Chapter 215 - 215 Long-lived rats

Chapter 215: Chapter 215 Long-lived rats

Professor McGonagall's chest rose and fell violently as she turned to face the students who were so stunned that they didn't say a word.

Her face turned a little whiter than the end of the ashes in the fireplace.

"Which," Professor McGonagall said in a shaky voice, "which throwaway fool wrote down all of this week's passwords and left them lying around?"

A silence fell upon the common room.

After a few moments the silence was broken by a very weak, frightened voice in the heavy air.

Neville Longbottom, his entire body, shaking from his head to his slipper-clad feet, slowly raised his hands.

"Lombardton, why did you write the password down on a slip of paper?" Professor McGonagall, exasperated, pursed her lips and questioned, "Don't you realize that this could easily lead to an unsuspecting person finding a loophole in the Gryffindor common room?"

"I-I know, but I can't remember ..." Neville was so anxious that he was close to tears, "I've had a bad memory since I was a child ... Sir Cadogan has to change it several times a day several passwords, I can't remember them at all."

Professor McGonagall shifted her gaze to the portrait in the doorway again.

"Don't look at me like that, ma'am." Sir Cadogan tapped his chest with his knight's sword and gave an odd salute, "As a knight, I of course have to do everything I can to keep the territory safe! I think changing the muzzle at any time will better guard this territory!"

"But, but why would you let in someone who is clearly not a student?" Professor McGonagall puzzled. for new novels

"Ah, as a knight, principles are important." Sir Cadogan said rightfully, "Since he was able to answer my password, it would be against the principles of being a knight not to let him in."

"What's more, how am I supposed to tell if he's a new professor?"

Hearing Sir Cadogan's argument, Professor McGonagall and the young wizards fell silent.

He said it as if it made sense, and they surprisingly had no way to refute it ...

...

Soon, Dumbledore also arrived in the Gryffindor common room that had been attacked.

Dracula, who was not in the habit of sleeping at night, was also quick to hear the commotion and came together to fly up.

He startled the young wizards present by entering the common room through the window where the owls had been delivering mail.

"There you are, Professor Dracula." Seeing Dracula's arrival, Dumbledore, dressed in a purple cotton nightgown, walked over and asked with a grave expression on his face, "Any sign of Sirius Black?"

Dracula cooperatively took out the deeds from his pocket and searched the entire castle inside and out, but did not find any suspicious figure.

"Not much to find." He shook his head.

Dumbledore also patrolled around the castle with a daemon and a tracing spell, then shook his head as well.

"I've searched all around the castle for miles, and there's no sign of Blake anywhere including the Black Lake and around the Quidditch pitch." He said.

"Strange ...," Dracula said with a slight frown of confusion, "It shouldn't have been that long since Blake left here, and with no way to use Phantom Transfiguration within the confines of Hogwarts there shouldn't have been any way for him to get out of our sight in such a short time to get out of our sight."

"Exactly, so I think he must have some way of being able to block our senses." Dumbledore nodded, "Or maybe he has a way to get out of Hogwarts range in a short amount of time."

"How about asking Professor Lupin?" Dracula asked tentatively, "He was friends with Sirius Black when he was at school, he might be able to tell something."

Dumbledore paled slightly and before he could say anything, another greasy voice came through the doorway of the common room.

"I'm afraid you won't get to see him today!"

The greasy voice appeared alongside the long, greasy hair at Dracula's side as Snape nonchalantly stepped into the Gryffindor common room, grinning disdainfully.

This Dean Slytherin's entry made the young Gryffindor wizards very unhappy, but seeing that both professors, the Headmaster and the Deputy Headmaster, had no comment, these students could only show some indignation on their faces and did not dare to express their direct opposition.

Snape looked condescendingly at those indignant little wizards, snorted, and continued:

"Headmaster, I remember telling you that this newly recruited colleague isn't very trustworthy. That wanted man could still butchered his way inside the castle, and might have even come close to getting it!"

