The first mont Evans saw that face, only one word ca to his mind.
Ugly.
That face was paler than a bleached skull, with large reddish eyes like they were afflicted with so terrible eye disease. He had no nose whatsoever, just two narrow slits where the nose should be. Combined with that fierce and terrifying expression, it could stop brave n from sleeping peacefully at night.
Fortunately, this disturbing face didn't last long. With Dumbledore's skilled manipulation, the perspective gradually pulled back, and sowhat distorted voices also began emanating from the crystal ball.
"Christine is a mischievous little witch. She secretly used Transfiguration on a rectangular wooden board thirty centiters long and twenty centiters wide..."
"...Next question!"
"Every year on December twenty-fifth is Britain's traditional holiday, Christmas. On this day, several shops in Hogsade prepared promotional activities to attract more custors..."
Hearing the increasingly loud questioning and answering echoing from the crystal, Evans silently covered his ears.
So incredibly noisy.
But Dumbledore beside him didn't find it noisy at all. His eyes showed interested amusent as he watched the hooded figure in the scene.
"I've never seen Tom like this before. When he was at school, he was always the best at everything. There was never anything he couldn't understand."
He looked at Evans with curiosity. "These questions are those Muggle... mathematics?"
"Yes, so basic math problems." Evans nodded. "These three Sphinxes are sowhat special. Unlike ordinary Sphinxes who can create their own riddles, so I taught them these problems. It seems the effect is quite good."
To be honest, given the mathematical level of wizards in the magical world, they couldn't even calculate money properly. Elentary school math was enough to stump most wizards, not to ntion his question bank for the three Sphinxes contained quite a few middle and high school problems and even several challenging competition questions.
As for the effect, well, there was a victim right before their eyes.
"Once there was a little girl who liked picking mushrooms. On the first day she picked twenty mushrooms, on the second day she picked thirty, but put back ten from the first day..."
"Ahhh!!"
Hearing the sowhat manic screaming from the crystal ball, Evans clicked his tongue sympathetically.
Too tragic.
"Mathematics, huh. Could you teach soti? Or find so related books?"
Looking at the scene, a trace of genuine interest flashed in Dumbledore's eyes.
Evans rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I should be able to find you so textbooks, but this stuff is very boring. Are you sure you want to learn?"
"Boring?" Hearing this word, Dumbledore smiled. "Although I love interesting things, I never reject what's boring."
"Alright then, I'll bring you a couple of books next ti I have a chance to go to the Muggle world."
Getting Evans's promise, Dumbledore happily turned his head and continued observing the scene in the image.
After watching together for a while, Evans felt the hooded figure inside was sowhat pitiful.
"I can tell them to go a bit easier and ask so simpler questions."
"No rush." Dumbledore shook his head. He pressed his hand on the crystal ball, and another scene appeared beside it.
Just one glance at that scene made Evans's expression freeze.
In the image, Harry and Ron were trying to get through a patch of Devil's Snare, while Hermione held her wand with a blue bluebell fla flickering at its tip, leading the way ahead.
"How did they get there?"
Although he didn't much care about school rules, this was breaking taboos right under the headmaster's nose!
Not to ntion, ahead of them was soone who had been driven mad by three Sphinxes, possibly this century's most powerful dark wizard!
Evans imdiately planned to flash over and stop these three young wizards' suicidal behavior, but before he could move, Dumbledore reached out and stopped him.
Halting his flash movent, Evans looked at Dumbledore with eyes full of surprise.
"This is also part of your plan?"
Dumbledore didn't speak, just nodded, and continued staring at the crystal ball's image.
"This is sothing Harry must experience. He has to face it."
"But they're only eleven years old!" Looking at Dumbledore's expression of 'this is how it should be,' Evans found it very difficult to understand.
Did today's Hogwarts require eleven-year-old children to face the modern era's most powerful dark wizard?
Was this how special tutoring worked?
Wait, he still had so impression of these puzzle scenarios. These scenes seed to have appeared in the compilations he'd watched.
But... wasn't this too dangerous?
Seeing Evans still looking sowhat worried, Dumbledore paused and said softly. "I will ensure their safety. This is Hogwarts. Even Tom in his pri couldn't defeat here."
Looking at Dumbledore's solemn eyes, Evans hesitated for a mont before nodding lightly.
He naturally trusted Dumbledore. Although he could be quite unserious sotis, when it ca to serious matters, Dumbledore's decisions never disappointed.
Without Dumbledore, he would probably just be a magical creature thief roaming various national reserves, never having the connections and status he had now.
Pushing that bit of worry back into his heart, Evans looked again at the hooded figure having a breakdown on the other side of the crystal ball.
"Hmm..."
Such a Dark Lord really didn't seem capable of posing any threat to Harry?
Ti slowly passed. In the scene, the three young wizards continuously solved puzzle after puzzle. Devil's Snare, finding keys, wizard's chess... Gradually, Evans turned back to look at Dumbledore with eyes full of strangeness.
He finally understood why Dumbledore had set up so many protective asures that were essentially little gas with questionable defensive capabilities.
"You designed these protective asures specifically for these three children, didn't you?"
Dumbledore smiled slightly without answering, but his expression had already betrayed his thoughts.
Shaking his head, Evans turned his attention back to the screen.
At this mont, Harry and Hermione were shouting loudly, while Ron stood like a knight facing desperate circumstances, his face full of determination as he resolutely stepped forward.
The white Queen chess piece lunged at him, raising her stone arm to strike heavily at the back of Ron's head.
Then Evans saw Dumbledore wave his hand, and a semi-transparent light flashed behind Ron's head, helping him block the White Queen's attack. The subsequent red light put him into unconsciousness.
The White Queen dragged Ron aside. The other two young wizards in the scene looked very pale. They seed to be grieving for their friend's uncertain fate, completely unaware that their friend had been knocked unconscious by their own headmaster.
"Real-ti Shield Charm and Stunning Spell? At this distance?" This ti Evans was truly surprised.
Hearing Evans's words, Dumbledore smiled slightly.
But this ti, his smile was different from usual. It contained no playfulness or gentleness, replaced instead by absolute confidence.
"You must understand, this is Hogwarts."
"And I am the Headmaster of Hogwarts."
Having said this, he looked again at the hooded figure being tornted by the three Sphinxes and chuckled softly.
"Give him so slack. They can't et so early."
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