Harry Potter and the Secret Treasures
Chapter 1264: Hidden Identity

First-timers in the Underworld definitely needed a guide, but the prerequisite was that the guide had to be someone they could trust.

Otherwise, things could get a lot more troublesome.

There was no need to say what the consequences would be if you brought a guy with ulterior motives into a dangerous place like that.

Did the bartender want money, or did he have other intentions?

Evan refused his offer directly. Neither he, Harry, Hermione, nor Ron trusted this man. They decided to go down on their own. Under the malicious gaze of the bartender, the four of them walked through the bar and entered the messy kitchen.

“I don’t like that guy, and I don’t like this place even more,” said Ron bluntly.

“Keep your voice down, Ron, I have a bad feeling about this,” said Hermione. “Did he figure out who we are?”

“Probably not. We were wearing hoods, but he must have suspected something. The four of us don’t fit in here.”

“Yeah, it’s too obvious. The wisest thing to do is to leave here immediately,” said Hermione.

“You’ve said this many times, Hermione. We’re just going to take a look. Aren’t you curious about what’s going on there?” said Ron disapprovingly. “Even if he knows who we are, so what? With Evan here, what do we have to worry about?”

“If Malfoy knew that the four of us were following him because of this…”

“That would be great! I’d love to give him a good beating and make him spill everything about whatever plot he’s cooking up with those werewolves,” said Ron, covering his nose in disgust. “Blimey, this smell! It’s so disgusting!”

In front of them was a cave-like kitchen surrounded by rough stone walls.

Most of the light in the room came from the fire at the back. The stairs leading to the basement were next to the fireplace. Particularly hideous-looking soot-covered pans and other cooking utensils hung from the dark ceiling.

There were also lots of things that looked like dried chunks of meat.

But the most striking thing in the kitchen was the pile of blood and flesh on the chopping board that gave off a pungent smell.

From a distance just earlier, they couldn’t see it clearly, but now they could clearly see the messily torn animal carcass.

“This place looks like a slaughterhouse!” said Ron. “Do they directly slaughter animals? Look at this, it’s disgusting.”

“It looks like they didn’t even use a knife — it was torn apart by hand,” said Harry, staring at the meat in surprise.

“What kind of person would do that?” said Hermione, glancing at it before quickly turning away.

“It seems to be true, strange…” Evan squinted and moved closer to carefully observe the pieces of flesh and blood on the chopping board.

Not only were there signs of being torn, it also looked like it had been bitten by something.

Judging from the traces, it seemed that not long ago, someone in this bar was actually eating raw meat in this way.

Kitchen, raw meat, werewolves… Suddenly, a horrifying thought crossed Evan’s mind.

He turned around and saw the bartender looking at them. In the dim light, only his outline was visible.

“Here are the stairs, come on,” said Hermione, holding out her wand. “Lumos.”

In the light of the wand, they walked down the stairs. There were many huge wine barrels in the basement, and no one was there.

Evan thought about the idea he had just had and asked, “Did you notice the eyes of the bartender?”

“I saw that his eyes were bloodshot, like he didn’t get any sleep last night,” Hermione recalled.  

“It’s obvious, how can you sleep well living in a place like this?”

“It’s not the bloodshot, but the color of his irises and his pupils…” said Evan, “Those weren’t normal human eyes. I’ve seen signs like that before — on Lupin. That guy might be a werewolf.”

“Werewolf!”

As soon as Evan said this, Harry, Hermione, and Ron all turned to look at him in shock.

If that were true, it was terrifying — a chilling realization.

The bartender had just warned them to be careful of werewolves here, but now Evan said that he himself might be one.

“I’m not sure. After all, werewolves are no different from ordinary people before they transform, with only some subtle differences. The light just now was too dim, and I didn’t see other features,” said Evan. “But the piece of meat in the kitchen upstairs reminded me — normal people don’t tear apart meat like that, and those bite marks… I can’t think of any creature besides a werewolf that would eat raw meat.”

“There were definitely bite marks on that piece of meat,” said Harry. He turned around and saw nothing behind him.

He had an indescribable strange feeling, as if he was being watched. This bar was really eerie and strange.

“Besides, he reminded us that Malfoy was picked up by a werewolf, which in itself is suspicious, isn’t it?”

“I was just thinking about that,” Hermione analyzed. “If the werewolves here are really as powerful as he claims, and if the bartender were as afraid of them as he said, he wouldn’t have risked telling us that information for just a few Galleons.”

“Exactly, that’s what makes him suspicious,” Evan agreed. “Be careful, stay alert. If the bartender is not a werewolf, he must be a pervert with special hobbies. He won’t do nothing. We shouldn’t be too lonely from here on.”

Knockturn Alley was still technically under the Ministry’s control on the surface, so if they planned to make a move, it would happen once Evan and his friends entered the Underworld. The four of them looked out of place, making them perfect targets for a robbery.

This outcome seemed inevitable, but the bartender’s true identity gave them all an eerie, unsettling feeling.

Harry, Hermione and Ron were still discussing this topic. The three of them kept looking back to make sure no one was following them.

Evan came to the north wall of the basement, looked at the wall carefully, and then tapped a brick lightly with his wand.

Like the method of entering Diagon Alley from the Leaky Cauldron, this was a very common magical mechanism of that era.

The brick he had touched quivered — it wriggled — in the middle, a small hole appeared — it grew wider and wider — a second later they were facing an archway onto a winding corridor paved with marble glowing with an ominous green light.

They stepped into the Underworld, following the passage to the caverns below. Contrary to their expectations, it wasn’t as dark as they’d imagined; in fact, the lighting here was better than inside the Murderer’s Bar.

The area was a hollow, circular space divided into three levels. From the top, they could see all the way to the bottom level in a diagonal line. Each level had numerous passages stretching outwards, leading deeper into the caverns or connecting to other underground areas.

This was the central area of ​​the Underground World and was more lively than Knockturn Alley above.

Along the circular corridor, many wizards were setting up shabby stalls, and from time to time there were bursts of hawking sounds. The things sold were varied and of all kinds, not just limited to Dark magic items. Evan even saw someone selling cauldrons.

The prices of the cauldrons were much lower than those sold in Diagon Alley, so they were obviously not from a legitimate source…

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