Chapter 103, Poor Peeves
"First question, if you knew beforehand that I could control you with a spell, how confident were you in being able to dodge my spell?"
The spherical Peeves seemed to tremble. Lynn's gaze just now terrified him. In all his years, even the Blood Man Barrow had never frightened him like this.
"Yes! Peeves can dodge! As long as it's not a spell like Transfiguration, I can dodge it if I'm prepared!"
Peeves shrieked.
Lynn stroked his chin. He could guess that for spirits like ghosts, spells with projectile trajectories and delays were very easy to dodge.
In other words, the casting method was the next major improvement to the Soul-Sealing Spell.
"Second question, as far as you know, can ghosts teleport?"
"Probably...probably not. Anyway, Peeves has never seen a ghost that can teleport."
"What about using magic? Can a ghost still use magic?"
"Definitely not. Ghosts have no magic power, so they can't use magic."
Lynn took a quill and wrote down Peeves' answers on parchment.
Of course, Peeves' words couldn't be completely trusted, nor could they be taken as absolute judgment, but they could serve as a good reference and be very helpful for improving the Soul-Sealing Curse later.
He asked Peeves a few more questions and inquired whether he could voluntarily cut something resembling "flesh" from his own body.
Peeves turned his body around in terror, shaking his head.
This great villain in front of him was actually still coveting his body!
Lynn was very disappointed. He really wanted to find some spiritual material for research. He couldn't easily touch the ghosts in Hogwarts, and only the despised Peeves could be caught and used to scare them.
Unfortunately, nothing was left behind.
Lynn let Peeves go.
He didn't specifically tell him not to tell anyone about what happened today. Even if word got out, Lynn wasn't afraid; it was just
a trivial matter that wouldn't arouse anyone's suspicion.
As for the other person in the castle, Lynn never intended to hide it from him.
Or rather, everything he did was deliberately revealed to him; otherwise, he wouldn't have gone to the portraits to ask about Peeves' whereabouts.
Lynn tidied up the parchment in the room again, taking out a few that would help improve the spells he was about to cast, and then left the Room of Requirement.
Meanwhile,
in Dumbledore's office, the old bee was signing his name on a piece of parchment.
He called Fawkes the phoenix and pinned the letter to its claws.
"Send it to the External Liaison Department of the Soviet Magical Council. Someone there will write a reply. Wait for him, then bring the reply back."
Fawkes nodded humanely, gave a soft chirp, and then transformed into a streak of fiery red light, disappearing from the Headmaster's office.
Dumbledore relaxed and leaned back in his chair, his hands clasped in front of him.
He looked extremely tired.
The internal turmoil within the British magical community was still unresolved, and a major upheaval had also occurred in the Soviet Union. The
once powerful Soviet Magical Council, comparable to the Magical Congress of the United States, was now teetering on the brink of collapse.
He was using his reputation to try his best to mediate, hoping that the worst-case scenario wouldn't escalate into war.
At that moment, an old man with a red nose and messy hair suddenly appeared in a blank photo frame.
"Albus, the student you specifically had those portraits watch over did something strange. He just caught Peeves."
Dumbledore blinked, a faint light reflecting off his half-moon spectacles.
"Which student?"
"The one with the surname Belloc."
Hearing that surname, Dumbledore couldn't help but smile.
"Lynn, huh? Did he reveal why he wanted to catch Peeves?"
"No, but the portraits saw him subdue Peeves with just one spell."
Dumbledore gently patted the back of his other hand, closing his eyes as if deep in thought.
He spoke again after a short while.
"No need to keep a close eye on him anymore. He's very smart, so smart that I don't even think he's a child. But he's a sentimental person; he won't become like Tom or Gellert. He has his own ideas, and those ideas won't change because of anything. So let him be. Tell those portraits to stop focusing on him. Look at Harry; he's more like a child. His thinking can be guided, and he's worth our effort to nurture."
…
Time passed slowly.
Hogwarts was unusually peaceful during this period.
No one was attacked, and there were no Defense Against the Dark Arts professors with prior convictions stirring up hatred. Even Peeves was surprisingly well-behaved.
The only conflict that had occurred in the castle recently was probably the bickering between Malfoy and Harry, but that was just childish squabbles among first-years, and few people paid any special attention.
Lynn also thoroughly enjoyed this peaceful school life, but he knew that this was just the calm before the storm.
Once this peaceful life was disrupted, a whole host of messy things would follow.
With Halloween still a week away, the thunderstorm Lynn had been hoping for for the past month hadn't arrived, meaning the completion of his Animagus transformation potion would be delayed even further.
How long he'd have to wait was entirely up to fate.
However, on the weekend afternoon, he finally received a reply from Professor Fox, who was far away in Asia.
Lynn's owl was very upset because its little hat had been torn by a branch during flight.
Its satchel containing provisions was also gone.
It gestured to Lynn for a long time before Lynn roughly understood what it meant.
The satchel had been stolen by an eagle on the way.
Lynn kept comforting it, promising to mend its hat and buy it a new satchel.
The owl then flew back to its owlhouse, dejected.
Professor Fox's reply this time was brief, but all of it was important.
After all, he was the inventor of the Imperishable Charm, and he could easily discern which of Lynn's whimsical ideas were mere fantasies and which were feasible.
So, in the three days following Professor Fox's reply, Lynn improved the Soul-Sealing Spell based on the suggestions in the letter.
Then, he went to find Peeves.
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(End of Chapter)