The mastermind behind Hogwarts

Chapter 127 Lucius is dead!

"Your expressions are hilarious. What did the headless vampire ancestor do to you?" the headless knight asked meaningfully, arms crossed.

"It's nothing," Moriarty interjected before Dumbledore and Diana could speak, "Mr. Armor, you seem to know a lot about vampires?"

So-so.

The headless knight muttered something, then sat down again, his tone becoming deep: "King Arthur had many enemies, but not vampires. But Merlin—he liked to stir up trouble, or rather, trouble always seemed to find him."

According to Merlin, the headless vampire progenitor can be traced back to the ancient Roman Empire, where a vampire named Dracula transformed into a warrior of the empire.

He was notorious for his cruelty, often inserting a long wooden stick into the anus of prisoners of war, which would then pass through their entire bodies and exit through their mouths. He would then erect the stick high in the air, torturing the prisoners to death.

Later, Dracula was captured by the rebels during a rebellion. In order to take revenge on Dracula, the rebels tortured him in the same way that Dracula tortured prisoners of war, and discovered his true identity. In order to prevent this vampire from drinking human blood, the rebels cut off Dracula's head.

However, as a vampire, Dracula possesses magical power beyond human imagination, and his soul is also very powerful. The beheading only greatly reduced his strength, but also made him more brutal.

Because of the rebels, Dracula began to take revenge on the Europeans. After King Arthur led our Knights of the Round Table to drive the invaders out of Great Britain, Dracula's target for revenge became King Arthur.

Dracula attacked King Arthur several times, but Merlin blocked each attack. When King Arthur obtained the sword in the lake, he was able to fight alongside Merlin.

When Dracula came to harass King Arthur again, the king used the sword in the lake to cut off Dracula's left arm. With his strength greatly diminished, Dracula was no longer evenly matched with Merlin.

Merlin and King Arthur together killed Dracula and placed Dracula's soul inside my armor.

"Inside your armor? So we're facing a headless horseman, or a headless vampire progenitor?" Moriarty's voice sent chills down one's spine.

"Of course, it's the Headless Horseman."

The headless horseman collapsed to the ground, revealing the mysterious runes on his wrists and ankles to them.

"Strictly speaking, I am the armor of the Headless Horseman, but Merlin used a series of alchemical spells to transfer the Headless Horseman's thoughts and consciousness into this armor before the Headless Horseman died, thus making it a vessel to seal Dracula."

Look at these four runes; they guarantee I won't be corrupted by Dracula's soul.

Little Slytherin, this magic isn't actually unfamiliar to you. You already possess the necessary conditions and foundation to cast it; think of alchemy.

Alchemy Matrix!

Moriarty was absolutely certain that he was referring to the Alchemy Matrix.

The Headless Horseman continued, "To ensure this seal would last forever, Merlin and Slytherin worked together to create a portrait of me. To prevent future generations from destroying me, I have no murals."

Oh, but who would have thought, little Slytherin? You're threatening me with destroying the murals in the entire castle!

If you actually did that, what would old Slytherin think when he saw the bare walls?

Oh, how appalling! What a depraved and insane offspring!

The headless horseman stood up and spoke to Moriarty in Salazar's tone.

However, his imitation was not at all accurate, but the atmosphere eased a bit.

Dumbledore listened attentively to the Headless Horseman's long narration, and then asked a question.

"Headless Horseman, do you believe the four incidents that occurred in the castle are related to Dracula's spirit?"

"You believe that Dracula's spirit has influenced the students of Hogwarts! You can say it directly, Headmaster, it's alright, I don't mind if you doubt me."

The headless knight sighed heavily: "When I decided to seal Dracula, I was prepared to be forgotten and misunderstood."

I voluntarily requested that the king pierce my neck with the sword in the lake, which is why I have a scar on my neck, just to get closer to Dracula's headless corpse.

I voluntarily request Merlin to erase my existence and the traces I left in the world, just to cover up the truth of history. I, who will be forgotten, will wander forever in the murals with the seal on me.

