harry potter book of crimes

"Please let me pass." That was Percy's voice, and he walked out of the crowd with dignity.

"Why are you stuck here? You all must have forgotten your password... I'm sorry, I am the president of the Boys' Student Union, please give way."

The crowd became quiet, starting from the front, so it was like a cold wave that suddenly spread in the corridor.

Then, they heard Percy's voice suddenly shrill: "Someone please invite Professor Dumbledore! Hurry!"

Everyone turned around, and the person standing at the end stood on tiptoe.

"What happened?" Ginny probably stayed in the auditorium for a while and had just arrived.

After a while, Professor Dumbledore arrived, and he hurried towards the Fat Lady's portrait.

The Gryffindor students all crowded together to let him pass. Harry, Ron and Hermione leaned closer to each other, trying to see clearly where the trouble lay.

"Oh, my God -" Hermione seemed to see clearly, pinching her sleeves and letting out a scream.

The Fat Lady had disappeared from the portrait, which had been vandalized, fragments of the canvas littering the floor, and large chunks of the canvas completely torn from the frame.

Dumbledore took a quick look at the damaged painting.

"Professor McGonagall, please go to Filch immediately and tell him to look for the Fat Lady on every painting in the castle -"

"You'll be lucky!" a hoarse voice said suddenly.

It was Peeves, the prankster, jumping over the heads of the crowd, looking very happy--as he always did when he saw scenes of destruction and sorrow.

"What do you mean, Peeves?" Dumbledore asked calmly.

Peeves's mocking smile faded a little - he didn't dare to laugh at Dumbledore.

Therefore, he switched to a smooth tone, which sounded better than the hoarse voice.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Principal... She didn't want to be seen, she was messed up. I saw her running past that landscape on the fifth floor, sir, and she was hiding among the trees, crying and saying 'terrible things'

'." Peeves said in a happy tone.

"...Poor thing." He added at the end, but there was no intention of pity for others in it.

"Did she say who did it?" Dumbledore asked calmly.

"Oh, yes, Mr. Professor," said Peeves, "she wouldn't let him in - he was very annoyed, you know." Peeves somersaulted in the air, looking at Dumbledore from between his own legs.

Lido grinned.

"He's got a bad temper, this Sirius Black."

Soon, Professor Dumbledore asked all the Gryffindor students to return to the auditorium. Ten minutes later, students from Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin also came. These students

They all looked confused.

"The faculty and I will conduct a thorough search of the castle," Professor Dumbledore said loudly.

At this time, Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick closed all the doors of the Great Hall.

"For your own safety, I think you may have to spend the night here tonight. I ask the prefects to stand guard at the entrance of the auditorium, and the male and female student union presidents to stay in the auditorium to take charge."

"If anything happens, report it to me immediately," Dumbledore added to Percy.

After Percy heard this, he immediately put on a proud expression of "I am an important person".

"Find a ghost to bring a message to me," Dumbledore added.

When Dumbledore passed by Maka, he said softly, "Maka, please come out with me."

He was about to leave the auditorium with Maka, but he stopped again as if he thought of something.

"Oh, by the way, I think you will need -" Dumbledore waved his wand casually, and the long tables flew to the edge of the auditorium and were arranged neatly; with another wave, the ground was covered

Hundreds of purple sleeping bags.

"Sleep well." Professor Dumbledore said, opened the door and walked out. Maka followed closely and closed the door.

Outside the door, Dumbledore was standing waiting for him.

"Professor, what's wrong?" Maka asked.

"Someone broke into the school this time and destroyed the Fat Lady's portrait. This is very dangerous for the students-" Dumbledore said, "I think you are familiar with the Acromantulas in the forest.

Can you help me search the woods?"

Maka was stunned after hearing this. He collected his thoughts and then replied: "Professor, you really know everything... Of course, why not?"

"I don't know everything," Dumbledore winked at him, "I only know what I know... Professor Hagrid will go with you."

Not to mention how surprised Hagrid was when he found out about Maca and Aragog's friendship, it is natural that everyone's search tonight was fruitless.

With Blake's decisive style, he left through the secret passage under the Whomping Willow long after Maka and Luna returned.

