Stirring Up Troubled Waters

Stirring Up Troubled Waters

At the Gryffindor table, several people stared in surprise as Charles devoured his food.

Ron asked in astonishment, "You like pumpkin?"

Charles shook his head. After eating half a pumpkin pie and drinking a bowl of pumpkin soup, he grabbed a steak and started eating it.

Although talking with Mr. Scamander had let him skip the second morning class and the afternoon classes, he had gotten so caught up in the conversation that he had forgotten to eat lunch, leaving him ravenous.

At that moment, Charles decided that if he ever got the chance, he would write a book called Magical Creatures' Calories.

After eating for a while, he glanced around. Seeing that Hermione was indeed absent, he asked Ron, "Why isn't Hermione here?"

Ron stammered, unable to explain himself clearly.

At that moment, Pettigrew said to Charles, "Hermione seems to have run into something upsetting. She's crying terribly in the girls' bathroom."

Charles frowned, making Ron shudder so hard that he dropped the spoon in his hand.

Ron had already realized that some of the things he had said today might have gone too far. Now he was worried that Charles would punish him over it.

But Charles had frowned because he had a bad feeling. He sensed that something was about to happen.

Not long afterward, Quirrell made his entrance, and the troll was released. The dining hall immediately descended into chaos.

Dumbledore quickly got the students under control and ordered the prefects to lead them away.

Partway there, Charles saw Harry and Ron leave. He was just about to follow them when he noticed Quirrell, who had been knocked unconscious moments earlier, sneaking off in another direction.

His mind raced, and he quickly made a decision. He tugged on Seamus's sleeve and pointed toward Harry and Ron, who were mixed in among the Hufflepuff students.

Seamus understood what he meant and left the line to follow them.

Charles quietly followed behind Quirrell. Partway along, he cast the Disillusionment Charm and Silencing Charm on himself, then followed Quirrell soundlessly into a Secret Passage hidden behind a mural.

The Secret Passage was very narrow, barely wide enough for one person. Quirrell took out his wand and conjured a light, feeling his way forward.

Charles thought for a moment, then took a vial of potion from his Bag of Holding and drank it without hesitation. He changed his clothes, then switched to the Old Man's 406-millimeter-long wand.

Meanwhile, Harry, Ron, and Seamus worked together to lock the troll and Hermione inside the girls' bathroom.

"Strange," Seamus said. "Where did Charles run off to?"

Harry and Ron had no time to answer before a miserable, terrified scream rang out from the girls' bathroom.

"Hermione!"

The three of them realized what a stupid thing they had done.

The door to the girls' bathroom was immediately thrown open. If Charles had been there, he would have been stunned as well.

The troll stood nearly four meters tall. Its skin was rough, like hardened rock, and its enormous body was extremely bulky. Its disproportionately small head jutted forward, its legs were as thick as tree trunks, and its arms were long and powerful. The club it carried was even larger than Hermione.

Worse still, the troll was wearing a suit of armor. The armor was extremely old, but it fit reasonably well.

Hermione was huddled in the corner, her legs too weak to support her as she sat on the floor, staring at the troll in terror and helplessness as it advanced toward her step by step.

Harry immediately raised his wand and gave it a wave and a flick. "Wingardium Leviosa!"

The Levitation Charm struck the troll, lifting its feet more than a meter off the ground.

The troll struggled like a drowning man, wildly swinging the club in its hand. In the end, it threw it away instinctively, sending it flying straight toward Hermione.

"Hermione, Accio Charm!"

At the critical moment, Ron pointed his wand at Hermione and cast the Accio Charm.

"Boom!"

The club grazed Hermione's head and smashed into the wall. Rubble flew in every direction, and the entire castle seemed to shake as a huge crater was left behind.

Hermione flew rapidly along the floor toward the doorway, eventually colliding with Ron. The two of them rolled all the way to the opposite side of the corridor.

The troll was too heavy. Harry's Levitation Charm failed to last very long, and it hit the ground before Ron and Hermione had even managed to get up.

The troll picked up its club, turned around, and looked toward the direction in which its prey had just flown. Seeing new prey there, it walked over.

"Seamus!" Harry shouted.

At this point, no one thought the door could possibly hold the monster back. The only person who might be able to kill it was Seamus, who had supposedly once burned a dragon to death.

Seamus swallowed, drew his wand, and said with little confidence, "L-Let me try!"

