indianbanksassociation Chapter 122, Section 121: Three Great Shows! The Wrongly Entered Secret Room!
Chapter 122, Section 121: Three Great Shows! The Wrongly Entered Secret Room!
Chapter 122, Section 121: Three Good Shows! The Wrongly Entered Secret Room!
Beside the dimly lit corridor.
Ian first ran to a distance and cast a Disillusionment Charm on himself, then quickly returned and peeked inside the dimly lit shed through the mottled stone wall.
Albus Dumbledore and his brother Aberforth Dumbledore were still arguing fiercely.
"If you hand it over now, perhaps I can forgive your recklessness."
"I said it's not here, so it's not here. I don't even know what you put inside."
Aside from that letter, I didn't see anything else inside!
"No one knows I have that letter except you—are you so sure I won't use Legilimency on you? Or have you become so despicable that you would cast a forgetfulness spell on yourself after stealing something?"
"Damn it! Albus! You're the real bastard! I only went to your office to find out for myself because you wouldn't tell me how the letter came about!"
"Aberforth, I'm doing this for your own good. Some truths will only break your fragile nerves right now—give me back my things, and I'll tell you everything when the time is right."
"I didn't take anything! Here you go, you little brat!"
Ian witnessed a truly spectacular scene, one that other young wizards and even professors could hardly imagine. As Aberforth seemed to have reached his limit and threw a punch, Albus Dumbledore responded without backing down, grabbing his own fist and wrestling with Aberforth.
Yes, there are no magical duels, only primitive brawls reminiscent of a dream.
The sounds of banging and crashing continued incessantly.
It's hard to imagine.
This is a scene that can be seen inside Hogwarts Castle without paying a fee.
The centenarian, the Hogwarts headmaster who should have been wise and composed, and his equally centenarian brother were engaged in hand-to-hand combat like children in the owlhouse.
"Puff puff puff puff~"
Awakened by the sudden commotion, the owls flapped their wings and shrieked, flying towards the window in an attempt to escape the chaos. However, the two elderly men seemed completely absorbed in their own world, engrossed in their fight, utterly oblivious to the chaos around them.
They largely demonstrated the resilience and tenacity of wizards; though their movements were not as agile as those of the younger men, every strike was aimed squarely at the face and bridge of the nose.
There was no reduction in force.
It wasn't a fake fight either.
Ian swore he saw blood gushing from his nose in the dimly lit room.
"My God! Teeth! Are those the principal's teeth or Aberforth's teeth?" He regretted not having any camera equipment, otherwise he would definitely have recorded this scene.
really.
Nighttime strolls often lead to encounters that one wouldn't even dare to imagine during the day, and it seems that various people at Hogwarts have a custom of discussing various matters in secluded places.
Whether it's the fact that the three saviors in the original story always happened to overhear some secrets, or Ian's current personal experience, it seems to prove that wizards don't seem to know that privacy should be discussed in a place where no one can pass by. He and Aurora had previously witnessed Quirrell's operation to contact Voldemort.
"Should I try to break up the fight or not?" Ian had been listening to the two arguing about the letter he was supposed to bring, and he was thinking of stepping forward to say something so that others wouldn't think he couldn't deliver the letter. He was saying that if the messenger fee was high enough, he could bring out a hundred photos and letters next time.
One hundred letters per person.
However, after discovering that the two old men were fighting like children, Ian dared not show himself, fearing that the two men, caught up in their tempers, would drag him into the brawl as well.
Ian couldn't bring himself to punch an old man, especially judging from the way the two of them were fighting.
He even felt that he might not be able to beat a 100-year-old man.
"You're insane!"
Albus Dumbledore's silver hair was disheveled during the fight, but his deep blue eyes remained restrained, while Aberforth was clearly blinded by rage.
"Without your poisonous magic, do you think you can defeat me?"
His face was contorted with rage, and each punch he threw was accompanied by a whooshing sound, as if he were about to unleash all the resentment and anger that had accumulated in his heart for many years.
"I know you still harbor deep resentment towards me, but that's not the part you stole from me—" Albus Dumbledore hadn't finished speaking.
Aberforth pounced on him again.
The bloodied fist was swung with incredible ferocity.
Albus Dumbledore finally lost his temper. He had been relatively restrained when he retaliated before, but after being provoked by Aberforth, he completely let loose.
It must be said that Albus Dumbledore was, after all, the most outstanding graduate of Gryffindor House. Not only was his magic powerful, but his fighting skills also far surpassed those of his brother, who had wasted most of his life.
Aberforth began to be overwhelmed.
Screams echoed.
Albus Dumbledore acted as if he hadn't heard a thing, and the way he was pinning Aberforth to the ground and beating him relentlessly sent chills down Ian's spine as he watched from outside the door.
He had never seen Albus Dumbledore so out of control.
By the moonlight streaming through the window, Ian could see that Albus Dumbledore's expression had also turned angry and hateful, which was clearly no longer because of a letter and the photograph inside.
Recalling the truth he learned from Albus Dumbledore's memories, Ian realized that behind this seemingly childish scuffle might lie a more complex and profound emotional entanglement.
The fight between the two brothers was less about a letter and a photograph, and more about the release of long-suppressed emotions, a reckoning with past grievances, or a struggle over some deep-seated secret.
It's important to remember that Albus Dumbledore bore the brunt of everything back then.
