The Wind and the Wings of Hogwarts

Black feathers fluttered down, and the crow's body turned black and gray as it fell.

"Heart-piercing and bone-scraping!"

Carlo unleashed the Cruciatus Curse once more.

Scott desperately wanted to breathe, but he forced himself to breathe deeply through his nose to calm himself down.

Just as he was about to make a move, a silver-white phoenix suddenly descended from the sky and blocked his way.

The Crucifix struck the phoenix, then reflected off the stone slabs on the ground, shattering one of them.

The silver phoenix's semi-illusory body only caused a brief fluctuation before quickly stabilizing again.

“I’m sorry, Scott,” Dumbledore’s voice came from the phoenix’s mouth, “It was my dereliction of duty to allow someone to infiltrate Hogwarts.”

Chapter 381 The Bizarre Motive for Murder

"Dumbledore!"

Carlo's terrified voice rang out.

"Stop the curse immediately!"

His first instinct was to rescue Tata, the petrified house-elf.

"Lulu will absolutely not let you rescue this wicked elf!"

A scream rang out, and a house-elf Scott recognized suddenly appeared in front of Tata, blocking Carlo's spell with its palm.

"Petrify them all!"

Scott waved his wand with some difficulty.

Despite being exhausted, he seized the opportunity and accurately struck Carlo, who was wearing an invisibility cloak.

After confirming that Carlo had been petrified by his spell, Scott finally relaxed, supporting himself on his knees with his hands and panting heavily.

"Are you alright, Mr. Trollope?"

Lulu ran up to him, looked up at him with concern.

“I’m fine… I’m just a little too tired…” Scott said, panting.

"Do you need any help?" Lulu was frantic, pacing around anxiously. "Let Lulu take you to the hospital!"

"no need."

At this moment, Scott finally caught his breath.

He straightened up, waved to Lulu, and turned to look in the direction of the castle's main building.

Dumbledore, dressed in pajamas and wearing a nightcap, was walking briskly over from that direction, with Professor Flitwick, who had also changed into pajamas, jogging behind him.

“Go take off his invisibility cloak, Lulu.” Scott pointed in the direction Carlo was.

"Okay! Okay!"

Lulu bowed excitedly to Scott, then turned and ran to where Carlo was, waving and casting a spell to remove Carlo's invisibility cloak.

"Oh."

Scott chuckled and walked up to Carlo, looking at the terrified look in his eyes as he stood stiff.

"Looks like I was lucky after all," Scott said.

A fierce hatred blazed in Carlo's eyes.

Scott gave him a mocking smile.

“Idiot,” he whispered, “you’re dead…”

"Scott!"

At that moment, Professor Flitwick had already run past Dumbledore and arrived.

"Are you alright?" He looked his student up and down.

“I’m fine, Professor.” Scott let him look him over.

"I'm so glad you're alright!" Professor Flitwick breathed a sigh of relief. "You were almost at your limit when you left me!"

Scott smiled with feigned pride. "Don't worry, Professor. Even if I'm exhausted, I'm not someone like Carlo who can sneak up on me."

Professor Flitwick laughed too. "Of course, I believe you."

“I’m sorry, Scott,” Dumbledore said as he approached. “By the time I noticed the commotion, it was already time for Mr. Carroll to cast the Crucifixion Curse.”

As he spoke, his phoenix guardian flew to the top of his head, turned into silvery-white smoke, and re-entered his body.

Scott watched this scene with some surprise.

Dumbledore chuckled. "Oh, it seems you're more interested in my Patronus Charm than in hearing this old man's apologies."

Professor Flitwick looked up at Dumbledore and praised him, "Albus, your use of the Patronus Charm is better than any wizard I have ever seen."

"It's just a few tricks."

Dumbledore said to Professor Flitwick, and then to Scott, "If you are interested, I can certainly teach you, but only after you can skillfully cast the complete Patronus Charm."

"Thank you," Scott said quickly.

Although he has not yet unleashed the full Guardian Charm, he believes that day is not far off.

