Archaeologists at Hogwarts

Chapter 157 Pandora, Lockhart, Angela (6k)

The secret of the awakening is hidden in the airtight magic office, and no one except Toby and Al, including the headmaster of Hogwarts, Dumbledore, knows it.

In the next few days, the students talked about Mrs. Norris's attack all day without talking about anything else.Filch's performance kept everyone's mind on this moment: he often paced up and down the place where Mrs. Norris was killed, as if thinking that the attacker would return.Harry saw him scrub the writing on the wall with Mrs. Skoll's All Purpose Miracle Stain Remover, but in vain; the writing still gleamed so brightly on the stone wall.When Filch wasn't patrolling a crime scene, he would sneak up in corridors with his red eyes wide open, and then pounce on unsuspecting students, trying to find excuses to keep them in detention, such as they were "breathing too loudly." , or "Smiley Face".

As for Professor Highmore
Unsurprisingly, the ancient magic class taught by Professor Highmore was suspended. Some students still hoped that Mr. Ayer would be able to take the position of professor, but it suddenly disappeared and rarely showed up in the castle. doing something.

Ginny was very disturbed by this.According to Ron, she is the only one who enjoys the tutoring of Professor Highmore in the Burrow, and is also willing to contact Mr. Al.

"It may be too sad." Ron comforted, trying to cheer Ginny up again: "After all, we can all see that Mr. Al is not an ordinary pet, I mean, who would?" What about special care for a position for pets? As for Mrs. Norris, seriously, it's the same with it or without it, and almost all the students don't like it. As long as we can catch the lunatic who caused the accident in time, we can- eh !"

Ginny's face turned pale, and she ran away as if fleeing, leaving the three of them behind in a hurry.

"You shouldn't be talking to her like that." Hermione closed the book and said, and then muttered again: "It's a pity that the library's "Hogwarts: A School History" has been borrowed, otherwise I can look it up." Look up the legends related to the Chamber of Secrets. Well, I wonder if this question can be asked in History of Magic class."

Harry, who had remained silent all this time, looked at the two of them, and wanted to bring up the old story again, and said, "About the Chamber of Secrets—uh! Uh! Let go, what are you doing?!"

He quickly pushed Ron's palm away, and Hermione looked around cautiously. She whispered, "Didn't we agree to never talk about it again, Harry?"

"I'm not kidding you guys, and not all Slytherins are bad guys - yes, I'm talking about Professor Highmore, at least he's not as bad as Snape - woohoo!"

After being attacked by Ron covering his mouth again, Harry finally stopped shouting loudly and said in a low voice; "Seriously, why don't you want to believe me?"

Ron also lowered his voice and said: "Because then you will be the murderer who attacked Professor Haimer. Listen to me, of course we don't believe such absurd things, but others don't necessarily, they will arrest you Get up, lift your skull, study your brain—”

Harry's eyes became more and more weird, and Ron smacked his mouth twice and said, "Okay, this sounds a bit excessive, but what about Azkaban? Do you want to be imprisoned in Azkaban?" ?”

"I didn't say I was the murderer!" Harry said angrily. He saw Ron raised his palm silently, ready to go, so he quickly lowered his voice and said, "But you can't deny that, only I can hear the murderer." The voice of the other party is the first to focus on Professor Haimo, so what about the next time? What should I do next time? At least I can also have the opportunity to give others an early warning."

"But what if the murderer's target is you?" Hermione said sharply: "The other party borrowed the name of the heir, what if the other party's plan is to lure out the real heir? Before we have any certainty, we can't Let you take risks—don’t rush to interrupt me, I’m sure, including your true identity, it’s still impossible to judge whether you are—"

Hermione looked left and right before whispering, "The real heir. Evidence, we need evidence, don't we? We were all three together when those two voices came out, but only you heard Now, that's not enough, Harry."

"Let's go." She pulled the speechless Harry up and said to him, "It's time for History of Magic class. I hope Professor Binns will tolerate students asking questions. It doesn't seem to have happened before."
-
Ginny finished today's class in a daze. She went back to the dormitory without eating dinner. She was alone, sitting on the bed blankly, her eyes glazed over, and even her long red hair was limp and drooping.