He took on the responsibilities that his elder brother should have borne.
however.
Did this great white wizard harbor no resentment towards his brother? Of course not, he was simply rational enough to bury and seal his emotions deep within his heart.
The photos, allegedly stolen by Aberforth, were merely a trigger; Aberforth's unreasonable and direct actions were a direct provocation that reopened old wounds in Albus Dumbledore's heart. Compared to his brother Albus Dumbledore, this Dumbledore's self-control is not particularly outstanding.
of course.
Aberforth's direct attack on Albus Dumbledore was likely for a similar reason. In Aberforth's memory, Albus Dumbledore was the one who killed Ariana, and he had hated Albus Dumbledore for many years because of this, even plotting to kill him.
Perhaps a compromise has been reached in the relationship.
However, the hatred that has accumulated over the years is difficult to dissipate in a short period of time.
"To this day, Aberforth has not revealed anything about the Resurrection Stone. He's really stubborn. Who knows, he might have really stolen the photo in Dumbledore's letter too."
Ian witnessed the entire battle between the two centenarians, thoroughly enjoying the action-packed anime. At the same time, he also noticed that Aberforth never revealed the fake document he handed over, perhaps because he believed that Albus Dumbledore was able to obtain the letter because of the Resurrection Stone.
I guess they were planning to take it back and study it secretly.
From this perspective...
This guy was indeed certain from the beginning that Albus Dumbledore wouldn't look through his memories—he was very shrewd, much more calculating than his impulsive nature suggested.
"I wonder how he found out the Resurrection Stone was with me." Ian watched as Albus Dumbledore, exhausted from fighting, slumped down next to Aberforth, who looked like a limp shrimp.
He saw Albus Dumbledore suddenly look up towards the door, and his heart skipped a beat. His legs reacted faster than his brain, and he immediately turned and ran. Even with the Illusion Charm activated, he still felt unsafe.
He darted forward more than ten meters in one go, running straight towards the changing staircase.
Fortunately, he jumped to the top of the stairs in time, and when he turned around, he didn't see Albus Dumbledore chasing after him. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief, touching his pounding heart.
"The old principal is still the old principal."
Ian wasn't afraid that Albus Dumbledore would kill him to cover it up; he just wanted to avoid the hassle of dealing with the old man's insistence that he was just passing by. Just as Ian was riding the transformed staircase down, preparing to go to the Hogwarts kitchen for something to eat and calm his nerves...
Inside the owl's hut.
"Just now, someone was twisting the cotton outside."
The speaker wasn't Albus Dumbledore, but Aberforth, lying on the ground with his arms outstretched, his face bruised and swollen. His voice was weak and slurred, as if he might die at any moment. This was clearly because Aberforth's tongue had been swollen from being beaten by Albus Dumbledore.
"I know."
Albus Dumbledore sat on the ground, panting heavily. His strength was clearly depleted from the earlier fight; the Elder Wand he had pulled out hung limply from his knees, resting on the dry grass. Turning to look at Aberforth, who was now spitting as he spoke, Albus Dumbledore tossed him a potion.
"Coo coo coo~"
Feeling like he was about to faint, Aberforth quickly used all his strength to grab the potion and pour it down his throat, without suspecting that Albus Dumbledore might have poisoned it.
"You said there were rats in your school. Was that a rat just now?" Aberforth's bruises and swelling hadn't subsided, but his speech was a little clearer.
He also had the strength to sit up. The anger and rage from the fight had vanished, and his gaze towards Albus Dumbledore was much calmer.
"No."
Albus Dumbledore, with disheveled hair, poked at the ground with the Elder Wand, his deep eyes reflecting the patterns he drew on the ground.
The symbol of the Trinity.
"It's just that little wizards who don't sleep at night and wander around the school at night—that's quite common." Albus Dumbledore didn't turn to meet Aberforth's eyes.
He answered Aberforth's question seemingly casually. Clearly, even with the protection of the Disillusionment Charm, Ian hadn't escaped Albus Dumbledore's perception.
but.
The headmaster of Hogwarts didn't seem to want to tell Aberforth the whole truth. Perhaps, as he said, there were some things he didn't want the psychologically fragile Aberforth to know.
After all, they're brothers.
A beating would be enough.
There's no need to make the other person go back and hang themselves.
Remove the illusion spell.
After Ian had eaten and drunk his fill in the Hogwarts kitchen, he was seen off by the elves as if he were some kind of leader who had been promoted. He then began to wander the corridors as a Hogwarts street urchin.
You need to aid digestion after meals.
This is insurance to avoid becoming overweight, and also an effective post-meal measure to prevent acid reflux at night.
Most people who eat a late-night snack and then go to sleep have likely experienced acid reflux.
"Madam Fat, what are you doing wandering around the hall?" Ian, while digesting his meal and familiarizing himself with the less-traveled routes at Hogwarts, encountered the Madam Fat, who was visiting other portraits in the middle of the night. She was supposed to be at the door of the Gryffindor common room, responsible for opening and closing the door as the doorman.
Just like the bronze eagle head of Ravenclaw, the Fat Lady has always been regarded as a reliable "dormitory auntie," but it is clear that the Fat Lady is not always as dedicated as everyone describes.
To be honest, Ian was just surprised to greet the fat lady, but she looked flustered and helpless, like someone caught slacking off.
