Chapter 293 The Friend with the Question Mark

"Friend of the question mark?" Nelson looked even more confused than Dumbledore, "Isn't it you?"

"Me? Your cat... is called a question mark, right?" Dumbledore shook his head with a smile, "I really want to be friends with this cute cat, but it doesn't seem to like me. I tried using Miller The little dried fish my baby gave me to curry favor with it, but it doesn't eat it at all."

"You might have to give it some sweets like candied fruit, he's the king of the school, and he's used to big fish and meat," Nelson shrugged. "In fact, he doesn't even give me face."

"I have also heard that Professor Dippet is the former headmaster, I am the acting headmaster, and there is a cat who is the real headmaster," Dumbledore laughed at himself, and these words attracted the eyes of the old headmasters behind him, "So Have you heard of its new friend?"

Nelson noticed that there was an extra painting on top of Dumbledore's head, which was placed next to Phineas Black, the most unpopular headmaster in Hogwarts history. He could only see the luxurious living room and seats, but The people inside were not there, and he was startled. Could it be that Armando Dippet is dead? This is his portrait?

"Isn't it really you?" Nelson didn't ask this question, but frowned, reached into his pocket, pulled out a long and sharp dagger, and raised his hand to insert it on Dumbledore's desk.

"This is..." Dumbledore squinted his eyes, looking at the dagger that could be completely submerged with a light insertion. His desk is a valuable antique, the wood is extremely tight, and many are added to protect the antique. However, the dagger sank as if inserted into tofu, enough to see its sharpness, "This is the dagger I gave you? Have you re-sharpened it?"

"No, Professor," Nelson shook his head, pulled out another identical dagger from the other pocket, and inserted it into Dumbledore's desk as well, but this one was far less sharp than the former one. After a lot of effort, I just barely inserted the tip of the knife into the table, "This is the dagger you gave me."

Nelson's eyes drifted back to the dagger with only the hilt remaining, and said, "This one was brought to me by the question mark, and it has been so sharp since I received it, because they look the same, I thought This is what you entrusted it to bring to me."

"Can you show me?" Dumbledore pondered for a moment, stretched out his hand to hold the hilt of the sharp dagger, and asked.

"Look."

Dumbledore pulled out the dagger vigorously. The mirror-like blade reflected the brilliance of the chandelier, causing Nelson to close his eyes unconsciously. He only heard a "whoosh", followed by a heavy object falling on the carpet. dull sound.

He opened his eyes, and saw Dumbledore standing there blankly holding the dagger, as if he had seen something incomprehensible. Nelson followed his gaze and saw that the corner of the heavy desk was covered with life. After cutting, the texture of the log is exposed, without any burrs, and it is extremely silky.

"It's really a sharp knife." Dumbledore carefully observed the sharp blade in his hand,

"Albus, if you use things from Hogwarts to chop this kind of table bought from outside in the castle, of course it will be cut in half."

An old man's voice sounded slowly above Dumbledore's head. Nelson raised his head, and there was a goat-like old man in the picture frame beside Phineas. It was Salazar who Nelson had met by the Black Lake. Slytherin, he narrowed his eyes, looked down at Nelson, wrinkled his nose, and asked in disgust, "Nordic boy, did you roll in a cesspit?"

"What?" A big question mark appeared above Nelson's head.

"Why haven't I seen you for a few days, you have an extra stink," Slytherin said with a serious face, and he didn't seem to be insulting Nelson, but as if he was stating a simple fact, "A smell of death The stench of a limp corpse, of an ambitious tyrant, of a disorderly madman."

Nelson raised his arm, put the cuff close to his nose and sniffed it. Not one of Wiltoning, who is good at water transformation, doesn't like to take a bath. What's more, he also added a permanent cleaning spell to the clothes, so it is impossible to have any peculiar smell. .

"Master Slytherin is right." Phineas pinched his nose and said in a pretentious manner. If Slytherin's unceremonious speech is a bit majestic, then Phineas is full of greasy pretense, " It's a disgrace to Hogwarts to not pay attention to hygiene at such a young age!"

