Chapter 400: Student Assembly
Chapter 400: Student Assembly
Space modification is no easy task.
The Wardrobe Dimension is built upon the Seamless Expansion Charm, with various other spells overlapping and influencing each other.
Making changes is not as simple as tearing a poster off a wall; it's more like peeling back the wall to extract a specific section of wiring.
Just clearing out the excess clutter took Vold an entire day, but fortunately, the Omnifacient House's storage space accommodated everything.
Vold temporarily set aside a section for magical materials, construction supplies, various minerals, and plants that could still be useful.
For the magical creatures in the space, Vold released those capable of surviving in the wild. However, some remained—
Orphaned young, injured or disabled animals, and those displaced by human activities. Sending them out of the space would be a death sentence.
Influenced by Scamander and Steven, Vold also loved various magical creatures, so he allocated half the space for their survival.
In the other half, Vold planned to establish his private magical research lab and a library, a significant project he intended to complete gradually over time.
For now, his top priority was learning the Invisibility Cloak Charm and the Portkey spell.
However, after returning to school, Vold waited for several days without seeing Dumbledore or any news about the island in the newspapers.
During class breaks, he occasionally overheard students whispering—
"Did you hear about that?" Hufflepuff's Ernie Macmilian said to Hannah Abbott beside him. "I never imagined they'd be so bold."
Hannah frowned, troubled. "My mom wants me to apply to stay at school during Christmas. I think they're overreacting. Is there still danger on the way home?"
"The Silent One has disappeared," said Slytherin's Bryce Zabini, his expression grave. "Only a few wizards can stand against such a creature."
"It won't attack the Hogwarts Express, will it?" Pansy Parkinson said dismissively. "Even... you know... he never attacked the school train."
"The Silent One is a mindless monster. Who knows what it might do," said Theodore Nott, his mood darkening.
Rumors quietly spread throughout the school, primarily among pureblood students. They whispered mysteriously, falling silent whenever half-blood or Muggle-born students approached, as if bloodlines now superseded house rivalries.
On Friday, Vold used his Time Converter to attend an Ancient Runes class followed by a Muggle Studies class.
After class, as he and a weary Hermione gathered their books, preparing to head to the dining hall for lunch, Theo suddenly appeared from around the corner. His eyes lit up when he spotted them.
"Finally found you, Vold, Hermione," Theo said, pulling Vold by the arm. "Come with me; we're just missing the two of you. Besides eating, you two are busy all day, making it tough to find you."
"What?" Vold was puzzled.
He glanced at Hermione, who was equally bewildered.
"What's going on? Can we talk about it after we eat? I'm starving!" Hermione asked.
"We've brought food!" Theo assured her. "This is important; everyone needs to know about it early, especially you two. Besides eating, you're busy all day, making it hard to find you."
As he spoke, he waved his wand, and a red firework shot into the sky, exploding with a loud "bang."
"That's to let everyone know we've found you," Theo explained. "It's to notify everyone to gather."
Hermione became even more perplexed, but seeing Theo's serious expression, a sense of unease crept into her heart.
Vold had a hunch about what was happening and said to Hermione, "Let's go. Theo knows what he's doing. It seems like something important is going on."
Hermione, filled with curiosity, followed the two as they made their way through the castle. They soon encountered a group of Slytherin students coming from the opposite direction.
The group had been engaged in a lively discussion but fell silent upon seeing them, their eyes fixed on Vold and Hermione with peculiar expressions.
This was unusual.
Although the two were known as "Muggle-born" throughout the school, most Slytherin students, aside from a small number, respected Vold.
Hermione, as a top student and a close friend of Harry and Vold, was often caught in conflicts with Malfoy's gang. Still, students from other grades didn't openly display hostility towards her.
Hermione felt a tingling sensation on her scalp, but she bravely glared back.
These Slytherins were lower-year students, and most of them instinctively averted their gaze when faced with the Gryffindor lioness. Some, however, stared at them provocatively.
Theo's expression was unnatural, and he quickened his pace with a stern face.
Vold had always been completely indifferent to these people; he didn't even pay attention to how others looked at him, his mind filled with thoughts of a paper he had read in class about Portkeys.
For Vold, irrelevant people were like potted plants by the roadside, and he simply walked around them without giving them a second thought.
As the two groups passed each other and walked some distance away, Hermione turned back and noticed that several lower-year Slytherins were still staring at their backs.
It was eerie.
For some reason, their gazes made her feel more uncomfortable than Malfoy's provocative insults.
They climbed all the way to the sixth floor, winding their way around until they reached a place they had never been before.
It was an ordinary-looking wooden door with a statue of a proud male wizard beside it. He struck a lecturing pose, his back draped in a large cloak.
"What's this place?" Vold asked.
"The Student Council President's Lounge," Theo answered, knocking three times on the door. It opened, and they saw the room was packed with people, all of whom looked at them.
The room was lavishly decorated, with a chandelier holding twenty to thirty candles that cast a soft, bright glow.
The walls and floor were made of white marble, and several large gilded landscape paintings hung on the walls. The deep blue curtains were currently closed, but if opened, they would undoubtedly offer a view of the distant Black Lake.
Under the gaze of the crowd, Theo quickly led Vold and Hermione inside, and they found that Harry and the others had saved them seats—several cushions on the floor, apparently created by someone's magic.
As for the soft sofas and armchairs, they had already been occupied by some of the upper-year female students who had arrived earlier.
