Chapter 62: Four Signatures

"I think we still can't get around that problem, which is the motivation problem." Harry tentatively stated his thoughts. "What do you think is the purpose of the attacker?"

Harry knew in advance that there was a conspiracy, so he had always felt that these attacks were to involve Deng Buliduo's attention. But as Professor Hap said, one must always allow different viewpoints, so he wanted to try to ask Professor Hap's thoughts.

"I think there are two possibilities for the attacker's purpose." Professor Hap said without any taboo. "The first is hatred between students. The person the attacker hates happens to be a Muggle-born, so he thought of using the legend of the Chamber of Secrets to wash away his guilt, which is still a situation that is easy to handle."

"And the situation that is not easy to handle is perhaps that someone wants to drive Headmaster Deng Buliduo out of Hogwarts." Professor Hap said loudly about this shocking thing, which startled Harry. "If students are constantly attacked, they have a reason to attack Deng Buliduo, saying he cannot guarantee the safety of the school, forcing him to resign."

Harry had always thought that Voldemort's conspiracy was to drag Deng Buliduo at Hogwarts, so he said without thinking: "However, what is the purpose of driving Deng Buliduo out of school?"

"Harry, you have to know that the education experienced in childhood will greatly affect a person." Professor Hap said earnestly. "Whoever masters the school can wantonly instill his thoughts into little wizards, which is very terrible."

"Then who are you worried about plotting to master the school?" Harry asked.

"I don't know, perhaps it's not necessarily Death Eaters, they haven't even figured out their own thoughts yet." Professor Hap said casually. "But one point is certain, we need freedom of thought, so no matter who wants to engage in indoctrination, we will never agree."

"Hey, Harry!" Someone was calling. Harry looked back and it was Zhang Qiu, who seemed to have rested well.

"Oh, I have to go back to prepare for the lesson." Professor Hap said goodbye casually, and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

"Who were you talking to just now? Was that Professor Hap?" Zhang Qiu asked.

"Right, he is a very interesting person, the angle of thinking about problems is different from ours." Harry was still pondering the new hypothesis he put forward at this time. "I heard some other guesses from him, I think it is necessary to consider them."

After listening to Harry's retelling, Zhang Qiu said disapprovingly: "Even if someone drove Headmaster Deng Buliduo away, who would be the successor? It would just be McGonagall or Snape, there is no indoctrination or anything."

"Also, I actually originally wanted to come to see the scene." Harry said. "I don't know why I chatted with Professor Hap."

"Ancient Runes only have one class a week, and four grades only have four classes." Zhang Qiu curled her lips. "These elective course professors are all very idle, chatting with people outside every day."

"By the way, do you remember the appearance of Colin being petrified?" Harry changed the topic. "The scene should have been cleaned up, nothing was left, the only clue is the victim situation."

"Why don't we wear the Invisibility Cloak and sneak in to take another look?" Zhang Qiu said. "I heard Madam Pomfrey say later yesterday that she has no way to deal with Colin's petrification, and must wait for the Mandrake to mature to lift it."

"Mandrake? She isn't talking about those planted in Herbology class, right?" Harry said in surprise. "That's only so big, it will take at least until March to mature, wouldn't Colin miss almost an entire school year?"

"It seems things are really like this." Zhang Qiu was also a bit helpless. "Be optimistic, at least we have opportunities to investigate his victimization repeatedly for an entire school year."

"You really have sympathy." Harry said with a bitter smile.

They returned to the ward of the school hospital again. Madam Pomfrey didn't seem to be there, so the two were able to observe Colin's petrified body carefully again.

Harry remembered before that his feet were in a state of one bent back and one straight, and it was the same when he came to see it again, which showed that he should be going downstairs when he was attacked.

Colin's eyes were slightly slanted downward, looking at his right hand. He should be holding a bunch of grapes, which Professor McGonagall mentioned. And his left hand was gently resting on his chest, touching his favorite camera. Colin's expression was very normal, so McGonagall speculated that he was suddenly attacked from behind while walking on the road, because he obviously didn't find himself attacked before being petrified.

However, Colin was found on the stairs going downstairs from the Gryffindor dormitory on the eighth floor. Harry had already asked the Fat Lady before, and she said she didn't see anything. There was no place for people to hide on the eighth floor, except for the Headmaster's office and the Gryffindor dormitory, there was only a long corridor, at most counting the Fat Lady's portrait and the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy being beaten by trolls. There was only such a little place in total. How did the attacker hide here?

