Dumbledore slipped in from behind the curtain, a soft glow shining behind his crescent-shaped glasses.

"Merry Christmas, Neville." He walked briskly over to his bedside and pulled up a chair and sat down.

"Huh? Professor, what did you just call me? Neville gasped with excitement, his round face flushed, and he seemed to be being called by Dumbledore's name instead of his last name, which seemed to give him a lot of encouragement. Dumbledore was stunned for a moment, then looked out the window uncomfortably, but Neville, who was in the midst of excitement, didn't notice this.

"Ahh Oh, yes...... Neville, if you want to hear it again. He looked at Neville with a smile, "Actually, I just thought it would make you feel better - you see, Christmas dinner was actually quite fun, but you still haven't made it." The thought of a student alone in a hospital bed on Christmas Day doesn't feel like a good feeling – so I thought I'd come and see you......"

"But, Professor, haven't you already been here this morning? You seem to have said this in the morning. ”

Feeling Neville's confused eyes, Dumbledore coughed heavily and slapped his head in frustration. "Hey! Look at my memory...... I'm really old, and I'm living my life in a mess. ”

He glanced contrivedly at Neville's bedside plate, which was steaming hot with cranberry scones freshly made from the kitchen. So I took one with great interest.

"Hah, it looks like I can't be considered for nothing, right? Luckily, I told the kitchen to give you a lot of variation, there is no such thing at the auditorium dinner......" He took a bite from his beard, then narrowed his eyes in satisfaction. "Well, it tastes pretty good~ But it looks like you haven't moved much, do you think it's too sweet?"

I don't know what came to mind, but the expression of joy slowly faded from Neville's face.

"I'm sorry, I don't have much appetite, Professor."

"That's not good, Neville...... Being too picky is not good news for the cooks in the school kitchen. Dumbledore looked at him reproachfully, "You know, there's only a few dishes they'll make. ”

"Professor, am I really not fit to be in Gryffindor......"

"What is that?"

Neville half-sat on the bed, bowing his head sullenly, his hands tightly twisted together, his knuckles glowing pale with force, and the feeling of shame and inferiority made his heart ache as if he had been cut by a knife.

"Everyone is risking an attack in the castle, while I cowardly hide in the school hospital, under the protection of you, the professor......" He looked up in dismay, looking at Dumbledore's somewhat stunned face. The Sorting Hat told me at the beginning, and it said that there was amazing courage hidden in my heart. But until now, I haven't found it. Still a complete coward......"

"Then you're wrong, I don't think cowards have anything in common with you, if ever there's the same there, it's your equally sensual tear ducts." Dumbledore interrupted him, he thought for a moment, lifted his glasses, sat down next to Neville, and gently patted him on the shoulder.

For some reason, this movement gave Neville a sudden sense of familiarity.

"Remember what I said last year when I gave you extra points, it still takes a lot of courage to be able to stand up for your beliefs in front of your friends. You're brave enough, Neville. Dumbledore said, looking as if he remembered something, and a strange look appeared on his face.

"Speaking of which, I must ask you again, Neville. That's one of the purposes of my visit—" He looked at Neville, ten slender fingertips touching each other. "Is there anything else you'd like to tell me about anything other than what you've told me before?"

He said gently. "Anything."

Neville looked up in surprise.

"Professor...... I really don't know anything useful other than the thing I felt. Didn't you say that the rest of the matter was for Brandi and the others to sort it out. ”

At this point, he noticed that Dumbledore's pupils had shrunk sharply, and the lenses reflected a sharp white light.

"How about going through what you know in detail? The finer the better. ”

Today's professor is weird...... Neville thought, even if he talked backwards, he always forgot things, and even his behavior looked particularly weird - could it be that he accidentally drank too much at the dinner party?

"Since you're asking for that, then okay......" He licked his dry lips and began to organize the language.

"Or did I start from the beginning? The first quirky place must have been before Halloween...... You know, I haven't been very good at Charms and Transfiguration, so I'll spend a little bit more time in the library and look at spell books or Transfiguration guides or whatever. Dumbledore's gaze was filled with a terrible eagerness and urgency, and Neville had to carefully move his fidgeting body.

"I didn't have a good mind, so I had to memorize all the knowledge points by rote every time, and then every time I went back to the dormitory, my head would be a little swollen. It was the middle of the night—maybe I had been thinking about Transfiguration in my head, and I couldn't sleep well—I didn't know if I was dreaming or not. I remember hearing something in a daze......"

He said it well, and suddenly a very frightened expression began to appear on his face.

Then I opened my eyes half-asleep and looked at them, and fell asleep without thinking about it. But when I woke up the next day, I always felt that something in the dormitory was different from what I usually saw in my dreams. ”

"Different?" Dumbledore asked earnestly. "Can you tell me what's different?"

“…… How to put it, it's just a very mysterious feeling. Neville pondered, "It's like there's something extra in our dorm room back then." But I only woke up for about a second, and I didn't remember it too clearly, so I didn't take it seriously. ”

He said dryly, picking up a glass from the bedside and taking a sip of hot water.

"And then shortly after Lady Loris's attack—that was the first time I had a clear feeling." Thinking back to that scene, Neville's body began to uncontrollably tense as he clutched the quilt hard. "When I was alone in the evening practicing the Splinter Spell in the empty classroom, I felt - as if something had been watching me!"

He trembled violently.

"But there's no one in that classroom! And when I went out and walked back, I found Peeves floating down the stairs on the fifth floor - I was really frightened, I had always thought it was an invisible Peeves trying to scare me......"

"So you've given up on the idea of practicing spells since that day? I'll go back to my dorm after class, right......"

