Section 274
He looked behind Parkinson and Yaxley, and said with a bit of surprise in his tone: "I can't believe... you are all here. Is there any need to go to war?"
"I think it's necessary!" Parkinson stood in front of Dumbledore, "I seem to remember that you are no longer the principal of Hogwarts."
"Really?" Dumbledore smiled slightly, "I'm not that old yet... I remember the correct term is 'temporary suspension'..."
"You need to investigate me and determine that I am no longer suitable to be the principal of Hogwarts before you can truly remove me from the position of principal..."
"So now..." He lowered his head slightly and glanced at Parkinson's and his friends' hands, "The investigation results are out? Didn't you bring them here?"
"So what?" Parkinson shouted sternly, "Now that you are suspended, you are not qualified to make arbitrary decisions!"
"By returning to Hogwarts now, you are ignoring the requirements of the school board. Don't you know what this means?"
"Of course I understand..." Dumbledore raised the corners of his mouth slightly, revealing a gentle smile that was just right, "I don't think everyone here represents the entire school board, right?"
"I still remember what happened last night... There was a riot in the Forbidden Forest. Another school director contacted me... I hope I can return to the school quickly to deal with this sudden commotion."
Yaxley took a step forward, "This is a sign of your lax governance! At least as far as I know, Hogwarts has never..."
"Indeed, it is a very coincidental thing." Dumbledore agreed with a smile, "Actually, there is another coincidental thing, which concerns everyone here..."
…
"What do you want to say?"
Not only Parkinson and Yaxley, but other school directors also shouted, their brows gradually furrowed, as if they realized something.
"What I want to say is..." Dumbledore's tone was calm, his eyes were extremely bright, and he slowly turned his head to look at the school directors.
Sensing Dumbledore's gaze, the school directors either lowered their heads or turned away, subconsciously avoiding contact with Dumbledore's gaze.
Dumbledore kept smiling, "I find that everyone here seems to be... planning something in some name."
"I remember that you all used various reasons... to prove that you were innocent...either because you were controlled by the Imperius Curse, or because your family was being coerced..."
"You won't have evidence! There is absolutely no evidence!" Yaxley straightened his body and roared like a trapped animal.
Dumbledore looked at Yaxley with a smile, "Maybe? You seem to be a little too fanatical... thinking that the former master is back..."
"Of course, it's also possible that it's because of guilt... that I'm willing to disclose more of my secrets... as an apology gift..."
"Those secret entrances to cellars...or some secrets hidden in mountains, lakes, and forests...all kinds of things..."
"I must admit that Mr. Lucius Malfoy is more sensible this time. I remember that he is also a member of the school board and has a good relationship with you..."
"But this time he is very wise and understands what he should do...understands that as a member of the school board, he should bear those responsibilities...what do you think?"
"Lucius Malfoy!" Parkinson's tone was full of hatred, "This traitor! This damn traitor!"
"I have something to do and I have to go back first!"
"I have something to do too, please continue chatting!"
"I have a banquet, and I'm going to be late if I don't go!"
These school directors were shaken, found various reasons, and rushed out of the principal's office.
Dumbledore closed the door and sat back down.
He pulled open one of the drawers, and inside was a euphoria made by Weizet, which contained the soul fragments from Voldemort and Tom Riddle.
There are many interesting contents in those soul fragments, including... the memories of Tom Riddle's contact with the pure-blood family during this period.
These memories are extremely precious. Since Voldemort is willing to give them up as a replacement condition, it means that Tom Riddle's soul fragment is more important to him.
Dumbledore also has these family secrets, but they are not as effective as the information in his memory, and they cannot take effect as quickly.
"Weizet, you can save me a lot of time!" Dumbledore slowly stretched, "Counting the time... the people from the Ministry of Magic should have passed by..."
…
In the corridor, the school directors started talking a lot.
"Is what Dumbledore said true?"
"What exactly is Dumbledore going to do? Will the Ministry of Magic come to trouble us?"
"That pure-blood traitor! His search operations haven't stopped yet! He will definitely make a big fuss out of this!"
"But the Ministry of Magic has our people, let's go back and write letters now... they can at least help us delay!"
"Isn't there anyone in Dumbledore? Just like what happened this time...the school directors actually agreed...it must be Dumbledore who is causing trouble!"
"I said Dumbledore was difficult to deal with! It was you who persuaded me in the first place! You also said that the Dark Lord was controlling everything behind the scenes. Where is the Dark Lord! Where are the others?"
"Yaxley! Parkinson! Say something! Where is the Dark Lord now?"
