Harry Potter and the Secret Treasures

Chapter 654: Speculation and Doubts

“Hand the egg over!” said Moody harshly, repeating it again.

Filch hesitated, handed Moody the Golden Egg, and made a chirruping noise to Mrs. Norris, who stared blankly at Harry and Ron for a few more seconds before turning and following her master.

“Come on, my sweet!” Filch muttered. “We don’t need that golden egg … we’ll see Dumbledore early in the morning and tell him what Peeves was up to.”

A door slammed, and now there were only Moody, Evan and Hermione looking at one another.

“Close shave, wasn’t it?!” He stepped laboriously down the stairs and sat down on one of the steps.

Evan also breathed a sigh of relief and glanced at Caresius.

Fortunately, Snape was a bit afraid of Moody, otherwise it would have been a terrible night.

Watching Snape’s terrible face when he left, he must have hated Moody to death.

“Well, you two can come out!” Caresius turned and said.

“Who are you talking to, professor?” Hermione asked, surprised to see Harry and Ron appear in the middle of the stairs.

“Thank you, Professor!” said Harry weakly.

With the help of Ron, he freed his leg from the trick step and climbed onto the upper steps.

That step instantly returned to normal, as if it had never changed.

“Harry, Ron, why are you two here?” Hermione asked.

“We were trying to figure out a clue to the Golden Egg!” Ron whispered. “And you. Why are you and Evan so late?”

“We, too, had serious things to do,” said Hermione naturally. “So, do you know the secret of the Golden Egg?!”

“Of course…” Ron glanced at Moody and didn’t go on.

“All right, boy!” said Caresius suddenly, his magical eye turning wildly. “I’m not interested in your little secret. Walking outside in the middle of the night won’t give you any inspiration. Take your egg and go back to bed. Beware, don’t lose it again!”

“Professor, I want to talk to you alone!” Evan whispered, wanting to know what was going on with Caresius.

“Of course … you come to my office tomorrow morning. Now, go back to bed!” Caresius replied.

Evan nodded and noticed that Caresius’s expression was a bit unnatural. Sure enough, Snape’s magic hurt him. He was completely tough, and now he could no longer hold on.

“Professor, about our detention, Evan and me?” Hermione asked with concern.

“There’s no detention, you don’t want me to punish the four of you?!” asked Caresius, revealing a terrible smile.

“Of course not!” said Hermione hastily.

“All right then, good night, everyone!” He stood up, stepped laboriously up the stairs and disappeared from sight.

“He’s a good man, though he looks terrible, isn’t he?!”

A few minutes later, they were walking along the familiar path towards the Gryffindor Tower.

“Professor Moody is really good.” Evan mused, recalling what had happened tonight, and he always felt something was wrong. “Many things happened tonight … so strange … what was he looking for in Snape’s office?”

“It could be something contraband related to Dark magic, remember?!” Harry followed the analysis, with a hint of excitement. “Snape just said that Professor Moody had searched his office. Moody must have thought there was something in it.”

“You mean Snape has hidden contraband in his office,” said Ron. “Moody is not only paying attention to Karkaroff here, but also monitoring Snape?”

“That’s it, so Professor Moody broke into Snape’s office tonight, looking for contraband,” said Harry. “Moody said that Dumbledore kept Snape here to give him a second chance, after what he had done before…”

That really made sense. Moody might have done it, indeed, if he were not Caresius in fact.

“Maybe Moody thinks Snape put my name in the Goblet of Fire,” said Ron, his eyes wide open.

“Oh, Ron, it can’t be Snape!” Hermione shook her head suspiciously. “He’s had countless chances to kill you in the past few years … remember the last time we thought Snape was trying to kill Harry, but he was trying to save him in fact.”

There was a moment of silence, and it was true that Snape didn’t have to bother that much if he wanted to do it.

Besides, although he might hate Ron, there was no reason to kill him.

If he wanted to kill someone on the scene, compared to Ron, Harry should be his first target.

In fact, Snape’s attitude towards Harry was very strange. He did save Harry’s life before, but at the same time he hated him, just like he hated his father when they had been in the school together.

Snape liked to deduct points from Harry’s score and would never miss any chance to punish him. He even proposed to expel him from school.

“I really appreciate Moody’s help, but I don’t care what he says. He’s so paranoid.” Hermione continued, “Dumbledore is not stupid. Take Professor Hagrid and Professor Lupin for example. Many people refuse to hire them, even though Snape is a bit bad…”

“Well, let’s think of something else!” Ron shook his head and gave up trying to figure out why Moody was searching Snape’s office. “You know Caresius Slytherin and Barty Crouch? I saw them on the Marauder’s Map tonight.”

“What?!” Evan looked up and stared at Ron in surprise. “You saw Caresius and Barty Crouch?!”

“Yeah, I was holding the map. Their names appeared on it for a while, and then vanished. I was the only one who saw it,” said Ron, telling them what he saw on the map tonight.

Evan listened to him and pondered. The name of Caresius was enchanted and was not supposed to be marked on the map.

Evan had already verified, but since Ron saw his name on the map, it meant that the magic left by Snape played a role. That powerful spell was probably a mixed spell.

It cracked all the disguise of Caresius and seriously injured him, so he was forced to run away as he was.

If he had been able to maintain Moody’s look, he could stay in Snape’s office and provoke him as he did just now.

This bit was understandable, But Barty Crouch showed up in Caresius’s office … what was going on?!

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