Chapter 79. Quirrell's Nerves Aren't Up to It!
The castle's main doors were shut tight.
Filch sat at the entrance with a chair in his arms, his gloomy gaze sweeping back and forth.
Beside him crouched his scrawny cat, Mrs Norris, bulging-eyed and likewise watching for any disturbance ahead.
The two of them were like guardian deities keeping watch over treasure, blocking all students curious about the Forest inside the castle.
Professor McGonagall paced up and down the path that led inevitably to the Forest, lips pressed together and face anxious.
All the other teachers at the school had also arrived, spreading out behind Professor McGonagall to form a defensive line.
They were prepared to face the frenzied creatures from the Forest head-on, lest the beasts harm the students in the castle.
Snape stood alone at the very edge, several metres away from the rest, expressionless.
His eyes never stopped patrolling the Forest's edge, and whenever he drew them back he would quite openly fix Quirrell with a stare for several seconds.
Suspicion glinted in his eyes, barely short of asking Quirrell outright whether he was responsible.
Quirrell's whole body was taut.
He did his utmost to ignore Snape's gaze and to make sure he showed nothing out of the ordinary.
Meanwhile, the back of his head burned as though a flame were licking at it.
But he did not dare speak, nor did he dare raise a hand to touch it.
He simply stared blankly and stood there foolishly.
After several minutes of this strange atmosphere, Dumbledore, Duncan, and Hagrid finally emerged from the Forest safe and sound.
"Dumbledore, how is the situation?" Professor McGonagall let out a breath of relief and hurried forward to ask.
Snape also withdrew his scrutinising gaze from Quirrell and walked after her.
Quirrell slowly let down the heart he had been holding in his throat.
Out of the corner of his eye he swept the crowd and, seeing no one paying him any attention, he furtively raised a hand to wipe the sweat from his brow, took a few light breaths, moved to stand behind the professors, and forced the same concerned look onto his face as everyone else.
"It's more or less handled. There's still some mopping-up to do," Dumbledore replied.
Professor McGonagall nodded, and her eyes shifted to the cage Hagrid was carrying, inside which were several somewhat ugly spiders.
"Are these the Acromantulas that went mad?" Professor McGonagall asked.
"They didn't eat those mushrooms." Hagrid shifted the cage back a little and said in a hurry, "They're normal!"
"What mushrooms?" Professor McGonagall asked.
When Professor Kettleburn had returned, he had only told them that something had happened in the Forest, without giving specifics.
"These." Dumbledore signalled with his eyes for Hagrid to calm down, then produced the mushrooms and handed them to Professor McGonagall for inspection.
Professor McGonagall turned them over for quite some time without recognising what kind of mushrooms they were.
She frowned and passed them to Hogwarts's Herbology expert, Professor Sprout.
"Pomona, have you ever seen this kind of mushroom before?" she said.
Professor Sprout carefully studied the mushrooms' details and even held them to her nose for a sniff.
Delight came into her eyes—bright as a Niffler spotting treasure.
"This seems to be an entirely new plant. I've never seen it either. Dumbledore, where did you find it?"
Snape watched from the side, slightly turned, as if pondering the mushrooms' origin as well.
Professor Kettleburn opened his mouth to explain, but Dumbledore spoke first and cut him off.
Kettleburn thought a moment, seemed to understand Dumbledore's intention, and closed his mouth again.
"In the Acromantulas' lair," Dumbledore said.
"It looked a bit out of place there, so I brought it back.
"I suspect the spiders may have eaten these mushrooms by mistake, which is why they went mad."
Hagrid gave Dumbledore a slightly puzzled look.
His small brain worked, but he did not really understand why Dumbledore had said that.
Even so, he knew Dumbledore must have his reasons, so he kept his mouth shut and did not expose anything.
"Is that so?" Professor Sprout answered absently, all her attention on the mushrooms in her hands.
"May I have these? I'd like to take them back to study and see whether I can discover anything."
"Of course," Dumbledore said with a smile and a nod.
"Everyone head back for now.
"Severus and Minerva, come to my office in a while—there's something else I'd like to discuss with you."
"No problem," Professor McGonagall replied, and Snape merely gave a cool nod.
As they were leaving, Professor McGonagall remembered the spiders in Hagrid's hands and turned back to ask, "Dumbledore, how should we deal with these? Whatever the cause, I don't think they're suitable to keep anywhere near the school."
"Give them to me," Snape said suddenly.
Every part of an Acromantula was an ingredient, and his stores could use replenishing.
"There's no need to worry," Dumbledore replied.
"I've already found a good place for them."
Hagrid let out a breath, looked gratefully at Dumbledore, then hurried off to say his goodbyes to the others, afraid the detestable Snape would take a fancy to the Acromantulas again.
Duncan followed behind the professors as they all walked back to the castle.
Quirrell kept his head down, his turban covering part of his face so no one could read his expression, and it was impossible to tell what he was thinking.
"Professor Quirrell.
"You've travelled abroad all this time—have you ever seen that kind of mushroom?" Duncan's voice brimmed with curiosity, like a well-behaved student consulting a teacher.
Hearing this, Dumbledore's steps faltered almost imperceptibly, and he slowed down just a fraction.
"Ah?" Quirrell seemed to wake from a dream, looked blank, and replayed Duncan's words in his head.
He was so startled that he shuddered all over.
Turning to face Duncan's smiling expression, he forced a stiff smile and said, "W-what did you say? H-how could I have seen those mushrooms? Didn't Professor Sprout say so? It's a completely new species—no one could have seen it, impossible, impossible..."
From Quirrell's panic Duncan obtained the answer he wanted, and at just the right moment Dumbledore withdrew his sidelong glance and went on walking.
"That's a pity.
"You've been travelling for so long, so I thought you might have seen them," Duncan said, his tone full of regret.
"Y-yes, a pity.
"In fact I didn't visit many places—I just wandered about a bit," Quirrell stammered.
He quickly turned his head aside, widened the distance between himself and Duncan, and seemed disinclined to continue the conversation.
"Your nerve just isn't up to it.
"How are you going to fool the old and cunning Dumbledore like that, my dear Professor Quirrell..."
So thought Duncan as he watched Quirrell's back.
At the same time, one more question in his heart remained unanswered.
Who gave Quirrell those mushrooms in the first place?
Could it be that organisation marked by Wizard's Chess at it again?
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