After a while, as if she had made up her mind, she pulled out the suitcase from under the bed, found the black notebook under the neatly folded clothes, and opened it with trembling hands.

"Are you still there?"

[Of course I'm here, my dear, I'm not going anywhere.Hear me out--】

"No! Listen to me! It's impossible for me to give you back!"

[Luna Lovegood. 】

The notebook reminded: [She is my daughter, as lovely as you, but of course, in my eyes she is the cutest.She was sorted into Ravenclaw house, she is in the same grade as you, you should have seen her, at least at the sorting ceremony. 】

Ginny thought about it carefully for a while.

"Yes, I remember her. Her—well, impressive long hair."

[I seem to know what you want to say, but well, forget it, my husband and I work from an angle that ordinary people can't imagine, we all hate the same life, Luna inherited this very well a little.Well, darling, let's get down to business, can you let me know why you won't let me go back to your daughter? 】

Ginny hesitated and didn't write.

After a while, another line of text appeared on the paper.

[Is it because of the paragraph you wrote before?Amnesia, paint, and Professor Highmore.Among these three clues, the only one I am most familiar with may be Highmore. Is his full name Toby Highmore? 】

"How do you know? Luna told you?"

[Not exactly, to be precise, he helped my daughter create me. In the real world, I am already dead. 】

"Sorry, I didn't mean to"

[Oh, don't be like this, dear.Well, it's a bit of a pity, like the unfinished spell, and not being able to see my daughter grow up or something, but I'm sure Xeno will take care of her so I can rest easy.But listen to me, dear, I know too well what an existence like me can do to you—]

"No, you don't know at all, Tom—he's very different, not like everybody else."

【yes?Does that also include making you attack a professor? 】

"No, I didn't! I don't even remember—"

[Calm down, dear.It's not your fault, and you can trust me, because I know very well how—how should I put it—a kid your age is?naive?While I don't hate this, and even love it, let's admit it makes kids easy to take advantage of.You are being used by Bad Tom. 】

"Bad Tom? I won't allow you to speak ill of Tom."

【Okay, okay, how about this?Since you don't intend to let me go, can you help me pay more attention to Luna, she is my daughter, and I care about her very much.Also, I'm a little worried that she might have gotten Bad Tom's notebook, and more worried about her situation—wait a minute, you're trying to steal that notebook back now, aren't you? 】

"How do you know?" Ginny withdrew her hand in surprise, and almost closed the notebook.

【Because you are worried that Luna will know what you have done.But, boy, do you know how to get into Ravenclaw's dorms?Do you know which room Luna lives in? 】

Ginny didn't answer, but that was already an answer.

【So, is this transaction a deal?You helped me take care of Luna in the dark, and I probably helped you sneak into Ravenclaw's dormitory or something, and I know where Luna lives, how about it? 】

Ginny didn't notice at all that Pandora had secretly changed "pay attention" to "take care". She struggled for a long time, and finally wrote in the notebook in squiggly characters——

"make a deal."
-
The trio, who had just finished their History of Magic class, looked at each other in blank dismay.

According to Professor Binns, the Chamber of Secrets is a ridiculous story, because it has never been really proven, but he still revealed some amazing information-Slytherin left a secret room before leaving school, other The creators knew nothing about it.

According to legend, Slytherin sealed the Chamber of Secrets so that no one could open it until his true heir came to the school.Only the heir can open the secret chamber, release the horror inside, let it purify the school, and remove all those who are not worthy of learning magic.

"Professor Highmore." Harry analyzed calmly: "He is a Muggle-born, who happens to be the target of the murderer."

"But why does it sound like the murderer is the real heir to me?" Ron was puzzled. "Otherwise, how did the other party control the monster? Can you do the same thing, Harry?"

Harry shook his head, he couldn't even command Hedwig perfectly, and sometimes it would throw a tantrum and peck at his fingers.

They came to the top of the corridor where the attack took place.The scene in front of me is the same as that night, but the petrified cat is no longer hanging on the torch holder, but leaning against an empty chair on the wall where the words "The Chamber of Secrets has been opened" are written .

Taking advantage of Filch's absence, the three quickly searched for clues.

