Everyday Life of a Top Student at Hogwarts

Chapter 187 The Shadow Beneath the Frozen Lake and Unexpected Death

Chapter 187 The Shadow Beneath the Frozen Lake and Unexpected Death

Hogwarts was completely covered in snow after Christmas. The castle towers, corner towers, and crenellations were all covered in thick snow.

The courtyard and Quidditch pitch had become a flat, boundless snowfield, and the air was crisp and cold.

But the snow was followed by a rare sunny day, the sunlight reflecting off the snow-covered ground with dazzling brilliance. The students who remained on campus could no longer contain themselves, bundled up in thick blankets and gloves, cheering as they rushed into the snow. The noise of a snowball fight instantly shattered the post-snowfall tranquility. Snowballs flew, laughter and screams echoed in the empty courtyard. The Weasley twins were undoubtedly at the heart of this melee, their snowballs always hitting their targets at tricky angles. Cullen didn't participate in the fray. He preferred quiet. After breakfast, he walked alone to the frozen Black Lake. The lake was completely frozen, covered with a thick layer of snow, merging seamlessly with the snow-covered shoreline, almost indistinguishable from the surrounding landscape. Only near the shore was the ice relatively transparent, allowing glimpses of the deep, dark green water below.

Surrounded by students playing and frolicking in the snow, Karen walked to the lakeside and stopped at a spot with a clear view. He closed his eyes.

He took a deep breath of the cold air and then slowly opened his eyes.

The world before her eyes was instantly stripped of its apparent whiteness and tranquility. Karen's gaze swept carefully along the junction of the ice and the lake shore. In this snow-covered world, even the flow of magic seemed to have come to a standstill.

However, as his gaze swept across the bottom of a steep rock face near the southwest corner of the castle, a subtle sense of unease caught his eye.

Beneath the ice, near the lakebed, a small patch of unnatural "turbidity" appeared in the flow of magic. A cold, viscous trail of residual magic, imbued with an aura of malice and violence. These trails were winding and meandering, resembling the path left by some enormous, elongated creature crawling through the mud. Moreover, the trails were remarkably "fresh"; in the Eye of Truth's vision, the degree of magical decay indicated they had formed no more than a day ago. Although the residue was extremely faint, the Eye of Truth was highly sensitive to magical traces, and coupled with the fact that the area was deserted and relatively clean after the heavy snowfall, Karen spotted it immediately. It extended from the depths of the Black Lake towards a highly concealed spot on the rocky shore.

Karen immediately followed the trail and hurried toward the rock face. The snow was deep, and every step made her sink in, making walking extremely difficult.

Near the rock face, the snow was shallower, revealing the frozen, hardened soil and creaking rocks below. Just where the unsettling traces of magic had vanished, Karen saw an entrance half-hidden by cascading icicles.

It was an abandoned sewer entrance, arched by huge, rough-surfaced stones, large enough for a carriage to pass through. The opening was dark, seemingly filled with snow and withered leaves, mostly frozen, leaving only an irregular crack at the top. A cold, damp wind, carrying the smell of decay, was faintly seeping out from that crack.

"The sewers," Karen muttered to himself, his voice almost inaudible in the cold wind. He almost immediately thought of the Basilisk! Its massive body could indeed move through the castle's intricate water system. And this abandoned waterway clearly connected the Black Lake to the castle's interior.

It's a hidden passageway! Did it enter Black Lake from here? Was it in search of food? Or something else?

He crouched down and carefully examined the ground near the cave entrance. It was covered in ice, with scattered snow. He carefully brushed aside the withered leaves and loose snow that weren't completely frozen around the edge of the cave, and a tiny glimmer of light shone from the tip of his wand, illuminating the damp rocks and frozen ground.

He found them in a slightly recessed crevice in the rock just below the cave entrance, where the snow was not directly falling on them.

A few pieces of something. Half-buried in the soil and ice.

Karen held her breath and carefully touched it with her wand. It was a few scales.

Each piece was about half the size of his palm, hard and heavy in texture, with sharp, curved edges, and a dull, dark green color. The magical energy remaining on the scales was exactly the same as the magical traces found before.

Snake scales! And these are scales belonging to a type of extremely large snake, definitely not an ordinary snake!

A chill crept up his spine, more intense than the icy landscape itself. Karen knew this might be the Basilisk emerging. But he'd checked the place just two days before Christmas, and there were no signs of it being opened. But now wasn't the time to dwell on that. He had to go immediately to the abandoned girls' restroom on the second floor! Check the recorder he'd left there! Confirm if it had been opened! Then immediately notify Dumbledore, and also ascertain Quirrell's condition. Was Quirrell's unusual weakness at the Christmas dinner last night related to this?

Karen quickly and carefully wrapped the scales and put them into his pouch. He stood up, ready to return to the castle immediately.

Just then, a cry of "Ah—!!!" rang out.

A scream filled with terror shattered the relatively tranquil air by the Black Lake and drowned out the noise of a snowball fight in the distance!

The sound came from not far from Karen, near the frozen shoreline of Black Lake, where there was a small, relatively open snowfield where several students seemed to be building a snowman.

The screams acted as a signal, instantly drawing the attention of all the students by the lake. The snowball fight stopped, and the laughter abruptly ceased. Everyone looked in the direction of the sound.

Karen also turned around abruptly, her pupils shrinking. He was closer and could see more clearly.

The scream came from a boy wearing a yellow and black bib. He collapsed onto the snow, his face ashen, his body trembling violently. His finger was fixed on the snowdrift in front of him, his lips quivering, but he could no longer utter any meaningful sound, only terrified sobs. Beside him were two equally terrified companions, frozen in place, speechless.

The surrounding snowfield was a mess, clearly indicating they had just been rolling a large snowball. Right in front of the Hufflepuff boy, where he had rolled the snowball, a small patch of snow had been cleared away, revealing part of what was buried underneath.

A human head!

Black, greasy hair clung stiffly to the scalp from the cold. A face, glistening with an eerie bluish-gray hue due to extreme cold and some unknown reason, its skin taut, lips purple, eyes fixed on the greyish-white sky, pupils unfocused, frozen in the unspeakable terror of its final moments. Most striking were the distinctive purple stubble scattered across the head, now covered in snow and ice crystals, resembling a lifeless snake.

Although her face was contorted and stiffened by death and freezing, Karen would never mistake her!

Professor Quirrell!