prynovel Chapter 145 Nighttime Confinement
Chapter 145 Nighttime Confinement
Chapter 145 Nighttime Confinement
The car unexpectedly disappeared deep in the forbidden forest, leaving the detailed on-site investigation without a target.
Professor McGonagall frowned, gazing at the dark Forbidden Forest, and could only sigh helplessly in the end.
Professor Sprout, more concerned with her "hitting willow," focused entirely on the treatment after confirming that Lynch and McGonagall no longer needed her to provide information about the car.
After a brief farewell to Professor McGonagall and Professor Sprout, Lynch turned and returned to the castle.
The house-elf Tots was left behind, happily cleaning up the scattered shards of glass and muddy tracks left by car tires on the grass, humming a tuneless little tune.
Speechless all the way.
Upon entering the castle and reaching the entrance to the auditorium, Lynch's raven clone silently vanished. The next instant, a jet-black raven flapped its wings, flew into the auditorium, and gracefully landed on Lynch's main body's shoulder beside the teachers' table.
the other side.
Harry and Ron underwent an extremely thorough examination by Madam Pomfrey in the school infirmary and were ultimately diagnosed with "extreme shock with mild magical disturbances" and were forced to drink a bottle of strange-tasting but highly effective calming potion.
Mrs. Pomfrey kindly prepared some sandwiches and pumpkin juice for them. After this belated "dinner," the two climbed back to the Gryffindor Tower, exhausted.
There were still quite a few students awake in the common room, including an anxious Hermione.
When asked by everyone why they missed the dinner, the two blushed and stammered, only vaguely saying that they had encountered some "minor troubles," and finally managed to get away with it by looking exhausted.
However, this brief tranquility was shattered completely at breakfast the next day.
Mrs. Weasley's roar echoed throughout the Great Hall of Hogwarts, announcing to the public, with a volume loud enough to shatter glass, the "feat" of the two driving their flying car into the Willow of Hearts.
Ron wished he could shrink under the table; his ears were burning red. The exaggerated laughter and gloating comments erupting from the Malfoy table made them feel utterly ashamed.
Then, around noon, the observant Gryffindor students noticed something amiss: although Hermione had earned five points for Gryffindor as usual during the morning Charms class, the rubies in the house hourglass had not increased and remained pitifully low.
The answer was quickly found on the bulletin board in the Gryffindor common room—a notice from Professor McGonagall announcing that Gryffindor House was being deducted one hundred points for serious violations of school rules by Harry Potter and Ron Weasley.
There was a deathly silence in front of the bulletin board, followed by almost tangible expressions of disappointment and complaints.
Harry and Ron's situation has become incredibly difficult, just as Harry had predicted last night.
They seemed to have become a walking plague; wherever they went, they were no longer greeted with welcome, but with silent condemnation and an attitude of avoiding them at all costs.
Even more difficult was the nighttime confinement.
Mr. Filch had been eager to "claim" Ron, announcing in a loud, gleeful voice that Ron would be "hand-wiping" every single bathroom in the castle every night for the next few months, "until they gleam and reflect your stupid face!"
As for Harry, he thought he would face the toilet brush with Ron, but was informed that his solitary confinement would be taken away by the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Gilderoy Lockhart.
For several hours after dinner, Harry was forced to stay in Lockhart's office, which was filled with his own photos, listening to Lockhart recount his "glorious deeds" and mechanically writing replies for his fanatical admirers, signing Lockhart's fancy name. It was a form of mental torture, and he wished he could switch places with Ron, who was cleaning toilets.
When the two of them climbed back to the common room, exhausted, they were almost collapsing into their armchairs.
Only Hermione was still waiting for them. Instead of scolding them excessively, she tried to encourage them: "Listen, the points are already deducted, and there's no use being upset. But you can earn them back by studying hard and answering questions in class! I added over a hundred points for the House last year!"
Ron muttered listlessly, "That's because you're Hermione Granger, that's a special case—"
But Harry's heart skipped a beat.
Although the hope is slim, this seems to be the only way to alleviate their guilt and remorse.
Even if he can only gain one point back, it will make him feel a little better.
So, in Potions class the next morning, Harry listened with unusual seriousness, not only for the possible extra points, but also so that he could truly master the knowledge.
He was more focused than ever before, meticulously recording every step and every point Snape mentioned. He even held back when Snape launched into his usual sarcastic remarks, without losing his temper.
This situation surprised and annoyed Professor Snape.
He found that even when he used the harshest language to suggest that Potter had inherited his father's arrogance and stupidity, the green-eyed boy was no longer as easily provoked or lost his composure as he had been the previous semester.
Harry simply stared at him calmly, even stubbornly, with those emerald green eyes that were so similar to his mother's, and then continued to follow his instructions.
This silent, focused resistance made Snape more uncomfortable than any impulsive rebuttal.
That afternoon, after Filch brought Mrs. Lorris, who was looking after the cat, to Ron again with that unpleasant look and took him to clean the washroom, Harry waited patiently for Professor Lockhart's "summons".
However, it wasn't Lockhart's beautifully feathered owl that came to inform him, but a house-elf dressed in a black tuxedo.
Thors handed Harry a note, which, when unfolded, contained only a single, simple line of writing:
"At 7 PM tonight, go to Professor Lynch's office on the second floor."
Harry stared at the note, stunned.
His confinement—was taken away by Uncle Lynch?
This was completely unexpected.
A complex mix of emotions welled up inside me—a slight sense of relief, but more than that, a deep sense of unease.
At exactly seven o'clock in the evening, Harry knocked on the door of the Magic Research Department office on the second floor.
"Come in," Lin Qi's calm voice came from inside.
Harry pushed open the door and found that the scene inside the office was completely different from any of the confinement scenarios he had imagined.
The interior was simply decorated with a desk, a few chairs, and a bookshelf on the wall, but there weren't many books. The office showed little sign of use.
Lynch sat behind his desk, the crow on his shoulder looking like a sculpture in the dim light.
He looked up, his gaze calm as Harry walked in.
"Good evening, Harry. Your detention details aren't here. Before you begin your detention, I need you to answer one question."
"What were you thinking when you drove that car into the sky?"