"I'll go back right away!"
She hurriedly disappeared from a painting of a witch drinking tea by the river, leaving the witch, who had just finished drinking tea in the river, to return and look blankly at the empty meadow around her.
"Ms. Violet, have you seen that young Gryffindor recently?" Ian was still thinking about the Gryffindor treasure, of course. He had even turned almost all the portraits in the school against him, and even the older version of Gryffindor had assured him that he would help him capture his younger self.
The young wizard believed this was thanks to his promise to paint more entertainment items for the portraits.
"No, we've all been looking for him for you, but none of the portraits we've seen these past few days show him. I think he was probably killed by your hounds somewhere." The witch Violet looked at Ian with some helplessness, and put the pot of tea she was holding onto the lawn.
"My precious zombie dog wouldn't kill any portrait! And it must have been killed by Gryffindor!" Ian defended his kindness and the reputation of his "deceased" vicious dog.
However, the expression on Violet's face grew increasingly strange.
"Zombie Dog—isn't that name dangerous enough?" The witch Violet swore she had never seen such an abstract image; its teeth were almost longer than her arms.
When Ian’s hound chased young Gryffindors all over Hogwarts, most of the paintings featured the dog, and even today, many paintings still don’t know how the dog was able to “come back to life.”
A group of portrait artists discussed this issue, and they felt that the only plausible explanation was that the young wizard who was pre-selected by Hogwarts must have some inexplicable spirit.
Otherwise, how could such an abstract hunting dog be brought to life?
"I know you have a good liking for portraits. If you can help me find that guy, I can paint more than a dozen Slavs to grow tea for you."
Ian started making grand promises.
"Child, nothing grows in a painting—" The witch Violet showed a hint of nostalgia, "but I do long for a group of black male slaves."
She licked her lips as she spoke.
Ian didn't dare ask any more questions.
"make a deal!"
He could only pretend he hadn't made any connection, and clapped his hands with the witch Violet through the picture frame. The interests and hobbies of these medieval wizards were sometimes truly hard to describe.
One of the portraits in Ravenclaw became the place where many of the gambling portraits in Hogwarts would sneak out to gamble in the middle of the night, because of the deck of cards and the large gambling table that he added to the portrait while practicing.
One of Hogwarts' great unsolved mysteries was thus born, because many young wizards saw quite a few knights who had lost their armor or swords who had lost their swords and were left with only their trousers in the corridors of Hogwarts. Those who lost everything even caused the professors to temporarily close some corridors to prevent the young wizards from entering.
Not a single thread of clothing.
Too inappropriate for children.
"Perhaps you should also look in places that our portraits can't reach. After all, Gryffindor was the founder, and his portraits likely have a wider range of activities than ours."
The witch Violet returned to the lawn and then offered her advice.
"I'm exploring some unknown corners right now." Ian wholeheartedly agreed with this view. His nighttime stroll after a meal was certainly not just to be a street urchin checking whether the portrait artists were keeping to their posts.
After bidding farewell to the portrait of Violet the Witch, Ian continued to wander through the enormous castle, following the markings on the Marauder's Map, and soon discovered the other night-roaming wizards.
They are the Weasley twins from Gryffindor.
George Weasley and Fred Weasley.
Red hair and freckles are characteristics of their family. Although the Weasley twins look exactly alike, they still have some differences in personality and some subtle details.
of course.
Both are kindred spirits in their love of pranks and their audacity. They are also quite talented in alchemy, excelling not only in Quidditch but also destined to become the founders of the Weasleys Magical Joke Shop. This shop specializes in selling all sorts of magical prank toys, such as chubby toffee, canary crackers, and canary cookies. These products are not only beloved by Hogwarts students but also bring them much fun and trouble.
"Unlucky bastards."
Ian didn't have much affection for the Weasley twins because their products dominated the Hogwarts market, causing him to lose a large sum of Galleons.
There are so many rumors about Ian, and the Weasley brothers deserve a lot of credit for that. Of course, Ian believes the Weasley brothers meant no harm, but that doesn't stop him from unable to suppress the smirk when he saw the two of them caught out for a night out.
It's like a cat catching a mouse.
Or perhaps it was a mouse playing tricks on a cat, and then suddenly it crashed and burned—it was quite funny—Ian saw the comical scene below from the stairs.
"Over here! Quick, George!"
George quickly ran behind a suit of armor to hide. He called to his brother, and soon, the other mischievous twin appeared at the bottom of the stairs.
Fred Weasley immediately found a suit of armor and hid behind it. Then, a short while later...
Then Filch, the administrator with mobility issues, came into view.
"Where are they! I clearly saw them!" He not only had difficulty moving around, but his physical strength was also obviously not as good as that of a young person.
Now that his cat is no longer by his side, it feels as if he has lost his eyes.
To be fair, the reason why many people find the caretaker Filch difficult is mainly because of his cat, Mrs. Lorris.
This cat is the real "catcher." It is not only much faster than Filch, but also has keen senses and is extremely intelligent, making it very difficult to shake off.
If the cat finds the night-roaming wizard, it will alert Filch, who, knowing some of Hogwarts' secret passages, can intercept the wandering wizard in advance.
of course.
