Hogwarts: This holy light is righteously evil

Chapter 164 Trolls

In the last duel, those two, under the professor's supervision, didn't actually show anything; it ended rather anticlimactically.

Both of them made a complete fool of themselves.

in fact.

The most effective way to motivate Harry to push his limits and strive for excellence is never through verbal persuasion.

Instead, it allows him to confront the gap and see what others possess that he lacks.

In particular, this gap, stemming from Draco, his current perceived adversary, will ignite a far stronger competitive drive and ambition than ordinary motivation.

After several arguments and confrontations, Harry and Draco had long since abandoned the familiarity and closeness they had at the beginning of their school days. The two tacitly stopped calling each other by their first names and addressed each other by their surnames instead.

What appears to be a cooling of their relationship and a deliberate act of distance is actually a testament to the fact that the two never reduced their communication. However, all their conversations turned into sharp arguments and confrontations, with the two constantly debating and arguing as if their magical power would increase simply by verbally overwhelming the other, revealing the stubbornness and competitiveness of young people.

Puni initially intended to ease the tension between the two, hoping to resolve their differences and allow them to put aside their antagonism and live in harmony.

But after observing for a period of time, he completely changed his mind.

This delicate balance between friendship and enmity is actually the best fit for the two of them right now.

The constant rivalry and competition will continuously stimulate each other's competitive spirit, forcing both of them to actively identify their shortcomings and improve their skills. In the process of mutual checks and balances and mutual competition, they will grow steadily with almost no drawbacks.

Seeing the two restraining each other and making progress together, Puni was very satisfied. At the same time, he secretly decided to speed up his follow-up plans and firmly grasp the initiative in the situation.

In order to keep abreast of any unusual activity within the castle and to keep a close eye on any potential dangers, Puni uses the Marauder's Map every night to track everyone's movements, with a particular focus on Quirrell's every move.

His long-term observations revealed that the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor had an extremely irregular nighttime routine and was exceptionally busy, completely lacking the relaxed state that a faculty member should have.

Only on the days when the school assigned him to patrol at night, would Quirrell dutifully perform his duties and diligently complete his patrol tasks. On the vast majority of other nights, he would wander around in the shadows and never truly rest.

His most frequent destination was the Cerberus Chamber in the restricted area on the fourth floor.

Puni speculated that Quirrell wanted to take advantage of the guards' laxity and Cerberus's slumber to sneak under the trapdoor, explore the layers of defenses set up by the other professors, and figure out all the protective measures inside the secret realm.

However, the Cerberus's defenses are extremely tight, leaving virtually no opportunity for attack.

This behemoth never falls into a deep sleep; its three heads take turns on duty and resting, always remaining vigilant.

As soon as any one of the heads detects an unfamiliar aura or subtle movement, the other two heads will instantly awaken simultaneously, unleashing a formidable combat power far exceeding that of an ordinary fire dragon, deterring all intruders.

Therefore, Quirrell's numerous late-night visits to the restricted area were all in vain, and he could never find a breakthrough opportunity.

His relentless pursuit of adventure was entirely due to the forces behind the scenes; he was forced to obey Voldemort's orders and insist on searching for magical treasures in the secret realm.

When Quirrell is unable to get close to the trapdoor guarded by Cerberus, he will switch targets and sneak into the Hogwarts Library, where he will stay discreetly for several hours, carefully avoiding the librarians and students who patrol at night.

Puni could never fathom the true purpose of this action. He could hardly imagine that Voldemort, who was lying in wait and plotting to seize the treasure, would still be so persistent in browsing the library's collection and continuing to study magical knowledge.

This speculation aroused strong vigilance and unease in Puni's heart.

If Voldemort is indeed secretly improving, addressing his weaknesses, and accumulating power, it would be the worst news for everyone, meaning that the threat from him is far more terrifying than anticipated.

Puni buried his unease and suspicion deep in his heart, never revealing a trace of it to anyone, while continuing to keep a close watch on Quirrell's movements day after day, not daring to relax for a moment.

On the eve of Halloween, after days of surveillance, a key anomaly was finally detected.

