Hogwarts: My name is the Unforgivable Curse...

Chapter 109 Escalation

Before them floated five stretchers, each carrying an unconscious student. The group was startled and quickly examined the students closely…

"Marcus?!"

Upon seeing the face of the tallest and most conspicuous person lying on the stretcher, Baron, Harry, and Cedric all exclaimed in surprise—it was none other than Marcus Flint, the captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team!

"Wait, that's not all..."

Baron's voice trembled slightly: "These five unconscious people are all from Slytherin!"

"What?!"

Even the Gryffindors, who were always at odds with Slytherin, were shocked and took a step back after hearing this. Only then did they notice that almost all the students surrounding Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey were wearing green undershirts.

"Baron? You're here too?"

Someone in the Slytherin group recognized Baron and greeted him with a somber expression.

"What exactly happened?"

Baron ran up to him and asked anxiously.

"Ah, Mr. Shafik."

Before the Slytherin student could answer, Dumbledore turned to Baron with a grave expression and said, "As you can see, another coma has occurred, and this time it's five people at once."

"According to the descriptions in the paintings, the five of them had just come out of the library and were heading to an empty classroom to practice magic. When they walked into a corridor, one of them suddenly lost consciousness, and then the other four collapsed one after another. They were not discovered until other students passed by. Before that, no one else was found in the corridor except for the five of them."

"Attack..."

Baron's eyes were practically spitting fire.

"While we can't draw a definitive conclusion yet, it's pretty close to the truth."

Dumbledore nodded slightly, acknowledging Baron's words: "If the previous three students could be explained by accident or coincidence, then the fact that five senior students were taken down at almost the same time this time is highly likely to be a deliberate act."

"This afternoon I will issue a campus-wide alert, requiring students to adhere to the strict curfew, to travel in groups, and for professors to increase patrols. Hopefully, no more attacks will occur..."

Everyone remained silent and could only nod slightly.

"However, there is some good news as well."

Dumbledore sighed. "Professors Snape and Sprout have been working hard on a treatment, and they're almost at the point of success. According to them, they should be able to develop a potion to revive the students in about a week."

"At that time, not only will the students who have already fallen into a coma be able to wake up, but the students who have just fallen into a coma will also receive treatment immediately. Moreover, we can also ask them about their feelings before they fell into a coma and get further clues... Alright, everyone, please go back first and don't disturb the other patients' rest."

Under Dumbledore's gentle yet firm persuasion, the gathered people gradually dispersed in twos and threes, but one person still couldn't resist coming to the door of Avada's ward.

"Excuse me, is this Ken?"

"It's me. Is there a problem?"

Avada was interrupted from her thoughts and looked up at the unfamiliar Slytherin with some confusion.

"I remember you were the first person to fall into a coma, but the professors all said the reason you fell into a coma was different from the others... Is that true? You really don't have any other clues?"

"...I'm sorry, my coma was a complete accident, and I can't provide any useful information."

Avada shook his head regretfully—the person who came to ask was probably a friend of someone in a coma, and his face turned extremely disappointed after Avada gave his answer.

"All right."

He said, "I'm sorry to bother you... Goodbye."

"Okay, goodbye."

Avada turned around and watched as the five stretchers were led away by Madam Pomfrey and gradually disappeared from sight. He rubbed his temples, feeling a bit of a headache.

Just as Dumbledore had said, those students were indeed unconscious due to severe mental disorder, and there was nothing else abnormal about their bodies. Moreover, the damage to their mental power was not significant; it was just a simple deep coma, without any signs of amnesia, mental confusion, or other characteristics of a mental attack. Rather than being attacked, it seemed more like the clumsy students who hadn't worn earmuffs properly while repotting the mandrake.

But this does not explain why the students have been falling into comas one after another, and this time five of them collapsed at once.

After those people left, the few people in Avada's ward looked at each other in silence, their faces pale as if they were about to burst into tears.

"Do as the professor instructs as possible."

Cedric sighed heavily.

"I also have to remind Ginny that she absolutely mustn't go out and wander around at night," Ron muttered worriedly.

"In just over a week, eight students have already fallen into a coma, and this time it's five at once... But if it really was an attack, what kind of attack could make five upperclassmen collapse without any resistance? I don't know about others, but at least Marcus's Defense Against the Dark Arts is quite excellent, and he's always the one tutoring Slytherin students when they encounter unreliable professors!" Baron pulled at his hair, extremely distressed.

"Who knows... But if that's the case, at least six of the eight unconscious people are Slytherins, right? What about the remaining two? Could it be that someone is targeting Slytherins?" Avada suddenly asked.

"No, one of them is a fourth-year Gryffindor student, and the other is a second-year Ravenclaw student. There's no Hufflepuff yet," Shabby answered for him.

"It sounds like an indiscriminate crime... So, what do those unconscious people have in common?"

"No. The students have analyzed it countless times in private, checking everything: college, gender, grades, bloodline, background, people they know, places they've recently been... but they still haven't found anything."

"I'm suddenly starting to think Professor Trelawney is reliable, what's going on...?"

"Don't overthink it. In this strange situation, all we can do is try our best to protect ourselves and not add any burden to the professors."

Hermione sighed, "Besides, Professor Dumbledore said the Restoration Potion would be ready in another week. Snape may not be good to his students, but with so many Slytherins in trouble this time, he can't just ignore it, can he? Especially with Professor Sprout involved..."

"You're right, Hermione."

Harry nodded and stood up first. "I have to go back now, Ken. I need to tell the others about this and warn them to be careful."

"That's right, this kind of thing needs to be said as soon as possible."

Cedric and Baron stood up, and then everyone else did too: "Take care, Ken. And get well soon."

"Thank you, I will..."

Avada rubbed his temples, his head aching. After watching his friends leave, he stared into the empty hospital room and fell into a long silence.

"What... happened?"

I apologize for the comments being deleted due to some content changes made to correct typos and other issues.

(End of this chapter)