Get comfortable, turn the page, and let’s see what this story has been hiding 🔥 ✦ For the rest of the feast, Elias chatted with Professor Flitwick.
After spending so much time together, Elias and Flitwick had become very good friends.
The witcher stories Elias told him always left Flitwick thoroughly entertained, to the point that the Charms professor wished he could have been there adventuring alongside him.
In return, Flitwick had taught Elias many Charms techniques and difficult spells.
At the moment, Elias and Professor Flitwick were discussing the magical resistance of erumpent hide.
Elias had recently decided to forge a suit of armor, and he was searching everywhere for suitable materials.
Professor Lockhart sat awkwardly at the staff table.
No one wanted to speak with him.
Because of Elias’s arrival, Lockhart’s reputation had fallen to rock bottom.
Even the students who once admired him most had begun keeping their distance.
Lockhart tried to join the other professors’ conversations, but after failing completely, he could only sit at the staff table and drink pumpkin juice in embarrassment.
Happy moments always passed quickly.
The feast was nearing its end.
The students set down their cutlery in satisfaction, patted their rounded stomachs, and began leaving the Great Hall in groups.
Just then, a white ghost flew swiftly into the Hall and whispered something beside Dumbledore’s ear.
Dumbledore’s expression immediately grew serious.
He quickly walked out of the Great Hall.
The professors exchanged glances, rose, and followed him.
Elias and the other professors followed Dumbledore to the third floor.
After turning several corners, they arrived at a corridor packed with students.
When the crowd noticed the professors’ arrival, the students quickly made way.
The floor was covered in water.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione stood in the middle of the crowd.
There was an obvious space around them, as though the other students had unconsciously stepped away.
On the wall in front of them, something gleamed.
Elias looked carefully and saw words written there.
The Chamber of Secrets has been opened.
Enemies of the heir, beware.
Elias also noticed something furry hanging on the wall.
It was Mrs.
Norris, the cat belonging to Filch, the Hogwarts caretaker.
Her tail was hooked over a torch bracket.
Her body was stiff as a board, and her wide-open eyes stared straight at Harry, Hermione, and Ron.
“My cat!” A sudden scream sounded from behind Elias.
Filch shoved past him and threw himself toward Mrs.
Norris.
Filch loved Mrs.
Norris deeply.
She often patrolled the corridors by herself.
If a student broke the rules in front of her, even by putting one toe out of line, she would quickly run to find Filch.
Two minutes later, Filch would arrive wheezing and panting.
Because of that, the students hated the cat.
But seeing Mrs.
Norris in such a miserable state, none of them could feel happy.
The young witches and wizards formed a circle around Harry, Hermione, and Ron, lowering their voices as they whispered to one another.
The corridor filled with murmurs.
“It was you!” Filch suddenly walked over, grabbed Harry, and roared, “You killed my cat!
I’ll kill you!” His eyes bulged with anger, bloodshot and vicious as he glared at Harry.
Harry seemed badly frightened.
He shrank back and tried to pull free from Filch’s hands, weakly explaining that he had not done this.
Filch’s grip was strong enough to hurt.
Seeing this, Elias stepped forward and forcibly separated them.
Thanks to his mutations, Elias’s strength was more than enough to overpower an ordinary person.
“Calm down, Filch.
Your cat is not dead.
She has only been petrified.” Through his witcher senses, Elias had already heard the faint heartbeat still remaining inside Mrs.
Norris.
Filch froze when he heard that.
He hurried close to his cat and began examining her carefully.
“Everyone return to your dormitories!” Dumbledore stepped forward.
The students were already accustomed to obeying his commands, and they began leaving the corridor in order under the guidance of their House prefects.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked as if they had been pardoned.
They immediately began searching for their House group.
They had long since found the tense atmosphere unbearable.
“You three will stay.” Snape blocked their path like a great black bat, ruining the three students’ attempt to slip away unnoticed.
“Mr.
Filch, please bring Mrs.
Norris with me.
Miss Granger, Mr.
Potter, Mr.
Weasley, you as well,” Dumbledore said.
Filch carefully removed Mrs.
Norris from the torch bracket as though holding something fragile, then followed behind Dumbledore.
Dumbledore chose Professor Lockhart’s office, which was closest to the site of the incident.
The moment they entered, Filch anxiously placed Mrs.
Norris in front of Dumbledore, hoping the Headmaster could restore her immediately.
Several professors carefully examined Mrs.
Norris where she lay on the desk.
Dumbledore lowered his head, his half-moon spectacles glinting, and observed her condition.
Snape had been pushed a little too far from Mrs.
Norris by Flitwick and Elias to inspect her conveniently, so he simply reached out and roughly plucked a tuft of hair from her tail, then studied it in his palm.
Snape’s action pained Filch, but he did not dare lose his temper at the Potions master.
He could only turn his fierce glare back to Harry.
Seeing Filch look as though he wanted to devour him, Harry hurried closer to Professor Vale, who had just protected him.
Elias also put on an act of examining Mrs.
Norris.
He knew perfectly well that this was the Basilisk’s work, but he had no intention of saying so yet.
He could feel that Dumbledore still had not lowered his guard around him.
The Headmaster’s quiet, almost constant observation had never truly stopped.
If Elias showed even the slightest abnormality in this matter, Dumbledore could easily suspect him of being behind it.
So Elias chose to continue watching from the side.
In any case, the Chamber incident had not yet caused any deaths.
When Elias moved closer to Mrs.
Norris, he felt the witcher medallion on his chest tremble faintly.
That meant Mrs.
Norris had been affected by powerful magic.
“She has indeed been petrified,” Dumbledore said first.
“But this is not an ordinary Petrification Spell.
It is a powerful and sinister piece of Dark magic.” That immediately cleared Harry of the worst suspicion.
A second-year student could not possibly cast Dark magic of such strength.
Filch trembled when he heard Dumbledore’s words.
“Then, Professor Dumbledore, can she be saved?” Filch’s voice had already grown hoarse.
“Of course, Mr.
Filch,” Dumbledore explained patiently.
“Professor Sprout is growing a number of Mandrakes.
Once they mature, a potion can be prepared to restore Mrs.
Norris.” ✦ ✦ ✦ Ready for more?
CREATORS’ THOUGHTS EmberHollow Thank you for reading.
I hope this chapter pulled you deeper into the story.
Stick around, because there’s still a lot waiting just ahead.