Harry Potter and the Great Old Ones

Chapter 580 Putting the Facts Away
The following days were unbelievably peaceful. Whether it was Draco Malfoy returning to Hogwarts or the bunch of rascals who were switched at Durmstrang School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, they all attended classes, studied on their own, did their homework, and took the monthly exams.

Of course, this calm simply means that nothing major like what happened in Tierra's second, third, fourth, and fifth years has occurred.

On the second Wednesday after the start of the semester, Mercedes Amishitia, an exchange student from Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the United States, set fire to her dormitory in a fit of anger because her Slytherin roommate hid her paper before class.

Of course, before the fire spread to the other two dorm rooms, Tiera "just arrived" and stopped the fire from spreading, and used time magic to help repair the entire dorm room.

"Mercedes-Armysites' arson caused enormous damage." Tierra glanced helplessly at the group of gloating Slytherin students who were hoping she would expel Mercedes-Armysites, and continued, "Slytherin will lose two hundred points."

"What?" a girl who shared a dorm room with Mercedes Amishitia asked in shock. "Why aren't they expelling her? She set our dorm on fire!"

“A group is like a family, and comrades are like brothers,” Tierra said. “I’m sure Professor McGonagall told you that when you enrolled.”

“Professor McGonagall didn’t say that,” the girl retorted.

“That’s what I’m saying now,” Tierra said. “If Miss Mercedes Amishitia sets fire to her dormitory because she’s jealous of your freckles or because she holds a grudge from an argument with you, then I will definitely expel Miss Mercedes Amishitia immediately without saying a word.”

"But what's the real cause of this? Hmm?" Tierra looked meaningfully at Mercedes Amishitia's roommate.

“They hid my homework,” Mercedes Amishitia, who was standing nearby, suddenly said. “That’s why I set fire to the dorm.”

“We didn’t!” Luminara Anduri, one of Mercedes Amishitia’s roommates, cried out.

“She just left her things lying around and then blamed us!” Sarah Palmer, another roommate of Mercedes Amishitia, argued.

“Then, Miss Amishitia, do you have any evidence that they hid your thesis?” Tiera asked gently.

“Yes,” Mercedes Amishitia said matter-of-factly. “I used Legilimency on them. I saw them hide my thesis in the owl droppings in the owlhouse!”

“We didn’t!” Sarah Palmer argued, her face contorted with rage. “And you dared to use Legilimency on us! That’s illegal!”

“Miss Amishitia, using Legilimency on a student is indeed illegal,” Tiera said gently. “Therefore, I regret to inform you that Slytherin will have another fifty points deducted, and you will be placed on probation and school service for one month.”

“I accept,” Mercedes Amishitia said resolutely, tilting her beautiful head back.

"As for whether your roommates hid your thesis..." Tiera asked slowly, "When was the last time you saw your thesis... or do you know roughly when your roommates took it?"

“7:15,” Mercedes Amishitia said. “I didn’t have class this morning, so I wanted to sleep in a bit, but at 7:15 they broke the protective spell I had put on my backpack and threw all my papers into the owlhouse. The time my spell was broken was 7:15.”

"Then you wake up to find your protective spell broken and you can't find your thesis. You go to the cafeteria to confront your roommates, use Legilimency to find out that they hid your thesis, and then turn around and go back to the dormitory to set it on fire?" Tiera helped Mercedes Amishtia sort things out.

“Yes,” Mercedes Amishitia said.

"Why didn't you teach your roommates a lesson in the cafeteria?" Tierra asked curiously. "After finding out that your roommates had hidden your thesis, why didn't you teach them a lesson in the cafeteria instead of going back to burn down the dorm?"

“I can’t beat you, and I’m afraid you’ll stop me,” Mercedes Amishitia said quite honestly.

“Hehe…Alright, how about we go back to 7:13?” Tiera asked, then slowly rotated the golden eyeball in her right eye. The surrounding scene seemed to rewind, and everyone present felt as if they were flying, flying very fast, flying backward.

Various blurry clouds and shapes flashed before my eyes, something was pounding in my ears, and then—

They touched the solid ground beneath their feet, and everything was slowly focusing—

They felt they were in an old, yellowed world, with everything around them seemingly shrouded in a dark yellow shadow.

“It’s 7:13 a.m..” Tierra removed her hand from her right eyeball and pointed to Mercedes Amishitia’s bed.

A shoulder bag was hanging at the foot of her bed.

Four girls were surrounding the single-shoulder backpack.

"Stop the spell instantly." A girl held up her wand and looked at Mercedes Amishitia's shoulder bag, reciting the spell.

However, Mercedes Amishitia's backpack did not respond.

"Useless, I'll do it." Another girl pushed the first girl aside, waved her wand, and chanted:

"All shattered."

A beam of red light shot out from the cocoon, causing Mercedes Amishitia's backpack to tremble, but it quickly calmed down.

"Your knowledge is quite solid," Tiera praised Mercedes Amishitia. In the dim light, several young witches had tried at least six spells, but still couldn't break the protective spell she had cast on her backpack.

“Thank you,” Mercedes Amishitia said calmly.

Finally, the four girls lost their patience and used a spell to start a fire, burning a large hole in Mercedes Amishitia's backpack and pulling her thesis out of it.

“No wonder you wanted to burn down the dorm,” Tierra said.

This time, Mercedes Amishitia unusually remained silent.

“Well then, things are clear now.” Tierra tapped her right eyeball.

The surrounding scene returned to normal, and then a snap of fingers was made.

The beds and belongings of the four girls that Tiera had repaired with time magic suddenly started to emit a wisp of blue smoke, then burst into flames and turned into a pile of charcoal.

"It's reasonable for you to figure out how to fix something you've burned yourself, right?"

“This isn’t fair! We burned her bag and threw away her thesis,” Sarah Palmer yelled, “but setting aside the facts, isn’t she completely innocent?”

(End of this chapter)