Hogwarts becomes host

"Elaine"

Hermione and Daphne subconsciously wanted to get closer to Elaine, but were blocked by Snape.

Immediately afterwards, Elaine coughed up a lot of black blood from her open mouth, which fell on her sheets and clothes, making an ominous hissing sound.

"Although Phoenix Tears are a very powerful antidote, it seems a little late." Snape waved his wand to remove all the poisonous blood. "The venom has spread all over her body. I'm afraid she will have to take a lot of detoxification medicine to slowly dissolve the toxins in her body."

"This reaction is the most toxic to the stomach. She took the poison." Slughorn, who took out the hematopoietic medicine, squinted his eyes and observed, "What exactly happened? What did the person in the painting say?"

"Lockhart's portrait is all wet with blood, and the figure in the painting hanging in front of the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher's office tells us that Lockhart returned to the office after finishing his meal at half past six." Professor McGonagall looked gloomy. "They didn't see anyone else coming in or out of the office except Miss Shafiq who went to see him at eight o'clock," said.

"Apparition is not allowed inside the castle. Portkeys and Floo Networks will also alert defensive magic, that is, unless the murderer disappears like smoke." Snape said softly. "Otherwise, we should be able to conclude that the two of them killed each other and died together."

Ron and Harry glared at Snape.

"Don't jump to conclusions too early, Severus," Flitwick said weakly. "You didn't see that scene so you don't know."

"What"

"The office was in a mess, there was blood everywhere, and the door was blown open." Professor McGonagall said seriously, "I happened to be chatting with Filius nearby. I heard the sound and rushed over, and saw Shasha. Miss Fick and Gilderoy fell in a pool of blood."

"The door was blown away, which means someone used magic." Slughorn asked, "It's Elaine."

"No, Miss Shafik's wand is still in her cuff, and the one holding the wand is Gilderoy." Flitwick said, "Judging from the position where they fell to the ground, it was Gilderoy who blew up the office. I guess he was seriously injured and couldn't escape, so he used this method to attract the attention of the outside world. We arrived at the scene within a few seconds of the explosion, and we had time to save them."

"But with Elaine's strength, how could she be subdued so easily?" Ron frowned and mustered up the courage to say, "Lockhart might even be better than Lockhart with the help her father provided privately." Hart is still tougher, I don’t think─”

"Miss Shafik can answer this question herself." Dumbledore said, "I just came back from that classroom and there was a message from the prisoner on the wall, and I also checked the wand that Gilderoy dropped at the scene. The last spell cast on that wand was the Explosive Charm."

"She can't speak, and she doesn't have the strength to write." Snape waved his hand impatiently, "Since she ingested the venom through the mouth, her vocal tract should have been destroyed the moment she drank the venom. Even if not, the poisonous blood she spit out when she was just detoxified must have hurt her voice. Now even if she wakes up, she can't speak complete words and can only make hemming sounds."

"There is a prisoner's message on the wall," Professor McGonagall shouted angrily, "That guy was so bold, what did he write?"

"The Chamber of Secrets has been opened." Dumbledore whispered, "The anger of the heir of Slytherin needs a sacrifice to appease—Voldemort."

Everyone was stunned, and there were only the faint moans of the patients in the room. Everyone looked at Dumbledore, as if trying to find a joking expression on his face, even Daphne, who had been looking at Elaine. No exception.

"That's impossible," Snape was the first to whisper.

"The words Voldert are still on the wall. Although my eyesight has deteriorated due to old age, I still won't see the wrong words." Dumbledore sighed, "It's right in the center of the room, right opposite the door─you don't even have to leave. You can see it when you go in because the door has been blown away.”

"No, no." Slughorn said tremblingly, "Oh God, Albus, that man can't be - you don't really think - he's dead, right?"

"So we need Miss Shafik to tell us what happened in that room. The Shafiq family has a special way of expressing themselves. She doesn't need to speak." Dumbledore said, "Horace, Severus, you have Is there any way to temporarily restore consciousness to Miss Shafiq? It will be all at once."

"Yes, but she will be in great pain." Slughorn wiped the tears from his eyes and thought for a while. "Because the detoxification time is too late, some of the poison has been integrated into Elaine's body, and Phoenix Tears cannot remove it; Gilderoy is more lucky, because of the massive blood loss. In short, when we use medicine to stimulate and enhance her, the medicine itself will also react with the poison. , will make her condition more serious."

"The next heir to the Shafik family is not that fragile." Dumbledore shook his head. "As long as he doesn't die and leaves no permanent damage, it doesn't matter if he uses some forceful means. I approve your doing so."

"But, Professor, if Elaine is like this-" Hermione shouted anxiously.

