The Pig's Head Bar is located in a remote corner of Hogsmeade village.
As soon as Harry and the others arrived here, they understood why this small bar was called the Pig's Head Bar.
A wooden sign with a pig's head on it hung from a rusty bracket above the door. On it was painted a chopped-off pig's head, with blood stains soaking through the white cloth wrapped around it.
Seeing such a scene for the first time, the trio of Harry felt an ominous feeling.
They did not think a bar using such a strange sign could have much business, especially since the place was so remote.
And when they entered the bar with uneasy hearts, this thought became even stronger.
Because the inside of the Pig's Head Bar was completely different from the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade.
The large bar counter in the Three Broomsticks always made people feel bright, clean, and warm, but the Pig's Head Bar only had a small, dark, extremely dirty room, and the whole place gave off a strong smell of goats.
The few bay windows on the walls were covered with thick dirt, light could hardly get through, and some candles were lit on the rough wooden tables.
The most outrageous thing was that the floor, which should have been paved with stone, could no longer show any sign of stone at all.
Dirt built up over several centuries had actually raised the ground by more than ten centimeters.
However, when Harry forced himself to lift his foot from the slightly sticky "floor," holding back his nausea, he unexpectedly found that this "authentic" medieval-style bar actually still had quite a number of customers.
For example, the strange man at the bar counter whose entire head was wrapped in gray-black bandages, yet he was still pouring cup after cup of something smoking and burning with flames into his mouth through a gap in the bandages.
There were also several hooded figures sitting at the table by the bed.
Or the old witch with a sharp nose beside the fireplace.
———
The trio quickly noticed that the moment they entered, all these people stopped what they were doing and stared at them with strange, unfriendly looks.
Obviously, this was because of the school robes on the three of them.
Of course, it might also be because they were not as strange as the people currently in the bar.
After all, when a normal person enters a place full of strange people, that normal person becomes the strangest one.
Being watched by so many eyes, Harry felt his body stiffen a lot.
Sweat kept forming on his forehead, which to a large extent distracted him and made him pay less attention to the terrible hygiene around him.
In contrast, the twin brothers George and Fred seemed completely at ease here.
They naturally greeted everyone in the bar.
They even secretly drank the wine in that bandaged man's cup while greeting him.
This scene made Harry's hair stand on end.
He felt that the bandaged man might angrily tear off his bandages the next moment, reveal a mummy-like dried face, and swallow George and Fred in one bite.
However, to Harry's surprise, the bandaged man did not seem angry at all about the drink being taken.
Not only that, he even chatted cheerfully with George and Fred for a while, then pressed the bell in front of him to signal he wanted another drink.
"Don't make that kind of face, Bard is a good person!" Fred returned to the group and reminded the three of them in a low voice.
"During a ruin exploration, he was cursed while saving his teammates and his face was ruined. The counter-curse to that ancient curse has long been lost, so now he can only keep himself wrapped in bandages all day."
"He doesn't dare go to normal bars, so he just hangs out here at the Pig's Head Bar."
"Most of the customers here have similar experiences. None of them are bad people."
"So fix your expressions and your eyes."
"You're making them uncomfortable!"
The three of them were all shocked when they heard this.
They had not expected it to be like this.
But thinking about it carefully, it actually made sense.
After all, Hogsmeade is the only pure wizard village left in the whole UK, and it is right next to Hogwarts.
The Ministry of Magic would never allow a gathering place for dark wizards in such an important location.
But in such an environment, the trio's ability to control their expressions had basically failed.
So they could only lower their heads more so the surrounding customers could not see their faces.
George and Fred looked a bit helpless and could only keep explaining things to the nearby customers.
Luckily, at this moment the bar owner finally slipped out sideways from a back door.
He looked like a bad-tempered old man, with lots of long gray hair and beard.
He was tall and thin, and from the outline of his face, mostly hidden by the thick beard, Harry somehow felt the man looked very familiar.
"You damn ugly freak, how did you drink so fast?"
The bar owner said irritably to the bandaged man.
Hermione suddenly raised her head and glared at him angrily.
Before, it could be ignored.
But now that they knew the bandaged man's story, the owner's words just now sounded too harsh.
The owner clearly noticed her gaze.
He only glanced at George, Fred, and the others once, then seemed to understand everything. He stopped talking to the bandaged man and directly mixed another identical drink for him.
That was not all. Soon he went back into the room behind again.
When he came out again, there was already a huge wooden box in his arms.
Harry and the other two's faces instantly looked terrible.
Because the whole box was covered with thick dust, and there were many gnaw marks from rats. Some marks were so deep that butterbeer inside could be seen through the gaps.
And these were obviously the "near-expiry goods" George and Fred had mentioned before.
Thud!
The wooden box was placed on the greasy bar counter with a dull sound.
The bar owner clapped his hands and said, "Same as usual, three gold Galleons."
One bottle of butterbeer costs two silver Sickles, and there were twenty-four bottles in a box, so it should total forty-eight silver Sickles. But the owner here wanted fifty-one silver Sickles, which was quite a rip-off.
