Chapter 510 "Horrible Secret"

In Trent's dorm, a figure on the bed turned around flawlessly and frowned in sleep because of the injuries on his body. If Grindelwald saw this, he would applaud Sean. The Illusion Charm is a spell that he strongly admires, and Sean's performance proves that he has learned it well.

Sean had gone into his ring, but he still maintained Trent's appearance. In front of him, an illusory pearly white figure was frowning.

"Edmund, how's the situation?" Sean asked.

The ghost in front of him is Edmund Grubb. He died in the Victorian period. The cause of death was eating poisonous plums. He died at the entrance of Hogwarts Great Hall, so he often hindered the students in order to vent his anger.

Edmund has suffered the Basilisk's gaze before. Along with Filch, he was petrified, but the mandrake juice saved him. Sean has always maintained a good relationship with Edmund. This time, he spent something to ask him for help. He asked someone to get a whole rotten bison, which should be delivered in two days.

Of course, he can only rely on Edmund. They can go to places they have been to before. Sean asked a few ghosts; only Edmund had swum in the Black Lake when he was alive and even soared over the lake on a broomstick. In other words, only Edmund could follow Sean to the Durmstrang ship.

This is Sean's plan. It is obvious that Durmstrang's students can't ask about the spell of the restricted area. If he goes in, an alarm will likely be triggered. Ghosts can walk through and will become the best choice to bypass the spell.

Edmund accepted Sean's request. The rotten bison was tempting for him, and he would be happy to listen to his request to do the outstanding students of Hogwarts a favor. Edmund floated up and down, his brows tightly frowned.

"Sean, is this Durmstrang's ship?"

"Of course, why do you ask such a question?" Sean was a little puzzled.

"My God," Edmund looked angry, "As a school with the same reputation as Hogwarts, how can they go low to this point?"

"What's inside?" Sean also frowned.

"Inside it," Edmund glanced at Sean faintly, "is... children."

"Children?"

"Children!" Edmund yelled. "In several rooms, all the children are locked up. Eleven or twelve years old at most, and they seemed to have just entered the school."

"I saw that in those rooms, all the children were imprisoned in cages. They were trapped in a dark, secret room, and shackles locked them up."

"Durmstrang is committing a crime. How dare they do such a thing?" Edmund became angrier and wanted to rush out of the ring.

Sean quickly stopped him, "Don't be impulsive, Edmund."

Edmund continued, "I must go to inform the principal. How dare these people do such a thing to a group of children?"

"Not now. They should be paying attention to the bait I left behind. If we leave now, we will be known." Sean said in a deep voice, "Edmund, tell me the specific situation in the room."

Edmund still panted for a while before calming down and describing what he saw to Sean.

There are a total of six rooms at the bottom of the ship, each of which houses a young child. According to Edmund's description, the six young children are all still young, at most about the age of a second-year Hogwarts student.

There are not many decorations in the room, only a cage in the center, which is made with magic. Since Edmund is a ghost, it is impossible to judge the nature of the magic, but just looking at it, the cage seems to contain many kinds of spells.

The children in the cage are lying or sitting, their hands and feet bound by shackles, and everyone is in a drowsy state. Even in the middle of the night, none of them have completely fallen asleep. Obviously, their minds have been tampered with by magic, maintaining their half-consciousness.

Edmund could see the pain on each of the children's faces. They seemed to have been imprisoned in the cage for a while. Their clothes were tattered, and there were some food leftovers on the floor.

Hearing this, Sean frowned and asked, "What kind of clothes are they wearing? Wizard robes or Muggle uniforms?"

After recalling for a while, he said, "Wizard robes, and they are all Durmstrang's uniforms, just like the guys in the castle."

"What about the size?" Sean continued to ask.

"Size... their uniforms seem a little short." Edmund recalled.

Sean's brows furrowed, "Have you noticed anything beside them? Things that you can touch as soon as you reach out."

Edmund nodded immediately, "Yes, although I was angry at the time, I noticed that there was one thing around every child: either boots that didn't fit their size, teapots that shouldn't be there, or weird-looking items."

Sean's brows tightened even more. That should be a Portkey.

During the summer vacation, the Portkey he got from Dumbledore was tampered with. At that time, he suspected that the Returners had mastered some magic that could bypass Hogwarts Anti-Apparition Jinx.

He can move freely in Hogwarts by using his Teleport magic, and the Phoenix can do the same, which shows that Hogwarts' Anti-Apparition Jinx is not omnipotent.