"?" The question mark above Nelson's head jumped.

"You can pull it, Phineas, I remember when you were in office, in order to extend the study time of the students, you even dismantled two bathrooms, so that they could only take a shower once every two days," said the headmistress Dai Lisi Dewan Tet had a good impression of Nelson, threatening Phineas with that thick wand, "I saw your great-grandson playing with a dead mouse last week, shut up!"

She stepped into Phineas's picture frame, and there was Slytherin on the other side. Phineas had nowhere to escape, and he begged for forgiveness in a low voice, only then did he realize that his wish to put Lord Slytherin next to him came true. A mine that he planted with his own hands.

"I didn't smell it?" Nelson's face was full of confusion.

Dumbledore also nodded, "There is no smell, did you go to some place with a strong smell just now?"

"Let me see, Albus, can you do me a favor? Lift his left hand, yes, the little finger, closer, closer."

Slytherin skillfully ordered Dumbledore to help him with the work, but Nelson was still wondering about the "stinky smell", sniffing around his sleeve all the time, looking like a sniffer looking for gold coins smell.

"Yes, the last knuckle, pinch it, and use 'Prototype Instant Present'."

Under the command of Slytherin, Dumbledore pressed his wand against Nelson's left little finger, white light flashed, and a circle of green marks appeared on the finger. Nelson saw it and understood that it was Haierpo who had shot However, it was quickly purified by the lost mist, losing its original effect.

And the "stinky smell" that Slytherin mentioned may be the breath he got when he went to stop Haierbo from stealing the Philosopher's Stone during the divination class today. After crushing so many poisonous snakes, there will always be a few drops of blood spattered On the body.

"Despicable Haibo?" Slytherin's expression became tense and his tone became urgent, "You are his servant? Albus, arrest him quickly!"

Nelson broke free from Dumbledore's hand like a loach, quickly put his hand in his pocket, and before Dumbledore could react, he took out the ring that had faded from the imprint—a ring made of a ouroboros .

Before Slytherin had time to say the next sentence, Nelson nodded slightly and said, "The enemy you once fought against, the despicable Haibo, is waking up in the illusion."

"Misty illusion? He really has another horcrux." Slytherin narrowed his eyes, the narrow eyes were narrowed into a slit, "No wonder he still has the strength to escape after we destroyed the horcrux, he is a centipede , dead but not stiff!"

"That's right," Nelson nodded, "I have found three hiding places for his soul, but I don't know which one is the body, but please rest assured, before the prophecy comes true, I can do it in the twilight illusion. suppress him."

"You? Suppress him?" Slytherin stared at Nelson closely. He didn't know whether to believe it or not. After a while, he sighed and turned away from the painting frame. Phineas, who was cornered by Dai Lisi, finally also Taking the opportunity, he slipped into Slytherin's photo frame and slipped away in the blink of an eye.

The rest of the principals all had their eyes half-closed and looked like they were dozing off. Except for Fox who made the sound of chewing nuts from time to time, there was an eerie silence in the principal's room.

"Nelson, it's really tiring to carry too many things by yourself," Dumbledore raised his hand, patted Nelson on the shoulder vigorously, and said, "Thank you for your hard work... I always knew that you are still the one with justice in your heart." good boy."

Nelson's shoulder was painfully patted. He bit his lower lip and squeezed out a frivolous and bitter smile, "Don't you? Professor."

"Me?" Dumbledore laughed.

"Okay, now let's get down to business," he waved, and the two chairs that had fallen in the commotion just now flew back to their original places. The two sat down, and Dumbledore continued, "I know you like magic very much." Shi, I don’t know if you’ve heard that Hogwarts once had a prankster.”

"Peves?" Nelson raised his eyebrows. "I know it disappeared after the expulsion organized by the previous castle administrator."

