Hogwarts: Don't call me Wandmaker

Chapter 199 Searching the Castle
Not long after the owl flew into the castle, Professor McGonagall, who was in the teachers' seat, suddenly stood up.

At the same time, the castle gates opened, and Cornelius Fudge and Scrimgeour walked in from outside. Their movements and expressions were exactly the same as what Siron had seen in the crystal ball.

After a full day of rest, Scrimgeour had recovered, but as he passed the Gryffindor table, he still glanced at Siron unconsciously.

Xilun pretended to know nothing and joined the others in watching them whisper.

At this moment, Dumbledore also arrived.

He walked in through the side door, and instead of his usual peaceful smile, he looked at Cornell Fudge with a serious expression.

Everyone could see that Dumbledore was very angry.

“You have to understand me, Albus.” Fudge fiddled with his top hat. “Those Dementors…”

“Minister, I don’t think this is the time to talk about these things,” Dumbledore interrupted him.

Fudge then realized that there were many students around, and that what he had just said should not have been overheard by these young wizards.

“Presidents of the student council, and all the prefects…” Dumbledore called out.

Percy jumped up, his back ramrod straight, looking just like a goalpost in a school uniform.

“Now, I would like you to take your students back to the common room.”

Dumbledore said, "I will have the ghosts inform you when this is over, but until then, I hope you will all stay quietly in the common room and chat or play some wizard chess."

“I hope the prefects and our student council presidents and vice presidents will ensure that every student stays in the safe common room, not in the castle corridors.”

Percy puffed out his chest again and stared at each Gryffindor with a scrutinizing gaze, lingering particularly on Fred and George.

“We’re not stupid; we won’t give the Dementors a reason to hurt us,” Fred said irritably.

“Besides, we just like going out at night.” George glanced at him as well. “But it’s daytime now.”

Led by the prefect and the student council president, everyone began to leave the auditorium in an orderly manner and head towards their respective common rooms.

When Xilun arrived at a corridor on the eighth floor with everyone else, he casually pushed open a small window and peered outside.

"Oh, here they come, those Dementors."

Upon hearing Xilun's words, everyone else rushed over as well.

It seemed to get even darker outside. A bolt of lightning flashed, illuminating for a moment hundreds of black figures flickering in the downpour.

Those are all Dementors.

Suddenly, people seemed to feel a bone-chilling cold around them, and couldn't help but rub their arms.
"Damn it, how come there are so many!" Ximo said, covering his mouth.

"That makes sense. The castle is so big, there must be a lot of them."

"They won't have secretly stayed behind, will they?"

"The professors and the principal will not allow it."

"That's hard to say. There are hundreds of Dementors. If one or two are missing, no one will know."

"Shut up!" Percy shouted. "Silen, close the windows. Everyone else, keep going. We should go back to the common room."

Several younger students immediately jogged after him, afraid that if they were even a step behind, they would not be able to enter the common room and would be locked in the corridor outside the common room.

Xilun casually closed the window, pushed it open, and then followed.

A roaring fire was burning in the common room, quickly dispelling the chill that everyone had brought in from outside.

Fred and George seemed to have planned this all along; as soon as they squeezed through the passage, they quickened their pace and took two good spots closest to the fireplace.

Then they put the table and armchairs together and laid out all the sandwiches, fried sausages and pumpkin soda they had brought from the auditorium, covering the entire table.

“You guys…” Ron stared in disbelief. He had also wanted to get a spot near the fireplace, but before he could even move, Fred and George had already tied on their napkins and started cutting sausages.

“Since we’re going to be waiting in the common lounge anyway, we should choose the more comfortable way,” Fred said.

“That’s right.” George nodded. “We weren’t full yet. Would you like some?” Ron pursed his lips.

When the owl flew in, he was so busy dodging the falling water droplets that he didn't get to eat much.

“Thanks, then I’ll have a sandwich,” Ron said.

“You’re welcome.” Fred held out his hand. “Two siscos each.”

"What?" Ron looked at him in disbelief. "That's breakfast provided by the school, and you're asking me for money?"

“Yes,” George said matter-of-factly. “If you don’t want to pay, you can just go to the kitchen and get it yourself.”

Ron then thought of the hundreds of Dementors he had just seen in the downpour.

He couldn't possibly step out of the common room before the ghost arrived!
“I’m your brother!” Ron said, trying to rekindle the little remaining affection between them.

"It's because you're our younger brother..."

"That's why we only charge you!"

“Wait, what do you mean by only charging me?” Ron asked.

However, he soon realized that Celen had simply picked up a sandwich from the table and started eating it, but they hadn't mentioned paying at all.

The same goes for Neville, Angelina, Oliver, Hermione, and Ginny.

“You can’t do this…” Ron felt his hands and feet turn cold. “Ginny is your sister too, why aren’t you taking money?”

As soon as he finished speaking, Fred and George stopped what they were doing and stared at him in shock.

"Oh, do you want to listen to what you're saying?"

"Taking money from your own sister?"

"I never expected you to be like this, Ron!" Fred looked at him with disdain.

"I didn't, I didn't..." Ron's ears turned red. "It was you guys, not me!"

“We didn’t take any money from our sister,” George said, mimicking Percy’s tone. “Ron, we’ll definitely write to Mom about this.”

A burst of laughter erupted from the surroundings... and then a magical scene unfolded: even though hundreds of Dementors surrounded the area and the walls and grass were covered in frost, the Gryffindor common room was still filled with laughter.

After finishing his sandwich, Celen gave his seat to Ron and went upstairs.

"Where are you going?" Fred asked.

“Back to the dorm,” Celen said. “Since I don’t have anything else to do, I’m going to finish making the remaining wands.”

He walked back to his dorm and pointed his wand at the lock.

With a "click," the dormitory door was locked, and no one outside could open it even with a lock-picking spell.

Then Siren opened the window, used a glue spell to fix a crack, and then transformed into a black cat and came outside.

He was still worried. Rather than waiting idly in his dorm without knowing anything, he preferred to be there and watch from the scene.

Anyway, Dementors have a hard time sensing animal emotions, so all they need to do is evade Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore, who are in the know, which isn't difficult.

The rain was still heavy outside, and the wind was howling.

After a short while, the wind stopped for a moment.

Seizing the opportunity, Xilun quickly ran forward along the narrow windowsill and soon arrived at a closed window.

Once he confirmed the location was correct, Xilun revealed his sharp claws and gently hooked at a spot below the window, smashing it open. He then jumped into the castle.

……

(End of this chapter)