Chapter 667 The dismissed senior investigator
Chapter 667: The dismissed senior investigator
The news of Voldemort's comeback caused an uproar in Hogwarts, and no matter where he went, he could hear people talking about it.
Especially those students who come from magical families, they have a natural fear of Voldemort, and they have been haunted by it ever since they saw the content in the newspaper.
Not only students are like this, but now you can often see professors gathering in twos and threes in the corridor, talking nervously in low voices, and stop talking as soon as students come over.
Of course, only some students are like this, but in Slytherin, which has the most pure-blood wizards, it is a different scene. They are very excited, and it feels like another Christmas.
During lunch, Pansy Parkinson and Millicent Burst's shrill laughter almost never stopped, and they walked into the auditorium with arrogance, looking like two peacocks showing off their feathers.
"Look, it's those two stupid turkeys again." Susan Bones said with disgust, "I'm sure someone in their family must be a Death Eater."
The Bones family has always supported the Order of the Phoenix. They have been fighting the Death Eaters for more than ten years, and their mutual hatred cannot be resolved at all.
It hadn't been shown before, just because Voldemort had been overthrown for more than ten years, and several of the most heinous Death Eaters had been imprisoned in Azkaban, so everyone thought the matter was over.
Even if Susan didn't like some Slytherins, she was far from disgusted.
But now that Voldemort has returned and the Death Eaters have escaped from prison, the situation seems to have returned to what it was more than ten years ago overnight, and the attitudes of both parties have naturally become distinct.
"Hey, what are you talking about."
At this time, Fred and George came over and sat down at the Hufflepuff table naturally.
"Of course it's those two people." Mikel pouted in the direction of Slytherin. Pansy and Millicent just sat down and started talking loudly with others.
"Do you think they are on the side of the Death Eaters?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Fred said, "If you take another look at the newspaper, you will find that one of the Death Eaters who escaped yesterday was Burst."
"I don't understand why the principal doesn't kick these people out of the castle?" Susan poked the fried pork chop on the plate.
"Because they are not Death Eaters." Cedric said, "At least so far, they are only students. Of course, the principal cannot kick them out of the castle because of their last name. This is against Hogwarts." teaching philosophy.
"Just like the previous Chamber of Secrets incident, the principal did not drive Harry, the most suspicious person, out of the castle."
"That's true..." Mikel muttered: "But their appearance is so irritating, I really want to teach them a lesson."
"I agree!" George was the first to agree: "Remember to call me when the time comes."
"You'd better give up this idea," Cedric said. "If you are discovered, you will definitely be imprisoned."
"It doesn't matter, as long as you don't let others find out," Fred said in a low voice, "I know Honeydukes has a very large brown paper bag, which they seem to use for purchasing goods. It can almost fit a person in it. We can definitely use it to trap Millicent or Pansy before taking action..."
The more he talked, the more excited he became, and he would burst into laughter from time to time.
"Leave this to me." Susan also said with uncharacteristic enthusiasm: "I buy a lot of candies at Honeydukes every year, I should be able to borrow a few bags."
"We can also buy..." George said with a smile, "I have a hunch that this kind of bag will become the most popular consumable in the future. You can't keep borrowing it."
"I said, why can't you two go back to Gryffindor to discuss this matter." Cedric interrupted them angrily.
In order to prevent the two of them from "contemptulating the public" here again, he quickly asked: "What are you doing here?"
"Oh, we are here to find you." Fred then remembered that he had something serious to say, and turned around and said, "We are thinking about whether to expand the size of DA."
"After all, the situation now is different from before." George said, "We think there must be more people who want to learn how to protect themselves."
"This is also our original intention of creating DA, right?"
Seeing the serious looks on their faces, Cedric frowned and asked with some suspicion: "Do you really think so?"
"Well, that's actually what Hermione wanted to ask." Fred said,
"But she is very busy right now. She has a thick stack of books in her arms. It feels like she is moving the library into the dormitory."
"We happened to have nothing to do, so we took the initiative to take the job."
Cedric still didn't believe it.
He knew Fred and George too well. If they just wanted to discuss this issue, they wouldn't go all the way. In addition, expanding the scale was not something he could agree to with just a nod.
"Tell the truth!" Cedric said calmly.
Fred and George looked at each other.
"As expected of the President of the Boys' Student Council, I can't hide anything from you."