"Come and see this!" said Hermione, "It's interesting"

Harry got up and walked to the window next to the writing on the wall.Hermione pointed to the top pane of glass, where about twenty spiders were scrambling around, as if eager to get out of a small crack in the glass.A long silver thread hung down like a cord, through which they seemed to be hastily climbing up, intending to escape out of the window.

"Have you ever seen a spider look like this?" Hermione asked wonderingly.

"No," said Harry, "and you, Ron? Ron?"

He turned his head.Ron stood far behind, seeming to be resisting the urge to run away.

"What's the matter?" Harry asked.

"I - don't - don't like - spiders," said Ron nervously.

"I've never heard of that," said Hermione, looking at Ron in surprise. "You used spiders so many times in Potions."

"I don't care about dead spiders," said Ron, looking carefully away from the window, "I just don't like the way they crawl around"

Hermione giggled.

"What's so funny," said Ron angrily, "you know, when I was three Fred turned my—my teddy bear into a broom because I broke his toy broom." Ugly big spiders. You wouldn't like them if you've had the experience I've had; if you're holding your teddy bear and all of a sudden it pops out with legs, and"

He shivered and couldn't go on.Hermione was clearly still trying to hold back a laugh.Harry decided they'd better not talk about it, so he said, "Remember that patch of water on the floor? Where did it come from? Someone mopped the floor."

"Probably right here," said Ron, recovering gradually, stepping past Filch's chair and showing them, "parallel to this door."

He reached for the brass knob and withdrew it suddenly, as if scorched.

"What's going on?" Harry asked.

"Can't go in," said Ron unhappy, "it's the girls' bathroom."

At this time, the doorknob of the bathroom suddenly twisted by itself, the door was pushed open from the inside, and a girl with long dirty golden hair came out. She was looking down at the notebook in her hand, and walked forward in a daze. Go, accidentally bumped into Ron.

"Are you okay?" Harry hurriedly helped the girl up, and he saw her dazed, protruding gray eyes, with pale eyebrows.

The girl stood up, and she looked at the three people standing at the door in confusion.

"This is the girls' bathroom," she said, clearly aiming for Ron and Harry.

"You're Harry Potter." She recognized Harry again, and her eyes moved to his forehead.

Harry took a step back subconsciously: "I really am."

At this time, Hermione stepped forward and said, "Um, we just passed by here, by the way, did you see Myrtle?"

"She's inside." The girl poked her head in as she said, as if to call Myrtle out, but Hermione stopped her quickly.

"Oh, well, thank you, Lovegood."

"You know my name?" Luna shifted her gaze to Hermione, staring at her closely.

Hermione finally understood why Harry backed away subconsciously, and Luna's gaze was undisguised.

"Yeah," she said, "I saw your interview with Cedric, and I took your name down by the way—"

"What do you think?" Luna interrupted with interest.

"Not bad." Hermione didn't tell the truth subconsciously. In that article, Luna's questions were all kinds of strange and had no useful knowledge.

"Okay." Luna's expression turned cold all of a sudden, she patted the wet notebook, and after walking a few steps, she turned around to look at Ron and Harry and said, "This is the girls' bathroom .”

After Luna disappeared at the stairs, Ron looked around confusedly: "How did we mess with her? She doesn't look very enthusiastic."

"Maybe it's because this is the girls' bathroom." Just as Harry was hesitating whether to go in, he suddenly caught a glimpse of Percy at the top of the stairs. He stopped suddenly and strode towards them. The prefect's badge It was shining brightly on his chest, and there was an expression of utter astonishment on his face.

"That's the girls' bathroom!" He gasped, "Why do you—"

"We didn't go in!" Ron shouted angrily, "We haven't had time to—"

"Not in time?!" Percy's voice suddenly rose several tunes, and he opened his arms, urging them to go quickly: "Hurry-quick-leave-get away-don't you care what it looks like? Everyone else You are eating, but you come here"

"Why can't we come here?" Ron huffed, stopping abruptly and glaring at Percy. "Listen, we didn't lift a finger at that cat! We didn't mean to harm Professor Highmore." idea!"

"I said the same thing to Ginny," Percy said unflinchingly, "but she still seems to think you're going to be fired. I've never seen her so upset, crying all day. You should think about her." Guess, the first graders are all unsettled by this—Ginny, why are you here?!"

