The mastermind behind Hogwarts

Chapter 123 Penelope in his arms

Moriarty used the fireplace in Diagon Alley to return to Dumbledore's headmaster's office.

He glanced at the murals on the wall; there was no image of the Headless Horseman, only the heads of past schools quietly watching Moriarty.

Moriarty said nothing and walked out of the office. The castle was unusually quiet today, as if the students had all fallen asleep.

"Something's not right! Hogwarts shouldn't be like this on Saturday."

Moriarty strolled around the castle. The classrooms, which used to be full of young wizards studying, were now empty. Mrs. Pince was listlessly sweeping the dusty bookshelves in the library, and the long table in the Great Hall was also empty.

In this atmosphere, the armor in the corridor seemed to rust, the murals on the walls were silent, and the entire castle seemed to be sealed off, utterly still.

Moriarty then went to the Black Lake and the Forbidden Forest. The magical creatures in the Black Lake, influenced by the castle, hid at the bottom of the lake and did not show themselves.

The centaurs, goblins, unicorns, and even the eight-eyed giant spiders in the Forbidden Forest all vanished without a trace.

Even Hagrid seemed listless, but Moriarty suspected that Hagrid's dejection stemmed from his inability to get close to magical creatures, nothing more.

Moriarty asked a Slytherin couple strolling by the Black Lake and learned that most of the snakes and badgers were sleeping in their dormitories, while the lion cubs and eagle cubs were nowhere to be found.

What happened at the school only proves one thing.

"Students' aversion to school is getting worse!"

Moriarty frowned. It now seemed that Jericho's aversion to school was not an isolated case, but a sign that everything was about to begin!

Hogwarts was Moriarty's headquarters and command center, holding a paramount position in his behind-the-scenes mastermind plans.

No matter who has any ulterior motives towards Hogwarts, they will not succeed in flying away!

His sharp eyes swept around the room before he headed toward the castle, intending to return to the Slytherin common room to call Lilith and Jericho and search for the Headless Horseman.

At that moment, Moriarty heard a woman's voice calling his name.

"Moriarty? Moriarty! Moriarty..."

The sound grew louder as it approached, filled with excitement and anxiety. Moriarty looked in the direction of the sound and saw Penelope waving at him as she ran over quickly, the hem of her Ravenclaw Quidditch uniform fluttering in the wind.

"Moriarty!" Penelope exclaimed breathlessly, "Thank God you're nearby!"

"Come with me!" Penelope grabbed Moriarty's right arm and pulled him forward without saying a word.

"Going to the Quidditch pitch?" Moriarty saw Penelope wearing a Quidditch uniform and guessed that something must have happened, otherwise Penelope wouldn't be so flustered.

"Yes, you'd better hurry! Gryffindor students are about to fight our house!" Penelope was almost in tears, her cheeks flushed from running and her eyes brimming with worry. "Wood has gone to find the professor, but I'm not sure if he can find him!"

"Hold onto my neck." Moriarty suddenly stopped.

"What?" Penelope didn't react.

"Hold me tight."

"Eh?"

Moriarty stretched out his arms to Penelope's incredulous gaze, placing his left hand under Penelope's shoulder blade with his fingers tucked under her left armpit, and his right hand under her knee.

Moriarty gently hooked his arms upwards, lifting Penelope into a perfect princess carry and holding her horizontally in his arms.

Meanwhile, Penelope nestled in Moriarty's arms, her face flushed red to the roots of her neck, her heart pounding uncontrollably, and her mind flooded with romantic stories.

She wanted to ask Moriarty what was going on, but suddenly she heard Moriarty mutter a string of spells she had never heard before, and then she felt her body tilt to the side!

"Ah~"

Penelope nearly fell out of Moriarty's arms.

Startled, she quickly reached out her right hand to wrap around Moriarty's neck, clasped her right hand with her left hand to form a loop, and pressed her head against Moriarty's chest, holding him tightly.

A gust of wind rushed into Penelope's ears. Puzzled, she looked down and realized she was getting farther and farther away from the ground!

Penelope looked up again and saw clouds rushing past behind Moriarty. The clever Penelope quickly realized that she was being carried into the sky by Moriarty!

"Moriarty, you can fly..."

Penelope said softly, her tone a mix of admiration and embarrassment. It turned out that Moriarty had asked her to hold him tightly because of the flight. What was she thinking just now?