Fred chuckled and pulled out a pointed hat with red feathers like a magic trick.
"We just want to ask if you can attend the next DA gathering wearing this hat."
"That hat that makes your head invisible? Forget it, I don't want to be everyone's laughing stock." Cedric refused without saying a word.
The DA gathering is a place to learn Defense Against the Dark Arts, and it is not a selection site for the Headless Horseman Club. There is no need to hide your head.
"No, no, no, you misunderstood." Fred said quickly: "This is our new product, made all night yesterday."
"We call him the anti-curse hat." George said, "Its function is also very simple, that is, it can resist a spell attack."
"Seriously, given the current situation, it is necessary to have such a hat."
“It saves lives in critical moments.”
The two spoke seriously, and Cedric hesitated.
“If it is as good as you say, wouldn’t it be enough to sell it directly?
"Just like before, if you show its functions in front of everyone, I think many people will buy it."
"We tried it this morning, but the response was average." Fred sighed: "Maybe the price is a bit expensive, and people don't particularly trust our products."
"Expensive?" Cedric was stunned for a moment.
At least until now, nothing in Weasley's Joke Shop exceeds five galleons. This price should not make many people hesitate.
"Well, our price is fifty galleons," George said.
Cedric covered his mouth in time to prevent the pumpkin juice he had just drank from spitting out.
Fifty galleons?
This price is almost a month's salary of an ordinary Ministry of Magic employee, and few people in Hogwarts can afford it.
"No way, this is already the lowest price." Fred sighed.
"We used dragon skin, real dragon skin," George said. "Not all of them, but definitely worth the money."
"So we needed someone more famous to advertise the hat."
"It's strange to say..."
At this time, Fred suddenly turned his head and looked at Kyle, "Why are your valuable things so easy to sell? I remember that you sold a necklace made of fire dragon teeth. A hundred galleons, maybe.”
"Because the person who bought it is Slytherin." Kyle shrugged and said, "They are not short of money."
"Then forget it." George shook his head and said meaningfully: "They probably don't worry about being attacked by Death Eaters."
"Let's continue talking about advertising..." The two looked at Cedric again.
"If you can wear it, maybe more people will want to buy it."
As one of the shareholders of Weasley's Joke Shop, Cedric only hesitated slightly before agreeing.
"It's possible, but this feather must be replaced. It's too ugly." He said, "And I also want to experiment with the function of the hat."
"This is no problem." George immediately put on his hat, "You attack..."
<divclass="contentadv">"Everything is petrified!"
Before he could finish speaking, a spell fell directly on him. George flew backwards and fell to the ground.
But he was not petrified and stood up quickly.
"Hey, Kyle, you should have said this beforehand," he complained.
"It's a better test this way, isn't it?" Kyle said,
He looked at the top of George's head. The hat was split in the middle.
"Can it only be used once?"
"It mainly depends on the power of the spell." Fred explained with some distress: "The more powerful spell can only be resisted once, but if someone else does it, it will be fine."
"Don't forget, Death Eaters are all adult wizards, and none of them are weak." Kyle said, "Take Barty Crouch Jr., for example. When he just graduated, he got twelve There’s a certificate.”
"What? A Death Eater has obtained twelve certificates?" George ignored his distressed hat and said dumbfounded: "Doesn't this mean that he is the same as Bill and Percy?"
"That's right." Kyle said, "Going forward fifty years from Hogwarts, only the three of them have obtained twelve certificates.
"In addition, why are you so surprised? How can someone who is chosen by Voldemort and recruited under his command be an idiot?"
"Like Peter Pettigrew?" Fred said.
"He is special." Kyle shook his head, "And even among the Death Eaters, Peter is not popular."
"Okay," George said, pulling a plate-sized piece of leather from his split hat.
"Is this Dragonhide?" Cedric asked.
"Well, we bought it from Hogsmeade. It's ridiculously expensive." George nodded and said, "But if you want the hat to resist the curse, the magic text must be engraved on the dragon skin. If it is an ordinary hat, it must be engraved on the dragon skin." The moment the fabric comes into contact with the magic spell, the hat will fall apart due to the impact transmitted to the magic text, and it will not be able to resist it at all."
