A broken Hogwarts

Chapter 176 The Hollow Flute Sound

The slightly cold night wind blows through the open window, taking away the stuffy air in the room. The bright blue curtains flutter in the wind, and the bright moonlight sneaks in from the window.

Owen, dressed as Lockhart, sat leisurely behind the desk, his brilliant blond hair shone under the light, and his brightly colored green robe looked gorgeous, but with his calm and indifferent expression, he did not look frivolous. On the contrary, it has the meaning of a noble son.

He was holding a quill in one hand, and his blue eyes roughly scanned the student's homework in his hand, quickly wrote a few strokes on it, then threw it aside in a smooth manner, and continued to correct the next one, at an increasing speed.

The lazy Peter Pettigrew has accumulated three classes and seven grades of homework and has not yet corrected it. Owen, who has taken over the mess, can only complete the work conscientiously.For acting, he is serious and professional.

After spending an hour solving homework problems, Owen picked up the thermos bottle on the table, pinched his nose and took a sip of shoe polish-flavored compound soup, made himself a cup of high-grade black tea to clear his mouth, and then stood up Stretched, and did a general cleaning again.

He gracefully waved his wand lightly, and the random piles of colorful clothes in the cabinet floated up lightly, floating in mid-air to be cleaned, then ironed to make them smooth, and finally fell into his arms. Ban flew back into the cabinet, hung it up neatly, and obediently raised his sleeves to smooth out his folds.

The snacks hidden in the corners by Peter Pettigrew flew out, and Owen waved his wand and sent them back to the kitchen for disposal.The messy sundries were neatly arranged, several large rolled-up photos of Lockhart were piled up in the corner, and the books on the bookshelves were also neatly arranged in order from high to low.

In a blink of an eye, the office became clean and tidy, and even the air was fresh.The fire in the fireplace is burning brightly, making it warm without being stuffy.

Owen sat back on the soft and comfortable high-back chair with satisfaction, playing with the tan wand in his hand.This cherry wood wand has good toughness. The core of the wand is the nerve of a dragon. It doesn't fit Owen very well. It is very disobedient, but it can barely be controlled.

At this time, there was a knocking sound on the door.Owen glanced at the locked door and asked, "Who is it?"

"It's me, Gilderoy." Professor Flitwick's voice sounded outside the door, "We have to go to a meeting and discuss how to solve the problem of emotional contagion. I remember you said last semester that you could solve it, I'm afraid we'll have to talk it over, you know, and we can't let it go any further..."

Owen was silent for a moment, why is this scene so familiar?

No one is going to kill him, right?

He laughed and shook his head, but still involuntarily raised his vigilance. After getting ready, he came to the door and opened it cautiously, showing a bright smile to the short professor outside: "Okay, Felius , your vision is always so good. You must leave this kind of thing to me!"

Flitwick took a look at the blindingly white teeth, and the corner of his mouth twitched. He nodded tiredly, and led the way away.I have worked with Lockhart for more than half a year, who doesn't know how much he weighs?It's just that as a colleague, I have to show some face.

Owen glanced left and right, then followed Professor Flitwick, and the two came to a small conference room on the second floor one after the other, where several people were already sitting in twos and threes.

"Hi, good evening, I'm relieved to see that everyone is still so energetic." Owen said exaggeratedly, with a classic Lockhart smile on his face, beaming like a toothpaste commercial.

The low voice of discussion in the conference room was awkward for a moment, and the professors all glanced at him in unison. Some ignored him, some secretly sighed, and some nodded at him slightly.

Professor Flitwick covered his forehead, then sat down in the chair next to Professor Sprout.Owen sat beside Professor Snape with a smile, raised his hand and patted the other's shoulder familiarly, looked at his gloomy face that seemed to be dripping water and said, "You look good, Severer S."

Professor Snape's upper lip curled up in disgust, he raised his hand and slapped Owen's paw off his shoulder, and stared at him as if he wanted to kill someone violently.

A premonition of danger haunted people, Owen pretended not to notice, straightened his upper body, greeted the professors happily, immersed in the role-playing and could not extricate himself.It wasn't until Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall walked in that he settled down and sat there obediently.

Dumbledore glanced at Owen with a smile, his sharp blue eyes seemed to see through everything.He took a seat at the table, crossed his fingers and propped himself on the table, his face was kind and gentle, and his every move looked the same as last year.

Professor Snape squinted at him for a moment, then looked away, staring blankly at the portrait on the wall, as if to stare at it from a flower.The girl holding the water bottle in the portrait was trembling with fright, accidentally broke the water bottle in her hand, and hid behind the picture frame and couldn't come out.