He recalled the Blue Flames he had cast beside the wasteland before. After taking a deep breath to steady himself, he cast the spell.

"Boom, boom, boom..."

Seamus's wand was like a jet engine. Blue Flames erupted amid the roar and swallowed the troll in the blink of an eye.

The commotion had attracted the attention of the others, and Professor McGonagall and Snape soon arrived.

They saw that the wall of the girls' bathroom facing the doorway was pitch-black, with the silhouette of a troll left behind. The troll had been burned to a crisp, but its armor was completely unharmed.

Dumbledore arrived not long afterward as well, his expression grave as he studied the troll's armor.

"Avada Kedavra!"

Voldemort suddenly turned around and cast the spell, green light illuminating the Secret Passage.

Although there was no visible figure and no sound, he could still sense someone following behind him.

"Avada Kedavra!"

The other side responded with the same spell. The two curses collided, and the green light in the Secret Passage became even more dazzling.

Voldemort had restored his energy by drinking unicorn blood. After a moment, he withdrew his curse, and the other side showed no intention of pressing the attack.

"Could you show yourself, sir?"

Voldemort asked courteously.

A small ball of light appeared in the Secret Passage, and a middle-aged man over 1.9 meters tall emerged.

"Voldemort?" The middle-aged man gave a cold laugh. "Are you just a scalp now?"

Voldemort could not determine who the other man was, and his own strength had yet to recover, so he continued to remain polite.

He removed his headscarf and revealed his true face. Then he said to the uninvited guest, "Since you know who I am, may I ask who you are?"

"Cut off one head, and two more will grow in its place," the middle-aged man said. "You may call me Steve Rogers."

Voldemort stared at him suspiciously. After thinking for a long time, he still could not remember ever hearing that slogan, so he asked, "May I ask what brings you to Hogwarts?"

Steve replied, "Perhaps our goals are the same."

Voldemort's gaze sharpened, and he tentatively asked, "The Church of Necessary Evil?"

He remembered the organization Charles had mentioned, the one searching for 103,000 Magic Books. If wizards were directing that organization from behind the scenes, it made sense for them to use Muggles to gather clues. After all, some magical items had been sold to Muggles, and there might be clues among them.

Steve answered disdainfully, "Laura Stuart isn't qualified to lead us."

Voldemort's heart sank slightly. That was yet another name he had never heard of.

He probed again. "Since our goals are the same, how about we work together?"

"Work together?" Steve laughed. "You have never appeared on our list of potential allies. Not once."

"For the past 1,400 years, our members have been spread across every corner of the world. Every historical transformation has carried our shadow."

"And you haven't even crossed the English Channel. You have no ambition whatsoever. Compared with Blue Dream, Umbrella, Iron Rose, and the others, you're merely a child. You aren't qualified to work with us."

Voldemort maintained a calm expression, but inwardly, he was on the verge of exploding. What the hell are those organizations you mentioned even supposed to be?

"Mr. Rogers," he asked, "could you tell me the name of the organization you belong to?"

Charles estimated that the Polyjuice Potion was about to wear off, so he merely gave a contemptuous laugh before disappearing from the spot.

Voldemort's expression became graver than ever. Only the headmaster and House-elves could use Apparition inside Hogwarts. This man knew the Killing Curse, so he definitely was not Dumbledore, and he was even less likely to be a House-elf. That meant either this man or the organization behind him had cracked Hogwarts's defensive system.

At that moment, Charles was rubbing his head inside a cave in the Forbidden Forest. The Portkey that relied on House-elf magic could bypass Hogwarts's defensive system, but it felt like being tossed into a washing machine and spun dry. It was extremely unpleasant.

He waited until the effects of the Polyjuice Potion had completely worn off, changed back into his original clothes, and flew back to the castle on a broomstick.

He could now confirm one thing: Voldemort was indeed searching for something. That object, or a clue to it, was in one of the Secret Passages.

Voldemort had thought he would gain something today, but behind the door in the wall of that Secret Passage was only an empty room. He had gotten his hopes up for nothing.

Charles did not know what Voldemort was looking for. In any case, it was enough to cause trouble, so he muddied the waters as much as possible, making Voldemort waste his limited energy on useless matters.

When Charles returned to the Common Room, he found a feast in progress. The star of the occasion was the smug-looking Seamus.