bacchusnovels Chapter 506 The Third Rumor
Chapter 506 The Third Rumor
Chapter 506 The Third Rumor
In the unique environment of the British magical world—
The disappearance of a minor wizard might not attract much attention in the short term, but the disappearance of four people at the same time is a completely different story.
In particular, both Fleur and Eileen are top students in their respective colleges.
Beauxbatons didn't have many students to begin with, and the sudden loss of three would be obvious to anyone with eyesight.
So, before evening curfew, Maxim, who had rushed to Hogwarts, and Karkaroff, who had been forced to come by Krum, met in front of Dumbledore's headmaster's office.
What are you doing here?
My student has disappeared. Could it be...?
"Me too."
Just as the two were talking, Snape emerged from the secret staircase behind the stone monster.
"Severus, I want to see Dumbledore."
Snape looked up, his gaze sweeping between Mrs. Maxim and Karkaroff, his brow furrowing slightly.
"What's wrong?"
Mrs. Maxime crossed her arms, her face ashen. "Three of my students have vanished without a trace! Dumbledore must give me an explanation!"
“My students are missing too,” Karkaroff said grimly. “If I remember correctly, they disappeared after Bagman summoned them to the Quidditch pitch. Krum told me that Bagman asked them to go to Hagrid’s hut to discuss the third project, but they haven’t returned yet—”
Just then, the stone monster slowly turned, and Dumbledore, wearing a long green robe and with a slightly surprised expression on his face, walked down the stairs.
"Something's wrong?" he asked, glancing at Karkaroff, then at Maxim, and finally at Snape.
"Albus," Karkaroff stepped forward immediately, speaking rapidly, "my student is missing! And not just him, someone from Beauxbatons is missing too. You'd better give us a reasonable explanation."
After learning what had happened, a massive search operation was launched.
Most of the faculty, staff, and young wizards were dragged out of bed to conduct a thorough search of the four missing people within a five-kilometer radius of Hogwarts Castle.
This naturally includes Sean, who had just lain down not long ago.
As a key member of the professors, he naturally had an unshirkable duty to perform such school tasks and set an example... However, he always stayed close to Dumbledore, Maxim, and others.
Yes, that's right.
He was just slacking off.
Fifteen minutes later—
A figure stumbled over, panting, pale-faced, and sweat beading on his forehead.
He was a young wizard from Hogwarts, who looked to be only in his third or fourth year, and was one of the students participating in the search operation.
"Professors!" he gasped, pointing sharply into the distance. "We—we've found Fleur Delacour on the grass not far from the school!"
"Hibiscus? Where is she? How is she?" Mrs. Maxim immediately stepped forward and asked.
The young wizard opened his mouth, his face showing some hesitation. His gaze swept over the faces of the professors who were staring at him, as if he were carefully choosing his words. In the end, he just swallowed hard and said in a slightly trembling voice.
"You should go and see for yourself."
Upon hearing this, everyone looked at each other in bewilderment.
Could it be...
The atmosphere suddenly became tense as they thought about the worst possible outcome.
Dumbledore's eyes narrowed slightly, then he ordered, "Take us there."
The young wizard nodded, immediately turned around, and led the group towards the direction where Hibiscus had been found.
When the group arrived at Furong's location, the sight before them made everyone gasp. A dense crowd of students and faculty had formed layers upon layers, whispers mingling in the night breeze, and gazes filled with surprise, anger, and worry.
"Make way! Make way!" Mrs. Maxim's voice became unusually sharp as she pushed through the crowd and rushed to the center.
Fleur Delacour lay there quietly, her long golden hair scattered messily on the grass, her eyes closed, her face pale, and her breathing weak.
What was most shocking was her disheveled appearance—her robe was wrinkled, her skirt was rumpled up, and the collar on her shoulders was loose, revealing a section of pale skin. She looked as if she had just experienced an extremely unpleasant ordeal.
The air froze instantly.
