The Evil Thoughts of Hogwarts and the Genie

Chapter 103 Where's my magic lamp?!

Edmund was unaware that an old friend had crawled out from underground to catch up with him. He led Pollyanna through the manor, with the silent maid following behind.

"This...this really isn't necessary." Pollyanna felt awkward and her whole body went numb; she frowned.

"If you think I'm dressed in a really embarrassing way, just lend me a piece of jewelry. I can't repay your favor."

Edmund chuckled upon hearing this. He turned to look at the little witch and, seeing that she was indeed troubled, had no choice but to offer a few words of explanation.

"Just consider it a favor, help me fill the gap from only sending out one Christmas present, okay?" Edmund scoffed. "I don't need you to repay me. It's just a trinket, what's it worth?"

Seeing that Pollyanna still had her eyes downcast and looked rather unwilling, Edmund shook his head helplessly.

The group had turned into a corridor in the inner hall on the third floor. This was considered the inner quarters, and the other servants had gone downstairs for tonight's banquet.

"Do you really not want it, or do you think it won't end up in your pocket?" He narrowed his eyes. "Your aunt and uncle are even more stingy than I thought. And who do you take after to be so shrewd? Your father?"

Pollyanna froze, clearly not expecting him to bring this up at this moment, her eyes wide and her expression blank; Edmund seized the opportunity and immediately began chanting the spell:

He collapsed to the ground, completely unconscious!

A beam of blue light pierced Pollyanna's chest. The impact was so sudden that the little witch stumbled forward, but Edmund caught her. He then cast another spell on the still-unresponsive maid: "Out of Body!"

The maid also fell victim to the trick. Edmund chuckled, finding many of old Soman's ideas utterly ridiculous—aside from the head maid and the butler, the other servants at Soman Manor could be described as having "weak magical abilities." The old man's many "surveillance" attempts were largely successful because he was unwilling to hurt anyone in front of his mother, which was truly laughable.

Edmund used the batteries' magic to manipulate the maid into carrying Pollyanna. He didn't go to Elena's dressing room.

They went straight to the master bedroom belonging to old Mr. Soman. Unsurprisingly, the door was locked.

A strange voice rang out from behind the keyhole: "Password, password one—"

Edmund shrugged. "Any hints?"

Two silver tentacles shot out from the keyhole and instantly tightened around Edmund's neck, constricting it tighter and tighter. [He will surely suffer sevenfold retribution.]

With a muffled thud, the lock on the door was blown open. The metal tentacles wrapped around Edmund's neck emitted puffs of white smoke and rusted and weathered away at an incredible speed, disappearing completely.

Edmund coughed twice and rolled his eyes. He used a similar method to deactivate the other two mechanisms before finally using "Quick Healing" on himself.

Edmund manipulated the maid to help Pollyanna up. He chanted the spell again, barely altering the little witch's last memory, and then awakened her.

Pollyanna was momentarily dazed. She felt the world spinning around her, took two steps back, and stepped on the maid wizard's foot. Before she could even apologize, she heard Edmund laugh.

"Please don't do this, we're 'friends,' okay? I promise I'll keep it a secret!"

Pollyanna was confused for a moment, and after thinking for a while, she remembered that their conversation had mentioned her father.

Pollyanna turned pale instantly, and the little witch immediately wanted to say, "I don't know what you're talking about," but Darmund didn't give her a chance to lie.

"To be honest, you're not like your father either—he looks just as stupid, you know, he was in that dud parade in front of the 9% platform, and I recognized him."

With each word Edmund uttered, Pollyanna's face grew paler, until the girl looked like a female ghost. Edmund was both amused and exasperated.

"Come on, Pollyanna, what are you so afraid of?" Edmund lowered his voice. "My father is a Muslim—I thought everyone knew that!"

