Chương 59: Chapter 59: Looking For Peeves II
Peeves was truly a master of chaos.
Since his creation, aside from the time when the Four Founders directly led the school, there was practically no one who could manage him.
In 1876, the then-caretaker, Rancorous Carpe, devised an elaborate trap to drive Peeves out of the castle.
The trap was baited with various weapons and a massive bell jar that had been enchanted with numerous containment spells.
Once Peeves stepped into the right spot, the bell jar was supposed to fall and trap him.
But things didn't go as planned. Peeves easily blew the bell jar apart and left with several scimitars, a few crossbows, a large-caliber muzzleloader, and a small cannon.
He began shooting randomly for fun, endangering the students, taking control of the castle for 3 days. As a result, the castle had to be evacuated.
Three days later, the then-headmistress, Eupraxia Mole, agreed to negotiate with Peeves.
They reached a deal: Peeves would surrender the weapons in exchange for more privileges, including swimming once a week in the first-floor boys' bathroom, getting priority access to moldy bread from the kitchen to throw at people, and receiving a custom-made new hat by Madame Bonhabille of Paris.
This was the most disastrous and final attempt to rid the school of Peeves. The event also led to Carpe's early retirement "for health reasons."
This incident was just one of many outrageous moments in Peeves' infamous history.
Over the centuries, Peeves rarely antagonized the current professors, and he almost never wanted to deal with the headmaster, as long as these figures didn't provoke him.
But Peeves had no problem making the caretakers and students the targets of his mischief.
And when facing Peeves, people generally couldn't cause him any real harm.
Yet now, Luke was looking for Peeves, and the usually audacious poltergeist was actually hiding, refusing to show himself.
Luke didn't know what to make of it. Could Peeves sense his presence in advance and avoid him? Or had he simply found a place to hide?
Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Luke reflected on how many people he'd asked along the way. None had seen any sign of Peeves, which likely meant the latter—Peeves had hidden away.
But since Peeves was a ghost, the Marauder's Map couldn't show him, and even Dumbledore couldn't claim to know the castle as well as Peeves did.
Luke's search was akin to looking for a needle in a haystack.
"Am I really going to have to camp at the entrance to the Great Hall?"
Luke muttered to himself.
"Meow!"
Suddenly, a cat's meow interrupted his thoughts.
Recognizing the sound, Luke looked down to see his cat, Booker, sitting at his feet, having appeared out of nowhere.
"What's up?"
Luke asked, picking Booker up and stroking his head.
"Meow Meow!"
Booker stretched out his paw, pointing to the left.
"Follow your lead, huh?"
"Meow~"
Booker's face displayed an almost human-like confidence. Luke frowned slightly but soon relaxed.
"Alright, let's go!"
He said, heading in the direction Booker had indicated.
Following Booker's lead, Luke found himself dashing around the castle, climbing through windows and over walls.
As he looked down at the narrow ledge under his feet, barely twenty centimeters wide, and then at Booker's leisurely silhouette up ahead, Luke realized he had been a bit naive.
"Why did I think that a path a cat walks would be one a normal person could walk?"
After traversing a long stretch of strange terrain, Luke finally returned indoors.
He looked at Booker, silently hoping the cat wouldn't lead him through a hole in the wall or some other difficult passage. At the very least, if there was a hole, there had better be a door nearby.
Fortunately, Luke's worry didn't come to pass. Booker didn't lead him through any holes but instead stopped in front of a wall.
It was a dim, secluded corridor, seemingly at the far end of the castle. Looking around, there were no signs of anyone nearby.
Luke didn't rush things. He had already prepared himself for the possibility of returning empty-handed, so even if this turned out to be a dead end, he could accept it.
However, Booker wouldn't have brought him here without reason.
Booker crouched down and then leapt into the air, smacking a stone brick about chest-height for Luke with his paw.
A crisp sound of stone clicking against stone followed.
Luke watched as the wall in front of him slowly opened, revealing a staircase that led downward.
This was a path that hadn't shown up on the Marauder's Map.
That wasn't surprising. After all, the creators—James Potter and his friends—had only spent seven years at Hogwarts. While they had explored much of the castle, they clearly couldn't have uncovered all of its secrets.
Luke didn't hesitate for long. He knew Booker was still Booker and hadn't been enchanted or controlled. A normal Booker wouldn't harm him, so he felt confident.
Descending the staircase, Luke soon reached a small door.
Outside the door, he could already hear Peeves wailing.
"Ahhhh! Why does that Gaunt kid look so strange? Now he's coming after me! I wasn't even bothering him, and now he's coming after me!"
"Really! No surprise, he's a descendant of that old monkey Salazar! And with talents like Godric the dead octopus! Ugh!"
"A combination of two troublemakers—how's a ghost supposed to deal with that?"
Luke hadn't expected this at all. Before he even entered the room, Peeves had already given him such a good surprise.
Booker stayed behind Luke, showing no intention of going any further.
Who knows what might happen next? After all, Booker was just an innocent little cat—he didn't want to get caught in any crossfire.
Thinking this, Booker sat down and began licking his paws, his eyes fixed on Luke as he approached the door.
Luke moved quietly, trying not to alert Peeves. Peeves, after all, could phase through walls and escape easily.
Just as Luke was about to storm in, the door suddenly swung open, and a head popped out—black-haired, with small, sharp, mischievous black eyes.
Half of Peeves' orange bow tie was visible, and his bell-covered hat nearly touched Luke's chest.
They locked eyes for a brief moment.
Peeves turned to run, but immediately felt a strong sense of danger.
"Turn around. Look at me"
Came the cold voice of the Gaunt kid behind him.
Peeves froze, turning stiffly to face Luke, who was holding a wand Peeves recognized all too well.
Luke could feel the excitement radiating from the Slytherin wand in his hand. It was like the wand was reacting to Peeves the way Booker reacted to Scabbers.
"You know," Luke said sternly, "this thing can give you quite the lesson."
Peeves, the comical ghost, was now staring down the serious face of the young boy.
"I've got some questions for you"
*****
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