Chapter 97: The Vanishing Cabinet [Corrected Version]
Chapter 97: The Vanishing Cabinet [Corrected Version]
It took Fred an entire day to recover and organize his memories. When he finally stepped out of the Room of Requirement, darkness had already enveloped the castle.
Although both the Room of Requirement and the Ravenclaw common room were located on the upper floors, they were in different towers—the former in the main tower and the latter at the top of the Ravenclaw tower. It was quite a distance between them. Ordinarily, Fred would have summoned his broomstick and flown there, but today, he walked slowly along the corridor, organizing his thoughts and planning his next steps.
His footsteps echoed hollowly in the long corridor. Suddenly, a voice broke the silence.
"Haha... Surprise!"
Peeves the Poltergeist appeared out of thin air, hurling several pitch-black balls of water at Fred. Fred quickly drew his wand and pointed it at the water, causing it to retract and splatter all over Peeves' face.
"Ptooie, ptooie, ptooie, ptooie!"
Peeves flew away, spitting out the ink in his mouth and cursing under his breath, leaving the corridor splattered with black ink.
Fred was already adept at using the Scouring Charm. With a few waves of his wand, he made the ink disappear, restoring the corridor to its pristine state.
"Nice Silencing Charm!" came a voice, accompanied by a round of applause.
Fred turned his head and saw Gryffindor. "Griffiths?"
The red-haired wizard had once again intruded into someone else's portrait, standing there with his hands behind his back and a smile on his face.
Fred thought of the sudden appearance of Peeves and asked, "Did you put Peeves up to that?"
"Yeah, I did!" Griffiths admitted candidly. "You looked like you were caught by some time-related monster, with a deep and scary expression on your face. So, I asked Peeves to say hello and cheer you up. How do you feel now? Better?"
Fred didn't know what expression he had on his face before, but he rubbed his face and said helplessly, "Well, thank you for that."
"You're welcome, it's my pleasure to help students," Griffiths said with a beaming smile. He then asked, "What were you thinking about just now?"
Fred didn't want to discuss the topic further, so he asked, "Have you improved your relationship with the portraits in the entrance hall lately? They haven't come to me with any complaints in a long time."
"Er... well... of course, our relationship has improved..." Griffiths stammered.
Fred paused and frowned. "You didn't..."
"Haha, two Hufflepuff students just asked me to tell them some stories from the past! I have to go, let's talk again next time!" Griffiths raised his voice as if feeling guilty, then quickly left the portrait, disappearing who-knows-where.
Fred shook his head.
During this period, the chatterbox Griffiths had become known to more and more students. He loved chatting with people and would sometimes pop out of a portrait and shout, scaring students into falling into the staircase trap. He would then laugh uproariously, earning himself the title of the "Poltergeist among Portraits."
However, while students disliked Peeves, they didn't feel the same about Griffiths. Aside from the occasional harmless prank, he would tell stories—true or not, no one could tell—and comfort students who were feeling down, doing his best to make them laugh.
Fred often saw four or five students gathered around Griffiths' portrait, chatting with him. With his free time mostly occupied by students, even Griffiths' antics with other portraits had lessened—or so Fred thought.
However, judging from his guilty expression earlier, it seemed like there was more to the story.
Back in the dormitory, Vedius took out his wizarding journal and first made a call to his father. After a while, he switched to another page in the journal.
[Vedius: Remus?]
Soon, Remus Lupin's reply appeared on the page:
[Lupin: I'm here.]
[Vedius: I have a favor to ask of you. Tomorrow morning, please go to Gringotts with my father and withdraw some money. Then, go to Borgin and Burkes in Knockturn Alley and buy the Vanishing Cabinet in the shop.]
[Lupin: Alright.]
Lupin readily agreed. After a while, he wrote again:
[Lupin: But as far as I know, there's only one Vanishing Cabinet at Borgin and Burkes, and the other one is missing. If the other cabinet is damaged or located in a place that humans cannot normally access—for example, at the bottom of the sea or buried deep underground—then such a cabinet would be useless and even pose a great danger to the user.]
[Vedius: I know—but there's also a Vanishing Cabinet in Hogwarts Castle.]
[Vedius: It's worth a try, right?]
[Lupin: I understand. But promise me you won't try it yourself. We can experiment with a rabbit or something first.]
[Vedius: Of course, I won't be reckless.]
Putting away the wizarding journal, Vedius felt a sense of anticipation.
The fact that enemies could appear within their secure fortress at any time made him feel utterly unsafe. However, if he could leave the castle whenever he wanted, that would be wonderful, and he would be able to do so much more.
Vedius's mind was filled with countless thoughts and the various changes in the plot—the Chamber of Secrets and the Basilisk, Peter Pettigrew hiding in Gryffindor Tower, the Quidditch World Cup and the Triwizard Tournament, the escaped Barty Crouch Jr., Voldemort's resurrection, and the incompetent Ministry of Magic...
There were also Voldemort's Horcruxes hidden in various places... and the few ways to destroy them—
The Sword of Gryffindor.
Basilisk fangs.
And Fiendfyre.
He still needed to learn how to cast Fiendfyre... Thinking of Grindelwald burning half of Paris and Dumbledore summoning a sea of flames with his wand, as if a fire god had descended...
If he had that kind of power, would he still need to be so cautious?
Vedius wrote down his thoughts on the paper. After looking at them for a while, he crumpled the paper and held it close to the candle, watching it burn to ashes.
The flickering firelight reflected in his pupils, and deep within his eyes, there seemed to be another scene—Hogwarts was overwhelmed by Death Eaters, with giants and Acromantulas running amok, and bodies lying haphazardly on the cold ground.
In the midst of war, life was fragile.
There were also things that had not been depicted in the plot—after Dumbledore's death, Hogwarts and the Ministry of Magic were almost entirely taken over by Voldemort's followers, forcing the golden trio to flee and go into hiding... During that short yet endless year, how many non-pureblood wizards were persecuted?
What about Muggles and Squibs, who were never given any importance? Were they spared because of their weakness, or were they killed and reduced to mere cold statistics in the newspaper because of it?
Ferdinand and Fiona's smiling faces suddenly flashed through Vedius's mind, followed by two other faces that had become blurred in his memory, sad yet trying to smile bravely.
He covered his eyes with his palm and sighed tiredly.
Revised the chapter content again.
(End of Chapter)
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