After distancing themselves from the frenzied dragon herd, Severus and the others' journey became much smoother.
Apart from the animals also fleeing westward from the nature reserve due to the dragon rampage, they encountered no further mishaps. After another day and a half of travel, they finally reached their destination.
The area had already been properly cleared by Lupin. The various logs processed earlier in the valley had also been transported to this open space by the riverbank.
The herd of Yellow-Horned Goats, previously hidden by Andrews, was also settled into new pens.
However, the trolls seemed less than pleased with their new settlement.
These foolish brutes had no desire to leave their original comfort zone. Even when facing dragons, they sometimes showed fear, but as long as the scorching dragon breath and sharp claws didn't reach them, their instinct to flee driven by fear remained dormant.
Nevertheless, with Lulu's temporary suppression, they had no choice but to settle here for now.
As for whether they would return to their old home to meet their doom after Andrews and Lulu departed, that would depend on the skills of the forthcoming Memory Charm master.
It was on the second day after Severus and the others settled by the river, continuing to help the trolls complete the unfinished house-building task, that two dragon tamers from the Dragon Nature Reserve found them.
One, a wizard with typical Middle Eastern features, was unmistakably the same one who had ridden the Swedish Short-Snout down into the valley to warn them previously.
The other had a standard European Caucasian appearance and clearly held a higher position in the reserve than the Middle Eastern wizard.
"Was it you who sent up that red spark signal early in the morning two days ago?" The European wizard asked nervously upon seeing them.
"I am Alak Bagal, Head of the Management Office of the Llogara Dragon Nature Reserve, Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, Albanian Ministry of Magic. I am truly sorry for what happened that night."
Andrews looked at him with clear displeasure, putting down his work.
"If your plans were moved up, you should have informed us beforehand! Those crazed dragons nearly killed us!"
"Deepest apologies!" Bagal's attitude was very humble. He apologized while explaining, "I'm very sorry you were put through that, but the events that night weren't due to our reserve expansion plan being moved up. The dragon herd itself developed a problem."
"Something on the western side affected them, causing them to flee eastward like mad. Our people couldn't control them at all. Even the usually gentlest dragons became aggressive and dangerous. Two of our tamers died in this incident, and six were injured."
As he spoke, the Middle Eastern tamer's expression visibly darkened, unsure whether he was grieving for his colleagues or saddened by the fate of the Short-Snout.
"Alright, I am sorry for your losses as well, but-" Andrews's tone softened slightly, but he was well aware that regardless of the reserve's own troubles, the danger they faced was caused by these people's negligence.
"-but no matter what, the danger we faced was due to your dereliction of duty. You knew there was a problem on the western side of the reserve beforehand, correct! In that case, you should have controlled the dragons, prevented them from going there!"
"That is indeed our mistake. That's why I came specifically to find you: to apologize, check for any casualties, and also because the Albanian Ministry of Magic can offer you some compensation."
This representative of the Albanian Ministry of Magic sounded very reasonable, but both Andrews and Severus knew the real reason.
They had come urgently and offered compensation proactively because they feared that if they delayed, Severus and the others might have already gone to the magical press to publicize the incident.
For a smaller Ministry like this, a single scandal could have an impact comparable to Voldemort's rise in Britain, enough to force a government change.
This was something no Ministry's employee wanted to see.
Hence, they sought to find them quickly, offer promises of compensation, with the ultimate goal of confirming no casualties from Andrews, providing compensation, and sealing their lips to prevent them from speaking to the press.
Both Severus and Andrews understood their intentions perfectly. Neither had any desire to leverage this incident to extort exorbitant compensation from the two tamers.
In the end, Andrews only requested some easily obtainable dragon by-products from the reserve, while Severus asked for a larger quantity of dragon blood.
After Bagal agreed, he indeed asked Andrews to sign a contract, committing them not to leak the information to news organizations like the magical press afterward, under penalty of a hefty fine for breach of contract.
Andrews didn't hesitate and proactively signed the contract.
Just as the two dragon tamers were about to hastily take their leave after achieving their goal, Severus suddenly looked at Bagal and asked,
"Could you tell me what exactly happened that night? Why did the dragons suddenly go berserk?"
Bagal looked at Severus, glanced at Lupin and Andrews beside him, hesitated for a moment, and then asked,
"Might I ask if it was you who blinded the Ukrainian Ironbelly in one eye?"
Severus didn't deny it.
"Are you looking for compensation from me?"
"No, of course not! In that situation, you had unlimited rights to self-defense." Bagal waved his hand, "We were just astonished by the power of your magic. We rarely see any spell cause such significant damage to a dragon, even to its eyes."
He offered a compliment, clearly not recognizing the wizard who, these past few days while helping build troll houses, had changed his attire and rarely wore his hair in a ponytail anymore.
Bagal had no idea that the man before him was Severus Snape, the British wizard who had recently made a big name for himself in France by rescuing the Flamels.
Nevertheless, out of respect for a powerful wizard, he quickly answered,
"As for what you want to know, it's not really a secret anyway, since we've abandoned that area now. About 60 kilometers west of the valley where the trolls lived, at the former westernmost edge of the nature reserve, there's a small hill with a lake beside it. Long ago, the dragons used that hill and lake as a place for leisure, they liked to clean themselves there."
