Dumbledore was the first to walk up the spiral staircase and arrived at his office.
When Dracula came up staggeringly, he immediately waved his wand and slammed the office door shut.
Dracula looked back at the tightly closed office door and the tightly closed windows around him with a strange look on his face.
Dumbledore is here with bad intentions...
"Professor Dracula, I want to ask you a question—"
Sure enough, after Dumbledore had taken all necessary precautions to prevent the conversation between the two from being overheard by others, he immediately asked directly:
"How could you take away a student's time-turner and use it to go back in time without permission?"
"What are you talking about, Dumbledore?" Dracula paused for a moment, then said in confusion, "Time Converter? Is there such a thing in the wizarding world?"
Looking at the "confused" expression on Dracula's face, Dumbledore couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth.
"Professor Dracula, we are the only two talking here, you can be more honest." He took a deep breath, suppressed the urge to fight with Dracula, and said slowly, "And I don't know if anyone has told you that you are not very good at acting."
"I'm not acting." Dracula still looked confused.
"Professor Dracula, normally when you hear about a time-turner, you should show an expression of interest." Dumbledore tapped the table with his fingers, pointing out Dracula's acting problem. "It's a bit inappropriate for the Count to show such an expression of bewilderment on his face."
"Really?" Dracula thought for a moment, then nodded, "You are right, Dumbledore."
As a result, the expression on his face seamlessly transitioned to the interested look that often appeared.
"It seems that I have wronged you, Professor Dracula." Dumbledore's forehead was throbbing with veins, and his tone was unconsciously mixed with some gnashing of teeth. "Your acting is very good!"
"Thank you for the compliment." Dracula smiled with satisfaction, "But I really don't know what a time converter is."
"Okay... Since you are unwilling to admit it, I must produce some substantial evidence." Dumbledore exhaled slowly and waved his wand.
A silver-white phoenix patronus flew through the wall and out of the principal's office in front of Dracula.
Seeing Dumbledore's actions, Dracula secretly thought that something was wrong.
In a moment, the Phoenix Guardian flew back, and as its beak opened and closed, a clear human voice came out from it.
First, it was Dumbledore's voice: "Professor Dracula, I wonder if you are free to come to the principal's office now? I have something I want to discuss with you."
The following is Dracula's voice: "No time, no going."
Dumbledore's voice: "But this matter is quite important."
Dracula's voice: "That's not free either."
"… "
The Phoenix Patronus closed its beak.
Dumbledore put away his Patronus and looked at Dracula teasingly.
Dracula raised his hand to his forehead and fell heavily into the sofa in the principal's office.
He just remembered that before he went back in time, when he was staring at Hermione's movements on the deed, Dumbledore sent him a message with his Patronus, asking him to go to the headmaster's office to discuss important matters.
But Dracula was obsessed with following the studious little wizard at the time, so he rejected him without a second thought.
"Well, Professor Dracula, you have nothing to say now, right?" Dumbledore watched Dracula's actions with a smile, feeling that all the anger he had suffered from Dracula before was now returned to him.
"Well, I did get a time converter." Dracula said weakly while lying on the sofa, "But I don't want to do anything to destroy linear time. Please don't keep pestering me about this."
"This is not a matter of dwelling on this matter, Professor Dracula." Dumbledore said with a smile, "You know, items like the Time Turner are extremely dangerous, especially when it transports a powerful being like you who is full of magical power back to the past."
"Is this any different from teleporting the little wizard?" Dracula asked.
"The difference is quite significant," said Dumbledore. "You can take out the Time Turner now and see if the time energy inside is still as abundant as before."
Dracula took out the golden necklace from his pocket and looked at the hourglass placed in the pendant ring.
I don’t know when it started, but the golden sand in the hourglass seemed to have become much less, with only a small amount of sand still flowing thinly in the hourglass.
