy; after Dracula gave him the Resurrection Stone after it was absorbed by Riddle, he studied this Deathly Hallows for a long time.
Dracula thought of the scene he saw in the Mirror of Erised five years ago.
A young girl, who seemed to be Dumbledore's sister. She should be the child named Ariana Dumbledore on the tombstone... She was Dumbledore's lifelong regret, and Dumbledore pursued the Resurrection Stone for Ariana.
Dracula sighed softly.
Then, without lingering any longer, he took a step forward and instantly appeared in a small garden full of shrubs and flowers, and knocked on the door of the small villa in the middle of the garden.
"Coming, wait a moment..." an old lady's voice came from inside the house.
After a while, the door creaked open.
An old lady wearing a worn black shawl poked her head out from behind the door. She was short, with sparse and pale hair, and the wrinkles on her face were almost connected.
The old lady raised her head and looked at Dracula who was smiling faintly outside the door with her cloudy eyes. She looked a little dazed at first, and then the cloudiness in her vision seemed to disappear in an instant, and she opened her eyes wide and looked at Dracula.
"You... you are?"
"Long time no see, Bathilda." Dracula chuckled.
"Is it really you, Mr. Dracula?" Bathilda Bashat asked in surprise, "I can't believe that you are still exactly the same as you were more than a hundred years ago..."
Bathilda Bashat was also a member of Nicolas Flamel's Phoenix Float Book more than a hundred years ago, and had an internship in the Alchemy Guild for a period of time.
At that time, Nicolas Flamel was only over 400 years old and had not yet completely retired. He would visit the Alchemy Guild from time to time to give advice to the young people; Dracula would often go with him to see if there was anything new.
It was at that time that Dracula met the young Bathilda Bashat.
"Well, Bathilda, Nico told me that Albus has been staying at your place recently, is that correct?" Dracula asked. "If he hadn't mentioned that Grindelwald was also staying at your place, I wouldn't have thought that Grindelwald was your great-nephew."
"Ah, you mean Gellert. He seems to be getting along well with Albus recently." Bathilda Bashat said with a smile, "They were both young and energetic guys back then, but now they are both old men with white hair... Only Mr. Dracula is still the same as before."
"Okay, I won't reminisce with you for now." Dracula interrupted her reminiscence with a smile and said, "I have something to do with Albus."
"Oh! I almost forgot it's raining outside." Bashat opened the door, "Come in!"
Dracula followed her into the living room, his eyes drawn to a bow-shaped chest of drawers behind many candles.
There were many photographs on the chest of drawers, and the reflections of the candles flickered in the glass and silver frames of the photographs.
In a photo at the back, there are two spirited young men, one with blond hair and the other with red hair. They stand together and smile lazily at Dracula in the silver frame.
Dracula picked up the photo.
"Good evening, Professor Dracula."
In the living room, Dumbledore with white hair came over and greeted Dracula.
Dumbledore seemed a little surprised when he saw the photo in Dracula's hand.
"Oh, this seems to be a photo from a long time ago." He said, "Professor Dracula seems to be very interested in it?"
“This guy with golden hair should be Grindelwald, right?” Dracula asked with interest. “I saw him in the Mirror of Erised in front of you five years ago… Tsk tsk, you two have a really good relationship.”
"Ahem..." Dumbledore almost choked on his own saliva and coughed twice, "Professor Dracula, it is not a good habit to peek into other people's privacy... and that was a long time ago."
Suddenly, another white-haired figure walked out of the house.
"Dracula, what did you say?" Grindelwald asked, with a strange light in his eyes. "You mean, in Albus's Mirror of Erised..."
"Gellert, this matter is not important!" Dumbledore interrupted him abruptly and changed the subject, "Instead of being curious about these trivial matters, I suggest you return to the house and continue studying the Deathly Hallows."
Grindelwald looked at him, his expression becoming amused.
"Is that so? I see." He smiled happily and said to Dumbledore, "Ah, when will you change your stubborn habit, Albus?"
Dumbledore had a blank expression on his face. He paid no attention to Grindelwald's thoughts and instead looked directly at Dracula.
"Professor Dracula, is there anything you want to talk to me about this time?" he asked.
"To be precise, I came here not only to find you, but also to find him."
Dracula glanced at Grindelwald, "There is a way to solve the Potter problem, and also get rid of the threat of Voldemort... But I need some help from both of you..."
"Also, I will need to borrow the three Deathly Hallows for a while."
"It's time to put an end to all these troubles."
…
…