harry potter book of crimes

"...Please come with us immediately!"

Regarding the old African witch who failed to snatch someone, Hagrid took her down effortlessly after Maka left the scene.

To be honest, anyone who bumped into an impenetrable wall unpreparedly like that would be beaten to pieces, even a giant like Grawp would not be spared.

As for the old witch's frail body, almost half of her life was gone.

Not long after, under the judgment of Professor McGonagall who quickly arrived, Hogwarts sent news of the capture of the attacker to the Ministry of Magic overnight.

During this sensitive period on the night after the tournament, it was no surprise that the Minister of Magic Scrimgeour was called directly to the office by the Auror on duty, and he immediately decided to send personnel to Hogwarts to bring the attacker back.

This process was not unpleasant at all. After all, Scrimgeour also heard that the attacker was targeting Edward Flamel!

If the old butler was kidnapped by someone in the British wizarding world, wouldn't it cause a lot of forces around the world to come to him and demand an explanation?

From Scrimgeour's point of view, this is undoubtedly a major event that cannot be ignored at all! It needs to be handled closely throughout the entire process, and there is no room for sloppiness.

Therefore, the British Ministry of Magic's action this time was astonishingly fast.

McGonagall and Hagrid had just taken the old witch with profuse bleeding from her forehead to the school hospital, and asked Madam Pomfrey to quickly stop the bleeding. Even before the old witch woke up from her coma, the school gate

There were already more than a dozen Aurors outside.

Pity these hard-working people who work for the government. Except for the three who work the night shift, the rest have just returned home and can't sleep! Didn't you see that a few Aurors even have messy hair?

After they left a few words in a routine manner, they left with the old witch very simply, regardless of whether she was still fainting and couldn't hear her.

On the other hand, Kingsley, who finally disapparated, briefly nodded to McGonagall and Hagrid before returning to the Ministry of Magic. It had been a long time since these three Order of the Phoenix colleagues had sat down and had a good chat.

.

After watching the Auror team take the old witch away, Professor McGonagall and Hagrid returned to the school hospital to see the old housekeeper who was still in the ward with Madam Pomfrey tending to her injuries.

Well, or rather, it was the great wizarding actor who dressed up as the old butler—Mr. Gilderoy Lockhart.

"...Mr. Lockhart, Maka just asked me to tell you, 'Thank you for your hard work this time.'"

When Professor McGonagall first came to the door of the ward, she found Lockhart on the bed who seemed to have just woken up, and Hagrid was talking to him.

Because he was covered by the materialized shadow, and because he was thrown on the flying carpet by the old witch, his injuries were not serious.

Yes, the most serious injury is just a broken arm. Under Madam Pomfrey's superb healing magic, it can be completely healed in a few hours.

In the eyes of wizards, non-fatal trauma is nothing!

"Oh, McClain..."

Lockhart lay weakly on the bed, his eyelids drooped and he felt a little sleepy - this was a side effect of the therapeutic potion that Madam Pomfrey had just poured down.

At this time, the effect of the polyjuice potion on his body had disappeared, and his handsome appearance, which he was particularly proud of, had not changed at all.

"In fact, when he asked me to become that old man at first, I actually refused..." Lockhart muttered vaguely, "If I am an actor, then what I hope most is to use my own

I can perform a wonderful script with my face... If you can't let me act, I will act it right away. After the acting is over, I won't say whether it was hard or not..."

"Mrs. Pomfrey, the potion you just used just has the side effect of making you sleepy, right?" Seeing Lockhart mumbling nonchalantly, Hagrid couldn't help but turned around and asked.

But Madam Pomfrey was not even interested in answering. She just glanced at Lockhart expressionlessly, then turned and left.

As they passed the door of the ward, Professor McGonagall and her nodded to each other, and the former raised his legs and walked inside.

"... How hard can this be for us actors? You know, there are a lot of dead actors on Muggle sets who are rushing to find a scene with lines... Muggles, it's a hard time.

It’s not easy…”

Lockhart was still mumbling in confusion, not knowing what scene he had witnessed in the Muggle world that he could not forget to this day.

"Rupert, not only Mr. Lockhart, but also you have worked hard this time."

After Professor McGonagall glanced at Lockhart for a few times, she probably thought it was best not to talk to him for the time being, so she thanked Hagrid directly.

