“Professor Dumbledore, do you know how many House-elves there are in Hogwarts in total?”
“One hundred and fifty-two. Why do you ask?”
“Can you recognize every single one? That is, accurately match all their appearances with their names.”
“I am familiar with all the House-elves’ names and can recognize a few House-elves I frequently interact with. But as for accurately identifying the appearance of all the House-elves…”
Dumbledore shook his head, “That’s too much to ask.”
He pushed his half-moon spectacles up his crooked nose, already guessing what Weilan was thinking:
“You suspect that an outsider has infiltrated the House-elves of Hogwarts?”
Weilan nodded gravely, “Yes, and, and that House-elf named Kiki, we must interrogate her again!”
Weilan had already questioned all the students who had arrived at school early and visited the kitchen. According to the observations made with 【Subtle Observation】 in the kitchen, their testimonies were largely true.
Even Luna Lovegood’s footprints, including hers, maintained a certain distance from the problematic ingredients, giving them no opportunity to poison the food.
He had to broaden his thinking. If Luna Lovegood wasn't lying, then according to her, when Luna Lovegood left the kitchen, the poisoner only poured the magic powder onto the flour but didn't mix the two evenly.
That’s why Luna Lovegood described it as: “Of course, I saw it very clearly, a very obvious green, distinct from the very obvious white flour!”
But when Weilan inspected the flour bag on site, he found evenly mixed magic powder particles in the flour residue.
And in the recreated scene, the House-elves competed to lick all the flour clean, which also indirectly confirmed that the magic powder was evenly mixed in the flour!
This indicates that after Luna Lovegood, there was someone, or a non-human intelligent creature, who specifically mixed the magic powder in the flour bag.
However, there were no human footprints near the flour bag or the storage cabinet where the flour bag was kept. Therefore, the probability of this poisoner hiding among the House-elves greatly increased.
The only surviving House-elf, Kiki, was now the prime suspect!
With a complex mix of emotions, Weilan saw Kiki, the House-elf, again on a sickbed in the school's infirmary, well cared for by Madam Pomfrey and Hermione.
However, not only Kiki was there, but also many other House-elves who could still breathe were placed there. When Weilan entered the infirmary, Madam Pomfrey was busy and overwhelmed preparing potions to save the House-elves.
Dumbledore stepped forward and communicated with Madam Pomfrey, hoping to secure an opportunity for Weilan to interrogate Kiki alone.
During Dumbledore’s conversation, Weilan noticed Kiki’s clothes, which Hermione had taken off, on the floor.
The tea towel was terribly damaged, almost turned into shreds of cloth, piled on the ground, with only a Hogwarts crest still somewhat intact, hanging by a thread from the rags.
“How tragic,”
Weilan sighed inwardly, then his gaze shifted, and he noticed that on the ground next to each House-elf’s bed in the infirmary, there were piles of their ragged clothes.
These tea towels, which had turned into rags, also had a Hogwarts crest, but unlike Kiki’s crest, their crests were glued onto the tea towels with magic glue.
Weilan’s eyebrows shot up, and his breathing quickened.
He silently walked past the beds, turning his head left and right, carefully observing the crests on each pile of clothing at the foot of the beds.
Glued on, glued on, still glued on.
Except for Kiki’s crest, which was sewn on, all the other House-elves’ uniform crests were glued on!
“Alright then, Professor Dumbledore, but Weilan only has five minutes. Oh? Weilan, child, why did you run to the critical care area?”
“I’m sorry, Madam Pomfrey, I just wanted to confirm if these House-elves are alright.”
“Weilan, if you want them to be well, please finish your questions quickly and let these poor little ones rest more, alright?”
Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey reached an agreement. They left the infirmary with Hermione, giving Weilan five minutes to question Kiki.
“Hello, sir!”
Kiki struggled to get up from the bed to bow to Weilan.
Weilan quickly pressed her back down, while pulling up a chair and sitting opposite Kiki.
