Golden hair peeked in from the cave entrance. Hagrid saw the person's face, his fist loosened, and he quickly tucked the small umbrella back into his waistband before greeting, "It's Professor Quirrell! It's alright, everything's fine here, and there aren't any Vampire!"
As he spoke, he took a step forward, blocking the Vampire behind Gori with his massive body.
But he couldn't hold off the whole group by himself. His underlings, who were recovering, were scattered in different directions. Some were leaning against the wall, and some were curled up in the crevices of the stone wall. Quirrell's eyes had already swept across the entire cave and he saw everything.
Leaning against the stone wall, Gori spoke, " Hagrid, no need to hide anymore. Professor Quirrell has come many times, but has never come in. Good afternoon, Professor Quirrell, I didn't expect to meet you here again."
Hagrid paused for a moment. "You two know each other?"
Quirrell sighed helplessly and walked into the cave, his boots crunching over the rubble and broken vines on the ground. "Didn't Headmaster Dumbledore tell you that you caught this Vampire elder on the train? I was on that train, dealing with him with Professor Malin."
When he said "dealt with him," his voice softened, as if he remembered that he hadn't really dealt with him much, only managing to stop those low-level Vampire. If Dumbledore arrived in time, who knows what might have happened on that train.
Hagrid scratched his head and muttered, " Dumbledore seemed to have said something, but I didn't quite catch it."
His eyes darted around as he spoke, clearly trying to recall, but the images in his mind were of himself staring at the large cage in his hands, thinking about how to stuff the Vampire inside. He didn't pay any attention to Dumbledore's words, and just kept nodding in agreement.
Quirrell smiled helplessly, knowing Hagrid's personality; he definitely hadn't been listening carefully.
No wonder he kept the Vampire information from himself, the person directly involved; it turns out he wasn't strictly following Dumbledore's instructions, but was completely unaware that he was also aware of it.
Quirrell didn't press further. His gaze swept over the mess scattered throughout the cave. The stray limbs and remains looked like a rough battlefield in the dim light, and the smell of blood and burnt flesh in the air was even stronger.
He looked into the Gori, his tone scrutinizing. "What's going on here? Are you having a party? The kind of ancient, bloody party I've only ever seen in books."
Leaning against the stone wall, Gori appeared relaxed, but her gaze remained fixed on Quirrell: "That's how low-level Vampire and blood servants eat. We noble purebreds are still very elegant. If you have the chance, I can invite you to a banquet, just like a dinner party for human nobles, or rather, the so-called nobles of today don't know what a real banquet is like at all."
Quirrell shook his head. "Let's not. I don't know if I'll be a guest or dinner then."
Hagrid, as the host, took the initiative to speak. After all, this was his breeding ground. He tried to organize his thoughts, repackaged the information he had just heard from the Gori, and expressed it in his own words. "It says that some Vampire named Chris wants to kill him, has different opinions from him, and wants to become some kind of Vampire leader!"
Although Hagrid's explanation was disjointed and contained a lot of his personal jargon, Quirrell still managed to understand the gist of it.
He nodded. " Chris is from one of the Thirteen Vampire Clans, and their patriarch Ulric wants to kill Gori. But normally only one elder should awaken, right? He's temporarily in charge of the Thirteen Clans, so he awakened ahead of schedule?"
Gori finally breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that at least someone who could speak had arrived. He leaned against the stone wall and said, "Yes, he woke up early. Apart from him, no one in the Chris Clan has the guts or the ability to deal with a clan chief."
Quirrell took two steps forward, his boots crunching over a few broken vines and branches on the ground. "Then he's violated the Vampire Covenant. I read it in a book. Pure-blood within three generations cannot attack each other. Those who violate it will be besieged by the Thirteen Clans, starved, and left to bake alive in the sun."
Vampire are normally not afraid of the sun, after all, they are Magical Creatures. However, if they do not drink blood for a long time, their magic power will drop rapidly, and they will be harmed by sunlight. It's like countless tiny knives cutting their skin inch by inch. Not only their bodies, but their souls are also like being cooked on a barbecue grill.
The Gori let out a cold snort, its sound echoing slightly in the empty cave, "Clearly, after killing me, he became the current elder on duty. Until the other clan leaders awaken, no one can judge him, and no one dares to judge him."
Quirrell frowned slightly. "What about your clansmen and blood descendants? They should come to help you, or perhaps awaken the other elders. Although each elder's castle is a secret, you should have a way to communicate. The second-generation blood descendants are a little weaker than you, but disregarding bloodline suppression, a few of them together could still fight you to a draw."
Gori's face darkened, and his eyes, which gleamed a pale red in the dim light, drooped for a moment. He remained silent for a long time, so long that Hagrid thought he wasn't going to answer. Then he spoke, his voice much lower than before. "They've probably already sided with Ulric; they're all traitors. Of course, there might be some who didn't betray us, but they're probably all dead. No Vampire can escape the pursuit of a Vampire elder."
Quirrell frowned even more deeply. "Don't you have bloodline control? Especially those you personally embraced, you should be able to control their lives and deaths, how dare they betray you?"
The Gori recalled the strange phenomena he had witnessed when dealing with Dormon —the fading crimson runes and the unresponsive curse. A hint of uncertainty lingered in his voice. " Ulric used a forbidden method to free the lower-ranking Vampire from his bloodline control."
Quirrell pressed on, "Forbidden methods? This book doesn't mention them."
The Gori clearly didn't want to continue this topic. He changed the subject, his tone becoming more urgent. "In short, I'm completely isolated now. If I stay here any longer, Ulric will definitely continue to send people to attack me."
Quirrell's gaze lingered on his face for a moment. "You want to leave without dragging Hogwarts down with you?"
Hagrid immediately chimed in, his voice much louder than before. "No, Dumbledore told me to keep an eye on you!"
His tone was urgent; it was unclear whether he was worried about neglecting his duties or afraid the pet would escape.
The Gori shook his head. "You overestimate my abilities. Besides, with this magic, I won't get far before Ulric's Vampire catch up with me."