To be honest, Harry felt quite sad, but also thought it wasn't bad not to be disturbed.
Then he secretly despised his own thought. How could he think like that? Colin was already like this...
Percy crouched down, tentatively touched Colin's hand, and feeling the cold, marble-like sensation, frowned and asked, "Where's Miss Farley? Isn't she back yet?"
"She went to inform the headmaster and the professors," Cedric sighed. "Miss Kriwatt went to notify you, while I stayed here with Mr. Creevey."
"Harry, what do you think caused this spell?" Cedric asked again.
Harry shook his head uncertainly: "I haven't seen such a spell, not even Finite would have any effect... At least in the books I've read, I've never seen a spell like this."
While they were talking, Professor Dumbledore arrived with a group of professors, with the panting Miss Farley following behind.
"Harry." Miss Farley smiled and greeted Harry when she saw him.
Harry nodded in response and looked up at Dumbledore.
"Poor Colin," Professor Dumbledore sighed, shaking his head, crouching down to carefully inspect Colin's condition.
"I shudder at the thought," Professor McGonagall said, clutching her collar. "If it weren't for the patrol of the prefects who found Mr. Creevey, who knows what would've happened to him..."
Professor Dumbledore saw the camera in Colin's hand, reached out to grasp it, twisted it gently to avoid harming Colin, and managed to remove the camera from his hand.
"Could he have captured a photo of the attacker?" Professor McGonagall asked urgently.
Dumbledore didn't answer, he frowned at the camera in his hand, then reached out and pried open the camera's back cover.
Just then, steam hissed out from the camera, and even Harry, two people away, smelled the acrid plastic burning odor.
"Merlin's beard..." Professor McGonagall exclaimed in shock, "What does this mean, Albus?"
"It means this is an extremely evil Dark Magic," Dumbledore put down the camera, "I feel like I've heard about it somewhere... let me think..."
Everyone held their breaths together, afraid of disturbing Professor Dumbledore's train of thought.
"Sorry." He sighed. "For the moment, I can't recall what spell could cause such harm, perhaps I should discuss this with my old friends..."
"Then what about Mr. Creevey, Professor?" Percy asked urgently.
Dumbledore looked down at Colin, saying regretfully: "Then Mr. Creevey will have to temporarily stay in the school hospital. This extremely complex Petrification Spell can only be undone with a specific antidote made from Mandrakes... But even brewing this potion takes some time."
"As long as there are mature Mandrakes..." Professor Snape's drawling voice sounded, "I think I can manage to make the antidote quickly so that Mr. Creevey, who likes to scurry around like a squirrel, can return to his normal classes soon."
At this point, Snape suddenly changed his tone.
"Then... I have another question — besides the four prefects needing to patrol at night, why is Mr. Potter, an unrelated party, also here? If I recall, Mr. Creevey has been really fond of bothering him lately..."
Here, Snape suddenly stopped and pulled a smug smile at the corner of his mouth.
The implication was clear —
Points deduction time again, Potter!
Hearing Snape's question, everyone turned to look at him.
"Oh," Professor Lockhart suddenly said, "I should explain for Harry — yesterday we agreed he would come to my office tonight to help me respond to fan letters, I just released him from my office a little while ago."
Professor Snape curled his lips, and Harry couldn't tell what he meant.
Are you happy, or not happy?
But he generally assumed Snape was unhappy, after all, unless he saw Harry in a bind, why would Professor Snape be happy?
Having understood the familial grudge against his parents, Harry certainly knew Snape had a complicated attitude towards him.
In Harry's mind, it was — he would never see me dead, but doesn't mind seeing me in a bit of trouble, preferably unlucky.
"I think we should move Mr. Creevey to Madam Pomfrey's school hospital first," Professor McGonagall suddenly said. "Since it's proven that Mr. Potter isn't involved, then... Mr. Potter, you should return to your dormitory as well."
"Okay, Professor McGonagall," Harry nodded, bid farewell to the professors and prefects, and turned to leave without hesitation.
When he returned to the dormitory, Ron and the others hadn't gone to bed yet.
"Why aren't you asleep yet?" Harry asked curiously.
"Not sleepy," Ron said, sitting on the bed with one leg bent, as if he had been chatting leisurely, "but what about you, Harry, are there a lot of fan letters for Professor Lockhart?"
"Don't mention it, the room was almost filled," Harry sighed. "You wouldn't believe the sight, but anyway, I think it's... a bit terrifying."
Saying this, he walked to the edge of the bed, sat down, and took a can of soda from his trunk and opened it with a pop.
"Guess what just happened?" he asked, taking a sip of soda.
"What happened?" his three roommates asked curiously together.