Attack

Lynn and Cedric both heard the piercing scream.

They exchanged a glance.

"It's underground," Lynn said quickly.

The two of them did not linger and hurried toward where the sound had come from.

A girl in Slytherin robes was sitting on the ground there. She looked as though she had been scared witless, trembling all over as she stared, pale-faced, toward the corner of the corridor.

A young wizard lay there, perfectly still, as if dead.

Lynn and Cedric were the first two people to arrive at the scene. In an instant, they divided the task between them. Cedric stayed behind to comfort the frightened girl, while Lynn went over to the "corpse" to see whether there was any hope of saving him.

The moment he saw the face of the person lying on the ground, Lynn's pupils shrank sharply.

He knew the boy. It was Hubert Maclean, his roommate, who had only pretended to apologize and make up with him yesterday.

Though Hubert lay motionless on the floor, he seemed to still be alive. His chest rose and fell, and his eyes were open.

However, his gaze was completely lifeless, devoid of even the slightest spark. He looked no different from a dead man.

"What happened, Lynn?" Cedric asked anxiously when he saw Lynn standing there in a daze for so long.

Lynn did not touch Hubert's body rashly. Some curses in the wizarding world were wickedly strange, and one careless move could bring trouble upon oneself.

"This isn't something we can handle. We need to wait for the professors."

Lynn stepped back to Cedric's side, intending to ask whether the Slytherin girl knew anything.

But the poor girl had still not recovered. She buried her head in her knees and whimpered softly.

It was already getting late, and many young wizards heading to the Great Hall for breakfast had been drawn over by the scream, including Slytherin's two prefects.

Betty came over to Lynn.

"What happened to Maclean?"

"I only came here after hearing the noise too. I don't know what happened," Lynn said, shaking his head.

More and more young wizards gathered around, and soon the first professor arrived.

It was Professor McGonagall.

"Move aside! All of you, move aside! Those of you with classes, get ready to go at once! Do you want your House to lose points?"

The young wizards had surrounded the area, so Professor McGonagall had no choice but to drive them away first.

When Professor McGonagall finally squeezed into the scene and saw Hubert's condition, she froze. Then her face quickly turned pale, and she cried out in a trembling voice.

"What are you standing around for? Hurry and take him to the school hospital for Madam Pomfrey to examine!"

Raphael, Slytherin's male prefect, and Judy, the female prefect, immediately each took one of Hubert's arms and helped him toward the school hospital.

Professor McGonagall looked at the group of young wizards who had remained behind and asked grimly.

"Who found him first?"

Everyone turned their eyes toward Lynn and Cedric, and Lynn had no choice but to step forward and explain.

"Professor, the first person to find him should have been this girl. Cedric and I came over because we heard her scream."

Perhaps because a professor was present, the girl finally came back to her senses. But she stammered that she had just left the Slytherin common room to go to the Great Hall for breakfast when she found Hubert lying here. She could not offer even a single useful piece of information.

The whole matter was baffling, and Professor McGonagall could not uncover anything. For now, she could only address the gathered young wizards.

"Hubert will be fine. I will get to the bottom of this matter as well. Everyone, disperse now."

Professor McGonagall was the second most respected person at Hogwarts after Headmaster Dumbledore. The young wizards did not dare disobey her and left the scene one after another.

Lynn and Cedric headed toward the Great Hall together.

"That person seemed to be your roommate?" Cedric asked.

Lynn nodded. "That's right. He looked like he was attacked, and he doesn't seem to be in good condition."

Cedric frowned. "You two didn't get along?"

"He thinks my background insults Slytherin House." Lynn shrugged and openly explained the conflict between them without any reservations.

Cedric had nothing much to say about that. He patted Lynn on the shoulder, sighed, and reminded him.

"Then be careful. The professors may talk to you again."

Lynn spread his hands. "You're my alibi. I was with you the entire morning."

"I know. If it comes to that, I'll testify for you."

The two parted ways in the Great Hall and headed for their respective House tables.

By the end of breakfast, news that a young wizard had been attacked at Hogwarts had spread throughout the entire school.

Quite a few people at the Slytherin table had heard that Lynn was one of the first witnesses and came over to ask whether he knew what had happened, irritating him endlessly.

Perhaps it was only psychological, but even breakfast no longer tasted as good as it had before.

He stuffed a few bites of bread into his mouth, washed them down with a glass of milk, and quickly fled the Great Hall.

As he passed the Hufflepuff table, he saw Cedric facing the same situation. But with Cedric's accommodating personality, he probably would not get away so easily.

He had no classes that morning, so Lynn went straight back to the Slytherin common room.

Only when he entered the dormitory did he discover that the other two roommates, Mark and Michel, were still there.

When they saw Lynn, their expressions were clearly unusual.

Lynn narrowed his eyes and suddenly asked Mark.

"Do you know where Hubert went?"

Mark looked somewhat nervous and answered with a stammer.

"He, he went to the owlery to borrow an owl to send the money for buying pastries."

Compared to Mark, Michel was far better at acting.

"We'll get to enjoy those delicious pastries this afternoon. I wonder if you've heard, Lynn, but Honeydukes sweets are quite famous in the wizarding world..."

They clearly did not yet know that Hubert had been attacked, but Lynn was in no mood to keep playing house with them. He cut Michel off.

"Hubert was attacked by someone. His life is hanging in the balance, and his condition is very bad. He's already been sent to the school hospital. If you don't believe me, a professor will probably send someone to bring you over for questioning soon. If either of you bears any responsibility for this, think carefully about the consequences."

Mark and Michel's mouths fell open. Lynn's words had stunned them.