"Yes, Professor." Neville let out a long gasp and continued. "When I contacted Mrs. Loris, who had just been attacked, I was really scared, and I really didn't dare to run outside alone. Until one day, in the history of magic, Professor Binns told us about the Chamber of Secrets, which he said was used to purify Muggles. It's a shame, my first reaction at the time was to be really glad...... I'm glad I wasn't targeted. ”

"It's not a shame to be a Naville, and everyone has the right to fear in the face of possible harm and even death." Dumbledore picked up the kettle next to him and poured himself a glass of water.

It's weird, Dumbledore's magic is so proficient, why not use a wand? Didn't he do that last time?

"Neville, continue. Why are you so scared when you know you won't be targeted? He took a sip of tea with a solemn expression. Did Brandi mention to me that you had a bad face the morning you met Thomas, what did you feel? ”

"I told you before, Professor. Professor Binns's answer only eased me for two or three days—and then I realized that things were not as I thought they were, and that invisible gaze had not gone away, and was even more pronounced. For several nights, I had nightmares about a pair of cloudy eyes. At that time I almost thought I was crazy! But I didn't know it was true until that day—Dean must have seen something, and when I got up that morning, he stared at my bed like he had lost his soul. I would have been stupid enough to not understand what was wrong with him, and I wouldn't answer him if I asked—"

Then, Neville let go of his fist in a frustrated manner, and he sighed feebly, tears of remorse dripping onto the white sheets.

"But now I kind of get it. He must have found out that the thing never left there, it was always by my side! It must have sensed that Dean had discovered it somehow, so it killed people before I could get there! I hurt Dean! ”

Dumbledore interrupted him abruptly, his expression strange.

"Wait a minute, Neville, are you saying that something has been snooping on you, and then it will also eliminate people around you who might be a threat to it...... That's why you choose to stay alone in the ward and refuse to be visited by anyone? ”

Neville gave him a strange look.

"Professor? Isn't that what you're suggesting...... I said I didn't want to hurt anyone anymore and I wanted to take a break and go home. But you said that blindly avoiding will not solve the problem, so I mustered up the courage to face all this. I chose to stay in the hospital room and not even come home for Christmas—Professor, you're alright, I don't think you're weird today. ”

Dumbledore touched his nose in embarrassment and looked into Neville's suspicious eyes.

"Oh, I just thought that this kind of question and answer would give you a better idea of the specifics - so Justin stumbled upon something around you that led to the attack in front of the school hospital?"

"What!? Was that person Justin before? Neville's eyes widened in horror. He flailed his fist in despair, striking the bed. "No, it shouldn't be like this...... He's only been with me in the dueling club for a short while! How could they be killed...... I didn't feel like I was being targeted at that moment, it shouldn't have been him-"

"Could it be that thing has its rules, such as having to attack a Muggle for a certain period of time?" Dumbledore had made a hypothesis that he had expected Neville to at least think before answering.

But it didn't work out, he bluntly denied it.

"Impossible, Professor! That thing wasn't at all what Professor Binns said! He yelled excitedly. Dean he mentioned to me that he came to school and found out that he wasn't a Muggle - he was a half-blood wizard! The monsters in the Chamber of Secrets shouldn't have attacked him! ”

"What did you say?" Dumbledore let out an exclamation, and he stood up.

"Professor?" Neville stared at him, and after a while, a strange expression began to appear on his face. "Professor, ...... your face?"

Dumbledore touched his face and saw that his nose seemed to be slowly deforming, and his long beard was beginning to retract.

"Neville, see you next time, something suddenly occurred to me!"

He hurriedly muttered, lifted the curtain without looking back, and rushed out of the ward. Then she ran wild under Madam Pomfrey's amazed gaze. Dumbledore, no, Brandy could feel that the close-fitting robe was rapidly becoming fattening, and his body was shrinking!

He sprinted downstairs and ran headlong into Myrtle's bathroom.

"Yo! Brandi, guess what we asked! Harry and Ron had already changed their clothes and were panting and waiting for him by the sink. Malfoy's father knew absolutely about the Slytherin heir! And—I also got some evidence of his secret collection of dark magic items. ”

"Say no more, Ron. We're in big trouble......"

Under their bewildered gaze, Brandi laboriously took off Dumbledore's robes and put on his own clothes. Then he knocked the door of Hermione's private room.

"Hermione, come out! I understand! I've figured it all out! He shouted. That monster wasn't trying to cleanse the school in the first place! It was ordered by the Slytherin heir to kill Neville! Neville Longbottom! ”

Hearing this, Harry and Ron looked at each other in surprise.

"What are you talking about? Neville is a pure-blood wizard, and he can't be pure! ”

But Brandi didn't pay any attention to them, and he still knocked heavily on the door of Hermione's room.

"Come out, Hermione...... I need your help! ”

At this moment, the crying myrtle suddenly flashed out through the crack in the door of the private room. The expression on her face was strange......

"Ouch, tsk, Brandy, you need to be ready. It's horrible! ”

Immediately after, the door lock opened on its own. Hermione appeared in Brandi's sight, sobbing, her robe pulled up to cover her head.

"What's wrong with you? Isn't the effect of the decoction over yet? Brandi's right hand, which was about to slam the door, froze in mid-air.

"Cat ......"

"What?"

In the midst of everyone's doubts, Hermione lowered her robes. Brandi and the others took a step back and crashed into the sink.

"That's a cat hair! Millicent: She must have a cat! ”

Hermione's bare skin was covered in black hair, her eyes were completely amber, and two long, pointy ears protruded from her hair.