“Ancient magic bloodline… So that’s it,” Dumbledore said, understanding everything. “I’m glad you confided in me. Don’t worry, no third person will ever know about this.”
“I’ll prepare some things. Next Sunday, at the same time, come to my office. The password is ‘Quill Candy.’ I will test your bloodline talent. After all… true talent shouldn’t be buried, don’t you agree?”
Weilan naturally nodded in agreement. He desperately needed to know why the Veela had captured him… and, discovering his talent and increasing his strength would also help protect him.
Not long after they settled the matter, the office door opened again.
Several boys and girls, of different ages and Houses, stood in a line at the doorway, their expressions terrified.
Oni Stonfield was not among them.
Luna Lovegood, the eccentric girl with pale blonde hair and a fair, oval face, stood in the very center. She, surprisingly, calmly gazed up at the ceiling, and her every movement exuded a unique, mysterious aura.
Hermione walked past them:
“Kiki’s head is still bothering her, so I’ve handed her over to Madam Pomfrey to rest. These are the ones who voluntarily admitted to being on campus and having visited the kitchen.”
“After I brought them out of the Great Hall, I had Kiki confirm, and she said these were the correct people, no problem.”
Professor Dumbledore lightly tapped his wand, and an extra chair dropped behind the desk with claw-shaped legs, a quill and several sheets of parchment were placed on the desktop.
He motioned for Weilan to choose a chair and sit down.
Weilan nervously pulled out a chair and sat down, and Dumbledore sat beside him.
“Very good, children. In this situation, it takes courage for you to voluntarily admit the truth.”
“Don’t worry, we are only asking about your experiences this afternoon to piece together what happened in the kitchen. No innocent good students will be implicated because of this.”
“Now, please leave only one person, and everyone else go outside and wait.”
Professor Dumbledore placed his hands flat on the desk, his calm expression containing an unnamed authority:
“Hermione, will you help me maintain order outside the door? Each time a student leaves the office, you let a new student in.”
Ready, the questioning began.
The first girl was from Gryffindor, living in Hogsmeade. Because she could walk to school, she arrived earlier than everyone else.
She was also the first among everyone to enter the kitchen.
The girl claimed she simply wanted to go to the kitchen for something to eat. She didn't even enter the kitchen, only receiving cookies and candy from a House-elf at the door before turning and leaving the place.
She pulled out cookie crumbs from her pocket, wanting to prove her innocence.
On the desk, the quill automatically recorded her statement on the parchment.
Activating 【Subtle Observation】 for the third time, Weilan didn't notice anything amiss.
In the recreated scene, the girl bid farewell to her parents, left her Hogsmeade home, carried her schoolbag, walked along a path lined with blooming flowers, and arrived at Hogwarts.
She either didn't enter the kitchen or only stayed for a very short time. In the recreated scene, there were no segments related to the kitchen.
“Next.”
…
“Next.”
…
Time passed, and Weilan extended the duration of 【Minute Observation】. Perhaps due to overuse of his right eye’s magic, Weilan began to experience a headache, and in a daze, he somewhat struggled to distinguish between past and present.
“So there are side effects… I was careless. I must be very careful when using this thing in the future.”
He said to himself as he looked at the student who had just entered the doorway.
Luna Lovegood stood before him and Professor Dumbledore.
The main event was here.
Weilan perked up, scrutinizing Luna.
Luna returned his gaze, and to Weilan’s surprise, after staring at his face for a while, the dazed look in Luna’s large eyes suddenly vanished.
Her lips curved slightly, and she stared at Weilan’s face with interest, observing carefully, as if some incredibly amusing event was unfolding there.
Her strange behavior made Weilan instinctively touch the area around his lips, wondering if chocolate frog residue from the train was stuck on his face.
To be honest, he didn't believe Luna was the poisoner.
He was more inclined to believe that this girl had read another outlandish article in The Quibbler and, on a whim, was causing strange commotions at the wrong time and in the wrong place.
But with suspicion laid out, Luna had to be observed closely.
“Miss Lovegood, why did you choose to arrive at school early?”
Weilan remembered that in the original story, Luna was supposed to habitually take the train to school.
“Because two months ago, when I went home for summer vacation, I was threatened by some Slytherin students—if they saw me on the train again, they would throw me and my luggage out the window.”
A bit of color drained from Luna’s face. Weilan recalled his own experience of being bullied in his first year and immediately felt a little sorry for the girl in front of him.
“A surviving House-elf told us that you came to the kitchen earlier this afternoon and performed some strange ritual with bread. Is this true?”
“It’s true.” Luna quickly answered Weilan’s question, but didn’t move her gaze from his face.
“What kind of ritual did you perform? Why did you perform it?”
“A ritual to avoid evil spirits—last month’s issue of The Quibbler mentioned that, according to reliable divination results, Hogwarts will be shrouded in the shadow of evil spirits this year.”
When Luna mentioned The Quibbler, Weilan immediately let out a sigh of relief—
He knew it.
“What did you do with the bread in this ritual?”
