"Link, did you hear that?" John widened his eyes and said, "That sounded like Dumbledore's voice."
"In short, let's go back to the Great Hall first."
In the dim corridor, the corners of Link's mouth unknowingly lifted.
The two of them ran back to the Great Hall.
At this moment, in the Great Hall, only the Gryffindors were standing alone and desolate.
Harry, Hermione, and Ron quickly rushed over when they saw Link.
Link had originally wanted to ask what happened, but before he could speak, Hermione, at the front, said, "Something happened, Link! Black! Sirius Black, he infiltrated the school!"
As soon as these words were spoken, before Link could say anything, John already let out a startled scream.
Ron was obviously very satisfied with John's reaction, and he said in an excited tone, "We had just returned to the entrance of the common room when we discovered that the guard of the Gryffindor common room, the Fat Lady, was nowhere to be seen."
"The magical painting she usually stayed in had also been slashed into several pieces! Then Peeves told us, that terrifying Sirius Black had snuck in! The Fat Lady was attacked because she refused to let him in!"
Upon hearing this, John became even more panicked.
But Link remained calm and nodded slightly. As expected, Black had attempted his first infiltration just like in the original plot. This way, his plan could proceed further.
Not long after, other students also arrived at the Great Hall one after another.
Most of them had confused expressions, unable to understand what had happened.
But that was fine, Ron, who rarely got a chance to stand out, took up the task of explaining things to everyone.
John, who had been very panicked from the beginning, also breathed a sigh of relief at this time, because he saw that Lilian had also returned safely to the Great Hall with the main Ravenclaw group.
"There was an emergency. The professors and I need to conduct a full search of the castle."
Seeing that everyone had arrived, Dumbledore stepped forward and said, "For your own safety, I'm afraid you will have to spend the night here. I want the prefects to guard the entrance of the Great Hall."
"I am entrusting the Head Boy and Head Girl with management. If anything happens, report to me immediately. Oh right, you might still need this..."
Dumbledore waved his wand, and the long tables and chairs originally in the Great Hall came to life, ran to the walls, and lined up neatly.
Then the orange banners that had been hanging and floating from the ceiling of the Great Hall fell to the ground, transforming into orange sleeping bags.
After doing all this, Dumbledore left the Great Hall, surrounded by other professors and senior prefects.
The fifth-year prefects who had just advanced this year were left behind to organize everyone into sleeping bags for rest.
During this task, most prefects focused on comforting the students.
For example, Cedric, this guy kept soothing the frightened younger students over and over again, so gently that it was outrageous.
Compared to him, the Gryffindor male prefect Percy was the complete opposite.
He sternly warned every Gryffindor that not sleeping after lights out would result in point deductions.
While speaking, Percy held his head high, and the prefect badge on his chest glistened under the faint moonlight reflected from the magical ceiling, looking more imposing than the Minister for Magic.
But the brave lions clearly didn't care much about him and still whispered about what had just happened.
In fact, Hufflepuff and the other houses were doing the same thing, under such circumstances, no one could fall asleep immediately.
Every now and then, a professor would appear in the Great Hall to check whether everyone was safe.
Whenever this happened, the Great Hall would return to silence, with everyone pretending to sleep. Once the professor left, the discussions would resume.
Link did not participate in such discussions. He simply waited quietly.
He knew very well that with this situation, Snape and Dumbledore would definitely come under great pressure.
And since he had previously hinted at using the capture of Black as a bargaining chip to make a deal with Snape, Snape would probably come looking for him soon.
Thinking this, Link closed his eyes and entered a state of pretend sleep.
Sure enough, not long after, he felt someone standing by his feet, blocking the moonlight from the ceiling.
Link opened his eyes and saw, as expected, Snape staring at him with an expressionless face.
These two didn't need any verbal communication, Snape merely tilted his head toward the direction of the foyer, and Link immediately understood his meaning. He got up and followed behind Snape out of the Great Hall.
Many people in the Great Hall saw this scene, and quite a few even gasped in surprise.
Link observed all their reactions through the Super Sensory Charm.
'He came to find me even before all the students had fallen asleep, looks like Snape is really anxious.'
Thinking this, the corners of Link's mouth couldn't help but curl upward.
But Snape in front seemed to notice Link's smug mood too. He turned around and gave Link a cold glare, scaring Link into quickly retracting his smile.
Link followed Snape through one corridor after another until they arrived in a passage surrounded by many Roman columns, where he saw Dumbledore.
He was speaking with Professor McGonagall, and under the moonlight, Link could see that Professor McGonagall's lips were tightly pursed.
That was a habitual expression of hers when angry.
"The Fat Lady is hiding in the map of Argyle on the third floor. It looks like, since she didn't hear the password, she refused to let Black in, and then Black attacked."
She said, "She's still in a very bad emotional state. Once she calms down, I'll have Mr. Filch repair her."
Dumbledore nodded and said, "Have you finished searching the third floor?"
"We've already searched the first to third floors. Nothing was found," Professor McGonagall said. "Also... I don't think he would stay here, that would be suicide!"
"Sigh, in any case, let's keep looking."
Dumbledore sighed. Upon hearing this, Professor McGonagall turned and quickly disappeared into the darkness.
Only after she had been gone for a while did Dumbledore turn to look at Link and Snape.
"Good evening, Link."
Dumbledore said with a smile, "Severus told me that you might possess some key information about Black?"
Link glanced at Snape and neither confirmed nor denied it. Instead, he said, "I can capture Sirius Black. That is beyond doubt. However, I do have a few questions that I hope you, Professor Dumbledore, can answer for me. And the details of these doubts, Professor Snape has probably already told you, right?"
Dumbledore didn't speak, but the smile on his face deepened slightly.
Then Snape, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke, "Headmaster Dumbledore, do you still remember that conversation we had before the term started?"
"Just as I feared back then, there is a traitor inside our school. It was this person who helped Black, otherwise, Black couldn't have gotten in."
Snape paused, then looked at Link and said, "And now, this traitor may have already exposed themselves."
As soon as these words were spoken, Dumbledore also looked silently at Link, and the atmosphere between the three instantly became tense.
But Link remained unmoved, not even showing the slightest change in expression.
Snape's suspicion was full of holes. It was obvious these two old foxes were trying to intimidate him.
And as Link expected, seeing that Link didn't fall for it, Dumbledore finally said decisively, "I don't believe there's anyone in this castle who could have helped Black break in. This topic ends here."
Then Dumbledore looked at Link and said, "Link, regarding your doubts, I can indeed answer them. But... shouldn't you also prove your ability?"
"I will prove it to you, Headmaster Dumbledore. Professor Snape."
Link said with a smile, habitually using Snape's 'name-tone emphasis' ending.
This made Snape's already unpleasant face even more unpleasant, while Dumbledore couldn't help but laugh heartily.
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
patreon.com/AmbitiousTranslator
🥳Joining Patreon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 20 advance chapter through Patreon.
https://discord.gg/bYAfGyp98y