"Yes, these things are just too coincidental—"
Beside him, a seventh-year Hufflepuff Wizard nodded sagely, rubbing his chin. The Halloween tale spreading around Hogwarts now is that every year on the eve of the Halloween banquet, some unusual things seem to happen in the castle—
"So, something might happen again this year?"
A faint voice of doubt arose from the crowd, but before anyone could respond, a commotion erupted near the entrance of the hall. The crowd parted, and a Gryffindor Little Wizard ran into the hall, gasping for breath, "Professor, Professor, something's happened! The Fat, Fat Lady is dead!"
"…"
William paused slightly in his action of drinking mushroom soup, and the reaction of the surrounding crowd was about the same. Everyone looked incredulously at the crow-mouthed person who just spoke.
"I was just asking casually…"
In the silence and scrutiny, Astoria shrank her neck in fear.
"The Fat Lady… seems to be a portrait of Gryffindor, can portraits die?"
Cedric scratched his chin in confusion and instinctively turned to look at William.
"No."
William shook his head, indicating that it wasn't possible—he had some experience in this regard, as he had tried more than once to 'kill' Headmaster Blake within a picture frame, but obviously, it was useless. Moreover, portraits in the Magic Realm wouldn't be confined to any frame; even if your painting was burned, they could flee to another painting to seek refuge.
Too bad.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the hall, a group of professors who were just about to leave through the back door also stopped in their tracks. They collectively fell silent for a moment, exchanged glances, and then, "Let's go." Dumbledore turned around, looking at the professors beside him, speaking calmly, "Minerva, Severus, and Remus, come with me—"
Dumbledore quickly issued orders. Apart from the few accompanying him upstairs, the remaining professors didn't leave but stayed in the hall, signaling the Little Wizards around not to rush to leave. They also directed the Prefects of each house to bring back the Little Wizards who had already returned to the common rooms—
Gathering people together was convenient for protection. Although the notifying Little Wizard was somewhat incoherent, no matter what the truth was, there had definitely been an accident—
After all, today was not April Fool's Day.
…let's follow up and have a look.
Watching the group disappear into a staircase corner, William didn't hesitate much and decided to follow. The entrance to the Gryffindor Common Room was on the eighth floor, and just as the group reached the staircase on the seventh floor, they found the stairs and the corridor above completely clogged.
The noisy hubbub rang in their ears, and everyone was desperately trying to squeeze forward, seemingly wanting to figure out what exactly had happened.
"Ahem—"
Snape's cough was like cold water splashed on hot stones, and William even felt like he heard the sizzling sound of the two coming into contact. It was because of this cough that the Gryffindor Little Wizards noticed the professors standing behind them. The next moment, the crowd automatically parted.
As the crowd parted, the damaged portrait appeared before the crowd—The Fat Lady had disappeared from her painting, the canvas seemed to have been brutally slashed, fragments littered the floor, and a large piece of canvas had been roughly torn away.
"The perpetrator was in a hurry, and... didn't use a knife, probably some kind of stone?"
William approached, looking at the rather uneven cut in the canvas, and voiced his speculation.
Where did he come from?
Watching William suddenly emerge, Snape, who was originally leading, couldn't help but twitch his brow and after a brief silence, chose to turn his line of sight aside, stepping aside, and Dumbledore, walking behind him, approached the canvas as well. He scrutinized it closely, his crooked nose almost touching the damaged canvas.
"Portraits don't really die." William whispered a reminder.
"Of course, we need to find her." Dumbledore nodded, then turned around to the three professors behind him, speaking gravely, "Professor McGonagall, please immediately find Mr. Filch and have him search every painting in the castle for the Fat Lady."
"Alright!"
"Good luck to you!"
Suddenly, a voice laughed gleefully.
The abrupt sound caused everyone to reflexively look up. It was Peeves, now dancing over everyone's heads, his thick-soled black boots clashing together with a 'bang bang bang' sound. Seeing the scene of misfortune and distress, he was, as usual, reveling in joy.
"You'd better have seen something."
Looking at the mischievous Peeves, William squinted slightly, his tone calm.
"Oh, honorable sir!"
Peeves acted as if he had just noticed William and hurriedly descended from above, rubbing his hands together and showing a fawning smile, "Look at what you're saying, I certainly saw it, that fat woman was shy, didn't want to be seen, she's now a mess..."
The obsequious tone sounded no better than the previous giggle.
"Tell where she is."
William interrupted Peeves' chatter, indicating that he should get to the point.
"Oh, I saw her run past the landscape painting on the fifth floor, sir, hiding in the bushes, crying her eyes out."
Peeves said cheerfully.
"Poor thing."
He added hypocritically.
"Did she say who did it?" Dumbledore asked softly from the side.
"Oh, she did, Headmaster Professor."
Peeves turned and gave Dumbledore a comically sarcastic bow as if holding a big bomb in his arms, "You see, she refused to let him in, he was angry." He then flipped over, grinning at Dumbledore between his legs, "His temper was terrifying—Sirius Black."
…
…
Ten minutes later, all the students were gathered in the hall, each with varying degrees of confusion on their faces.
"The teachers and I need to conduct a thorough search of the castle."
Professor Dumbledore told everyone, by this time, Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick had already closed all doors to the hall, "For safety, I'm afraid you can only spend the night here. I want every Prefect to guard the hall entrance, I entrust the management to the heads of the boys' and girls' student councils, report to me immediately if anything occurs."
He said, then addressing Percy, who stood nearby looking extremely pleased and self-important - now the student council president - "Send a ghost to relay messages."
Then, Professor Dumbledore paused, just about to turn to leave the hall, but then said, "Oh, and you need..."
Dumbledore gently waved his magic wand, and long tables flew to the sides of the hall, standing against the walls like rows of people facing the wall and contemplating. Then, with another gentle wave, hundreds of soft purple sleeping bags appeared on the floor, matching the color of the wizard robe he was wearing.
"Sleep well." Professor Dumbledore said, and walked out.
Following him were the group of professors, along with William, who was walking alongside Lupin.
"Students should be sleeping in the hall now—"
In the dark, silent corridor, watching William, who inexplicably appeared and mingled with the professors, Snape seemed to have had enough and suddenly mocked strangely.
"Want to fight?"
William nodded, choosing to get straight to the point. He even had his magic wand drawn with his right hand, looking eager to try.
"…"
Snape was silent, not knowing how to respond.
"Alright, Severus, because Remus' arm is slightly injured, I asked William to guard him—"
Dumbledore, who was walking ahead of the group, stopped and turned around. It was unclear whom he was explaining to, but Snape chose to step down, glancing at Lupin's right arm, hung in front of his chest, snorted coldly, and turned his head, "Serves you right..."
"Hey? Are you really looking for a beating?"
Then, William rolled up his sleeves.