Dumbledore nodded and stepped aside, motioning for Brian to move away from the desk, while Professor Moody advanced step by step on the weak, helpless, pitiful envelope.
Brian could hear the envelope screaming inwardly, "Stay away!" But that tiny bit of mental activity did nothing to stop Professor Moody's determined footsteps.
"You're only a letter. What is there to be afraid of?" Professor Moody raised his wand as he spoke, seized the letter, and suspended it in midair. "Let me give you a bath."
As Professor Moody waved his wand, a piercing bang suddenly rang out.
The envelope promptly fainted. At its center, the wax seal that normally repaired itself suddenly melted, releasing an evil black liquid.
Clearly, the wax seal on the letter was connected to Hogwarts' personnel magic network.
Before Professor Moody could wave his wand a second time, Brian cast an Earplug Charm on himself and covered Fawkes's ears-two small holes, just like most birds'-with his hands, watching the envelope spew black liquid amid the overlapping sound waves. It was a sign that the source of the curse was being destroyed.
Just as Brian was about to conjure a container to catch the black liquid, it turned to mist on its own. He put away his wand and remarked to Dumbledore:
"This spell really does make a mammoth racket." (Mammoth can mean enormous in scale.)
Dumbledore rubbed his ears and said with a smile, "The House-elves prepared mammoth meat today?"
"Yes, far too much of it. There's no room for it in the kitchen." Brian chuckled and played along with the humorous Hogwarts Headmaster's joke.
A Hogwarts House-elf suddenly appeared out of thin air, covering its ears and enduring the interference of the sound waves as it explained loudly in a shrill voice:
"We're terribly sorry, Professor