On the Marauder's Map, the ink markings representing Quirrell's name suddenly faded significantly, the ink became thinner, and the outlines of some letters became blurred and indistinct, almost completely merging into the parchment background.

This is a special feedback from the map, indicating that the target is concealing its presence and deliberately blocking detection, using special concealment magic.

The moment the anomaly occurred, the faded name markers moved rapidly across the map, their trajectory straight and clear, ultimately pointing directly to the Forbidden Forest outside Hogwarts.

The crucial operation has finally begun.

Puni dared not delay, immediately leaving the Request-Free Room and rushing to the pre-prepared secret chamber area. He took the waiting fire dragon with him and headed towards the Forbidden Forest overnight.

The passage to the underground chamber was slow, making it impossible to reach the scene quickly, but Puni was not anxious.

It would also take Voldemort a great deal of time to locate the unicorn in the vast and deep Forbidden Forest; it was by no means an easy task.

Previously, a series of unicorn deaths occurred in the Forbidden Forest. The surviving unicorns have sensed the deadly danger and have taken the initiative to hide their tracks, scattering and hiding in the secluded areas deep in the Forbidden Forest, which has greatly increased the difficulty of the search.

Even though Voldemort's methods are unpredictable and his senses are sharp, he will most likely still be able to find the unicorn's trail in the end. However, the fact that these magical creatures are avoiding the area on their own has bought Puni valuable time, giving him the opportunity to intervene in the aftermath and deal with the mess.

Puni knew in his heart that this intervention would most likely only clean up the mess for the murdered unicorn, and could not be considered a true rescue. The proud and holy unicorn would most likely not accept such a way of ending things, but it was the best option he could do at the moment.

Thousands of meters above the clouds, the fire dragon shrank to about half its original size, steadily spreading its wings and circling. Puni sat comfortably on the dragon's back, looking down at the entire dark forbidden forest, muttering to himself as he commented on the various creatures that appeared on the ground.

"Could it be that Voldemort has really evolved a heat-sensing ability unique to snakes? These unicorns are so well hidden that they would be impossible to locate easily with normal searching, yet he can always pinpoint their approximate location."

"Those running in the woods over there are ordinary wild deer. This is the first time I've seen such a creature deep in the Forbidden Forest. From a distance, their outlines are indeed easy to mistake for unicorns."

"Those groups of standing figures are a centaur tribe, not unicorns. We can't just focus on four-legged creatures when searching for them."

"Why are you looking up at the treetops? Unicorns never climb trees to hide; there's no way you'll find anything from there."

"That little nest in the crevice of the tree roots is a Niffler. They look so adorable. I really want to see how many shiny things they have stockpiled in their underground nest."

These little creatures weren't taken to Hogwarts to be raised; their nest was so simple that it didn't reveal many of their treasures.

The fire dragon flew silently the entire way, listening to its master on its back constantly pointing at the creatures on the ground, its heart filled with helplessness.

Thousands of meters above the ground, with layers of leaves obscuring the view, ordinary people would not be able to distinguish the species of small creatures on the ground. Yet Puni could not only see them clearly, but also identify the species at will.

Puni can indeed distinguish the movement on the ground, but he deduces the types of many creatures by combining their behavior patterns and habitat characteristics, rather than relying solely on his eyesight to see all the details.

In the dense forest below, Voldemort, who was parasitizing Quirrell's body, was extremely agitated.

He had searched the area around the unicorn hunting grounds twice before, but could not find any trace of unicorn scent, hoofprints, or fur. His past search experience was completely useless.

When conventional tracking methods failed, he had to resort to the least efficient method: a thorough, segmented search of the entire forbidden forest, leaving no stone unturned.

During the extensive search, he encountered a whole herd of Thestrals.

These pegasus are born bound to the aura of death, yet they are living magical creatures that reproduce completely through viviparous birth. They belong to the same level four magical creatures as unicorns, and their overall combat capabilities far surpass those of unicorns.

