The long-haired vampire standing behind Lockhart opened his mouth to reveal slender fangs and bent down to bite his neck.
"Wait! You can't do that!" Gale quickly stepped in to stop him.
"That's right, Artemis," said the brown-haired man standing beside Gale. "That prey belongs to this brother here. He should have the first taste."
"Fine," the long-haired vampire said regretfully, letting go of Lockhart. "I'm really hungry though."
His snake-like gaze swept over Lockhart's neck. Lockhart stood frozen, and turned to Gale with a desperate look for help.
"Listen—" Gale's brain was spinning fast as he tried to speak in a vampire-style, ravenous tone. "This blood is incredibly rare. He's a wizard… so I think we should wait until everything is over, and then everyone can slowly enjoy him."
Lockhart was so terrified he could barely think. When he heard that, he looked at Gale in shock with an expression saying, "I didn't expect you to be this kind of person."
"A wizard?" The long-haired vampire immediately became alert. He searched Lockhart and found a wand, which he casually snapped in half. Then he showed a greedy smile. "I'm looking forward to it… By the way, what's your name?"
"Oliver!" Gale's heart skipped a beat, and he blurted out a common name: "I'm Oliver Williams!"
"Oliver? Haha, you're the third Oliver I've met! I'm Jack Roberts."
The brown-haired man patted him on the shoulder enthusiastically and said, "The first two didn't taste very good, but I think we're going to get along great!"
Gale forced a smile and nodded. "Definitely! Absolutely!"
At the same time, he looked toward the sky with longing, hoping the owl that delivered the package would notice his situation and bring his uncle to rescue him.
But the owl had already flown far away. Instead, he saw two bats flying past in the distance.
—What's going on? A vampire gathering? This close to Hogwarts? Are they insane?
Gale had a reason he had to come here, but he couldn't understand why these vampires, who weren't being hunted by Dementors, had shown up too.
He wanted to ask around, but he was afraid of revealing that he wasn't one of them. So he kept his mouth shut after a few vague responses, and watched everything nervously.
Soon after, the group headed toward the edge of the village. Lockhart's hands and feet were tied, his mouth was gagged, and two vampires were dragging him along. He looked like a drunk man being helped to walk.
Aside from the central commercial area, Hogsmeade wasn't much different from an ordinary village. Most areas were quiet, with scattered houses lining the roads. Some reclusive folks lived in especially remote spots.
But the place the vampires were going—even Lockhart, who had studied at Hogwarts for seven years and had been a professor for over half a year—had never been there. It was nearly at the farthest western edge of the village.
It was an old wooden house, two stories high, with seven or eight windows. Some thin tree branches even grew close to the ground near the walls.
Lockhart didn't get a chance to see much more. As soon as they entered, he was thrown into a filthy storage room and ended up with a mouth full of dirt.
He barely managed to lift his head and saw that, to his surprise, another person was tied up in the storage room.
It was a young woman, she was sitting in the corner wearing a gray robe and her head was bowed as she quietly sobbed, clearly terrified.
"Be careful," Lockhart heard someone say. "Didn't you hear what the new guy said? That person's a wizard."
"Got it." Another voice replied, then someone came over with duct tape and swiftly wrapped it around Lockhart's mouth and fingers, before leaving them and walking out.
When the door closed with a thud, Lockhart's face was full of despair.
Even if he had mastered wandless and silent spells, getting this sticky duct tape off wouldn't be easy… and besides, he hadn't.
Lockhart lay on the ground with tears of regret streaming down his face.
If only I had taken the time to seriously learn wandless and silent magic back at school… or if I hadn't abused memory charms just for fame…
No, no, the biggest mistake was coming to Hogwarts at all—this place is cursed. Ever since I accepted the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, misfortune has been following me nonstop.
Why does life have to be so hard?
As the woman beside him continued to cry, Lockhart, unable to make a sound, silently shed tears of his own. He even began to feel a bit of sympathy for the person next to him, sharing the same fate.
He turned his head with effort, trying to catch the girl's eye for help—maybe she was one of his fans?
Even if she wasn't, at least her hands appeared to be free. If she could just get the tape off him, that would be enough.
The long-haired woman was still crying, as if her tears were endless. Lockhart gave a couple of muffled hums to remind her he was there.
