days at Hogwarts

Chapter 213 Dumbledore's Trouble

School doctor's office.

A hospital bed was covered by curtains hanging vertically on all sides, separating the patient from the rest of the school infirmary.It seems that they don't want people to see the patient.

On the hospital bed, a large quilt covered the entire hospital bed, and a large bulge in the middle indicated that there was another patient on the bed.

A fluffy cat ear protruded from the quilt, shaking it from time to time.It shows that the owner of the cat ears is intently eavesdropping on the voice next door.

This is a compartment specially set up by Ms. Pomfrey to take care of Hermione's shame. She is more or less grateful to her and Loren for their help.Others don't know what she looks like now.

Loren was also hiding in this small cubicle. Looking at the constantly shaking cat ears, he couldn't help but reach out and pinch them.

"Hmm!" Hermione snorted while hiding under the blanket, her whole body froze, and her ears became red and hot.

Hermione gritted her teeth with a red face, estimated the position of the people outside, and hit the villain's chest with a neat cat-mao straight punch, causing him to cough twice.

Loren clutched his chest, chuckled softly and said, "I touched it by accident, it wasn't intentional."

A muffled voice came from the quilt: "Don't talk, don't disturb me to hear the news."

Outside the cubicle, Justin and Colin were lying on the board safely. Even after experiencing the big event of being hijacked, their faces did not change, their eyes did not blink, and they were very stable.Lockhart lay next to them, still unconscious.

Snape was not in the school infirmary; he was cutting up the basilisk's body and processing the collected materials in his underground chamber.Dumbledore went to deal with Crabbe.

Professor Sprout dragged Professor Flitwick into a corner, muttering about the situation at the scene.

"Voldemort breathed out... knocked Lockhart into the air... the basilisk... the sword..." Professor Flitwick said excitedly.

"Oh! Really... so... Slytherin..." Professor Sprout was also very excited when she heard it, her face was filled with the joy of eating melons.

Sprout felt a little regretful. If she had known that the following events would be so exciting, there would be no danger at all. She could just hide behind the stone pillar and watch the play. She would follow no matter what.

Harry and Ron were placed in two adjacent beds, and Madam Pomfrey played with their hands and feet and applied medicine to bruises and bruises.

Professor McGonagall's hair was a little messy, and she looked excited and angry.Her gaze followed Ms. Pomfrey's movements: "Poppy, are you really alright?"

They had already learned about Ms. Pomfrey's attack, and Professor McGonagall worried that Pomfrey's own injuries could not be dealt with.Anyway, it's the holiday period, so it's okay for everyone to go to Saint-Germont for recuperation.

"I just accidentally got hit by a coma spell. Mr. Morgan's solution to the spell was perfect. I'm fine now."

Speaking of this, Ms. Pomfrey was furious. Even during the wizard war, she was not attacked as a healer, but she was actually attacked in peacetime.

Despicable Voldemort, and that damned Crabbe.

Madam Pomfrey shook the arm in Harry's hand, feeling the lines of the muscles and bones: "How do you feel, is there any discomfort?"

Harry relaxed his arm, felt it carefully, and whispered, "It's a little stiff, nothing else."

"It's normal. After all, it's an injury that runs through the arm, and it needs to be maintained for a while. Thanks to Fox, it cleaned up the snake venom in your body in time." Ms. Pomfrey nodded.

It happened that Dumbledore entered through the door. He was wearing a long robe, a purple cloak that dragged to the floor, and a pair of high-heeled boots with buckles. He seemed to have just returned from a long journey.

"Well, I heard good news as soon as I came in. It seems that Nirvana has not affected Fox's magic power."

The blue eyes were hidden behind the half-moon-shaped glasses. Dumbledore deliberately avoided Professor McGonagall's eyes. As long as he pretended not to know anything, Minerva might not scold him.

"Headmaster Dumbledore!" Harry and Ron shouted in surprise.

Professor Flitwick and Professor Sprout, who were huddled in the corner and gossip, got up one after another and gathered around the front of the ward.

"When you visit a patient, you always have to bring something." Dumbledore put the snack basket in his hand on the small table at the end of the bed, picked up a small stool and sat down, "Also, I also have good news."

"What good news?" Ron asked impatiently.

"Vincent Crabbe has been handed over to an Auror friend of mine in the Ministry of Magic. The evidence is sufficient. He assured me that Hagrid will be able to return to the castle for Christmas soon." Dumbledore said with a smile .

"Great!" Harry exclaimed.

Dumbledore looked at them with gentle eyes: "I want to know, how did you find out about the Chamber of Secrets and Voldemort?"

"This is what we all want to know." Professor McGonagall said in a tone of fear.

Harry and Ron looked at each other, hesitated for a moment, and began to tell them the story exactly.

Very early on, with the help of his friends, Harry confirmed through Parseltongue that the monster in the Chamber of Secrets was a basilisk.