Legend has it that the core material of the Elder Wand, one of the three holy relics of death, is taken from the feathers of the Thestral's tail. Of course, the feathers that can serve as the core are not from ordinary wild Thestrals.

Voldemort was surrounded by a dense aura of negative magic. The Thestrals in the entire area instantly sensed his extremely aggressive malice. All the adult Thestrals immediately gathered in a circle, protecting the young cubs in the center of the circle, their limbs tense, ready to launch a counterattack at any moment.

If Voldemort insists on taking the initiative, he alone may not be able to suppress the entire group of Thestrals who are on guard.

However, he had no intention of engaging in a prolonged battle with these Pegasus. Hunting Thestrals would only intensify the aura of death emanating from him, offering no benefit whatsoever to his goal of obtaining unicorn blood and repairing his damaged body.

After a brief stop to observe the group's arrangement, he turned and left, continuing his journey deeper into the forbidden forest.

Puni, perched atop the dragon high in the sky, witnessed the entire event and couldn't help but feel a sense of disdain. He secretly criticized the other party for lacking any courage to fight back, for only knowing how to avoid battle and retreat in the face of trouble, and for not understanding that one should act decisively and aggressively.

Voldemort wandered the Forbidden Forest all night without finding a single unicorn. Puni's pre-planned strategy of waiting for Voldemort to commit the crime and then intervening to clean up the mess completely failed.

A faint golden light peeked through the distant horizon; the sun was about to break through the horizon. Puni knew that his pursuit tonight had to end there.

Voldemort on the ground also noticed the change in the sky. The sunlight would greatly weaken the dark magic he could use when he was in Quirrell's body, so he immediately stopped all his search, turned around, and headed back at full speed towards the area of ​​Hogwarts Castle.

He was not anxious about not being able to capture his target that night, and planned to enter the forbidden forest again the following night to continue the search.

Unicorns are rare and wary by nature, so it's impossible to capture them successfully every time you search for them. If they were easy to find, they wouldn't be considered rare, high-level magical creatures.

Puni watched Voldemort's figure retreat completely back inside the castle walls, and only after confirming that the other party would not return did he completely stop this high-altitude surveillance operation.

At this moment, Puni was unaware that the reason why the search tonight yielded nothing was actually due to himself.

Unicorns are born with an extremely strong ability to sense malice; they will hide their tracks in advance whenever there is a strong desire to kill in their surroundings.

Voldemort was filled with malice to steal unicorn blood and harm living beings, but he was proficient in dark magic that concealed his presence, and could forcibly suppress malicious fluctuations, preventing unicorns from detecting the danger in advance.

He succeeded last time by using this method of concealing his presence.

But last night, Puni rode his fire dragon and circled above the Forbidden Forest for a long time. The ancient pressure emanating from the dragon permeated the entire forest, invisibly disrupting Voldemort's aura-concealing spell. His hidden malice leaked out bit by bit, and various unicorns sensed the danger in advance, all hiding in the deep, dense forest that was difficult for ordinary people to reach. That's why Voldemort's search all night was fruitless.

The reason why the situation was completely reversed tonight is entirely due to Puni himself.

Throughout the entire nighttime pursuit, Puni remained on his fire-breathing dragon, hovering above the Forbidden Forest, keeping a firm grip on Voldemort's movements without ever leaving his side.

His initial goal was simply to wait for Voldemort to succeed so he could immediately step in to deal with the aftermath and reap the benefits; his mindset was straightforward and utilitarian.

This is why he harbored an undisguised desire to covet and plunder unicorn resources, a negative feeling that was no less intense than Voldemort's murderous urges.

More importantly, Puni never deliberately restrained or hid his emotional fluctuations.

All his utilitarian thoughts and predatory desires were laid bare to the Forbidden Forest's magical perception system.

As a high-level magical creature with a pure nature and an extremely keen sense of malice, the unicorn had long since detected this strong anomaly from afar.

Before Voldemort could even get close enough to search, the remaining unicorns in the Forbidden Forest were already completely disturbed by the malice spreading from the sky. They all fled their original habitats and hid deep in the most secret corners of the Forbidden Forest's barrier.

