The mastermind behind Hogwarts

Chapter 97 Searching for the Headless Horseman

Moriarty walked around a corner and saw Peeves. "You're late, Mr. Moriarty," Peeves said.

"If you still want to ask me the same question from last year, then I can tell you I don't know," Moriarty said nonchalantly, clearly not in the mood for playing games with Pippi.

"Why do you all look so serious!" Mischievous Ghost complained, sounding both annoyed and regretful. "Every day you're just asking boring questions and dryly solving problems, like you're completing a task. You always say life is a journey, but is a journey just about taking pictures and checking off your travel list? You also say life is like a play, but once you put on a mask and start acting, you're in it for life, and you can't take it off until you die."

A strange light flashed in Moriarty's eyes: "Your wisdom amazes me, Peeves. You've piqued my curiosity. Who are you? Or rather, what kind of being are you?"

"Perfect question, Mr. Moriarty." Peepi's voice was magnetic, as if the regret from before had never existed. "I think you'll only be able to truly graduate from this school when you've really figured out this question."

Of course, it's inappropriate to say all this now. I know you're confused, and I'm here specifically to help you.

"Help?" Moriarty crossed his arms, adopting a listening posture. "Please, Mr. Peeves."

“There are other alchemists in this world besides Nicolas Flamel. They may not be wizards, they may not be human, they may be dead or have disappeared,” Peeves said. “And I happen to know one of them. It’s in this castle, but I’m not sure if you can find it.”

"It?" Moriarty wondered to himself who Peeves was referring to—the mural? The armor? The ghost?

Peeves floated around Moriarty, his voice echoing in Moriarty's ears: "Didn't the professor tell you? You once used Parseltongue to command the murals, armor, and stone pillars in the castle to guard it, but one of the murals didn't join the others in guarding the castle..."

"The Headless Horseman portrait!" Moriarty picked up where Peeves left off. "Dumbledore told me about it. What, you're saying he's an alchemist?"

"It's a knight! — At least that's what it says." Peeves muttered, "I don't quite understand it, you know? Once I passed by Merlin's portrait and saw it casting a spell on a tree. That must have been alchemy, yes, that's right, alchemy!"

Peeves' voice suddenly rose, as if trying to convince himself. Moriarty's lips twitched slightly, a sense of unease welling up inside him, but he calmly said, "Alright, Mr. Peeves, I'll go talk to him. But where should I find it?"

"Who knows? It doesn't have its own portrait; it always wanders among the murals of other portraits," Peeves said flippantly. He seemed to want to leave, slowly moving away from Moriarty. "Farewell, Mr. Moriarty. I hope you'll have figured out the problem by the time we meet again."

Moriarty watched Peeves leave, and Lilith came up behind him: "Lord Barrow is gone too. He told me Jericho might be in the library. Where do we go now?"

"Go to the library to find Jericho. That kid must be exhausted. I need to let him get a good night's sleep." Moriarty didn't go looking for the Headless Horseman right away. He led Lilith to the library.

The library was empty. If Jericho were inside, Mrs. Pince would have kicked him out, so Jericho must have used the Disillusionment Charm.

"Show yourself!" Moriarty chanted a revealing spell, and sure enough, they found Jericho in the forbidden book section, curled up asleep on the ground, clutching several books in his arms.

"The Origins of Alchemy, The Guide to Alchemy Formulas," Lilith read the words on the book covers, clicking her tongue in amazement. "If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed Jericho would read such purely academic books even if I used the Imperius Curse on him."

Moriarty used a levitation charm to lift Jericho up. The gentle movement startled Jericho, who tumbled down from mid-air, blinking excitedly. "Sir, you're out? I mean, that's great! I found you some alchemy information, but I don't recommend you start reading now. After all, even Nicolas Flamel needed rest; he couldn't have developed it overnight. So, you don't need to rush—I mean, we have plenty of time…"

He said a lot, and Moriarty could sense the sincerity in his words. He smiled and patted Jericho on the shoulder: "You're right, we have plenty of time for an... adventure?"

Hogwarts isn't complete without nighttime strolls, so how about we challenge Filch's new gear? Professor Nicole's kerosene lamp and new boots for Filch... aha, Lilith learned her lesson the hard way!

Lilith?

Moriarty suddenly realized that Lilith was missing. He looked behind the other bookshelves and saw Lilith tiptoeing into the last row of bookshelves.

"Moriarty, come quickly!" she called softly, her emotions slightly fluctuating.

When Moriarty and Jericho walked over, they understood: Gemma Farley was asleep on several large books, all of which were advanced magic books about alchemy.

"Why didn't you assign her any tasks?" Lilith said to Moriarty with some dissatisfaction, as if she were complaining for Gemma: "She must feel that you don't respect her, and she feels particularly wronged, but she is still willing to help you look up information."

Moriarty silently drew his cedarwood wand, conjured a small bed, and placed Gemma on it—it was clearly not the right time to bring her back to the dormitory.

After doing all this, Moriarty walked out of the library, with Lilith and Jericho following behind.

