Hogwarts: Voldemort, don't stop me from studying

Chapter 363 Guardian Ralph

Before curfew, Wade took Caril to Gryffindor Tower and pointed out the classrooms he passed along the way.

At the entrance to the Gryffindor Common Room was a Fat Lady in a pink dress. As they approached, the Fat Lady asked, "Password?"

"I don't have the Gryffindor password, but I can get someone to take you in," said Wade.

"No need." Khalil smiled and waved his hand, saying, "Percy told me the password, I can go in by myself."

"Oh." Wade looked at him and said, "I should go back too. Go to bed early so I won't be late tomorrow."

"Okay." Khalil nodded.

So Wade left, and when he turned around, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Although he agreed to Dumbledore out of pity, Wade soon realized that he was not suitable for the task assigned to him by Dumbledore.

Wade felt that he was not as good at socializing as Michael, not as considerate and kind as Theo, not as pure and sincere as Ryan, and not as enthusiastic and lively as the Gryffindors.

Dumbledore really chose the wrong person when he expected him to infect Caryl.

"I should go talk to Violet, you either tell me the password or leave!"

After walking for a while, Wade vaguely heard the Fat Lady's complaints.

He turned around and saw Carlier still standing in front of the Fat Lady's portrait. When he saw him turn around, he waved happily.

The torches in the corridor always seemed to be insufficiently lit, and the people in the distance seemed to be standing in darkness all the time.

Wade waved his hand and this time really walked away.

"Password?"

The Fat Lady urged again impatiently.

"Good luck." Khalil finally responded to her this time.

He watched with wonder as the portrait sprang forward, revealing a huge hole in the wall, and through the door he entered a circular common room with plush armchairs, a fire burning in the fireplace, and gold and red silk hanging from the ceiling.

There were many students in the common room, some doing homework, some playing chess, some playing with pets, some practicing magic. It was very noisy and bustling everywhere.

Khalil stood at the entrance for a long time.

He kept watching everything in front of him.

Until Percy Weasley finally saw him.

"Johnson!" Percy's eyes lit up and he pushed through the crowd and walked over.

"What?" Angelina asked loudly.

"I didn't call you!"

Percy said it just as loudly, and then had to change his address:

"Khalil, you're finally here! I want to give you your class schedule for tomorrow, and the dormitory assigned to you by the school is upstairs here, come with me..."

Khalil followed him without saying a word, his eyes could not help but scan the necks of the people around him. He licked his lips, as if he was very thirsty, and his Adam's apple rolled up and down.

"We're here. This is your dormitory."

Percy pushed open a small door, revealing a fairly spacious single room.

There was an orange-yellow solid wood table, an armchair, a thick and soft bed in the room, crimson curtains hanging from the ceiling, and a long-handled charcoal stove for warming the bed in the middle of the quilt.

——Although it is only early autumn, it is already a bit cold in the castle at night, and many students wear scarves.

"If there's anything you need, you can talk to me or the prefects, or you can write to Devise and Bangs in Hogsmeade - they sell all sorts of magical equipment."

"If you need anything Muggle, the shop can help with that, too."

"Okay, thank you," Khalil said.

After Percy left, he walked into his room and looked around carefully, then saw a small bottle of fresh blood in what he thought was a vase on the desk.

Khalil sniffed and said to himself, "Goat."

He was silent for a while, then suddenly laughed again.

"Hogwarts."

……

In the corridor, after walking some distance, Wade couldn't help but look back again.

This time there was no one behind him.

The long corridor was like a deep tunnel. When there were no students, the interior of this ancient castle always seemed too gloomy and quiet.

He remembered what Dumbledore had told him before -

The headmaster disguised himself as an ordinary Auror and hunted down several vampires, pretending to be defeated by them to let their guard down.

After a kite-like tug of war, the vampires thought they had escaped pursuit, so they went to a temporary base in Britain to treat their injuries and rest temporarily.

Then the base was gone.

Several people fled in a hurry, and after some chasing, they brought the principal to one of their bases in France.

This base is gone too.

But this time, two of the three adult vampires died, one escaped, and the remaining little one was caught by Dumbledore.

Khalil was still a minor, which gave him a huge advantage when facing a wizard like Dumbledore. Although he tried hard to resist, in Dumbledore's eyes, it was probably no different from a child throwing a tantrum.

