The Prisoners of Hogwarts

Chapter 3 The Story of the Past

"free."

Lin Qi uttered a single word in a flat tone.

Dumbledore's brow furrowed slightly.

Before he could answer, Lynch continued, "But I understand that's impossible."

"My decision to stay at Hogwarts forever is a fact, as clear as the millennia-old stone foundation beneath Hogwarts Castle, as the judgment of the High Court of Wizardry, Wizengamor, and the final verdict of the Ministry of Magic. The Aurors from the Ministry of Magic who came to the stone house that day to announce the verdict made it very clear."

"If I want to regain my freedom, I must go through the trial process again. Judging from the people in the Ministry of Magic's opinion of me, my trial will only result in upholding the original sentence, so I gave up on this unrealistic fantasy long ago."

"So what is it that you really want?" Dumbledore continued, picking up where Lynch left off. "You know perfectly well that freedom is something unattainable."

Lynch turned to Dumbledore, but instead of answering his question, he asked, "Headmaster Dumbledore, why am I imprisoned here?"

"Because you studied dark magic and murdered hundreds of wizards!"

Dumbledore met Lynch's gaze with a serious expression.

"Black Wizard"

Lynch held up one finger.

"This is very important: every wizard I have killed was an incorrigible dark wizard."

"In fact, each of them is a wanted criminal with a bounty on their head by the Ministry of Magic," he continued.

"The Ministry of Magic demands their arrest and trial! If they are guilty, their place should be Azkaban, not your lynching!"

Dumbledore's voice unconsciously rose slightly. He leaned back on the sofa, his back straight, and looked at Lynch with a hint of anger, but more so with a sense of disappointment and frustration.

"Why, Lynch, why did you have to kill them?"

Dumbledore's voice boomed, as if sensing his anger, and the flames in the fireplace flared up.

"Because only death can repay death."

Lynch's voice remained calm, as did his expression. He didn't turn his gaze to the flames in the fireplace; instead, he looked directly into Dumbledore's deep blue eyes and continued, "Azkaban is terrible, the Dementor's Kiss is horrible, but none of that is enough. Only the dual destruction of body and soul is the best punishment for them."

Looking into Lynch's calm and resolute eyes, Dumbledore knew without using Legilimency that this was Lynch's truest thought.

Dumbledore closed his eyes, his back pressed against the back of the sofa once more, and the flames in the fireplace shrank back to their original size.

After a long silence, he opened his eyes again, his gaze returning to its usual calm and collected state. Looking into Lin Qi's eyes, he said, "Because of your father's death, I understand why you hate Death Eaters and dark wizards. But for six years, as the 'Mist Hanger,' you have continuously taken the lives of hundreds of dark wizards. Such persistent and relentless killing goes far beyond simple revenge; there must be a deeper reason behind it. Since we are here today to openly express our views, please tell me, why, why is so much killing necessary?"

"Because I am a good person."

Lynch's answer surprised Dumbledore.

He added, "And I can do it."

Lin Qi slightly raised his head and looked upwards, but he didn't actually look at any specific object.

His gaze drifted into the distance, looking at the distant scene buried in his memory.

"When you found me after that Christmas dinner and told me that Death Eaters had attacked my father, that my father had died on the spot, and that my house had been blown up, I was just extremely sad, so sad that I couldn't think of anything else."

"But after my father's funeral, standing on the land I once called home but which had become ruins, I vowed to avenge him."

"Travers Crabbe and Everard Nott, the two culprits in my father's death, it's not hard to find their names. Those two idiots are going around proclaiming that they did it, wanting the whole world to know."

"Taking them down won't be difficult. Headmaster, you know I have immense natural magical power, and the power of my spells is much greater than others. Spell class is my favorite subject. Although it's only my first year, I know more spells than many upperclassmen. So as long as I fight rationally and calmly, I am fully capable of defeating adult wizards."

