The Prisoners of Hogwarts

Chapter 11 "Freedom"

The foot landed, and the foot stopped.

Lin Qi closed his eyes and slowly exhaled the breath he had been holding in his chest.

He exhaled very slowly; ten years, three thousand five hundred and sixty days and nights, required a very long breath.

After a long while, it felt as if all the pent-up frustration in my chest had been released.

"How are you feeling?" Lin Qi heard someone ask from ahead, the voice carrying a familiar buzzing sound.

He opened his eyes and saw Dumbledore standing a few steps in front of him, with a tall, dark-haired witch in an emerald green robe standing beside him.

The witch's expression was serious, her lips were tightly pursed, and her sharp gaze was fixed on Lynch through her square glasses.

Lin Qi took another deep breath before smiling and replying, "The air is very fresh."

"I think it's because it's going to rain. There's a dark cloud approaching in the east, and it looks like it'll rain heavily later tonight," Dumbledore said. He paused, then turned to the witch beside him. "Now, you know Professor McGonagall. She's the vice-principal of the school, and she'll arrange an office for you and help schedule your classes."

Lynch turned to Professor McGonagall: "Then I'll leave it to you, Professor McGonagall."

Professor McGonagall pursed her lips. "It's my duty. There's a room at the far end of the second floor of the castle that's been vacant for a long time; it can serve as your office. As for your course schedule, I think it's too early to discuss that until Dumbledore approves your course content."

Lynch's smile remained unchanged. "I will submit a detailed and specific teaching plan as soon as possible for Headmaster Dumbledore to review."

He continued, "But if my teaching plan is approved, based on my idea of ​​the first-year course content, I think one open lecture every Friday afternoon would be enough for the students. If you can start coordinating the adjustment of the teaching time now, your job will be much easier."

Professor McGonagall's gaze sharpened, and her jawline tightened slightly. "Thank you for your concern, but I know how to proceed with my work. The scheduling of your classes will begin once Professor Dumbledore has approved it."

Lynch maintained his smile: "Then I'll trouble you. Now, although I'd love to continue this pleasant conversation, please understand the feelings of someone who has regained their freedom, albeit limited freedom, it's still exciting enough. So please forgive my impoliteness, but I need to go see this... new place."

As he spoke, he bowed slightly in apology.

"Of course, you are free to move around at Hogwarts," Dumbledore replied.

Lynch straightened up, nodded to the cold-faced Professor McGonagall, and then turned and left.

Dressed in an elegant suit and leather shoes, he casually walked into the depths of the Forbidden Forest, like a gentleman strolling in a London park, pointing his finger at the wooden door of the stone house as he walked.

With a creak, the wooden door opened a crack, and a dark shadow darted out like an arrow, landing precisely on Lin Qi's shoulder.

With a soft click, the wooden door was locked.

Dumbledore's gaze sharpened, his eyes fixed on the black raven perched on Lynch's shoulder.

He and Professor McGonagall stood there, watching Lynch's figure disappear behind the bushes.

"I still think your decision to release him is too risky, Professor Dumbledore. He's too dangerous, and I can't leave him and the children in the same room without worry," Professor McGonagall's voice became anxious.

"I couldn't agree more with you, Minerva. Jim Lynch is extremely dangerous." Dumbledore raised a hand to rub his temples. "The fire burning in his heart led him across the line of no return. If I could, I would lock him up here forever until he dies."

Dumbledore lowered his hand, looked up at the sky, and saw a dark cloud approaching at the edge of his vision, seemingly slowly but actually quickly: "But Voldemort's shadow is approaching. He is the darkness that will take everything away, like a deadly plague, which will not stop until all life is gone."

He looked at Professor McGonagall, "Yesterday afternoon, I sent a trusted man to the Dark Forest in Albania. Last night he sent me a message confirming that, based on Lynch's intelligence, they found concrete evidence there that Voldemort had been active there for a long time. We have never found such concrete evidence before."

Dumbledore looked up at the sky again: "Lynch and his friends have an advantage we don't... We need every ounce of power we have to deal with Voldemort, even if it means standing in the mud."

Professor McGonagall pursed her lips tightly and said nothing more.

......

Deep in the forbidden forest, Lin Qi walked very slowly, stopping from time to time to look at the surrounding flowers and plants and touch the huge tree trunks.

Crows took flight from his shoulder, soaring over the treetops or perching on branches.

Suddenly, the crow turned its head and looked at a certain place in the forest.

Lin Qi also turned his head and looked at the clump of very tall shrubs.

"Should I ask you to come out?"

Lin Qi asked calmly.

As he spoke, he raised his right hand, a faint blue flame flickering at his fingertips.

"Young wizard, I have no intention of being your enemy. I am merely approaching to remind you that you should not continue forward."

A tall creature emerged from behind the bushes, explaining as it walked.

Lynch saw that from the waist up, he was a handsome human male with platinum blonde hair and a beard, and very beautiful light blue eyes, but from the waist down, he was the body of a silver-maned horse.

This is a centaur.

The centaur suddenly stopped approaching, staring at Lynch with his sapphire-like eyes shining brightly.

"You are the one locked in the stone house," he said. "I once saw you sitting by the window of the stone house from afar."

The centaur backed away. "Hagrid said you are an extremely dangerous wizard, imprisoned in the Forbidden Forest by Dumbledore, and he warned us to stay away from where you are."

Lynch stood still, calmly watching the centaur retreat.

The centaur suddenly stopped retreating, his eyes fixed on Lynch: "Wizard, where are you going?"

"I remember there was a nest of giant eight-eyed spiders around here, but I've forgotten its exact location," Lynch replied, then looked with interest at the centaur standing there. "Why aren't you running away?"

"The omens shown by the planetary movements are very clear," the centaur replied, a puzzling response.

Lynch smirked. "Astrological divination unique to centaurs... Interesting."

"The Aragog's lair you're looking for is just ahead. Go past that depression and walk a little further," the centaur added. "Below the depression is a muddy pit, not easy to walk through. You can go around it on the left. It will take a while, but the bushes there are very low."

"Okay, I understand. Thank you for showing me the way." Lynch turned to look in the direction the centaur had pointed, then asked, "Didn't you come to warn me not to go any further? Why did you change your mind?"

The centaur replied, "You are a powerful wizard; Aragog's lair is not a dangerous place for you."

Lynch's mind raced for a moment before he said to the centaur, "My name is Jim Lynch, you can call me Lynch. I'll be working at Hogwarts from now on. If you have any trouble, you can find me in that stone house."

"I am Ferenze," the centaur said.

Lynch nodded to Ferenczer and then continued walking forward.

Ferenze stood still, watching Lynch walk to the edge of the depression, but instead of following his advice to go around to the left, he stepped into thin air.