Capítulo 72: 072 Sudden Attack
The staff lounge was a spacious and cozy room, furnished with comfortable sofas, armchairs, tables, and bookshelves. It was usually a place where the Hogwarts teachers could relax, chat, or read after a long day of teaching. But on that particular Friday evening, the lounge was almost deserted, except for two figures who stood in the middle of an empty space, surrounded by various magical objects and instruments.
One of them was Bryan, the mysterious and powerful Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher who had joined Hogwarts a few months ago. He was a tall and handsome man, with dark brown hair and piercing lavender eyes. He wore a black cloak over his casual clothes, and held a silver wand in his right hand. He had a confident and charismatic aura about him, but also a hint of danger and mystery.
The other one was Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher and the head of Ravenclaw house. He was a short and elderly man, with a white beard and a pointed hat. He had a high-pitched voice and a cheerful personality. He was one of the most respected and skilled teachers in Hogwarts, and he had taken a keen interest in Bryan's abilities and adventures.
They were working on a special project that Bryan had proposed: creating realistic illusions and models of various dark creatures that could be used for training purposes. Bryan had encountered many dangerous beings in his travels around the world, and he wanted to share his knowledge and experience with the students. Professor Flitwick agreed to help him with the charm work, as he was an expert in that field.
"I'm not as good at this kind of spell as Minerva, Bryan. If you want to make things more realistic, I think you'd better ask Minerva for advice!" Professor Flitwick said in his squeaky voice, with a look of embarrassment on his face. He pointed at a chair that they had been trying to transform into a werewolf.
"You know, Professor Flitwick, Professor McGonagall has always disapproved of me using these things to scare the students. In my opinion, she is unlikely to offer any help in this regard–" Bryan scratched his head in frustration, pondered for a moment, and waved his wand. He adjusted the rhythm of the magic input, and added two magic transmission corridors on the basis of the original creation foundation. The chair in the middle of the two changed its shape gradually. The seat bent upwards, and two of its four legs turned into arms, and two into legs. In no time, a tall man with strong muscles and a gloomy face appeared in the staff lounge.
Facing the man that Bryan had transformed, Professor Flitwick did not comment immediately, but patiently continued to watch.
Bryan continued to move his wand, and with the input of magic, the man's appearance began to change dramatically. His straight back began to hunch over, his smooth skin grew black, coarse and hard hair like a wild boar's bristles, his square face gradually turned into a cone shape, his white and neat teeth became uneven, his canine teeth more sharp, his eyes more sinister. He exuded a bloody aura all over his body.
"Very good, Bryan. At least I wouldn't have known if I hadn't been informed beforehand. Oh, there's a detail. The pupils of werewolves also shrink accordingly after transformation–" Professor Flitwick said in admiration.
"Oh, thank you!" Bryan said gratefully. He shook the tip of his wand and adjusted this subtle detail. He controlled this 'werewolf' to walk around the staff dormitory, making defensive postures when threatened and attacking movements when hunting.
"How did you deal with this werewolf who wanted to attack you, Bryan?" Professor Flitwick asked curiously. He climbed onto a table agilely and watched Bryan adjust the details of the 'werewolf' with great interest.
"I don't think you had a silver dagger with you at that time, did you?" He added.
"You guessed it right, Professor Flitwick?" Bryan smiled lightly. He crossed his arms over his chest and dug into his mind for details of the werewolf's body movements.
"It wasn't that troublesome. There were more than a dozen werewolves who wanted to trouble me at that time. I used a combination spell to attach magic fire similar to Fiendfyre on metal spears made from stones and pierced them directly into their hearts. This cut off the werewolves' powerful physical recovery ability from the source. None of those guys lasted more than half a minute under this magic and they all turned into ashes. In fact, there are many spells that work on them, but some spells might cause trouble for me if I use them. I was younger then, and the Ministry's strict orders still had some effect on me." Bryan said casually, as if he was talking about a trivial matter.
"Bryan–" Professor Flitwick said in awe. He imagined the scene of Bryan slaughtering this group of ferocious werewolves in his mind. He shuddered nervously several times. Before he could continue to ask, the door of the staff lounge was suddenly pushed open. A senior Ravenclaw girl rushed in with a terrified look.
It was Percy's girlfriend, Ravenclaw's prefect Penelope Clearwater!
Bryan waved his wand swiftly before the door opened and restored the werewolf to a chair. He stared at Penelope's beautiful brown curly hair that was almost soaked by sweat and had a bad feeling in his heart.
"Miss Clearwater, maybe you should explain why you broke into the staff lounge without knocking!"
Professor Flitwick was a good-tempered person, but it was still embarrassing for him to see someone from his own house make such an impolite move in front of another professor. He frowned slightly and looked at the intruder.