"I don't want to see a brawl break out between Gryphon and Ravenclaw. We need to get there quickly." Moriarty's voice was cold, showing no sign of indulging in fantasies despite Penelope in his arms. He cast a flight spell and took to the sky simply to reach the Quidditch pitch as quickly as possible.

As for why Penelope was brought along, that's a question Moriarty had.

"Why did Wood go to the professor? What about Charlie? He's the captain of Gryffindor! How could he allow a conflict between houses!"

Sensing Moriarty's displeasure, Penelope quickly explained the whole story.

"At 2 p.m. is our Ravenclaw new player selection tournament. Half of the students in the college went, and I signed up to participate as well."

But for some reason, halfway through the selection tournament, the Gryffindors stormed onto the field. There were many of them, and Charlie was leading them!

Charlie said they were going to hold a selection contest too. I didn't see Percy, but Wood kept trying to persuade Charlie. However, a seventh-year Gryffindor roughly pushed Wood away.

Later, our team leader went to argue with Charlie. Charlie's face turned as red as his hair. They had a big fight, and more and more classmates gathered around them. They seemed to have gone crazy, shouting and making a scene.

Wood and I were worried something had happened, so we rushed out to look for the professor. Luckily, I found you.

As Penelope spoke, her eyes reddened again. She carefully buried her head in Moriarty's arms, and when she realized that Moriarty did not stop her, she buried it even deeper.

She slightly adjusted her position, finding a more comfortable lying spot, nestled in Moriarty's arms, and squinted her eyes in bliss, like a cat.

Some embarrassing, strange, and restless thoughts popped into her little head again.

However, Penelope hadn't even enjoyed it for a minute when Moriarty sent the message to the Quidditch pitch. He looked down and saw that Penelope's worst fears had come true.

The lion cubs, their faces flushed and necks red, shoved and pushed the eagle eaglets. One of the Ravenclaw girls was pushed down, perhaps twisting her ankle, and lay on the ground crying loudly.

Dozens of tall Gryffindor boys brandished brooms, pointing the broom handles at the Ravenclaw students in front. Judging from their fierce faces, it seemed they were about to smash the head of the person opposite them with their brooms at any moment!

Charlie's eyes widened like light bulbs, his entire face, neck, and hair turned as red as he furiously slammed a flying broomstick to the ground, crushed it, and then ran after the Ravenclaw captain.

Penelope let out a mournful cry: "Oh no! My brand new Seven Stars Sweep!"

When she saw a dozen or so Gryffindor girls grabbing Ravenclaw girls by the hair, she angrily twisted her body, wishing she could jump down and beat up the pack of lionesses.

Overall, Gryffindor seems to be beating up Ravenclaw, but the cubs seem to be blinded by inexplicable anger, forgetting their identity.

Clearly, the eaglets have not forgotten.

There were at least twenty Ravenclaw students, holding wands!

Twenty Gryffindor students were lying on the ground groaning in pain, indicating that they had knocked down twenty of their classmates!

Moriarty was furious as he scanned the field in a few seconds. This could no longer be called a field; it was practically a battlefield!

A battlefield where people kill each other!

Moriarty took out the Slytherin Staff from his system space, raised it high towards the sky, and his magic surged out like a rising tide, spreading outwards. His aura was so strong that it turned a gentle breeze into a gale, howling as it fell from the sky, making the students below unable to open their eyes.

"Immediately imprison them!"

Moriarty used the simplest spell, but the effect was surprisingly good. With the support of his enormous magical power, silver ropes shot out one after another from the top of the staff like a shower of flowers.

With a "whoosh," it flew in front of the young wizards and tied them up tightly.

Most of the students were bound and unable to move, but Charlie struggled to his feet, staring at Moriarty in the air as if possessed, gritting his teeth.

A seventh-year student from Ravenclaw, also one of the school's best, conjured a golden knife, cut Moriarty's ropes, and prepared to cast a spell on Charlie!

Moriarty landed on the grass with Penelope, tapped her with his cane, and she collapsed to the ground, unconscious!

The two troublemakers were immediately hit and fell to the ground.

Moriarty ignored them; they wouldn't die anyway, and they'd caused such a huge mess that a prison sentence wouldn't be unreasonable!

He walked among the students, and when he stopped in front of one of them, he pointed his staff at his nose, his face as cold as ice, his eyes filled with chilling intent.

The students felt that Moriarty's gaze was like a whip, lashing them hard and causing them excruciating pain all over their bodies.

(End of this chapter)