Once the train had come to a steady halt, Professor Marlene Queens elegantly lowered her wand, and several cubes instantly flew out of her dangling robe sleeves. The cubes spun and floated merrily in the air as though alive, white lines flowing endlessly across them like a streaming Milky Way, seemingly gathering power, poised to strike.
Once everything was ready, Professor Marlene walked slowly toward the exit near the front of the engine, preparing to go down and investigate.
As she passed the boiler, Marlene flicked her wand lightly and tapped its top. In an instant, the flames inside seemed to come alive, rapidly transforming into a vague human figure, much like Marlene's shadow.
Then the figure spoke, repeating, "The Hogwarts Express has encountered a suspected man-made obstruction and has been forced to stop. The professor currently on duty, Marlene Queens, is getting off to investigate."
After confirming that the message was entirely accurate, Marlene tapped the boiler with her wand again. The fiery figure vanished like an illusion, going off to Hogwarts to deliver the message.
Not only did this boiler look remarkably like a fireplace, it also possessed all a fireplace's magical functions and was closely connected to the Floo Network.
After sending the message, Professor Marlene was just about to get off and investigate when the door behind her suddenly creaked open. Percy rushed in and asked anxiously, "Professor! What's happened? Why has the train suddenly stopped?"
Seeing that it was Percy, Professor Marlene explained patiently, "It's nothing serious. A landslide up ahead has buried the tracks. I'm going down to take a look."
Looking puzzled, Percy pressed, "A landslide? There aren't any mountains prone to landslides along the Hogwarts Express's route, and the weather is clear. How could there suddenly be a landslide that even buried the tracks?"
Professor Marlene nodded slightly in agreement with Percy and said, "Exactly. There is indeed something suspicious about this. Go and tell the other prefects to maintain order on the train and tell the students not to open the windows. The train will protect you."
Hearing Marlene's instructions, Percy promptly replied, "No problem, Professor. I'll go right away."
Only after Percy left did Marlene open the door and prepare to step down.
The moment she opened the door, a dark figure tried to rush inside like a bolt of black lightning. But as soon as it drew close, a cube beside Marlene emitted a dazzling beam of white magic that struck it squarely. The dark figure instantly caught fire and turned to ashes in the blink of an eye.
"That impatient, are you?" Marlene stood in the doorway, her piercing gaze fixed on the dark figures in the distant woods. The cubes beside her circled her constantly like loyal guards, blocking the doorway completely.
Several figures slowly emerged from the woods. They wore robes and their faces were as pale as paper, but unlike the vampires seen from the carriages farther back, these vampires were clearly much older, the wrinkles on their faces as distinct as dried-up riverbeds.
"Hello, professor of Hogwarts! Allow me to introduce myself first. My name is Gori, and for the past century, I have been the head of Slaed, one of the thirteen vampire clans. We mean no harm. We merely wish to board the train and find someone."
"Heh. If you mean no harm, why didn't you wait beside the tracks instead of stopping the train by such vile means?" Marlene showed no mercy, dropping all pretense of civility.
The old vampire in the lead remained unperturbed and continued, "We had originally intended to wait for the train to stop, and even planned to follow it to Hogwarts. But now that an accident has happened, I believe we could lend a hand and board the train to find someone while we're at it."
"Hmph, vampires. Since when were vampires so helpful? Haven't you always considered wizards an inferior race?"
"We have always held powerful wizards in awe, just as we do Dumbledore," the old vampire Gori said respectfully.
"How fortunate, then. I've just informed Headmaster Dumbledore. Perhaps he'll be here shortly." Marlene took the opportunity to invoke Dumbledore's name, attempting to make the vampires back down.
"That would be wonderful. But time is short. So that we can have a proper chat with Dumbledore, why not let us board and find the person we're looking for first?" With those words, the vampires stopped holding back, turning into blood-red shadows and lunging toward the door.
At the same time, the vampires spread around the Hogwarts Express also began attacking. White light flashed all around the train's long body, like fireworks blooming in the night sky.
Watching the blood-red shadows rush toward her, Marlene remained composed and moved her wand lightly. The cubes at her side spun rapidly like high-speed gears, shooting beams of white magic that wove a dense net before her, blocking the blood-red shadows like a sturdy shield.
As the blood-red shadows struck the net of light, agonized howls immediately rang out, like screams from hell.
Seeing that they could not break through the net of light Marlene had summoned, the vampires in shadow form retreated and resumed their human shapes.
The vampires looked even paler after returning to human form, and many had tears in their clothes. It seemed the net of light had indeed done them some damage.
The vampire leader, who had not attacked, looked at Marlene and said helplessly, "Professor, we don't want to cause too great a misunderstanding. All we ask is to board the train and find one person, a student who hasn't enrolled yet."
Hearing the vampire's words, Marlene asked curiously, "You're looking for an eleven-year-old child? Do you vampires have some connection to the Muggle Church? Have you taken a liking to little boys too?"
Clearly, the old vampire did not quite understand the joke. He said very seriously, "It isn't necessarily a boy. This person is extremely important to our kind."
Extremely important to vampires? Marlene considered herself well-read and knowledgeable, yet she truly could not think of any wizard child who would be important to vampires, so she asked tentatively:
"Whose illegitimate child is it? A descendant of one of your princes? Coming back to claim their ancestry? That's certainly possible. Your ancestors had rather messy private lives, and there are all sorts of legends about them and Muggles. But no, that doesn't add up. Hogwarts doesn't admit vampire students. That rule was established centuries ago," Marlene asked in puzzlement.
Hearing Marlene begin to gossip about vampires' love affairs, the old vampire Gori hurriedly said, "No. Someone more important than that. Someone who concerns the survival of vampires."
"Er, then you should wait until the Hogwarts Express reaches the station. Dumbledore doesn't take the train. But don't worry. I haven't heard of Dumbledore having any grievances against vampires lately," Marlene said earnestly.
The vampire felt utterly helpless at Marlene's leaps in conversation and simply spoke plainly. "A prophecy! A prophecy a seer gave us! Aboard this train today is the mourner, the bell-ringer, or perhaps the savior of vampires, werewolves, and dark creatures! We must find him, or vampires and werewolves may perish at his hands!"
"A prophecy? Even vampires believe in that? Where would you find a real seer these days? They're all people who learn a few scraps and go out swindling others," Marlene said disdainfully.
Hearing Marlene's words, the vampire's lips curled into a cold sneer, and he said earnestly, "Our prophecy came from a genuine seer. We paid a great price for it."
Marlene thought of vampires' long lifespans. Perhaps they really had asked about it back when seers still existed. She asked curiously, "Which seer?"
The vampire Gori said solemnly, "Grindelwald."
After hearing the vampire Gori's answer, Marlene pondered for a moment, then said earnestly, "Let's wait until Dumbledore gets here before we discuss this further."