"This is… "
"Yes, the sand in the hourglass is the solidified form of time energy." Dumbledore nodded slightly, "The energy that the Department of Mysteries originally poured into this time converter is enough for the young wizard to use for an entire school year..."
"However, your use this time has consumed more than half a year's supply. Miss Granger will probably not be able to complete all the lessons for the second half of the year."
"Ahem... I'm doing this for her own good." Dracula was a little embarrassed and retorted coldly, "Don't you see? Miss Granger's mental state is quite bad recently because of her lectures. In order to protect her health and improve her lecture efficiency, wouldn't it be good for me to confiscate a time converter?"
"How about I tell her that Professor Dracula has used up her time energy, and now she can go and thank Professor Dracula for his kindness?" Dumbledore said with a smile.
"Forget it. I can't afford to lose face..." Dracula's face froze for a moment, then he changed his tone and said, "How about this, you tell me where the Department of Mysteries in the Ministry of Magic is, and I'll go get some time energy myself."
"Don't do that!" Dumbledore was startled and quickly tried to dissuade him.
He was afraid that Dracula would run to the Department of Mysteries and cause a big commotion, completely messing up the entire Ministry of Magic.
He knew that Dracula was fully capable of that.
If it was really just a falling out with the Department of Mysteries and they managed to snatch back some of the time energy, it would be fine... But Dumbledore was worried about another greater possibility, which was that Dracula completely destroyed the time chamber and let all the time energy dissipate.
The time energy in the time chamber is not much to begin with, and allocating a portion to a small wizard every year is already very tight. If it is destroyed again, the application of time in the magic world will probably stagnate for hundreds of years.
"Professor Dracula, you should not worry about this matter." Dumbledore rubbed his brow and said to Dracula resignedly, "I will find a way to solve the problem of Miss Granger's time converter..."
"… I will write a letter to the Ministry of Magic, telling them that there was a problem with the Time-Turner this time, and I will not mention your role in it, Professor Dracula." He said, "I hope my old face can still be used."
"Is this really okay?" Dracula felt a little bad about letting Dumbledore clean up after him. "Otherwise, I'll go to the Department of Mysteries and talk to them. Don't worry, I'll be very friendly."
"... Come on, Professor Dracula, please don't be polite to me." Dumbledore said with a headache, "I am the headmaster of Hogwarts. This is what I should do. You really don't have to worry about this matter."
"Okay... Thank you for your help, Headmaster." Dracula nodded with some regret and handed the time converter he had tricked from Hermione to Dumbledore.
As for whether he had given up the idea of going to the Department of Mysteries to have a "friendly exchange" with the Unspoken people, the old headmaster was not sure at all...
Just as the two of them were thinking about their own things, there was a sudden knock on the door outside the principal's office.
"Albus! Albus!" Professor McGonagall's voice came from outside the office door, "Open the door quickly, something happened!"
Dumbledore's face became solemn. He waved his wand suddenly, opened the door of the office, and lifted the one-way soundproofing magic that had just been set up.
"What happened, Minerva?" he asked in a serious tone, looking at the old lady in a top hat standing at the door.
Professor McGonagall walked into the principal's office in a hurry, and showed a look of surprise when she saw Dracula on the sofa.
"Professor Dracula is here too? That's even better. I just happened to tell you about this." She said hastily, "The Gryffindor common room was attacked!"
…
The headmaster's office and the Gryffindor common room are both on the eighth floor of Hogwarts Castle, so Professors Dumbledore, Dracula and McGonagall soon arrived at the door of the Gryffindor common room.
When they arrived, they found the corridor crowded with people.
"Is anyone hurt?" Dumbledore asked the crowd with concern.
Dracula looked over the heads of many young wizards towards the entrance of the Gryffindor common room and found that the portrait that used to guard the doorway did not seem to include the Fat Lady.
"Please let me pass," a boy's voice came from the crowd.
The red-haired Percy pushed his way through the crowd and came over. Although he looked a little flustered, he did not hide the pride and arrogance of his identity on his face at all.
