Lin Du's mind instantly focused as he tried to follow that fleeting trace and sense it carefully—
But the feeling vanished.
It vanished completely, without a trace, as if that brief glimpse had merely been an illusion caused by excessive concentration.
But Lin Du knew it had not been an illusion.
Inside Hogwarts... there was actually a clue related to Ancient Magic.
His decision to return here had indeed been the right one.
"...What's wrong?"
Chao Feng keenly noticed that something was off about Lin Du and sounded somewhat puzzled.
"...Nothing. I just discovered something unexpected."
Suddenly, he found the statue's silence and this forced waiting somewhat unbearable.
"So?" Chao Feng had not missed his unusual excitement.
"So," Lin Du replied mentally, unable to suppress the laughter in his voice, "I'm starting to feel a little... impatient to wake up."
The Mandrake draught had better be ready soon.
All the students at Hogwarts felt that this Christmas holiday had been rather surreal.
At the beginning of the holiday, the Daily Prophet had gone all out, viciously criticizing Dumbledore for "mismanagement that allowed the thousand-year-old legend of the Chamber of Secrets to become reality, placing students in mortal danger," while portraying Lin Du, the new Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, as a dangerous figure of "unknown origins, obsessed with Dark Magic."
Whether they had stayed at school or read the papers at home, the students were all outraged. The Gryffindors in particular wanted nothing more than to tear the newspaper apart and throw it into the fire.
However, two or three days before the end of the holiday, the paper's stance suddenly made a complete one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn.
Rita Skeeter's new article fawningly praised Headmaster Dumbledore for being "strategically brilliant and farsighted," and for "resolving, with unparalleled wisdom and courage,