A strange fragrance filled the cave, the distinctive scent of a potion, both bitter and enticing.
Unicorn blood, the venom of a Maledictus, and all manner of precious magical ingredients.
Wormtail (Peter Pettigrew's nickname) had been watching this cauldron of potion for an entire month, and his thoughts had begun to wander.
He did not know why he had chosen this place. To him, once he escaped the United Kingdom's wizarding world, surviving in any country was much the same. Other countries' Aurors would not constantly keep an eye on a rat missing a paw.
From the moment he escaped Hogwarts, he had struggled to shake off the pursuing Aurors. For some reason, that scene had felt familiar to him, as though he had seen it somewhere before.
Still, relying on his sudden inspiration for escaping, he had fled all the way to Albania, the legendary criminals' paradise, somewhere the United Kingdom's wizarding world could barely reach.
After arriving in Albania, he suddenly remembered something. He had once heard Harry and Ron say with his own ears that his old master, the Dark Lord, had been hiding in Albania all along.
Now that I'm here, if I don't go to see him, will he settle the score with me later? There was no going back to Dumbledore's side now, and he still needed a powerful wizard to protect him.
So, after spending some time on it, he brought most of the rats in Butrint, where he was hiding, under his rule and had them help him search for traces of the Dark Lord.
He himself hid in the sewers of a wizard-run tavern on the edge of the forest, eavesdropping on all sorts of news.
He did not know how long those sunless days lasted, but there was still no