"Although this type of dragon has the largest size, it moves slowly. But no matter how slow, it's still a dragon."

"Ordinary animals encountering such a creature shouldn't have any chance of getting close. But at that time, I discovered an eagle was actually relying on its own agility and small size to engage it in combat!"

Harry couldn't help but widen his eyes.

"What kind of eagle?"

"Its back had brown-black feathers, with black and white stripes under its wings. Compared to the Ukrainian Ironbelly, it looked even smaller than its eye!"

The animal encyclopedia Severus bought in Britain kept flipping pages, finally stopping on an image that perfectly matched Andrews's description.

"That should be a Goshawk, a medium-sized bird of prey in the Accipiter genus."

"Yes!" Andrews also saw the picture and confirmed, "It was incredibly brave, almost like it was mad, constantly battling the dragon. Later, they flew away together. I wanted to follow to see what happened, but I couldn't keep up. I only found a few feathers on the ground."

He pointed to the third row of the wooden cabinet, where a feather was framed and hidden among a pile of clutter.

"This one. I picked one up as a keepsake."

While he was speaking, Severus had, at some point, pulled out a piece of parchment and was recording this incident.

At the same time, he continued asking, "Are there any others?"

"Of course! If you let me talk, I could go on for three days and three nights. Besides special animals, there are also things about spirits."

Andrews turned and walked towards his row of shelves-

If those shelves, besides books, also messily covered with various dried animal specimens and herbal plants, could be called bookshelves.

He rummaged and soon found a photo album covered in dust.

Rubbing his hands together, he placed the album in front of Severus and the others, then began flipping through it.

The photos were clearly taken by Andrews himself. There were all sorts of magical creatures, rare herbal plants uncommon in the wizarding world, but mostly Trolls.

And most of the Trolls in the photos were the same one, unmistakably Lulu, but the backgrounds were completely different!

Seeing these photos, Severus and Lupin exchanged a glance. They realized Andrews and Lulu didn't meet in this valley's Troll Tribe.

They had met much earlier, and the man and Troll had begun adventuring and traveling together.

Harry and Draco were both captivated by the photos in the album until Andrews finally found what he was looking for.

"Aha! Here it is!"

He pointed to one particular photo. It was a picture of Lulu and a ghost together. The photo was treated with Developing Solution, vividly capturing the moment the shutter was pressed.

It was an old Hag draped in a black cloak, hunched over. Unlike most elderly witches, her face was covered in warts!

Next to this ghost, Lulu was making fierce gestures, as if it had been teased by the ghost before the photo was taken and was angrily trying to get back at her.

"This was also back when we first arrived in this forest. Lulu and I were still looking for this Troll Tribe. We had no leads for a long time and could only follow the river in the forest, searching every tributary… After all, Trolls always set up their homes near clean water sources!"

"And then, at the other end of that river, we found this Hag's ghost!"

Severus closely observed the ghost's image in the photo. Capturing a ghost's image on film wasn't a simple task, as it required finding the perfect lighting angle during the shoot, otherwise, it would usually just be a blur.

Andrews's technique was quite good. The Hag's ghost was well captured, allowing one to clearly distinguish that it wasn't another type of spiritual entity…a [Ghoul].

Lupin asked puzzledly, "What's so special about this Hag's spirit?"

"She claimed she had never been to this place before!"

Andrews said excitedly.

This made both Severus and Lupin pause in surprise.

Andrews didn't seem surprised by their reaction, as he had been utterly shocked when he first heard it too.

"Unbelievable, right? Anyone who knows about spirits understands their movement after death is restricted! Under normal circumstances, they absolutely cannot go to areas they never set foot in during their lifetime!"

Andrews took out the photo of the Hag's ghost.

"But that day, Lulu and I had a brief encounter with her. Through conversation, we learned she was cursed by a dark wizard during her life and trapped in a teacup. Later, over a hundred years ago, a French alchemist found the cup while traveling and freed her."

"After that, she became nomadic, but a strange desire kept pulling her towards mountains and forests. Over the years, she has traveled almost every mountain and forest across Europe. She finally stayed in Albania because, shortly after arriving, she encountered a strange black mist. That mist felt familiar to her, reminiscent of the dark wizard who cursed her in life."

"She told me she wanted to find the source of that black mist!"

After listening to Andrews's account, Severus's expression turned somewhat strange. He took the photo and continued examining the Hag's ghost on it, confirming she belonged to the mountain Hag type!

This further confirmed the guess in his mind.

This Hag's ghost was precisely the one freed from the teacup at Nicolas Flamel's place… the one completely liberated from her restraints!

According to Andrews, her presence here meant the teacup had helped her completely break free from the inherent limitations of a ghost, allowing her movement to no longer be confined to places from her lifetime but to go anywhere!

If she could do it, it meant Severus's earlier guess at the Flamel Residence was correct.

If Ghost Snape were also sealed into that cup and then released, he too would gain freedom, no longer needing to maintain the current state of two souls in one body.

Severus took a deep breath, calming his emotions. He was actually more interested in what Andrews said next.

'A black mist related to a dark wizard?'

'That was also very interesting.'

