Chapter 230 The Disappeared Secret Room

More and more people gathered on the third floor of the castle, and Filch squeezed through the crowd with his shoulder. Then he saw Mrs. Norris, and he stumbled back a few steps, unable to believe his eyes.

Mr. Administrator obviously couldn't accept this sad fact. He grabbed his face with his hands in horror. Filch looked at Harry with his protruding eyes, and saw Ada in the crowd. He regarded Ada and Harry as the murderers of Mrs. Norris.

Ada and Harry, one had threatened him with words more than once, and the other had seen his introductory magic correspondence course, so Filch's suspicion was considered well-founded.

Filch pointed at the two of them with his hands and said: "You! You killed my cat! You killed it! I'm going to kill you! I'm going to..."

The professors quickly arrived at the scene, and Dumbledore also stopped the crazy Filch from jumping on either Ada or Harry.

Dumbledore freed Mrs. Norris from the torch, and asked Filch and Harry to leave with him. Filch was the owner of Mrs. Norris, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione were the first to appear on the scene, and were identified as the murderers by Filch.

Lockhart, who was good at joining in the fun, walked out again and made his presence felt. He said, "My office is closest to here, principal. You can go to my place."

"Thank you, Gilderoy." Dumbledore said as he walked out, but suddenly turned back and said, "Ada, please come with me."

Ada pointed at herself. She didn't know why Dumbledore called her. When she arrived, many people had gathered here.

The silent crowd parted to let them pass. Lockhart was very excited and looked very high-spirited. He hurriedly followed Dumbledore. He seemed to have found new material and the theme of the next book. Professor McGonagall and Snape also followed. , Ada followed Professor McGonagall unhurriedly.

When Ada, who fell last, also disappeared from sight, the silent students were no longer silent, and they began to guess who the heir was. Filch's identification was still very lethal. Both Harry and Ada became subjects of suspicion, but only a few people believed that Ada was the heir.

The reason why these minorities identify Ada is actually because of her orphan status. This status has unlimited possibilities in the eyes of people with big imagination. Who knows what status Ada was before she lived in the orphanage? Maybe it has something to do with that old monkey from Slytherin?

Lockhart's office was a little dark, decorated in the same style as his classroom, and the walls were covered with his photos and portraits.

The three of them, Harry, exchanged glances nervously, sitting in the corner and watching everything in front of them closely. Ada stood next to Professor McGonagall and asked her in a low voice about the Chamber of Secrets.

Dumbledore placed Mrs. Norris on the smooth table and began to examine it carefully. Dumbledore's long, crooked nose almost touched Mrs. Norris's hair. He looked at it carefully through the half-moon glasses, gently poking here and there with his long fingers.

Professor McGonagall also walked over. She bent down and squinted her eyes to look carefully, her face almost touching the cat. Snape stood behind the two of them, half of his body hidden in the shadows, looking eerie. He first looked at Harry, then turned to look at Ada, not knowing the strange expression on his face. What exactly does it represent?

"It must have been killed by a spell - probably the Transformation Torture Curse. I've seen people use this spell many times. It's a pity that I wasn't there at the time. I happened to know the undoing method and could have saved it... ..." Lockhart started a new round of showing off, but his showing off was interrupted by Ada.

"Professor, I happened to read about the Transformation Torture Curse in a book. How about I use it on you and you can break the curse and show me?"

There was disdain in Ada's tone. The atmosphere in the office was a bit solemn, and she had no intention of saying anything, but who told Lockhart to step on his own knowledge while pretending?

Hearing Ada's words, Lockhart fell silent, even more silent than the students outside just now. Filch buried his face in his arms and cried bitterly. Whether Lockhart's words were true or not, his Lady Norris had been viciously attacked.

"Ada, pay attention to the attitude of your words." Professor McGonagall returned to Ada's side. Not only was there no blame in her tone, but she protected Ada with her body.

Her meaning was obvious: I have taught my students a lesson, Lockhart, stay wherever it is cool.

Dumbledore straightened up and said softly: "He's not dead, Argus."

"It's not dead?" Filch choked, looking at Mrs. Norris through his fingers. "Then why is it all over - all stiff, as if it's frozen?"

