Chapter 424 Emergence

,!

Upon hearing Mrs. Pince's answer, Sean couldn't help but frown.

Was your guess wrong?

Or, that person has a way to hide his figure, such as an invisibility cloak or a magic spell. Although Mrs. Pince is quite powerful in this three-acre area of ​​​​the library, she actually does not have a deep knowledge in magic. Achievements.

However, according to my own judgment, the lurker should not be very strong. The invisibility cloak is not a street product. I have even captured one of the other party's...

Thinking of this, Sean asked again: "Madam, I would like to know, are there any other hiding places in the library?"

The Hogwarts library is actually open around the clock. At least Sean has never seen the door here closed, but no one will welcome you in the middle of the night.

However, Filch would take Mrs. Norris to patrol the entire castle every night, and the first thing Mrs. Pince did when she went to work every day was to check the situation in the entire library.

The key is that if the lurker does not have the means of invisibility, there is no way he/she can sneak out under the nose of Mrs. Pince after casting the Imperius Curse on a student - the librarian is at the door He has performed a lot of magic, almost a lifetime of learning.

Mrs. Pince frowned and said: "There is no room. Although the Hogwarts Library occupies a large area, all the passages here are connected. The bookshelves are on the ceiling. There is no place to hide people in the library." ——And I have to check every half hour. The day when Miss Isabel Petty came to borrow books happened to be my cleaning day, and no one else came all morning, I am sure of that."

As she spoke, she suddenly added: "Speaking of which, the only place to hide people is the rest room."

"Restroom?"

Sean looked in the direction of Mrs. Pince's finger. There was a wooden door on the corner wall of the library, which was locked at the moment.

"I'm not used to staying in the staff lounge. I prefer to be with these books that smell of ink, so Mr. Principal granted me a lounge in the library."

Sean nodded, and then asked: "With all due respect, ma'am, that lounge might be able to hide people, right?"

Mrs. Pince seemed to have been greatly insulted. She kicked Sean and twitched the feather duster twice in mid-air: "Impossible! Only I will use that lounge occasionally, and only I know the password to enter - —That door borrows the magic of the Hogwarts library and can only be opened with a password."

As he spoke, the stern and irritable lady put her hands on her hips and said rudely: "Mr. Wallop, do you think I am a mole, or that I am also controlled by the Imperius Curse?"

Sean took a step back politely and said with an apologetic smile: "Of course not, madam, I didn't mean that. It's just that the situation in the castle has been tense recently, and I hope to get more comprehensive and rigorous information. Please allow me to My rude apology—"

Mrs. Pince's angry expression softened a lot: "I can understand, but I hope you can pay attention to the words you use."

"Of course, please allow me to apologize again," Sean said, stroking his chest in greeting, "Then I'll leave first, madam."

After walking out of the library door, Sean's slightly apologetic face suddenly returned to its original look, and there was even a chill in his eyes.

"The soul-stealing curse in another sense... there is a high probability that it is him..."

Sean walked to an unoccupied stone wall and knocked lightly. The stone wall rippled like water.

This was a contact that only he and Stephanie could use, and only they could receive directly - both had partial access to the Room of Requirement.

Stephanie arrived a little faster than Sean expected. A wooden door soon appeared on the stone wall, and Sean pushed the door open and walked in.

"What's wrong?" The girl with long silver-white hair looked at him quietly.

"I need you to do me a favor..."

Sean briefly described the incident related to the lurker. This was not something that needed to be kept secret.

Stephanie pondered for a while, nodded slightly and said, "I know...but why do you think the remaining lurker is Professor Lockhart because Mrs. Pince is obsessed with him? Maybe Mrs. Pince will do stupid things because of this obsession, but if she lies to you, you should be able to tell - you just said that Mrs. Pince doesn't look like she is lying?"

Sean smiled mysteriously and pointed to his head: "Male intuition."

Yes, Lockhart, and not intuitively.

The image of Lockhart, the idiot professor, has become deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Everyone thinks that he can only talk and talk, and his own strength is worrying, but perhaps only Sean is aware of it in the entire Hogwarts.

Lockhart was indeed incapable of doing anything, but the other party's attainments in the memory spell were very profound - otherwise he would not have been able to steal other people's results and write a best-selling book.

It just so happened that the memory spell played a very crucial role in the recent incident. Otherwise, Parvati and Lavender would not have been able to carry out the operation secretly for two weeks.

In addition, Mrs. Pince did not look like she was lying, and Dave's sense of smell could not detect anything wrong with the other party, but that just showed that Lockhart may have been acting for a long time.

It's normal for Mrs. Pince to be unguarded about the person she admires. Lockhart can easily find opportunities to modify the other person's memory. Over time, Dave can't smell anything wrong.

Lockhart could easily find out Mrs. Pince's password in the library lounge, and then use a magic spell to change it. Mrs. Pince naturally thought that she had not revealed it.

Of course, these are all speculations. Even if the probability is higher than 99%, it needs evidence. Sean can be responsible for finding evidence, but he must also prevent Lockhart from receiving the news and taking certain actions.

A master of memory spells like Lockhart would never fail to set up a memory switch. Therefore, due to Sean's question just now, Lockhart may have known that he was suspected or even discovered.

Sean needs someone to inform the professors to take more rigorous precautions, and someone to monitor Lockhart. Stephanie can be contacted the fastest and is also the most suitable candidate for monitoring.

Of course, these words cannot all be explained to Stephanie, but to Sean's surprise, a normally calm and rational person like Stephanie did not question Sean's "male intuition."

She nodded seriously: "I understand. If you need to contact me, I'll be there right now."

The silver-haired girl was not sloppy at all and left immediately.

