The Prisoners of Hogwarts

Chapter 42 Castle Daily Life and Questioning

Hagrid thanked Lynch sincerely.

Lynch nodded to him again, then turned and left. In the night sky, crows silently landed on his shoulder, and his figure quickly disappeared at the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

......

A new day begins.

After having breakfast delivered by Totz in the morning, Lynch sat on the sofa in front of the fireplace and began reading the newspaper.

The headline of the Daily Prophet features several bold, eye-catching characters.

[Breaking News! A Pure-Blooded Aristocrat Takes the Helm of a Business Empire: Lucius Malfoy Appointed Vice President of the Stone Tower Merchant Guild]

Below the title is a photo of Lucius standing on the podium, waving to the audience.

In the photo, Lucius has a smug smile on his face and looks very proud of himself.

Representatives from a group of pure-blood families stood behind him, each with a happy smile on their face.

At the edge of the photo, a gray robe is leaving the frame; only a corner of the robe is captured by the camera.

Looking down, the content of the article comes into view:

A historic moment has arrived in the magical world's business landscape! Yesterday, the unparalleled Stone Tower Merchant Guild announced at its London headquarters the appointment of the esteemed Lucius Malfoy as its Vice President...

Mr. Lucius Malfoy, as the current head of the highly respected Malfoy family and a member of the Hogwarts Board of Trustees...

Sources within the Chamber of Commerce revealed that Mr. Malfoy recently...

Analysts generally believe that this move will greatly...

After quickly skimming through the report, Lin Qi turned the page.

Turning to check the time, the crow on my shoulder spread its wings and transformed into a black shadow, shooting out of the open window like an arrow.

Then, with another flap of its wings, it soared over the treetops and flew high above the forbidden forest.

Without stopping, the crow flew straight toward Hogwarts in the distance.

Along the way, it tilted its head slightly, its broad and sharp gaze sweeping over the forbidden forest below.

An eight-eyed giant spider caught its prey, its massive pincers clicking as it dragged the prey into the shadows.

The two centaurs were traveling together, leaping swiftly across the stone path before disappearing into the depths of the forbidden forest.

Several unicorns were leisurely drinking water by the water's edge, the sunlight shining on them, making them radiate a soft glow. Suddenly, as if sensing something, all the unicorns gathered together and disappeared into the woods.

All of this was observed by the black crows soaring in the sky.

The raven flapped its wings again, leaving everything in the Forbidden Forest behind. It crossed the edge of the Forbidden Forest and arrived at the Hogwarts grounds.

In the distance, where Lynch had mentioned the previous night, a figure was busily at work.

He was nailing some planks together, and the outline of a platform was gradually taking shape in his hands.

As the crows drew closer, it became apparent that the figure appeared enormous compared to the statues and trees at the edge of the castle—Hagrid was diligently constructing the teaching space Lynch had requested.

The crow continued on its way and flew into the castle through an open window.

For the next few days, it was like a ghost lurking in the shadows of the castle. It silently rested in the shade of the towering gargoyles, in the cracks of the tower windows, or on the imperceptible supports of the great chandelier in the hall, its veiled gaze observing the people and events within the castle.

Lynch saw a lot through the crow's eyes.

The newly enrolled wizards are struggling to adapt to their new life. The castle's ever-changing staircases and suddenly disappearing steps are causing them a lot of trouble, and ghosts and doors with all sorts of strange opening methods are also playing tricks on them.

Lynch saw from afar that Harry and Ron had gotten into a conflict with Mr. Filch, the caretaker, after accidentally entering a door leading to a restricted corridor on the fourth floor. It was Professor Quirrell, who happened to be passing by, who helped them out of the situation.

He also saw that at night, the Weasley twins and Mr. Filch were playing hide-and-seek in the various secret passages of the castle.

The Weasley twins always won because they knew the castle better than Mr. Filch, who had worked there for over twenty years.

As for the reason, Lynch believed it might be related to a parchment map that occasionally appeared in their possession. On that map, he discovered a very familiar spell—one of his core combat spells, the Tracking Spell.

Through the high stained-glass windows of the classroom, he witnessed a farce meticulously orchestrated by Professor Quirrell.

In less than half a class period, he successfully instilled the image of a cowardly and incompetent fool in the hearts of every student who came to class. The young wizards had no respect for him and even made fun of his garlic-smelling turban.

Just as Lynch was maneuvering the raven to move and observe in the shadows of Hogwarts Castle.

Noticing the familiar dark figure catching his eye out of the corner of his eye, Snape's face darkened. He strode forward, the wind billowing from his wide black robes, and arrived at Dumbledore's office.

His face was even more sallow than usual, his thin lips were pressed into a cold, straight line, and suppressed anger surged deep in his dark eyes, while an extremely sarcastic fake smile hung at the corner of his mouth.

"Good evening, Severus." Dumbledore looked at him from above his half-moon spectacles.

"Good evening?" Snape's voice was low and sarcastic. "I'm afraid only you can say good evening so easily, Headmaster Dumbledore."

The shackles you put on Jim Lynch are probably already wagging their tails at him.

It simply cannot accurately detect every spell Lynch casts.

"What happened, Severus? I'm absolutely certain that both the monitoring bracelet on Lynch's wrist and the receiver I gave you are functioning properly."

"Really? Then let's take a look at the test records from your properly functioning receiver!"

Snape's fake smile became even sharper.

Then, he pulled a parchment scroll from his pocket and flicked it open in the air with a "snap".

"From the day you put the bracelet on him until September 1st, when the new students enrolled, there was no record of any spellcasting!"

On September 1st, there were two spellcasting records: one for shrinking and the other for ethereal clouds!

From September 2nd to today, there have been no records of spellcasting!

Throwing the parchment in front of Dumbledore, Snape continued through gritted teeth, "You said that the raven on his shoulder is an alchemical creation that he can control remotely with magic."

Now the raven is flying all over the castle, but the receiver shows that he hasn't cast a single spell!

Isn't this a problem?

Dumbledore pondered for a moment: "I'm afraid Mr. Lynch's raven is not an ordinary alchemical object; the magic behind it may be more complex than I thought."

The connection that Mr. Lynch established with it was an extremely deep magical fusion and extension of consciousness.

Maintaining this connection, driving it to observe and fly, is more like maintaining a continuous state, like maintaining the light of a constant protective or illuminating spell, rather than casting independent 'spells' one after another.

The magic detection bracelet is designed by the Ministry of Magic to capture magical imprints that have clear spell characteristics and burst forth instantly.

This smooth, continuous connection output... is outside its detection range, or is considered a 'background state' rather than an 'event' that needs to be logged.

Snape frowned. "If he casts a spell through this raven, won't the bracelet detect it?"

He defeated more than thirty wizards in Lancashire, proving that he could cast spells through this raven.

"That won't escape the bracelet's detection." Dumbledore's voice was calm and certain. "If Mr. Lynch actively guides and releases a spell with a clear incantation structure and magical characteristics—whether offensive, defensive, or otherwise—through the medium of the raven, then the magic detection bracelet will record it accurately."

Maintaining the connection is a state; releasing a spell is an action. These are two completely different things.

Snape fell silent, his dark eyes slowly moving, his suspicion and hostility undiminished.

After a long silence, he spoke again, his voice regaining its characteristic low and calm tone: "There's one more question."