In essence, Puni unintentionally acted as an external early warning device, preventing danger for all the unicorns in advance.

Under these circumstances, no matter how thoroughly Voldemort searched, he would not be able to find any trace of him.

But Voldemort did not come away empty-handed; after a night of fruitless searching, he caught another crucial clue.

The sense of being spied on him only completely dissipated the moment he left the Forbidden Forest and stepped into the protected area of ​​Hogwarts Castle.

At that moment, he was completely certain that he had been under the surveillance of an unknown entity all night.

That night, the feeling of being watched constantly lingered, firmly restraining his actions.

He stopped searching several times along the way, secretly using his magic to investigate the surrounding environment, and finally managed to pinpoint the source of the spying as being from high-altitude airspace.

But the clouds were thick and the night was pitch black, and despite his best efforts to search, he was unable to spot any figures in the air.

An aura or magical fluctuation.

The inexplicable sense of being monitored made him constantly wary, preventing him from acting recklessly and searching for the unicorn with all his might, which greatly restricted his pace of action.

Voldemort secretly marked this as a high-risk suspicious point and finalized his plan in his mind: he must thoroughly investigate the true identity and purpose of the high-altitude surveillance personnel.

In the nights that followed, Voldemort continued to manipulate Quirrell into the Forbidden Forest, searching for the hidden unicorns and investigating unusual activity in the sky, attempting to unravel the mystery of the surveillance that had been ongoing for days.

Puni keenly sensed the changes in the other party's mentality and actions, and clearly perceived that Voldemort had begun to deliberately probe and scan the airspace above.

In order to completely conceal his presence and cut off all possibility of detection, he immediately adjusted his tracking method, causing the fire dragon to continuously increase its flight altitude and remain in the high-altitude clouds far beyond the opponent's perception limit.

The significant increase in altitude completely blocked any leakage of aura and magic power.

Voldemort could no longer detect any signs of activity, completely lost his direction in the investigation, and was at a loss for what to do.

It was from this time onward that Voldemort was no longer able to find any trace of unicorns in the Forbidden Forest.

The unicorns in the entire area seemed to have vanished completely, leaving no trace or clue. No matter what search methods he used, he ultimately returned empty-handed.

The covert standoff between the two sides has thus reached a complete stalemate.

The stalemate has caused obvious anxiety on both sides of the standoff.

Voldemort desperately needed unicorn blood to repair his damaged state, but his patience wore thin after a long period of fruitless searching.

Puni was also unwilling to maintain this passive, stalemate tracking mode indefinitely. The endless night watch was extremely exhausting and made it impossible to advance the subsequent plans.

With each harboring their own thoughts and restraining the other, neither could break the current balance. This silent battle between the sky and the dense forest continued indefinitely.

Time passed slowly, and as Halloween arrived as scheduled, this long stalemate finally had a chance to be broken.

As October drew to a close, the festive atmosphere throughout Hogwarts Castle grew stronger, and the Halloween celebration was fast approaching.

For several nights in a row, Puni has been running into a familiar group of figures in the castle corridors.

Oliver Wood always led Harry in intensive Quidditch training. They would stay at the pitch three days a week, practicing from dusk until night completely enveloped the field. Only when they were drenched in sweat and exhausted would they drag their aching bodies back to the castle.

Whenever Puni sees such a high-intensity training pace, he feels a little worried.

Harry has always been thin and weak since childhood. He has never experienced such high-intensity training that combines physical fitness and magic. The continuous overload training could easily deplete his body and cause health problems.

As the team captain, Wood was focused solely on winning the college cup, pushing the training intensity to the limit without considering the physical limits of the freshmen.

On the eve of Halloween, Hogwarts was already fully decorated for the holiday, with festive decorations and ornaments everywhere.

The house-elves in the castle kitchen are all busy, working day and night to process large quantities of pumpkins, preparing ingredients for the holiday dinner.

Hagrid, however, was unusually free this year and had no time to prepare his own pumpkin decorations and desserts.