"Let's go find the Headless Horseman." Moriarty finally made up his mind. Everyone was working hard for him, and he couldn't turn a blind eye.

Even if the Headless Horseman is a mythical creature, and even if the Headless Horseman doesn't know alchemy, the first priority is to find it.

Of course, Moriarty remained vigilant, instructing Lilith and Jericho to inform him immediately if they discovered any trace of the Headless Horseman.

Back at the castle, the three agreed to start their search from the murals on the first floor, but after searching, they found nothing.

The three reunited at three o'clock. The entire castle was asleep, but the trio were full of energy.

Lilith astutely pointed out, "Moriarty, I think it's time to recite the spell Salazar left you for the castle. The Headless Horseman is as if he never existed; all the portraits of him never mention him!"

"Are you crazy?" Jericho exclaimed dramatically. "Now? At three in the morning? To cast a spell? To wake up the entire school and have the Church deduct points from our college and put us in solitary confinement?"

"No, no, no, we can't use spells." Moriarty shook his head and looked at Lilith. "Believe me, this isn't something that can be solved with spells. Peeves said the Headless Horseman is wandering in the murals, and we've searched all over the murals, which means it's hiding somewhere we won't notice."

"Where are the places we won't notice?" Lilith pondered. "We've searched the Great Hall, the basement, the Slytherin dungeons, every floor, including the tower."

"I also went into the Gryffindor common room," Jericho explained with a sly grin, revealing why he knew the password: "At noon, I went to the washroom and happened to overhear the twins talking about the password. I dare say, if it weren't for the bet incident, they would have turned the school upside down."

"I answered the logical question posed by the eagle-shaped bronze door knocker, and although it was displeased with my late-night visit, it still let me into the Ravenclaw common room," Moriarty added. "There was no trace of the Headless Horseman there."

"Very well, it seems we've ruled out all locations!" Lilith, feeling that Peeves had lied to Moriarty, said irritably, "Then, where is the Headless Horseman?"

"If it really exists, where would it be hiding?" Jericho thought Peeves was telling the truth.

Their conversation reminded Moriarty, and his eyes lit up: "There's only one place in the entire castle we haven't checked: the headmaster's office!"

"The Headmaster's office?" Jericho's voice trembled; he felt his heart was about to leap out of his chest. "We? Sneaking into the office of the most powerful wizard in the world! Tonight? Are you sure, sir?"

Moriarty didn't answer immediately, but his intense gaze said it all. Lilith tugged at her bangs: "Oh no, seriously, we're going to the headmaster's office for a headless horseman that might not even exist? — Listen to that name! Are you sure it's not something Peeves just made up to scare night-roaming wizards?"

Her tone was somewhat like Professor McGonagall's, but she seemed to have completely forgotten that she was only a second-year student herself. She looked at Moriarty: "Seriously, why do we have to look for it? We've already broken more than ten rules, and how do you know Headmaster Dumbledore isn't in his office?"

"I don't know now, but I can know." Moriarty walked towards the eighth floor, walking very fast, and Lilith and Jericho had to jog to keep up with him.

As they reached the entrance to the eighth floor, Moriarty whispered to the gargoyle-shaped stone beast, "Palo? Palo!"

The stone beast awoke from its slumber, seemingly furious, but its expression softened upon seeing Moriarty: "Oh, Mr. Moriarty? Your ever-loyal Paro..."

"Paro, is Dumbledore inside?" Moriarty interrupted Paro's salutation and asked directly.

"Hmm..." Paro pondered for a moment, then shook his head. "Although I cannot reveal the headmaster's whereabouts, since Mr. Moriarty asked, it doesn't matter if I say it. The headmaster is not inside. According to the portraits of the past headmasters, he went to Hogsmeade."

"Okay, Paro, open the door for us." Moriarty nodded to Jericho and Lilith, whose expressions relaxed.

However, Paro refused, saying, "I'm sorry, sir, no one can enter without a password."

"Then, please tell me the password!"

"Yes, sir, the password is 'raspberry jam'! Your most loyal Paro is always happy to serve you."

"Raspberry jam," Moriarty gave the command. Paro jumped aside, and the wall behind it split in two, allowing Moriarty and his two companions to enter the principal's office through a slowly ascending spiral staircase hidden behind it.

"What a sweet-toothed old man," Lilith muttered. "Next time I don't know the password, I'll try saying all the names of the sweets. I guarantee I'll be able to walk into the office without any problem in no time."

"That's a great idea," Jericho chuckled, mimicking Lilith's tone. "Why didn't I think of that before? And didn't you notice your tone? Young lady, you're a Slytherin! The worst part is, you've broken over a dozen rules!"

Moriarty ignored their complaints. He pushed open the door and stepped into the office. The moment he entered, he saw the mural of Phineas Nigellus Black. Of course, Principal Black wasn't in the mural; perhaps he had gone to number 12 Grimmauld Place. Who cared?

But there was a glint of silver light on the mural; it was the light reflected from a suit of armor.

Good afternoon everyone. I'm currently out of town. The update is late, but it's here!

(End of this chapter)