Vold also spotted Ravenclaw's female prefect, Penelope Clearwater, who smiled and waved at him, looking relaxed.
Hermione breathed a sigh of relief.
The students in this room were more like the classmates she was familiar with, unlike the strange Slytherins they had encountered earlier.
As the two sat on the cushions, they immediately noticed that most of the students gathered in the room were Muggle-born or half-blood, with only a very small number of purebloods.
For example, the Weasley siblings.
"What's going on?" Hermione asked Harry quietly.
Harry's face also showed bewilderment. "I don't know either."
Ron leaned in and said, "Percy received a letter from my dad. He didn't tell me the content, but I guess it's related to you two."
He pointed to Vold and Hermione and said, "Fred and George had an argument with him about it, and I overheard him mentioning your names."
Hermione said, "...Mr. Weasley's letter? It mentioned us?"
She turned to look at Vold, as if expecting to find an explanation on his face.
Then she looked at Theo, realizing that he was the real informant.
"I did hear some news, but Percy Weasley definitely knows more," Theo said. "After all, Mr. Weasley is the head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office at the Ministry of Magic."
"Anyway, let's have something to eat first." Michael, on the other side, handed over a plate filled with sandwiches and asked, "Do you want carrot juice?"
"Yes, thank you." Hermione immediately took a sandwich, and Vold did the same.
The food and drinks were distributed, and everyone sat casually, eating a little. After a while, Percy Weasley entered with a long piece of parchment.
"Sorry, everyone, before I explain the seriousness of the matter, I need to confirm if everyone is here."
He divided the parchment into several portions and handed them to the people sitting in front.
Penelope also received a copy. She took the parchment and stood up to confirm the Ravenclaw students.
"Wait." Mandy Brocklehurst spoke softly, "It seems like Lisa hasn't arrived yet?"
"She's a pureblood," Penelope said. "She should have already received the message."
"Oh... oh," Mandy said, looking bewildered.
After a while, the prefects finished checking the list and returned. Percy cleared his throat and said,
"You must be wondering why I've called you all here today.
"Why isn't it the Great Hall, the classroom, or the Quidditch Field, but my Student Council President's lounge!"
As he spoke, Percy straightened his chest slightly, the president's badge on his chest gleaming brightly under the light.
"Because this matter concerns the safety of all of you!"
The crowd naturally became solemn, and some students looked a little afraid.
The change in the pureblood students' attitude did not go unnoticed by the others.
At this moment, Percy saw many students looking up at him, Penelope listening intently, and even Fred and George, usually mischievous, were paying attention. A huge, swelling sense of joy filled Percy's chest.
He had originally hesitated to gather so many students, fearing it might affect his future prospects in the Ministry of Magic, making him seem like a troublemaker.
But when the twins said they weren't afraid of offending others and were willing to take the lead, Percy didn't want to let this opportunity slip away.
This was not only a responsibility but also a chance for glory, a chance to gain the support and favor of many students with Muggle-born backgrounds.
Percy had been torn between the benefits and risks of both sides before stepping forward.
But now, all doubts had vanished, and Percy's face was slightly flushed with excitement.
"Everyone, this morning, I received a letter from my father with shocking news that some of you may have already heard about—"
"Not long ago, the Ministry of Magic raided an island filled with countless sins and skeletons. You, my friends, almost became a part of it..."
Percy Weasley paused for a moment, letting the crowd's impatience show before taking out a stack of folded parchment from his pocket and reading the key points.
The Ministry of Magic had sent many wizards to clean up the island, and it was impossible to keep everyone quiet. Arthur Weasley, on the other hand, received the news much later than most.
As he usually handled Muggle-related affairs, Arthur Weasley had to stay behind to organize the various equipment and documents on the island after most Ministry officials had left, giving him a more detailed understanding of the situation.
He wrote a long letter to Percy, vaguely mentioning his findings on the island and explaining that he would be busy during the Christmas holidays, asking his siblings to stay at school.
Mr. Weasley also reminded Percy to take care of his younger brothers and sisters at school, especially the twins, and to make sure they didn't sneak out. He also asked Percy to remind Harry Potter to be cautious when returning to his Muggle relatives, to avoid any harm.
Naturally, when Percy read the letter, he skipped over his parents' reminders and only shared Mr. Weasley's discovery on the island.
"A Muggle criminal organization committed a heinous act on the island... truly heinous... I can't describe in detail what they did, but I can tell you that as of now, we've found nearly a hundred bodies on the island, and the oldest among them is no more than twenty-five years old..."
"Most of them were Muggles, but young wizards were even more sought after... tortured to the point of being worse than death... they called it an experiment, but in my eyes, it was undoubtedly a crime..."
After Percy, others added what they had heard.
"I heard that an underage wizard transformed into a Silent One and escaped, heading towards Britain," said Penelope. "You know what this means; Hogwarts is still safe, but other places might not be."
Several children in the crowd shuddered, and a thin arm was raised high in the air.
"Sorry," said Colin Creevey, looking bewildered. "I don't know what a Silent One is... a magical creature that can't speak?"
Harry nodded silently.
Colin Creevey had asked what Harry was thinking, but he planned to ask Ron about it privately later.
As the crowd stared at Colin in confusion, he became a bit uneasy and lowered his arm.
Penelope didn't mock him; instead, she patiently explained, "The Silent One is indeed a magical creature, but unlike the Griffin, it is a wizard born from pain and hatred..."
(End of Chapter)
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