The crying paused slightly, and the woman slowly lifted her head, revealing a pair of blood-red eyes—and a face with only one nostril.
…
Gale could also hear the crying that sounded eerily like a wailing owl. He watched the door close and uneasily asked, "Who else is in there?"
"The owner of the house," said a red-haired vampire.
"What?" Gale asked in shock. "This is her house? If… if someone comes looking for her and finds us here, what then?"
"Don't worry. She's a banshee—nobody wants to go near them," the red-haired vampire said as he shoved Gale forward. "Come on, almost everyone's here."
Gale stumbled a step into the living room, and was stunned to see that this small house was already filled with two or three dozen vampires. The room was dimly lit and filled with smoke, and dozens of eerie, reflective eyes all turned to look at him.
Gale instinctively took a step back—
Only to be bumped forward again by Roberts, who was walking behind him.
"What's wrong?" Roberts asked, puzzled.
"I… I'm just a little worried about the blood meal I brought…" Gale made up an excuse. "He's in there with the banshee—what if she kills him?"
"Read a book, mate," Roberts said with a mocking laugh. "Banshees are harmless. All they do is cry under the windows of people who are about to die."
Gale had no choice but to nervously step inside, where someone immediately shoved a wine glass into his hand.
He lowered his head to sniff it and realized it was fresh human blood, laced with a strange scent—like cedarwood.
"Special banshee blend," said the vampire who handed him the glass, winking with a grin. "You'll love it, brother."
Gale took two sips, and felt every cell from his throat to his stomach light up with satisfaction.
During his time on the run, chances to drink human blood had been rare. Plus, the refrigerated blood from hospitals had additives—nothing like the taste of fresh blood.
If his life weren't still in danger, Gale would've nearly shouted in excitement, "Another glass, please!"
Even more fortunately, after eavesdropping for a while, he realized the others didn't really know each other either. They had just all been invited via a mass message—brought together by their shared identity as vampires and difficult circumstances.
"Hi there." A vampire girl who looked quite young walked over, clinked glasses with him, and smiled. "I'm Sophia."
Gale hurriedly replied, "I'm… I'm Oliver."
He almost forgot the fake name he'd made up earlier.
Sophia took a sip of blood, then leaned in and asked, "Do you think what the invitation said is true?"
"Huh? That…" Gale had no idea what the invitation even said, so he mumbled, "Probably? You don't think it's believable?"
He tossed the question back to her.
"Who knows?" Sophia leaned against a cabinet and looked around the room at all the vampires with dark circles under their eyes.
"It said that if the mission succeeds, each of us gets at least thirty thousand Galleons. That kind of deal—I wouldn't even dare to dream about it…"
—How much? Did you just say thirty thousand??
Gale was so shocked he nearly spit out his drink. He craned his neck and gulped it all down with a loud glug, finally understanding why the vampires in the room all wore that same expression.
—This greed… this hunger… it isn't just for blood. It is for something more tangible—and much shinier: gold.
—Something like that, near Hogwarts? What kind of operation could earn you hundreds of thousands of Galleons?
Though he still didn't know the full picture, Gale felt a deep sense of danger. He was now desperate to find a way out.
He downed the rest of his blood in one gulp, set down the glass, made some casual small talk, and then clutched his stomach and said, "Sophia, I think I might be allergic to banshee blood. Could you tell me where the bathr—"
But Sophia's gaze suddenly shifted upward. "Look! That must be the one who invited us."
Gale turned to look—and saw a man and a woman descending the stairs. The man had a dark, sinister aura that screamed Dark Wizard. The woman looked like an ordinary housewife—but her eyes gave off a chilling sense of danger.
"Welcome, welcome, my fellow brethren."
The man smiled broadly and said:
"Thank you for accepting my invitation. I truly miss the days when we used to work together. Unfortunately, ever since the organization's bases were gradually destroyed, it seems like we've all become wandering ghosts. I've heard things have been especially hard for many of you lately…"
"Cut the crap, Baird," growled a vampire with a scar across his face.
"We were all just cannon fodder tossed onto the battlefield by the organization, lucky to survive. Not like you, the golden boy who always stayed in favor with the higher-ups."
