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**Chapter 116: The Unlucky Victim**
2022-07-14 Author: I'm Just a Pigeon
For a professor, casually pinning blame on students was an extremely reprehensible act—in most cases, students were the vulnerable party, unable to defend themselves against such malice.
William was well aware of this, but he wasn't just casually blaming the two brothers.
In terms of capability, all students, including the castle's most famous troublemakers, agreed that no one knew the castle's hidden corners better than that pair of brothers. William had also received corroboration for this from Filch and Hagrid.
Without a doubt, these two brothers were fully capable of sneaking out of the castle and killing a rooster.
After killing the rooster, they could also bypass the castle's locks, return safely to their common room, and emerge rubbing their eyes when dorms were checked the next morning.
Their ability was sufficient, but what about their nerve?
This was also beyond doubt. William had personally seen their files and had a clear understanding of their ability to cause trouble. If the two brothers had deliberately created a mystery by spilling blood at the castle doorway as a new prank, William was convinced they wouldn't panic and give themselves away like ordinary students.
And during the recent conversation, a hint from Adams had given William a motive.
That's right—Ginny had been given detention.
She was the twins' younger sister. As far as William knew, the Weasley family had a slew of sons, with only the youngest being a girl. This meant the elder brothers were highly likely to dote on their sister—the more children there were, the more pampered the only little sister would be. While it wasn't always true that two children would fight, in most cases, family dynamics were like this.
The two prank geniuses, angered by their sister's detention, took their wrath out on the chicken they deemed the culprit, staging a new prank—it was perfectly logical, with nothing out of place.
Now only one problem remained—William had no evidence.
'Indeed, Mr. Filch was right. The most adept pranksters in this school are the Weasley Brothers.'
William smiled, and a weight was finally lifted from his mind—this round, he conceded defeat.
To think he had even gathered a group of troublemakers to search the secret passages within the castle for any strange graffiti. Those two Weasleys were probably laughing as they watched, weren't they?
'A loss is a loss, it doesn't matter. I'm not a professor specifically in charge of discipline. While I have to admit those two orchestrated a very clever prank, as for my teaching, it hasn't been affected at all.'
'To be precise, for me, knowing it wasn't someone performing strange and dangerous rituals is a victory in itself. However, you two rascals, I've got my eye on you.'
William smiled and stretched his arms. His low mood, which had persisted since morning, finally returned to its usual level.
Although there was no evidence, if nothing else developed, it was almost certain the twins were the culprits.
'Hmm, I'll reserve judgment and observe. After all, there are no leads now, so the case is temporarily closed.'
'Oh, right, should I call those troublemakers back?'
William, in high spirits, suddenly thought of this, but he quickly dismissed the idea.
'Let them search. If they can catch the twins red-handed, I'll genuinely reduce their detention. If not, the twins are the ones who tricked them, not me—'
'Who knows, those two brothers might still be laughing as they watch a group of people searching with them. What they don't know is, I'm laughing as I watch them, too.'
'Besides, if my guess is wrong, this will count as covering all the bases—anyway, if something is truly found, the promise will be fulfilled.'
—
"Achoo! Damn it, this passage hasn't been used in years, it's full of dust! Do we really have to search in here?"
Inside a secret passage that few people used because it was too circuitous, a group of students searching for clues were choked by the flying dust, sneezing one after another.
"Search. The more remote the place, the more we need to search. Maybe the person hiding wanted to use the dust as a cover. I know seven or eight ways to restore dust to cover one's tracks—what can dust really prove?"
The group of students braced themselves and filed in, the wind from their entry stirring up even more dust.
Because of the excessive dust, the students who knew the Bubble-Head Charm couldn't help but cast the fishbowl-like shield on themselves. However, due to its non-trivial learning difficulty, many of the troublemakers hadn't mastered it and were speaking through the thick dust.
"Those who haven't mastered the Bubble-Head Charm, head out. The rest of you, search slowly."
The Weasley Twins, who had led the students to open this secret passage, issued commands to the swarming students through their Bubble-Head Charms, their voices muffled.
"Remember the essentials: tap the bricks with your wand. Bricks that conceal something will cause your wand's light to bend and distort. They're usually hidden between knee and chest height—of course, that's an adult's height."
