Hogwarts 1991

Chapter 252 Hogwarts 'Theological' College

The fact that Percy Weasley and Penelope Clearwater were both attacked completely turned the atmosphere at Hogwarts into panic.

In this incident, what scares the Hogwarts students the most is not the attack of the two prefects, but the encounter of Peeves.

No one could have predicted that a ghost could become like this.

What terrible power can kill a magic elf again.

What's more, there are ghosts who are about to leave Hogwarts, which makes the little wizards panic even more.

For a while, there was no one even in the library, and the little wizards hid in the common room and dormitory one by one.

Nobody was sneaking up and down the corridors playing 'hide and seek' with Filch at all these days.

The current Hogwarts can almost be described as desolate.

The disappearance of Peeves... The twins have no extra interest in making troubles, and even the Gryffindor common room has become very deserted.

The little wizards gathered together in twos and threes, muttering and discussing these matters.

They are scrambling to get out of here, and they are asking how to go home through owls to ask if they can take leave to go back...but the outside (wizard world) is not much better.

The matter of the Muggle cruise ship in Hawaii was finally discovered by the Muggle world and newspapers such as the Daily Prophet.

Three hundred Muggles were missing, not even the cruise ship.

This kind of situation actually happened in modern society, and of course it would cause an uproar in Muggle society.

(The cruise ship has been hidden under some sort of spell by the US Department of Magic.

Now that cruise ship is full of the remains of that man-eating giant plant.The traces of fighting with Aurors from various countries.

This situation cannot be discovered by Muggles at all.

And because of the bad relationship the US Ministry of Magic has with its US Muggle government...

That's why this matter has been frozen there, unable to deal with it.

Finally, with great difficulty, with the cooperation of other Ministry of Magic, the wizards covered up the incident. )
But in Muggle society, due to the unusually slow handling of this matter and the lack of a convincing answer, various rumors fermented, and the people were dissatisfied, and began to protest on the streets.

There are some religious apocalypse protests, marches with guns, Black Lives Matter, equal rights for women, protection of puppies’ rights... Well, some strange things are mixed in. In short, the political turmoil in the Muggle world eventually even led to the resignation of several heads of state.

Even McGuffin at Hogwarts knew several versions of these rumors.

Some Muggles say that aliens from Area 51 kidnapped 300 people, some say that the U.S. military experimented on it to explode the zombie virus, some say that it was the giant monster Godzilla produced after being irradiated... and some say that they traveled back in time... The Muggle Countermeasure Centers of the Ministry of Magic of various countries played a big role in the spread of these rumors.

But what the Ministry of Magic of various countries did not expect was that this panic was transmitted to the wizarding world.

Of course it's another way of saying it.

Some people say that Grindelwald escaped from the wizarding world, some people think that the Dark Lord came back from the resurrection, some people think it was done by Harry Potter (this little wizard finally revealed his true colors)... Apparently the traditional arts circulated in Hogwarts played a big role in it.

In short, the first thing in the morning for adult wizards in the entire wizarding world is to check the newspapers to see if there is any new bad news coming out.

Fear almost overwhelmed the entire wizarding world.

No one is happy, except the major newspapers, magazine editors, journalists, and shareholders.

(It is said that [Daily Prophet] and [Daily Wizard] are selling like crazy, and even Luna’s father’s [Quicklist] has a loyal fan base...at least that guy Neville has subscribed several times....Its deviant, crazy rhetorical theory is naturally welcomed by some people at this moment...)
In such a state of panic, parents think that even if Hogwarts is the safest, even if some students are attacked, they think that anyway, even if they are attacked, they will only be petrified, and the two students who were attacked were only caused by running around in the corridors.

Instead, the parents reprimanded the little wizards not to run around in Hogwarts.

During the rest of the holidays, the little wizards in the lower grades would yell and yell whenever there was any movement, which was really annoying.

Those senior wizards who are about to graduate are not much better. They are almost desperate for the employment situation... Now, except for the Ministry of Magic and newspapers and magazines, almost all shops, companies... and even Gringotts are laying off staff.

Even Ron's eldest brother, Bill, and Charlie, were temporarily transferred to the Ministry of Magic to help.

(They are studying dragons in Romania, and they are exploring pyramids in Egypt... It can be seen how serious the situation in the magic world is now)
I don't know when, Hogwarts began to spread... all kinds of secret techniques to prevent black witchcraft.

