harry potter book of crimes

Not long before Hermione was angry with Ron, in the principal's office...

"Maclean, what do you think this is?" Dumbledore used his wand to pick the candlestick he placed on the table. At the top of the three candles, there was a translucent black flame that swayed without any wind.

.

This was taken from Celine's mother's soul by Dumbledore using a spell unknown to Maca.

"I don't know. According to what Celine said, this thing should have been provoked in the Manchak Swamp..." Maka sat opposite and said a little hesitantly, "Maybe it has something to do with the resurrected corpses of Voodoo.

thing?"

Dumbledore nodded, then shook his head.

"There may be some connection, but I think it should be older." He said slowly, "...Don't get close to that swamp in the United States, at least not for now. You must keep this in mind."

This is the second time Dumbledore has said this. Although Maka is not sure about the details, it is obviously not simple to deserve Dumbledore's repeated instructions.

"As for her soul—"

Dumbledore turned his head and looked at Celine's mother who was floating in the center of the principal's office.

"It is almost impossible to restore her soul to integrity," Dumbledore said. "Unfortunately, I don't have many options."

"If you have the ability to go to that swamp in the future, you may be able to find some clues - until then, leave her here with me! If her nearly collapsed remnant soul can be stabilized, at least there is hope that it can survive

.”

Maka thought for a moment and nodded in agreement: "Then it's my fault, Professor. I think Celine thinks so too."

After bidding farewell to Dumbledore, Maka left the principal's office and planned to go to the "Snow Witch" overnight - Celine must have been waiting very anxiously.

But when he went downstairs, he faintly heard the sobbing sound of a girl.

It should be at the corner of the corridor in front.

Maka took a few steps forward in confusion, and immediately saw a mess of long brown hair peeking out from the leg of a suit of armor.

"Hermione?"

The girl was startled by the sudden sound. She pushed her elbow to the side and happened to hit the leg of the armor. She only heard a crash and the armor was about to fall down.

"Float into the air." Maka took out the wand from her sleeve and let the armor float up before it fell to the ground.

He waved his wand seemingly casually, and the armor automatically assembled and stood back in place.

"Don't panic, it's me, Hermione." Maka said calmly, "What's wrong?"

Hermione stood up suddenly, looked at him with tears in her eyes, and then grabbed his robe without saying a word. Big tears quickly overflowed from her eyes and slid down her cheeks.

Come down.

"What happened? Can you tell me?" Maca glanced dully at the hand that was holding his robe and asked strangely.

He had been so busy recently that he almost didn't notice what the little lions were doing - well, except for Ron's mouse.

But Hermione just shook her head vigorously and refused to say anything.

"Forget it, just don't say it if you don't want to say it..." Maka said softly, "How about going to Hogsmeade with me to play for a while? Sometimes, it's good to relax..."

"...That's against school rules." Hermione sniffed and said in a hoarse voice.

This little guy was still paying attention to these things when he was crying.

"Then if you wander around so late, isn't it also against the school rules?" Maka said, spreading her hands.

It was okay if he didn't say this, but now that he mentioned it, Hermione's tears seemed to become more violent. As she sobbed, her head hit Maka's chest.

"Hey! Are you Squirtle?" Maka quickly grabbed Hermione's shoulders, but unexpectedly Hermione raised her head at this moment, and suddenly there was only a few inches between their faces.

The two looked at each other, and for a moment the situation looked very awkward.

Hermione didn't know what was wrong with her, why she suddenly...

"...Ahem."

Both Maka and Hermione heard a sudden cough, and Hermione took a step back, almost hitting the wall.

"Professor Snape? Harry?" Maka turned her head and immediately saw the two people standing at the corner.

The expressions on Harry's and Snape's faces were surprisingly similar. They both had a subtle sense of seeing something they shouldn't have seen.

"...I think you should go to Filch's place and reflect!" Snape suddenly grabbed Harry by the collar, turned around decisively and walked downstairs.

It was as if he hadn't seen Maka and Hermione, even though Harry still looked confused.

"...I think I should go back." Hermione said and left in a hurry.

Maka pondered in place for a while, and then said to herself: "It seems that complaining is just instinct, not part of emotions and emotions..."

He muttered casually and walked all the way to the outside of the castle.

…

It wasn't until late at night that Harry returned to the dormitory from Filch's office, and everyone was already asleep.

He didn't think much about what he had just seen Maka and Hermione. He just felt that Snape was really nice to Maka, and actually let Hermione go as well.