They earnestly repeated the method that most of the children in the group had already mastered, but no one raised any objections.
For these children, searching for hidden rooms as a group was a rare collective activity.
'Everyone's taking this so seriously, but I think this will take longer than detention.'
Fred signaled to George with his eyes.
'But this is much more interesting than detention—and I won't allow anyone at Hogwarts to know more secrets than us. If there is, we'll surpass them!'
George was full of fighting spirit.
"Achoo!"
A sudden sneeze left the determined George a complete mess, making everyone around him burst into laughter.
"The dust is so thick. Didn't the Bubble-Head Charm block it?"
George looked up again, a surprised expression on his face, which made the surrounding group of students roar with laughter.
—
"Good morning, William."
"Good morning, Adams."
William sat down at the staff table with unusual cheer—today was a bright, sunny day, and the matter that had troubled him for half of yesterday had finally been cleared up, making him exceptionally happy. He felt like humming a tune without even having any chocolate.
"Well now, why are you so happy today? What, did you drink the wrong potion again?"
"Shut up. How was your chicken yesterday?"
The two traded merciless barbs.
Towards evening yesterday, William had seen a grim-faced Adams. A rooster might seem large, but for a half-blood giant of astonishing height, it was hardly a difficult lunch to finish. By the time Adams had arrived, the unlucky chicken was gone without a trace.
Literally not a bone was left—although many people don't recommend dogs eat chicken bones, perhaps due to magic, Hagrid's dog, Fang, had completely devoured all the bones Hagrid had left over.
This matter made William and Singeade laugh for an entire night. In the end, an embarrassed and furious Adams began to retaliate, claiming William's investigative methods were like someone who had drunk an expired potion—he'd even forgotten an important concealment spell like the Disillusionment Charm.
The two bickered for a while, finally reaching a consensus after the surrounding professors cast inquisitive glances their way.
[William is not to mention the poor chicken again, and Adams is no longer to mock him about the matter of the Disillusionment Charm.]
P.S. Half of the next chapter isn't finished yet, don't wait. I'll post it once it's done.
(end of chapter)
2022-07-14 Author: I'm Just a Pigeon
For a professor, casually pinning blame on students was an extremely reprehensible act—in most cases, students were the vulnerable party, unable to defend themselves against such malice.
William was well aware of this, but he wasn't just casually blaming the two brothers.
In terms of capability, all students, including the castle's most famous troublemakers, agreed that no one knew the castle's hidden corners better than that pair of brothers. William had also received corroboration for this from Filch and Hagrid.
Without a doubt, these two brothers were fully capable of sneaking out of the castle and killing a rooster.
After killing the rooster, they could also bypass the castle's locks, return safely to their common room, and emerge rubbing their eyes when dorms were checked the next morning.
Their ability was sufficient, but what about their nerve?
This was also beyond doubt. William had personally seen their files and had a clear understanding of their ability to cause trouble. If the two brothers had deliberately created a mystery by spilling blood at the castle doorway as a new prank, William was convinced they wouldn't panic and give themselves away like ordinary students.
And during the recent conversation, a hint from Adams had given William a motive.
That's right—Ginny had been given detention.
She was the twins' younger sister. As far as William knew, the Weasley family had a slew of sons, with only the youngest being a girl. This meant the elder brothers were highly likely to dote on their sister—the more children there were, the more pampered the only little sister would be. While it wasn't always true that two children would fight, in most cases, family dynamics were like this.
The two prank geniuses, angered by their sister's detention, took their wrath out on the chicken they deemed the culprit, staging a new prank—it was perfectly logical, with nothing out of place.
Now only one problem remained—William had no evidence.
'Indeed, Mr. Filch was right. The most adept pranksters in this school are the Weasley Brothers.'
William smiled, and a weight was finally lifted from his mind—this round, he conceded defeat.
To think he had even gathered a group of troublemakers to search the secret passages within the castle for any strange graffiti. Those two Weasleys were probably laughing as they watched, weren't they?
'A loss is a loss, it doesn't matter. I'm not a professor specifically in charge of discipline. While I have to admit those two orchestrated a very clever prank, as for my teaching, it hasn't been affected at all.'
