"So, you think you heard something walking within the walls talking?" Waving his hand and refilling tea for the three young wizards, Evans said softly: "And that voice mentioned it planned to kill something?"
"Yes, Professor!" Harry's face showed a nervous expression. "I remember, you seem to be able to understand magical creatures speaking? And Mr Scamander, he seems to be able to as well."
"That's right, but if you possessed this talent, you should be able to understand all magical creatures speaking."
Rubbing his chin, Evans pondered for a moment, then reached out. Nana, who was sprawled like a pancake by the fireplace, flew over and landed in Evans's arms, calling out twice in dissatisfaction.
Stroking the Niffler's head, Evans looked at Harry.
"How about it? Can you understand what Nana said?"
Harry shook his head in confusion. Seeing this, Evans placed Nana back on the ground and spoke softly.
"Since you can't understand, then it's not the same talent as ours."
With that, he looked at Ron and Hermione nearby. "Are you certain that when you were beside him, you didn't hear any sounds?"
Ron and Hermione both shook their heads.
"You didn't hear it either?" Evans looked at the top of Harry's head.
With a distortion in the air, a small black cat appeared on Harry's head and yawned.
"No, meow. Although I was sleeping before, I was already awake when we got to the Great Hall, meow!"
Having said this, the little black cat vanished again.
Since Defence Against the Dark Arts class was really too boring, it generally slept during that class.
Lowering his head in contemplation for a moment, Evans offered several possibilities.
"Some spirits or similar magical items do have the ability to individually select communication targets. However, Hogwarts' spirits should be cleared regularly, and as for magical items, they don't move. They can't wander and disappear as you described."
"Besides these, Parseltongues, those who speak to eagles, turtle messengers, and other beast-speakers, or Animagi of corresponding species, can all understand the languages of other creatures."
"And as Hermione and Ron said, indeed many curses or dark magic manifest in such forms. But if you haven't felt any discomfort, that option can probably be ruled out."
Evans crossed his hands and placed them on the table.
"The problem now is that you can't determine what creature's voice you heard, correct?"
Harry nodded quickly, while Ron beside him asked with some concern:
"Are you sure Harry isn't under a curse? I heard Bill say that many ancient curses bewitch their targets, making them accomplish the curse's intended goals."
"There are indeed such curses, but the effects of those curses are very obvious." Evans explained softly: "Vacant eyes, stiff posture, involuntary muttering, or being unable to listen to anyone speaking, just blindly doing things others can't understand."
"Moreover, they would definitely be surrounded by something like a dark aura or magical fluctuations. Such fluctuations might be hidden very deeply, but they definitely couldn't fool me."
Having said this, Evans looked directly into Harry's eyes and spoke softly.
"Think back more carefully. All beast-speakers are born with the ability. Throughout your life, have you ever encountered any animals and suddenly discovered you could understand their language?"
Hearing Professor Kahn's words, Harry lowered his head and began thinking. He seemed to have some impression of such a situation, but for the moment he really couldn't recall what creature he had felt this way about.
After thinking for about half a minute, Harry shook his head.
"Then there's no particularly good solution for now." Evans's expression showed some helplessness.
"If your guess is correct, that creature is very likely walking within Hogwarts' walls. If so, finding it would be extremely difficult."
"After all, Hogwarts' walls are really hard to tear down. Over thousands of years they've undergone countless magical reinforcements. Even I would need about half a month to single-handedly tear down all the castle walls."
"And besides, Dumbledore probably wouldn't allow me to do that."
"I don't think we've reached the point of tearing down the castle, have we?" Hearing Professor Kahn speak so calmly about something as terrifying as tearing down the castle, Hermione said weakly: "That creature, whatever it is, might it just want to catch some mice or something?"
"That's possible, but be careful recently. Don't act alone. If you encounter any danger, immediately use the mark to notify me, all three of you." Evans pointed at the badge on Ron's chest. "Just inject magic power into the badge."
Having said this, seeing the three young wizards' expressions become somewhat tense, Evans smiled, clapped his hands, and plates flew from the kitchen direction, landing on the coffee table in front of the young wizards.
The plates held a dazzling array of various pastries that looked different from magical world confections.
"Coming here at this time, you probably haven't eaten yet, right? Try some. I went to Inverness this morning to get these. Very fresh."
"The erosion effect is very weak, or rather there's been no progress at all." In the corridor from the Great Hall to the Slytherin common room, Draco Malfoy stood with vacant eyes and stiff posture, holding a diary and muttering involuntarily.
"Still can only control for a few minutes. Too little can be done in such a short time. Even creating panic is somewhat forced."
"Need to think of other methods."
"Draco?"
A voice rang out from the other end of the corridor, but Draco didn't respond, still standing there talking to himself.
"First get him near there, then just need to imprint words on the wall..."
Looking at that figure holding a diary and standing in the corridor, confusion arose in Pansy Parkinson's eyes. She had always felt Draco was somewhat strange recently. Never mind that inexplicable studying enthusiasm; just the fact that he recently often held a notebook and stood around for no reason for several minutes was strange enough.
Moving close to Draco, Pansy patted his shoulder and called out again.
"Draco!"
This time, Draco standing dully in the corridor finally reacted. He raised his head, looked around, his vacant eyes showing some confusion.
He remembered he was planning to return to the common room. Why was he standing here?
And... wasn't this diary supposed to be in his bag?
While Draco was puzzled, Pansy bit her lip and spoke somewhat embarrassedly:
"Draco, want to go for a walk outside the castle together?"
Pushing his confusion aside, Draco shook his head.
"Sorry, Pansy. After I return this to the common room, I plan to go to the library."
What was there to see outside the castle besides grass and a few trees? How could that be as interesting as studying?
But Pansy apparently wasn't willing to give up.
"Then, how about going to the library together? I also have some things I want to research."
"Go to the library together?" Draco hesitated for a while, then finally nodded.
"Let's go then."
With that, he casually put the notebook back in his bag and left the corridor with Pansy.