#788 - Capture (asking for monthly ticket recommendation)

Even though many spectators from other houses were absent, a large number of supporters still came to cheer for both Gryffindor and Slytherin.

Therefore, Neville and the others quickly found their group after entering the field, spotting Ginny and Luna in the stands from afar.

"Ginny, here!"

Reaching Ginny's side, Ron immediately pulled out two portions of attribute potions from his pocket, treasures he had saved up a long time to exchange for.

Although he and Ginny didn't always get along, Ron was very concerned about his sister at crucial moments.

Of course, this was also due to Percy setting a good example at the beginning, making the tactical club unusually united during this period.

Even Draco, who didn't get along well with Gryffindor, had supported Ron with a portion of attribute potion.

Now, there was no longer any division between houses in the tactical club; even those who used to be at odds with each other regarded each other as true comrades.

"Thanks!" Ginny happily accepted the two potions. "With these, I might be able to meet the requirements to enter [Despair Town] before Christmas! Then we can challenge the dungeon together!"

"That's great!" Hermione was genuinely happy for Ginny, then glanced at Ron. "I'd say your performance will definitely be better than Ron's!"

"You!" Hearing Hermione's taunt, Ron was furious. If Neville hadn't been quick to pull them apart, they might have started a fight right there.

In the end, Ginny also stepped in, pulling Hermione aside to prevent a conflict.

Seeing this, Neville's doubts deepened. In his memory, Hermione and Ron usually liked to tease each other, but they wouldn't really get angry, and Hermione wasn't the type to be aggressively provocative.

Their current reactions were too different from before, even giving Neville a sense of disconnect. A voice in his heart kept reminding him that something was wrong with them.

Neville felt perplexed and couldn't help but look around anxiously. Then, as if finding a savior, his eyes suddenly lit up.

He saw Anduin in another stand in the distance. Knowing his uncle, he didn't seem interested in Quidditch before.

"Uncle once taught me to trust my intuition and not be swayed by wishful thinking," Neville muttered, then stood up firmly and walked towards Anduin.

Ginny, Hermione, and Ron were a little surprised by Neville's actions, but they didn't think much of it. Hermione and Ron continued to glare at each other from time to time.

Neville approached Anduin and greeted him first, "Professor, what brings you to Quidditch today?"

Anduin, seeing Neville approach him, didn't think too much and replied with a smile, "I've been in a good mood lately and wanted to take a walk. Besides, I haven't officially watched Harry's game yet."

He wasn't lying about this. In the past month or so, Anduin's Deathly Hallows experiment had progressed very smoothly. Two of the four rune gaps had been successfully repaired, and the current progress had reached about 70%.

However, doing experiments day and night for a long time had also made him a little mentally strained, so he took the opportunity of the Quidditch match to relax.

At the same time, he also intended to take this opportunity to investigate the impact of the dungeon on Quidditch. Anyway, from the current point of view, his dungeon entertainment was still very competitive.

"I see." Neville said politely, then got to the point. "Professor, there's a rather strange situation that I think I need to report to you."

"Oh?" Anduin glanced at Neville in surprise, then his expression immediately became serious. He knew that Neville wasn't the type to be nosy, and for him to take the initiative to find him, it was probably not groundless.

"It's like this," Neville said, fidgeting with his fingers. "I've noticed that Ron and Hermione's emotions have been a little off lately. Actually, it's not just them, even Harry and I seem to have changed a bit."

"A little off? What aspects are you referring to?" Anduin asked softly, while secretly expanding his senses to observe Neville and the few young wizards in the distance.

"Maybe I'm overthinking it," Neville said hesitantly, scratching his head. "I just feel like everyone's tempers have become a bit irritable, but everyone's dungeon progress has been smooth recently, so this shouldn't be happening."

Listening to Neville's description, a dangerous look appeared in Anduin's eyes.

He could clearly see from his magical perception that a cloud of negative energy was surrounding Neville, and the same was true for Ron, Hermione, and even Luna in the distance.

However, the negative energy on Neville was still relatively weak. In comparison, Ron and Hermione's situations were more serious. Even stranger was Luna, who was surrounded by thick negative energy, making her look even more exaggerated than the other two.

Among these young wizards, the only one who was not affected was Ginny.

It seemed that someone was indeed up to no good!

Anduin narrowed his eyes, the anger hidden within them burning fiercely, and at the same time, he felt a little self-blame.

It was his fault for focusing all his energy on the Deathly Hallows recently, which led him to neglect these children's abnormalities.

But at the same time, Anduin couldn't help but feel strange. He had clearly included these young wizards in his monitoring, and since the beginning of the school year, he had never discovered any strangers contacting them, so where did this negative energy come from?

What made him even more strange was that the negative energy on these young wizards varied in amount, with Luna being the most severely affected.

But perhaps because Luna herself usually looked very strange, or perhaps because of Luna's pure and extreme personality, she was the most normal-looking among them all.

On the contrary, children like Ron and Hermione, whose emotions were more complex, were more easily affected by negative energy.

As for Ginny, the reason why she was not infected with negative energy was probably related to Anduin.

Anduin spoiled his goddaughter to the bone. Not to mention negative energy, ordinary dark magic and curses couldn't get close to her jewelry.

But the problem now was, how did these young wizards get these dirty things?

Could it be that there was a powerful and highly secretive enemy hiding around them?

No, he had set up quite strict defenses in Hogwarts. If someone approached, there was no way there would be no signs.