"Excuse me, please make way. I'm the president of the male student union." He raised his head and said, "Let me pass. I need to report to the principal and professors."
"Oh?" Dracula looked at Percy who was walking towards him with his head held high, and said with a half-smile, "I just found out that you are the president of the male student union this year, Weiss."
Percy flinched reflexively at the sound of Dracula's voice, the cocky look on his face falling instantly.
"Ah... It's nothing special. It's all thanks to Professor Dracula's cultivation." He said with an apologetic smile.
Professor McGonagall gave him a reproachful look, as if blaming him for not thanking his headmaster for his training.
"Okay, Percy, let's put everything else aside and just tell me what happened here," she said, pursing her lips.
"What happened is, we just finished our meal and wanted to go back to the common room to rest, and then we saw this scene..." Percy pointed to the original entrance to the Gryffindor common room.
There should have been a fat lady guarding the doorway in the portrait.
"Oh, my God—" Professor McGonagall screamed and tightly grasped the book in her hand.
The Fat Lady had disappeared from the portrait, which had been vandalized, with small pieces of canvas strewn across the floor and large chunks torn entirely from the frame.
"Did anyone witness the perpetrator of the sabotage?" Dracula asked.
Then he shrugged and said, "Forget it. Judging from your performance, no one should have seen it. Otherwise, you wouldn't be so confused. The news should have spread a long time ago."
Dumbledore took a quick look at the damaged painting.
"Professor McGonagall, please go to Filch immediately and tell him to look for the Fat Lady in every painting in the castle," he said rationally. "We must find out who is responsible for the sabotage as soon as possible!"
Professor McGonagall nodded and trotted down the stairs.
The crowd in front of the lounge door had not yet dispersed, and the young wizards were a little noisy.
They were all wondering who was so cruel as to attack the portrait of the Fat Lady who diligently opened the door for them.
Some people speculated that it was done by the naughty kids who liked to go out at night and resented the Fat Lady's control over them. Fred and George strongly protested against this speculation;
Some people speculated that it was done by little wizards from other colleges. The most likely ones were the bad guys from Slytherin. They didn't want the Gryffindor students to go back to the dormitory to rest so that they could gain an advantage in the Quidditch match next weekend.
There are even more outrageous ones, speculating that a prisoner from Azkaban sneaked into the castle and destroyed the portrait of the Fat Lady. This speculation received the most opposition, because Hogwarts is full of protective magic, and no dark wizard can get through here unimpeded!
"Ah, you are so lucky!"
Just as the little wizards were discussing their ideas, a hoarse voice rang out.
Dracula looked up and saw a short ghost wearing brightly colored clothes, a tie, a hat, with a broad face, a big mouth and round eyes.
The mischievous elf was floating in mid-air, his slippers had long cracks in them, revealing his dirty toes.
It was Peeves the Mischievous, dancing over the heads of the crowd with an air of apparent delight—as he always did when he saw destruction and gloom.
"You seem very happy, Peeves?" Dracula raised the corner of his mouth and asked maliciously.
Peeves' smile faded a little as he thought of the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's reputation among ghosts as someone who could even scare off the Bloody Baron, the only ghost Peeves feared.
So he switched to a slicker tone, which sounded better than his hoarse voice.
"Excuse me, Mr. Dracula," said Peeves. "Her place was in such a mess that she didn't want to be seen, so she went to another portrait."
"I happened to see her running past that landscape on the fifth floor, sir, hiding among the trees, crying and saying something horrible."
"Poor fellow," he added, without any sympathy in his heart.
"Did she say who did it?" asked Dumbledore quietly.
"Oh, yes, Head Professor," said Peeves, with a sly smile on his face. "He was very mad when she wouldn't let him in. Do you understand me?"
Peeves somersaulted in the air, grinning at Dumbledore from between his own legs.
"He has a terrible temper, this Sirius Black."
…
…