Chapter 174: Dare You Take It On?
Chapter 174: Dare You Take It On?
The professors searched the castle all night, opening every door and checking every secret passage, almost turning Hogwarts upside down, but even as dawn broke, they still hadn't found any trace of the troll.
Qilo became the target of everyone's blame.
Facing the questioning gazes of the professors, Qilo cowered in the corner, sobbing, "I might have... seen it wrong.
You know... it was really dark in the dungeon classroom... it might have been armor... or a statue or something..."
"There's no such thing in the dungeon classroom!" Snape said grimly, his face darkening. "And I think it's impossible for any normal person to mistake armor for a troll."
"But... but... I don't... don't..." Qilo stammered, unable to speak.
He genuinely didn't know what had happened. He had personally released that troll, but how did it suddenly disappear without a trace? A troll over ten feet tall had vanished into thin air, and there wasn't even a sound... Had Hogwarts become this dangerous?
"Maybe you've had too much on your mind lately, and it's not impossible that you had a hallucination," Snape said in a sinister tone. "I suggest you drink some potion. How about tomorrow? I'll personally deliver it to you, and I guarantee it'll make you feel a hundred times more energetic."
"No... Severus... no need..." Qilo shook his head repeatedly. "I have potions... no trouble... for you."
He dared not drink the potion Snape offered; who knew if it contained a truth serum or something similar.
"It's fine, just a stimulant potion, no trouble at all," Snape said, showing no intention of letting Qilo off the hook.
It was as if he enjoyed being helpful.
"Really... no need..." Qilo said, looking at Snape's gloomy face and breaking into a cold sweat, fearing that Snape would force him to drink the potion.
Fortunately, at this moment, Professor Flitwick suddenly spoke up, "Minerva, what should we do now?"
Qilo felt as if he had been pardoned and immediately retreated to the back of the crowd.
Professor McGonagall glanced at him with displeasure before saying, "Inform the Headmaster and gather the students in the Great Hall. This farce should come to an end."
...
Before long, the students arrived in the Great Hall, led by their Heads of Houses.
The professors were already waiting there, except for Snape.
He had been bitten by Norville the previous night and had only managed to wander around the castle for the evening with the help of a little White Fresh Essence. Now, he had returned to his office.
In the Great Hall, Professor McGonagall stood at the front, informing everyone that the troll was no longer in the castle.
The crisis was over.
The young witches and wizards immediately cheered.
"I told you so... there was never a troll," Ron exclaimed excitedly from the Gryffindor table. "To be honest, I encounter at least two such hoaxes every week, and you still didn't believe me!"
However, everyone was busy celebrating, and no one paid attention to what he said.
Only Harry patted his shoulder and smiled, saying, "I owe you an apology, mate."
Hermione also heard this, but instead of revealing the truth to the two of them, she stood on her tiptoes, straining to look towards the Hufflepuff table.
There, Kyle was clapping along with the others, showing no signs of anything unusual.
"Is this person really the youngest recipient of the Special Contribution to the School Award?" Hermione once again fell into self-doubt.
Kyle naturally didn't know what Hermione was thinking, and even if he did, he wouldn't have cared.
As long as Hermione can keep it a secret, that's fine.
For the next period of time, Kyle would set aside time each day to enter the chest and attempt to tame the troll.
Although the troll was stupid and clumsy, and couldn't use magic, its combat abilities were quite impressive. With its thick skin and brute strength, it would make an excellent meat shield in the front lines.
And there were advantages to being stupid; it meant the troll didn't have many thoughts, making it easy to command.
For Kyle, this task wasn't particularly challenging.
Each time he came, whenever the troll showed any signs of aggression, he would beat it without hesitation.
Kyle was careful with his strikes, not too heavy, but enough to make the troll feel pain. Then, before leaving, he would give it some food.
Using the carrot and stick method, the troll quickly became obedient, and the next time it saw Kyle, it no longer showed any aggression, only a silly smile.
……
It was unknown who spread the word, but within a few days, everyone knew that Professor Qilo had mistakenly taken the shadow of an unknown creature for a troll, creating the hilarious incident at the Halloween Feast.
This made Professor Qilo, who was already disliked, an even bigger joke among the students.
It was the first time they had seen a professor with such a small heart, and they wondered how he dared to be a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.
Fred and George even started a betting pool, guessing when Professor Qilo would leave Hogwarts and what his ultimate fate would be.
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Originally, they just wanted to have some fun, but they didn't expect so many people to participate. The young wizards seemed more than willing to spend a few Knuts or Sickles to entertain themselves.
After a few days, the money they collected added up to nearly a dozen Galleons.
This unexpected success quickly went to the twins' heads, and during a meal, they excitedly told Kyle,
"This is much faster than selling things!"
Fred patted his jingle-packed money pouch, "It's like picking up money."
Kyle raised his head and asked, "How many people are participating now?"
"Currently, there are one hundred and twenty-nine people," George blurted out, "from all four houses."
"So many..." Cedric said in disbelief.
He had thought it would be just twenty or thirty people at most.
"Professor Qilo is quite popular right now..." Fred said, "Any topic related to him always draws attention."
"What about you two? Do you want to join in?" Fred asked, shaking his money pouch.
Cedric and Conna shook their heads simultaneously, uninterested in such matters.
However, Kyle rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"Sounds interesting," he asked, "What are the rules?"
"It's simple..." Fred smiled even wider, seeing Kyle's interest.
"Two choices: when Professor Qilo will leave Hogwarts and what his final fate will be. If you guess correctly, we'll return double the funds."
"How about that? Isn't that generous?"
Kyle nodded.
"So, which one do you want to guess?"
"I'll guess both," Kyle said, taking out a Galleon and slapping it on the table.
"There are twenty Galleons here. Are you up for it?"
(End of Chapter)
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