This morning, they received an inexplicable letter. After arriving at Hagrid's hut, they entered the Forbidden Forest according to Hagrid's prompt and found Aragog. After questioning them, they learned that the basilisk was lurking in the water pipe.

At this point, Harry reacted belatedly, "Pipe! Bathroom! Sink! The bathroom where Myrtle died was the bathroom. We should have known that the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets was in her bathroom!"

"Very well," Professor McGonagall encouraged him to continue, "so you discovered the basilisk, and the way it lurks—and I must add that you broke more than a hundred school rules along the way—but Then, how did you find out about Voldemort and Crabbe, and follow him into the Chamber of Secrets?"

In the cubicle surrounded by curtains, the cat Hermione hiding under the quilt heard this, her ears drooping dingy, she was also an accessory, even the main culprit.

Although Professor McGonagall didn't scold her in front of her, Hermione brought it in automatically, which was also an immersive experience.

But when she realized that someone was twitching her ears restlessly again, and the disappointment of being criticized dissipated in an instant, she gritted her teeth and punched out another cat-mao punch.

"Hey, I can't hit it!" Loren's grinning voice came from outside the quilt.

Hermione's fist clenched tighter.

Harry continued to talk, from the Polyjuice Potion that he had been brewing a month ago, to the fact that they sneaked into the Slytherin common room in an attempt to obtain information about Malfoy, but tracked Crabbe by accident and found that they were He kidnapped Colin and Justin.

Ron added aggrievedly: "I don't know the password of the principal's office. I ran all over the professor's office, and only Lockhart was there. I really have no choice but to take him to chase Harry."

Several professors were quite emotional, who knew that they would almost miss a great event by holding a meeting during the holiday.

After Hagrid was taken away by the Ministry of Magic, Dumbledore called a meeting of the four deans of the colleges to make some conclusions about the teaching reform and financial issues of the previous semester.By the way, let everyone be prepared, the school board may start to fight back.

Harry patted the quilt indignantly, noticing that the bones in the injured area hurt a little, and stopped this self-harming behavior: "Why can someone like Lockhart become a professor!"

The pressure to face Voldemort was great, and the moment Lockhart stood up with his wand in one hand, he thought that the savior had come.

As a result, he came, and his first move was missed. What kind of teammate is this, what kind of professor is this?

Ron murmured, "Although he was an idiot before, he wrote so many amazing things in the book...my mother admired him so much...I thought he had some strength."

"Well, dear children, books can be faked." Dumbledore glanced meaningfully at Loren, who was accompanying Hermione in the curtain compartment, and then said to the sleeping Lockhart,

"Compared to an ugly old American wizard ridding a village of werewolves from a werewolf, an old hag with a hairy jaw exorcising the Howling Banshee... People are more likely to believe a good-looking, five-time Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile award for young wizards who did it."

Although he had some speculations, Sprout still covered his mouth in surprise when he heard Dumbledore say it with his own ears: "So, he puts all the things done by others into his own account?"

"More than that, Pomona. He tracked down those heroes, asked about the details of the incident, carefully understood how they did what they did, and finally cast a forgetting spell on them to completely forget these heroic deeds and great adventures. Steal it from yourself," said Dumbledore.

Harry and Ron looked at Lockhart in disbelief, and Ron asked, "But... Principal Dumbledore, how do you know these things, and since you know his true face, why did you make him Hogger?" Professor Woz?"

Facing everyone's questioning eyes, Dumbledore replied: "I happen to know the two wizards whose memories he stole. You know, when you get older, you will always have friends from various places."

"I think in a school environment, his lies are easily exposed by the real hearts of the children. You can learn a lot from a bad teacher about what not to do, what not to be."

Madam Pomfrey glanced at the comatose Lockhart over there, and added calmly: "The Forgetting Curse he released was very successful. Voldemort's magic and the Forgetting Curse were mixed together, which messed up his mind. It's a mess. I can't handle an injury like this and need to be transferred to St Mungo's for treatment."

Reaping the fruit... Although everyone didn't say it out loud, they all showed the same thought in their eyes.Only Dumbledore, his attention was on Loren behind the curtain, with complicated thoughts in his eyes.

The Lockhart incident came to an end for the time being, and they all knew what happened afterward in the Chamber of Secrets, and Harry didn't repeat it.

Only Sprout was not reconciled, the professor of herbalism screamed from the bottom of his heart: I don't know, I don't know!

But no one cared about the professor of herbal medicine who didn't have any sense of existence. She could only recollect Professor Flitwick's narration, hoping to let Filius explain it in detail a few times later.

"That's Voldemort, that's a thousand-year-old basilisk! You...how dare...how dare..." Professor McGonagall muttered, and when she thought of the scene where the basilisk bit Harry's arm, her blood couldn't stop Feeling dizzy and dizzy.

Although he knew that the matter was within Dumbledore's plan and the two would not be harmed, Professor McGonagall still couldn't help worrying.