Filch didn't get his cat's help tonight because Ian had caught it and locked it in a cage before dinner for attacking it. It placed Mrs. Lorris in a room full of dried fish, and the specially made cage simply couldn't hold the dried fish.
This is absolutely the best punishment for Mrs. Lorris.
Perhaps Ian's own act of revenge inadvertently helped the Weasley brothers. Filch stood in the hall, looking around, but couldn't find anything wrong with the standing armor.
"Clang~"
A faint sound came from a distance, which immediately caught Filch's attention.
"Over there!"
He seemed very certain of his judgment, and immediately ran towards the direction from which the sound came from, his limp and hobby making the same motion.
After the alarm was lifted, the two brothers emerged from behind their armor.
"He's such an idiot."
George wiped his mouth; he had been secretly eating snacks while hiding.
"I bet he won't be able to sleep tonight if he doesn't catch us." Fred Weasley also snatched the snacks from his brother's hands with a smug look on his face.
"We need to hurry and explore the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's lair. The Marauder's Map shows he's not in his office, but I bet his office has plenty of evidence of crimes."
George straightened his clothes, which had become somewhat disheveled from their escape. Clearly, their reason for tonight's outing was to provoke the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.
It was probably driven by curiosity.
Ian just felt that the two brothers might really be tired of living.
"Perhaps we can get a special contribution award for this! Dumbledore will give us a huge bonus! We'll become great heroes of Gryffindor!"
Fred's expression was full of longing.
"Maybe Dumbledore will even grant us permission to go out at night in the future, and to oversee the safety of the entire school for him." George's expectant agreement fully demonstrated that the two brothers were truly in sync.
Just as the two were preparing to embark on their adventure.
"Splash~"
suddenly.
A figure suddenly emerged from the wall behind them, knocking over the armor George had used to hide in, and instantly pinning the unsuspecting George beneath it.
"Indeed, Hogwarts at night is more exciting than during the day." Ian saw Peeves immediately disappear back into the wall after his sneak attack, his elusive movements were truly too skillful.
"My back! Fred! I feel like my kidneys are definitely going to be crushed!"
The full-body armor, made without any skimping on materials, was extremely heavy. George struggled but couldn't push it away at all. Seeing this, Fred immediately cursed "Damn Peeves!" and went to help him.
Fred had just pulled out his wand.
"Don't you dare insult me!"
Peeves popped out from the other side, and to Ian's astonishment as he watched everything from the stairs, it "possessed" itself in another suit of armor.
"Mischievous Ghost doesn't have that ability, does he?"
Ian's eyes widened.
of course.
His eyes certainly weren't as wide as George's and Fred's, because once Peeves entered the armor, the armor bared its fangs and charged at Fred like a wild boar.
They pounced on it directly.
next moment.
Fred was also crushed under the armor. The panting Peeves then crawled out of the armor and pulled up other heavy objects and pieces of armor, piling them all on top of the two brothers.
"This is the price for offending me! Hehe~ Didn't expect me to become so powerful, did you?" Pipi Ghost made a face at the two brothers who were shouting.
"What's Mischievous Ghost doing here!"
"Let us go! You little rascal! You little brat!"
The two brothers' words made Pipi Ghost very unhappy.
"You should beg me! Although that won't make me let you go! But with your attitude right now—" Pikachu immediately floated towards the place where Filch had left.
"Here they are! Those two nasty brats are right here! They're so awful! Not only did they not praise me, they insulted me! They need to be punished more severely!"
Between calls.
Pee-Pee disappeared from Ian's sight.
"George! My wand! My wand seems to have been broken!"
"Stop yelling, Fred! We need to figure out how to save ourselves!"
The two unlucky brothers were trapped under a pile of armor. They yelled and peeked out, looking around, and then they saw Ian standing on the stairs.
"Prince!"
They saw Ian, but before they could call for his help, they were grabbed by the arriving administrator, their faces showing a dejected expression of utter despair.
"It's them, isn't it!" Filch returned to the hall led by Peeves, a rare moment in years when he received Peeves' help.
"Where is the little wizard who wanders at night?"
Filch looked around impatiently; without a flashlight and the cat's help, his night vision was probably a little bit off.
"You should have told me—great Peeves, please tell me where the criminal you captured is!" Despite his complaints, Peeves brought Filch to the twins.
"We're doomed!"
The twins looked ashen-faced.
"I spotted them first!"
Filch immediately wanted to take the credit.
"You don't have that ability, it's me who's more capable!" Mischievous Ghost laughed.
He wasn't wrong.
As the caretaker of Hogwarts, without his cat, Filch was no match for the skilled Nightwalkers; most of the time, he was the poor wretch who was completely outmaneuvered by them.
"Damn you, Peeves! You clearly hate Filch too!"
"Why should you make Filch happy? You're betraying your own life principles!"
George and Fred shouted loudly, their tone indignant and their expressions as distressed as if their lovers had died; they clearly considered being captured by Filch a great humiliation.
"I hate you guys even more, hehe." Pipi Ghost made a face at the two brothers. As if he felt that the situation of the two brothers being pressed down was not safe enough, he went to the side and moved a bunch of random things over.
"Little wizard! Not sleeping! Running around everywhere! You deserve punishment!" Peeves seemed to be singing a cheerful song, while George and Fred's heads were almost completely buried under the things he had brought.
"You'll get your comeuppance, you little devil!"
George Weasley's curse emanated from the clutter.
