Chapter 82 The Beginning Of Fear
Driven by successive events, Hogwarts fell into a strange and gloomy atmosphere at the beginning of the new term.
Evan had the sense that several people around him were gradually heading towards a breakdown.
First was Neville, utterly frightened by Snape.
In the second Potions class for third years, he was punished by Snape with two months of detention for throwing the Dried Figs into the cauldron without peeling them. But in reality, everyone knew what was happening. Snape was seeking revenge. From then on, Neville would turn pale and sweat profusely whenever he saw Snape.
Then there was Hagrid, who seemed to have lost his confidence.
Now, in the Care of Magical Creatures class, students went through lesson after lesson learning to care for Deadly Worms: a round, dark, unpleasant worm, wriggling ten inches long. The existence of this creature was almost entirely insignificant. Apart from eating, they always remained solitary and did nothing.
And then there was Harry, who was becoming increasingly fearful of Divination classes.
Professor Trelawney always gazed at him with large watery eyes. The ominous prophecy spread throughout the school. Anyone who spoke to Harry did so in a hushed voice, as if he was already lying dead in bed.
Additionally, he had to worry about not being able to go to Hogsmeade. Professor McGonagall rejected his application. This meant he would likely be the only third-year student not visiting Hogsmeade.
More anxious than Harry were Colin and Ginny.
They wholeheartedly believed in Professor Trelawney's death prediction. In their eyes, Evan and Harry could fall at any moment. Therefore, they gathered many items said to ward off evil spirits and break curses, most of which were popular items in the castle during the basilisk attack last term.
As for Hermione, she was getting increasingly jittery.
This was mainly because she had chosen too many subjects. Her body and spirit had been overloaded for a long time, and she had reached her limit. Evan noticed that her backpack contained over ten magic books each day. He wondered if Hermione would faint if she continued like this.
Finally, there was Ron, who had been suspicious lately.
After several attempts by Crookshanks to attack Scabbers, he was always on guard against the cat. He showed Scabbers to everyone, who was now skin and bones.
In Evan's opinion, the reason Scabbers had weakened so much had nothing to do with Crookshanks.
Peter Pettigrew must have known that the real reason Black escaped from prison was for revenge. After all, he had betrayed the Potters. He was scared, and as Black drew closer to Hogwarts, panic gradually paralyzed him. He wanted to flee, but he didn't know where to go.
Hogwarts Castle was currently the safest place, with so many dreadful Dementors guarding the outside. It made sense that Black had no reason to enter, but since he could escape from Azkaban, entering Hogwarts seemed only a matter of time.
The mental anguish had left Peter Pettigrew extremely emaciated.
Indeed, not just others, even Evan was very preoccupied during this period.
Apart from preparing newspaper articles, he devoted most of his energy to brewing potions, especially for Peter Pettigrew. He found a tracking spell in Potent Potions. If Peter consumed this potion, within a certain range, Evan could pinpoint his location with a special magic.
In this way, you would not have to worry about him turning into a rat to escape.
Evan had planned to mix this tracking agent with a rat tonic and ensure that Ron made Scabbers drink it. The only problem now was that the boiling process was taking too long, and although he had made enough preparations, the potion would not be ready until Halloween at the earliest.
On Halloween, Ron and Hermione went to Hogsmeade, and Harry reluctantly accompanied them to the entrance hall.
Evan rejected Colin's suggestion to play wizard's chess. He ran alone to the seventh floor of the castle. After confirming that no one was paying attention to him, he quickly walked back and forth three times in front of a wall and entered the Room of Requirement.
The room he requested was similar to Snape's office, with glass products of various shapes, two tin cauldrons, and a heating device on the long central table, and the cabinets on either side were filled with potion ingredients.
Evan had purchased all these items in Diagon Alley. Since the previous year, he had been preparing the potions he needed there, reviewing potion lessons in advance, and so forth.
After much practice, Evan became very skilled with his potions.
He placed the prepared materials in the cauldron in order according to the formula in Moste Potente Potions.
About five hours later, he finally finished making the tracking potion and mixed it with his own rat tonic. It was a dark red color, exactly the same color as the rat tonic he had seen at the Magical Menagerie during the holidays. Evan satisfactorily poured the potion into a bottle and upon leaving the Room, he realized that the Halloween party had already started, so he hurried to the Great Hall.
It was decorated with hundreds and hundreds of pumpkins filled with candles, a cloud of live bats fluttering, and many orange streamers in flames, lazily moving across the stormy ceiling like bright water snakes.
The food at the feast was delicious, and everyone seemed very happy.
The tense atmosphere that had surrounded the place since the beginning of the term had dissipated. Harry seemed to have forgotten about the cursed prophecy; Hermione finally stopped thinking about studying, and after Evan gave Ron the rat tonic, his mood gradually improved, and he no longer worried about Scabbers.
Everything was going smoothly, even Hagrid, who had not appeared recently, sat happily at the teachers' table.
The feast concluded with entertainment provided by the Hogwarts ghosts. They emerged from the walls and tables to perform some choreographed dancing; Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor ghost, was a hit with a performance of his own decapitation.
Everyone felt they had had a pleasant evening, but less than ten minutes after dinner, everything changed drastically.
The small joy accumulated at the Halloween feast disappeared, and an atmosphere of panic once again filled the castle.
When all this happened, Evan, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Colin, and Ginny were slowly returning to Gryffindor Tower along the usual path. They had consumed nearly two helpings of each dish at dinner and had very bloated stomachs.
Upon reaching the hallway that ended with the portrait of the Fat Lady, they found it crowded with students.
"What's going on? Why is no one entering?" Colin asked curiously.
"Perhaps they have forgotten the password!" Ron said with a smile.
How could this be possible? It was impossible for so many people to forget the password at the same time. Evan saw Peeves the Poltergeist hovering above the crowd, apparently delighted. Evan suddenly had a bad feeling in his heart. Peeves only had this expression when he saw destruction or troubles. Could it not be...?
Before they could reach the crowd, Professor Dumbledore, upon learning of the incident, hurried over there. He made his way to the portrait of the Fat Lady. The Gryffindors squeezed together to let him through. Evan and some of them approached to see what the issue was.
"Oh, my goodness," Hermione suddenly exclaimed, seizing Evan's arm.
In front of them, the Fat Lady's portrait had been savagely slashed. Pieces of canvas were scattered on the floor, and large chunks had been completely torn off.
"Professor McGonagall, please go to Mr. Filch immediately and instruct him to search all the paintings in the castle for the Fat Lady," Dumbledore said quickly.
"How fortunate it would be!" Peeves smirked broadly.
"What do you mean, Peeves?" Dumbledore asked calmly.
"I apologize, Your Honor, sir!" Peeves's smile faded slightly. He didn't dare to taunt Dumbledore. Instead, he always took on a slimy tone. "She doesn't wish to be seen, it's a terrible mess. I saw her running through the fourth-floor landscape, sir, darting among the trees, crying and saying something dreadful."
"Poor thing," Peeves added unconvincingly.
"Did she mention who did it?" Dumbledore inquired calmly.
"Oh yes, Headmaster," Peeves said as if about to reveal a great secret. "He got really angry when she wouldn't let him in, you see? He's got a hot temper, that Sirius Black!"