Riddle and Nagini

After passing through the Dimensional Gate, Xiwen and Riddle arrived together on a small hill in Albania.

The sky had darkened, and from time to time, dark shadows slithered through the grass, their bodies rubbing against the grass and making an eerie rustling sound.

Xiwen felt a chill run down his spine and was about to cast a spell to protect himself from being bitten by the venomous snake when Riddle made the first move.

Instead of showing any fear of the venomous snakes, he displayed a friendly expression.

Then, a strange hissing sound came from his mouth, like the hiss of a snake, or the whisper of a demon...

As Riddle emitted his strange noises, the surrounding shadows gradually swarmed around him, gathering around him. Some small snakes even crawled onto his body, affectionately rubbing their snake faces against his skin.

Xiwen lit his wand and saw the scene before him—

Riddle was covered in numerous vipers with oval markings, some coiled around Riddle arms, legs, and waist, others lying on his back with their heads poking out. These snakes seemed to transform into moving ribbons wrapped around Riddle, creating a strangely eerie beauty.

"So Parseltongue can not only be used to talk to snakes, but also to control them?" Xiwen asked curiously, looking at Riddle, who was covered in snake ribbons.

"I'm not sure if I can control them," Riddle shook his head and said to Xiwen. "But they will certainly be very generous in helping me."

"If that's the case, then it seems pretty impressive!" Xiwen smiled and exclaimed. "Let's go, let's meet up with Dumbledore and the others first."

The two walked toward a firelight beside the hill.

The portal to Xiwen's Dimensional Gate wasn't very far; after only a few steps, you could see Dumbledore and Newt sitting on the ground around a campfire, protected by a hemispherical transparent shield.

Outside the protective shield was a group of vipers sensing the warmth of the campfire. These vipers huddled together, all wanting to move closer to the warm fire, but were blocked by the shield.

Once outside the protective shield, Riddle once again hissed at the vipers in his Parseltongue, quickly making them part to create a wide passage.

At that moment, Dumbledore also saw Xiwen and the other person.

He smiled and waved his wand, and the transparent protective shield immediately opened a doorway for the two to enter.

Just as Xiwen and Riddle were about to step into the protective shield, Aberforth raised his hand to stop them.

"Hey, you black-haired kid, are you planning to bring snakes in?" he asked loudly, looking disapprovingly at the various small snakes on Riddle's body.

Riddle then remembered that he was still wearing many snake-shaped ribbons.

He smiled apologetically, then spoke to scare away the vipers on his body before coming to the campfire with Xiwen.

"Would you like some barbecue?" Dumbledore asked with a smile, holding up a wooden skewer Riddle slices of meat on Xiwen.

Xiwen watched Newt diligently roasting meat by the campfire, while Theseus made things worse by his efforts, and a twitch appeared on his lips.

"Why are you guys eating barbecue?" Xiwen asked.

"We haven't had a proper meal all day, so I was thinking that since we're finally out in the wild, why not try barbecuing ourselves?" Dumbledore said with interest. "Luckily, Newt's suitcase has a lot of barbecue tools and seasonings. If we catch some small animals, we'll have everything we need!"

As he spoke, he casually took another wooden skewer from the campfire, naturally used a spell to lower the temperature of the roasting meat, and then popped it into his mouth.

"Looks pretty good." Xiwen didn't stand on ceremony. He took two skewers of barbecue from the campfire, handed one to Riddle, and tried a bite of the other himself.

The two then exclaimed in admiration, giving Newt a thumbs up.

It must be said that Newt, as a Magizoologist who has spent many years in the wild, has quite good grilling skills. He can grill ordinary pheasant meat into something that tastes like a delicacy.

After Xiwen and Riddle joined in the barbecue, the food was consumed at an alarming rate. Newt quickly realized the meat was all gone and said to Dumbledore:

"Albus, we've run out of ingredients."

Dumbledore nodded and casually stretched out his hand toward the forest, whereupon a brightly colored pheasant flew out of the woods.

The transparent protective shield opened a gap at the opportune moment, allowing the pheasant to fly in and land in Dumbledore's hand.

Under Dumbledore's masterful control, the pheasant passed away peacefully.

Dumbledore used some kind of spell, or perhaps simply relied on his control over magic, to make the pheasant float in mid-air, its feathers falling off automatically.

Then, several blades of grass on the ground sprang up and, under the effect of Transformation, transformed into wooden skewers that automatically pierced various parts of the pheasant and were handed to Newt.

Since Xiwen had already witnessed Dumbledore's outrageous actions through his Soul Body's eyes, his expression remained relatively calm, though he still deeply admired Dumbledore's self-control.

Riddle was completely dazzled by this display of skill; it was the first time he had ever seen magic used in such a way!

After eating and drinking their fill, everyone got up and used Vanishing Spell to clean up the mess from their picnic.

Then, the day's work finally got down to business.

"Tom, did Xiwen tell you what we need your help with?" Dumbledore asked, looking at Riddle.

"Yes, I understand," Riddle nodded. "You're looking for a witch who might have turned into a snake, right?"

Dumbledore, then glanced at Aurelius.

"Nagini's serpent form is a bright green viper with oval markings, about twelve feet long," Aurelius said, understanding the implication. "I'll leave this to you, Mr. Riddle Riddle."

Newt added, "Most vipers don't exceed four feet, so just ask the smaller snakes if they've seen such a large snake, and you'll easily find Nagini."

Riddle nodded, turned and stepped out of the transparent protective shield, standing in the center of the snake swarm.

Then, a series of eerie hissing sounds emanated from the swarm of snakes...

Kama and Aberforth glanced uneasily at Riddle's location, clearly still harboring doubts about Parseltongue. However, under Dumbledore's stern gaze, they suppressed their worries and waited patiently.

A moment later, Riddle returned to Dumbledore and the others.

"How is it?" Aurelius asked hopefully.

"Mission accomplished." Riddle smiled smugly and said to Aurelius, "There is indeed a great serpent living in the forests of Albania, and the vipers here have recognized her as their queen!"