"You really know a lot," Dumbledore nodded, "This makes our topic much simpler. In one sentence, Peeves appeared again, and it seemed to be inseparable from your cat named Question Mark, so That's why I thought of asking you if you knew of its existence. As for these two daggers, they should both come from the traps set by the previous castle administrator, and the one should be given to you by the question mark."

"No wonder," Nelson suddenly realized, nodded and said, "No wonder I always feel that those moving stairs have become more active after returning to school, and the explosion before..."

Nelson waved his hand, stopped this dangerous topic, and continued after swallowing, "I saw a wall collapsed due to disrepair, but it quickly repaired itself."

"Oh?" Dumbledore asked curiously, "Why do you think that the activity of the castle is related to Peeves?"

"History, Professor," Nelson's tone became more confident, "Peeves is obviously not the ghost of Hogwarts. I searched the history of the school, and I couldn't find a student who likes to do pranks so much, there is no one How can ghosts be born?"

Dumbledore nodded in agreement, motioning for Nelson to continue.

"I compared the teaching style of previous Hogwarts principals with the level of Peeves' activity in the corresponding time period," Nelson said, "I found that when the principal's teaching style is milder and the relationship between teachers and students is good, Peeves is more active. Even though ghosts have a high sense of presence, they are not very active, they just do some pranks that little wizards would do to their friends."

"That's right." Behind Dumbledore, a bald old man with squinting eyes and a good-natured face said, "When I was the headmaster, Peeves helped us arrange the Triwizard Tournament."

"It seems that you are very popular with the students, Kevin." Dumbledore turned his head and nodded to the bald old man. The old man smiled, as if he was caught in the memory of his Hogwarts career.

"But when some principals with a tough style and a bad relationship with students are in office," Nelson raised his head, glanced at Phineas's frame, and saw that he was not there, and then produced more detailed data, "such as Principal Black In the nearly forty years of his tenure, Peeves' activity rate is almost the highest in history. At this time, its "prank" choices are also more harmful, with a total of 135 times, an average of at least three cases per semester. It can be seen that Peeves' behavior style is closely related to the students' attitudes towards the school."

"Very reasonable," continued Dumbledore. "Then why don't you think he's just a ghost with the students?"

"Professor, you must know that ghosts are generally unable to touch or harm matter," Nelson shook his head, "and how could Hogwarts ghosts do things like unscrew the chandelier over the heads of freshmen during the opening ceremony? I It is more inclined to be the castle elves of Hogwarts. Ms. Rowena Ravenclaw once told me that the reason why the number of silent people in Britain dropped sharply after the establishment of Hogwarts was not only because the little wizards got The stable learning environment is because the castle is equipped with a kind of magic, a kind of magic that can sort out and absorb the mixed magic power that the little wizard cannot control, and these magic powers will never disappear out of thin air. They are all used to maintain the daily life of the castle. As time goes by, the wonder of the magic power gave birth to a powerful spirituality in the castle, and because it acquired the student's magic power, it would naturally be affected by the emotions contained in the magic power, this kind of statement is more in line with Peeves' behavior logic."

"Has he seen Ravenclaw yet?" "Is he the next headmaster?" "I've never seen Ravenclaw!" Behind Dumbledore, the headmasters who had just pretended to be asleep just now exclaimed one after another.

"Very reasonable and convincing," Dumbledore nodded gratified, "The dagger was originally given to you to remind you of the second round of the Triwizard Tournament, but now I think you are fully qualified to participate in this Are you free now? I'll take you to a place where the trap set by the castle warden Rancoros Calpe was designed to kill Peeves. By the way, this is also the first The venue for the second match."

"Okay, Professor," Nelson nodded, "Is this related to Professor Sykes' planting of the ghosts?"

"Framing?" said Dumbledore in surprise. "That's a pretty serious accusation."

"Professor, today at-"

"I know, we'll talk about this later," Dumbledore patted Nelson on the back, motioning to leave the office together. There are some limitations, but if we can go into the scene where historical events took place, the mysteries separated by time will become clearer."