"But starting about three years ago, incidents of dragons getting accidentally injured and enraged there began to occur. We started sending people to investigate then, but we never found anything."
Hearing this, both Andrews and Severus's group remembered the account they had heard in Andrews's cabin about the goshawk fighting the dragon.
Andrews also brought up the matter, and Bagal nodded.
"Yes! That was already the third such strange incident. That goshawk originally lived on that small hill. It tangled with the Ukrainian Ironbelly, moving from west to east, showing none of the fear ordinary animals have upon seeing a dragon."
"There's only that one Ukrainian Ironbelly in the reserve… the one whose eye was blinded by this gentleman. We initially sought many experts to try to counter the curse's lingering damage to its eye, but the spell was simply too potent. We never succeeded before its eye was completely destroyed beyond repair."
He added this aside before returning to the main topic.
"After that incident, more dragons kept having accidents near that hill and lake, one after another. Two even died because of it. But since we could never find a cause, we finally decided to initiate the relocation plan."
"But just two nights ago, while we were making final preparations, we suddenly discovered in the middle of the night that, at some point, all the dragons in the reserve had gathered in the west, congregating by that lake, all drinking the lake water! And with so many dragons drinking, they nearly drank the entire lake dry in one night!"
"We, busy with expansion preparations, didn't notice until the latter half of the night. But by then, it was too late. All the dragons that had drunk the lake water went berserk. They lost all their previous docility and attacked any living thing they saw."
"Initially, completely unprepared, one of our tamers was killed on the spot… bitten to death by the dragon he was closest to! After that, the situation spiraled out of control, leading to the trouble you encountered. It wasn't until reinforcements arrived from the Ministry in the morning that we finally managed to regain control of the frenzied dragons."
He shook his head and sighed, as if still shaken by the chaos of that night.
Severus interjected at this time, "Did you investigate the water the dragons drank from the lake afterward?"
"There was no water left to investigate," Bagal said seriously, "The lake was completely dry! Not a drop remained. Even the mud at the bottom had been eaten by the dragons. We also attempted autopsies on the dragons that died in the incident but found nothing abnormal in their bodies."
"Regardless, we are finally rid of that accursed place now. The original location of the lake and hill has been completely sealed off by the Ministry. Aurors will take over the investigation. If this disaster was man-made, the mastermind will face appropriate punishment."
He finished through gritted teeth, clearly deeply resentful about the events of that night.
After explaining the specifics to Severus and the others, Bagal and his subordinate didn't linger. The newly expanded nature reserve had much work awaiting them, and they departed hurriedly.
After they left, work on the log houses resumed at the trolls' new settlement.
Ghost Snape could already see that Severus had some plans and intentions regarding the abnormal dragon situation described by Bagal, so he asked, [When do you plan to go?]
Severus said softly.
'No rush. Let's finish helping Andrews with everything here first.'
'Given Lockhart's capabilities, I believe he already knows where to find the person he's looking for by now.'
…
Albania, Sarandë District.
Lockhart didn't even glance at Angelo, whom he had suddenly attacked and stunned with a Stunning Spell, as he rummaged frantically through his suitcase!
"This ungrateful fool!" He muttered, cursing to himself, "I've tried reasoning and threatening, and you still refuse to tell me where he is! Don't you know how precious my time is! Don't you understand how many fans are expecting my new book this year!"
"Forcing me to do this! Scum like you aren't worth the risk!"
He haphazardly threw Angelo's belongings around, finally finding the letter at the very bottom of the suitcase… the one he had seen Angelo receive a few days ago, the one Angelo had been guarding, not wanting him to see.
From that moment, Lockhart had been sure that letter must be from Angelo's adventurer cousin. He knew that was what Lockhart wanted, hence the wariness.
Having wasted so much time, Lockhart couldn't wait another day.
Today, he seized the opportunity, pretending he had given up and was returning to Britain that very day. He told Angelo he wanted to treat him to one last meal.
When Angelo let his guard down, Lockhart suddenly cast the spell, successfully obtaining the letter.
Lockhart quickly tore open the envelope. After reading the brief contents, his face lit up with excitement.
'Just as I suspected!'
'It was indeed a letter from Angelo's cousin… Pique Andrews!'
The letter inquired why Angelo hadn't come yet and provided his new coordinates within the Llogara National Park, informing him he had moved.
Seeing the address at the end of the letter, a wide, yet somewhat sinister smile spread across Lockhart's face.
"Ha! Finally found you, Pique!"
As he spoke, he tossed the letter into the nearby fireplace to burn. Then, he cast a Memory Charm on the unconscious Angelo, carefully crafting a memory of a pleasant farewell dinner where they drank themselves into a stupor.
After completing this, Lockhart picked up his own suitcase. He Apparated directly to the nearest wizard pub, used the Floo Network through the pub's fireplace to reach a location near the Llogara National Park.
Finally, humming a cheerful tune, he strode into the forest.