As for my being stored at Hogwarts as a portrait—this was not my wish, but a decision made after Merlin consulted with the four leaders. I think Merlin probably considered Hogwarts to be the best hiding place.

That's indeed the case. Who would have thought that the soul of a headless vampire ancestor would be sealed within Hogwarts?

Dumbledore nodded understandingly, and just as Moriarty thought he was being persuaded, Dumbledore raised an eyebrow: "Grandmaster Merlin's plan is meticulous, and the Four Great Masters are incredibly powerful. But we're talking about what's happening now. Do you see the phoenix in the castle?"

Sir Knight, if you cannot answer my question directly, I think those phoenixes might fly into the murals.

Oh, I know, you'll say the murals are protected by the Four Great Masters and won't be damaged by magic—I know that.

But no matter what your identity is, your understanding is still stuck a thousand years ago, or even further back.

You don't know what magic will be like a thousand years from now. How do you know that a wizard a thousand years from now can't use spells you've never seen before to do anything to the images inside the murals without damaging them...

It's true that ancient magic is powerful, but modern magic is not necessarily weaker than ancient magic.

"Isn't that right, Moriarty?"

"I wholeheartedly agree with your point of view," Moriarty smiled, but there was no real mirth in his eyes. The headless knight felt that Moriarty was doing this for him to see. The headless knight heard Moriarty say, "The power of magic is not determined by time, but by the caster himself."

Seeing that Dumbledore and Moriarty were about to continue their discussion, the Headless Horseman clapped his hands, making the sound of steel armor clashing.

"Clang, clang, clang!"

Moriarty and his two companions looked at the headless horseman.

"Listen, I'll only say this once." The Headless Horseman's attitude wasn't friendly. "I can tell you with certainty that what happened at Hogwarts has nothing to do with Dracula's soul."

"Hmph, what a cheap guarantee." Diana scoffed.

The headless horseman immediately turned his back to her and said in a deep voice, "You don't believe me? Go ahead and investigate! Anyway, I can only stay in the murals; I can't go anywhere else."

"I'll take your word for it for now," Dumbledore nodded slightly to the Headless Horseman, "but we'll continue our investigation until we get to the bottom of it."

After saying this, Dumbledore glanced at Moriarty and Diana, and the three of them slowly left.

"What do you think of what the Headless Horseman said?" Dumbledore waved his elder wand, withdrew his phoenix light, and dispelled the detection spell. He wanted to live a little longer.

"Since he also mentioned the Headless Vampire Ancestor, we can wait. I think Lucius will bring back the information we need in less than five days," Moriarty said, striding towards the headmaster's office to remove the spell cast on Hogwarts.

Diana distanced herself from them and headed towards her office. "I'm going to send a letter to my clan. That headless monster mentioned the sword in the lake. I want to see if what he said is true or false."

The elven priest haughtily turned her head away, her long golden hair carrying a fragrant breeze, and strode off toward another flight of stairs.

Moriarty shrugged, went to the headmaster's office to remove the spell, and returned to his dormitory.

Nothing was said that night, and Moriarty didn't get up until eight o'clock the next morning to have breakfast in the auditorium.

The students were already seated at the long table, but nearly one-fifth of the seats were not full.

Lilith and the others greeted Moriarty. Just as Moriarty sat down, Poseidon flew over with a roll of newspaper tied to his foot.

Then a large flock of owls flew behind them. The students were already used to this scene, but they were curious about the newspapers the owls were carrying.

Today's Daily Prophet seems to be a little late.

Poseidon flew onto Moriarty's arm. Moriarty took off his newspaper, casually opened it, glanced at it, and then suddenly his eyes widened.

With a clatter, Moriarty stood up, slammed the newspaper on the table, and his eyes flashed with unspeakable anger.

The front page of the Daily Prophet featured a photograph of a headless male corpse lying stiffly on a grassy field. The corpse was dressed in a magnificent robe, with an eye-catching badge embroidered on the collar.

Beside the corpse, a human head stood upright on the ground, its pale golden hair clearly visible even though it was covered by a green leaf.

The severed head belonged to none other than Lucius Malfoy!

(End of this chapter)