"That's right! You'll be expelled from school!"
Fred was clearly aware of Peeves' fears, which was perhaps why Peeves hated them so much; even mischievous sprites didn't like others knowing their secrets.
"Shut up! You two obnoxious Gryffindor students!" Filch roared through gritted teeth, but he failed to frighten George and Fred.
They continued to sigh and complain, "I've seen you cause trouble at school at night more than once, violating school rules and trampling on the school's order with your despicable behavior!"
"I've finally caught you today—I must teach you a cruel lesson!" Filch said with an air of triumph, his face displaying a strong sense of smug satisfaction.
"You don't have that right!"
"Yes! The school won't allow you to hang us up and beat us like in the old days! At most, you can put us in solitary confinement once!" The two brothers were clearly not concerned about the punishment they would receive.
Their nonchalant expressions instantly enraged Filch.
"I will go and suggest to Dumbledore that the old punishments should be reinstated for you incorrigible villains! Only the whip and candles can make you reform!"
Filch launched into a vicious threat, his spittle flying through the air.
"Who are you trying to scare?"
George finally poked his head out.
"Pikachu, you have to pay me back for my wand!"
Fred's head was still wailing loudly amidst the clutter.
"Ha, you two brats don't need wands anymore, because you'll be expelled from Hogwarts."
Your parents will weep and wail as they take you back to your rat's nest.
Filch grinned wickedly.
"That sarcastic tone—he must have learned it from that man." Seeing that the farce was over, Ian slowly walked down the stairs.
George, peeking out, winked at him, as if reminding Ian to slip away before Filch noticed, because it was always necessary to preserve a spark in the Night Wanderers' ranks.
"You can't scare me! Dumbledore won't fire us!" His voice suddenly became very loud.
It was probably an attempt to draw attention away from Ian.
However, Filch was ultimately a seasoned and shrewd man. He immediately noticed George's little scheme and abruptly turned to look at Ian, who was waving goodbye to the twins with his back to them.
At this moment, Ian was walking towards the basement, not bothering to hide his intentions, because he had already realized two days ago that all he needed to worry about was being caught by the professor.
Filch was quite lenient with him, perhaps because he had said a few nice things to Filch, or perhaps because Filch knew he was a good student who wouldn't easily break school rules.
This is not.
Despite seeing Ian.
Filch was only stunned for a moment.
Then, as if he hadn't seen anything, he turned his head back.
"I need to lock you all up first."
Filch continued to subtly threaten the Weasley brothers.
"what?"
George, who peeked out from the clutter, was dumbfounded. He couldn't understand why Filch, who was always "averse to evil," would choose to ignore such a large little wizard nearby.
"Didn't you see that? There's someone over there!" George didn't care about protecting the torch of the night patrol anymore. He just felt like he might have seen some dirty thing disguised as a little wizard.
"Who is this! Still spouting nonsense! Still unrepentant!" Filch showed no intention of turning back; Snape's warning still echoed in his ears.
"You'd be glad you didn't grab him, otherwise, if he turned you into some kind of monster and threw you into the sewers, Dumbledore certainly wouldn't mourn for you."
Filch was naturally a bully who preyed on the weak. He had actually discovered Ian's nighttime wanderings and complained to Snape, but Snape's words made him think deeply and feel terrified.
Especially after inquiring about various rumors and learning from Mrs. Pince about the books Ian usually borrowed, Filch finally showed a rare moment of wit in his life.
He infected himself with a strange disease that causes selective blindness.
no way.
after all.
For a seemingly harmless young wizard who, with Dumbledore's permission, treats the forbidden book section as his own home and even borrows a whole bunch of dark magic books...
How dare a mere administrator like him provoke him?
He appears to be a student.
But he really does have someone protecting him from above!
It's still the most powerful person in Hogwarts who's protecting them!
"Fred! Fred! You must have seen it too! That guy standing on the stairs!" George panicked immediately after noticing Filch's strange behavior.
He was clearly still somewhat naive and inexperienced.
Who are you talking about?
Fred finally poked his head out. "I didn't see anything, all I saw was my broken wand. Mom's going to want to put me back in her belly!"
Without his brother's confirmation, George's face grew even paler.
"Mischievous Ghost! You must have seen it!"
George grasped at the last straw. He looked at Peeves, who had been silent for a long time, and then...
The mischievous imp, who was being punished by standing in the corner, flew into a rage.
"I didn't see anything! You evil little wizard! Don't even think about harming the great Peeves!" Peeves immediately plopped down on George's face.
"You're so mean! I'm going to shut you up!"
Peeves pressed down hard on George's head, and George, struggling to breathe, didn't cry for help.
Because his heart had been subjected to an indescribable shock.
Even Pikachu is afraid of this filthy thing!
How dirty is it?
They may have inadvertently discovered the strange creatures hidden in Hogwarts!
I watched two great shows in a row.
Ian went to the basement to find out where the Gryffindor portrait might be hidden; however, he clearly did not expect that Hogwarts' nightlife was much more exciting than he had imagined.
Previously, Ian had just passed by the abandoned classroom where he and Aurora had witnessed Quirrell contacting Voldemort, never expecting to see Quirrell in his fully-formed form, covered in garlic, inside.
There wasn't any evil ritual taking place; instead, he was simply pinned against the wall as the one being threatened. The black-robed man grabbing Quirrell's collar was a powerful dark wizard.