In other words, if Sean goes back and informs the professors to come to Durmstrang's ship, they will likely use the Portkey to transfer those children away directly.

Sean fell into deep thought. He first needed to understand something: What is the significance of Durmstrang imprisoning so many children? Why would they take the risk of possible exposure and bring them to Hogwarts?

In addition, no one knows whether there are more such children imprisoned in Durmstrang.

Sean frowned, "Edmund, you can't sense magic, but you should be able to see the appearance of magic or the color of the spell, right?"

Edmund nodded.

"What color is the magic on the cage and shackles?"

"Black." Edmund immediately gave the answer.

"Is there any other color around the cage or the children?" Sean asked.

Edmund recalled it carefully and shook his head uncertainly, "I didn't see it clearly. Except for the farthest dark blue torch that provided some lighting in the room, there was nothing. I can barely see anything, and I can only see clearly those things. You told me not to get too close if I see something wrong, so I can only hide in the wall and observe."

"Okay, I see."

Seeing that Sean fell silent and stopped talking, Edmund said, "Sean, what should we do? Those children have suffered torture. We can't let this kind of thing continue!"

Sean sighed, "Of course I know. But we must be clear that if we don't make full preparations, the children may be quickly taken away when we bring people onto the ship, and we want to find them; maybe they have arrived at Durmstrang's castle."

"Although Durmstrang is indeed doing something weird, they are a magic school with the same reputation as Hogwarts. I'm afraid it'll be hard for people like Professor Dumbledore to investigate this situation clearly without causing much trouble."

Hearing Sean's words, Edmund could only float in place anxiously.

Sean stood there pacing and thinking and raised his head, "Come on, let's go back first."

Edmund turned his head, "Didn't you say that we can't act rashly? Your plan was not to continue to pretend to be this person when you go out for dinner tomorrow. Is that the safest way to do it?"

"My bait has been hanging around for too long, and if nothing happens tonight, they may double-check the entire ship to prevent me from sneaking. In this way, I have a certain risk of exposure; you can run and tell them, but the imprisoned children will be transferred quickly."

Sean narrowed his eyes, "Though, I want to go back and discuss the countermeasures with the professors."

With that said Sean moved out the real Trent, who was unconscious in the ring. Sean has tampered with his memory. This is enough for him to deal with the questioning from the Durmstrang. Putting Trent on the ship, Sean directly teleported back to the point he set in the Black Lake in advance.

Floating on the surface of the water, Sean looked at the ship in the distance, waved his wand, and cast a weak detection spell from a distance. After a while, he turned his head and left without any hesitation.

On the ship, the man in the black hood who had been waiting silently raised his head the moment the detection spell touched the hull. He narrowed his eyes and didn't make any movements.

After a while, he let out a laugh, "As described in the information, that kid is vigilant. It seems that the magic barrier I used to let Karkaroff relax is nothing. What a slippery one."

The figure in the shadows appeared again, "What should we do?"

The man in the black hood laughed, "He won't give up so easily. Send someone to inspect the barrier on the hull."

"What about Heartman?"

"That boy should not make any moves tonight. Send someone to 'carefully' check him again." The man in the black hood licked his dry lips.

He laughed triumphantly, "I'm looking forward to what this Pride tastes like."

If Sean heard these words, he would smile, but because of those imprisoned children, he has mixed feelings.

Back at the castle, Sean said to Edmund, "Inform Professor McGonagall... No, call the professors of all houses, as well as Professor Scamander. Gather them in the lounge, no. In order to avoid any spies, please wait in their respective offices, and I will go find them."

Sean's authority in the Room of Requirement cannot be concealed anymore, but it is not a big deal. Hogwarts has thousands of secrets, and Dumbledore has agreed that he can freely use the Room of Requirement. These professors are also people who know the inside story and are trustworthy enough to keep this a secret.

Taking advantage of Edmund's notification to the professors, Sean came to Nurmengard through the Vanishing Cabinet and used the Floo powder to arrive at the Association's office floor.

Not long after he had appeared, Lupin appeared at the door.

"Why are you here? What happened?" Lupin asked.

He set up magic near the fireplace, and he would be notified when someone came over. Since Sean visited at this time, something important must have happened.

"I need you to help me quickly gather the personnel of our Association who have helped Hogwarts recruit students. If they can't arrive, they should at least send a message. I want everyone to be responsible for the admission form and recruitment situation." Sean quickly explained his purpose.

Lupin didn't ask any more questions, nodded, and started working on it immediately.