Chapter 673: The Secret Passage in the Office
Chapter 673: The Secret Passage in the Office
Ivan gripped his wand and walked down a corridor to the door of the Defense Against the Dark Arts office. He hesitated, unsure whether to barge in and grab his target or wait by the door for Mad-Eye Moody to come out before launching his attack.
Ivan, confident in his superior abilities, believed that Mad-Eye Moody and Barty Jr. were no match for him, but he wasn't about to be careless. Waiting outside was clearly the safer option.
However, to his surprise, Mad-Eye Moody seemed to be stuck inside the office, showing no signs of coming out anytime soon.
Ivan waited for over ten minutes, his patience wearing thin in the cold wind.
With no choice, Ivan turned his attention back to the Marauder's Map. This time, he wasn't checking if Mad-Eye Moody had left; instead, he was trying to locate Dumbledore and Hermione.
According to their previous agreement, they should have arrived by now.
But to Ivan's surprise, Dumbledore and Hermione's names had mysteriously vanished from the Marauder's Map.
Ivan's brow furrowed. This situation was completely unexpected. Over the past four years, he had relied on the Marauder's Map to resolve many issues, but today it had completely failed him.
"Could they have gone in already?" Ivan muttered to himself, suspecting that Dumbledore might have taken Hermione to catch the target.
After waiting for another ten minutes, Ivan, shivering in the cold, finally made up his mind to enter Mad-Eye Moody's office.
"Protego~" Ivan first cast a Protego spell on himself for protection, then pointed his wand at the door lock and cast another spell.
"Alohomora~"
With a soft click, the locked office door swung open.
Ivan pushed the door and stepped inside. The room was pitch black, and he could barely see his hand in front of his face. He cast a spell to light the fireplace, and the warm, orange glow illuminated the surroundings.
The room's layout was the same as the last time he visited, just as cluttered with papers and peculiar magical items scattered haphazardly on the wooden table.
In the mirror opposite him, several shadowy figures were faintly visible, which seemed quite eerie.
Ivan took a few steps closer to examine them, but the monster skull hanging on the wall suddenly emitted a buzzing sound.
"Diffindo~"
Almost instantly, Ivan cast a spell, shattering the skull into pieces.
Looking at the fragments on the ground, Ivan felt no joy. He didn't know how the magical item had detected him—whether it was by sound or something else—and whether Mad-Eye Moody was aware of his presence.
"Whatever, we were bound to face off sooner or later…" Ivan sighed, not dwelling on it for long. He had known that Mad-Eye Moody had installed warning devices in his office and hadn't expected to sneak in unnoticed. It would come down to a direct confrontation.
With that in mind, Ivan no longer moved as cautiously as before. His gaze fell on the seven large chests stacked in the corner.
He strode over and used a spell to break the locks on the chests. He kicked the first one open, and a pile of spellbooks and a few broken mirrors spilled out.
He quickly moved on to the next six chests, each containing various items and a few noticeable dark magic objects.
Ivan's movements grew more cautious, but his speed didn't slow. He soon opened the last chest.
To his disappointment, there was no secret passage inside. The chest contained only a few stacks of newspapers and a pile of student assignments.
"That's strange, where could it be?" Ivan muttered to himself, stroking his chin. His gaze swept around the office, examining every corner.
If Mad-Eye Moody could vanish from this office, there must be another enclosed space somewhere.
Could there be a passage in the fireplace? Or did Mad-Eye Moody use Floo Powder to transport himself away?
Ivan glanced at the fireplace, finding it unlikely.
A hidden passage behind the walls?
That seemed difficult too. After all, this is Hogwarts, a castle imbued with magic. Renovations are not so easily done.
Ivan's eyes roamed around the office, passing over the mirror and the small cabinet, and then they fixed on the redwood table in the center of the room. His gaze lingered there.
The table was peculiar, square and flat with no legs, making it look more like a large box.
Most importantly, he had visited several Professors' offices and had never seen a desk like this. It was likely that Mad-Eye Moody had brought it in himself.
Ivan walked up to the redwood table and lightly tapped on it. A clear, resonant sound echoed, and a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. This confirmed that the table was hollow inside.
To avoid damaging any Apparition wards inside and potentially causing Mad-Eye Moody's death, Ivan didn't dare to use a spell to destroy the table. Instead, he carefully examined the desk to find a way to open it.
For Ivan, who was nearly at the seventh level of Alchemy, this was no challenge. Within less than a minute, he found the activation mechanism—a golden antenna sensor on one of the table's corners.
After a bit of manipulation, the golden antenna retracted, and the wooden desk began to vibrate. A gap appeared on either side, and the front panel quickly sank into the base, revealing an open passage.
The passage looked like a door, leading to a dark and narrow corridor.
As soon as it opened, a strong, foul odor wafted out.
Ivan instinctively covered his nose and took a few steps back, almost thinking it was some kind of dark magic. Then he remembered that the first time he entered Mad-Eye Moody's office, he had detected a similar smell.
Mad-Eye Moody and Barty Crouch Jr. had no reason to commit suicide...
Realizing this, Ivan lowered his hand and took a closer whiff. The smell was a mix of feces, rotten food, and fermentation.
Considering the food Moody sent in daily and the poor ventilation in the wooden box, Ivan understood how the smell had accumulated.
Barty Crouch Jr. must have been quite ruthless to himself to successfully evade the Marauder's Map!
Ivan sneered and cast a Bubble-Head Charm on himself to avoid the foul odor, then began descending the stairs in the passage.
Torchlights flickered to life on the walls, illuminating the path ahead.
What surprised Ivan was the numerous copies of the Daily Prophet plastered on the walls. At first glance, the prominent headlines featured familiar faces—news articles about him and Harry!
Ivan didn't have time to read them, as his gaze fixed on the room at the end of the passage. There, standing with his back to him and staring at a large mirror, was Mad-Eye Moody. He seemed lost in thought and hadn't noticed Ivan's entrance.
However, as Ivan approached, he saw that the mirror reflected the scene in the office above. Clearly, Moody had already detected his presence the moment he entered.
(End of Chapter)
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