Riddle's Purpose

The professors in the Great Hall had prepared for the worst, ready to rescue the young wizards even if the Great Hall burned down.

However, the sudden appearance of icy blue tentacles improved things and left the professors speechless.

"What just happened?" Professor Slughorn asked, bewildered. "Who cast that wide-area spell? How could it freeze so many Ashwinder Eggs at once?"

"Armando, is that you?" Professor Merrythought instinctively looked at Headmaster Dippet and asked.

"It wasn't me," Headmaster Dippet slowly shook his head and said. "I'm not at my peak anymore; I can't cast so many spells at the same time."

At this moment, Xiwen, who was squatting next to a Christmas tree, withdrew his hand from the ground, dispersed the golden runes wrapped around his wrist, and silently stood up.

He sighed inwardly. The magic system of this world was fine in other aspects, but there were indeed too few large-scale spells. Even the professors could only cast Freezing Charm one by one to deal with the Ashwinder Egg.

However, Xiwen also knew that this kind of magic from another world was too conspicuous. Once Dumbledore returned from Poland and learned what had happened, he would probably be able to quickly connect the magic that froze the Ashwinder Egg that filled the entire Great Hall to him.

This spell, which covered the entire Great Hall, was ultimately quite difficult. Dumbledore's first thought wouldn't be the Young Wizard Xiwen, but rather the Ghost Xiwen disguised as Stephen Strange.

However, at this time, the Ghost Xiwen appeared to outsiders as someone traveling the world, having no opportunity to use magic in the Great Hall. As a result, even if the fact that Xiwen and Strange were one and the same person was not exposed, it would inevitably arouse Dumbledore's suspicion.

This is not what Xiwen wanted to see.

'Looks like it's time to test my acting skills.' Xiwen sighed silently, while secretly separating his Soul Body from his invisible state.

Then, a golden halo suddenly appeared in the Great Hall. When Ghost Xiwen passed through the halo, he lost his invisibility and appeared before everyone.

"Well, I'm not too late, am I?" Ghost Xiwen said loudly in the Great Hall with a smile on his face.

Headmaster Dippet's expression became slightly unnatural upon seeing the Ghost Xiwen. After all, just last year he had imprisoned this mysterious ghost due to some misunderstanding.

"Doctor Strange, did you use the magic just now?" he asked.

"Of course, I guess no one else would use this spell." Seeing Headmaster Dippet's somewhat unnatural expression, Xiwen replied in a rather cheerful mood.

Ultimately, it was this ghost who saved the Great Hall and all the students. Headmaster Dippet, suppressing his embarrassment, smiled and expressed his sincere gratitude to the Ghost Xiwen.

Since the Ghost Xiwen was either chatting and laughing with Helena in his dungeon room or studying in the library, the Hogwarts students weren't very familiar with him. Seeing a ghost who could suddenly cast spells naturally piqued their curiosity, and they wanted to stay in the Great Hall to see what was going on.

However, Professor Merrythought immediately directed the Prefect of each house to lead the curious young wizards away from the Great Hall.

Headmaster Dippet then turned to Professor Kettleburn, his expression becoming extremely serious.

"Silvanus, your unauthorized use of the Engorgement Charm on the Ashwinder has posed a great danger to the students and caused considerable damage to the castle's public property. I believe it is necessary to punish you!" he said solemnly. "Effective immediately, you will be placed on probation!"

"Do you have any further objections?" Headmaster Dippet asked, staring intently at Professor Kettleburn.

"I have absolutely no objection to this punishment," Professor Kettleburn waved his hand and said to the principal. "After all, I've been teaching here for several years now, and not a single year has passed without me being placed on probation. I'm completely used to it now!"

"To be honest, it's quite unusual that I haven't received any disciplinary action this year."

'So this is your reason for causing such a big stir at the end of the year...' Ghost Xiwen's lips twitched, fully appreciating Professor Kettleburn's unwavering composure.

Headmaster Dippet's face darkened, and he turned his head away, seemingly afraid that this formidable professor of Care of Magical Creatures would make him sick.

Joking aside, Professor Kettleburn is quite concerned about the question of Fantastic Beasts.

After accepting his punishment, he pinched his chin, frowned, and fell into deep thought:

"This doesn't make sense. I started experimenting on the Ashwinder several months ago; it shouldn't be going out of control like this today."

"Does the Ashwinder have some other habits that I haven't discovered?"

Meanwhile, the Young Wizard Xiwen found Riddle in a corner of the Entrance Courtyard corridor.

Riddle stood silently on the veranda, his hands in his pockets, watching the heavy snowfall.

"Was it you who caused the Ashwinder to go out of control today?" Xiwen walked to Riddle's side and asked softly.

"Why would you think that?" Riddle asked with a stiff grin.

"It's too obvious." Xiwen shook his head slightly and said, "You happened to leave your seat when the Ashwinder went out of control. In addition, I also know that your Parseltongue can control snakes, so you are already a prime suspect."

"Furthermore, before that Ashwinder exploded, Parseltongue voice was heard entering the Great Hall. And I just happened to hear you speak in that Parseltongue voice, so it's easy to distinguish that distinctive sound."

"So, is there anything else you want to explain?" Xiwen looked at Riddle and asked in a deep voice.

"You're right, my Parseltongue is indeed too obvious to those who have heard it." Riddle shook his head and chuckled instead.

"I really didn't expect you to choose to stay at school during the Christmas holidays. Otherwise, if Dumbledore had just left the school and you had also chosen to go home, then the loss of control of the Ashwinder would have remained a complete mystery."

Xiwen raised an eyebrow, Riddle readily admitted that his actions were completely unexpected.

After all, all of this was just Xiwen's speculation, without any evidence, so Xiwen was already prepared to face Riddle's denial.

"Why did you do this?" Xiwen sighed deeply and asked softly.

Riddle didn't answer, but instead asked, "Rozier, I thought you should know why."

"I don't believe you did all this just to scare your two roommates," Xiwen said, frowning. "With your intelligence, you should have realized that professors wouldn't allow students to have problems in front of them."

"What if?" Riddle said coldly, his expression unchanged. "What if the professors don't have time to look after them in the chaos? Besides, even if the professors manage to protect those two in time, I'll still be very happy to see them make a fool of themselves. In short, I'm guaranteed to profit!"

Hearing Riddle's words, Xiwen's brow furrowed even more.

Since enrolling, Riddle had always maintained a calm and reserved demeanor. However, his behavior today was completely different, unlike anything Xiwen had ever known about him.

Unless... he's hiding something?

Xiwen looked at Riddle's hands, still hidden in his pocket, and a slight smile appeared on his lips.