In this regard, Dumbledore did not feel disappointed - he just ensured that the intruder did not stay in the school, which was already very good. Eliminating the danger of hiding in the school - this is the most important thing at the moment.

things.

In the next few days, everyone in school was talking about the rumors about Blake.

The stories about how he entered the castle became more and more mysterious - a Hufflepuff student named Hannah Abbott heard that Black could transform into a flowering bush!

During their next Potions class, she spent a lot of time telling everyone who would listen.

The damaged portrait of the Fat Lady had been taken down from the wall, and in its place was a portrait of Lord Cadogan and his fat gray pony.

In fact, no one was happy about it.

Sir Cadogan spent half of his day challenging people, or asking people to duel with him; and the other half of his time was spent figuring out ridiculously complicated passwords. Throughout the day,

He had to change his password at least twice.

"He's really crazy," Seamus Finnigan said angrily to Percy. "Can't we just change him?"

"None of the other paintings were willing to do the job," said Percy. "They were all frightened by what happened to the Fat Lady...but Sir Cadogan was the only one who stepped forward."

However, it was not Sir Cadogan that Harry was worried about.

Now he was under close surveillance - the staff found every excuse to walk with him in the corridors, and Percy Weasley followed him everywhere like an extremely airy guard dog, probably at Mrs Weasley's request.

Did this.

The most terrible thing was that Professor McGonagall called Harry into her office. The uneasy look on her face made Harry think that someone must have lost his life.

"There's no need to hide it from you anymore, Potter," she said seriously, "I know this will come as a shock to you, but Black—"

"I know he's after me," Harry said tiredly. "I heard Ron's father tell his mother. Mr. Weasley works at the Ministry of Magic."

McGonagall seemed very surprised. She stared at Harry, and after a while she said: "I understand! Okay! So, Potter...then you will understand why I think it is not good for you to practice Quidditch in the evening.

Do you have an idea? On the court, surrounded only by your teammates, you are very exposed, Porter-"

"We are going to have our first game on Saturday!" Harry was furious, but he had to force himself to stay calm, "I must train, Professor!"

Professor McGonagall looked at him intently.

Harry knew that she was extremely concerned about the future of the Gryffindor team. After all, it was she who first suggested that Harry be the Seeker.

He waited, holding his breath nervously.

"Well..." Professor McGonagall stood up and stared at the Quidditch pitch outside the window, which was vaguely visible in the rain.

"Well... God knows, I would like to see our team take home the trophy... But anyway, Potter, I would be happier if a teacher was here - I would ask Mrs. Hooch to supervise

Your training.”

The first Quidditch match is approaching, but the weather is getting worse.

Under the supervision of Mrs. Hooch, the Gryffindor team trained bravely and worked harder than before.

Then, during the last training session before Saturday's game, captain Wood gave his team some not-so-good news.

"We're not going to compete with Slytherin!" he told them angrily. "Flint came to see me just now - we're going to compete with Hufflepuff."

"Why?" the other team members asked in unison.

"Flint's excuse is that their Seeker's injured arm hasn't healed yet!" Wood said, gritting his teeth angrily, "But their purpose for doing this is obvious, they just don't want to play in such weather. They think

It will ruin their chances—"

It was a stormy day all day, and while Wood was talking, they heard thunder rumbling in the distance.

"Malfoy's arm is fine at all!" Harry said angrily, "He's just pretending!"

"I understand, but we can't prove it." Wood said painfully, "We have been practicing with Slytherin, and now we are competing against the Hufflepuff team, and their style is quite unfair.

Same. They have a new captain and Seeker, Cedric Diggory—"

Angelina, Aaliyah and Katie suddenly giggled.

"What's wrong?" Wood asked—annoyed by the carefree behavior.

"He is the tall, handsome boy, right?" Angelina said.

"The strong one who talks less!" Katie followed.

After saying that, they started to giggle again.

"Laugh, laugh!" Wood suddenly shouted, "There is even worse news here. Do you want to hear it?"

"What else could make this worse?" Harry groaned.

"Of course!" Wood just finished yelling and showed a frustrated expression, "McLean is going to appear. Do you think it's bad?"

Immediately, the three girls all put away the silly smiles still hanging on their faces, and all put on expressions of disbelief.

"Oh, no -" they said almost in unison.