Chapter 188: Where Has the Most Basic Trust Between People Gone?
Infiltration is a profound art, one that William would never underestimate.
Wearing pitch-black stealth robes would most likely get him discovered, and wearing leather clothes would definitely get him caught... No way, that's far too unprofessional.
As a prisoner who had spent nearly a year in Azkaban, even without diligently studying, William had still grasped many tricks of infiltration—stuffing a pile of insects into a jar to cultivate them would surely result in *gu*, and it wasn't much different with prisoners.
'A while ago, I was looking up how others performed stealth operations. I never expected that after two failed searches, I'd end up doing it myself...'
After spending two or three days finally getting a clear picture of the personnel situation on the school grounds, William began to formulate the final version of his plan.
'Professor Snape's office should be rather simple. I can currently confirm that he has not chosen to stay at the school. With few professors remaining, I should only have to deal with the office's lock and the protective magic that is bound to be there.'
'As for the Slytherin Common Room, there are more students staying behind than I thought. This will require careful handling. However, with no senior students present, I think it would be best to create an activity to get them all to participate.'
'As long as I can draw them all out during the day, fifteen minutes will be enough for me to get a rough idea of the common room's layout—let me think, how can I get every single one of them out?'
"Raise the stakes."
"Yes, just raise the stakes," William refined his calculations. "When the reward is sufficient, I guarantee those students won't suspect a thing."
'The password is a minor issue; it's incredibly easy for a professor to find out a password, no student would be on guard against that. Of course, to prevent any accidents, it's best to find it out in advance. The prefects aren't here these days, so the common room probably won't change its password.'
—
'Such a quiet morning.'
William sighed, drew his wand, and walked out of his office.
It was four o'clock in the morning, precisely when a person's energy is at its lowest—more accurately, when they are at their sleepiest. Even the night owls would have lain down, and not even the most diligent student would possibly get up at four in the morning during the holiday to do homework.
'If I run into anyone, my excuse will be that I couldn't sleep and decided to patrol.'
William walked slowly down the corridor, contemplating his strategy in case he was discovered.
'There are no portraits monitoring this area. I can turn into the secret passage from the corridor up ahead. I've investigated it before; I just have to make sure not to leave any footprints.'
The sound of his magically enchanted shoes was almost non-existent, inaudible even in the empty castle. This made William acutely aware that he was up to no good.
'Breaking into the Slytherin Head of House's office... even in Azkaban, no one would believe it, right?'
William opened the secret passage with light and practiced movements, magically restoring the dust as he walked—thanks to two previous inspections, his technique was well-rehearsed.
'So why did Professor Snape choose a dungeons classroom? It's so cold and damp.'
As he descended through the secret passage, this thought couldn't help but pop into William's mind.
He had never been to Professor Snape's office, but finding it wasn't difficult. He had, after all, been in this castle for a week.
'Here.'
William briefly confirmed his location, stepped out of the secret passage, and let the entrance close. There was a portrait between here and Snape's office, but it wasn't a big problem. A Disillusionment Charm would easily solve the issue.
Effortlessly slipping past the drowsing portrait, William easily arrived at his destination.
'An ordinary-looking door, but I can feel the power of dark magic hidden within it.'
Maintaining the Disillusionment Charm, William carefully observed the door. 'How strange. Although I've never seen magic like this, its power is too weak. It couldn't possibly kill anyone.'
'This spell, hmm, it's a spell to place a mark on someone. If anyone breaks in, they'll be marked on the face.'
'This one is for reinforcement... not sure, the spell is too well-hidden.'
Ordinarily, William would have been completely unable to make such a detailed distinction, but the door was saturated with so much dark magic that he could easily trace the emanating auras to pick out the other spells attached to it.
"Full of protective qualities, but the killing power is completely lacking..." William made his assessment, then was amused by his own judgment. "I almost forgot, this is a school. If an intruder were possible, a protective charm that kills a student would be a fatal mistake."
With nothing lethal, the job was much easier.
William eagerly cast protective spells on himself. While he admitted that Professor Snape was temporarily ahead of him in ordinary magic, memory magic, and dark magic, there was no doubt that when it came to a series of special skills like picking locks, disarming traps, and dispelling defensive magic, Professor Snape's level was not much better than a student's.
'Only the strength of the protective charms is a cut above the rest—and to think I was considering using a card. Is this all there is?'
If the strength of a lock's tumblers remains unchanged, then no matter how large the lock is made, it will only deter fools who try to smash it.
'Hmm, let's try this first.'
William pulled a small knife from his pocket, preparing to test the strength of the protective charm.
'I'll alter the magic. The protective charm will most likely melt the blade,' William muttered to himself, sliding the treated knife into the crack of the door and tapping the door with his wand.
'Sizzle.'
Halfway in, the knife melted like butter. However, the liquid metal did not drip down the door crack but instead surged outward, solidifying into a gray-black strip.
An alarm spell triggered almost simultaneously but was easily intercepted by William.
'Traditional methods, just with high intensity...'
William silently appraised it, then took out a key and inserted it into the keyhole. The next protective charm instantly emerged, but as it took effect, it was intercepted by another of William's own protective charms.
'That's it?'
...
By the time the tenth protective charm was blocked, William was no longer smiling.
'Even the prison cells in Azkaban aren't this ridiculous! Eleven protective charms! Do you think this is a Gringotts Vault?'
He cursed under his breath and took an expensive knife from his pocket, then put it back with a pained expression. It would be destroyed upon use, and it cost seventy-five Galleons. He had once ordered a whole set of tools out of curiosity when commissioning teaching aids for a class, but he never thought he'd burn through them so quickly today. What normal person uses this much protection?
The others were cheap, but this one was horribly expensive; he was a bit reluctant to use it.
"I'll use a white card. The success rate is so low—anyway, all the alarms are down. It won't matter if it fails, and if it succeeds, I'll save some money."
The Azkaban prisoners had provided him with a pile of white cards with laughably low success rates. They were all related to fraud or theft, useless for anything else. Tearing one up now would be a relief.
Come to think of it, this would be the first time he used a card that affected reality. But since he didn't feel bad about wasting it, William destroyed one without any sense of ritual.
'Make the Unlocking Charm's effect more powerful?'
A sensation washed over him, just like the descriptions he had read of drinking Felix Felicis.
'Might as well give it a try—'
This wondrous feeling made William sense the emergence of a special power, as if he could attempt something new. He kept his right hand's wand pointed firmly at the door, controlling the already suppressed spell, while the fingers of his left hand slowly reached out and tapped the lock.
"Alohomora."
He whispered the spell.
(end of chapter)