Hogwarts: Even Voldemort Can't Stop Me From Studying

Chapter 1109: Chapter 196: The Knowledge Seeker

Suddenly feeling a chill in their hearts, the two were startled, realizing that in their focused conversation and tumbling thoughts, darkness had fallen completely unnoticed, and they had neglected their surroundings, to the point where someone approached them without detection.

The moon was not visible tonight, the road was dimly lit, with only occasional street lamps casting hazy beams of light below.

Seeing the newcomer, Hughes’ face darkened, swiftly blocking Hawthorn’s front, and he growled lowly:

”Perez!”

”It’s me.”

Perez glanced at him coldly, sarcastically saying:

”Also, for your own good, it’s best not to be so agitated—take a closer look at your surroundings.”

Hughes stared at the other, not relaxing a bit, but beside him, Hawthorn suddenly gasped, clearly shocked.

Hughes’ gaze quickly circled around, his heart contracted violently.

In the thin light interwoven with yellow and darkness, floated something that absolutely shouldn’t exist—

Light dust.

Countless extremely fine particles emitting a soft golden glow, silently suspended in the air.

They blended into the halos of street lamps, barely noticeable, yet omnipresent, like a silent descent of golden mist, finer than the gold powder appearing at the banquet, denser, more...real.

Like living specks of dust, slowly rising and falling with an imperceptible airflow, dyeing nearby light in a layer of dream-like and ominous gold.

This space was terrifyingly silent.

The sound of the wind disappeared, the faint sound of traffic in the distant street seemed to be isolated as well.

The air became viscous, every breath felt like tugging against some invisible resistance.

Hawthorn gently wavered his palm, quietly casting a silent Detection Spell, and immediately realized that a large-scale Anti-Disapparition Charm had been set up around.

In that moment, even just such a cautious Minor Spell without apparent fluctuation attracted some particles drifting leisurely towards him.

As for Hughes, who moved more broadly just now, quite a few gold powder, like a festering bone, quietly clung to his clothes and hair.

These particles hadn’t yet triggered any mutation but already brought a chilling and piercing sensation, making one feel a sense of heavy oppression.

”Don’t move, Ezra...” Hawthorn whispered: ”Especially, don’t use Magic.”

His voice suppressed to almost just breath.

Hawthorn stared at the slowly flowing golden shimmering light around—he had noticed those particles were unusually sensitive to Magic Power fluctuations.

Hughes restrained the impulse to attack immediately, his fingers twitching slightly, not touching the Magic Wand in the Magic Wand Bag.

He stared intently at Perez, squeezing out a question from between his teeth: ”What do you intend, Perez?”

Perez stood at the boundary of light and shadow, his face always seeming dull and tasteless due to managing the Floo Network, yet now exuding a kind of icy desperation.

He tugged at the corner of his mouth, a sort of response:

”What do I intend? Just to protect myself, that’s all. I know you’re investigating me, preparing to act... Do I need to foolishly wait for you to deliver evidence and Aurors to my office?”

”We’re preparing to deal with you?” Hawthorn interrupted him, asking: ”Where did you get this information?”

Perez did not answer Hawthorn’s question, his gaze swept over the two Wizards trapped in the golden prison, finally fixed on Hawthorn’s face, with a tone carrying a ruthlessly contemptuous quality:

”Is it important who told me? What’s important is, Nikolo Hossun...how many people do you think still care whether you live or die? An empty shell of a Chairman about to be ousted?”

He leaned slightly forward, voice like a snake’s hiss:

”If you vanished silently here...many people would be applauding, and those fence-sitters in the Congress would even feel relieved.”

”No one would shed tears for you, Nikolo... No one cares about you. Your ’disappearance’ is a relief for everyone.”

The last trace of warmth on Hawthorn’s face also faded away.

He showed no anger, no retort, just stood quietly there, as if the pitiful character Perez spoke of had no relation to him.

Yet what settled in his eyes was a chill more terrifying than rage.

Ezra Hughes’ muscles were tightly tense, his eyes surging with an almost tangible murderous intent.

”Don’t look at me like that, Hughes!” Perez sneered coldly: ”You, willing to be Hawthorn’s dog, how can you understand my ideals and pursuits?”

Pacing under a nearby parasol tree, he said indignantly:

”It could’ve all been unnecessary... You forced me down this path!”

”Why must you suspect me? Although I’ve had some deals with Muggles over the years, I haven’t truly harmed the Magic World! Everything is within controllable limits!”

”As for those guys captured by Muggles for experiments...criminals or vagabonds, the majority are Muggles! I merely sent a few Magic World’s tumors over!”

—Yet until five minutes ago, no one here suspected you.

Hughes and Hawthorn mused inwardly.

They regarded Perez as a pitiful fool, knowing clearly—

Perez, infatuated with Time Magic and truly culpable, the Floo Network Administration’s Director, was but a sacrificial pawn casually discarded by Laira Piqueley to draw fire, using another’s resources to kill.

Laira seized his desire and fear, handed him false information, leading him to make a risky move.

But at this moment, after Perez acted, debating such things was meaningless; between them remained only a life-or-death conclusion.

”You don’t understand at all!”

Perhaps the silent sharp gaze of the two pierced him, Perez’s voice suddenly became agitated:

”Time! That’s the pinnacle mystery of Magic! Only dull folks shy away from it; only truly smart people long to unravel the world’s greatest secret!”

”But no matter how I apply, how I prove my ability and loyalty, Magic Congress—you people—always use ridiculous words like ’danger’, ’forbidden’, ’ethics’ to keep me out!”

”As if a touch to the mysterious space hidden underground would tear this world apart!”

The lights of madness flickered in his eyes:

”After being rejected repeatedly, I finally understand, unless I become the Chairman of Magic Congress, I’ll never have a chance to contact this Mysterious Magic!”

”But this power doesn’t exist only in the United States! In other countries, those ancient and secluded places, their Department of Mysteries beneath certainly hides the secrets of time!”

As he spoke, his mouth twitched, initially laughing but afterwards turned grotesque due to recollection:

”I turned my target to some small countries... Yet those primitive, uncivilized, xenophobic places! They’d rather decay with secrets, never allowing an ’Outsider,’ especially an American Wizard, to get close! I proposed exchanges, proposed cooperation...yet they refused, all refused!”

He gestured broadly, loudly protesting:

”You forced me! The Magic World’s rigid, foolish rules forced me! I didn’t want to collaborate with those greedy, shortsighted Muggles whose deals were dirty with money and power!”

”But when I was desperate, ’Prometheus’ extended their hand... They understood my pursuits, provided resources, even...were willing to share results.”

”I must say...there are indeed some smart people among Muggles...very, very smart, even making me feel envy!”

”But they helped me...great help—it’s something you’d never offer me even the slightest! They even waged war for my wishes!”

He panted, looking at Hawthorn and Hughes, his face a mix of self-movement and resentment:

”I had no other choice! You...Magic World first abandoned my pursuit of truth! I only wished to learn more knowledge, to touch time’s essence with my own hands, what’s wrong with that?!”