Professor McGonagall went straight to the point: "We have to find the source of emotional contagion as soon as possible. What happened today is a very dangerous signal. It makes us understand that this phenomenon may not be accidental, but...man-made. Maybe someone tried to use It comes to achieve some ulterior purpose."

"It's not a wizarding disease...I wonder if it has something to do with the heir?" Madam Pomfrey sighed sadly.If this continues, the school will have to close down.

Professor Trelawney hung countless chains and beads around his neck, staring nervously at the crystal ball in his hand through his big glasses, and muttering: "Catastrophe! I saw a huge disaster Over the castle... an ominous omen! It's getting worse!"

The professors expressed their opinions and argued with each other for a long time, while Dumbledore was always on the ground with his eyes closed.

"Albus, what on earth are you thinking?" Professor McGonagall frowned, looking at Dumbledore solemnly.

As the headmaster, Dumbledore has been busy with off-campus affairs during this time, showing a careless and inactive attitude towards the crisis in the school, which made Professor McGonagall displeased.In her opinion, no matter what Dumbledore's plans were, the safety of the students should be the top priority.

The lives of the students were being threatened. It would be okay if Dumbledore could do nothing, but he was standing by.It couldn't hide it from her eyes.

The current Dumbledore always gave her a feeling of familiarity and strangeness, which made her feel a little contradictory and depressed.

"Don't be impatient, Minerva. I'm thinking of a way, and it won't take long." Dumbledore smiled at her kindly, with deep wrinkles forming at the corners of his eyes.He leaned back on the back of the chair, clasped his hands in front of him, and the golden stars dotted on the blue loose robe on his body were shining brightly.

Owen blinked his eyes. This Dumbledore's behavior was completely different from what he had seen in the principal's office before... All in all, very Dumbledore, exactly like the real one.

No wonder he can hide from Professor McGonagall who has been with Dumbledore for decades. This guy is also a good actor.

The other party seemed to look at Owen consciously, and blinked mischievously at him, making people feel that Dumbledore had really returned.He said with a half-smile: "Gidero, you must have a good idea, right?"

Owen's eyebrows twitched, well, this look...is really a fake.

He coughed lightly, and said without embarrassment: "Oh, of course, this is a trivial matter to me. But isn't it a small problem that can't be smaller? I never took it to heart, so I I haven't thought about how to solve it...Of course, as long as you give me a while, this matter can't help me!"

"Leave it to me!" Owen patted his chest and said, successfully making the professors look away with dark faces.

Lockhart's credibility at Hogwarts had almost bottomed out.

"Okay, then I'll leave it to you, Gilderoy." Dumbledore didn't let him go, and nodded seriously.

Owen resists the urge to roll his eyes and pulls out enough to win the most charming smile award.

He did have an idea to solve the problem of emotional contagion, but it was impossible to say it carelessly on this occasion.He had to guard against Voldemort getting wind of it, after all, Peter Pettigrew was unlikely to be actively trying to decipher this phenomenon that might be of great help to his master.

In the following time, Professor Flitwick proposed two spells that might be helpful in finding the source, and the professors actively studied and supplemented it, as if it had become an academic seminar.

Professor Sprout suggested planting some calming herbs in flower pots in the castle, and Professor Babling from the Ancient Runes class volunteered to help refine a special alchemy item for exploration and hand it over to Filch , Professor Snape promised to brew some potions that could calm the crowd down quickly...

Owen listened with a smile, interjecting from time to time to express some unnutritious opinions.Until the end of the meeting, he quickly returned to his office with cheerful steps.

He locked the door first, and then cleaned up the lounge behind the office. He sat on the head of the bed and fell into thought while looking at the black velvety night sky outside the window.

Although the problem of emotional contagion occurs without warning every time, since it is caused by the space facing the wall and needs to be collected by him, it will definitely not be traceless.

Owen has long guessed that to solve this problem, I am afraid that he must find a way to make himself selected as the source of an emotional contagion incident.When a person is in violent mood swings, this person may become the source of infection, has been most directly affected, and is most likely to sense the cause of everything.

Of course, it is difficult for little wizards to remain calm and rational in such strong emotions.In this state, it's over to indulge your mood, not to mention carefully sensing and analyzing your current situation.

Although the professors at the school were able to do it, they have not made any progress after studying for so long, perhaps because they, as adults, seldom lose control of their emotions like children, so they have never been selected as the source of infection .The same goes for Irving.

However, it's not that the professors haven't tried to chant spells such as the joy spell to themselves, but it didn't work either.Possibly because violent emotions evoked with a spell don't qualify?
Owen sighed softly. He had actually thought of a solution a long time ago, but he has always been good at controlling his emotions, and he doesn't like to let his emotions run wild.Besides, seeing the students are so happy, he is also happy to take a chance. Maybe some professor will solve it sometime?

