382 Chapter 381 The Person Forgotten by the Castle (2 in 1)

From the abandoned classroom, Floyd headed back towards the dormitory with a cheerful smile on her face.

Behind her, however, the two followers had some apprehension on their faces.

"Are we really going to be okay just leaving her here? I just got the feeling from watching her that something might go wrong later on"

The smile on Floyd's face turned cold.

"Something might go wrong? What do you think could go wrong with her?"

The follower explained in a panic.

"I'm not sympathising with her, I'm just worried that she might not think about herself afterwards, might, might kill herself."

"Commit suicide?"

"Yeah, if it was just a curse then we'd still have a way to push through it without getting into any trouble, but if she dies, the Professors will definitely be looking for someone to blame, it's against the bloodline laws."

Floyd snorted disdainfully.

"If she really had the nerve to do that would she have endured it until today? Don't worry about it, I know Konrad, and there's no way she'd kill herself even if you lent her a hundred more guts."

She said it with such conviction that the two followers who were trailing behind her could only put their worries aside.

That very night, however, after the curfew patrols in the Castle had begun, the Aurors suddenly began to search every part of the Castle with great fanfare.

Floyd was woken from her bed in the middle of the night, her temper flaring up, and she was screaming that she would use her family's connections to make sure these brazen Aurors are taken care of.

Then she met Lucius Malfoy, who had been stationed inside Hogwarts Castle, the head of all British Aurors, the purest of purebloods.

"Miss Floyd, I heard you were the last person to see Assia Konrad."

After seeing Lucius, Floyd panicked.

Even within purebloods, there are differences in status, and someone like her and the new school of purebloods behind her, who had only been building up their heritage for ten years, aren't worthy of stepping up to the plate to show their arrogance in front of the Malfoys.

"She, what's wrong with her?"

"Has anyone ever taught you to answer the questions people ask you first before proceeding to ask them?" Lucius was looking at Floyd with undisguised contempt and disdain in his gaze as if he was looking at a bumpkin who had just arrived in the city from the countryside.

Such a gaze sent a wave of humiliation through Floyd, but she didn't have a single ounce of courage to lose her temper.

"I, I did see her, and she offended me, so I tried to use a little trick to frighten her, and other than that I did nothing more to her!"

"Use a little trick to scare her? What kind of trick?"

Lucius sat calmly in his chair, a case involving a half-blood should not have required his personal attention at all, but it was special because it was happening in Hogwarts castle at this particular point in time, and he was needed in case it would involve someone from Dumbledore's side.

Floyd's eyes fluttered.

"It's just a. A little curse for fun."

"Those marks of spellcasting we found you left on the sixth floor of the castle were clearly not some little curse." Lucius' eyes were filled with indifference, the kind of indifference that Floyd had when he looked at the mudbloods, "A blood curse, do you know the consequences that are clearly stated in the magical laws should anyone be found to have used such a curse?"

"Sir, first, there is no record of it in the blood laws."

"So your family usually only taught you to read the bloodline laws?" Lucius' disdain was not a bit disguised, "Did you know that some laws override the laws of bloodline?"

In front of Lucius, the quill that was taking notes of its own on the desk suddenly paused as he glanced down at the parchment and then continued with his question.

"One last question, Miss Floyd, and it is the most crucial one, so I hope you better think it through before you answer me, it is a matter of exactly what kind of verdict you will be given in the end."

Floyd's body tensed up.

"Did the blood curse you cast on Miss Konrad succeed in the end?"

The scene suddenly fell silent and Floyd froze, but soon she gulped nervously again and asked in a shaky voice.

"Mr Malfoy, I remember in the bloodline laws. There is a rule that no matter for what reason, amid any interrogation, the use of the truth potion and the Legilimency is not allowed without the consent of Mr Headmaster himself, right?"

Lucius said carelessly.

"Since you are familiar with the laws of bloodlines, do you need to ask me for clarification on such matters?"

"No! I was just trying to scare her! Set up a blood curse ritual, but didn't actually use it to cast a curse on her at all!"

Floyd's suddenly raised her voice, the words sounding firm and unquestionable, as if she was certain of it.

Hearing her answer, Lucius had no intention of wasting any more time here and tapped the parchment on the desk, which had been filled with notes from the trial, and rolled itself up and flew into the pocket of his robe.

"You will stay here until the final verdict is made."

With that, he turned and left the makeshift interrogation room.

Apart from his personal interrogation of Floyd, other Aurors were interrogating her two followers on the same issue, and Lucius did not linger after finishing his interrogation and went once again to the abandoned classroom where the crime had taken place, where there was already Auror dealing with the scene.

In his hand, he held a small transparent vial in which some white ash was stored.

"Head, it has been established that she drank the Deathfire Potion to cause her eventual death, but it is still debatable as to whether it is a suicide."

"Were there any traces of a fifth person's activity collected at the scene?"

"No, we've only found four people, the three identified suspects and the victim herself."

"What information did you get from the other people who investigated and took evidence from the surrounding students?"

"Some students around the victim were willing to confirm anonymously that the three suspects and the victim had a lot of issues on a day-to-day basis and frequently used violence against the victim, which has been escalating in scale as of late. We have also accessed the victim's library records and found that she had recently checked out several books on the introduction of the blood curse. We also found a list of her purchases of materials for the preparation of the Deathfire Potion in her parcel collection records."

Lucius looked at the information in his hands while listening to his men's reports, and finally casually tossed the statement about Floyd over to his men.

