Butterfly Wings

Those who had never lived through Voldemort's reign of terror simply could not imagine the fear of Death Eaters suddenly bursting into their homes and slaughtering their entire families.

It was the fear of never knowing whether they would survive another day, of kindly elders and mischievous children dying before their eyes at any moment.

Forget the name Voldemort—even the three words "The Dark Lord" had become an indelible scar in many people's hearts.

And this punk actually intended to use The Dark Lord's name as a selling point.

He truly had a death wish!

He had provoked public outrage. Some people even hurled their wineglasses at him.

The Gold Leather Jacket Wizard leaped onto the platform and punched the punk hard in the head, knocking him to the floor. Then he waved his wand and raised a Shield Charm before shouting, "Everyone, everyone, I apologize to you all on his behalf. Please calm down."

"In a moment, someone will bring each of you a small gift as compensation."

"This Premium Roundtable is canceled."

This wizard clearly had some standing. Though everyone was still grumbling, they gave him face and rose to leave.

At that moment, Snape stepped forward.

"Tucker, I don't have that much free time. I only came because you wrote to tell me there was something good."

The Leather Jacket Wizard apologized again. "Mr. Doe, I'm very sorry."

Snape shook his head. "No. I merely hope the roundtable will continue. I want to see what he intends to sell."

Hearing Snape's words, the people around them stopped. One Bearded Strongman nodded in agreement. "Right. We can't have come for nothing."

In the end, the Premium Roundtable continued.

Anton glanced at Snape and chuckled under his breath.

Mr. Doe? What an interesting nickname.

He finally understood why he had run into Snape. Perhaps he really had been drawn here by the bait of "The Dark Lord."

The Gold Leather Jacket Wizard grabbed the punk, Pete, by the collar and hauled him up from the floor. With an angry expression, he muttered some instructions to him. Pete nodded repeatedly in fear.

Then Pete stepped back into the center of the platform.

"All right, there was a little accident just now." Combined with the massive black eye around his socket, the words seemed rather comical, and many people laughed out loud.

"Albania. Two months ago, I went there. At the time, I was being hunted by a powerful Dark Wizard, and in my panic, I stumbled into that place."

Pete spoke vividly, even shuddering as though the memory still frightened him.

The crowd burst into laughter again.

"As everyone knows, it's so barren that it feels like the edge of the world." Pete grew more animated as he spoke. "But when I got there, I learned that besides forests, it has hundreds of thousands of bunkers."

The Bearded Strongman cried out, "That many? Impossible! I know Albania. It's extremely poor."

Pete shrugged. "I'm not sure. Who cares?"

"I didn't find..." Pete met the Gold Leather Jacket Wizard's sharp gaze and swallowed the rest of his words in fright.

"But I found this!"

As he spoke, he walked to the Iron Cage and yanked off the black cloth covering it.

Inside the Iron Cage was a giant snake, a full twelve feet long. It appeared to be a type of Viper, with patches of dark brown markings that looked particularly savage.

But aside from its size, this Viper was clearly not in very good condition.

It was covered in wounds, with large patches of scales missing. In some places, bright red flesh was even exposed.

"This?" the Bearded Strongman roared. "You're wasting my time!"

"Don't be impatient. This is a very, very magical snake. It isn't an ordinary snake." Pete gave a mysterious smile and pulled his wand from his Wizard Robe.

He looked at the Gold Leather Jacket Wizard. "May I cast a spell?"

After receiving approval, he turned to the crowd with an exaggerated expression. "Now, please keep your eyes wide open, because the change will only last an instant."

With that, he waved his wand. "Shattering Curse!"

The spell's light passed through the Iron Cage and struck the Viper.

The Viper twisted with a shrill hiss. In one instant, its triangular snake head suddenly transformed into the head of an Eastern woman, black hair streaming in the air.

But it lasted only an instant before the change vanished, as if it had always been nothing more than an ordinary snake.

Anton tightly gripped the branch in his hand.