"Professor Flitwick, and Professor Watson–" Penelope stammered, trying to apologize. But before she could finish her sentence, she blurted out something that made both professors gasp in horror.
"Another student has had an accident., huh, it's the Chamber!" She cried out, clutching her chest.
Professor Flitwick screamed in shock and almost fell off the table. He quickly jumped down and ran to Penelope, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her gently.
"Miss Clearwater, calm down! What are you talking about? Who has been attacked? Where did it happen?" He asked urgently.
Bryan's eyes narrowed and he asked in a deep voice, "Please be more specific, Miss Clearwater. What is your source of information? Who was attacked? And what is the current status of the student who was attacked?"
He had a bad feeling in his heart. He had been expecting this day to come sooner or later, but he still hoped that it would never happen. He hoped that he was wrong about his suspicions. He hoped that no one would have to suffer because of the heir of Slytherin's madness.
Penelope trembled and sobbed softly. Bryan comforted her softly for a while before she calmed down slightly. She wiped her tears with her sleeve and told them what she knew.
"–We were having Transfiguration class just now when Filch suddenly rushed into the classroom and informed Professor McGonagall that another young wizard had been attacked. We followed him out and Filch took us to the place where Mrs. Norris was attacked. There was a new line of words on the wall–her bones will remain in the Chamber forever–"
As she said this, Penelope cried uncontrollably. Professor Flitwick walked over and gently patted her back, encouraging her to continue.
"Professor McGonagall conducted an emergency check and found that it was Percy's sister, Ginny Weasley, a first-year Gryffindor student who had disappeared."
Ginny Weasley? The little girl who looked a bit sickly and always seemed to have no energy a while ago? Bryan's eyes were solemn, but why would it be her?
"Bryan!" Professor Flitwick shouted, snapping him out of his thoughts.
Bryan nodded, knowing what Professor Flitwick meant. He told Penelope not to run around in the castle alone, and to stay with the professors as much as possible. Then he rushed out of the staff lounge without looking back.
When he came out, he found that almost all the students had already learned what had happened. Everyone's face was full of fear and panic, as if a disaster was imminent.
Bryan hurried to the third floor of the castle and found that Filch was driving away all the students who wanted to see the words for themselves. In the inner circle, Professor Snape was trying to erase the line of words. When he saw Bryan walking over quickly, he said in a low voice,
"Dumbledore has already checked here and found nothing. Also, he found that someone had used a powerful freezing curse to freeze all your panoramic telescopes that monitor the situation. He wasn't sure if your surveillance could still record some valuable images under this situation."
Bryan nodded, seemingly not surprised.
"I'll go and check it later. Those telescopes can form memories of the recorded images and automatically send them back to my office. I didn't feel anyone breaking into my office. I think those images should still be saved."
Now, the sky outside was completely dark. Bryan stared at the darkness outside the window, feeling as if the castle was trapped in a prison. But he also felt a sense of relief that something he had been waiting for a long time had finally happened.
The heir of Slytherin had finally started to act again, and this time, he didn't just petrify a student, but directly kidnapped Ginny Weasley, Bill and Charlie's sister. To be honest, Bryan had already sentenced this girl to death in his heart.
It only takes one spell to take a person's life. A few hours have passed, and maybe Ginny Weasley's body has already cooled down.
A bit of inexplicable anger surged from Bryan's heart. In addition to being an investigator for the board of directors, he also held the title of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. The heir of Slytherin almost attacked his student in front of him, which made Bryan feel offended.
"Where is Dumbledore now?" He asked Snape, hoping that the headmaster had some clues or plans to deal with this crisis.
Bryan withdrew his gaze from the dark window and looked at Professor Snape again. He saw that his professor's eyes were also flickering with some anxiety that was no different from the students'. Snape was a cold and sarcastic man, who rarely showed any emotion. But Bryan knew that he cared about the school and the headmaster, even if he didn't admit it.
"Lucius Malfoy invited the Ministry of Magic to intervene in this matter on behalf of the board of directors. They were amazingly efficient this time. He was talking with Cornelius Fudge in his office earlier. I heard they were going to take Hagrid away." Snape said in a low voice, with a hint of disdain.
"Hagrid wasn't proven innocent?" Bryan frowned. "Why are they still holding on to him?"
"Only Dumbledore and we believe–" Snape pursed his thin lips and looked gloomy. "Cornelius Fudge is a weak person when faced with pressure. He must come up with something to help him resist public opinion!"
Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic, the highest authority in the wizarding world. He was a plump and pompous man, with a pinstriped suit, a lime-green bowler hat, and a long silver beard. He was also a cowardly and incompetent leader, who often ignored or denied the truth, and preferred to please the influential and wealthy people like Lucius Malfoy.
Bryan's eyes flickered, not knowing what he was thinking about. After a while, he said slowly,
"I'd better go and see what Dumbledore is doing now."
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