The golden egg made a full round through the eager hands of the Ravenclaw students before finally returning to Maurise.
Cho Chang asked curiously, "How exactly is this golden egg supposed to be used?"
"Mr. Bagman only said that the clue for the next task is hidden inside," Maurise explained.
"Well, let's open it and take a look right now, then!" Kyle's eyes practically sparkled with curiosity.
Maurise nodded. He had nothing to hide.
"Hurry up, hurry up," Kyle urged.
Maurise didn't hesitate. He set the golden egg on the floor, drew his wand, and cast, "Diffindo!"
A flash of light shot from the tip of his wand, striking the golden egg with pinpoint precision. However, the spell merely left a few shallow hairline fractures on its surface.
Maurise frowned slightly. The thing was far more durable than he had anticipated.
"Maurise," Kyle pointed out, sounding slightly unsure. "I don't think you're supposed to open it like that. I noticed there is a groove near the top..."
Maurise lowered his wand, picked the golden egg back up, and inspected it closely. Sure enough, he found a distinct, continuous groove circling the upper half of the egg.
He pressed his thumb into the groove and tried prying it outward.
In the very next second, a loud clack echoed, and the fractures from the Severing Charm rapidly spiderwebbed outward from the groove.
"It is going to shatter," Maurise noted mildly.
The moment the words left his mouth, the golden egg practically exploded in his hands, reducing itself to a pile of metallic shards.
Immediately afterward, an incredibly high-pitched, ear-splittingly shrill wailing noise erupted from the fragments. The agonizing screech assaulted everyone's ears simultaneously, making their scalps crawl and their teeth ache.
Kyle screwed his face up in pain and clamped his hands over his ears, yelling over the din, "Maurise! The egg was filled with sound!"
Maurise naturally didn't need the explanation to figure that out.
"Think of something, quickly!" another student shouted. "Or someone go fetch a professor!"
Maurise sighed helplessly, waved his wand, and cast a Bubble-Head Charm on every single student in the room. Transparent bubbles instantly materialized around their heads.
While the charm didn't completely block out the wailing, it at least muffled the ear-piercing volume down to a tolerable level.
"Reparo!"
Maurise immediately cast a Mending Charm on the scattered shards. Within seconds, the golden egg was perfectly whole once more.
However, the horrific screeching did not stop, nor did it show any sign of stopping.
Just then, Professor Flitwick came practically flying up the stairs, moving with astonishing speed. The terrifying noise didn't seem to affect him in the slightest. He calmly raised his wand and gave his wrist several rapid, intricate flicks.
Quickly, the deafening wail in the room began to fade until it vanished entirely.
"Would someone care to explain to me exactly what just happened?" Professor Flitwick asked, his expression grave as he stepped into the center of the room.
Maurise stepped forward and explained the situation.
Upon hearing the story, Professor Flitwick's stern expression instantly softened. He even let out a hearty chuckle.
He tapped Maurise's leg lightly with his wand. "Too reckless, Maurise. Check your golden egg quickly. The contents may have already vanished."
Maurise looked down at the golden egg in his hand. He didn't even need to think about it; he knew it had to be empty.
Sure enough, when he opened the egg properly this time, absolutely nothing happened.
The clue was gone.
Fortunately, even without the clue, Maurise was entirely confident that the Second Task would not be able to stump him.
---
For the next while, Maurise's life returned to relative tranquility.
During this period, he focused his efforts almost entirely on a single goal: perfecting his Shadow Veil spell. Aside from that, he attended his classes as usual.
During a Potions class.
"I simply cannot believe it," Snape spat, standing at the front of the classroom, his voice dripping with venomous anger. "Not a single one of you managed to complete the assignment I set. Some of you haven't even reached the halfway point. Especially you, Mr. Chesterfield. Your Antidote Number Nine smells distinctly of rotting eggs."
Snape seemed exceptionally foul-tempered today.
Having been singled out, Kyle merely shrank his neck back into his robes and kept his mouth shut.
The assignment Snape had given them at the beginning of the term—to brew antidotes for over a dozen complex poisons within two months—was simply beyond the capabilities of a normal fourth-year student.
Truth be told, Kyle felt he had actually done quite well. Aside from Antidote Number Nine, the others were mostly passable. Why was Snape picking on him specifically? Looking around the room, aside from Maurise, the rest of the Ravenclaws had barely managed to finish half the antidotes.
Oh, right. Even after inspecting Maurise's flawlessly brewed potions, Snape had merely remarked in a flat tone, "Ten points to Ravenclaw."
However, that reward was completely useless, considering Snape had already found a reason to dock ten points from Ravenclaw earlier in the lesson. The net gain was a fat zero.
"This is completely unfair," Kyle muttered softly to Maurise. "I bet not a single Slytherin managed to meet his standards, but Snape definitely won't dock any points from them."
Maurise could only shrug helplessly. That was just how Snape was. Even though the Potions Master clearly valued Maurise's talent, Ravenclaw still consistently lost more points than they gained in his class.
"Maurise Black," Snape said suddenly. "See me in my office after class."
His tone was completely neutral, making it impossible to guess what he was thinking.
Kyle turned to Maurise again and sighed. "What did you do this time? Why does he want to see you again?"
"I have no idea," Maurise closed his textbook. "Perhaps it is a good thing."
Snape would occasionally ask him to stay behind to help brew complex potions or prepare difficult ingredients, essentially treating him as an unofficial assistant. Maurise wasn't sure what it was this time, but he figured it couldn't be anything too serious.
The bell soon rang, signaling the end of class. Maurise packed up the antidotes Snape had inspected.
"See you in the common room," Kyle said before hurrying out of the dungeon.
Maurise followed Snape into his office.
The Potions Master's office was the same as always: sparse, slightly damp, and permeated with the heavy, lingering scent of various magical herbs and pickled animal parts.
Maurise unhurriedly picked an armchair and sat down. "Professor, what did you wish to see me about?"
Snape shot him a cold glance. "I assumed you would already know."
Maurise paused slightly. 'Already know? Know what?'
"My private stores have been raided," Snape continued, his dark eyes boring into Maurise. "Boomslang skin and lacewing flies. The thief is undoubtedly intending to brew Polyjuice Potion."
Maurise frowned. "Professor, you don't actually think I took them, do you?"
To be fair, he did have a prior conviction for this exact crime, but that was a long time ago.
Snape did not answer the question directly. He simply stated in a flat tone, "The Headmaster has instructed me to investigate every single suspect."
Maurise shook his head helplessly.
"Professor," he sighed, "perhaps you are unaware, but right now, several hundred—if not several thousand—Galleons are deposited into my Gringotts vault every single day."
"What I am trying to say is... I am very wealthy."
"While the ingredients for Polyjuice Potion are certainly not cheap, I can more than afford to buy them myself."
...
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