His disheveled appearance caused the people who witnessed it to hold their breath.
Professor Sprout covered his mouth, while Professor Moody, who had rushed over, couldn't help but mutter a curse under his breath and quickly looked away.
"Fleur!" Madam Maxim rushed forward immediately, swept her wand, took off her cloak, and tightly covered Fleur's body to hide her disheveled appearance.
"She's alive!" A professor immediately knelt down, checked her pulse, and breathed a sigh of relief. She was only unconscious, but—it seemed as if she had been enchanted.
"What happened? Who did this?!" Karkaroff's face was ashen, his voice filled with rage. "We haven't even found our students yet, and now the Beauxbatons' warriors are in this state! Albus, you'd better give us an explanation!"
Snape stood to the side, arms crossed, his eyes flashing slightly, but he didn't say anything.
Dumbledore did not answer immediately, but slowly squatted down, reached out and gently touched Fleur's temple, and whispered a few spells.
After a moment, his eyes flickered slightly, and his expression turned serious: "She has been subjected to the spell of 'forgetfulness of all things.' Moreover—it's a very deep spell of 'forgetfulness of all things.'"
A dead silence.
Everyone realized the seriousness of the problem.
Someone deliberately erased Furong's memories, and this is how she looks now—
A chilling thought arose in everyone's mind, but no one dared to say it aloud.
Mrs. Maxim's face was terribly grim.
"Who—did this to my student?"
A night breeze swept by, and everyone stood silently, staring at the unconscious Furong. No one dared to be the first to speak.
Just then—
"Ugh————"
Furong frowned slightly, letting out a weak groan. The cold air made her instinctively shrink back.
Silence fell over the surroundings.
She blinked in confusion, her gaze shifting between the night sky above and the group of people in front of her. Her mind wasn't fully clear, and she murmured, "Why—so many people? What—what happened to me?"
However, when she slightly raised her upper body, a strange feeling suddenly came over her.
cloak?
This is not hers.
Her robe was disheveled, her shoulders felt slightly cold, her skirt was askew and piled on her body, and her hair was messy and stuck to the side of her face. She looked completely unkempt.
Why are her clothes like this?
When Furong realized that so many people had seen her disheveled appearance, her face turned deathly pale.
How could she have become like this?!
In an instant, countless terrifying thoughts rushed into her mind like a storm, and she suddenly looked up at the people around her.
Everyone was watching her.
Mrs. Maxime was furious, Dumbledore looked grave, Karkaroff frowned deeply, and the students around her were either astonished, incredulous, or looked away, unable to meet her gaze.
At that moment, Furong felt as if her world was spinning, and a huge rock was pressing on her chest, making it hard for her to breathe.
Her memory was blank, but her reason was frantically telling her that something must have happened—something that shouldn't have happened!
"Why am I here?!"
"Furong, calm down."
But how could anyone stay calm in this situation?!
Just then, several more students came running up from ahead, their faces filled with panic and unease.
"Professor! We—we've found Eileen and the others!" one of the young wizards shouted breathlessly, and everyone's eyes immediately focused on them.
Dumbledore's blue eyes narrowed slightly, and he asked in a deep voice, "Where are they? What's their situation?"
The young wizard swallowed hard. "At the edge of the Forbidden Forest, we found Eileen and two Beauxbatons students—they were all unconscious! However, there were no signs of injury."
Upon hearing this, Karkarov breathed a sigh of relief.
He couldn't imagine what Krum would do if Eileen had suffered the same treatment as Fleur.
What happened to Krum actually had little to do with him.
However, the outcome of the three-way competition, his performance, and the school's reputation are all inextricably linked to him.
It's important to understand that Krum is now Durmstrang's biggest brand, bar none.
Dumbledore quickly exchanged a glance with the professors beside him, then decisively said, "Snape, Phillips, Flitwick, come with me. Mrs. Maxime, you stay here and look after Fleur."
