The Hogwarts Emerald

Chapter 300 Confusing Blake
Although Ada's influence was not enough to appease everyone, it could calm everyone down temporarily and prevent the matter from escalating again and making everyone more uneasy.

Gryffindor students were watching over each other to prevent anyone from getting lost or being attacked. The older students were also comforting those around them, as they had experienced more and were better able to keep themselves calm.

Fortunately, Dumbledore arrived quickly, followed by Professor McGonagall, Snape and Lupin.

Without waiting for Dumbledore to speak, the students spontaneously made way for the professors to pass. Dumbledore quickly glanced at the destroyed portrait, turned around, and looked serious.

"We need to find her," said Dumbledore. "Professor McGonagall, please go to Mr. Filch immediately and ask him to search every picture in the castle for the Fat Lady."

"Good luck!" a voice chuckled.

It was Peeves, the mischievous prankster, who was dancing about on everyone's heads, and who was as delighted as ever at this scene of misfortune and distress.

"What did you say, Peeves?" Dumbledore asked calmly. The smile on Peeves' face faded a little. He didn't dare to laugh at Dumbledore.

Ada was not as magnanimous as the principal. She said threateningly, "If you know where she is, you'd better tell me quickly!"

"The annoying Drizzt! The ugly Drizzt!" Peeves is not afraid of Ada. Peeves is not a ghost, to be precise, he was born with the school.

Successive school administrators have tried to kick Peeves, the mischievous prankster, out of the school, but have never succeeded.

In 1876, the school made one last attempt. The administrator at the time designed an ingenious trap, but instead of driving away Peeves, he angered him.

Peeves, in a rage, rampaged through Hogwarts with several cutlasses, crossbows, a blunderbuss, and a small cannon, firing at random for his own amusement. The castle had to be evacuated for three days until Peeves calmed down.

Finally, the then headmaster signed an agreement with Peeves, and he surrendered his weapon and stopped shooting students. Peeves had done much more outrageous things than Ada, so how could he be afraid of Ada?

Apart from the Bloody Baron, Dumbledore is the only one who can scare Peeves.

Peeves changed his tone to a flattering one, and said to Dumbledore attentively: "She is shy, Headmaster. She doesn't want to be seen. She is in a terrible state. I saw her running past the landscape painting on the fifth floor, sir, and hiding in the bushes. She was crying so hard."

"Did she say who did it?" asked Dumbledore quietly.

"Oh, yes, Professor Head," said Peeves, though he looked rather gleeful.

Peeves turned over suddenly and grinned at Dumbledore from between his legs. He went on: "He tried to go in, but she wouldn't let him, and he got angry, and then he became what you see."

These words were a bit confusing, and Peeves said them this way on purpose, but everyone still understood the meaning.

"Sirius Black!"

I don't know which student said it first, but the name was repeated by other students. Now everyone thought that the person who tried to break into the lounge was the fugitive Sirius Black.

"Yes, yes, that's him!" said Peeves in mock fear. "His eyes and soul are as dark as his name - Black!"

Peeves confirmed everyone's guess, and Black's name instantly made the castle on Halloween cold. How could the students not be afraid when such a murderer appeared in the school?

Professor Dumbledore led all Gryffindor students back to the Great Hall. Black was still wandering around the school, and the Gryffindor common room was no longer safe.

Ten minutes later, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin students also returned to the Great Hall, each of them with a confused look on their faces. "The teachers and I need to conduct a comprehensive search of the castle." Dumbledore announced loudly, "For your own safety, I'm afraid you will have to spend the night here. I want the prefects to guard the entrance to the Great Hall, and I will entrust the head boy and girl student union to manage it. If there is anything, report to me immediately."

At this time, Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick closed all the doors of the hall, and Dumbledore left the hall after conjuring hundreds of sleeping bags.

There was an immediate buzz of discussion in the hall, as the Gryffindor students told students from other houses what had just happened.

Ada did not stay in the hall like the other prefects, she followed them out. Seeing Ada coming out, Dumbledore thought for half a minute and said, "Be careful, Black is not an ordinary wizard."

The principal's reminder seemed a bit redundant. Ada would be careful when facing a wizard who blew up an entire street with a spell, no matter how confident she was. Confidence is not arrogance.

The professors scattered and searched every corner of the castle. Professor McGonagall wanted Ada to follow her, but Ada had already run away. It was better not to let Professor McGonagall know where she was going to search, because she was afraid that her dear professor's blood pressure would soar.

Although Ada always said that Hogwarts was the safest place, only a fool would believe it, but Hogwarts had a lot of protective magic. Hogwarts not only had walls and the Black Lake, but also anti-Apparition spells and various magic circles to protect the school.

Now, there is still a large group of Dementors floating outside the school. In this case, unless Black has some unknown means, it is impossible for him to appear in the school out of thin air.

What Ada is going to search for now is the loophole that might be exploited by Black - the secret passage of Hogwarts.

The Marauders knew about these secret passages and drew them on the Marauder's Map; Ada and the twins knew about these secret passages and used them frequently; even Filch knew a few of them.

It is not impossible that Sirius Black knows several secret passages, and he may even know some secret passages that Ada is not aware of.

Ada searched all the secret passages in the castle that she knew about, but found nothing. She also met Snape and Filch who were also searching for secret passages, but they also found nothing like Ada.

However, Ada did discover something interesting, which was Snape's unusualness.

Since Harry entered school in 1991, Snape's expression has become "colorful", but this expression is only for Harry, and other people can't see it at all. Even if others see it, they can't tell what Snape's expression means.

That is to say, it was only through constant contact with Snape that Ada was able to discover his differences.

At this year's opening banquet, Ada discovered that there was another person who made Snape's expression more vivid, that was Remus Lupin. Unlike his previous contempt for Quirrell, which was so obvious that even a blind person could see it, Snape's expression this time was very obscure, disgusted, hateful, and seemed to be mixed with a hint of sympathy?
For a moment, Ada thought that she was old and her eyes were blurry and she must have seen it wrong.

Tonight in Gryffindor Tower, Ada found Snape trying his best to suppress his anger. This state of Snape was something Ada had never seen before, not even the cross-dressing man could make him so angry.

The Potions Professor couldn't be so angry because of the Fat Lady, right? It seems that there is a story between Snape and Black!

At about three o'clock in the morning, the professors' search came to an end, but they did not find any trace of Black in the school. Sirius Black was like a ghost, suddenly appearing in the school and suddenly disappearing.

Ada returned to the hall and patrolled the hall with other prefects. However, Ada's mind was not on patrolling, and she didn't care even if someone was awake and secretly talking about Blake.

The mysterious behavior of the fugitives from Azkaban caused Ada a lot of confusion.

Why did Blake choose today to do it? Was it because he knew that today was Halloween and there were no students in the lounge? Or was it because he lost track of time and didn't know that today was Halloween?

Ada tried to think from another perspective, trying to think from Sirius Black's perspective and resolve the doubts in her heart.

(End of this chapter)