HP: Azkaban's Outstanding Graduate

Chapter 75 Screening Castle

“So I think the murderer isn’t just a wizard!” He suddenly turned around and said, “Let me make it clear beforehand that I personally believe Salazar Slytherin wouldn’t have kept a pure killing machine in the castle.”

Sagles's voice was calm and serious, "The so-called secret room may just be his private laboratory, perhaps containing some kind of ancient creature..."

As he spoke, he waved his wand lightly, and two illusory images appeared in the air: one was a Gorgon with snakes hair, and the other was a petrified lizard.

He glanced at everyone and slowly began, "Therefore, the person who left the writing on the wall not only knew the location of the secret room, but could even control the creatures inside..."

Professor McGonagall gripped her shawl tightly: "You mean, someone in the castle did this on purpose..."

“Or worse,” Sagres put away his wand. “Perhaps someone was manipulated or coerced into opening the Chamber of Secrets. Don’t forget, Voldemort escaped, and who knows if he might be attached to the back of a student’s head, controlling the young wizard’s every move.”

“This is outrageous, Sagrais.” Professor McGonagall covered her mouth.

“But that’s very possible!” Sargeras said calmly. “After all, such an extreme pure-blood ideology can only be associated with Voldemort and his cronies.”

“What are you talking about?” Lockhart finally realized something was wrong. “The Mysterious Man wasn’t… wasn’t he… Aha, I get it, you’re joking, right?”

Sagras glanced at Lockhart, silently mourning for the Hogwarts students, knowing they wouldn't learn much in Defense Against the Dark Arts this year.

Then he remembered how Harry and the others clearly knew something, and how they had asked him a strange question after class. So he couldn't help but speak up, "Headmaster, Potter and the others do seem to know something. Maybe we should persuade them to tell the truth, or take some special measures..."

He looked at everyone with a serious expression and said, "After all, no one can guarantee that it will be a cat that gets hurt again next time."

Silence fell over the office as the professors exchanged glances.

Professor McGonagall's lips tightened into a straight line: "Sagres, are you implying that you're going to use Legilimency on the students? Or memory screening?"

“It would be even better if they were willing to tell the truth themselves,” Sagles said earnestly.

"Leave it to me!" Lockhart suddenly stood up, startling even the portrait on the wall. "To be honest, I'm not only a defense expert against the dark magic, but also a master of memory magic!"

“Gidero,” the old headmaster interrupted Lockhart’s speech and said solemnly, “The safety of the castle is the top priority. We should thoroughly inspect the castle first. If there really is a secret room with a monster that can petrify people, then the most urgent thing is to deal with it.”

Sagres remained noncommittal, but surprisingly, he actually agreed with Snape's opinion this time, wanting to see what Harry and the others were hiding. This might be the key to finding the Chamber of Secrets.

However, judging from the expressions of both the principal and vice-principal, neither seemed willing to consider this possibility. Therefore, he could only try to uncover the truth using his own methods.

……

That evening, when Sagles returned to the crime scene, Felch was indeed still there.

The administrator was hunched over, his bloodshot eyes fixed on the corridor, as if he wanted to burn through the wall with his gaze.

The water had long since been cleaned up, but the grotesque writing on the wall was still clearly visible.

“I’ve tried… but it won’t come off.” Filch’s voice was hoarse, and traces of scratching the wall remained under his fingernails.

Sagras nodded slightly. The writing wasn't ordinary paint, but some kind of magical mark, so it was understandable that Filch was helpless.

He leaned closer to the handwriting, his fingertips tracing the uneven surface of the wall, trying to find any clues about the spellcaster. But he quickly gave up: he wasn't a handwriting expert and couldn't find the murderer through scientific means.

With a wave of his hand, the writing on the wall slowly faded away. Sagres looked around and finally fixed his gaze on the girls' restroom next door.

This is the territory of the Weeping Myrtle; perhaps that perpetually sobbing ghost can offer some clues.

With that in mind, he walked directly into the washroom, which was usually almost deserted.

"Hello, Myrtle!" Sagrais greeted the empty washroom.

Suddenly, a toilet seat was lifted, and a ghostly head popped out, looking bewildered behind thick glasses.

"Who's there?" She was clearly confused, but quickly her expression turned to surprise. "Are you a professor? What are you doing here? This is the women's restroom..."

Sagles ignored her question and instead asked without changing his expression, "Myrtle, did you see anything when the attack happened?"

Myrtle's lips trembled: "No, I was crying then..." she sobbed, "Pee-pee bullied me, he threw a moldy cake at my head and kicked me out of the anniversary party."

At this point, she began to wail sadly again. Sagres stood there watching her quietly without stopping her, and in the end, Myrtle miraculously stopped crying.

"Do you have any other questions?" she asked, tilting her head.

“No, that’s all.” Sagres shook his head. “If anything strange happens, I hope you can tell me.”

"Something strange?" Myrtle suddenly leaned closer to him and said in a mysterious tone, "Something strange has indeed happened here..."

Sagles raised an eyebrow, surprised that there was actually an unexpected gain.

"I can tell you, but you have to promise to teach Mischief a lesson for me!"

"no problem."

Myrtle suddenly laughed, "No one usually comes here, so there are a lot of spiders. I even gave them names, but recently, they've all disappeared."

Sagres narrowed his eyes and nodded thoughtfully.

Over the next few days, the professors turned the castle upside down—every brick in the cellar was struck, every portrait in the corridor was questioned, and even the hole in the Willow Tree was searched.

However, the so-called secret room remains nowhere to be found, and the monster is nowhere to be seen either.

Gradually, the students' tense nerves relaxed.