Like that house-elf, although it behaved very nimbly, it still couldn't escape Anduin's surveillance.

Since it wasn't a person, then it might be an object...

Anduin thought to himself, while solemnly looking at Neville, "Your observation is very careful. Now I need you to answer a few questions for me."

"Ah? Could it be that there really is...?" Neville heard Anduin's implication. The professor had obviously noticed something.

"The specific situation is not convenient for me to tell you now. I can only tell you that their performance is indeed not normal."

In order to avoid alarming the enemy, Anduin didn't explain it very clearly, but just told Neville not to make a sound next, especially not to show any abnormalities in front of others.

"I need to know now, in the past month, who have you, Ron, Hermione, and Luna been walking with more closely, what is your usual life trajectory, and have you come into contact with anything strange?"

"Everyone basically lives a four-point-one-line life of common room, classroom, training ground, and auditorium. We haven't come into contact with anything special, and we haven't been to any special places," Neville replied truthfully.

"As for who I've been walking with more closely..." Neville murmured after careful recollection, "Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I spend most of our time together, and the time is basically fixed."

"And Harry often goes to Wood because of Quidditch training, and I usually accompany him at this time."

"In addition to gathering with us, Hermione and Ron spend most of their time playing with Ginny and Luna."

"As for Luna..." Neville didn't know why Anduin would ask about Luna instead of Ginny, but he still said truthfully, "She is either alone or with Ginny, but I don't know much more."

"Hmm..." Anduin lowered his head and pondered.

The content of Neville's narration was similar to what Anduin learned from the monitoring. Before, he suspected that perhaps some dirty things were hidden on a certain young wizard.

But according to the current situation, if this thing was on Neville, Harry, Ron, or Hermione, the degree to which they were affected by negative energy should be about the same.

But now Luna's situation is the most serious.

Could it be... that the problem lies with Ginny or Luna?

Thinking of this, Anduin suddenly showed a fierce look. Dare to make an idea on his goddaughter, really looking for death!

Just as Anduin was thinking, the Quidditch players had entered the arena one after another, and the game was about to begin.

"Neville, you go back first. Remember what I just told you. Next, you just pretend you don't know anything. If there is a special situation, you can contact me directly with the communicator."

What exactly happened to those young wizards, Anduin needed to observe further, so he decided to act as if nothing had happened and wait and see.

"Uh... okay, I understand." Neville didn't know what Anduin wanted to do, but he subconsciously trusted the professor and believed that he would solve the matter.

Just after Neville returned, the Quidditch match officially began after a whistle.

But at this time, Anduin was not in the mood to watch the game. He used most of his energy to expand his perception to observe the situation of a group of wizards, including Harry.

And the current situation was as he expected, including Harry, Wood, and the twins, the members of the club were more or less infected with negative energy.

It's just that the negative energy on them varies in amount. Harry's situation is similar to Neville's, Wood's is even thinner, on the contrary, the Weasley twins' situation is more serious, but from the current point of view, this negative energy has not caused serious impact on them.

"It seems that the problem lies with the members of the tactical club," Anduin nodded silently.

But just as he was calculating various possibilities, an abnormal situation suddenly appeared on the field.

Somehow, a Bludger in the field suddenly lost control and kept chasing Harry against the norm, obviously being tampered with.

The sudden change caused the audience to exclaim, but Harry on the field was very calm, and the Weasley twins carefully guarded Harry.

"It's that fly again..." Anduin narrowed his eyes irritably. From the magic attached to the Bludger, he recognized that it belonged to the house-elf that had been circling around Harry.

"What is Hogg doing, it hasn't been taken down after so long." Anduin only felt that his good mood for the day was destroyed.

After cursing, Anduin's body gradually faded away and disappeared in the stands.

Since Hogg couldn't handle it, then he would do it himself. Although Anduin had never taken this house-elf to heart, it always disgusted people like a fly from time to time, which made him very upset.

As for Harry on the field?

Anduin didn't think a Bludger would cause much trouble for the warrior he had trained.

After becoming invisible, Anduin followed the magic that controlled the Bludger, and after a while, he found the house-elf in a dark corner on the first floor of the field.

"Are you going to surrender, or are you going to make me do it?" Anduin came behind the other party silently, making a ghostly voice.

"Ah!"

The house-elf was startled by Anduin's sudden appearance, and when it saw that the other party was so close to him, it immediately stopped casting the spell to control the Bludger, and prepared to use Apparition to escape.

"Such a trick is okay to fool Hogg, but you dare to use it in front of me?"

Anduin pointed at the other party expressionlessly, and then the house-elf, which had been half-integrated into the space and whose whole body was half-distorted, suddenly felt that the space around it seemed to be frozen, and it could not continue to Apparate at all.

Then, it felt a huge force hit it heavily, knocking it flying until it hit the wooden pillar next to it.

When it struggled to get up and prepared to observe the current situation, it found that several metal snakes with glittering silver light had crawled in front of it.

After a while, these metal snakes wrapped it tightly, and the magic on its body was sucked clean by these silver snakes as if it was leaking.

Soon, it felt that it had lost all its strength and collapsed helplessly on the ground, and the wizard opposite had been looking at it coldly with an emotionless expression from beginning to end.

And those bottomless pupils made it feel cold all over, and the fear in its heart rushed to its forehead, and then it tilted its head and fainted with a 'ga'.