The Hogwarts Emerald

Chapter 230 The disappeared secret room

More and more people gathered on the third floor of the castle, and Filch shouldered his way through the crowd. Then he saw Mrs. Norris, and he stumbled back a few steps, unable to believe his eyes.

The administrator obviously couldn't accept this sad fact, he grabbed his face with his hands in horror. Filch looked at Harry with his bulging eyes, and saw Ada in the crowd. He regarded Ada and Harry as the murderers of Mrs. Norris.

Ada and Harry, one had threatened him verbally more than once, and the other had seen his introductory correspondence course in magic, so Filch's suspicion was well-founded.

Filch pointed at the two of them and said, "You! You killed my cat! You killed it! I'm going to kill you! I'm going to..."

The professors soon arrived at the scene, and Dumbledore stopped the crazy Filch from pouncing on either Ada or Harry.

Dumbledore untied Mrs. Norris from the torch and asked Filch, Harry and the other two to leave with him. Filch was Mrs. Norris's master, while Harry, Ron and Hermione were the first to appear at the scene and were identified as the murderer by Filch.

Lockhart, who was good at joining in the fun, came out again and made his presence known. He said, "My office is the closest to here, Principal. You can go to my place."

"Thank you, Gilderoy." Dumbledore said as he walked out, but suddenly turned back and said, "Ada, come with me."

Ada pointed at herself. She had no idea why Dumbledore called her. When she arrived here, many people had already gathered there.

The silent crowd parted to let them pass. Lockhart was very excited and followed Dumbledore in a hurry. He seemed to have found new material and the theme of the next book. Professor McGonagall and Snape also followed, and Ada followed Professor McGonagall slowly.

When Ada, who was the last one to fall, also disappeared from sight, the silent students were no longer silent, and they began to speculate who the heir was. Filch's identification was still very lethal, and both Harry and Ada became objects of suspicion, but only a small number of people believed that Ada was the heir.

The reason why these minorities identified Ada was because of her orphan status. This status has infinite possibilities in the eyes of people with big imaginations. Who knows what Ada's status was before she was stranded in the orphanage? Maybe it was related to that old monkey in Slytherin?
Lockhart's office was a little dim, and its decoration style was exactly the same as his classroom, with his photos and portraits covering the walls.

Harry and the other two exchanged glances nervously, sitting in the corner and watching everything closely. Ada stood beside Professor McGonagall and asked her quietly about the Chamber of Secrets.

Dumbledore placed Mrs. Norris on the polished table and began to examine her carefully. Dumbledore's long crooked nose almost touched Mrs. Norris's hair. He looked at it carefully through the half-moon lenses of his glasses, and his slender fingers gently poked here and there.

Professor McGonagall also walked over, bending over, squinting her eyes and looking carefully, her face almost touching the cat. Snape stood behind the two of them, half of his body hidden in the shadows, looking eerie. He first looked at Harry, then turned his head to look at Ada. No one knew what the strange expression on his face meant.

"It must have been killed by a spell - most likely a Transfiguration Curse. I've seen this spell used many times. It's a pity I wasn't there at the time. I happened to know the antidote and could have saved it..." Lockhart started a new round of showing off, but his showing off was interrupted by Ada.

"Professor, I just happened to read about the Transfiguration Torture Curse in a book. How about I use it on you and you show me how to break the curse?"

Ada's tone was full of disdain. The atmosphere in the office was a little heavy. She had not intended to say anything, but who could blame Lockhart for stepping on her knowledge point when he was pretending?

Hearing Ada's words, Lockhart fell silent, even more silent than the students outside just now. Filch buried his face in his arms and cried bitterly. Regardless of whether Lockhart's words were true or not, his Mrs. Norris had been viciously attacked.

"Ada, watch your attitude when you speak." Professor McGonagall returned to Ada's side. There was no blame in her tone. Instead, she used her body to protect Ada.

Her meaning was clear: I have already taught my student a lesson, and you, Lockhart, can go wherever you want.

Dumbledore straightened up and said quietly, "He is not dead, Argus."