"No, no, Professor McGonagall." Hagrid immediately shook his head and said, "I wasn't of much use tonight. If Maka hadn't come back in time, that witch from Africa would have taken Lockhart away.

gone."

"It's already a great achievement to be able to fool her." McGonagall said sincerely. "If you hadn't accompanied Lockhart in this scene, she might have returned to the castle to continue searching for Mr. Flamel's whereabouts.

, this is very dangerous for students.”

"Student..." After Hagrid heard this, he suddenly remembered that there should be someone else in his hut, "Oh! Ens Tavon!"

"What?" Professor McGonagall was immediately stunned.

"It's Ens Taron, the first year student from Hufflepuff," Hagrid explained quickly. "He suddenly made a noise outside my house, and I pulled him into the room where I slept and hid him.

.”

As he spoke, Hager stood up from the chair.

"He should still be in my room at this moment," he said as he walked towards the door of the ward. "I mean, if he didn't leave after that... I hope the child is okay..."

Before he finished speaking, Hagrid had already walked out of the ward. Behind him, Professor McGonagall glanced at Lockhart again and followed him.

As a result, Lockhart was the only one left in the ward, but he was still chattering to himself. But looking at his increasingly heavy eyelids and his increasingly soft voice, I guess it won't be long before he

It's time to fall asleep.

…

Around the time Professor McGonagall took the injured and unconscious old witch to the school hospital, Maka had already placed the Bewitching Monument in the giant cave deep in the Forbidden Forest.

When he sent it into the cave before, he spent a lot of effort because the entrance to the cave was a bit too small for the tall Bewitching Monument.

"call--"

After putting the stone tablet down, Maka also sat down next to him, intending to take a breath first before talking.

The Bewitching Monument has been re-sealed, but after being moved to this cave, it will definitely need to be decorated more.

"Quack, is this the skeleton of a giant dragon? It's really big enough..."

Maka looked at the bronze eagle flying deeper into the cave and waited until it was completely submerged in the darkness. Then she stared at the direction where the eagle disappeared and sorted out some of the information she got from the other party not long ago.

At that time, he asked what the "big trouble" the other party meant in the past, but he still didn't get any accurate answer.

This point was actually within his expectation.

After all, the bronze eagle was never able to tell the truth from the beginning, and it is naturally impossible for him to contradict himself now - no matter whether the other party is deceiving him or not.

On the contrary, because of the doubts in my heart, I did not continue to ask for the next test, but now I have learned about it.

Judging from various situations in the past, regardless of whether Ravenclaw has hidden malice or not, the task she gave the bronze eagle is to guide the so-called "alternative".

Therefore, there is no need for Maka to even ask. As long as the bronze eagle discovers that Maka has completed the previous test, the next one will follow.

Unless, like last time, even the bronze eagle itself is in crisis, it will continue to choose to sleep without saying a word.

"Rowner Ravenclaw... Rowena Ravenclaw..." While Maka was chanting the name repeatedly, the complex expression that had appeared on her face when she heard the content of the test appeared again.

, "Can it be said that...all my actions and behaviors so far are under your control?"

The next test he learned from the Bronze Eagle was very clear, which was to "study the source of the power of the Bewitching Monument and completely control it."

"Since you have got this broken stone back, forget it..." the Bronze Eagle said at that time, "Master Eagle, let me tell you the truth, this is actually the next test that Rowena will give you.

But this thing is very evil, so you have to be careful when messing with it, because if something goes wrong, it will affect all the teachers and students of Hogwarts!"

Moreover, it also specifically points out that the source of the power of this giant monument is a negative soul rule. For all living creatures, the impact it can have is very serious, and a careless move will lead to disaster.

only……

"How did Ravenclaw know that I obtained the Tablet of Bewitchment? Was it prophecy? Divination? Or..."

Although this may of course be just a coincidence, Maka would rather believe that this is a series of arrangements planned by Rowena Ravenclaw.

Thinking like this will certainly bring him excessive pressure, but at least he will not ignore the possible dangers just because he feels lucky.

But before considering these completely clueless things, there is one more thing that Maka must consider carefully.

"The Monument of Bewitchment..." He turned his head again, looked at the giant black stone monument next to him, and said silently to himself, "Should I continue to study this thing?"

Every test Rowena Ravenclaw faces seems to force him to make difficult choices again and again.