Fuck!

Wasn't this Nagini?

At first, she had appeared in Fantastic Beasts, following a descendant of the Dumbledore family. Later, she had gone with Newt and the others to Hogwarts to find Old Dumbledore.

After that, the snake became Voldemort's most beloved pet and was turned into a Horcrux.

In the end, Neville had cut off her head with the Gryffindor Sword.

Anton did not know what had happened in between, nor did he know whether the original story had explained it, but Pete had clearly said that he found her in Albania.

Anton knew that Voldemort was hiding there right now!

That meant...

He stared blankly at the rather smug Pete on the platform.

I let him go. Otherwise, he would have died. Since he didn't die, the damned Voldemort never got the chance to meet his pet?

So Old Voldy had missed Nagini?

"Holy shit." Anton murmured unconsciously. "Did I change history? Butterfly wings?"

This was not some insignificant character. Nagini occupied many crucial plot points in the Harry Potter story.

She was one of Voldemort's seven Horcruxes.

And she had killed Snape.

At that thought, Anton looked diagonally ahead. Sure enough, Snape seemed very interested and raised his paddle.

"Excellent." The Gold Leather Jacket Wizard presided over the auction from the platform. "This gentleman has raised the bid. Anyone else?"

Pete rubbed his hands excitedly beside him and looked toward the Bearded Strongman, who had been the most enthusiastic person in the room.

The strongman spread his hands, showing no interest. "Her head has an exotic charm, but I don't want to put my treasure into a snake's mouth. That's disgusting."

Laughter erupted around them.

One wizard who had been about to raise his paddle immediately lowered it upon hearing that. He turned and hurriedly explained himself to the female companion beside him.

The Bearded Strongman's words were a perfect killing blow, completely extinguishing the interest of several people who had been eager to bid.

Pete's face went dark. He looked as though he wanted to slap himself.

"No one else wishes to raise the bid?" The Leather Jacket Wizard asked three times before shouting, "Congratulations, Mr. Doe. You have obtained the lot from this Premium Roundtable."

Two staff members came over, hoisted up the Iron Cage, and stuffed it into a suitcase enchanted with an Undetectable Extension Charm.

The crowd gradually dispersed.

Anton gave Snape one last glance before leaving as well.

After wandering around the hall for a while, he really did find someone selling Muggle currency. Unfortunately, there were no Francs, only Pound Sterling.

Pound Sterling was a genuine gold-backed currency, containing 2.13281 grams of gold. Judging by the price of gold alone, one pound was no small amount.

Anton remembered that in Sherlock Holmes, it had been said that Sherlock Holmes considered an annual income of sixty pounds enough for a single woman to live quite comfortably.

The figure was somewhat useful as a reference, so he exchanged for one hundred pounds.

At Gringotts, he would have needed twenty Galleons to get that much. In this place, which was effectively a black market, it only cost him nine Galleons.

The Ministry of Magic strictly restricted contact between wizards and the Muggle World. Clearly, Dark Wizards were not as uninhibited as Anton had imagined.

Wizards rarely had any occasion to use Muggle currency, and the reason it was so cheap was actually because "extracting the gold from it is troublesome."

Anton nodded seriously. "True."

How brain-dead would someone have to be to want to extract gold from metal currency? Wouldn't it be easier just to take the money to a gold shop and buy gold directly?

Having exchanged for the money he needed, Anton did not linger. The Old Wizard had warned him that the relaxed atmosphere in some gathering places could make people forget the dangers lurking beneath the surface—and that was often when they were most dangerous.

Anton headed straight out.

But before he could reach the spot where he had hidden his Flying Broomstick, a spell struck him.

"Expelliarmus!"

The Old Wand flew from his hand.

Anton calmly turned around, quietly drawing a spare wand from a hidden clasp inside his loose Wizard Robe with his left hand. This wand belonged to the Old Wizard.

Once he saw who it was, Anton raised an eyebrow.

Snape!