inspire-indiana Chapter 208 The Unknown Spell
Chapter 208 The Unknown Spell
Chapter 208 The Unknown Spell
Professor McGonagall turned around and saw Lynch appear around the corner.
He was still wearing that same elegant suit with a black overcoat, his steps steady and composed.
The moment Lynch stepped into the room, his gaze swept quickly across the entire space, from the somber-faced McGonagall and the shadowy Snape, to the dark red writing on the wall, and then to the stiff Justin on the floor.
The moment Lynch's gaze fell on Justin, his eyes narrowed slightly for a split second.
"Professor McGonagall."
Lynch first gave Professor McGonagall a slight nod in greeting. His voice was as steady and polite as ever, as if he were not at the scene of a terrible attack, but a normal encounter in the corridor.
Then, his gaze turned to Snape, who was silent to the side.
"Severus, I came as soon as I received your message," he said, his gaze returning to Justin on the ground. "The situation seems more complicated than I anticipated."
Snape's black robes blended almost seamlessly into the shadows in the dim light; only when he turned slightly to the side did the candlelight cast a reflection on his greasy black hair. He didn't speak, but simply stared at Lynch with his unfathomable black eyes.
Lynch didn't exchange any more pleasantries. He walked past McGonagall and Snape and came to Justin Finley.
He didn't care that the hem of his well-made coat was dragging on the cold, possibly dirty, stone ground, and squatted down without hesitation.
He leaned down, gently pressed Justin's cheek with his fingers, pried open his eyelids to examine the boy's empty pupils, touched his grayish-white skin, and felt every unnatural, stiff line on his body.
Then, he made several hand gestures, and a faint light shone from his palm. He slowly moved his glowing palm a few inches above Justin's body while whispering a few short incantations.
Time passed in silence, and after a while, Lin Qi slowly stood up.
He dusted off his robe, a curious expression on his face.
He gently stroked his chin, his gaze still fixed on Justin, and murmured thoughtfully, "Interesting—really interesting."
"Interesting?" Professor McGonagall frowned, her voice slightly sharp as she suppressed her emotions. "Excuse my bluntness, Professor Lynch, but a student is currently petrified, his life hanging in the balance! This is not the time for you to find it amusing!"
'
"I'm referring to the magic itself that caused him to look like this, Professor McGonagall," Lynch replied calmly, looking up at her. "To my knowledge, I can't identify what spell caused this effect at all. It looks like a very powerful petrification spell, but it isn't. The spell on this student isn't a petrification spell, yet it has the effect of a powerful petrification spell. That's what I find interesting."
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"Do you have a way to save him?" Professor McGonagall asked.
Lynch shook his head: "I can't even tell what kind of spell he's under."
Professor McGonagall's breathing became rapid, and her knuckles, gripping her wand tightly, turned white.
She suddenly turned to the boy who had brought her there, now cowering in the corner, trembling with fear. She strained to keep her voice steady: "You," her voice rang out clearly in the empty corridor, "go immediately and inform Professor Flitwick and Professor Sprout, and have them help maintain order in the Great Hall and the castle. Also, find Madam Pomfrey right away and have her come here immediately with a first-aid kit and a mobile hospital bed! Quickly!"
The boy felt as if he had been granted a pardon and almost stumbled away, his hurried footsteps fading into the distance in the stone corridor and finally disappearing around the corner.
Professor McGonagall turned around only after the boy had disappeared from sight.
"Professor Lynch," she said, her voice tinged with disapproval, "didn't you clearly tell us before that you had tracked down the basilisk in the secret chamber? Why is it coming out to harm people again? And why is its target a student!"
"That's the key, Professor McGonagall." Lynch's expression turned unusually serious. "The reason I'm a little later than expected is because I checked a few key points on my way here."
He raised his hand and began to list them one by one: "First, the door to the secret chamber. The warning magic I set up is intact, and there is no sign that it has been opened."
The stone door carved with snakes has not been awakened by the snake-like voice since I located it last time.
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"Secondly, the castle's piping system." He pointed to the exits of the ventilation ducts in the corridor. "The detection spells I set up at several main duct exits and key nodes also didn't trigger. If the basilisk wanted to move through the pipes and launch an attack, it would have to pass through those duct openings. But today, all the spells are as silent as hibernating toads."
"Third, and most importantly, is the comparison of magical traces. After Lady Loris was attacked, her body retained very unique, cold, damp, and reptilian-smelling remnants of dark magic—traces that are very distinctive and easily identifiable. But here—"
'
He paused for a moment, then his gaze returned to Justin, his eyes becoming deep.
"The magical energy fluctuations here are completely different. They are drier, more refined, and more like the effect of a standard spell guided by a crafted wand, even though the spell itself is extremely rare. But it is entirely different from the wild and primal violence of the basilisk, which originates from an ancient magical creature."
After listening to this detailed analysis, Professor McGonagall unconsciously tightened her fingers, her knuckles turning white from the force.
She looked at Justin, who was lying stiff on the ground, then at the grotesque blood-stained words on the wall that had not yet dried, and finally turned her gaze to the gloomy sky outside the corridor window, as if seeking answers from some unseen being.
"If it's not the basilisk—" Her voice was so soft it was almost inaudible, yet it sounded exceptionally clear in the silent corridor, "then what is it? Could there be another person lurking in the castle, capable of wielding such malevolent magic?"
Lynch did not answer immediately.
He slowly walked toward the line of blood-red words on the wall, his fingertips moving slowly a few inches from the wall, feeling the residual magical fluctuations.
"It's dragon blood." Lynch turned to look at Snape.
"I know," Snape replied, his tone as cold as ever.
"But it's not ordinary fire dragon blood." Lynch raised an eyebrow. "It's Romanian longhorn dinosaur blood..."
If I remember correctly, this rare dragon's blood, there's only one jar of it in the entire Hogwarts, in your private storage room.
Snape had already stepped forward, his dark eyes fixed on the dark red mark, his nostrils twitching almost imperceptibly, confirming that Lynch's judgment was correct.
His face turned as black as the bottom of a crucible.
When he arrived at the scene, he was focused on checking Fenrir's condition and didn't pay much attention to the blood-written words on the wall, thus missing this crucial clue.
With that thought in mind, he strode towards his office.