Chapter 1260: News and Sighs from Afar

Madam Grey’s voice was very light, as if it could be blown away by the wind.

For no reason, Vid suddenly felt a tingling sensation on his scalp.

He controlled his body not to retreat and asked softly:

“Who?”

Madam Grey looked down at him sadly. After a while, she answered in a way that didn’t address his question:

“About half a month ago, it was the first time I felt something was off… I’ve never had that feeling, but I seemed to instinctively know… what it was…”

Vid: “What?”

Madam Grey seemed as if she didn’t hear him and continued to murmur to herself:

“That feeling is very vague, extremely vague… you’ll understand when you become a ghost too. Most of the time, we seem to be living in memories from when we were alive, everything else… is very vague…”

“It’s something very, very ancient… far older than my mother’s era… an extremely terrifying entity…”

“I thought I was mistaken, thought it was a nightmare… even though ghosts don’t dream…”

“I thought… it’s just, just my own thoughts getting the better of me again… I didn’t pay much attention…”

Madam Grey hugged her arms tightly, her eyes wide open, her lips trembling slightly as she said:

“But yesterday, no, early this morning, before dawn… I felt it again… I don’t like this feeling, it reminds me… reminds me of when I was killed…”

“It’s okay, you can tell me.” Vid said gently, “I’ll help you see what’s going on. If I can’t figure it out, then there’s always Dumbledore.”

Madam Grey looked up, staring unblinkingly at Vid.

“I don’t like you.”

She suddenly said.

Vid was a bit surprised, and more puzzled, he replied casually, “So?”

“You remind me of someone.” Madam Grey muttered to herself, “So smart, handsome, talented… very, very charming, also very understanding… very compassionate…”

On her face, resentment and affection were intertwined, revealing a bit of confusion amidst the anger.

Vid guessed who it was but didn’t rashly interrupt.

Madam Grey continued: “But he was a liar! He deceived me!”

She said angrily, scratching her arms, for a moment, that resentment seemed to overshadow the fear.

But soon, when she looked at Vid, her chaotic thoughts returned to the present.

Madam Grey’s gaze became timid, she glanced around in panic, seemingly afraid of some unseen entity, muttering:

“You’re very much like him, I… I don’t like you… but I know, you, you’re someone who can see…”

Vid’s brow slightly twitched, he looked deeply at Madam Grey.

And the ghostly lady seemed to finally persuade herself, determinedly extending a hand.

Vid looked down.

The unusually slender hand was pale blue, fingers long, nails neatly trimmed, looking like a pianist’s hand.

Vid hesitated for a moment and lightly grasped it.

It was like holding a wisp of air—able to feel slight resistance, but not like touching a solid object.

The instant their palms touched, a biting cold transmitted from the ghost’s body, making Vid involuntarily shiver.

As soon as their hands touched, Madam Grey quickly pulled back without saying anything.

She turned around, merged into the wall, and vanished from the hallway.

…

When Vid returned to the common room, his body temperature had returned to normal, but a chilling feeling seemed to linger at his fingertips.

Upon entering, a burst of joyful laughter suddenly erupted in the common room.

Seven or eight students sat around the fireplace playing a card game, while a crowd stood watching. Whatever happened, they laughed heartily, exceedingly happy.

In the center of the crowd, unsurprisingly, sat Michael.

With a smile on his face, he raised a glass and drank it down, turning to see Vid, and put down the glass, squeezing out of the crowd.

“Hi, Vid.” Michael said with a smile, “Rare to see you back in the common room so early, done with today’s research?”

“Uh… sort of.”

Vid responded vaguely, glancing at the laughing crowd and asked curiously: “What are you playing?”

“Exploding Cauldron Wizard Cards, a new thing the Weasley Twins recently came up with; the more people, the more fun.”

Michael said enthusiastically, “Want to try it?”

Vid shook his head and said, “No, I’m not interested. Besides, I encountered something today…”

They walked upstairs, Vid lowered his voice and told Michael about the conversation in Percy’s office.

“Tomorrow, you’d better remind Fred and George.”

Vid said, “If students can use the secret passage to leave the school, Dark Wizards could possibly get in too—this concern is not unwarranted, so there’s no need to clash with Percy over it.”

Michael nodded and added, “Anyway, they’re about to graduate soon, whether the passage is sealed or not makes little difference. But the future students would be unlucky… apart from Hogsmeade weekends, no one would easily leave.”

