"Curfew time!"
Dudley stopped moving immediately when he heard the bell, standing still in place. The entire corridor fell completely silent, creating an unsettling quiet that made one's heart race.
Dudley looked around, and after finding nothing unusual, drew his wand.
"Wingardium Leviosa!"
Dudley chanted the spell and waved his wand. But this time, the spell wasn't directed at any other object—it was directed at himself (his clothes).
In that moment, Dudley felt his body become light, his feet gradually leaving the ground as he floated into the air. Although he didn't know flying spells, he was quite skilled with the Levitation Charm. In fact, as long as one could precisely control spiritual power, the Levitation Charm could indeed be used for flight.
After reaching about one meter above the ground, Dudley stopped ascending and began drifting toward the other end of the corridor. His speed wasn't fast, but he had found a way to circumvent the prohibition's effects.
"From Malfoy's screams, it appears the Trunsoest Brass Book first affected areas that included the underground regions. This means that location wasn't far from the Trunsoest Brass Book," Dudley reasoned as he floated forward.
"However, the Brass Book isn't necessarily underground—it could be upstairs too. The Brass Book affects its surroundings with itself as the center."
Thanks to Dudley's knowledge of Hogwarts Castle, he had already constructed a three-dimensional model in his mind, basically able to roughly pinpoint the approximate location of the Trunsoest Brass Book. Dudley controlled the Levitation Charm, directing himself toward the dungeons. He planned to start his search from the underground areas.
"Ahh..."
Another scream echoed, and this time it was clearly an adult's voice.
"Is it one of the teachers?" Dudley wondered. "It seems like they don't know about the curfew and thought they could still move freely in the corridors."
Dudley paid no more attention to the screams coming from various parts of the castle, focusing all his energy on finding the Trunsoest Brass Book.
Meanwhile, in an abandoned underground classroom, Malfoy's face was extremely grim.
"Damn it, we were almost back to the Slytherin common room. Why did something go wrong again?" he snarled.
"What do we do now? I feel like the entire school has become a monster, punishing all of us," Crabbe said, already crying, his face covered in tears. Goyle beside him wasn't much better.
The three of them had almost reached the Slytherin common room, but after the nine o'clock bell chimed, they were subjected to flogging again. They didn't dare try to continue walking and could only follow Dudley's suggestion, hiding in this nearby underground classroom.
But even so, before entering the classroom, all three had been severely whipped several times, leaving them with more than a dozen lash marks, blood streaming down their bodies. As children from pure-blood families, when had they ever endured such beatings? Their psychological state had nearly collapsed. Only Malfoy managed to calm down first.
"Stop crying," Malfoy shouted.
Crabbe and Goyle didn't dare cry aloud anymore, only sobbing quietly.
"What the hell is going on? My father never said Hogwarts would automatically punish students, especially with such severe punishment." Malfoy's expression kept changing. Perhaps his previous beating by Dudley had improved his resistance to physical punishment. Although his body was covered in wounds, compared to the injuries from when Dudley had beaten him, this was relatively light.
"Maybe someone triggered Hogwarts' ancient magic. I remember they used to hang up misbehaving students and beat them—that's what Filch said," Goyle said through tears.
"Right, exactly! Could it be Filch's doing? Those prohibitions look just like school rules," Crabbe added.
Malfoy quickly shook his head. "Use your brain—does Filch have that kind of ability? Besides, my dad said Filch is a Squib who can't cast magic at all."
Crabbe looked at Malfoy pitifully and whispered, "Maybe he just triggered some magic."
Malfoy remained silent, recalling previous events.
"Wait, Dursley seemed to know a lot about this. He even warned us that if something unexpected happened, we should immediately hide in a room." Malfoy remembered the earlier events. "He seemed to know the rules here would change, and even knew how to circumvent these changes."
"Could it be Dursley's doing?" Crabbe immediately said.
"It really could be him. Have we caught him red-handed? If we expose this, we could get him expelled," Goyle said somewhat excitedly.
Malfoy rolled his eyes. He felt his two friends really had no brains.
"If Dursley had that kind of power, would he still need to study magic here?" Malfoy said. "But this matter might indeed be connected to him. However, we have no evidence right now."
Crabbe and Goyle exchanged glances, thinking Malfoy was overthinking things. They had given up on thinking altogether.
"Let's go out and take a look," Malfoy suddenly said after pondering for a moment.
"What? Are you crazy?" Crabbe and Goyle looked at Malfoy in terror.
"Remember our experience in the corridor earlier? You two were the first to be flogged, but I immediately stood still and didn't move, so I wasn't flogged. What does this tell us?" Malfoy asked.
Crabbe and Goyle shook their heads.
"This means that as long as you don't move in the corridor, standing still won't result in punishment. And the nine o'clock bell chimed then, meaning this was a new rule that appeared after nine o'clock." Malfoy seemed to grasp the key to the problem. He was also recalling what Dudley had said to Harry and the others.
"Then why should we go out? Isn't it better to stay in the room?" Crabbe asked with a pale face.
"This place might not always be safe. We need to find other people, or find teachers. Only then can we ensure our safety, understand?" Malfoy said.
"But how do we get out? According to what you said, we can only stand still," Goyle asked.
Malfoy didn't answer immediately, then said after thinking, "The Levitation Charm! Which of you two has learned the Levitation Charm?"
Crabbe and Goyle simultaneously shook their heads in perfect synchronization.
"Useless," Malfoy couldn't help but curse. The Levitation Charm was the closest thing to flying that they could cast at their current level, but unfortunately, none of them had learned it very well.
"That... what is that..." Suddenly, Crabbe looked out the window with a terrified expression.
Malfoy's expression changed, and he turned to look toward the window. A black figure quickly drifted past the window and disappeared into the darkness.
[Chapter Complete]
***
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