Chapter 012: Puzzles
Such a strange phenomenon appeared and disappeared so quickly that the three of them opened their mouths in surprise, and the waterspout that went straight to the zenith disappeared directly into the riverbed.
The three of them hurried to the river, and saw Catherine standing on the riverbed looking at her right palm in shock, and 20 yards in front of her was a large stone slab 30 feet square, with a blood-red cross on it, and in the center of the cross, there was a circular groove, about two feet in diameter.
"It turned out to be like that!" K shouted in surprise, which drew displeased glances from Snape and Harry, who quickly clasped her hands together in embarrassment and apologized.
But when the three of them looked at Catherine again, they only saw the rushing river, and the surrounding qiΔ seemed to be not much different from the original, except that there were many more grass clippings on Snape's body, and there was an extra drag mark on the ground that stretched from the river to the forest.
Is it just an illusion?
If it's an illusion, what about Catherine?
Thinking of this, Snape did not hesitate to plunge into the water, and then he saw Catherine standing on the riverbed, still looking stunned.
"Catherine!" Snape swam up to her and shook the red-haired girl violently, "What just happened?" β
"Swirls - big whirlpools - waterspouts, andβ" Catherine exclaimed, raising her voice sharply, "they're all in my right hand." β
Snape looked at Catherine's right hand, where there was a yellow bead that was spinning rapidly in addition to the bead of blood.
Snape carefully reached out his fingertips and touched them lightly.
There was a loud "boom", and Snape felt as if he was floating in the middle of a great river of galloping horses, surging towards the sea.
Snape shook his head vigorously, and the hallucinations in his mind vanished.
"How?" Catherine asked nervously.
"See for yourself!" Snape grabbed her right hand and plunged her fingertips into the yellow bead, and her face turned very strange.
After a long moment, Catherine let out a long breath and said, "I feel the whole Amazon basin, including all the tributaries and underground rivers. β
"Should I say congratulations?"
"I don't know." Catherine shrugged her shoulders and put the doubt aside very decisively, "I'll go see the slate first. β
"No need, your senior sister already knows how to open it." Snape said, taking Catherine's hand and leading her to the surface.
Catherine didn't struggle, her head was still a little confused, so she had better not move to avoid any accidents.
"What the hell just happened?" No sooner had Snape and Catherine surfaced than they heard K's question.
"I don't know." Catherine took a hard breath of fresh air and let Snape and K get herself ashore, "but it's definitely a hallucination." Only then did she realize that she had just experienced a great battle, and she couldn't find any strength in her body, and her magic power was empty.
"Catherine, what's wrong with you?" Harry sensitively noticed that something was wrong with the red-haired girl.
"That illusion seems to have been activated by my strength, and I'm completely exhausted of both physical and magical power now." Catherine simply closed her eyes, relaxed her body, and collapsed directly into K's arms, "I'm so tired now that I just want to sleep." β
"Try to stay awake first, and wait until you have changed your clothes and drunk medicine before going to sleep." Snape used his magic to dry Catherine before he pulled a tent out of his pocket and quickly set it up.
"Hmm!" Catherine struggled to open her eyes so that she wouldn't accidentally fall asleep.
After the tent was formed, Catherine was immediately carried into the bathroom by K, stripped of herself, poured hot water on her, changed into clean clothes, and took the pick-me-up from Snape, before finally being able to lie down on the bed and rest.
But Catherine slept for three days, and didn't wake up until breakfast on the fourth day.
This time, the first person to find out was K, because the two of them had the same schedule, but she retreated to the door as soon as possible, after all, in her memory, Catherine was the most terrifying, fully possessing the ferocity of a beast and the cunning of a human.
"Are you awake?" K leaned against the door panel and yawned lazily.
"Hmm!" Catherine sat up slowly and stretched comfortably, "How long have I been asleep?" The dullness of her muscles made her realize that she must not have moved for a long time.
"Three days!" K walked to the chair next to the bed and sat down, his legs raised high and thrown on the bed, the muddy water on the silver-gray boots stained the white quilt, but the two girls didn't even look at it, "I really admire that old bat, it's like a vampire, and it actually stayed up until last night before going to rest." β
Catherine's heart shuddered, but her face was not moved. "Where's Harry?" She asked calmly.