He showed a gloating smile.

“Not necessarily,” Vid said, “It’s still unknown how long Percy Weasley will stay at the school.”

“Then I hope he leaves soon… preferably by tomorrow morning!”

Michael said expectantly, and then began to complain:

“Vid, you might not know, the professors have been emphasizing safety so much lately, even Quidditch practice isn’t as fun as it used to be!”

“Really not sure how interesting our house’s match against Slytherin will be next month.”

“By the way, here’s something for you!”

Standing in front of the dormitory door, Michael pulled a newspaper from his pocket and handed it to Vid.

“The Prophet Daily?” Vid took it, saying curiously, “I have my own subscription.”

“This is different,” Michael said, “It’s the international edition special supplement of the Prophet Daily. I heard it’s only given to subscribers of over five years. It’s something Cho Chang specifically asked me to pass to you.”

“Cho Chang?” Vid’s expression turned slightly serious: “Is there anything inside I should pay attention to?”

“This!” Michael pointed to a line of text.

Vid frowned and looked carefully.

This was a newspaper from a few days ago, and the part Michael pointed out said:

[From the 9th to the 18th of this month, a serious armed conflict occurred in the city of Kizlyar, Dagestan Republic, within the Russian Federation, causing at least 78 Muggle deaths and hundreds injured. Mr. Voronov, spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Magic, stated there had been monitoring of abnormal Magic Fluctuation near the incident site, not ruling out the involvement of Dark Wizards…]

What followed were details of the event.

A group of heavily armed Muggles had taken thousands hostage; after a standoff and fierce battle, eventually 78 were killed, hundreds injured.

Regarding the so-called traces of Dark Magic, the paper, after listing a series of speculations and Auror investigation processes, confidently declared—

This incident didn’t involve any Wizards nor did any Wizards unfortunately meet their demise, it was entirely a mistake in monitoring results due to the recent equipment updates by the Russian Ministry of Magic.

In Muggle Society, although such conflicts were rare, they weren’t uncommon either, Wizards shouldn’t be tense or exaggerate; just let Muggles handle their own problems.

Wizards planning to travel or work in the Russian area should pause their plans until the local situation stabilizes.

The usual whitewashing words almost make one think that after stepping down, Fudge went to work at the editorial department of the Prophet Daily.

Vid read it twice more and asked, puzzled, “Though this matter is indeed significant… why should I know about it?”

Separated by thousands of kilometers, even if the Dark Wizard or Muggle conflict there was intense, it wouldn’t reach Hogwarts.

Vid suspected he might have fallen into some “Exploding Kettle” game segment, like the “Truth or Dare” asking to “confess to a stranger”, Michael’s game task this time was “playing a trick on Vid Gray” or so.

But Michael looked at him with disappointment, then shook his head, letting out a heavy sigh.

“I knew you would react this way, yet Cho didn’t believe… She simply doesn’t understand, some people seem almost sixteen but are no different from a six-year-old, haven’t really grown up yet!”

Vid squinted, saying slowly, “Michael, how about practicing Magic Spell in the maze tomorrow afternoon? I can let you have the first shot.”

Michael coughed dryly with a serious tone, “Don’t joke, I have classes tomorrow afternoon!”

He reached out to pat Vid’s shoulder, saying, “Alas, really wasted Cho’s effort… Vid, do you remember who your dance partner was at that Christmas party?”

“Dance partner? Natalia from Cardostores.” Vid replied without hesitation, “What’s up?”

“Oh, Cho probably misunderstood your relationship.”

Michael pointed to the newspaper and said, “But, even if as normal friends, with such an event happening in her country, you should reach out, right?”

…

The candlelight flickered.

Before bed, Vid finally picked up a pen and wrote a line in the Friendship Book:

[I saw the news about Kizlyar, are you and your family safe?]

Once the last stroke was finished, the text on the parchment was vibrant as ever. But it didn’t disappear even after the ink dried.

Perhaps Natalia hadn’t had time to check the Friendship Book… or perhaps she had buried Vid-associated Friendship Book under thick books or even tossed it aside…

Vid furrowed his brow and glanced at the always silent page of Dumbledore, sighed softly, closed the Friendship Book, and went to wash up before bed.

Almost as soon as he closed his eyes, he felt like his body was jerked.

He was falling!

A long sigh rang in his ear.

No… that was not a single person’s voice…

That was the simultaneous sigh of dozens, hundreds of people!