Hogwarts wizards who signed in to Middle-earth...

Chapter 39 Making Voodoo Dolls

"Duir!" Bilbo was overjoyed to see Duir return and quickly ran out of the yard to greet him.

With a warm smile, Dui said, "I'm back!"

He then waved his hand, causing the items on the carriage to float down, and picked out a dwarf-forged dagger and presented it to Bilbo.

"Is this for me?" Bilbo asked in surprise.

Dui nodded.

This was a gift he specially chose for Bilbo. Although it couldn't compare to real divine weapons, it was still carefully crafted by dwarven artisans.

He remembered that Bilbo would find his own thorn sword in the Troll Forest, but in the meantime, this dagger would be fine as a substitute.

"Thank you! I love it!" Bilbo was very excited, stroking the dagger repeatedly as if it were a precious treasure.

"I'm glad you like it. Oh, by the way, could you prepare a darker room for me? I need it," Dui said.

"A dark room?" Bilbo asked, puzzled, but didn't press the matter. Instead, he replied, "Then the only place is the cellar at the deepest part of the cave. There's nothing there except some wine. You can go there."

"Okay, thank you, I understand." Dui nodded. He then put the petrified mandrake back into the glass greenhouse and used several layers of glass to isolate and block out the sound.

Then he took another pot of mandrake into the cellar, along with a pot of black mud, thirteen bats in cages, a large bag of sea salt, and a ceramic pot.

The cellar was indeed dark; apart from a small skylight that let in light, there were no gaps for ventilation.

But as soon as Dui arrived, he sealed off the last small skylight, preventing any light from getting in.

Dui then pulled the mandrake out of the pot and replaced it with the black mud he had brought.

The black mud was dug from the cemetery at midnight on a full moon night. Dui didn't want to recall the digging process, as it would damage his image as a wizard.

After replacing the mud with black mud from the cemetery, Dui grabbed a bat from the cage, expressionlessly slit open its chest with a dagger, removed its heart, dripped the blood onto the mandrake roots, and then buried the dead bat in the black mud.

The whole process looked bloody and bizarre; if others had seen it, they would have suspected that he was an evil wizard!

Having done all this, Dui stopped.

In the days that followed, he only needed to water the mandrake with the blood of a bat every day, and he didn't need to do anything else.

So in the days that followed, Bilbo would see Dui go to the cellar every day and come out with a faint smell of blood.

Although Bilbo was curious, as a good friend, he restrained his curiosity and did not ask too many questions.

On the 13th day, Dui took the last bat out of the cage, removed its heart, dripped blood onto the roots of the mandrake, and then buried the bat in the black mud.

At this time, the soil around the mandrakes became foul-smelling, and the mandrakes themselves became gloomy, as if they were plants growing in the shadows, exuding an eeriness and an ominous aura.

At midnight on the thirteenth day, Dui pulled the mandrake from the black mud.

Then pour sea salt into the earthenware pot halfway, put the mandrake in, and completely cover it with the remaining sea salt.

And it is compacted to ensure that the mandrake does not struggle to emerge from the salt.

After doing all this, Dui covered the ceramic basin with a black cloth to ensure that no light would come into contact with the inside of the basin.

Only when the moon comes out at night will the black cloth be lifted and the skylight opened to let the moonlight shine directly onto the sea salt.

After seven days, the sea salt grew darker and darker, eventually turning completely black.

Dui retrieved the mandrakes that had been buried in the sea salt.

The mandrake was dead at this moment, its features were distorted, its small eyes were dark and eerie, and its whole body exuded an aura of darkness and misfortune.

This is a cursed object made from mandrake—a voodoo doll.

As mentioned in "Dark Forces: The Defense Guide": "Creating cursed items with mandrake is like handing death's scythe to yourself—it reaps not only the suffering of your enemies, but also the soul of the caster."

While Dui took the warnings in the book seriously, he did not avoid them entirely.

After all, black magic like curses, if used too often, can indeed affect a person's mind and easily distort their soul, but its power and effects are unmatched by other magic.

Moreover, he has now learned musical magic from Tom, which has a positive and cheerful infectious power that can counteract the side effects of dark magic.

Therefore, he was not worried at all that he would be corrupted by dark magic.

Thinking of this, he was very grateful to Tom. This musical magic seemed harmless, but it was of great help to him.

Having finished making the voodoo doll, Dui carefully wrapped it in cloth and placed it in a small wooden box. This thing shouldn't be handled for long periods, otherwise it could easily bring bad luck, so he had to keep it safe.

After cleaning up the rest of the items, Dui left the cellar.

He has spent more than half a month making the voodoo doll.

Gandalf did not visit Hobbiton during this period, and it is unknown what he was busy with.

However, according to Dui's prediction, Gandalf and the dwarves should arrive here in a few days, thus officially beginning their expedition.

So, Dui spent the next few days reading the magic dictionary while waiting.

That evening, just as Dui and Bilbo sat down to enjoy their dinner, there was a sudden knock on the door.

Bilbo looked puzzled and exchanged a surprised glance with Dui. "Who could be knocking so late?"

Dui had some guesses, that it was probably Gandalf or the dwarves who had arrived.

However, he didn't voice his guess, but instead said, "We'll find out when we get there."

Bilbo agreed, got up from his chair, and went to open the door.

As soon as the door opened, a bald dwarf stood in the doorway.

"I am Duvalin, at your service," he introduced himself.

Before Bilbo could react, Duvalin walked straight into the house and prepared to scrape his muddy feet against the wooden crate by the door.

"That's... my mother's dowry chest!" Bilbo didn't even have time to stop him.

However, before Duvalin's foot could even touch the box, it was moved aside by an invisible force, causing him to miss his footing and almost stumble and fall.

Duvalin stared wide-eyed at the empty box he'd just grabbed, then noticed Dui sitting at the dining table in the living room. He exclaimed in surprise, "Amazing magic! You must be the black-robed wizard Duiel Thorin spoke of! Nice to meet you!"

However, he was immediately drawn to the food on the table and went to the table on his own, plopping down in Bilbo's seat.

"I'm starving after walking for so long!"

As he spoke, he reached out and grabbed the food on the table, stuffing it into his mouth repeatedly. His movements were rough and rapid, and his thick beard was covered with food crumbs, as if he hadn't eaten for days.