"Not dead?" choked Filch, peering at Mrs. Norris through his fingers. "Then why is it so stiff, like it's frozen?"

"It is petrified," said Dumbledore ("Ah! I thought so too!" said Lockhart), "but exactly how, I do not know...."

When Filch turned his tear-stained face to Harry, Dumbledore said, "Students can't do this. It requires extremely advanced dark magic." But Filch didn't believe it at all, or was unwilling to believe it. He spoke his reasons, saying that Harry saw his fast spell lessons and knew that he was a Squib; that Ada had just threatened him and his cat, and within two days, Mrs. Norris had an accident.

Filch was crying and complaining, but these were just his own guesses and they were untenable. Didn't you see Harry jumping up and down to refute him?

Ada did not look at Dumbledore, but said to Professor McGonagall beside her: "Professor, you know me. If I really intended to take action, it should be Filch lying on the table now, not his poor cat."

Professor McGonagall was convinced of this.

Not only Professor McGonagall, but everyone in the office except Filch and Lockhart believed what Ada said. She would not take her anger out on a cat. She could not afford to lose face.

"Argus, students can't do such things." Dumbledore repeated his previous words, and then comforted Filch a few more words, "Don't be too sad, we will be able to cure Mrs. Norris soon. Professor Sprout recently got some mandrakes. Once they grow up and mature, I will have a medicine that can bring Mrs. Norris back to life."

"I'll make it," Lockhart put in. "I must have made it a hundred times. I can make a mandrake resurrection potion in my dreams -"

The sky cleared up, the rain stopped, and Lockhart felt that he was able to do it again. Could you, Drizzt, still make this kind of potion at this age? Lockhart looked at Ada with a smug look on his face, as if to say: Come on, tell me you can do it too! There is nothing we can do now!
only……

"Excuse me," said Snape coldly, "but I thought I was the Potions master at this school."

Since entering the office, Snape has been standing in the shadows and has not said a word, which made Lockhart ignore Snape's existence and forget that there is such a difficult person in this office.

The office fell into an awkward silence. Harry, Ron, and Hermione didn't even dare to breathe. Even Filch's crying was suppressed. Everyone wanted to see what Lockhart's brain structure was like. Why did he provoke Snape for no reason? Did he think he didn't die quickly enough?
"Pfft!"

The silence was broken by a short laugh. Everyone looked towards the source of the sound. Ada waved her hands to indicate that she didn't mean it. She said, "Sorry, Professor, I just couldn't help laughing."

Dumbledore looked at Ada helplessly. The headmaster knew that this matter had nothing to do with Ada. The reason why he called her along was just to give her a few words of advice, asking her to be careful and not do the same thing as last year.

This year's attack was not arranged by Dumbledore, nor was it a test tailored for Harry. If Ada were the same as last year, she might lose her life if she was not careful.

"Well, there's nothing for you to do here. Go back and have a rest." Dumbledore looked at Ada and said, "This year is different from last year. I hope you can devote more energy to studying."

After taking another look at the cat, Ada turned and left. Before Ada could close the door, Filch started crying again. The administrator hoped that someone would pay the price.

After Filch, Snape also started to make things difficult for Harry. His continuous questioning magnified the suspicion on Harry. Who made Harry refuse to tell the truth?

Although the office was very lively, Ada did not stay to eavesdrop. As she walked towards the common room, she kept repeating Dumbledore's last words to her.

"This year is different from last year" and "Put more energy into learning" don't sound special at first. They are just the principal's concern for students' learning. But who is Dumbledore? Why would he say such inappropriate words in such an occasion? There must be a deeper meaning behind it.

Ada recalled the emphasis and pauses when Dumbledore spoke, and she immediately figured out the meaning of these two sentences. This was Dumbledore conveying a message to herself, telling herself that this year was different from last year, and what happened this year had nothing to do with Dumbledore.

Since this year's attack had nothing to do with Dumbledore, Ada had to be careful to avoid getting into trouble.

The attack came so suddenly, without any warning, and the only two clues left for Ada were "Secret Room" and "Heir". If she wanted to complete the task issued by the system, she could only start with these two clues.

(End of this chapter)