"That's right. We just want to hear what this 'big job' of yours is," said another vampire with terrifying burn scars, revealing a sinister grin. "If you're lying to us, I swear I'll tear you apart piece by piece!"
Gale could tell that most of the people in the room didn't really believe there was some grand job worth hundreds of thousands of Galleons—they were simply driven by greed and had come to check it out anyway.
And for most of them, even if they didn't walk away with 20,000 Galleons, a few thousand… or even a few hundred would be worth doing something dirty.
"Once you hear the plan, you'll understand why the payout is so high. In fact… the real number might be even bigger."
Baird flashed a mysterious smile.
…
"You've got to be kidding me! Kidnap a Hogwarts student? And you're talking about Wade Grey?" Roberts roared. "Are you out of your mind? If you want to die, don't drag me with you!"
He turned to leave but was blocked at the door by the scar-faced vampire.
"Considering the sales numbers of his products, it's true that Wade Grey could have hundreds of thousands—maybe even millions—of Galleons in his vault. But with Dumbledore around, no one can touch him."
The scar-faced vampire asked calmly:
"Baird, I'm guessing you're not suicidal either. So what's the plan?"
"I've received word that this weekend, Dumbledore will be away meeting with the headmistress of Beauxbatons."
Baird smiled. "Hogsmeade weekend, gentlemen. All the little wizard brats will be roaming around this village—and if one or two go missing, no one will notice."
"Are you seriously thinking of snatching such a high-profile wizard right out of a crowd?" Roberts sneered. "I bet the moment you try, Dumbledore will show up in less than three seconds!"
"Exactly—that's why someone needs to lure him here, where even if they get caught, no one will notice," Baird said. "That's the hardest part, and I've already arranged it. Someone will bring Wade Grey here. Any other questions?"
"Even so..." Artemis said nervously, "there's no guarantee it'll go smoothly. He might bring friends. A Hogwarts professor could suddenly show up..."
"That's why I invited you guys, fellas! If it were completely risk-free, I'd do it myself!" Baird said bluntly. "But if it goes well, it'll be as easy as picking gold off the ground!"
"And if it doesn't go well? Besides Dumbledore, Hogwarts still has quite a few powerful professors. Even this village is full of wizards..." Artemis said, worried.
"If we get caught, sure, we might die." Baird shrugged with a grin. "—Which just means the survivors get a bigger share of the loot."
At the thought of a glittering mountain of gold, the vampires' eyes immediately gleamed with intensified greed.
The burned vampire licked his lips and said, "It's definitely worth a shot. Baird, how's the cut going to work?"
"I only want the boy—alive," Baird said. "Everything in his vault is yours."
"After we catch him, how do you plan to escape?" asked the scar-faced vampire. "Do you have a Portkey?"
"Nothing that convenient. The wizard in our group who could make Portkeys was killed by Grindelwald," Baird said regretfully. "We'll have to use Floo Powder—luckily, this house has a fireplace."
Everyone fell silent for a moment.
The fireplace in this house could at most fit two people at a time, meaning it would take a while for everyone to escape to safety.
Because they couldn't clearly and accurately speak a Floo destination while transformed into bats, this posed a risk.
If the operation was exposed early, the vampires left behind would be as good as dead. And in that case, a scramble to escape would likely descend into chaos and bloodshed among themselves.
On the flip side, if they could stay undetected for even just thirty minutes—or even twenty—it really would be a quick and easy payday.
No one believed that dozens of vampires couldn't subdue a teenage boy. They only feared being the unlucky ones left behind.
After a brief silence, everyone tacitly suppressed their worries and fears and began to discuss the details of the plan.
--------------------------------
🙏🙏Please consider supporting this translation project by becoming a P@treon member!!!
Your support is greatly appreciated!
Available on my P@treon page for just $4!!
Early access to the following translations:-
⭐Harry Potter: Becoming a Study God (HP:BSG)- +235 Chapters
⭐MCU: Druid's Adventures (MCUDA)(⭐COMPLETE⭐) - Total Chapter 460
⭐Famous Police Detective in Detective World (FPDDW)- +165 advance chapters
⭐Marvel: Little Genius (MLG) (⭐COMPLETE⭐) - Total Chapter 450
[email protected]/Lightreaper457
--------------------------------