Ian immediately cast the Disillusionment Charm on himself again.
The third act of the night is underway.
"Don't treat me as your enemy, and I don't think you'd want to be my enemy either," Ian's good uncle Snape said coldly, staring at the trembling Quirrell.
"I—I don't know what you're talking about, Professor Snape, really—" Quirrell looked incredibly timid, his stuttering voice filled with nervousness.
"No, quite the opposite, you know exactly what I mean." Snape gripped Quirrell's neck tightly, as if he were about to lift Quirrell up.
Such a familiar conversation.
This made Ian feel like he had become Harry Potter—of course, the difference being that he wouldn't report Snape, nor would he think Snape was doing anything evil.
"I really—I really don't know what happened in the Forbidden Forest, please, Snape—let me go." Quirrell pleaded with Snape like a bullied punching bag.
Snape remained unmoved.
"I know you left the school. Ha, I have a way of figuring out where anyone is at any given time," Snape said with a sneer.
"I contracted some diseases while traveling, and they only broke out after I returned to school, so I went to Hogwarts Village to buy medicine. I just didn't want to trouble you."
Quirrell seemed to have already found a plausible excuse.
Snape's sneer remained unchanged.
"You're tight-lipped, very good. We'll talk again soon, once you've had time to think things through and decide who you're loyal to."
He finally released the Muggle studies professor in front of him, gave him a fierce warning, and then quickly left the classroom, flicking his cloak.
Ian remained at the gate.
He watched as Quirrell, who had slumped to the ground, finally managed to stand up again, poked his head out of the window and looked around for a while, before seemingly talking to himself in the abandoned classroom.
"Master—Master—Snape seems to have discovered our secret. We must kill him, you—"
You need to use your power to kill him.
Quirrell's voice was filled with resentment; he clearly harbored deep hatred for Snape's humiliation. It was unclear whether this surge of emotion was influenced by the Dark Lord.
"Severus Snape—he was once my most loyal servant." A sharp voice suddenly appeared before Quirrell could speak.
It echoed softly in the empty classroom.
The voice was very soft, but it conveyed an extremely gloomy and irritable feeling. Ian couldn't tell for a moment whether the voice was coming from above Quirrell's head.
After all, he was just standing outside the classroom as a peeping tom.
"He must have betrayed you long ago! Dumbledore has valued him highly all these years! Perhaps—perhaps the setbacks you've encountered are the reason he's sabotaging you behind the scenes!"
Quirrell began to frantically smear Snape, even risking to bring down Voldemort, a mad act that immediately earned him punishment from Voldemort.
"Aaaaaah!!"
No one knew what Voldemort had done; all that could be seen was Quirrell clutching his head in agony, collapsing to the ground like a rotten fish, convulsing wildly.
"I was wrong! Master! I was wrong!"
His hysterical pleas for mercy did not soften Voldemort's heart.
A full ten minutes later.
Ian felt Quirrell was about to be tortured to death, and only then did Voldemort stop his punishment of Quirrell.
Quirrell, who had collapsed to the ground, continued to convulse and gasp for breath for a while before slowly recovering.
What makes you so bold?
That gloomy voice sounded again.
"I'm sorry, Master! I was blinded by hatred! Snape has always looked down on me and enjoyed humiliating me. I really hope you can give me justice."
"He must have betrayed you too—" Quirrell spoke with an even more submissive air, curled up on the ground, his tone extremely cautious and somewhat obsequious.
"I will decide what to do with him," Voldemort continued in a low voice. "I am still quite weak, and I need to use some of the power I have regained to kill that clown writer."
"We must get the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor—only then will we have a greater chance of accessing the Philosopher's Stone that Dumbledore has hidden."
Voldemort might have been after the Philosopher's Stone, but it could also have been driven by his own obsession. Quirrell, who had just been punished, naturally dared not object to his decision.
I will do my best to help you—
Quirrell responded humbly.
"First, get closer to him, then find a time to invite that professor to Hogsmeade Village. Don't leave any clues that could get us caught. We can make our move there."
Voldemort issued the order with malice.
"Yes, Master."
Quirrell hesitated for a moment, then couldn't help but cautiously ask, "Do you need more time to recover? That way we can be safer?"
He clearly felt he had been cautious enough.
however.
Voldemort punished him again, turning him back into a twisted man "dancing" on the ground, his painful groans so pitiful that Ian could hardly bear to watch.
"I don't want you to have such doubts again, since it's just dealing with a third-rate wizard." This time, Voldemort didn't torture Quirrell for too long.
"I understand! I won't do it again! I obey! I will follow all your orders!" Quirrell said in utter terror, leaving a stain on his face as he got up from the ground.
"Damn it! Go back and change your pants!!"
Voldemort screamed and roared; he really knew how to torment his servants.
"Hiss~ I see!"
Ian watched Quirrell stagger out of the classroom, leaning against the wall, and disappear around the corner. In the end, he didn't take out his wand to nip the danger in the bud.
"After all, Voldemort really knows how to court death." Ian knew very well that even Quirrell in his remnant soul state wouldn't be a match for Grindelwald in his sleepwalking state.
He didn't need to drag himself into another adventure.