"I locked him in another room and asked him to put the pile of rubble slabs I picked up from the river back together, or he would have been like the old bat."
"And who's cooking?" Snape can only boil potions, K can only barbecue, and Harry, the only one who can cook, is under house arrest, and Catherine is puzzled by who else can help them fill their stomachs.
"Dobby!" K laughed and snapped his fingers.
"Miss Kate, what do you need for breakfast?" Dobby bowed, looked up and saw the red-haired girl sitting up, and immediately shouted in surprise, "Miss Catherine! You're awake! What would you like to eat? I'll prepare it for you right away. β
"Give her a glass of warm water and a glass of hot milk, and I want a porridge." K answered directly for Catherine, but Dobby waited for the red-haired girl to nod before disappearing.
"It's good to be a wizard, there is someone waiting for you at any time, and exploring an adventure can be like a trip, I really can't wait to exchange it with you." K stared at Dobby as he reappeared, watching him put warm water and milk in Catherine's most convenient place before handing him a plate with a bowl of porridge.
"You made me here." Catherine picked up the warm water and drank it slowly.
K was swallowed, then his eyes lit up again, and he twisted his ass and moved the chair to Catherine's side.
"I'm curious? If he already has someone he loves, why is he so good to you? K asked curiously as he gulped down the porridge.
"She's dead." Catherine succinctly pointed out the reason and drank the warm water in one gulp.
"Dead!" K suddenly raised his voice three notches, "If you're dead, he'll do it to you!" This old bastard! Does he want to play with him? You're not even 13 years old, is he going to come up with a Tale of Hime? β
βKοΌβ Catherine put down the glass of water in her hand heavily, stopping the purple-haired girl's yelling, "She's my mother." β
"Mother?" After picking up the porridge in the bowl, K held his chin and thought seriously, "You said that the old bat loved your mother, Harry was your relative, and his surname was Potter, and the old bat hated him so much, which means that the old bat was robbed of his love by your father, so he will abuse your father's son twice as much now, but take double care of you so that he can destroy flowers in the future - I'm right!" The purple-haired girl leaned sideways and stared at Catherine with sparkling eyes, only to answer her with Snape's angry growl.
"Loose and slack! Hurry up and imprison! Silent! K, who was not yet completely paralyzed, was tightly tied to the chair with dozens of ropes, so that his body still maintained a sideways posture with his legs crossed.
"Dobby!" Catherine looked at K and smiled brightly, "You go get a fishing rod and hang this chair upside down on the hook, my sister wants to test what she can catch from the river with herself as bait." β
"Thisβ"
"Let's go!" Catherine turned her head to look at Dobby, and as soon as the house-elf saw the smile on her face, she immediately disappeared from the room with the K tied to her chair.
"I really didn't expect that two years of mercenary career would make her so open-mouthed, if her father knew, I was afraid that he would be so angry that he would jump out of the grave and return her to the furnace to rebuild." Catherine sighed helplessly as she drank the milk.
Snape didn't say much when he saw this, but walked up to Catherine in silence and began to examine her, and the red-haired girl didn't say anything more, just quietly drank milk.
However, this eerie silence was soon broken by a stormy figure, and Harry, who had just finished completing the puzzle task assigned by K, immediately ran over to Catherine as soon as he heard that Catherine had woken up, threw himself on her bedside, and even staggered Snape.
"Savage Gryffindor!" Snape cursed in annoyance, and turned away, leaving the room for Catherine and Harry.
Harry looked at Snape's back in confusion and tried to say something, but was interrupted by Catherine.
"You're in such a hurry just to wonder why Professor Snape suddenly stopped scolding you?" Catherine asked with a smile, and Harry hurriedly argued.
"Of course not, I heard Dobby say that you finally woke up, so I hurried over to see you, how are you feeling now, is there any discomfort there?" Harry looked nervously.
"The body and magic power are basically restored, as long as you do some more training, you can return to normal levels." Catherine smiled and stroked his head, "What have you been doing these days?" β
"In the puzzle!" Harry pouted and complained in displeasure, "Kate said you sold me to her, so you have to listen to her, she locked me in the room, and Snape actually helped her, I couldn't open the door by all means, so I had to obediently finish putting together those stone slabs." β
"Now that you're done, why don't you show it to me." Catherine had no comfort, no explanation, just acknowledging the fruits of his efforts