However, considering the even more outrageous price George and Fred would sell them for after bringing them back to Hogwarts, it was still acceptable.
"Boss, we're not here to stock up this time."
George and Fred said mysteriously to the owner, "We want to borrow the Floo Network fireplace in your shop."
The bar owner glanced at them and said calmly, "No."
"Why?" George widened his eyes. "We've been business partners for so many years! You won't even help with something this small?"
"First, what we have can't really be called cooperation. If anything, you should thank me for giving you a chance to earn money out of pity," the owner said calmly.
"Second, it's class time now, right? Hogwarts students skipping class to stroll around Hogsmeade is one thing, but now you want to go outside? Do you really think you're that capable?"
"Finally, and most importantly, there is simply no Floo Network fireplace in my bar."
As soon as he finished speaking, the surrounding customers burst into laughter, and the bar filled with cheerful atmosphere.
George and Fred flushed red with anger and turned to leave with Harry and the others.
But just as they turned around, the bar owner grabbed the backs of their collars, one in each hand.
"Where are you going? You two brats are getting more capable, even learned to trick younger students!" The owner's eyes suddenly turned stern.
"Today you must clearly explain where you plan to go and what you plan to do, otherwise don't blame us for being rude!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the two hooded customers in the corner and the old witch by the fireplace stood up.
They directly separated the trio from George and Fred.
Seeing this, George and Fred instantly got angry and shouted, "We're not traffickers! We really have something important to do!"
Harry and the other two finally understood what was going on.
They had not expected the people in the bar to think in the direction of human trafficking. Hermione quickly explained, "George and Fred are telling the truth, we weren't trafficked!"
"Oh? Really?" the owner said unmoved. "Then tell us about your 'important' matter."
"This matter is very important, it concerns the life and death of all Hogwarts. I can't say it in front of so many people!"
George said angrily, but what greeted him was even louder laughter from the surroundings.
Luckily, the bar owner seemed to believe them somewhat and continued, "Then come inside and talk to me alone."
"If it makes sense, I'll let you go. But if I find out you're lying… hehe, it wouldn't be the first time someone came here looking for trouble and ended up being sent to Azkaban."
After saying that, the owner led George and Fred toward the back door. The trio followed, and the customers guarding them did not stop them.
Behind the bar was clearly where the owner lived daily.
Compared with the outside bar, it was cleaner, but definitely not spotless.
The randomly placed furniture and wine bottles were the best proof.
The cleanest place in the room was probably the wall at the innermost side.
On that wall hung a magical portrait of a young girl. She wore a blue dress. Although she looked like she was smiling, a deep sadness could not be hidden in that smile.
The owner probably often took the painting down to wipe it. The portrait and the surrounding wall were completely dust-free.
"Alright, tell me, what exactly is going on?"
The owner sat on a dirty sofa and said.
Hearing this, George and Fred exchanged conflicted looks, then finally gritted their teeth and told most of what they knew.
Of course, they made many reasonable adjustments so ordinary people could understand and accept it.
"So you mean Dumbledore and his followers are likely being besieged at the Ministry of Magic by Voldemort and the Death Eaters." The owner's expression became extremely strange.
"And Hogwarts is now controlled by a young man named Link. This young man might be deliberately delaying rescue because he wants to completely seize control of Hogwarts?"
Just seeing the owner's expression made the trio's hearts sink.
Ron complained painfully, "George, Fred, what you said sounds too absurd! Even though it really is like this… sigh! I knew nobody would believe it! I…"
"No, I believe it."
Before Ron finished speaking, the owner said calmly again.
Ron, Hermione, Harry, George, and Fred were all stunned.
The owner continued, "So you're planning to go directly to the Ministry of Magic to rescue Dumbledore and the others, right?"
George and Fred nodded blankly, still not recovered from shock.
"Then don't waste time. I'll go with you," the owner said expressionlessly as he pulled out his wand. "Come, grab me. I'll take you to the Ministry."
"But… why?"
George asked with confusion.
The owner's behavior was too unusual, which made him instinctively cautious.
He even thought of words like trafficking again, just like earlier.
After all, young wizards their age could fetch a very high price on the Knockturn Alley black market.
The owner did not indulge him. Hearing this, he snorted coldly.
"Go or don't go. If you don't want to come with me, then get lost."
While speaking, he had already started waving his wand.
The space around him soon began to twist.
Seeing this, Harry gritted his teeth and directly grabbed the owner's shoulder.
"Harry!"
Ron and Hermione cried out and grabbed Harry too.
Then George and Fred followed.
Crack!
After a sound like firecrackers exploding, Harry and the others instantly disappeared from the spot.
When they felt solid ground under their feet again, they found themselves already in a dark alley.
At the deepest part of the alley was a pile of garbage like a small mountain, with several stray cats searching for food on it.
Their sudden appearance made the cats' fur stand up, and they screamed and ran out of the alley.
Following the direction they ran, there was a busy road.
On the other side of the road, a bright red color instantly entered Harry's sight.
It was a slightly worn red telephone booth.