When Dudley first heard this news, he was stunned but quickly reacted and even knew who had spread this information.
That's right, it was the ghosts!
What happened last night could be said to have caught all the ghosts at Sir Nicholas's deathday party in one devastating sweep. Over a dozen ghosts were petrified, and that wasn't all. Some other ghosts were also burnt by a scorching aura.
These injured ghosts almost covered all the ghosts who had attended the deathday party, leaving them utterly terrified.
Many ghosts, after experiencing this incident, were left with severe psychological trauma.
The ghosts who had originally come from elsewhere to attend Nick's deathday party fled Hogwarts castle overnight and swore never to return.
As for the ghosts who originally belonged to Hogwarts, they had nowhere to escape unless they gave up this place and found somewhere else to haunt, which was unacceptable for many ghosts.
But staying at Hogwarts had already become a very dangerous thing for them.
The only consolation was that petrification could be reversed, and those ghosts who had been scorched were slowly recovering. Otherwise, Nearly Headless Nick would probably have died of guilt.
Regarding this matter, Dudley could only sigh with regret.
In that situation, Dudley naturally had to ensure his own safety first, and the Solar Halo wouldn't directly kill ghosts, so using it was justified.
It's just that aside from him, no one knew this was caused by his magical artefact. Everyone thought the scorching was something that appeared along with the opening of the Chamber. After all, when Dudley and Harry were almost petrified last time, Nick had felt the scorching, and this time was the same. This almost confirmed this explanation.
After finishing classes during the day, Dudley had originally planned to go to Hagrid's to ask him about some matters regarding the last time the Chamber was opened.
However, at noon, Dudley learnt from Professor McGonagall that Hagrid had been taken away by the Ministry of Magic for investigation.
"Did they take Hagrid away without conducting a proper investigation?" Dudley asked with obvious concern.
"The Ministry of Magic believes that since the last time the Chamber was opened was Hagrid's doing, there's no need for investigation this time," Professor McGonagall said with an ugly expression.
She had already spoken to the Ministry of Magic, but unfortunately it was useless.
Dudley frowned with frustration.
He had wanted to get some firsthand information from Hagrid, but now he had no chance at all.
After Professor McGonagall left, Harry and the others were all dejected.
"If only Dudley could go to the Ministry of Magic to investigate," Ron sighed wistfully.
"That's something only Aurors can do," Harry said practically.
Dudley was only Hogwarts' Interrogator. Outside of here, he was nothing special.
"It's not completely impossible," Dudley said thoughtfully.
Hearing Harry's words, Dudley's expression changed with sudden inspiration.
"Huh? You're really going to investigate at the Ministry of Magic?" Harry asked in shock.
"I can't do it looking like this now, but if I looked like someone else, it should be possible," Dudley said with growing excitement.
"You mean Polyjuice Potion?" Hermione understood what Dudley meant and immediately said.
"Exactly," Dudley nodded.
Dudley had always wanted to find a magical item that could disguise him, but unfortunately had never found one. However, he had recently learnt about Polyjuice Potion.
It was during Snape's Potions class when he mentioned some powerful potions and talked about the effects of Polyjuice Potion. This was a potion that could completely transform one person into another and was very difficult to detect.
"But we don't have the recipe," Harry said with obvious concern.
He remembered this potion, but as a very advanced magical brew, they couldn't access it now.
"It's in the Restricted Section. Professor Snape said it's in a book called 'Moste Potente Potions,'" Hermione reminded them.
"So how do we get that book? You just said that book is in the Restricted Section," Ron asked practically.
"We just need a professor's signature. I'll handle that," Dudley said with confidence.
His reason for thinking of Polyjuice Potion wasn't just to investigate Hagrid's matter but also because his current child identity was too obvious. It was inconvenient for him to do certain things.
But if he could transform into someone else, then he could act without restraint.
His Beyonder characteristics had been digesting quickly recently. It probably wouldn't be long before he could advance to Judge. His strength would make a qualitative leap, and then he could do some relatively dangerous things.
Hermione seemed genuinely excited about brewing Polyjuice Potion, completely unconcerned about breaking school rules, and was already trying to convince Harry and Ron to help her.
"You've changed, Hermione," Ron observed with a complicated expression as he watched her eagerly plan rule-breaking.
"Have I? Well, if I have, it's because you two have corrupted me," Hermione said, laughing.
Harry and Ron looked at each other, speechless.
While the four were discussing how to brew Polyjuice Potion, Dudley began considering other possibilities.
"Perhaps I could use Cole's connection!" Dudley thought to himself.
Cole had previously been an Auror. Although he couldn't go back now, he was still very familiar with some of the Aurors' procedures and processes. If Dudley really wanted to find some clues from Hagrid, who was detained at the Ministry of Magic, Cole should be able to help.
"There's also Kingsley," Dudley thought to himself.
His relationship with Kingsley was quite good. If he could get Kingsley to relay a message to Hagrid, that could also work.
However, this matter might involve some unnecessary trouble. Kingsley was the last resort.
Thinking of this, Dudley already had some concrete plans.
"I'm going to the washroom," Dudley got up and left.
After entering a toilet stall, Dudley took out several pieces of parchment from the Mirror of Erised.
These were obtained from Borgin and Burkes before and used for transmitting messages. Dudley had specifically asked for more at the time to send messages to Cole.
After writing about enquiring about Hagrid on the parchment, he snapped his fingers.
Hum.
Bright flames ignited, the parchment burnt quickly, and soon disappeared completely without even leaving any ashes.
After about one or two minutes, a bright flame appeared before Dudley, transforming into a piece of parchment.
"Received."
After seeing these two words, Dudley waved his hand. Flames burnt, and the parchment turned to ash.
He would leave Cole to gather information about Hagrid. As for Hogwarts, Dudley needed to think of other methods.
"I have to say, having someone to run errands is really much more convenient. Is this the benefit of the Fool creating the Tarot Club?" Dudley thought to himself.
Perhaps he could also create a similar organisation in this world.
But that would have to wait until his strength grew considerably more.