He smiled childishly and patted the female classmate's arm:

"If you don't want trouble, just say 'Please keep this a secret.'" Edmund's tone was crisp, but the meaning behind his words was ambiguous. "Consider it a favor I did for you; you do me a favor later, and we'll be even."

Pollyanna's lips trembled slightly, unsure whether she should believe him.

In fact, Edmund never really harmed her; to be precise, he never specifically targeted her. Even when he wanted her to do something, he would usually set conditions in advance and be generous with his money.

For some reason, Pollyanna remained uneasy. This was partly because Edmund knew the secret that could instantly turn her into a "blood bag" within the academy; and partly because she had always been wary of this boy. Having grown up knowing how to read people's expressions, Pollyanna was very observant.

Therefore, she always felt that Edmund was different from other "bad kids".

The problem was, even if she realized something was amiss, she was powerless to do anything about it. Edmund had barely finished speaking when he continued walking forward, turning and disappearing into a grand bedroom. The maid behind him watched the little witch silently, leaving her no choice but to follow.

Edmund acted as usual, behaving nothing like a thief. He opened several drawers and floated them in front of Pollyanna. How could a young lady possibly choose?

Edmund sighed helplessly, then casually made an excuse to get something to send the maid, who was under the influence of the Imperius Curse, away.

And Pollyanna made up the origins of these things on the spot.

A silver snake-shaped brooch caught Edmund's attention. The item was new, and although its design still had little to do with "women's jewelry," its size was just right for an 11-year-old wizard, and its color and design matched Pollyanna's temperament perfectly.

"I think this one is pretty good, do you like it?"

Pollyanna looked at the piece of jewelry a few more times, somewhat puzzled:

"Was this prepared for you by Mrs. Soman?"

Edmund chuckled. As expected, Pollyanna hadn't realized that this pile of jewelry belonged to old Soman, and how could the old man possibly buy jewelry for him?

"Wouldn't that be even better?" Edmund smiled. "Just accept it—oh, by the way, I can ask you for a small favor right now, and then we'll be even."

Edmund casually pointed to another door in the master bedroom:

"Go get me something. It looks like an oil lamp. I need to take it to see my father."

Pollyanna hesitated, a look of unease on her face. Edmund sighed:

"Male sorcerers aren't allowed through this door, otherwise why do you think that maid is following us?" This was half-truth, half-lie. "You can think of it as my safe house. Don't worry, Pollyanna, would I ever harm you in something like this?"

Pollyanna frowned. Her instincts told her that this was very strange. She couldn't be optimistic that this was Edmund's thoughtfulness, that he was just making things up to convince her that he would keep it a secret.

—But instinct was also urging her to do it quickly, because Edmund "did not lie".

Edmund was not lying. He considered it a simple deal: Pollyanna would retrieve his true form for him, and he would keep quiet about Pollyanna's origins from then on.

However, Edmund did not turn this into a "wish," as it was unnecessary and risky.

This door can indeed only be opened by a witch. In addition, Edmund used the batteries to test the following restrictions on the room: thieves cannot enter, those who know about the "magic lamp" cannot enter, and those controlled by a spell cannot enter.

Mr. Soman also installed a key on its exterior wall that would instantly transfer the object in contact with a large area, in order to prevent Edmund from replacing the body with an impact of "more than 300 tons".

It wasn't particularly ingenious, but it was understandable; after all, old Soman had lost his former sharpness when setting up this secret room. Like his predecessors, he subconsciously began a futile endeavor:

The hope is that this will prevent the next person from obtaining the genie's true form, and stop this curse and tragedy from continuing to spread.

But by then, he had almost realized that he was ultimately no match for the genie, so when setting up this simple secret chamber,

He was in a state of near mental breakdown.

A moment later, Pollyanna, looking puzzled, carefully handed the genie's form to Edmund with both hands.

"—There's a booklet in front of it." The little witch frowned. "Since you didn't want it, I didn't dare touch it."

Edmund couldn't help but chuckle; well, he chuckled for quite a while.