"The difficulty lies in finding them. These dark wizards are always elusive. Many times, by the time we receive news of them and rush over, they are already gone."

"Until one night, I heard that they had appeared at Lake Windermere, so I quickly disguised myself and rushed over."

"I encountered two groups of people by the lake."

"The first group consisted of a few dark wizards gathered by the lake, warming themselves by a fire and drinking. I recognized each of them as being on the Ministry of Magic's wanted list for crimes such as spreading and using dark magic, using torture to torment others, murder, and so on. They were all rotten, rotten bastards."

"But none of this concerns me. I have my own goals to achieve, and all I can think about is getting my revenge. Attacking them is completely unnecessary. Those two bastards might be leaving this area soon, and I need to find them quickly."

Thinking this to myself, I concealed myself and slipped past them.

"After walking a few hundred meters, I encountered a second group of people, three Muggles, a young parent with a little girl of three or four years old. The family of three had come to Lake Windermere for sightseeing, and they were crossing the lake in one of those small, all-red wooden boats, which was a classic way of sightseeing back then."

"Unfortunately, they lingered on the lake admiring the scenery for too long. After the sun set, it got dark faster than they had imagined. They hurriedly brought the boat ashore only to find that they could no longer tell where they were."

"When I met them, they had just come ashore. The young father was looking around to find his way, while the mother was holding her little girl who was afraid of the dark and gently comforting her. I heard her call the little girl Lucy. The three of them made up a very ordinary Muggle family."

"Because I concealed myself the whole way, they did not discover my presence. With only revenge in my mind, I ignored their situation and quickly passed them, leaving them far behind."

"After that, luckily, I found those two bastards and attacked them from the shadows just before they left. I caught them off guard and quickly subdued them."

"After that, I got my revenge."

"Having completed my revenge, I felt as if I had been freed from heavy shackles. I felt light and carefree, and the journey home was incredibly easy."

"But at that moment of ecstasy and euphoria, I heard the cries of a child. I went closer to investigate and saw the Muggle family of three I had just met, along with those dark wizards."

"The young father had already fallen into a pool of blood, motionless. The mother was still alive, but judging from the way her body and limbs were twisted like a pretzel, death might come at any moment. The little girl was suspended in the air by them, like a puppet whose limbs were suspended by invisible strings."

"Those beasts were laughing wildly, indulging in immense pleasure."

"I launched another attack from the darkness, first extinguishing the campfire, and then defeating them while they were in a panic and couldn't see clearly. The simple spell 'petrify them all' was exceptionally effective at this moment."

"After subduing the dark wizard, I went to check on the three Muggles. The father and mother were already dead, and the little girl who had been crying earlier was now barely breathing. Those bastards had already cast a deadly dark spell on her; everything that had just happened was merely a final burst of energy before death."

"I held that little girl in my arms, holding her tiny hand, and remembered that her name was Lucy. Her last words were, 'It's so cold.'"

"At that moment, her little hands gradually lost their warmth, and the blood flowing in my veins also turned cold."

"I could have prevented all of this from happening. If I had subdued those dark wizards when I first met them, or warned Lucy's family not to come this way when I encountered them, none of this would have happened."

"But I didn't. Fate gave me two chances, but I missed them both."

"I kicked and punched those dark wizards desperately, but what had already happened could not be changed, and my anger seemed so powerless."

"Finally, I used invisible ropes to hang them all next to little Lucy's body."

"I used the same spell on every dark wizard I captured afterward; I called it Soul Reaper."

"That was the first appearance of the Mist Executioner; there was no mist, only hanging."

"From that moment on, I swore I would never let any dark wizard I encountered escape punishment, and that I would make sure each of them received the punishment they deserved!"

Lynch withdrew his gaze from the rooftop and looked back at Dumbledore. He stared into those deep blue eyes and asked, "Tell me, Headmaster Dumbledore, if you had been there, what would you have done?"