He has been traveling daily between the castle and the Forbidden Forest to regularly feed his three-headed dog, Lucas, which has taken up a lot of his time and energy.

In addition, every time he returned to the castle, he was kept under close watch by Filch, and Lady Lorris followed him closely. The two of them, the woman and the cat, were on high alert the whole time, as if they were preventing him from trespassing into the castle's restricted area and breaking the rules. This constant surveillance made Hagrid very annoyed.

Hagrid, feeling depressed, wanted to soothe his mind with the holiday drinks, but the auditorium only had pumpkin juice and various sugar-free health juices available.

All the house-elves were completely focused on preparing the dinner dishes, and there was a severe shortage of manpower, leaving no time to prepare special drinks. This left Hagrid with nowhere to relieve his frustration.

The auditorium looks brand new tonight, with an overall decoration that is more refined and solemn than in previous years.

The magical ceiling simulates a dark night sky with clouds obscuring the moon, and countless lifelike bats swirl and dance between the walls and the dome, appearing lively and realistic.

The popular inflatable pumpkin decorations of previous years did not appear. Instead, Professor Flitwick's ingenious design was used. He applied a unique playful spell to each display pumpkin, causing laughing patterns to appear on the surface of the pumpkin and intermittently emitting crisp laughter, adding a lot of fun to the dinner.

All the students gathered in the auditorium, sat around the dining table and enjoyed a sumptuous festive dinner. Laughter filled the entire space, and a peaceful festive atmosphere enveloped the whole place.

Just as everyone was immersed in joy, the auditorium doors were suddenly pushed open, completely shattering the peace.

Professor Quirrell, the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, stumbled into the Great Hall, his scarf askew and disheveled, his face deathly pale, his eyes filled with extreme fear, and he was in a state of utter panic.

He strode quickly through the crowd and headed straight for Dumbledore in the center of the teachers' seats, speaking rapidly and frantically with an unmistakable tremor in his voice.

"A giant monster has broken into the dungeon! You must know immediately!"

After hastily reporting the emergency, Quirrell's legs went weak, and he collapsed heavily to the ground, completely unable to move.

Panic instantly swept through the entire auditorium, with disorderly noise and screams erupting one after another.

Dumbledore quickly stood up, raised his hand to cast a calming spell, and in a deep voice signaled all the teachers and students to remain quiet and stabilize the chaotic situation.

The heads of each grade immediately took charge of their respective duties, guiding the students of their colleges to leave the venue in an orderly manner and return to their respective common lounges. The scene became increasingly chaotic as people moved about and made noise.

Puni followed Ravenclaw's group steadily out of the arena, habitually scanning the chaotic crowd and observing the surrounding movements.

As his gaze swept past the side door, he keenly caught sight of two unusually prominent figures.

Harry and Ron did not follow the crowd to evacuate. Instead, taking advantage of the chaos, they kept their bodies low and moved cautiously against the flow of people. Under the cover of the Hufflepuff students, they quietly slipped out of the Great Hall through the side door and disappeared from everyone's sight.

"It's too reckless to leave the group during such a critical moment."

Puni frowned slightly, a sense of helplessness rising in his heart.

He couldn't determine their exact destination or purpose for the time being, but based on his past experience with them, he knew that this was definitely not a rational choice.

To prevent the two from causing trouble due to their recklessness, Puni immediately broke away from Ravenclaw's evacuation group, raised his hand to cast a high-level illusion spell on himself, concealing all his form and presence, and silently followed the two away.

Harry and Ron proceeded cautiously through several deserted corridors, keeping their footsteps low, heading straight for the castle's underground area.

Puni followed at a leisurely pace, maintaining a safe distance and remaining completely hidden from view.

As they reached the corner of the stairs, they suddenly heard clear footsteps ahead. The two instantly became alert, crouched down behind a stone statue, held their breath, and dared not make a sound, observing the movement in the corridor with full vigilance.

Snape slowly came into view, his expression grave, his steps hurried, and his demeanor tense, clearly sensing the unusual commotion within the castle.

However, he was not heading towards the dungeon, but rather towards the upper staircase, a route completely opposite to the area where the troll was located.