"All responsibility rests with me," said Dumbledore, his pale blue eyes sparkling with a spark Harry had never seen before. "As long as we can find the murderer and help her get revenge, I believe Miss Shafiq is happy to endure this pain."

No one could argue with Dumbledore.

Harry also knew that if Elaine was still conscious, she would make the same decision.

After a while, Snape came with the potion, but Elaine's digestive system had been damaged by the poison, and oral administration was too ineffective, so injections could only be used. Hermione sadly helped Madam Pomfrey hold down Elaine. arm.

Half an hour after the injection, Elaine's body shook violently. She opened her eyes, but her face was ferocious, and it was clear at a glance that she was in great pain.

"I'm afraid she can't even use magic now. She has no concentration and can't control magic." Snape shook his head. "It's better to let her continue to be fainted. I don't think she can provide us with any clues."

"That's not necessarily the case," said Dumbledore. "We need to know what happened, Shafik."

Elaine opened her mouth, but could only make a hoarse sound. She raised her hand with all her strength and pointed at her right leg, while Daphne and Hermione quickly lifted up her robe and started searching, which made her struggle violently again.

"This thing has magical reactions."

Finally, Professor McGonagall took off Elaine's right shoe and took out the insole to inspect it carefully.

"That seems to be a unique magic tool of the Shafik family, which can record sounds." Looking at the thing, Flitwick screamed. "Try injecting magic into it"

Dumbledore used a spell to put Elaine to sleep again, while Professor McGonagall input magic into the insole.

Miscellaneous sounds were played, including the professor's explanation during class, students' chatting after class, and various sounds. Elaine's schedule and movements throughout the day were all recorded by these sounds.

Hermione, Harry and Ron felt a little embarrassed. Elaine's private jokes and jokes with them were all released in front of so many professors. Fortunately, no one paid attention to them now.

Just like the testimony of the three Harrys, after the sound of the piano, Elaine said that she wanted to find Lockhart, followed by the sound of walking for nearly five or six minutes, with shoes hitting the ground, making the sound of footsteps.

Then there was a knock on the door. They heard Elaine asking Lockhart if he could come in, and Lockhart agreed. Then there was the sound of the door opening, Lockhart's voice asking Elaine to sit down, and the clinking of glasses. sound, and the sound of liquid flowing.

"This was given to me by one of my supporters," Lockhart's voice said, "Please use the very expensive Indian black tea. There are some things I want to confirm with you. I'm not sure, but the Shafiq family── "

Lockhart was interrupted mid-sentence by the sound of a cup falling.

"This tea of ​​yours - how dare you -"

This was Elaine's painful rebuke, intermittent, as if someone was strangling her neck.

"No, it's impossible. I don't have it. How could it be who it is?"

This was Lockhart's disbelieving voice. He seemed to be frightened.

Then there was a high-pitched giggle, the scraping sound of something crawling and sliding, the crash of a large number of objects falling and overturning, and an eerie low hissing sound.

"The people in the Shafiq family are just like this. They think they are so powerful."

"No, don't fall apart─ahhhhhhhhhh"

"Fuck him, kill him"

Lockhart chanted the curse in a panic. He seemed to have caused damage to something, because there was a furious roar after the cutting curse, and there was also an angry cry after something was injured.

This was followed by Lockhart's screams and the sound of flesh being torn apart.

"Hey, that's interesting. This is the delaying potion written by Professor Slughorn. So what?"

There was the sound of heavy objects falling to the ground, as well as the sound of crawling and sinister laughter. The other party seemed to be preparing to give Elaine and Lockhart the final blow.

"...Wrath of Thunder"

Finally, Lockhart struggled to shout out the spell. He seemed to be very weak at this time, so he could not recite the spell loudly, but the spell still exerted its due power.

There was an explosion, and the attacker cursed and left, and the sound of sliding gradually faded away.

Then they heard the voices of Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick.

Everyone was silent for a while, and most of the professors' eyes changed when they looked at Lockhart.

"This will restore part of the truth." Professor McGonagall said seriously. "The other party poisoned the tea. Unknowingly, Gilderoy used it to serve Miss Shafik, causing her to be poisoned. Then the attacker attacked Gilderoy. , he tried to resist, but was no match, so he could only blow up the door and find a way to notify the outside, Gilderoy."

"But how did he sneak into the office?" Snape snorted, "Also, I'm curious about how Shafiq resisted the poison. From the sound of her voice, she was poisoned earlier than when she was lying there, and it's not like him. There are wounds that are constantly bleeding.”

"Didn't the other party say it?" Harry glared at Snape, "It's Professor Slughorn's delaying potion. Didn't you hear clearly?"

"Who said that?" All the professors looked at Harry in surprise, "How do you know?"