Seeing the crystal ball fragments, Daphne couldn't help but feel a bit embarrassed.
She whispered, "I didn't know how to release the Nightmare inside. At the time, Voldemort was pressing hard, and in a moment of desperation, I smashed it. Was it very expensive?"
Expensive?!
Rhys felt the temperature on his forehead rising.
The value of the crystal ball couldn't merely be described as expensive. But in the end, all his thoughts were reduced to a sigh: what else could he do?
He couldn't get angry with her, after all, it was his own fault for not telling her how to operate such an item in advance.
He had to take at least eighty percent of the responsibility, and for various reasons, he couldn't even explain everything to Daphne. If he kept bottling it up, Rhys felt he might just explode.
So he decided to tell Daphne about the origin of the crystal ball—although he didn't plan to make her pay for it, she should at least know what it was that she had broken.
"This was a treasure left behind by one of the founders of the school, Rowena Ravenclaw."
Daphne: "..."
She was even more relieved that it was an unowned treasure. Otherwise, taking this crystal ball outside, given its unique background and the magical properties attached inside, it could probably rival Gryffindor's Sorting Hat.
She bowed her head in shame, studying the patterns on her socks.
After putting a bit of pressure on Daphne, Rhys turned his attention to the remains of the crystal ball.
Perhaps Ravenclaw could help repair it once she regained consciousness? This thought popped into his head, followed by a rather absurd idea: the crystal ball should still be under warranty, right? Because he remembered that Rowena had promised that if it broke, she could fix it.
Isn't that essentially a lifetime warranty?
However, he couldn't rely on Rowena right now could he? He decided to try fixing it himself first. If it worked, great. With this thought in mind, Rhys pointed at the crystal ball fragments and tried a simple repair spell.
The fragments of the crystal ball immediately came together.
"It's fixed!" Daphne exclaimed, lifting her head.
Rhys shook his head. He had only repaired the outer shell; the internal enchantments were already destroyed. The crystal ball might still be able to hold objects, but what would happen inside was uncertain.
Suddenly, Rhys felt one of his markers being triggered. He raised an eyebrow and turned to Daphne, saying, "Someone's coming. You can leave now."
"Huh?" Daphne didn't understand what Rhys meant.
"I mean, take him and the red-haired boy and leave quickly." Rhys pointed to Harry on the Nightmare's back.
He suspected the person who triggered his marker was likely Dumbledore. He didn't want to meet the current headmaster of Hogwarts right now, so he decided to speed up the cleanup of the remaining traces.
"Alright." Daphne nodded dumbly. As she mounted the Nightmare, Rhys suddenly slapped the Nightmare's rear.
With the impact, the Nightmare burst into an incredibly fast speed, almost throwing Daphne off.
As Daphne was about to leave the room, she heard faint sentences behind her, obscured by the wind—
"Let me show you real water magic—"
After the Nightmare carried Daphne out of the room, Rhys drew his wand and thrust it forcefully into the ground. The next moment, the floor began to shake.
Rhys knew that this underground building was separated from the Black Lake by just one wall. All he needed was a slight nudge to the lake's water, and it would flood in, submerging this classroom and the entire series of obstacles.
Once the water flooded in, no traces would be left.
"Forbidden Spell: Tide Summoning!"
With the use of the spell, the vibrations expanded from the floor to the entire room. Cracks began to appear on the walls, and swamp mud rapidly seeped water outward.
Within seconds, the floor accumulated an inch-thick layer of water, and dirty water started streaming down the walls.
Eventually, the walls and floor couldn't hold up anymore. Large sections of the stone bricks collapsed, and the ground erupted like a volcano, spewing huge torrents of water.
Boom! The water surged into the underground classroom like a giant dragon, sweeping away and obliterating everything.
Blub, blub, blub—
A series of bubbles rose to the surface of the calm Black Lake.
Splish! Hiss—
Rhys emerged from the surface of the Black Lake. He took a couple of deep breaths of fresh air, cast a Disillusionment Charm on himself, and then rose from the lake, flying towards the castle.
The scorching summer sun and warm wind dried the water from his clothes, and by the time he returned to the hospital wing, his clothes were already dry.
...
Dumbledore was in trouble.
The Ministry of Magic had indeed sent him a letter, but contrary to what he had arranged, this letter was truly urgent—Minister Fudge's tone was nearly in tears.
As Dumbledore hurried out of the castle gates, he was astonished to find Cornelius Fudge waiting for him outside.
As soon as they met, Fudge delivered a shocking piece of news: Gringotts' curse-breakers had gotten into serious trouble in the northern part of Scotland.
The curse-breakers are employees of Gringotts, tasked with finding and excavating the ruins left by ancient wizards, effectively acting as the daredevils of the wizarding world.
The incident began with the discovery made by several senior Gringotts curse-breakers in northern Scotland.
They had found a site that was highly likely to be a relic left by the founders of Hogwarts.
After years of relentless deciphering, they finally opened the entrance to the site.
Unfortunately, the ruins did not contain the treasures left by the founders. Instead, they were met with a mindless monster—it was clear that this site was a seal left by the founders.
By the time the Ministry of Magic received the news and arrived at the scene, all the curse-breakers were dead, and over a hundred Muggle villagers had witnessed the battle.
This news was a massive blow to the Ministry of Magic.
After mobilizing all available forces, Fudge came to Hogwarts for reinforcements. He hoped Dumbledore could help them deal with the monster now roaming free.
Realizing the gravity of the situation, Dumbledore immediately set off for the accident site.
This is why he was truly absent from Harry's "trial"—it wasn't because he was overly confident in Harry or indifferent, but because he was genuinely unable to come to see Harry.
The situation worsened. Dumbledore eventually found the monster that had escaped from the seal, and after engaging it in combat, he was shocked to discover that the creature's strength exceeded his expectations. Moreover, it could use a strange, domain-like magic, allowing it to escape from Dumbledore.
At this point, Dumbledore's plans were completely disrupted. In his haste to pursue the monster, Dumbledore could only send a message to Professor McGonagall using his Patronus, hoping she could fulfill his duties.
When Professor McGonagall received the message, she felt utterly overwhelmed.
_______
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