Chapter 136 House Elves
After searching again and confirming that nothing was missing, Marn directly pulled all the humanoid creatures under the water to the shore at once. When he was about to increase the intensity of the burning, Dumbledore reached out to stop him.
He roughly pulled the Inferi to the sides, revealing two ordinary corpses at the bottom. The corpses were wrapped in a layer of magic to prevent the Inferi from eating them.
"Ah Da, Ah Er?" Ma En said looking at the two familiar faces. He didn't look carefully at first and thought they were two ordinary corpses.
"What?" Dumbledore asked confused.
"I mean they're Foster and Sekende."
Dumbledore didn't ask any more questions. He stroked his beard and used magic to detect it. After confirming that they were indeed Comptin's two followers, he nodded: "It is indeed them, and they have been dead for a long time." , thanks to the magic on my body, it didn’t rot.”
Ma En thought of something, stepped forward, picked up a branch, and pulled their hair, causing it to lose a little bit of their foreheads.
"This explains why Comptin didn't destroy these two corpses." Marn looked at Dumbledore.
"Compound Potion."
"It looks like they were replaced very early. It took too long and it's hard to judge."
Dumbledore thought for a while and said: "I am more inclined... It should be that before they entered the school, they threw these two corpses into the water in some way, in order to prevent the potions in their hands from being insufficient."
"Why didn't they just pull out the hair of these two guys?" Ma En asked curiously.
"Because the hair loses its effect after being separated from the body for too long," Snape came over from a distance and said, "If nothing else, their scalp tissue must still have the activity of magical maintenance. You can test it."
Marn had no interest in picking up a corpse, and he could already tell that Snape was right just by looking at the thick hair on the two of them.
He casually burned the struggling Inferi to dregs, and allowed the mermaids who had regained consciousness to restrain themselves. Marn turned his head and said to Snape: "Professor, is there any way to quickly screen everyone in the school?" Again, there are too many people in Hogwarts, and it is impossible for us to ensure that no one is missed through manual inspection."
You are right to ask the thoughtful Snape about this. He indeed has an idea: "I will go back later to make a batch of potions and let the house elves mix it into the drinks."
"How do you make sure everyone can drink it?"
"How about a banquet?" said Dumbledore next to him. "If I raise a toast, no one has any reason to refuse the principal."
"That's fine, but what's the reason for holding a banquet? There has to be a reason, otherwise it might arouse suspicion."
Dumbledore thought for a moment, and finally his eyes were fixed on Marne: "I will award you a Hogwarts Medal. You have done so much for the school and you deserve this."
"Is there such an award?"
"Well... now there is."
"..."
The matter in the Black Lake came to an end for the time being. Dumbledore sent letters to the deans to inform them of the matter, asking them to tell the students in their own colleges that there would be a dinner party tomorrow night. Snape also returned to his office to configure the equipment. Potions needed.
Many young wizards who were familiar with Ma En came to congratulate him in advance. Throughout the whole day, Ma En's face almost froze with laughter, and he cursed Dumbledore in his heart. I know it's better to test it slowly one by one. Who knows if this inexplicably broken medal will become out of print in the future.
Esther, on the other hand, is quite interested in this. She seems to have always been happy to see Ma En receive various praises to prove his excellence. She spent more than two hours just picking out clothes in the evening.
"Esther, it's not necessary. Really, the award ceremony is just a pretense. It's not like you don't know." Ma En said while looking at the little witch who was busy choosing a match.
Esther didn't pay any attention to him. She looked around the shelf carefully and then picked up a windbreaker and handed it over before saying: "This is different, dear. I asked Professor McGonagall and she said there will be a prophecy tomorrow. A reporter from a daily newspaper came over to take photos for publicity.”
"But... all my clothes are pretty much the same..." Ma En pointed at the various windbreakers on the hangers.
"How can it be the same? Look, the cuffs of this one are not the same style as that one..."
"I want to sleep, dear..." Marn looked at the progress of the fitting and had just reached the halfway point of the clothes rack. He suddenly thought of Harry and Ron who were forced to study by Hermione. This was a bit similar.
After all, he honestly put on the clothes that Esther had thrown over him. Esther came over to tidy up his cuffs and collar, then took them off and hung them back up if he was not satisfied: " There is plenty of time to sleep, and tomorrow is still a holiday. When we think about what time it will be, we should pick out clothes first."
"We can pick it up tomorrow."
"Today's work must be finished today, Ma En. I don't want to rush to help you put on a suitable outfit before the banquet."
"How is it possible? We have a whole day tomorrow..."
Esther rolled her eyes: "Forget it, Ma En, don't think that I don't know what your plan is. Are you going to arrange the scene in advance tomorrow? Will you have time to come back and choose clothes?"
Seeing that he was seen through, Ma En could only smile, and stood aside obediently watching the girl in front of him busy.
"Esther? Marne? Are you asleep?" Hermione's voice came from the corridor.
As Esther got a new top for Ma Enxin, she shouted outside: "Here!"
Hermione's footsteps came to the door: "What are you doing? Is it convenient for me to go in?"
"It's okay, I'm just choosing clothes. Come in."
She just opened the door and walked in. Just as Marn was about to say a few words to her, he saw an elf tied up and struggling behind her: "Hermione, what are you..."
"Harry has been getting notes thrown at him recently, asking him to leave Hogwarts. I was dragged by him and Ron to ambush him, and then I caught it. It was a house elf that came from nowhere. .”
Of course Marn knew this guy. Although it always hid from people, Marn always found a way to find it every time he went to Malfoy's house.
He put the guy down casually, untied the rope and asked, "Dobby, what are you doing?"
Hermione frowned and asked in confusion: "Marne, do you know it?"
"Of course I know it. It's the house elf of the Malfoy family."