Unfortunately, he spent most of the night copying the school rules in Filch's office, and his hands were almost broken before he was allowed to leave.

After a while, Harry, who was deeply tired, felt as if he fell asleep immediately...

He had a strange dream. He was walking in the woods, carrying the Firebolt on his shoulder, and he was following something silvery-white. This thing was meandering in the woods, and he could only look through the gaps in the leaves.

I caught a glimpse of it.

He was eager to catch up with it, so he quickened his pace, but as he walked faster, the target he was chasing was also faster, and Harry couldn't help but start running.

He heard the sound of hooves ahead and sped up.

It was like they were racing, and he could hear the sound of running in front of him. Then he turned a corner and reached an open space, and then——

"Ahhhhhhhhh——! No no no no no no no no-!"

Harry woke suddenly, as if someone had hit him in the face. Completely disoriented in the darkness, he groped for the curtains around his bed—

At this moment, he heard movement around him, and Seamus Finnigan's voice came from across the room.

"What's wrong?" Harry thought he heard the dormitory door closing.

He finally found the opening of the curtain and pulled it open. At the same time, Dean Thomas lit the lamp.

Ron sat up on the bed, the curtain pulled aside, a look of extreme fear on his face.

"Black! Sirius Black! He has a knife!"

"What?"

"Right here! What happened just now! He cut the bed curtains! He woke me up!"

"Are you sure you're not dreaming, Ron?" Dean asked.

"Look at that curtain! I'm telling you, he was right here just now!" Ron said in horror.

They all climbed out of bed, Harry was the first to come to the dormitory door, and they ran downstairs at full speed. Behind them, the dormitory doors opened one by one, and many sleepy voices asked them questions.

"Who was yelling just now?" "What are you doing?"

The embers in the fireplace lit up the common room, which was filled with a lot of garbage left behind by the party and was empty.

"Are you sure you're not dreaming, Ron?"

"I'm telling you, I saw him!"

At this time, several girls came down the stairs, wearing pajamas and yawning.

"What's all the noise for?" "Professor McGonagall told us all to get in bed!"

Then, the boys also appeared one after another.

"Great, can the party continue?" Fred Weasley also appeared, he said cheerfully.

"Everybody go back upstairs!" cried Percy.

He hurried to the common room and pinned his Head Boy's President badge to his pajamas as he spoke.

"Percy - Sirius Black!" Ron said weakly, "In our dormitory! With a knife! Woke me up!"

There was a sudden silence in the common room.

"Nonsense!" Percy also looked frightened. "You ate too much, Ron - you had nightmares -"

"I tell you--"

"Okay, that's enough, stop talking!" Professor McGonagall came back again.

Entering the common room, she slammed the hole in the portrait behind her and looked around furiously.

"I'm very happy that Gryffindor won the game, but it's so ridiculous for you to behave like this! Percy, I was expecting you to perform better!"

"I definitely didn't ask them to do that, Professor!" Percy tried to look more serious, although he looked a little funny in his pajamas and the badge of the Head Boy.

"I'm telling them all to go back to bed! My brother Ron had a nightmare-"

"It's not a nightmare!" Ron yelled, "Professor, I woke up and Sirius Black was standing in front of me, holding a knife!"

Professor McGonagall stared at him.

"Don't be a joke, Weasley. How could he fit through the hole in the portrait?"

"Ask him!" Ron pointed at the back of Sir Cadogan's portrait with a trembling finger. "Ask him if he has seen -"

Professor McGonagall glanced at Ron suspiciously, pushed the painting away again, and walked out.

The entire common room held its breath.

"Sir Cadogan, did you just let a man into Gryffindor Tower?"

"Of course, ma'am!" cried Lord Cadogan.

Everyone was speechless in surprise, both inside and outside the common room.

"Did you - did you do this?" Professor McGonagall asked in surprise, "But - but what about the password!"

"He has the password!" said Lord Cadogan proudly. "He has the password for the whole week, ma'am! Read it from a little piece of paper!"

Professor McGonagall walked back from the portrait hole. Facing these students who were stunned and silent, her face was as content as chalk.

"Which one," she said, her voice trembling, looking a little unbelievable, "Which completely ignorant fool wrote down all the passwords for this week and left them lying around?"

There was silence, and then a tiny, frightened voice broke the silence.

Neville Longbottom, trembling from his feet in fluffy slippers to the tips of his hair, slowly raised his hands.