Like Quilinus Quirrell, who smelled garlic on his body (it is said that it was sprayed with a special garlic essence), like Seamus Figani, who was in the same dormitory as McGuffin, he did it like this... It made McGuffin have to wear a head soaking spell in the dormitory these two days, or use a spell to purify the air in order to stay.

Hufflepuff students, (Muggle students including Justine and Colin are the most ridiculous) are covered with all kinds of symbols of gods for prayer,... Various types of crosses hang all over their necks, and even... McGuffin saw several wizards from pure-blood families with twitching eyes, and they were also made to start praying by these guys.

McGuffin suspects that if this continues until the end of this semester, this Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry will probably be changed into Hogwarts 'Theological' School.

And Slytherins from pure-blood families are not much better... They are said to use black magic to protect themselves.

In their simple brains, it seems that only powerful black magic can deal with another kind of black magic.

Therefore, these guys hide in the corners of Hogwarts's unobtrusive corridors all day long, holding all kinds of crazy, weird,... but useless bloody rituals in twos and threes.

I don't know where these guys got live mice, toads, spiders,... used to cast all kinds of weird spells.

——The scene of the crime was simply 'stupid' and unbearable!

There is even a little wizard who swallows a live spider, saying that it can predict danger in this way.

vomit!
I really don't know how Slytherin's brain circuits grow.

But the most direct victim was undoubtedly Filch.

The 'scenes' left over from these grotesque magical rituals had apparently driven him almost insane, and he now yelled at any little wizard walking down the corridor.

When McGuffin and the others went to the library, they had heard Filch's hysterical screams.

"You idiots,...you have caused me trouble again! Mopping the floor all night, as if my work is not enough... [Chamber of secrets], petrification, patrolling, etc. are enough...Why do I have to deal with bat droppings, rat internal organs, frog eyeballs...I have to talk to Dumbledore, if someone commits another crime, it must be hung from the ceiling...You say yes, Mrs. Norris!"

The Ravenclaw students didn't do anything outrageous. They even found out about the [Chamber of Secrets] and disclosed it in the school's rumors.

But obviously under the current situation, the statement closest to the 'truth' has been overwhelmed by various theories.

Ron, Ginny, and the twins have been a little unhappy since Percy was petrified.

In order to cheer up a few people, McGuffin and Harriet spread a rumor among the students.

What to say - big dung eggs can effectively expel black witchcraft and protect themselves.

Unexpectedly, Gore and Crabbe actually believed it.

It is said that they mistook Filch for a dark wizard somewhere in the hallway and smeared him with a lot of shit, almost making Filch burp on the spot.

In the end, the two were caught foolishly...

But even if McGuffin told Ron that, it wouldn't make him happy again.

McGuffin had no choice but to quickly search for the records of the basilisk in the library, hoping to solve this problem as soon as possible.

Although prompted by Hermione, he narrowed it down to the few bookshelves behind.

However, since this part of the old collection is not arranged according to the rules, it is very difficult to find it.

Facing the threat of the basilisk, he had to put the Christmas gift from Harry and Ron, that is, some goggles on his head.

(This also adds to the difficulty of finding.)
He kept persuading Harry, and Hermione and the others did the same.

Harry and Hermione did not approve of the McGuffin's approach.

However, there is another rumor circulating in Hogwarts...

——It is said that goggles can effectively prevent petrification.

I don't know who sent it...

The result is now….

Dean Thomas asked McGuffin suspiciously with a pair of goggles in his hand.

"Wearing it will prevent that black witchcraft, right!?"

"Just in case... all I can tell you is that it's better to wear than not to..."

McGuffin hurriedly bid farewell to Dean, who was pulling him, and wanted to go to the library.

Unexpectedly, when they went outside, they saw all the little wizards wearing black goggles, some with crosses hanging around their necks, or a bunch of garlic... Even Ginny was wearing a carrot-carved amulet, which looked like it was written by Luna.

It doesn't look like Hogwarts in the HP world, but rather some kind of cult in the steampunk world.

He has been obsessed with the library these days, but he didn't expect that when he realized it now, the painting style of Hogwarts would become like this.

"McGuffin, look at what you've done..." Hermione came over angrily, and she was also wearing a pair of pink diving goggles, which set off the messy hair a bit cutely.

Due to Percy's disappearance, Gryffindor, with only one female prefect, fell into chaos rapidly even though the twins had no intention of causing trouble.

Any rumors of 'traditional arts' would be fermented quickly and echoed continuously. After a few back and forth between the colleges, people began to believe it, especially the little wizards in the first and second grades who were deeply in fear.