'To be precise, for me, knowing it wasn't someone performing strange and dangerous rituals is a victory in itself. However, you two rascals, I've got my eye on you.'
William smiled and stretched his arms. His low mood, which had persisted since morning, finally returned to its usual level.
Although there was no evidence, if nothing else developed, it was almost certain the twins were the culprits.
'Hmm, I'll reserve judgment and observe. After all, there are no leads now, so the case is temporarily closed.'
'Oh, right, should I call those troublemakers back?'
William, in high spirits, suddenly thought of this, but he quickly dismissed the idea.
'Let them search. If they can catch the twins red-handed, I'll genuinely reduce their detention. If not, the twins are the ones who tricked them, not me—'
'Who knows, those two brothers might still be laughing as they watch a group of people searching with them. What they don't know is, I'm laughing as I watch them, too.'
'Besides, if my guess is wrong, this will count as covering all the bases—anyway, if something is truly found, the promise will be fulfilled.'
—
"Achoo! Damn it, this passage hasn't been used in years, it's full of dust! Do we really have to search in here?"
Inside a secret passage that few people used because it was too circuitous, a group of students searching for clues were choked by the flying dust, sneezing one after another.
"Search. The more remote the place, the more we need to search. Maybe the person hiding wanted to use the dust as a cover. I know seven or eight ways to restore dust to cover one's tracks—what can dust really prove?"
The group of students braced themselves and filed in, the wind from their entry stirring up even more dust.
Because of the excessive dust, the students who knew the Bubble-Head Charm couldn't help but cast the fishbowl-like shield on themselves. However, due to its non-trivial learning difficulty, many of the troublemakers hadn't mastered it and were speaking through the thick dust.
"Those who haven't mastered the Bubble-Head Charm, head out. The rest of you, search slowly."
The Weasley Twins, who had led the students to open this secret passage, issued commands to the swarming students through their Bubble-Head Charms, their voices muffled.
"Remember the essentials: tap the bricks with your wand. Bricks that conceal something will cause your wand's light to bend and distort. They're usually hidden between knee and chest height—of course, that's an adult's height."
They earnestly repeated the method that most of the children in the group had already mastered, but no one raised any objections.
For these children, searching for hidden rooms as a group was a rare collective activity.
'Everyone's taking this so seriously, but I think this will take longer than detention.'
Fred signaled to George with his eyes.
'But this is much more interesting than detention—and I won't allow anyone at Hogwarts to know more secrets than us. If there is, we'll surpass them!'
George was full of fighting spirit.
"Achoo!"
A sudden sneeze left the determined George a complete mess, making everyone around him burst into laughter.
"The dust is so thick. Didn't the Bubble-Head Charm block it?"
George looked up again, a surprised expression on his face, which made the surrounding group of students roar with laughter.
—
"Good morning, William."
"Good morning, Adams."
William sat down at the staff table with unusual cheer—today was a bright, sunny day, and the matter that had troubled him for half of yesterday had finally been cleared up, making him exceptionally happy. He felt like humming a tune without even having any chocolate.
"Well now, why are you so happy today? What, did you drink the wrong potion again?"
"Shut up. How was your chicken yesterday?"
The two traded merciless barbs.
Towards evening yesterday, William had seen a grim-faced Adams. A rooster might seem large, but for a half-blood giant of astonishing height, it was hardly a difficult lunch to finish. By the time Adams had arrived, the unlucky chicken was gone without a trace.
Literally not a bone was left—although many people don't recommend dogs eat chicken bones, perhaps due to magic, Hagrid's dog, Fang, had completely devoured all the bones Hagrid had left over.
This matter made William and Singeade laugh for an entire night. In the end, an embarrassed and furious Adams began to retaliate, claiming William's investigative methods were like someone who had drunk an expired potion—he'd even forgotten an important concealment spell like the Disillusionment Charm.
The two bickered for a while, finally reaching a consensus after the surrounding professors cast inquisitive glances their way.
[William is not to mention the poor chicken again, and Adams is no longer to mock him about the matter of the Disillusionment Charm.]
P.S. Half of the next chapter isn't finished yet, don't wait. I'll post it once it's done.
(end of chapter)