He clasped his hands together on his lap, his face showing a gentle, approachable smile, soothing Kiki’s emotions:
“It’s alright, Kiki. I just want to confirm a few more things, and I’ll leave soon.”
Weilan had already decided how to ask his questions.
“Kiki, do you still remember the appearance of the first student who visited the kitchen today?”
“Kiki, hmm… Kiki can’t remember. Kiki was mixing egg liquid at the time, only heard some sounds of opening the door and talking.”
Obvious panic flickered in Kiki’s big eyes.
“Is that true?”
Weilan maintained his smile, but his tone held a hint of irrefutability:
“We interrogated all the students who went to the kitchen. The first gentleman who visited the kitchen admitted that his Filibuster Fireworks accidentally ignited in the kitchen, causing a lot of commotion. Do you really not know?”
“Ah, Kiki remembers now.” Kiki patted her head, as if manually searching her memory, “There was indeed such a clumsy gentleman. Kiki had to clean the kitchen for a long time because of him. But Kiki was frightened by the fireworks and forgot what that gentleman looked like.”
Weilan was now 100% certain that Kiki had a problem.
Weilan had personally interrogated all the students, and he had asked all of them for the approximate time they arrived at the kitchen.
The first person to arrive in the kitchen was that Gryffindor girl who lived in Hogsmeade.
And there was no boy who lit Filibuster Fireworks in the kitchen; he was a fabrication by Weilan.
Weilan pretended not to recognize Kiki’s lie and continued to ask:
“Besides bread, what other food did Miss Luna Lovegood take from the kitchen? Do you know?”
“Kiki remembers a little about that. She also took meat, garlic, and cheese.”
Kiki relaxed due to Weilan’s change of subject.
“But, Kiki.” Weilan’s tone suddenly rose, “How do you know Miss Lovegood? How do you know that girl wearing a butterbeer cork necklace is named Luna Lovegood?”
Kiki’s big brown eyes widened, her two paws gripped the bedsheet tightly, her entire body trembling uncontrollably from extreme panic:
“Kiki doesn’t know… Kiki only heard other House-elves in the kitchen mention that name.”
“Then why didn’t you directly provide the name in your initial testimony, but only pointed out the butterbeer cork necklace?”
“Because Kiki didn’t remember… No, Kiki forgot…” Her answer completely lost its logic, “Because Kiki remembers that necklace clearly, but…”
“Enough.” The last trace of a smile vanished from Weilan’s face, and he said coldly, “Stop pretending, you outsider House-elf, we have already found your true master.”
“Now your true master is being hung in the Great Hall and tortured! Tsk tsk, your master is already on their last breath, probably about to die. Are you still going to continue lying?”
“No! Cassie’s little master!!!”
This House-elf, whose original name was Cassie, let out a piercing shriek. She jumped from the bed and rushed desperately towards the infirmary door.
“Bang!”
The infirmary door was flung open by her.
“Kiki?” Hermione asked in surprise, “Why are you out? You should be resting now—”
“Get out of the way, Mudblood, Cassie needs to save her little master, don’t block Cassie’s way!”
Cassie used House-elf magic to push Hermione to the ground. Her small figure quickly disappeared around the staircase corner.
“What is going on?” Hermione asked in disbelief, “Who is Cassie? Weilan, what did you say to Kiki?”
“There is no Kiki.” Weilan slowly walked out of the infirmary, “That House-elf is the poisoner’s House-elf; she completed the task of poisoning on behalf of her master. Her original name is Cassie.”
“Then she is now…”
“I used a little trick. She went to the Great Hall to find her little master.”
Weilan’s dark eyes narrowed into two crescents, shining shrewdly like a fox under the torchlight at the infirmary entrance:
“It doesn’t matter if we don’t know who her little master actually is. Let’s go to the Great Hall now; Cassie will personally help us identify her little master.”