But when placed among a group of young wizards who are also underage and have not yet mastered the Daylight Spell, the threat of a vampire is self-evident.

"Don't worry he'll bite."

A voice suddenly sounded beside me.

A very old house-elf stood not far away, the moonlight shining through the window, shining on his silver-white eyebrows.

"Mr. Ralph." Wade paused and said, "Good evening."

He knew this house-elf. Although Ralph looked very old and thin, he had powerful magic and could even take Vader across the British and American waters.

When the Ministry of Magic wanted to capture Sirius, it was Ralph who sent Wade back to Britain from the United States.

Moreover, he was old and full of wisdom, and was respected and admired by many house-elves in Hogwarts. Wade had heard his name from Zoe and others more than once.

This is the Dumbledore of house-elfs.

"Good evening." Ralph said in a slightly hoarse voice, "Since Dumbledore dared to let him into the school, he must have arranged perfect measures to ensure the safety of the students. You don't have to worry."

"Excuse me, what kind of measures are they?" Wade asked.

It is a vampire's instinct to eat, and even a magical contract may not be able to completely restrain this behavior.

For example, an unbreakable vow is not actually unbreakable, but once it is broken, one will face death.

As long as there is enough determination, nothing in the world can really bind a person.

Then, Weed heard the house-elf in front of him say, "It's me."

He froze for a moment.

Ralph raised his eyes, looked at him gently, and said, "I have seen werewolves leave the school through secret passages at night, and I have also seen you stay outside the terrace for almost an entire night."

"I follow Dumbledore's orders and am your children's protector."

Chapter 364: Chance and Necessity

Vader was stunned.

While he was in a daze, he felt a tingling sensation on his scalp, and for an instant he seemed to have returned to the moment when he was hiding outside the terrace, holding his breath for his life.

But what Ralph meant was... when there was only a wall between him and Voldemort, there was actually a house-elf nearby?

Seeing that Wade didn't say anything, Ralph continued to explain, "Many years ago, when Dumbledore was still studying at Hogwarts, Ralph was responsible for cleaning the Gryffindor Tower and taking care of the children's daily lives."

"Then Dumbledore, like you, began to notice the house-elves hiding in the school and tried to find them. He treated Ralph kindly and was stern when other children were causing trouble."

"You...you are a friend of Dumbledore?" Wade asked.

"No?" The old house-elf shook his head. "Dumbledore is Ralph's master."

"After Dumbledore allowed the werewolf into the school, Ralph made sure he didn't hurt other students every few days before and after the full moon."

"Vampires are no different. The little ones in Gryffindor Tower will also always keep an eye on that little bat."

"What about Voldemort? Have you been spying on him too?" Wade asked in disbelief.

Ralph nodded slightly.

"In that person's eyes, house-elves are like pests, like spiders crawling past the corners of the wall. He never pays special attention to us. But in fact, when Professor Quirrell behaved abnormally, we were the first to notice it."

Vader remembered the house-elves' extremely acute hearing, and the fact that Quirrell was essentially talking to himself when he tried to communicate with Voldemort in the back of his mind.

He even remembered that in the original plot, the Basilisk of the Chamber of Secrets roamed around Hogwarts, but only petrified a few people and killed no one.

Every time, the students who encountered the basilisk would "coincidentally" avoid looking directly into the basilisk's eyes, some with the help of mirrors or water, and some with the help of camera lenses.

If all this is not a "coincidence", is it true that Ralph has been protecting students throughout that plot?

He did not completely prevent every harmful incident, but only gently pushed students when they were in fatal crisis, pulling them out of death.

Of course, in this world, that plot did not happen, and Wade had no way to verify his conjecture.

He just asked: "Then you also know... about James Potter and others becoming Animagus?"

Sirius and Lupin had always believed that Dumbledore knew nothing about this.

"Of course." Ralph seemed to understand what Wade was thinking. He said, "But I won't report everything to Dumbledore - especially when it comes to student privacy..."

"…but you said Dumbledore was your master."

"Yes, but so are the students of this school... I'm a house elf at Hogwarts."

"You've never told these things to anyone before, right? Why are you telling me?" Wade asked puzzledly.

Ralph raised his head slightly, looked at him and said, "Dumbledore believes that Weed Grey will be worried about his friends being hurt, and may take extreme actions because of his worry, so it is necessary to explain."

——What do you mean by extreme behavior? This is clearly a legitimate and reasonable concern for classmates.