After all, the victim was just Filch's grumpy cat, and besides, it was now lying with Mrs. Pomfrey waiting for treatment—who would be worried all day about a pesky Mrs. Lorris?

Laughter filled the auditorium again, and the rustling of quill pens in the library became light and cheerful once more.

Only Sacramento was still searching back and forth in the shadows of the castle, his mind racing with questions: Could it be that Voldemort had returned to Hogwarts? Had he released the monster from the Chamber of Secrets? But what was that monster?

He kept recalling the visions he had conjured with his wand that night: the petrifying gaze of the Gorgon, the deadly fangs of the Basilisk lizard—these long-extinct creatures could indeed produce similar effects.

Even if Salazar Slytherin did keep them somewhere in the castle a thousand years ago, who could command these ancient beasts now?

Furthermore, Myrtle mentioned that the spiders had disappeared. What does this mean? Did the monster feed on spiders?

However, neither Gorgon nor the petrified lizard has any connection to spiders.

Or is his line of reasoning flawed? Is the killer something else entirely...?

Chapter 76 Alchemy Array

Besides Sagres, Harry, Harry, and his friends are also secretly investigating the truth behind the Chamber of Secrets.

“Are we really not going to tell the professor?” Hermione bit her lip, her fingers unconsciously tracing the spine of “Hogwarts: A History of the School.” “Harry can hear things that others can’t…that’s dangerous.”

“It’s no use telling them, they’ll just think I’m making up stories again!” Harry scratched his head in frustration. “And what if they really think I’m the murderer? I’ll definitely get expelled from Hogwarts.”

“But I think we can try telling Professor Greengrass,” Hermione said, still somewhat worried. “Maybe he knows what’s going on…”

“I asked him last time, and although I asked it very vaguely, he said it might be a ghost or a pixie.”

"How did you ask?" Hermione asked, somewhat curious.

"I told you I have a friend who sometimes hears strange noises in the castle..."

"and then?"

"That's all, that's all I asked."

Hermione sighed, somewhat speechless.

“Anyway, Harry isn’t the one who opened the Chamber of Secrets,” Ron mumbled, popping a piece of chocolate into his mouth. “And Malfoy is definitely suspicious! He’s been unusually quiet lately.”

Indeed, Draco Malfoy has toned down quite a bit lately.

Ever since he was penalized and put in solitary confinement by Sargles at the Quidditch pitch, he has never used the term "Mudblood" again—although he still holds his head high and looks down on people whenever he meets Harry and his friends.

But he indeed stopped making sarcastic remarks and picking fights. This was quite different from the Malfoy of the past; all three of them felt that the other was plotting something.

……

With the new Quidditch season approaching, the atmosphere in the castle has finally become lively.

The corridor was filled with the excited chatter of the students, and the Gryffindor team members were especially eager to compete. Although Slytherin's seven Nimbus 2001s had left them somewhat powerless, it did not affect their morale.

"The first match of the year, Slytherin vs. Gryffindor!" Wood was trying to inspire the crowd before the match started. "We're going to show them what we're made of, and let them know that you can't win just by having a good broom!"

However, not everyone was immersed in the anticipation of the match.

Professor McGonagall stood in the aisle, her lips pressed into a tight line.

Although she still harbored resentment towards Sagles for his suspicion of Harry during the Halloween event, as the vice-principal, she still extended a polite invitation to him to watch the game.

However, Sagres refused—because Ms. Snowowl sent word that all the materials had been gathered.

He decided to use his two days of free time to complete the construction of the "Magic Siphon" alchemical array and gain complete control over this forbidden magic that could absorb the magic power of others.

With all the materials in hand, Sagres headed straight for the safe house deep in the Forbidden Forest.

……

The strangely shaped building gleamed a pale white in the sunlight, resembling the skull of a forgotten behemoth. As Sargeras stepped across the moss-covered threshold, he casually unleashed three spells:

The Anti-Apparition Charm's light enveloped the exterior walls like a spiderweb, the Spatial Anchoring Charm solidified the indoor air into a gel-like substance, and the Powerful Repulsion Charm made all living beings instinctively stay away from this place.

This place became an absolutely secluded private magical realm.

The process of drawing the alchemical array would be lengthy; at his pace, it would likely take him a full day and night to complete it without sleep.

But first, he has to process the materials properly.

The venom of the giant spider, moonstone powder, vampire vine sap, mermaid scales, the whiskers of the Madago cat, the claws of the motra rat, the tartar of the North American mountain tyrannosaurus...

Following the instructions in the parchment manuscript, Sagres mixed the materials one by one.

As the last ingredient was added, he stared at the swirling blue liquid in the glass, looking slightly hesitant.

However, he ultimately applied a "mechanical mindset" to himself.

He then drank two more drops of Felix Felicis—although Sagres always believed that luck potions were mostly psychological, he never missed any possible help when it mattered most.

Shedding her wizard's robes, she exposed her pale skin to the cold air.

According to calculations, the optimal location for the alchemical array is the chest, but the starting point should be the dominant hand—meaning the entire rune system will extend from his right hand to his heart, allowing the magic to fully merge with his flesh and blood.

Sagrass felt a shiver run through him as the tip of his wand touched his body. It wasn't fear, but excitement.

As his wrist moved, the tip of the cane drew a bloody trail across his skin.

His movements were remarkably skillful, and the path the tip of his cane followed was terrifyingly precise:

Start by cutting into the pad of the right index finger, then splitting into five branches along the direction of the bone. Next, it converges into a thorny ring at the wrist bone, and finally spirals up along the biceps brachii, winding around the heart on the left chest like a vine.

His skin curled slightly after the wand passed over it, revealing the pearly white muscle texture beneath, yet strangely, there was no trace of blood.