"Now that it's all been checked out then what are you waiting for, close the case, the result is obvious, the student committed suicide believing that she had been subjected to a blood curse."

A moment of hesitation appeared on the subordinate's face.

"But if she wanted to kill herself why did she have to drink a Deathfire Potion and just burn herself to death?"

"It's more reasonable to assume that she thought that if she got hit by the blood curse and simply ended her life, the activated beast's soul would completely take over her body, making her unable to maintain her human image even after her death, instead of revealing such an ugly appearance that would be intolerable to her family, it would be better to just drink the Deathfire Potion and still retain a trace of her face in her families' memory."

Lucius said nonchalantly, looking uninterested after he had established that there was no Dumbledore's involvement in this, just a simple case of school bullying.

But that subordinate of his still didn't dismiss the disbelief in his mind as he continued to ask.

"But is it really true, as this Floyd's statement says, that she was only scaring this Konrad kid and didn't actually mean to inflict a real curse on her at all, that Konrad kid got freaked out and killed herself? How could she have deliberately failed in the end when all these magic runes and remnants of potion we found at the scene could prove that she had actually made all the preparations?"

Lucius suddenly turned his head and looked at him indifferently.

"Then how about you go and request that gentleman to use the Truth Potion on that Floyd brat?"

The Auror's body tensed abruptly, and he stood upright and lowered his head.

"I dare not, sir."

"If you don't dare, don't give me so much crap, close the case immediately, inform the victim's family, and give Snape and Crouch a copy of the final report, let them decide what to do with the three suspects, this has to be over in three days, you know what time it is, a half-breed bastard killing herself for such boring reasons cannot affect the subsequent part of the Tournament!"

With that Lucius turned and left without a backward glance, leaving the Auror, who had Floyd's statement and Assia's ashes, standing in silence, finally letting out a long sigh.

All the evidence was sufficient, and there was no difference in the statements made by Floyd and her two 'friends', all of them claiming that they had not really cast a blood curse on Assia, but simply wanted to scare her, the case of the half-blood student's suicide was quickly closed.

The penalties for the Floyd and group were immediately handed down, with the main offender, Floyd herself, being sent home to reflect on her actions until the start of the next term, while the two accomplices were each sentenced to two-month detention.

The punishment was better than nothing, as according to Auror, Floyd and the others had only played some "trivial" pranks, and it was mainly Assia's own weaknesses and vulnerability that led to her suicide.

With the special status of purebloods, this minor punishment did not cause any fuss, not only among the professors, but also among the students, whose attention was mainly focused on the upcoming Yule Ball, and the suicide of a half-blood student, which should attract little attention normally, hardly caused any buzz.

It was as if Assia had never been in the Castle before, and was soon forgotten by everyone in the Castle.

This incident was quickly sealed off inside the castle, and once the students inside were no longer talking about it, it was even less likely to spread outside the castle.

This meant that up until the day before Christmas, Jon was still wondering why the half-blood girl who had been coming to Hermione's side hadn't turned up recently.

"Is there some sort of falling out between you two?"

Jon and Hermione chatted idly over dinner.

Hermione's face was calm as she shook her head.

"No, it's not that we've had a falling out, it's that the school she's attending is sick."

Jon couldn't help but blurt out.

"I always get the feeling you're talking like me."

Hermione's eyes couldn't help but narrow into crescent shapes.

"Just because you can feel it, doesn't mean I'm trying to sound like you."

"How's that thing you and Professor Dumbledore have been working on progressing now? Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"It's been most helpful for me that you asked me to go to the Ball with you." Hermione said as if she was half joking, half serious.

Jon couldn't help but shrug his shoulders.

Hermione was clearly a different girl now than the cautious little girl he had first brought back from the castle two years ago, she had more confidence and was becoming less and less of a fifteen-year-old girl as she experienced more and knew more, she truly a teenager compared to Jon who wasn't mentally that age in the first place.

Snape, who was now the temporarily in-charge of Hogwarts Castle during this time, had also officially extended an invitation to Dumbledore and his group, who were always stationed outside the castle.

Apart from the champions and their partners who were leading the dance, all other students who wished to attend the Ball were allowed to relax in the great hall, but only in the great hall or the temporary garden created outside the castle; the rest of the school remained closed off to them.

In the end Dumbledore and Rosier left it up to the students to decide whether they wanted to go to the Ball or not, and the majority of those who had signed up to come here were actually disinterested, apart from Jon and Diane who had to go, plus their respective dance partners.

After all, this type of behaviour from the Castle was more like a handout than a sign of respect, so only eight students decided to go to the ball in the end.

On Christmas Day, it snowed again.

Only it was not very heavy, and instead of the wide blanket of snow, it was scattered as if the gods were putting some finishing touches for the upcoming Ball.

As usual, every student in the wagon received a Christmas present of their own, and since some of the Durmstrang students were in the wagon this year, Hogwarts had thoughtfully prepared one for them as well, which made every student happy at lunchtime, even with the hectic nature of the current tournament.

And by late afternoon, it was up to Rosier to lead Jon, Diana and the rest of the students who would be attending the ball tonight into Hogwarts Castle, while Dumbledore stayed in the wagon to spend this Christmas with the rest of the students this year.

The Hogwarts great hall had long been decorated in grand style and the place was already filled with many of the students from the castle, and when Jon and the others arrived it drew a lot of attention and pointing from the students.

Jon paid no attention to the others as soon as they entered the great hall, but quickly swept a glance at the figures in the great hall, but did not find the one he was trying to spot.

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