Therefore, after re-discussion, the assumption is that the attacker used some kind of invisibility means. Under this assumption, the attacker didn't necessarily need to launch an attack from behind. If it was a spell without a trajectory, a frontal attack wouldn't make Colin find anything abnormal.

Even, starting from the point that Madam Pomfrey bluntly said she couldn't cure it, Harry speculated that the attacker might not necessarily have used a spell. Zhang Qiu felt it was possible that it had something to do with potions, because she had seen petrification potion in a book.

Professor Hap said it was possible that the attacker used Ancient Runes, but he didn't seem to check out any abnormalities. Harry felt that potions were indeed a train of thought, because any effect achieved by a magic spell can often be eliminated by a magic spell. It was unlikely that the attacker mastered a spell that even Deng Buliduo didn't know.

If you want to investigate potions, Harry felt it was better to ask Snape. He knocked on the door of Snape's office. Snape's mood seemed quite good, so Harry dared to ask him about petrification potion.

"Generally speaking, we don't recommend second-year students to pay attention to these controversial potions." Snape said gloomily. "But I think with your talent, understanding it might not be a bad thing."

He quickly wrote a note and handed it to Harry, then drove Harry out. The note wrote that he was allowed to borrow "Most Potent Potions" from the Restricted Section.

Harry then remembered that he tried to borrow this book last year but didn't succeed, which was also the first time he learned that Hogwarts had a Restricted Section. Now, he got the special permission note from Professor Snape, and just happened to be able to see why this book was listed as a restricted book.

For the next week, Harry spent his time in the library. Besides doing homework, he browsed this "Most Potent Potions." The book introduced several "controversial" potions and their formulas, among which there was indeed petrification potion. As long as you drink a little of this potion, you can be completely petrified, and only Mandrake can lift it.

This description indeed fits the situation of the two victims, but judging from Colin's victimization scene, Harry felt that the possibility of him drinking petrification potion wasn't high, because he looked like he was suddenly petrified without any awareness.

Besides this, the book also introduced Polyjuice Potion, which can make people look like another person; as well as Amortentia, which can make people fall in love with someone regardless of everything; and Wit-Sharpening Potion, which can make people think about problems at a very fast speed for a short time, but will feel very tired after the effect ends.

Harry returned the book after browsing it. He also chatted with Neville about the content of the book after returning to the dormitory, because he felt that Wit-Sharpening Potion was very similar to Neville's spell. Harry also joked that the description of the formula in this book was very detailed, if it weren't for the fact that some materials couldn't be found, he would have wanted to try making it.

The next day, just when Harry and Ron were playing Wizard's Chess while continuing to reason about the attacker's methods and motives, Neville, Hermione, and Hannah were gathering in an empty classroom belonging only to them, discussing Ma Erfu's situation.

"Didn't find any results, but everyone knows Ma Erfu has an opinion on Muggle-borns." Hannah whispered. "I think we should investigate him further."

"However, how can we catch his horse's feet?" Hermione looked a bit confused. "I mean, I don't really want to violate school rules."

"This is also a matter of no choice, we have tried all the easy ideas." Neville said. "Now there is only one idea left, that is, sneak into the

"That's not very likely, is it?" Hanna Society said with some worry.

"It is possible, one only needs Polyjuice Potion," Hemin Society said, "but the problem now is that we don't know the recipe for Polyjuice Potion."

"There is a book called 'Moste Potente Potions' in the Restricted Section," Nawei Society said, sharing the news he had just heard, "it contains the complete recipe for the potion, the only problem is how to borrow it; that requires a professor's signed note."

"Let's each think of a way," Hemin Society nodded, "let's leave it at that for now."

In the end, they successfully borrowed the book and began planning to steal ingredients from Sineipu Sect's cupboard according to the list.

In the drawer of the librarian, Madam Pince, four signatures lay quietly.

"Authorize Harry Potter to borrow 'Moste Potente Potions' to improve his level in Potions. —— Severus Snape"

"Authorize Hanna Ai Bo to borrow 'Moste Potente Potions' to investigate the petrification symptoms that have appeared recently. —— Poppy Pomfrey"

"Authorize Neville Longbottom to borrow 'Moste Potente Potions' as an expansion of Herbology knowledge. —— Pomona Sprout"

"Authorize Hermione Granger to borrow 'Moste Potente Potions' to help understand the chronic venom of ghouls. —— Tang Nade Fontroy"