Then, Andrews told them a few more strange stories: a Runespoor that shouldn't have been in this forest, a poaching gang surrounded by biting cabbages and captured by Albanian Aurors, mysteriously missing dragon eggs from the dragon nature reserve, and so on.

These stories fascinated Harry and the others. The two boys listened intently, though they didn't pick up on any particularly valuable clues from these tales.

Finally, Severus asked Andrews, "Could you tell us the location where that Hag's ghost was?"

Andrews scratched his head with a quill. He didn't understand why Severus was particularly interested in this story, but since he had promised to help, he naturally wouldn't refuse now.

Getting up from the wooden table, Andrews soon rummaged through his pile of clutter and, before long, pulled out a piece of parchment.

When he laid the parchment in front of Severus and the others, they saw it was actually a crudely drawn map.

It used simple sketches to mark the general topography and directions of this magical creature nature reserve. Though crude, it clearly depicted necessary mountains and rivers.

Andrews drew a circle around a section of the river that ran through the forest on the simple map.

"She was active around this area. I haven't seen her since, but I heard from some Albanian wizards that she's been lingering in this area ever since, not really changing locations."

Severus stared at the map, also finding their current location on it.

"So, we just follow this stream to the river, then go north along the river until we're almost out of the reserve, and that's her area, right?"

Andrews hesitated for a moment before explaining to Severus, "That would be true if not for the heavy rain two years ago. But that summer, it rained heavily for several days in this forest. The rainwater gathered in the river, turning what was a tributary into the main channel. The river changed course! This map was drawn when I first arrived, exploring to find these Trolls. It's a bit outdated now. If you follow the information on the map, you probably won't find it."

"Because the terrain changed, Apparition also can't lock onto the specific area directly. Finding it would be quite troublesome..."

At this point, Andrews seemed to make a decision. He looked up at Severus.

"If you really want to go, I can take you to find the river's original main channel. Follow it, and you'll definitely find the place eventually."

A look of pleasant surprise appeared on Severus's face, but he didn't think this was help the other owed him.

"What can we do for you in return?"

Andrews wasn't coy either. This wasn't some transaction of interests, just mutual help.

"Lulu and I will leave Europe in at most a year. Before leaving here, we plan to renovate the houses for this Troll Tribe in the Olivela Valley. You've seen their dwellings, they can barely block a little wind and light rain. It's hardly proper houses."

"If possible, while you're searching for that ghost, you could also help us build houses."

Harry was the first to eagerly agree.

"Of course, no problem!"

Draco was somewhat reluctant. According to Malfoy Family education, he looked down on Muggle-born wizards, so how could he possibly respect these Trolls?

Let alone personally help build houses for them.

Lupin had no objection either. Severus, needless to say, held no prejudice against Trolls and didn't find building houses boring.

So, he finally decided, "Then it's settled!"

Andrews was also very happy. He stood up from his chair.

"Let's go tomorrow! I can Apparate you directly to the location of that tributary! Today, to celebrate your arrival, how about we prepare a feast!"

Of course, Severus and the other three wouldn't refuse his suggestion.

The valley was vast. Around the lake, the settlement built by the Trolls occupied less than a twentieth of the space.

And on the east side of the tribal camp, there was actually a herd of penned sheep!

The herd numbered about a hundred. The breed was clearly not ordinary goats but large Yellow-Horned Goats, hybridized with magical creatures.

This breed of goat is usually only raised by wizards within dragon nature reserves as food for the large-appetited dragon populations.

They were much larger than ordinary goats, as big as cows!

And if fed fodder mixed with specific potions, their growth period could be shortened to three months.

But the downside was obvious: this type of goat was very unpalatable for humans. The meat was as tough as chewy toffee, so no pub put this ingredient on their menu.

However, for creatures like dragons, giants, and Trolls, this wasn't a drawback at all but a big advantage.

Their bite force and tooth sharpness far exceeded others.

The meats commonly eaten by wizards were generally not to their liking… Yellow-Horned Goats were their favorite!

This Troll Tribe clearly didn't have the brains to herd goats themselves. Their lifestyle habits basically didn't include sustainable practices like herding or farming. They usually ate whatever was around their dwelling. When nearby prey was exhausted, they moved on to eat elsewhere.

There were even incidents of Trolls entering Muggle villages to eat people.

This herd of Yellow-Horned Goats was likely Andrews's doing. He, or perhaps he and the peculiar Troll, Lulu together, taught this Troll Tribe how to settle in this valley by herding sheep.

The Trolls always had food. For what Severus and the others needed to eat, they had to catch it on the spot.

Andrews gave Harry and Draco two fishing rods to fish by the lake. If they were capable, there was a large school of Streelers in the lake… they could also try to catch them directly if they didn't want to fish.

Lupin went into the sparse woods by the lake. He said he vaguely saw what looked like pheasants in these woods when they arrived.

Severus helped Andrews prepare the fodder potion for the Yellow-Horned Goats. At the same time, he also spoke with Ghost Snape about the Hag's Teacup matter.

'It's almost confirmed now that the teacup can help ghosts break free from the restraints of their lifetime and gain complete freedom.'

'So, what are your thoughts on this?'