Chapter 64. Luring the Snake Out of its Hole
Lynn and Ian had a falling out.
The entire Hogwarts witnessed their conflict in the Great Hall.
Lynn spent two days in the Hogwarts Hospital before Madam Pomfrey finally cured all the curses on him.
"You little rascals are really bold, daring to cast curses in the Great Hall. Professor McGonagall's punishment of you was already quite lenient," Madam Pomfrey said.
Ian's injuries were much less severe than Lynn's; he had been discharged yesterday afternoon.
Hearing Madam Pomfrey's words, Lynn had nothing to say, expressed his gratitude, and left the hospital.
Even though the bumps on his body had disappeared, Lynn still unconsciously scratched his back from time to time.
He and Ian were clearly acting, but to make it more realistic, they had actually been cursed.
Such a petty trick was actually quite superficial. Anyone who knew him or Ian even slightly, with a little thought, would know that this conflict was completely unlike anything they would do.
Furthermore, based on the previous two attacks, the perpetrators chose to strike when Dumbledore wasn't at Hogwarts.
Given the recent events, Old Bee was unlikely to be venturing out, so whether the perpetrators would dare to launch another attack was also a question.
However, it was precisely because Dumbledore was at Hogwarts that Lynn dared to let Ian participate in this charade; otherwise, he wouldn't have dared to risk Ian's safety.
Lynn had no other choice now.
He noticed that the system's reward for this mission was quite unusual; the name of the talent "Inherited Bloodline" made Lynn suspicious of his current origins.
This talent wasn't given to him by the system; the mission reward was very straightforward: "Unlock Talent: Inherited Bloodline."
Just like his previous physical talent, which he already possessed, the system's reward was merely to unlock the talent's value, allowing him to see its stats and potentially add points.
Talents directly rewarded by the system, like the Disguise Magus he obtained from Professor Fawkes, were different.
These were talents he didn't originally possess; while the system granted them, they weren't quantified, meaning points couldn't be added.
Bloodline inheritance, as the name suggests, was definitely related to bloodline.
Lynn had always believed his parents in this life were Muggles.
He had a completely normal identity in England; his parents, supposedly killed in a car accident, were high-ranking executives at a company, owning a car and a house in modern London.
Even when Lynn first arrived at the orphanage, some of his parents' colleagues visited him.
This gave Lynn the illusion that his adoptive parents were ordinary Muggles.
Otherwise, given the wizards' prejudice against Muggles, even wizards from Muggle families would likely reintegrate into normal society after entering the magical world.
But now, Lynn felt things couldn't be that simple.
From his initially high aptitude for dark magic to his current inherited bloodline talent, everything showed that Lynn wasn't the "lowly" Mudblood he initially thought he was.
So, what position did the murderer, who was clearly connected to him, hold?
The available clues were too few; he couldn't guess.
However, this performance with Ian was an experiment for Lynn.
And the day he would get the results seemed rather long.
After the conflict, Lynn stopped eating at the Ravenclaw long table with Ian Cedric.
He returned to the Slytherin long table. Betty, the prefect, didn't seem to have given up after being friend-zoned by him; she still tried to get closer to him every day.
But after learning of her treacherous ambitions, Lynn tried to avoid contact with her too much, lest the girl become more and more entangled.
Two weeks passed, and on the surface, Lynn appeared to have completely broken off relations with Ian, never to speak to him again.
In reality, except when Ian was in the common room, Lynn was secretly following him.
Ian was also very cooperative; if he and Lynn had different classes at the same time, he would try to be with other wizards from his house, and when Lynn had time to follow him, he would deliberately avoid crowds, always wandering around in secluded corners.
During these two weeks, the castle remained calm; nothing happened, and even Lynn, while following Ian, never encountered anyone suspicious.
Just when Lynn thought the murderer had seen through his little trick, or that with Dumbledore in charge at Hogwarts, he wouldn't dare to act, the unexpected happened that Saturday evening.
At dinner time, Ian, as usual, finished his last sausage and got up to walk out of the Great Hall.
"Campbell, are you going for a walk in the castle again today?" a young Ravenclaw wizard asked.
Ian nodded indifferently, "Yes."
The young wizard shook his head regretfully, "The curfew has a new riddle today. We were hoping you'd be the first to solve it, but since you're going for a walk, I guess you won't have the chance."
"I'm not very interested in solving riddles." He was quite aloof, and the Ravenclaws were used to his temper, so they didn't feel offended.
Ian left the Great Hall alone.
He seemed to genuinely want to go for a walk in the castle to digest his meal.
At the Slytherin table, Lynn glanced out of the corner of his eye and saw Ian finish his meal and leave the table. He then drank the last of his pumpkin juice and stood up.
He deliberately dawdled, only slowly walking outside after Ian had left the Great Hall.
Lynn didn't follow Ian around; he kept a distance of at least a hundred meters between them.
The distance within the castle made it impossible for him to see Ian, but their route had been planned beforehand.
Although neither could see the other, they walked one after the other, ensuring that Lynn would be immediately aware of any movement ahead and rush there as quickly as possible.
They circled Hogwarts Castle along their fixed route, but nothing happened.
Just as Ian reached the door of an abandoned cellar beneath the castle, a place almost no young wizards frequented, and was preparing to return to the common room empty-handed as before, something unexpected happened!
A short, ugly, and old creature suddenly appeared beside him with a "snap!"
Its gaze towards Ian was filled with hatred and anger, then it extended its long, bony index finger!
Ian, pressed against the wall, his usually icy expression unusually tense, stared intently at this creature he had never seen before and shouted sharply.
"Who are you! What do you want!"
Lynn, who was not far away, heard Ian's shout. His expression changed instantly, and he rushed towards Ian's location!
Actually, I planted quite a few foreshadowing elements, and none of you guessed them.
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(End of Chapter)