“Now, let’s deal with this.” Dumbledore looked at Carlo. “Hello, Mr. Carlo, it’s been a long time.”

At this moment, Carlo's eyes were filled with fear.

“This isn’t the first time you’ve done this, Mr. Carlo!” Professor Flitwick said.

He was clearly very angry.

“If I remember correctly, you attacked Scott on the bridge with several Slytherins, and later attacked him in the Forbidden Forest with Yaxley! You were expelled from Hogwarts and barely escaped imprisonment, yet you still dare to do this!”

“I’m also very curious about Mr. Carroll’s motives for doing this,” Dumbledore said.

“It’s definitely not Scott’s fault!” Professor Flitwick instinctively defended his student.

“Of course, but we’d better ask first.” Dumbledore looked at Scott. “What do you think, Scott?”

“I’m also curious about this,” Scott said. “Last time, Carol said he attacked me because his cousin Caitlin Roll hated me, and maybe it’s the same reason this time.”

"Let's hear what he has to say."

Dumbledore reached out and patted Carlo on the shoulder twice.

With his first move, he lifted the petrification curse from Carlo.

Before Carlo could react, his body below the neck stiffened again.

“Mr. Carlo, you need to answer my questions,” Dumbledore said to him. “Tell me, why did you do this?”

Carlo kept his head down and didn't look at Dumbledore.

He kept his mouth tightly shut and didn't say a word.

“It seems he doesn’t want to answer your question,” Scott said, looking at Carlo.

Upon hearing his voice, Carlo quickly raised his head and exhaled a red glow from his mouth.

Scott, who was prepared, turned his head to the side, thus avoiding the attack.

"puff!"

With a face full of hatred, Carlo spat out several bloody teeth and a bloody button at Scott.

Although it happened suddenly, these dirty things did not make contact with Scott and instead hovered in the air.

It was Professor Flitwick who made the move.

“Thank you, Professor.” Scott quickly thanked the professor.

Professor Flitwick waved his hand.

“I didn’t expect you to hate me this much?” Scott looked at Carol again. “What have I done to you?”

Carlo lowered his head again and remained silent.

Scott blinked, then quickly pulled out a potion, opened it, and pinched Carlo's chin to force-feed him a few mouthfuls.

Scott looked at the dazed Carlo and said, "At times like these, I choose to learn from Professor Snape."

“Oh…” Professor Flitwick was stunned by Scott’s actions. “Oh, Scott, what did you feed him?”

Dumbledore said in a helpless tone, "Learn from Severus, then it must be Truth Potion."

Professor Flitwick said somewhat nervously, "Oh! That's against the rules!"

He glanced at Scott, then at Dumbledore.

“Oh, never mind,” he added. “There isn’t a single wizard here as conventional as Minerva.”

Scott shrugged at him, preparing to ask Carol a question.

“Are you sure you want to ask here?” Dumbledore said. “Let’s go to my office.”

As he spoke, a beautiful song that seemed to soothe the soul came from above them.

It was as if sunlight was pouring down from above, and a phoenix with outstretched wings and long tail feathers slowly descended, bringing light and warmth.

"We can use the power of the phoenix to take a shortcut and avoid the trouble of climbing stairs."

Dumbledore reached out and let the phoenix rest on his arm, while giving Scott a gentle wink.

Scott smiled, walked over, and skillfully grabbed one of the phoenix's tail feathers.

The phoenix's other tail feathers unfurled and wrapped themselves around Professor Flitwick and Carlo's wrists.

"Lulu, I'm leaving this house-elf in your care."

Dumbledore gave Lulu a few instructions, then had Phoenix lead the group back to the headmaster's office.

Scott experienced a moment of weightlessness, only to be back on solid ground the next second.

He blinked, adjusting to the bright light in the principal's office, thanked Phoenix, and looked at Carlo, whose limbs were stiff and whose head was drooping.

“Speak, Elijah Caro, why did you attack me?” he asked directly.