"How do I know?" Parkinson shook his arm, his eyes flickering, "Lucius must have snitched! He is a traitor! He betrayed my friendship!"
An owl flew into the window and dropped a letter in front of Parkinson.
Parkinson looked at the family emblem on it and suddenly became panicked, as if he had guessed the content of the letter.
Just as he opened the letter and read the contents, several more owls flew in and delivered letters to Yaxley and the others.
The group just stood there in a daze, looking at the contents of the letter, with countless cold sweat on their foreheads.
"Arthur Weasley has gone there... and has searched those places..."
"How dare the Ministry of Magic? Where are our people?"
"Don't you understand? Dumbledore also has people in the Ministry of Magic! The entire Hogwarts belongs to him! Even if we recruit graduates from Hogwarts, how many can we recruit?"
"And this time we broke the rules... and asked the Ministry of Magic to launch a search of Hogwarts..."
"No wonder Dumbledore is so easy to talk to..." A school director slumped down, his robe soaked with cold sweat, "So he was waiting for this opportunity!"
Another school director's tone revealed despair, "Dumbledore used this reason... The Ministry of Magic had to... also search our territory! This terrible person..."
In their minds, the scene in the principal's office just now suddenly emerged.
The gentle smile that Dumbledore showed at that time seemed to them at this moment like the happy expression of a dragon before a meal.
"Do you remember... what the motto of Hogwarts is?"
"Sleep... Sleeping dragons, do not disturb..."
Chapter 65 The Return of Hagrid
In the eyes of Hogwarts students, they only saw a group of school directors coming in aggressively, but fled Hogwarts in disgrace, as if something big happened at home and they had to go home to deal with it.
Fred and George, arm in arm, looked at the backs of the school directors leaving, and guessed with a smirk: "Maybe Dad got the evidence and went to their manor to confiscate their property!"
But for the students, this was just an episode, not a big deal.
After all, it was the end of the school year, and review and exams were what they cared about.
Unless those school directors were willing to come out and advocate to cancel this year's exams directly, perhaps they would support the remarks of these school directors.
While the students were busy reviewing, the content published in the Daily Prophet was quietly changing.
The news about pure-blood families finding contraband or engaging in black magic transactions kept appearing in the corner of a certain page of the newspaper.
The pure-blood families involved in the incident were also seriously injured by the seizure. It will be difficult for them to make any waves in the future.
They can only lie dormant, hoping that Voldemort's "I will never die" is true, or hoping that Dumbledore will die soon, so that they can live better.
Dumbledore has his own considerations on this matter. If the resources controlled by the pure-blood families are deprived in a short period of time, it is foreseeable that various turmoil will be caused;
Therefore, there is no need to do things too extreme. It is completely possible to boil the frog in warm water and eat away at it bit by bit to complete a smooth transition.
The first thing to be done now is to adjust the structure of the school board to make it more suitable for the current Hogwarts.
...
As the weather gets hotter and the students are taking the time to review, Hagrid finally returns to Hogwarts.
Compared with when he left, Hagrid, who returned from Azkaban, was mentally haggard, and his eyes, like black beetles, did not have much spirit, as if he had been tortured cruelly.
When Vizet and Luna went to visit him, they happened to meet Harry and the other two who had the same idea.
"I will never forget it... It was so terrible there!" Hagrid covered his face, his trembling voice was filled with tears.
"I have nightmares every night... There are so many people in my dreams... Those former classmates of mine, they all said that I killed someone..."
"I dreamed of you... Professor McGonagall... Other professors... They all spit on me... They said I implicated Headmaster Dumbledore..."
"I also dreamed of the Forbidden Forest... Firenze, Ronan and the others... Aragog... They pointed arrows at me... They wanted to hang me on a tree..."
"It will be fine!" Everyone hurriedly comforted.
"Wizards' prisons are so scary?" Harry's tone revealed doubt, "It can make people have nightmares all the time... and I feel like Hagrid seems to have lost weight?"
"No one would want to eat in that kind of place..." Hagrid sighed, "I don't want to go back there again..."
"That place is too scary! Even if you can eat hot rock cakes, you will only feel bland..."
He seemed to have thought of something and looked around, "By the way! I plan to bake some rock cakes, you guys should have some too!"
Harry subconsciously said, "No need to bother! We ate too much at noon!"
"Yes!" Ron immediately added, "I was so full that I didn't want to eat at night... You know, we were so happy that Headmaster Dumbledore was back, so we ate a little more."
Only Luna hadn't seen Hagrid's cooking skills, but when she saw that Vizet was refusing again and again, she also imitated the same action and waved her hands again and again.
...
