Chapter 662
Emergency Notice
Chapter 662 Emergency Notice
Ron came running up, panting, only managing to catch a glimpse of Krum's scarlet cloak disappearing around the corner.
"Krum...what does that guy want with you?"
He asked breathlessly, his gaze quickly sweeping over Hermione.
“He just came to gather information.” Vader, who had just returned to his group, looked at the others and said, “Kakalov must have escaped.”
"He ran away?" Harry's eyebrows almost flew into his hairline as he said angrily, "He must have known something but wouldn't say it, and then he just turned around and ran away!"
“But it’s impossible to bring him back for interrogation right now.” Michael frowned. “The key question is… what kind of threat could make a school principal abandon his students and flee overnight?”
Ron was confused: "Escape? Karkaroff? What are you talking about?"
A group of students ran across the grass, laughing and joking. The one who lagged behind even rolled over, completely unaware of what his peers sitting together were discussing.
……
The weekend flew by, and for two whole nights, Harry, Hermione, and Ron used their invisibility cloaks to sneak into the restricted section of the library and browse through the dark magic books that students were not normally allowed to touch.
An invisibility cloak was no longer enough to completely cover three people, so Harry had to make two trips each time, always on edge, to pick up and drop off his friend at the library.
After class on Monday, Hermione couldn't help but discuss what she had read:
"I finished reading 'The Cursed Bones', 'The Art of Sacrifice', and 'The Origins of Black Magic' last night."
Hermione lowered her voice and said, "It's possible the killer wanted to cast some kind of curse on the remains..."
Harry gestured for her to be quiet, then pointed ahead: "Look, Durmstrang's students."
Two students in crimson robes were walking toward the Great Hall, surrounded by several other Slytherin students who were chatting and laughing, appearing to be very friendly.
“That’s strange,” Ron couldn’t help but say. “The disappearance of Durmstrang’s principal doesn’t seem to affect them at all… I even think they’re happier.”
Harry said thoughtfully, "Karkaroff must be a very harsh person to his students. Did you see how he talked to them? I think in his eyes, everyone except Krum is like weeds."
Hermione said sympathetically, "There's no difference. Even Viktor was treated harshly by Karkaroff before he gained fame."
Ron glanced at her, and the amused expression on his face vanished instantly.
When they arrived at the lobby, they found it packed with people. A large group of students were standing on tiptoe to look at a large wooden board next to the stairs with a notice posted on it. The noise was so loud that it was impossible to hear what the people in front were saying.
Ron, the tallest of the group, pressed Harry's shoulder, craned his neck, and finally saw what was written on it. He then shouted—
"Urgent Notice: In preparation for the third event, classes will be suspended this afternoon. All students need to help set up the venue. Please report to the Quidditch pitch at 3:30 p.m.."
"Classes suspended?"
Harry's eyes lit up, but then he frowned: "Wait... do we need to set up the venue?"
For the first two games, the Ministry of Magic built the stands overnight, without letting the students participate at all.
"Anything is better than class!" Ron said excitedly. "Great! No class this afternoon, no homework!"
Before he finished speaking, the students around him who had heard the announcement cheered. For the students, doing any kind of work was much more interesting than sitting in the classroom and attending classes.
"What?" Hermione said incredulously, "Why are classes canceled? I've already made my study plan! Can't we do the setup and stuff on the weekend?"
But it seemed like she was the only one who was angry about it; everyone else was so happy they almost threw their backpacks away.
“Wait, this is so sudden…” Harry frowned. “Could it be related to what Wade was talking about?”
Hermione said angrily, "That must be it! Maybe the school needs everyone to leave the castle so they can search... but they can do it on weekends too! Why take up my class time?"
Harry sensed that Hermione was in a state of being unable to communicate, so he silently shut his mouth.
……
After lunch, the students headed towards the Quidditch pitch. Harry and Ron skipped lightly down the steps, but Hermione looked sullen. She was still carrying her schoolbag with several thick books inside.
"Are you really going to start studying at this time?" Ron glanced back and asked incredulously.
Hermione tilted her head back and said stubbornly, "Who knows how long it will take to set it up? What if we have some free time?"
As Wade walked down the steps, he overheard this and once again deeply understood why Hermione, despite not having a bad temper and being happy to help others improve their grades, still had few friends in Gryffindor.
When everyone arrived, the professors had clearly already begun some work; the Quidditch pitch had been transformed into a giant open-air workshop, and Professor McGonagall stood at the entrance, distributing tasks to the students.
Once inside, you can see Professor Flitwick wielding his wand with effortless grace, the old chairs are transformed into new ones, and more wooden planks float up and automatically assemble into brand-new seats.
Professor Sprout was also working, carrying a large basket from which vines flew out in a continuous stream, weaving a beautiful fence around the rows of seats.
Filch slowly dragged a large box of rope across the center of the field, and the students in front of him made way for him.
Students like Wade, skilled in Transfiguration, were assigned the task of decorating the platform. With a gentle tap of his wand, an old, scratched stool transformed into an exquisitely carved armchair.
Harry and the others were responsible for cleaning the entire area. Buckets of magical cleaning solution were delivered using the levitation charm, and the entire arena was filled with a strong scent of rosemary and mint.
Even first-graders had tasks; they were responsible for hanging up ribbons, making flags and banners, and arranging small decorations such as golden bells.
Most professors would then apply a solidification spell to the conjured seats so that the stands wouldn't revert to their original shape due to the magic fading or collapse under the weight of the audience for a short period.
Michael slowly used magic to color the carvings on the chair while complaining to Wade:
"This is a real pain... Why can't we just move part of the Quidditch final arena here? By the way, how many spectators are there for the final? Why add so many seats—does that mean all the students from the other ten schools will come to watch the game?"
“Impossible. There are tens of thousands of students in Vagado alone,” Vader said. “They must have only invited a portion of them; the majority are audience members from various national ministries of magic.”
As he spoke, he glanced at Professor McGonagall in the center of the arena.
Wade noticed that Professor Snape was not present, nor was Professor Moody.
More than the upcoming competition, he was curious—at this sensitive time, was the school really making such a big fuss about having students decorate like this just to thoroughly search the castle?
(End of this chapter)