Under the coercion of the crowd, even Harry had to accept this trend, put on goggles on his head, and held a beautiful flower-arranged version of the "Bible" that was said to be provided by Colin.

--Oh my God!
This matter must be dealt with quickly, otherwise this Hogwarts is really a pill!

Became a seminary.

McGuffin hurriedly dragged the dissatisfied Hermione out of the common room where demons danced wildly, and went to the library.

(Plus, he's always been carrying a glass jar of those spiders he caught that Christmas Eve... these days, McGuffin takes these little ones with him wherever he goes.)
……

"finally……"

"found it!"

"I knew it was there!"

MacGuffin was about to cry when he finally found a description of the basilisk in an old library book.

【...In our country, there are many terrifying beasts and monsters wandering around. Among them, the most bizarre and lethal monster is the basilisk, also known as the snake king.

... The stare of the basilisk can kill anyone, and anyone caught by its gaze will be fatal.

(If you don't directly contact its eyes, if you see the pupil of the basilisk through some medium...such as water, or mirror, glass, you will be petrified. This kind of petrification can only be released from the petrified state by making a resurrection potion specially made by Mandrake...)
...the basilisk is the deadly enemy of the spider, and the spider will run away when it sees the basilisk. ...]

"What did you find!"

Seeing McGuffin screaming in ecstasy, Hermione and the others approached.

MacGuffin unfolded the book with them and looked at it together.

"Look! Everything can be matched... Malfoy and Percy were petrified like that because they didn't look directly into the eyes of the basilisk... Malfoy was through a window, Percy and Penelope were through Peeves' body...and Peeves obviously couldn't be killed by the basilisk..."

"And Harry, do you remember that Parseltongue we heard before we found Malfoy?"

"...and at Christmas time, those spiders kept going crazy trying to get out of Hogwarts... Isn't that all right?"

McGuffin put the spider in the glass bottle in front of several people, and let them see... Ron took a few steps back in disgust.

McGuffin 'pretended to be very excited' and put all the elements in front of several people.

"The size of this kind of snake can become very large, and it can usually live for hundreds of years." Ron poured cold water on his head dejectedly, "McGuffin, if there was a snake this big wandering around Hogwarts...it would have been discovered long ago."

"I've thought of this a long time ago. Do you still remember that we heard the Parseltongue? It was heard in the wall... So much so that we thought it could pass through the wall or become invisible... In fact, there are still in the wall..."

"Pipe!" Hermione gasped excitedly,
"I once read in the book [Magic used in the construction of Hogwarts Castle] that Hogwarts had undergone major renovations in the last century, and all the heating pipes were enlarged...that is enough for a huge snake to walk through it!"

"Yes! No wonder people don't find out,"

"Besides, the basilisk stopped after attacking Malfoy some time ago... It was because the temperature in Hogwarts was too low during that time. It seems that the basilisk also has the characteristics of a snake, and it is also a cold-blooded animal. If the temperature is too low, its activities will be reduced... It was not until the temperature in Hogwarts castle gradually recovered that it started to move again... No wonder it is so strange..."

"McGuffin! Didn't you already know that, that's why you keep reminding people to wear goggles!" Hermione asked, remembering the strange behavior of McGuffin before.

"Routine operation! Routine... I just have a little impression, I don't know what I saw in that book... I guess I saw it in the restricted area last semester..."

"Really?" Hermione asked suspiciously.

"Harry, we found it! Hurry up and tell Professor McGonagall! Hurry up..." McGuffin quickly changed the topic.

Can……

"Harry?" "Ron?"

Harry and the others didn't give the enthusiastic response they expected, but instead they huddled around the glass bottle that McGuffin had brought.

——Something is wrong, the atmosphere in the library is almost dead silent, there is no sound at all.

Originally, they were yelling like this, and they would definitely attract Mrs. Pince.

But... there is no movement now.

"Ron?" McGuffin called out, looking at Ron.

Ron stared at the spider in the glass bottle with uncharacteristically fixed eyes, without the usual disgust and dislike at all.

Fear was on his face.

He said in a low (barely audible) voice, "The MacGuffin book says...do spiders run away when they sense a basilisk?"

"like this?"

Harry's voice was trembling and cold, although it was very slight, it was clearly audible in the silence of the library.

He pointed to the carafe and moved away so that McGuffin and Hermione could see it too.

Only then did the MacGuffin see the glass bottle.

A few little spiders in the bottle jumped up and down, constantly bumping into the bottle.

_Like crazy.

(End of this chapter)