"Who died?"
Ian, of course, followed Snape and Professor McGonagall. He followed the two all the way to the basement and saw a cold corpse right at the door of Snape's office.
The body had completely lost all traces of life, eyes empty, devoid of eyeballs, and the stomach seemed to have been cut open, missing all its internal organs and bodily tissues.
"Damn it! How could it be him!"
Ian's pupils sharply contracted.
In the state of invisibility with the Illusionary Body Spell, he took a cold breath directly—the reason was none other than he had speculated along the way that he might see Lockhart's corpse.
But he didn't expect.
The person lying on the ground turned out to be that man—Quirinus Quirrell! A guy who has always been unlucky but is absolutely not likely to suddenly die!
He has Voldemort on him!
Harder to kill than the four house heads!
Unless...
In Ian's heart, as he was puzzling over this.
"It's some kind of evil ceremony."
Grindelwald, wearing Lockhart's face, noticed Snape bringing Professor McGonagall up close. He maintained a semi-squatting posture beside the corpse, raised his head, and spoke in a deep voice.
"Merlin above! This... How could this happen!" Professor McGonagall couldn't bear to look directly at Professor Quirrell's grim state; her tone was incredulous with a hint of worry.
"Clearly, Professor Quirrell got himself into trouble beyond his control."
Snape spoke meaningfully, his voice low.
"Professor Snape, you..."
Professor McGonagall glanced at Grindelwald and then turned her head to Snape, but she hesitated to speak.
"He was gutted while alive..." Grindelwald continued to analyze Quirrell's death, first glancing at the spot where Ian stood.
Then.
Under Professor McGonagall's shocked gaze, he immediately stripped the bloodstained robe off Quirrell, exposing a bare butt that hadn't been stained much by blood.
"How can you do such a thing... We should respect a professor's body." Professor McGonagall averted her gaze, her tone reproachful towards Grindelwald.
However.
Grindelwald hadn't replied yet.
"Damn it! This is wrong!"
Snape was the first to lose stability, his expression drastically changed in shock.
"I must inform Dumbledore!"
He dashed into his office. Who knows if this head of Slytherin kept something in the office to immediately contact Dumbledore.
"Gone..."
Ian knew why Snape was suddenly so uneasy and frightened. Both he and Snape were aware that Voldemort was supposed to be on Professor Quirrell's butt.
Yet.
Now Voldemort was gone from Quirrell's corpse.
"What the hell is going on?"
Ian didn't move closer, but he saw Grindelwald get up and walk toward his own position, seemingly passing by, and slipped a note into his hand.
"Another one of those see-through skill hacks..." Ian looked at his Illusionary Body Spell level, quite helpless; now all he could hope for was that Extraordinary Traits would cause some qualitative change in his spell.
[Go to the Headmaster's Office]
After moving some distance while holding the note, Ian opened the forcibly placed note and hadn't even had time to react when he saw a group of Aurors coming down the stairs.
They were aggressive.
Numerous.
"Professors, please remain in place and do not act, as informed and trustworthy individuals have reported to us that Albus Dumbledore is suspected of a murder and a Dark Arts ceremony."
The leader was this year's newly appointed Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge.
His tone was serious.
Expression grave.
Upon seeing Professor Quirrell's corpse outside Snape's office, Cornelius Fudge immediately looked vigilantly toward Grindelwald and Professor McGonagall.
"Although I don't wish to do this, for everyone's safety, I ask you to cooperate with our investigation." He adopted an extremely authoritative stance.
Raised his hand intending to signal the Aurors to take the wands from Professor McGonagall and Grindelwald.