"It was an oversight on my part to overlook the fact that Blake knew about Professor Lupin's weakness." Dumbledore said, then turned his head towards Professor McGonagall, "Minerva, it would be better if I trouble you to take the other professors and carefully inspect the entire castle."

"Yeah, he clearly could have killed all five of us, how would that have left Harry out?" Ron chimed in.

Dracula fell silent, thinking silently.

Harry, on his end, was still racking his brain with reasoning.

"Blake must have known that if you called up and woke everyone up, he'd have a hard time getting out of the castle." He thought properly for a while, then said, "To get back through the hole in that portrait, he'd have to kill the whole house, and then he might also run into the professors ..."

"Wait, did Wes say before he came that ... your bed was turned upside down and several holes were punctured in the mattress?" Dracula asked, suddenly interrupting Harry and opening his mouth.

"Yeah, what's the problem?" Ron froze.

"I was wondering if it could be that it wasn't Potter that Blake himself was after, but something on Weasley?" Dracula guessed, "Wesley, do you have anything valuable or special?"

"No ... no I don't think so." Ron was filled with doubt, "My family never lets me carry anything valuable, I even have to wait until my dad hits the jackpot to change my wand."

He then suddenly exclaimed, "Oh yeah, my Spotty is missing, he must be freaking out ... By the way, Hermione, keep an eye on your cat, don't let it sneak butting into the men's dormitory and taking Spotty happen again!"

"Ron, it's in a cat's nature to catch mice, you can't be so selfish as to stifle Crookshanks' freedom!" Hermione disliked back defiantly.

"You're not the one who had to buy a cat over at the pet store!" Ron exclaimed, "I've had Bamm-Bamm for three years now, and it's only the semester you got a cat that he seems so shriveled up!"

"..."

Dracula subconsciously looked over at the ginger hybrid cat, Beaver, in Hermione's arms, and suddenly noticed something incongruous in the conversation the two had just had-

"Wes come on, are you saying ... you've had your mouse for three years?" He asked with a frown.

The lifespan of a rat was usually between one and three years, while most pet rats lived for two years.

A pet rat that had lived for three years was already considered quite long-lived.

"Yeah, before that Spotty was Percy's pet, but then when I came to school at Hogwarts Percy became Head of Grade and mom bought him a new owl ..." Ron sounded a little jealous, "and then Percy then gave Bamm-Bamm to me."

"Wait, you're saying that mouse was Percy's pet before?" Dracula's frown tightened.

"Yeah, I've always only been able to use my brothers' stuff, whether it's clothes, wands, textbooks, or pets ...," Ron said without rancor.

At this point, Dumbledore, who was also next to him, acutely realized the problem and came to Dracula's side.

"Professor Dracula, what do you mean ..." Dumbledore asked softly.

"Whether or not I'm overreacting, in any case, it shouldn't be too difficult to find a mouse." Dracula shook his head gently.

He lifted his own wand and nodded at Ron before reciting:

"Trace to Source (Avensegium)."

A tantalizingly yellow line appeared on the ground, connecting Ron's body at one end and extending all the way to the doorway of the common room at the other.

Ron looked at the tantalizingly yellow line uncertainly, thinking that Professor Dracula, who had never been much of a talker, was willing to personally help him retrieve his pet, and had a rather excited look on his face.

Unbeknownst to him, Dracula did want to find his pet, but had no intention of returning it to him ...

Burgundy light flowed through his eyes as Dracula's gaze traveled infinitely along the line, and then saw the end of its connection-

It was the path to the northeast of Hogwarts Castle, and a gray mouse was trying its best to crawl quickly towards the Forbidden Forest.

It wasn't fleeing aimlessly like a normal pet rat, but rather, as if it had a clear goal in mind, it was crawling straight towards the thickest bushes and the most suitable location for hiding.

"Interesting."

Dracula withdrew his gaze and slowly quirked the corner of his mouth.

He and Dumbledore looked at each other and nodded.

With that, both of them simultaneously disappeared from the Gryffindor common room and reappeared instantly on the path that the gray mouse had been advancing on.