Looking at the dragon skin in their hands, Kyle thought for a moment and said: "Have you ever thought about making it a disposable thing...remove all the magic words that slow down the power and replace it with 'Crash' The icon uses a more barbaric way to counteract the effect of the spell.
"In this way, much less dragon skin will be needed."
"Head-on confrontation?" Fred said thoughtfully, "But then there is no way to distinguish the type of spell. Maybe any cleaning spell will trigger the defense mechanism."
"And the 'collision' itself is very unstable. Once triggered, the dragon skin will be directly destroyed."
"But it's cheap." Kyle said with a smile, "This kind of icon is not big. It only requires one-fifth of the dragon skin you have, and the cost will be reduced a lot."
For a moment, everyone's eyes changed when they looked at Kyle.
It has to be Kyle...
"I didn't expect you to be this kind of person." Fred looked disgusted, "We thought we were already black enough."
"What are you thinking about?" Kyle said angrily, "I mean, after the cost is reduced, the selling price will definitely have to be adjusted accordingly.
"What originally cost fifty galleons, after reducing the amount of dragon skin, it only costs ten galleons, so that everyone can afford it. It's just that you need to pay more attention to it, which will cause a lot of trouble.
"But if you really meet a Death Eater... to be honest, this kind of one-time thing would be more effective."
"You're right." Fred touched his chin, "Okay, we can try..."
Seeing that the three of them were chatting enthusiastically, Cedric did not interrupt them, but instead started thinking about expanding DA.
From a personal point of view, he does not want to expand, because more people means he will be busier.
During this time, many new members have joined one after another, and now there are almost more than 80 people in DA.
This has already made him a little busy. If more people are added, the party will have to be extended. And it is foreseeable that the number of people added this time will definitely be more than one or two, and may even be doubled.
Nearly two hundred people... They can't extend the party to three hours.
So when Fred and George were about to leave, Cedric could only give a very vague answer.
"Let's discuss this together when we have time." He said, "Maybe the school can replace us with a more reliable Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, so that we don't need to participate in DA anymore."
"Okay." Fred and George didn't care. They were anxious to go back to research new products and trotted away.
……
In the afternoon, Fudge came.
I don't know if it was intentional or not, but he arrived just before the first class started, and almost all the students saw him going to Principal Dumbledore's office.
As for what they said in the principal's office, no one knows, not even Kyle.
All afternoon, everyone was waiting curiously.
"I wish he could take Umbridge away."
In the afternoon herbal medicine class, Mikel whispered: "We obviously need a more reliable Defense Against the Dark Arts professor now, rather than a guy who only asks us to read and copy books."
His words were echoed by others.
By the time dinner was served, everyone in the auditorium was talking about it, wondering whether Umbridge would just get out of here.
Finally, Dumbledore arrived. He cleared his throat, and the auditorium suddenly became quiet.
"Everyone should know that Voldemort and his followers are making trouble again, and their power is growing."
As Dumbledore spoke, there was a tense and heart-wrenching silence in the Great Hall.
“I need to emphasize that the current situation is tense and everyone needs to be extremely cautious to ensure their own safety.
"The Ministry of Magic has agreed to assist Hogwarts in strengthening its magical defenses in the future, but every teacher and student must still be vigilant at all times and not let down their guard at all.
"Therefore, I ask you to strictly abide by every school rule, no matter how annoying those rules are...
"And finally it's about our Defense Against the Dark Arts professor."
Hearing this, Cedric raised his head sharply.
"First of all, Professor Umbridge will still teach you..."
There were sighs and complaints in the auditorium, which made Umbridge sitting next to her look ugly.
"But..." Dumbledore raised his voice, "The Ministry of Magic believes that in times of crisis like this, everyone should learn how to protect themselves. A Defense Against the Dark Arts professor is obviously not enough.
"So next, there will be two experienced Aurors to assist Professor Umbridge."
The next second, the sighs turned into cheers.
But it's not over yet.
"Besides..." Dumbledore raised his voice again, not caring that Umbridge was right next to him, and said happily.
"We also said that Hogwarts and the Ministry of Magic should unite and trust each other, and the Minister readily agreed to remove the position of Senior Inquisitor."
"So here, I am happy to announce to everyone that all previous education orders, including the requirement to register to form a club, and the suspension of probation for some professors, will be abolished."
The cheers in the auditorium grew louder, as well as applause and table slapping.
This is the first time since morning that everyone is so happy.
……