But now there is no longer any delay, lest Voldemort play more tricks.

"It's nothing more than indulgence." Owen slowly closed his eyes.Although it is difficult for people to have strong emotions for no reason, malice is also a kind of emotion.For him, he just needs to let go of the shackles in his heart, mobilize some of the emotions buried in the black demon guard, and let them boil unscrupulously.

It's just that in this state, it's very difficult to control yourself not to do something terrible. It's not suitable for an environment where other people are present, and it's easy to threaten each other's lives...

Owen's closed eyes opened instantly, and there seemed to be a dark black vortex in the black and white pupils, as if everything was going to be sucked into the bottomless abyss.He slowly clenched his fists and stared at the ceiling expressionlessly. A faint black mist quietly diffused from his body, and the surrounding temperature became gloomy and cold.

Before being selected, I don't know how long this state will be maintained...

Owen's clenched fists trembled slightly, and endless terrifying thoughts flooded him, making him feel inexplicably excited.

In such a wait, the time became extremely long.He just sat quietly by the bed, the ticking of the hands of the clock seemed to be in harmony with the beating of his heart, and the night sky outside the window gradually became darker, and then the sky turned pale, and the sun slowly rose .

There were conversations of the little wizards outside, as well as rustling footsteps, accompanied by a few shouts and screams from time to time. This was the students rushing to the auditorium for breakfast.Today is Sunday and there are no classes.

Owen closed his eyes tightly as if he had fallen into a deep sleep, but his brows were furrowed irritably, and he finally suppressed the urge to rush out.

In this persistence that lasted like years, after an unknown period of time, he suddenly felt the evil thoughts in his heart soar, and it seemed like a tsunami was going to wipe out all his reason.He drew out his wand and waved it vigorously. With a loud crack, the room seemed to be bombed, and it was in a mess.

Owen raised his hand to wipe the dust off his face, grinned and grinned lowly, his opened eyes gleamed with an extremely dangerous light.Fortunately, his rationality was not defeated, his tired brain was still running at high speed, carefully searching for clues in the violent storm of malice.

It seems that nothing has been found, no, there seems to be something.He was indeed affected by an inexplicable influence, no, it should be said, that influence is still continuing, like a feather constantly stirring his mind...

The feeling is everywhere, like the wind, maybe it is the wind, the wind blowing from a distant place... No, it was a slight sound, like the sound of a breeze, when he carefully discerned it , and discerned an inexplicable melody, which was... coming from that direction!
Owen suddenly turned his head to look somewhere above his head, he quickly left the bedroom, picked up a black cloak with a hood and put it on his body to cover his face, and then cast the illusion spell on himself, silently Mantras and breath-masking spells.

Although his mind was messed up, he still clearly understood that he should pretend. He was not sure if the source was found by Voldemort...

Walking out of the office and walking up the empty stairs, he carefully identified the faint voice that seemed to be absent in his mind, and approached in the direction it came from.He made his way up the sixth floor, through empty corridors, and finally stood in front of the statue of Boris the Dumb, a dazed-looking wizard with the gloves on backwards.

Owen looked to a door to the left of the statue, which he knew was the prefect's bathroom.He could hear a strange melody more clearly, like a hollow echo from the end of the world, or like the sound of wind blowing through a small hole.

He pushed open the door of the prefect's bathroom, and walked in the bathroom made of snow-white marble. The luxurious chandelier above his head looked like a blooming crystal flower, and the snow-white linen curtains were blown by the wind.

He passed a row of golden faucets inlaid with jewels by the side of the bathtub, and a boy suddenly came out from the opposite door, still wearing a bathrobe, with a relaxed and lazy expression.

Owen recognized this as a Ravenclaw prefect, and he leaned against the wall in silence, waiting for the boy to pass by him.But in a blink of an eye, the boy's expression became ferocious, looking around with red eyes, like a bull in madness.

"Oh, I forgot it was contagious." Owen stunned the guy expressionlessly, and then added "Forget everything".

He raised his feet calmly and continued to approach the source of the sound, and finally stopped beside a portrait of a blond mermaid, looking up at a delicate and beautiful white flute hanging by the window.The flute is carved with exquisite and weird patterns, which is a beautiful work of art.

Owen closed his eyes slightly, and clearly heard the hollow flute sound from the flute. It seemed that the music played by the wind kept setting off violent waves in his mind.

"Oh, I found you." Owen's voice was hoarse.

He grabbed the flute tightly, and the white flute became unreal in his hands, disappearing in the blink of an eye.At the same time, the wanton churning emotions in his heart suddenly became calm.

Owen withdrew his hand, and after confirming that there was nothing else worth noting around, he left here without looking back, and returned to his office.

(End of this chapter)