Harry and Ron, hiding behind the statue, exchanged a glance, their hearts filled with doubt.

"Why didn't Professor Snape join the other teachers in dealing with the emergency? Instead, he went upstairs?" Ron asked in a low voice, puzzled.

The two watched until Snape's black-robed figure completely disappeared around the corner of the stairs before finally letting out a sigh of relief and slowly raising their heads to prepare to continue their actions.

But the next moment, they both felt a slight impact on their heads at the same time. After two muffled thuds, a clear pain came from their scalps.

"Who?!" The two simultaneously raised their hands to cover their heads, their brows furrowed, their teeth bared, and they looked around in astonishment.

Puni's figure slowly appeared behind the two, his expression calm, and he solemnly warned: "It's your senior who openly violated school rules and left the evacuation group without permission. That's typical Gryffindor style. He's so bold as to dare to face a troll alone. That kind of monster can easily injure a junior student with just a wooden stick."

Ron immediately retorted, urgently explaining, "We didn't go looking for a troll to confront! We came to find Hermione! Parvati just told us that Hermione has been hiding in the Women's Bathhouse all day, grieving alone. She has no idea that trolls have broken into the castle, and we're worried that she might not have time to escape and could be in danger."

Harry immediately reached out and tugged at Ron's robe, stopping him from saying anything more.

It was Ron's casual, angry remark that caused Hermione to feel guilty and hide away to grieve, and the two of them have always felt guilty about it.

Puni took in the two men's subtle actions and instantly realized that there was more to the story than met the eye. However, with the danger looming, there was no time to delve into the conflicts between them.

He immediately interrupted their thoughts, solemnly instructing them: "Calm down and listen to me. Trolls have strong bodies and thick skin, and it is difficult for ordinary low-level spells to cause effective damage to them. Only by hitting their weaknesses and casting high-level spells can you achieve a counterbalancing effect. With your current magical foundation and combat ability, facing a troll head-on is no different from actively sending yourself to your death."

As he spoke, Puni took out several brightly colored spherical props from a hidden pocket inside his robe. They were crudely made and uniquely designed, and were the twin brothers' homemade magical experiment products.

He placed them one by one into Harry and Ron's hands, making them hold them securely.

Under the questioning gazes of the two, Puni quickly explained the specific uses of the items: "When the black sphere is triggered, it will instantly explode into a high-density black smoke, obscuring the vision of the entire area. This will allow you to quickly evacuate and avoid danger under the cover of smoke. When the yellow sphere lands and explodes, it will release a high-strength adhesive that can temporarily stick to the giant's feet and the club in its hand, restricting its ability to move."

He deliberately emphasized the key points: "Remember, these items are for assisting in escape and buying time to avoid danger. They are absolutely not for you to fight the giant head-on. If the situation gets out of control, prioritize your own safety and seek the professor's support immediately. Do not be reckless."

Harry and Ron nodded solemnly, gripping their magical artifacts tightly. Their initial panic subsided, and they felt more confident.

"Go ahead." Puni slightly raised his hand, gesturing for the two to proceed. "There's one more thing: you absolutely must not reveal the origin of these items."

The two took a deep breath, composed themselves, and mustered their courage to run quickly toward the depths of the dungeon, toward the direction from which strange movements were faintly emanating.

Once the two figures were out of sight, Puni activated the Illusion Spell again, concealing himself once more and silently following behind.

He had no intention of directly intervening. On the one hand, he needed to verify the practical effects of the twins' self-made props and collect complete user feedback. On the other hand, he also wanted to see with his own eyes whether these two impulsive and reckless Gryffindor freshmen could stabilize the situation and protect themselves successfully in a crisis with the help of external aids.

As you venture deeper into the underground corridor, a strong, pungent odor assaults your senses, a mixture of dampness, decay, and the distinctive stench of monsters, creating a stifling and oppressive atmosphere that makes it difficult to breathe.

The narrow, dark underground passage is unattended and closed year-round.

The harsh environment intensified the sense of oppression throughout the area.