"It's time to calm down, otherwise Uncle Good will definitely target me relentlessly and deduct points from Ravenclaw School." Ian glanced at the evidence of Quirrell's "anger" left in the classroom and was just about to continue exploring the secret passage in the basement to find the portrait of Gryffindor when he saw the figure of the black bat as he walked deeper into the basement.
Right at the office door.
Snape seemed to have been standing there waiting for something. Ian was very glad he hadn't canceled the Disillusionment Charm and immediately prepared to walk around Snape and continue on his way. He felt that he should always have the Marauder's Map with him when he went out at night, otherwise he might encounter some trouble somewhere else.
Just as Ian was setting rules for himself.
"Reveal yourselves immediately."
Suddenly, Snape raised his wand and cast a spell in Ian's direction. Instantly, Ian, who was under the Illusion Charm, revealed his true form, showing his little black feet.
In the blink of an eye, he was completely exposed to Snape's view.
"Huh?"
Ian was a little confused.
"Looks like you've come here to remind me that I should make you serve your solitary confinement punishment." Snape gritted his teeth and rushed forward, grabbing Ian by the back of his collar.
"How did you know I was there! I used the Disillusionment Charm!" Ian was speechless. It was one thing for Dumbledore to be able to detect him, but how could he not even hide it from Snape?
Is this still the Illusionary Body Curse?
It might as well be called the Curse Full of Flaws!
"At least you weren't discovered by Quirrell and the soul of the person inside him." Snape clearly already knew Quirrell's secret, but he simply chose not to expose it earlier.
"So, you can see through the Disillusionment Charm?"
That's all Ian cares about.
"cannot."
Snape's concise and to-the-point response.
"I knew you wouldn't behave this afternoon, so I sprayed some medicine on you beforehand, hehe."
Sure enough, you're trying to get involved in things you shouldn't be involved in.
Snape watched as Ian sniffed around, even raising his arm to sniff his groin. Snape's eyelids twitched. "Stop looking. If you could smell something wrong, I wouldn't be using it on a cunning brat like you. Do you think I'm one of those stupid apothecaries at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Injuries?"
God knows why he had to diss the innocent magic hospital.
"How long will this last?" Ian received no response from Snape. He found himself being carried toward the storeroom, and a bad feeling immediately arose in his heart.
"You're not really going to make me clean the toilets right now, are you?"
Ian tried to gain Snape's sympathy by behaving pitifully, but the Slytherin headmaster remained unmoved and showed him what true ruthlessness was.
"This is the punishment you have been failing to carry out."
1
Snape found a latrine cleaner's outfit in the storeroom and dressed Ian in it, like dressing a doll. Afterward, he handed Ian a mop and a chamber pot.
"It's bedtime! You won't grow tall if you don't sleep!" Ian was still trying to avoid cleaning the toilet, but he found that Snape had cast a spell on his wand as well.
"You've disabled my wand-casting ability?"
Ian's eyes widened. "I'll be caught and killed by Quirrell! You know how much he hates me! He and the guy on his ass will turn me into little wizard jerky!"
His words startled Snape slightly.
"On the butt—"
This is something Snape may not have noticed.
"Spellcasting is a right every wizard should have! You can't take away my right! I'm going to find Dumbledore!" Ian's words made Snape's eyelids twitch wildly. "You good-for-nothing, can't you learn anything other than dark magic? I only used a little trick on your wand that lets me sense whether you're casting a spell!" Snape really felt that Ian was a bit unbalanced; his Fiendfire was so terrifying, yet he didn't even know about this kind of knowledge that was taught in fourth grade.
"All right--"
Ian's voice trailed off, but he was still quite resentful. He had chased Voldemort all over the Forbidden Forest that afternoon, and now he had been reduced to a Hogwarts cleaner.
"I've served Hogwarts, I've almost shed blood for Hogwarts," he retorted.
Clearly, he did not receive Snape's approval.
"I want to see all the toilets spotless by morning, or I'll punish your friends severely." Snape thought he had found Ian's Achilles' heel.
however.
"Not punishing me? That's great!"
Ian was so surprised that he threw away the tools he was holding.
"??????"
This time it was Snape's turn to be dumbfounded. He thought he had studied Ian quite well, but Ian's reaction was completely different from what he had imagined.
Seeing that Ian was about to run away, Snape, quick-witted as ever, finally managed to stop Ian by saying, "Do you still have any money left with me? I'll send it back to your run-down orphanage for Christmas."
"You win!"
Ian grumbled as he picked up the tools. He began cleaning the toilet under Snape's supervision. It wasn't too dirty, since the young wizard sometimes used cleaning charms on the toilet before using it.
The main problem is mopping the floor and cleaning the sinks and faucets, which is particularly troublesome, since the water here in the UK is very hard.
Some infrequently used toilets accumulate a lot of grayish-white sediment.
If he had magic, he could solve the problem with a wave of his hand, but now Ian was finally experiencing the pain of not being able to use magic. Under Snape's supervision, he cleaned two toilets in a row.
"Speed up."
Snape probably thought Ian had resigned himself to his fate, so he went back to sleep while Ian was cleaning the second floor, and Ian did indeed obediently clean the broken toilet.
Some people's toilets don't need much cleaning, but broken toilets are the most troublesome, especially when there's a ghost inside.
"It's a boy! This is the women's restroom!" The weeping Myrtle was disturbed by the noise of Ian cleaning, and she let out a humiliating scream as she emerged from the stall.