"It is petrified," said Dumbledore ("Ah! I thought so too!" said Lockhart), "but how exactly, I don't know..."

When he saw Filch turning his mottled, tear-stained face to Harry, Dumbledore said again: "Students cannot do this. This requires extremely advanced dark magic."

But Filch simply didn't believe it, or was unwilling to believe Dumbledore's words. He sputtered out his reasons, including that Harry had seen his quick spell lesson and knew he was a squib; that Ada had just threatened him and his cat, and that something happened to Mrs. Norris within two days. .

Filch burst into tears as he spoke, but these were all his own speculations and untenable. Didn't you see Harry jumping on his feet to refute his words?

Ada did not look at Dumbledore, but said to Professor McGonagall next to her: "Professor, you know me. If I really have plans to do something, the person lying on the table at this moment should be Fairy Tail." Yes, not his poor cat.”

Professor McGonagall was convinced of this.

Not only Professor McGonagall, but everyone in the office except Filch and Lockhart believed what Ada said. She would not take it out on a cat. She could not afford to embarrass this person.

"Argus, students can't do this kind of thing." Dumbledore repeated what he said before, and then comforted Filch a few words, "Don't be too sad, we can cure it soon. Mrs. Norris. Professor Sprout recently obtained some mandrakes. Once they grow to maturity, I will have a potion that will bring Mrs. Norris back to life."

"I'll make it," Lockhart interjected. "I must have made it a hundred times. I can make the Mandrake Resurrection Potion while I'm dreaming—"

The sky has cleared up, the rain has stopped, and Lockhart feels that he is capable again. Can you, Drizzt, still be able to prepare such a potion at your age? Lockhart had a look on his face and looked at Ada, as if to say: Come on, you can do it! It’s all over now!

only……

"Forgive me," Snape said coldly, "I think I am the Potions teacher in this school."

From the moment he entered the office, Snape had been standing in the shadows without saying a word. This made Lockhart ignore Snape's existence and forget that there was such a difficult person in this office.

The office fell into an embarrassing silence. Harry, Ron, and Hermione didn't even dare to breathe, and even Filch's cry was suppressed. Everyone wanted to see what Lockhart's brain structure was like. Why did he provoke Snape for nothing? Was he because he didn't die quickly enough?

"Pfft!"

The silence was broken by a short laugh. Everyone looked towards the source of the sound and saw Ada waving her hands to everyone, indicating that she did not mean it. She said: "Sorry, Professor, I couldn't hold it back, so I accidentally laughed out loud."

Dumbledore looked at Ada helplessly. The principal knew that this matter had nothing to do with Ada. The reason why he called her with him was just to give her a few words to be more careful and not to do the same thing as last year.

This year's attack was not planned by Dumbledore, nor was it a test tailor-made for Harry. If Ada was still like last year, she might lose her life accidentally.

"Okay, you have nothing to do here. You can go back and rest first." Dumbledore looked at Ada and said, "This year is different from last year. I hope you can devote more energy to your studies."

After looking at the cat again, Ada turned and left. Ada walked out of the office. Before the door was secured, Filch started crying again. Mr. Administrator hoped that someone would pay the price.

After Filch, Snape also began to make things difficult for Harry. A series of continuous questioning amplified Harry's suspicion. Who made Harry refuse to tell the truth?

Although the office was very lively, Ada did not stay to eavesdrop. As she walked to the common room, she recited the last words Dumbledore said to herself.

"This year is different from last year" and "Put more energy into learning." These two sentences may not sound special at first, but they are just that the school principal cares about students' learning. But who was Dumbledore? How could he say such inappropriate words on such an occasion? There must be a deeper meaning in it.

Ada recalled the emphasis and pauses in Dumbledore's words, and she immediately understood the meaning of these two sentences. This is Dumbledore sending a message to himself, telling himself that this year is different from last year, and what happens this year has nothing to do with Dumbledore.

Since this year's attack has nothing to do with Dumbledore, Ada has to deal with it carefully to prevent herself from capsizing.

The attack happened so suddenly without any warning. The only clues left for Ada were "secret room" and "heir". If she wanted to complete the task issued by the system, she could only start with these two clues.