Chapter 134, Section 132. The Evil Spirit's Influence
Lynn, who hadn't slept all night, was still full of energy the next day.
The increase in his physique and magic points had brought him comprehensive enhancements. In his current state, unless he maintained a state of high alertness for three days and three nights, one night without sleep wouldn't have much of an impact on him.
He had three classes today: Transfiguration and Charms in the morning, and Potions in the afternoon.
Lynn didn't plan to attend any of them, but he also didn't intend to skip any classes, at least not his own headmaster's. Otherwise, who knew how long the petty Snape would berate him for it?
If he wasn't going to skip class, he'd have to ask for leave openly.
Lynn used magic to make his face pale, then pretended to be listless as he went to Snape's office.
"Professor, it rained and got colder yesterday. I didn't cover myself properly last night, and I think I caught a cold this morning, so I'd like to ask for a day off to rest in my dormitory," Lynn said weakly.
Snape, seemingly engrossed in writing some potions, glanced up at Lynn and scoffed.
"Stop pretending. Just say you need to take leave. Your little trick of feigning illness isn't even as convincing as the quick-acting truancy candy invented by those two Gryffindor idiots, the Weasleys."
Lynn chuckled sheepishly; he'd almost forgotten that such a blatant act of illness wouldn't fool any experienced teacher.
"Don't cause me trouble, or you know the consequences. I've approved your leave. Get out," Snape said without looking up.
This was the privilege of being a good student. It was only because Lynn was there that he dared to feign illness and take leave. If Snape didn't punish him with a month of detention, he wouldn't be Severus Snape; he should be called Severus Potter.
With his leave approved, Lynn didn't return to his dormitory but went straight to the Room of Requirement. He planned to practice Animagus transformations there all morning, seeing if he could reach the point where he could transform without a wand or spells.
The result wasn't as difficult as he had imagined. He didn't know if it was because of his exceptional talent, or if Animagus Transfiguration was simply difficult to learn at first and easy afterward.
During his second Transfiguration, he already felt the spells weren't very effective. His third attempt, without chanting, only involving waving his wand, was also successful.
In just one morning, Lynn reached his goal; he could now Transfigur without a wand or spell.
And just as he expected, in his Animagus Transfiguration without a wand, the wand hidden in his sleeve transformed into a raven feather.
Lynn arrived at the Great Hall for lunch.
The atmosphere at the Ravenclaw table seemed quite strange.
The young hawks were all tense, even their meals were jerky.
Lynn sat down next to Cedric and Ian, stuffed a piece of roast meat into his mouth, and casually asked,
"What's going on at your house?"
Ian hadn't been in the common room last night, but he had heard the gist of what had happened this morning.
"Our common room was haunted last night."
Cedric had just sat down and was pointing at the fat monk chatting amiably with a young wizard at the Hufflepuff table.
"Isn't Hogwarts haunted every day?"
Ian shook his head.
"No, it's not. I don't know exactly how it's different, but this morning the prefects said the haunting was haunted by evil spirits, not normal ghosts. Many people testified that they saw it with their own eyes yesterday."
He then recounted in detail what he had heard to Lynn and the others.
"They said that yesterday, no one answered the door knocker's question when they entered, so the door opened by itself. Then, after everyone outside went into the common room, the door didn't close by itself. The prefect and a first-year student went out to check if the door knocker was broken and got locked out. Just before curfew, the door was suddenly opened from the inside, but no one came out,"
Cedric said hesitantly.
"Are you really sure it wasn't Peeves playing tricks?"
"No, I heard Peeves was outside the Gryffindor common room, teasing the locked-out wizards."
"That's certainly quite eerie,"
Cedric remarked, and Ian nodded in agreement.
Only Lynn remained unfazed, sipping his pumpkin juice through a straw.
Heh, that's right, it must all be the work of evil spirits. What does it have to do with him, the gentlemanly Lynn Belloc?
"Oh, right, I'm skipping Potions class this afternoon. You'll need to find someone to team up with to brew potions."
Lynn's second-year Potions class was with Ravenclaw; previously, when they were teaming up to brew potions, he always teamed up with Ian.
Cedric and Ian seemed a little surprised.
"What's wrong?"
Lynn shook his head.
"Nothing, I just discovered something and need to check it out."
As friends, Lynn didn't want to lie to them, but he couldn't tell the truth about these things.
Cedric and the others were already used to Lynn being like this; for example, they still didn't know what Lynn was up to about practicing the modified Imperius Charm.
After lunch, Lynn went straight out of the castle to the place where he had completed his Animagus transformation yesterday. After transforming into a raven there, he flapped his wings and flew out of Hogwarts. Upon
arriving at Hogsmeade, Lynn flew straight to a branch next to the Hog's Head pub. Following his memory, he identified a window—the room where the hunchbacked old man who had made the deal with Quirrell lived.
At this moment, the room was empty; the old man was obviously not inside.
Lynn flew to the ground and hopped around in front of the Pig's Head Bar, pretending to look for food.
He could barely make out what was inside through the bar's window.
It was barely visible because the glass was incredibly dirty, dusty and grimy, as if it had never been cleaned.
Soon, he spotted the old man.
He was sitting alone at a table in the corner, drinking.
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(End of Chapter)