"He is really a good partner when we cooperate." Sean spread his hands and muttered.

He did not leave the stone wall, but walked in another direction.

Sean can enter Mrs. Pince's lounge without a password.

After pushing open the wooden door and holding his wand, Sean first checked to make sure there was no warning magic in the small lounge, and then he looked around the room.

This lounge that belongs to Mrs. Pince is neither spacious nor gorgeous, it just looks like an ordinary study. However, there are very few traces of life here, and it seems that Mrs. Pince does not use it very frequently.

Sean walked around casually, and it seemed that only Mrs. Pince had ever come in here. However, chairs, wine glasses, and other daily necessities were all for single use only.

"Nadja, go." Sean shook the sleeves of his robe, and Nadja, a bird-snake that shrank into a thin line, crawled to the ground, and then quickly swam into the smallest gaps in the room.

Birds and snakes, magical animals that can shrink their bodies at will, are really great at exploration. It just so happens that Sean can communicate with Nadja accurately and will not miss any information that may be vaguely expressed.

It's nice to have a bird snake that understands your thoughts.

Soon, Nadja swam back. She enlarged her body a little, gently wrapped around Sean's half body, and neighed softly in his ear.

"So there you are...nice job, Nadya."

Sean smiled and touched Bird Snake's head, and then walked to the wooden table.

Moving the table away, Sean pointed his wand directly at the ground below. A red light flashed and the stone bricks cracked.

And Sean also saw the contents inside. There was a box placed in a small space, with a large stack of letters inside, and several empty bottles for storing memories next to it.

Sean picked up one, and sure enough, the font on it was Lockhart's usual gorgeous cursive script.

"To my dear mother:"

"Your son has encountered some troubles recently. The situation outside is tense. Hogwarts is on lockdown. The owl is not allowed to deliver letters. This makes me a little troubled."

"I can't reply to my admirers, nor can I send my thoughts back to you, but I still have to write this letter and send it to you when the time comes - of course, your son As an internationally renowned great wizard, he is working secretly to solve recent big problems, but please forgive me for not telling you in detail."

"I almost forgot. I will try to contact the officials of the Ministry of Magic so that they can open an owl channel for me to communicate privately. I still have some friendship with the new minister."

…

"To my dear mother:"

"My life in school is very good. The students still admire me so much, and the professors also admire me very much - Mr. Dumbledore even gave me a special toast at the last dinner."

…

"Well, the kids have been a little rebellious lately and are not very polite to the professors - of course, that doesn't include me."

…

"Due to the increased academic workload, the school has recruited a new group of teaching assistants. In fact, I don't really need them, but... haha, your son's courses are so popular. There are too many students asking me questions after class. , and we have to give young people some opportunities, right?”

…

"To my dear mother:"

"I seem to be in big trouble...I don't even know how to explain this to you, oh, my God..."

Sean scanned it roughly, and found that almost all of the letters inside were letters Lockhart intended to send to his mother, but there was boastfulness and self-centeredness between the lines, and he didn't know whether this was to show off to his mother or something else.

By the time he got to the last letter, Lockhart's handwriting was obviously much more sloppy, and he looked extremely disturbed.

Dawson might have found him at that time... Sean thought silently.

"Huh?" Sean realized that he had left out a piece of paper, but the handwriting on it was not Lockhart's.

"Contact spell:..."

"Apparition location:..."

"Note: Hiding your identity is your first priority unless specifically contacted."

This is the contact information given to Lockhart by the forces behind it...

Sean narrowed his eyes, thought for a while, and then put the note away.

Time to confront Lockhart...

…

The sun is getting lower, and the mountains are gradually gathering a layer of shadow.

At the foot of an unknown mountain, a gloomy classical manor stands quietly in the jungle.

The last rays of the setting sun coated the manor with a warm golden color, but the sunlight did not have any intention of penetrating inside.

There were footsteps in the basement corridor of the manor, and the green torches printed two twisting shadows. Strangely, there was only one footsteps in the corridor.

The wizard who was guarding in front of a dungeon saw the person coming. He bowed silently in greeting, and then opened the cell door under the gesture of the floating black shadow in front of him.

The floating man in black robe turned around, his voice hoarse and gloomy: "I don't even know how to describe him... His loyalty to you is unquestionable, and his fanaticism is also eye-catching, but..."

The man in black robe laughed mockingly: "Mr. Riddle, his fanaticism was used on the boy who disguised your identity."

The man behind raised his head, revealing a round face and a pair of mouse-like eyes. He was holding a swaddle in his arms, and inside was a strange creature that looked like a baby.

It had no hair, and seemed to have scales on its body. Its skin was dark and red, like injured tender meat. Its arms and legs were thin and soft, and its face - no living child had such a face - was a flat, snakelike face with gleaming red eyes.

A hoarse voice filled with chills sounded: "Let me tell you something, don't call me Riddle. I only have one name now, and that is - Voldemort."

"Oh, I'm so sorry -" there was no apology in the voice of the man in black robe, "Mr. Voldemort, your most loyal servant, can you bring his mind back?"

Voldemort snorted coldly. Surprisingly, he did not show any obvious anger because of the man in black robe's impoliteness. He was like a weakling who was dependent on others and swallowed his anger.

"He will understand..." Voldemort said coldly.

He was carried into the dungeon.

At the end of the dungeon, there was a young man who was tied to a wooden chair. He was haggard, but his eyes were bright and frightening. He was kicking the person in an almost twisted way.

He licked his lips quickly like a snake and let out a nervous laugh: "Ha-ha-ha, idiots, here we go again? Don't ever think that I will betray my master!"

The man in black robe snorted coldly.

"Your master has arrived, Barty Crouch Jr."