Luna still answered very earnestly:
“I cut open the bread, stuffed it with cheese, meat, and garlic. Then I held the bread, faced the east in the kitchen, jumped six times, and then heated it with a flame for forty-nine seconds.”
“After eating the bread this way, the ghosts without self-awareness will think you are the kind of bread that living people like to eat, and evil spirits are never interested in living people’s food.”
…
The quill on the desk faithfully recorded every word Luna said.
Weilan pondered for a moment, then asked again: “When you were in the kitchen, did you come into contact with the flour in the kitchen?”
Luna suddenly shivered, her gaze breaking free from its focus on Weilan:
“No, I stayed far away from it, because that flour had been cursed.”
Weilan could feel himself and Professor Dumbledore simultaneously tensing their bodies and bracing themselves:
“How did you know there was a curse in the flour?”
“I saw it,” Luna replied concisely. “In the kitchen’s storage cabinet, the cabinet door was ajar, and that bag of flour had been ripped open, revealing the white flour inside. There was a small pile of green powder on top of the flour, like someone had scooped a spoon of green powder and covered the pile of flour with it.”
“Those green powders carry evil curses; they are the Dark Wizard’s favorite. Dark Wizards consume them to enhance their power, but that is outright Dark Arts. I saw it in the latest issue of The Quibbler.”
Weilan felt something was off and articulated his question: “Are you sure you saw it clearly? Was its color distinction very obvious?”
Luna angrily raised her voice: “Of course, I saw it very clearly, a very obvious green, distinct from the very obvious white flour!”
Weilan turned to Professor Dumbledore in disbelief:
“Professor Dumbledore, what do you think?”
He was unsure. Because if the flour’s abnormality was indeed very obvious, then the House-elves who were cooking should have noticed it too. Or rather, checking whether ingredients are clean and edible before cooking should be a basic quality for a chef.
Professor Dumbledore first acknowledged this fact:
“It was indeed devil’s powder that framed all the House-elves, and devil’s powder is indeed a green powdery substance.”
After that, he rested his elbows on the desk, his five fingers aligned, and his azure eyes met Luna’s directly:
“So, Miss Lovegood, after that, you ran out of the kitchen in fear, right?”
“Yes, I wanted to protect myself from the curse.”
“Did you mention this to your classmates around you?”
“I did. I warned some Ravenclaw girls, but they didn’t believe me. And I don’t have any good friends.”
“I understand pretty much. Thank you for your cooperation, the information you provided is very useful, Miss Lovegood. Is there anything else you wish to add?”
“No.” Luna shook her head.
“You may leave.”
Luna’s footsteps disappeared outside the door. Weilan thought Professor Dumbledore would say something, but he said nothing, only continuing to summon the next person.
The remaining students had clean and clear faces, with no prior record of wrongdoing. There were a few younger students who, though stammering due to fear, were generally logical and had no issues.
Another student left the office, and in the interim while waiting for the next student to enter, Weilan’s thoughts drifted, and he couldn’t help but ponder the hidden information in Luna’s observations.
Perhaps the flour was just moldy? Perhaps the bag of flour Luna saw was originally intended to be thrown away? Perhaps they weren't the same bag of flour? If not, it could only mean—
A terrifying conjecture formed in Weilan’s mind. He needed to confirm a few questions about the Hogwarts House-elves with Professor Dumbledore.
In the kitchen, Weilan used the 【Minute Observation】 skill for the fifth time.
Remaining magic points: 3. This was the last use today.
Suppressing the tearing pain of small insects in his skull, Weilan opened his eyes and observed the kitchen.
All the House-elves’ bodies or corpses had been moved by Madam Pomfrey and her helpers. Only widespread chaos remained in the kitchen, reminding Weilan of the tragedy that had occurred there.
He tried his best to collect traces from the chaos, combining them with the traces on Luna’s body from his memory, and he recreated in his right eye the scene of Luna arriving at the kitchen:
Luna calmly walked into the kitchen, asked the House-elves for a piece of bread, then took some ingredients needed for the ritual, and performed the ritual she described in the kitchen.
All these irrelevant preceding details could be skipped; Weilan only cared about the bag of flour Luna mentioned at the end.
In the replicated scene, Luna ate that large piece of bread.
The meat inside the bread made her hands and face greasy. She then wanted to find a napkin to wipe off the grease, and as her gaze searched, the bag of flour stored in the cabinet appeared in her sight.
There was no evidence to suggest how the bag of flour in the cupboard and the devil’s powder were layered.
Therefore, in the recreated scene, the flour repeatedly switched between white and green states. When Luna saw it, she reacted as if she had seen some terrifying evil spirit, immediately running out of the kitchen in a panic.
After that came the kitchen riot, and that bag of flour was pulled out and licked clean.
…
The recreated scene ended here. Weilan looked at the empty flour bag in reality, which was the object of contention during the riot.
If Luna was telling the truth, then it could only mean—
A terrifying hypothesis formed in Weilan's mind. He needed to confirm a few questions about the Hogwarts House-elves with Professor Dumbledore.