"Even though you're very pretty, you shouldn't have gone into the women's restroom." She scolded Ian for his immoral behavior, but her expression looked more like she was shy.
The ghost had half its body hidden in the cubicle, with only its head peeking out.
"This is all Snape's fault! I suggest you go look for him in his bed!" Ian was cleaning the faucets in the bathroom; he knew that the entrance to the secret chamber was in front of one of the faucets.
"I'll report you to the professors—of course, if you could come and talk to me occasionally, maybe I would—" The shy Myrtle was also planning to reach some kind of agreement with Ian.
however.
"Open!"
Ian touched a faucet with an ouroboros relief, and then he touched the Book of Parsnip, which he had studied for so long.
It made him so eager that he whispered something to the faucet.
This not only interrupted Mommy Queen's words, but also immediately filled her with terror. His voice sounded like a strange and peculiar hiss to her ears.
"It's you!!!"
As if triggered by some terrible memory, Madam Myrtle screamed and jumped into the toilet, splashing toilet water and making a very noticeable noise.
Ian looked toward the cubicle where Moaning Myrtle had disappeared, and when he turned back, he found that the faucet in front of him had started to turn, with countless mechanical sounds ringing out one after another.
immediately.
The entire sink began to slowly descend and sink into the ground, revealing an open secret passage. A pitch-black hole was reflected in Ian's eyes.
"This---"--This is a little different from what I thought?" Ian had been thinking about the basilisk before he even enrolled in school. He had made a lot of preparations, but now he just wanted to go in and take away the precious snake skin.
only.
The secret door to the open bathroom was different from the straight pipe he remembered; inside was a staircase that kept descending.
It wasn't the slide that was supposed to be full of screams and fun.
"Is my precious basilisk gone?" Ian crawled inside, the mechanisms behind him constantly turning and closing. Only after he took out his wand did he remember the mark Snape had left on it.
"Luckily, I was well prepared."
Ian took out a lantern emitting a white light from his purse, while still holding his wand in his other hand, as the entrance to this strange secret room was somewhat different from what he had imagined.
"It was my good uncle who brought me to the front door, so it's not my fault." Ian walked down the street, finding a reasonably plausible reason for his "adventure."
Similar to the other secret passages we'd passed through before, the only difference was that this one wasn't shown on the Marauder's Map. Ian noticed that there was also water seepage, common in other secret passages, above his head.
Fortunately, there wasn't much of it, and it didn't smell bad, so there was no need to use an umbrella. Using the light from the alchemical artifact in his hand, Ian walked down the stairs for a full twenty minutes.
"Am I going to walk straight to the center of the earth?" His geography grades were actually quite good, but he was just expressing his shock, as the lantern's light couldn't illuminate the area below at all.
Not only was it bottomless, but as Ian went down, he also found that the terrain began to become more complicated, like a huge maze, with many branching paths appearing on both sides of the stairs.
He hesitated for a moment.
We continued down the widest staircase for about half an hour, until the air even became somewhat stuffy and stale.
"Where is this place?"
Ian finally reached the bottom and saw that dark blue candles began to light up on the surrounding rock walls, and the ground changed from rough stone steps to marble tiles.
Smooth and translucent.
It seemed as if it had never been touched by a speck of dust.
Ahead lay a passageway resembling the corridors of Hogwarts Castle, leading straight down to somewhere underground.
However, Ian was not in a hurry to explore this secret place.
"Better safe than sorry."
He carefully checked the passageway and found no traps. He even took out a doll that resembled the one in the Room of Requirement training room and walked back and forth in the passageway several times. After confirming that this was not an area to kill intruders, he continued to move forward cautiously, still on high alert.
Nothing happened as Ian walked to the end of the passage. Only the candles on either side of him kept lighting up the path ahead.
These candles were no ordinary objects; they seemed to be formed by some kind of magic, their flames leaping and emitting a soft, warm light that illuminated the corridor as if it were daytime, yet without losing its original solemnity and mystery.
"I was really being cynical in my judgment of the school's founders. Why would they set up any dangerous traps in the school?" Ian breathed a sigh of relief and stepped out of the passage.
next moment.
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh~"
The incredibly noisy commotion startled him. He had already raised his wand, ready to unleash [Shadowless Storm], but fortunately, the sudden noise was just the simultaneous lighting of thousands upon thousands of candles.
The scene was breathtakingly beautiful, with thousands of flames rising almost simultaneously, filling the air with a warm, slightly bluish atmosphere. The flickering firelight illuminated the outlines of the surrounding scenery, making the entire space both bright and soft, as if gently covered by a layer of soft golden gauze.
"Hiss~"
Candles illuminated the vast hall.
This also surprised the young wizard who had already prepared himself and made many guesses.
All I saw was...
The enormous hall, as vast as a grassland, had a floor that shimmered as if it were covered in gold; it was perhaps gold, not ordinary stone or soil.
But this wasn't the most shocking scene for Ian. What made him, a man who had seen it all, gasp in astonishment was that there were other things in this breathtaking place.
"Sleeping Dragon, Do Not Disturb—"
The dragon's skeleton was reflected in Ian's eyes.
Its enormous body blotted out the sky and the sun.
Like a high mountain.
The overwhelming sense of oppression was unsettling.