Listening to Harry's description, the image of the house-elf he had encountered at Number 4 Privet Drive gradually surfaced in Dudley's mind.
Intercepting letters, blocking Harry from coming to school, and now giving Harry this kind of threatening note. What exactly was it trying to accomplish?
Was it just to prevent Harry from staying at Hogwarts?
But what would be the point of that?
Dudley was completely puzzled by the situation.
He always felt that this house-elf's logic was very strange, making it impossible for him to see through its motivations.
If it was simply to cause trouble, then giving Harry this note would be meaningless.
"Be careful lately. The castle might not be very peaceful," Dudley said with obvious concern.
The unsettling aura he had sensed before... he still didn't know what it was even now. Combined with this note's warning, Dudley had to take it seriously.
"Have you discovered anything specific?" Harry asked with growing worry.
"Not yet," Dudley shook his head with frustration.
"I'll patrol the castle more often recently to see if I can find anything suspicious."
The weekend passed quickly, and before Dudley had much time to rest, it was time for classes again.
Snape was still in a coma, and Lockhart's condition had reportedly improved considerably, but he still couldn't teach in the short term.
Missing two important courses made everyone much more relaxed this week.
Of course, this came at a cost. After all, when both teachers recovered later, they would still need to make up these missed lessons.
Dudley no longer needed to substitute teach for the lower years, and his point-awarding and point-deducting privileges had also been taken back by Professor McGonagall.
Three days later, Professor Snape finally woke up.
Professor Dumbledore had someone call Dudley over to enquire about what had happened at the time.
Unfortunately, Snape couldn't remember what had occurred at all. He couldn't even remember using Legilimency on Dudley.
Besides this, after Snape woke up, his temper had become much more violent and unpredictable.
According to his own description, he could always hear many chaotic voices echoing in his ears, making it difficult for him to concentrate and sleep well. Only after taking Madam Pomfrey's specially prepared potions could he feel somewhat better.
This situation made Dudley feel deeply uneasy.
If it were just ordinary sounds, that would be manageable, but he was afraid that Snape had heard whispers from some otherworldly entity or even an Outer God. That would be no laughing matter.
At best, he would go completely insane. At worst, he would be directly corrupted by forces beyond comprehension.
If one day Snape suddenly experienced something truly horrific...
Thinking of this possibility, Dudley felt his scalp tingle and quickly confirmed with Snape what exactly those voices were, only to be scolded by the irritable professor several times.
Fortunately, it was ultimately confirmed that they were just meaningless sounds, not whispers from some malevolent deity.
This made Dudley breathe a sigh of relief. At least he didn't have to worry about Snape suddenly going berserk or experiencing other supernatural horrors.
As time passed, everything at Hogwarts seemed to return to normal.
Lockhart and Snape gradually recovered and returned to their respective classrooms.
Dudley also hadn't sensed that unsettling aura in the castle recently, and everything seemed to be developing in a positive direction.
He visited Hagrid, as well as Firenze in the Forbidden Forest, and even played with Norbert for an entire day. Overall, it felt quite peaceful.
October arrived with its characteristic chill.
The Scottish climate gradually became cold and gloomy, with dampness creeping from the ground into the ancient castle, making quite a few people fall ill.
Ever since Harry joined Gryffindor Quidditch, he had been in intense training sessions.
Originally, everyone was confident about Gryffindor's chances, but Slytherin suddenly made a dramatic move. Malfoy also joined the Slytherin Quidditch team and equipped the entire squad with Nimbus 2001s, completely eliminating Gryffindor's original advantage.
Fortunately, Harry's natural skills were excellent, much better than Malfoy's, so Gryffindor still had an advantage in direct comparison.
But obviously, the others weren't so fortunate. Without powerful brooms to enhance their performance, they would have difficulty gaining the upper hand against Slytherin.
During this time, Dudley had heard Harry and Ron discussing this matter more than once with obvious frustration.
"If it really doesn't work out, you can borrow my broom," Dudley offered generously.
"Actually, it wouldn't help much. After all, the entire Slytherin team have Nimbus 2001s. Even if our team had one more, it wouldn't make much difference," Harry said with honest assessment.
"Malfoy is so shameless, using this method to join the Quidditch team!" Ron said with obvious anger.
"Well, he's got the money," Dudley shrugged with practical acceptance.
In Dudley's opinion, Quidditch itself had many unreasonable aspects.
Especially the rules of the game. Catching the Golden Snitch ended the match and directly awarded 150 points. Under such rules, if the disadvantaged side was behind by more than 150 points, all they needed to do was interfere with their opponents and prevent them from catching the Golden Snitch.
As long as the Golden Snitch wasn't caught, the match wouldn't end. Playing for several days and nights wouldn't be a problem. As long as one side didn't want to stop, they could keep playing indefinitely.
Moreover, the Golden Snitch's point value was so high that if it was caught quickly, it made everyone else seem completely irrelevant.
In any case, Dudley had never been very interested in this particular sport.
However, Harry and Ron were both extremely enthusiastic about it, and Professor McGonagall was also a devoted Quidditch fan, so sometimes he had to help Harry and the others strategise.
Suddenly, both Dudley and Harry stopped in their tracks at the same time.
Ron walked forward several steps alone before realising the two hadn't followed, looking back at them in confusion.
Dudley's expression was grave with sudden alertness.
He once again felt that sense of unease. Something dangerous seemed to have appeared in the castle.
Harry's face showed more confusion and bewilderment, along with obvious fright.
"Did you hear that voice?" Harry looked at Dudley with wide eyes.
"What voice?" Dudley asked with sharp attention.
"Didn't you stop because you heard the voice?" Harry was amazed, then looked at Ron. "Ron, did you hear any voice?"
Ron shook his head with obvious confusion. "What are you talking about? What voice?"
"A terrifying voice. It said it wants to tear someone apart... kill them..." Harry listened while repeating what he heard, his face growing increasingly pale.
"Where? Can you tell the direction?" Dudley quickly asked.
He hadn't heard that voice at all, yet Harry had heard it clearly. What was this situation?
Could Harry's perception be even stronger than his, able to hear sounds he couldn't detect?
"That voice... it seems to be moving..." Harry frowned with concentration.
"This way, follow me..."
Harry locked onto a direction and ran toward it first, his face filled with determined urgency.