"What happened?"
The shrill scream scared all the customers in the bar.
The Hogwarts students who were originally drinking butterbeer and chatting with friends stood up from their chairs and rushed to the door of the bar. They saw a group of people gathered on the street not far away, and everyone looked up at the sky.
There was a person floating in the sky, screaming miserably.
More people moved over there, but they just watched from the sidelines and no one went up to help.
In fact, it’s not their fault. Many people were panicked and didn’t know what to do.
Even the residents of Hogsmeade were helpless in the face of the situation. In the end, a few Aurors who were on patrol in Hogsmeade noticed the commotion and rushed over, trying to rescue the poor girl floating in the air.
"What's going on?"
Harry asked Fred, George and Lee Jordan who were helping to keep order.
"I don't know, but I hope she's okay."
George frowned and looked at the Aurors who were trying to remove the curse. He felt that these guys were unreliable, so he reminded them, "It's best to find a way to put the person down first, and then send her to Hogwarts. It's the closest place to here. Maybe Dumbledore can remove the curse on her."
In his opinion, there was a high probability that the Aurors would not be able to remove the spell on Katie.
The Aurors then realized what was happening and prepared to pick up the girl on the ground. George had already taken out a bottle of potion from his pocket and poured it on Katie's face, which alleviated her pain and screams to a certain extent.
"You, this..."
"Do you have any antidote?" George asked, turning around.
"I have a bottle here."
Fred reached into his pocket and pulled out a bottle of potion and threw it to George, then said to the two stunned Aurors, "It's better to ride a broom, it will be faster. Madam Rosmerta, do you mind borrowing the broom in the store
"Oh, no problem, I'll get it now."
"No, I'll do it!"
Fred used the Flying Spell to easily summon a flying broom from the Three Broomsticks Bar, and at the same time summoned a stretcher out of thin air to transfer Katie onto it.
"What potion is that?" an Auror couldn't help but ask. He found that the curse on the student was actually alleviated to a certain extent.
"Anti curse potion. It can remove most spells, but the effect is only average."
The two Aurors looked at each other, somewhat doubting who was the real professional who had received Auror training. After they secured the man, they quickly flew to Hogwarts with the stretcher.
Looking at the Aurors' departing backs, the Weisley twins couldn't help but shake their heads. They found that these Aurors were even more unreliable than they had expected.
"Does anyone know what happened?"
"You are Katie's friend."
Lee Jordan was one of the first to arrive here, and he had already identified the girl who was most likely to know the truth.
"Can you tell us what happened here and who cast the spell on Katie?"
Everyone turned their eyes to the frightened girl, hoping to get some useful information from her.
Hermione couldn't bear to watch it anymore, so she hurried over to the girl, put her arms around her, and comforted her softly, "Don't worry, Katie will be fine."
"You must be Lini, what happened just now, who cast a spell on Katie."
"What... No, there was a package... Something happened when it was torn open." Lini said with a sob.
"What package?"
"I don't know..."
"Don't touch that thing." Harry shouted, startling the whispering students.
"What?"
The boy who was yelled at by Harry was so scared that he stood there in a daze, stopping to pick up the package. It was obvious that he didn't quite understand what Harry meant.
"Don't touch the package on the ground, it's cursed."
Harry had already seen what was sticking out of the package, an opal necklace. He couldn't be sure if it was the opal necklace in Borgin and Burke's, but it was definitely dangerous.
Fred, as if performing a trick, pulled a secret probe from his pocket and poked it at the package, quickly proving that Harry was right and that the opal necklace in the package was indeed a Dark Artifact.
"It must be sent to Hogwarts. Perhaps Dumbledore needs to determine what kind of dark spell is on it."
George waved his wand and wrapped the package again. For safety reasons, he put another layer of shell on it to ensure safety. Then he looked around and asked, "Is there anyone willing to do it for me and send Lini back to Hogwarts?"
Everyone looked at each other, but no one offered to help.
Just as Harry was about to step forward, he heard George say.
"Forget it, I'll go by myself. Let's go." George reached out and helped the girl named Lini up, then Apparated away with her.
"I might have seen it in Borgin and Burke's, the opal necklace."