Mrs. Maxim's face was extremely pale, but she still nodded, squatted down, and carefully checked Fleur's condition.
"All other students, return to your dorms. No one is allowed to linger outside tonight!" Professor McGonagall said sternly to the young wizards.
The Hogwarts students immediately retreated in embarrassment, but the shock, confusion, and tension on each of their faces did not fade in the slightest.
When Sean followed Dumbledore and the others to where Irene and the others were, there were three people huddled on the forest floor, looking disoriented.
"Merlin—"
Karkaroff exclaimed in a low voice, quickly stepped forward, half-squatted down next to Eileen, reached out and touched her forehead, then gently shook her shoulder.
Eileen's lips parted slightly, as if she was trying to think of something to say, but her eyes remained unfocused.
"—I——we——are—here—for what?"
"They too have been given the spell of oblivion," Dumbledore said.
Sean stood to the side, his brows furrowed slightly, his gaze quickly sweeping over the group.
The oblivion spell cast on them was clearly similar to that cast on Fleur, but there was one difference—these people did not fall into a deep coma like Fleur, but instead exhibited a strange state of disorientation.
This means—
The person who cast the curse on them not only wanted to erase their memories, but also wanted them to be able to return to the castle on their own without arousing too much suspicion.
Sean narrowed his eyes; he already knew who had done it.
Why don't you just ask Little Pettigrew for the specific reason?
Before them, Karkarov was still questioning the three about what had happened.
Do you remember what happened?
"We were on our way to Hagrid's cabin, and then—and then—"
And then nothing more happened. Eileen's voice suddenly stopped, as if she had hit an invisible wall, and fine beads of cold sweat appeared on her forehead.
"I can't remember anything."
Everyone's condition is about the same.
This was a successful practice of the Forgetfulness Curse.
Everyone remained silent, but with the appearance of the three people, the search operation had come to a successful conclusion with a 100% success rate.
Under the direction of Dumbledore and the prefects, the young wizards returned to their respective common rooms to catch up on the sleep they had missed.
only...
Slytherin common room.
The fire crackled in the fireplace, but the atmosphere in the room was far less lively and relaxed than usual.
Several students huddled in a corner, whispering amongst themselves, occasionally glancing around.
Have you heard?
A fifth-grade boy lowered his voice and said to his friend next to him.
"What did you hear?" The other person leaned closer, looking curious.
The boy lowered his voice mysteriously: "Fleur de la Cour, she was found last night—disheveled!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the people around him exchanged surprised glances, and some even gasped.
"You mean—she—" a fourth-grade girl said, her eyes wide with disbelief.
"Who knows? Anyway, she was cursed with amnesia and has no memory of why she was there or what happened," the boy said, spreading his hands and lowering his voice.
A sixth-grade girl frowned and gently nudged his shoulder: "Don't talk nonsense. Nobody knows what really happened. This is just your guess."
But these words did not stop the whispers around them; instead, they made the rumors seem more "real".
"Think about it, a girl, disheveled and unconscious near the Forbidden Forest in the middle of the night, after the warriors have been missing all night—" The boy spread his hands, shrugged, and deliberately lowered his voice, making his words sound even more ambiguous.
"Perhaps she herself doesn't know exactly what happened—"
"Or maybe she's just too afraid to say it," another person added quietly.
The flames in the fireplace flickered gently, as if responding to the spreading rumors.
That's how rumors are created.
No one knows exactly what happened, but uncertain speculation, coupled with deliberate embellishment, can make the story more vivid.
Moreover, Hibiscus Delacour was an outstanding and eye-catching figure. Her beauty, her charm, and her half-human identity all made her name itself a topic of discussion.
Thus, these whispers, which began in the common rooms of each house, quickly spread throughout Hogwarts.
"Do you know what happened to Furong last night? It's really not simple."
"Was she...?"
"My God, she doesn't even remember what happened to her—"
"Could it be—"
Until finally, everyone found out about it.