Great Hall.
The atmosphere of the evening was very enthusiastic, and Dumbledore honoured his word by bringing in a troupe of skeleton dancers. They played cheerful ditties on instruments made of bones while dancing comically, a style of performance that was, frankly, very memorable.
The little witches had a satisfied look on their faces as they sat in their pumpkin lanterns and gorged themselves on the festive specialities - not that they varied much in terms of flavour, in Felix's opinion, but they were original enough in style to be different.
Felix stuck a piece of black, tombstone-shaped caramel cake into his mouth in one bite.
There were ribbons and monster masks of various colours hanging from the ceiling of the great hall, and he even saw three big black dogs - not that black dogs have a great reputation in the wizarding world. But it took him a closer look to realize that it is actually a three-headed dog.
Felix: "..." always had the feeling that the three-headed dog's fame had been jeopardized.
Before he knew it, the time passed ten o'clock and raced towards eleven. One by one, the young wizards put down their cutlery, beaming with the satisfaction of a full meal.
Felix wiped his mouth with his napkin and began to discuss the spell with Professor Flitwick, while Professor Lockhart tried to interject, only to be ignored by the two.
Two months after the start of the school year, it wasn't hard for anyone with a lick of intelligence to see what a piece of work Lockhart is.
Felix couldn't help but give Dumbledore a reproachful glance, 'You've wasted my faith in you, and you've found such a turd to be a professor?
Thanks to that, I thought he had real talent.'
Felix felt unworthy of the time he had given.
Finally, the skeleton dance troupe ended their performance with an alternative soothing tune, and the crowd applauded cheerfully in unison until they took a bow and exited in a cloud of black smoke.
The evening ended, and the young wizards huddled their way out of the Great Hall. A few professors were left waving their wands and cleaning up the mess.
At that moment, a young wizard returned flustered, his lips quivering.
"Professors, I think you need to come and see ... something happened!"
Without him having to say anything, the professors heard the shouts of alarm from the young wizards outside the hall, and Dumbledore took a few strides over and the crowd automatically parted a space.
Felix and Professor Flitwick looked at each other and quickly followed.
They ascended the stairs to the second floor. Following the line of sight of the young wizards, they turned the corner and came to an empty passage.
The first thing Felix saw is Harry, Ron and Hermione, the three of them standing alone with obviously empty space around them, but the next moment his eyes fell on the cat hung on a torch stand.
It's Mrs Norris.
It looked very stiff, as if it had died.
Next to it, on the wall, a foot above the floor, is scribbled with some writing that glowed with emblematic light in the light of the burning torches.
The Chamber of Secrets has been opened.
Enemies of the heir, beware.
Filch yelled something as Dumbledore quickly crossed the crowd and unstrapped Mrs Norris. His expression turned serious, his blue eyes peering intently through the half-moon-shaped lenses.
"Come with me, Filch." He said to Filch, "and you, Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, and Miss Granger."
Lockhart quickly suggested his office, then followed Dumbledore, followed by Professor McGonagall, Snape, and Felix, while Professor Flitwick is left behind to calm the panicked young wizard.
Lockhart's office.
Several professors were gathered around a glossy table, surveying the stiff Mrs Norris.
The tip of Dumbledore's long, hawkish nose almost touched the fur of Mrs Norris's body. He scrutinized it through the half-moon-shaped lenses of his glasses, his long, slender fingers poking gently here and there.
Professor McGonagall also bent over, her face almost touching the cat too, squinting intently.
Snape, meanwhile, stood behind them, half his body hidden in the shadows.
Felix stood on the other side, his fingers brushing over Mrs Norris's spine, the fur on her body turned unusually hard, then he touched her body gently with his wand and felt a powerful aura of the curse.
She's not dead ... seemed to be petrified ...
And almost at the same time, Headmaster Dumbledore straightened up and said softly, " she is not dead, Filch, she's petrified."
But the Headmaster's words did not relieve Filch from his resentment, and he instantly aimed his suspicion towards Harry, going out of his way to reveal himself as a Squib
But his suspicions were quickly dismissed, as "it would require the highest depths of dark magic."
The trio clearly couldn't do that.
What's more, there's spooky handwriting on the wall.
Chamber of secrets ...
Felix, lost in thought, is such a familiar name.
Snape took the main stage next, interrogating the trio in a mocking tone as Harry stumbled over the explanation, causing Felix to sigh from the sidelines.
Boy, not even skilled enough to lie, not psychologically strong enough.
However, Felix then fell into thought, what were they hiding?
After attending the anniversary party in the basement, they were supposed to return to the Great Hall, but they were not ...
Perhaps he could find a chance to ask his assistant.
After the trio left, several professors exchanged information.
"Potter isn't being completely honest, Headmaster, that's my opinion," Snape repeated his opinion.
This was evident to all of them, as no professor retorted.
But Professor McGonagall habitually defended her students, "We have no evidence that they did something wrong, in fact, they may have simply heard some strange sound."
" That can't be ruled out," Dumbledore said non-committally, "What is your opinion, Felix."
The eyes of various people in the room fell on Felix, even the picture of Lockhart on the wall peeked out of the shadows.
"My opinion ... I'm still thinking about the writing on the wall, the chamber of secrets was opened, whose chamber of secrets? Opened by whom? And who is it that is working against this so-called heir?" He threw out three questions in a row.
Professor McGonagall pursed her lips as she said dryly, "Sounds like another Slytherin Chamber of Secrets myth, but there's never been proof ..."
Aside from Felix and Lockhart, two newcomers, the other three were old faculty members, by now, having heard similar schoolyard legends that spread through this small wizarding community every few years and kept popping up with more and more sensational and hunting content.
"But as far as I know, the two most famous names that can be associated with the word Chamber of Secrets are Ravenclaw and Slytherin. And in reference to this attack, the reference is already pretty obvious."
A few others could understand what Felix meant, the Chamber of Secrets and Slytherin linked together.
Ravenclaw wouldn't do something like this.
"Fair enough speculation, but unfortunately no proof." Snape stabbed him.
Finally, Dumbledore hammered the point home, "Let's search through the castle for the next few days and see if we can find anything."
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