In the Three Broomsticks, Harry lowered his voice and said to the people around him, "It seems that someone has bought the necklace and wants to bring it into Hogwarts through Katie, and wants to use it to kill someone."
"I don't think the probability is high, Harry." Hermione shook her head and directly denied Harry's opinion.
When she noticed that everyone was looking at her, Hermione felt a little nervous. She took a deep breath and explained uneasily, "Hogwarts has strengthened its security measures this year. I don't believe that the necklace would enter Hogwarts without anyone knowing."
"Maybe someone wants to kill Filch through that necklace," Ron complained.
"That's impossible, Ron. I think when Filch saw the package, he would probably use the secret detector to determine whether it was a dark magic item."
"Are you trying to say that the guy who tried to murder someone with a necklace was an idiot?" Fred took out a bottle from his pocket, took a sip, and teased with a smile.
"When did you start carrying a bottle like Mad-Eye?" Ron looked at Fred's silver bottle suspiciously.
"We don't dare to eat out anymore. Who knows if someone will add special seasoning to the food." Lee Jordan also has a similar bottle.
"You should pay attention to Cedric. If I were to do that, I would definitely add something to your drink and knock you out. You would be doomed." Fred took another sip, handed the bottle to Harry, who had always been interested, and asked, "Would you like some?"
"What kind of wine is in it?" Harry asked after taking a sniff.
"Warmed wine, it tastes warm." Fred said with a smile, "Dobby helped prepare it, it really helped us a lot."
"Dobby?" Qiu Zhang asked in confusion.
"A house elf hired by Albert." Cedric said with emotion, "Currently responsible for helping take care of our lives."
"See, even you are not opposed to hiring house-elves." Hermione said excitedly.
However, no one responded to her words.
"I feel like you guys are becoming more and more like Aurors." Ron couldn't help but complain.
"If you are being targeted and don't want to get into trouble, you have to learn to be careful." Fred shook the bottle with a smile and continued the previous topic, "I dare say Katie must have been cast under the Imperius Curse, and the guy who cast the Imperius Curse on her is also a fool."
"If we ask Albert to tell fortunes, we should be able to find the culprit, right?" Harry suddenly asked.
"Probably, but I don't think he would waste his time on a fool."
George walked over to Harry, smiled, pulled a chair and sat down next to him. Under everyone's gaze, he lowered his voice and said, "The murderer should be hiding in the Three Broomsticks. Lini said that Katie became a little strange after she came back from the toilet of the Three Broomsticks. She was holding the unmarked package in her hand. She thought Katie should not have agreed to hand over the suspicious item. When the two sides were fighting for the package, they accidentally tore it open and the opal necklace inside fell out. Katie obviously touched the necklace and was seriously injured."
"This is impossible..." Hermione said suddenly.
"What?"
Everyone looked at Hermione in confusion.
"If any Death Eaters or dark wizards approach the Three Bars, the detection pocket watch will definitely react." Hermione took out the detection pocket watch given by Albert from her pocket.
"If the person who cast the Imperius Curse on Katie was also cast under the Imperius Curse by someone else, the detection pocket watch would not be able to detect it." Fred kindly reminded him. He knew very well the shortcomings of the detection pocket watch.
"Is Katie okay?" Harry inquired.
"When I left, Snape seemed to be healing her..."
"Wait, you mean Snape is treating Katie?"
"Yes, Dumbledore is not in school. Professor McGonagall asked Snape to help check Katie's injuries and gave her emergency treatment. I heard that they are going to send Katie to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries for more formal treatment."
"Who do you think Katie wants to give the necklace to?" Cedric asked suddenly.
"Me or Dumbledore," Harry said without hesitation, "but I can be ruled out. After all, I'm right here, and Katie can just give it to me. If she opens the package directly, she'll definitely touch the necklace, and whoever that person is will be in big trouble."
Harry thought he was lucky, if it was him, he might have really dismantled it on the spot. At least, he never had the habit of carrying a mystery detector with him at all times.
"I don't think Dumbledore will fall for it." Fred shook his head.