Percy was surprised to see Ginny appear at the foot of the stairs, her collar piled high over her chin and mouth.After hearing Percy's shout, Ginny glanced this way, saw Percy and Ron who were blushing, and then saw Harry with a surprised face——

She immediately turned her head and ran away without even daring to look back. Her long red hair floated behind her like a cluster of flames.

"Look!" Percy scolded loudly, "Look at the good deeds you have done, Ginny is scared by you!"

"What does it have to do with me!" Ron shouted angrily: "Why not because of you?! Look at Charlie and Bill, they are both prefects, but which one is not better than you, not more popular than you?!"

Harry and Hermione tried to separate them, but their argument intensified, and the ears behind their necks turned equally red.

"Hey kids, what's going on here?"

A person Harry never wanted to meet appeared at the top of the stairs. Lockhart walked over with a smile, his gorgeous witch robes raised high behind him.

"Could you be arguing?" Lockhart dramatically stretched out a finger and shook it left and right: "This is not allowed, I will never allow similar problems to appear in the castle, yes, never allow it .”

He spoke as if he was the master of the castle and everyone else was his servant.

Ron was dragged away by Harry who was chasing him away. He didn't want to stay by Lockhart's side for a moment, for fear that something embarrassing would happen.

Fortunately, this time Lockhart didn't bother him again, but smiled and watched them go away.

After the few people disappeared, the smile on Lockhart's face gradually disappeared.

He walked quickly, came to the top of the stairs, hurried along the way, and finally stopped in front of a door.

It's the Office of Ancient Magic.

Lockhart quietly looked left and right, and found that there was no one in the corridor. He gently pushed the door open, opened a gap, and hurriedly closed it from the inside after getting in.

The room was pitch black except for the moonlight coming in through the windows, illuminating a floor.

Lockhart wiped the sweat off his forehead. He hesitated for a while looking at the pharaoh's coffin facing the door and the only skeleton shelf on the left, but he seemed to have made up his mind. In front of the coffin of the Pharaoh.

"It should be here," he murmured, holding the lid with both arms, and slowly moving it away.

"what!"

Lockhart suddenly screamed, causing him to fall backwards, narrowly missing being hit by the falling Toby-like body.

"Professor Highheimer?" Lockhart didn't dare to move, looking nervously at Toby who fell to his left.

At this moment, the lights in the office suddenly turned on.

Lockhart blinked in confusion, he quickly got up and looked back.

Just across the room on the couch sat the queer-eyed Al and a woman Lockhart had never seen, prettier than a Veela.

Angela frowned and asked, "Who are you? Why did you come to Toby's office secretly?!"

Al let out a "Yeah" and stared at the panicked Lockhart maliciously.

Angela seemed to understand. She squinted her eyes and looked Lockhart up and down: "So it's the new professor at Hogwarts. Are you here to steal?"

"No, it's not!" Lockhart jumped up suddenly, he habitually piled up a shining smile: "How is it possible, I just... I just came to see Al, I haven't seen him for a long time, I am worried that it will appear What an accident."

Lockhart strode towards Al, and he stretched out his hands, as if he wanted to hug Al.But Al quickly hid behind Angela, staring at Lockhart vigilantly, making him uncomfortable.

Angela stared at Lockhart coldly, and gave orders like a queen: "You can leave now, don't let me find out a second time."

Lockhart seemed to want to explain a few more words, but under Angela's cold gaze, he immediately turned around and rescued him without staying for a moment.

After the room returned to silence, Al shouted unwillingly: "Ah!"

Angela shook her head: "My identity is the vice-principal of Ouagadou, so I can't act recklessly like Toby. This involves a lot of problems, including the friendship between the two schools."

She got up and stood up, walked to the fallen "Toby", and gestured to the other skeleton with her eyes. The other skeleton came over and helped "Toby" to stand up. The postures and movements of the two were almost exactly the same.

After closing "Toby", Angela turned around, and she looked at Al with sparkling eyes: "So, where is Toby now? Why did he call me here specifically? It's because he wanted to understand Yet?"

"Toby finally decided to overthrow Dumbledore?!"

(End of this chapter)