"A package without any markings is suspicious no matter how you look at it." George explained, "In the past, when we helped Albert open such packages, we would be very careful to prevent the package from being cast with any spells or containing any dark magic items."
The three of them are very experienced in this area.
In their opinion, even Albert was on guard, not to mention Dumbledore, who would definitely be suspicious when seeing such an unmarked package.
"We've discussed this for so long, and we've only confirmed one thing, that is, the guy who sent the package was a complete idiot." Harry felt ridiculous.
"What an idiot indeed. Even if nothing happened to Katie, the package would have been stopped by Filch and wouldn't have been able to enter Hogwarts at all." Ron shrugged.
"Who are you suspecting, Harry?"
"nothing?"
"Just tell me, it's better than keeping it in your heart. Maybe I can give you some advice," George suggested.
"Well, I suspect that this matter has something to do with Draco Malfoy. Although there is no evidence, I always feel that it is very likely that he did it."
After noticing the expressions on the others' faces, Harry shrugged his shoulders and said, "Of course, this is just a suspicion, so I think I should ask Albert to help with divination. I'm sure we can find out who did it."
"I don't know if it was Draco Malfoy who did it, but according to Linnie..." George glanced secretly at Madam Rosmerta at the bar counter.
"You think Madam Rosmerta is under the Imperius Curse?" Cedric realized what George meant immediately.
Several people turned their heads to look at Madam Rosmerta, but they couldn't see anything wrong.
"It was probably just an accident that the necklace was given to Katie. Maybe Madam Rosmerta would give it to any Hogwarts student who went to the toilet alone?" George briefly stated his guess.
"But how come no one noticed that something was wrong with Madam Rosmerta?" Ron felt incredible.
"Madame Rosmerta is not a strong-willed person. It is not difficult to control her with the Imperius Curse." Fred looked at Cedric and asked, "You couldn't see that your friend was under the Imperius Curse at the time!"
"I can't tell at all." Cedric shook his head.
"What should we do? Report Madam Rosmerta to the Ministry of Magic?" Qiu Zhang looked at her boyfriend uneasily. They had just been drinking a glass of butterbeer here.
"No, keep this matter secret for now. We will tell Dumbledore later and let Dumbledore handle it." George turned his head and said to Harry, "I think this should be the safest way. And Harry, if you are okay, go back to school as soon as possible. Even if there are Aurors patrolling here, it is not safe. We will leave here as soon as possible."
"Wait, don't forget about the Defense Association." Cedric reminded quickly.
"Oh, about this matter, I'll teach you something simpler next time, and you can discuss it then." Fred said without hesitation.
"We originally planned to teach you how to build a makeshift camp to protect yourself." Hermione said what she was going to talk about at the party.
"That's a good idea. Let's teach it when the time comes. It's very practical." George made the decision and reminded the three that it was time to leave.
"I hope I can ask Albert for divination."
"Don't waste your money, Harry. I'm sure Dumbledore can guess who did it." Fred reached out and patted Harry on the shoulder, followed the others outside, and then used Apparition to leave.
"Harry, are you still doubting Malfoy?" Hermione asked on the way back to school.
"Yes, I have a hunch that this matter is related to Malfoy." Harry talked about the reason why he made such a guess, "Lucius Malfoy tried to assassinate Albert at the wedding last time, but was ambushed by the Ministry of Magic, killing many Death Eaters. Now he is still imprisoned in Azkaban. The Malfoy family is basically finished. If the Malfoy family wants to regain Voldemort's trust, killing Dumbledore is undoubtedly the best choice. As you all know, Voldemort is eager for Dumbledore to die."
"But Malfoy is not yet an adult," Hermione reminded.
"You shouldn't judge based on age, that's ridiculous."
"After all, I'm not an adult yet!" Harry showed a rather strange expression, "But I still have to face it all. I have no choice."
"Perhaps the whole thing was an order from the You-Know-Who to Draco Malfoy."
"Why would the You-Know-Who do that?" Ron asked puzzled.
"Revenge, revenge for Lucius Malfoy's incompetence, revenge for his failure to keep the diary properly, which led to the destruction of the Horcrux by me." Harry said softly, "Voldemort has never been a broad-minded person."