Returning from the secret room to the school infirmary, she was worried about the safety of the two of them, so she tried not to criticize them, until now her heart was hanging in her stomach, and she could safely teach a few little guys a lesson.

No one dared to offend the majesty of the vice-principal, even the principal, Dumbledore, had to avoid it, for fear that Minerva would notice him and scold him together, and the majesty of the principal would be lost.

"...No matter what, you shouldn't act without authorization! Prepare polyjuice potion, and enter the Slytherin lounge in disguise! You..." Speaking of these, Professor McGonagall even felt a toothache, and the little wizards are so good now Yet.

When Professor McGonagall calmed down, Sprout asked in a low voice: "That's, but the famous mysterious man. I mean, why can two little wizards defeat him so easily?"

"My dear Pomona, a sensible person like you can call him by his first name. It's all nonsense. I've been trying to convince everyone to call him by his first name: Voldemort .”

Although Dumbledore said this to Sprout, he has been paying attention to Harry's reaction. Seeing that he has no fear at all, Dumbledore's smile is even more satisfied.

"So, God - I mean Voldemort, why is he so weak?" Sprout shuddered.

"He died once, and now he is just a mutilated ghost. I dare say that any adult wizard is capable of making him suffer. I think this is why he dare not go to those Death Eaters— the cause of his faithful servants."

Dumbledore unwrapped a box of Bibi Do-Flavour Beans and gave it to everyone. Several professors waved their hands and shook their heads and refused. Only Harry and Ron took the candy and put it in their mouths happily.

He looked at Harry with deep expectations: "Like I said, fear can never conquer people's hearts, love is the greatest power."

All things being cleared up, the professors are all going back to their respective posts.Professor McGonagall is going to deal with many letters from parents and clarify the truth to them.Professor Flitwick clamored to go back to decorate the Christmas auditorium, and Sprout was going to visit the secret room to make up for the regret of missing the scene.

Although Ron yelled that he was not injured and did not want to be hospitalized, under the dual deterrence of Ms. Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall, he still swallowed his protest silently.

"Loren, I want to talk to you." When Dumbledore left, he called someone who was obsessed with cats.

Loren thought that the principal wanted to know more details, but the silence along the way showed that this was not the case.

In the principal's office, the silverware on the table was spinning, spewing out small puffs of white smoke. Fox pecked his head and lay sleepily on the gold-encrusted perch.

The walls were covered with portraits of the old principals in the past. The footsteps of the two men shattered their snoring bubbles. The old principals woke up and cast their appraising glances one after another.

"Ha, it's this kid again!" Old Headmaster Black said with a hearty smile.

Dumbledore took off his cloak, hung it on the perch, and sat down behind the desk.When he was about to speak, he heard the voice of the old Headmaster Black, with a few wrinkles on his forehead, he simply turned around and waved his wand, turning over the portraits of all the headmasters to prevent them from making jokes like last time.

Let the old headmaster Black make a fuss, and the atmosphere is a little more relaxed.

"Lockhart's appearance in the secret room seems to be your arrangement." An inaudible voice echoed in the office.

Dumbledore's eyes were gloomy. He was not opposed to punishing bad guys, but this way of killing people with a knife was too dark, and almost everyone was counted in it, Lockhart, Voldemort, even Harry and Ron.

He gathered the other professors in the headmaster's office for a meeting. If he hadn't noticed that there was a ray of Loren's magical power in Lockhart, he would have been fooled into thinking that Lockhart appeared in the secret room because Ron couldn't find other professors. Professor leads to the result.

Even though he has nearly a hundred years of experience and has seen countless vicious villains, the young Loren planned an almost seamless incident, which still made the gray-bearded old wizard feel chills in his heart.

Loren snorted softly: "He wrote a lot of information about Grandpa Bates in his book manuscript, and he also said that he was going to visit another best-selling author for Christmas. I can't let him spread this information."

Dumbledore vaguely guessed the reason, and it was reconfirmed by Loren's words, which made him feel better, at least it showed that Loren cared about family affection: "How did you do it?"

"Remember that unicorn horn? I used it to restore an ancient mirror that shines into a person's consciousness. Lockhart is fame-hungry and self-righteous. I used these qualities to create a vision where Lockhart When encountering things related to the secret room, driven by fame and fortune, I will actively participate in it."

Loren bit the bullet and finished speaking without stammering. Dumbledore can scold him as much as he wants, anyway, he doesn't regret it.

It turned out that it wasn't the Imperius Curse... Dumbledore felt more at ease, but another question popped up: "Just let him take the initiative to participate?"

Loren blinked: "Otherwise?"

Dumbledore's heart was extremely complicated, so Lockhart would take the initiative to bump into it and attack Voldemort beyond his control. Was it his own idea?

The old principal with a white beard looked at the black-haired and black-eyed child in front of him. He had many beautiful qualities, but also many dangerous ones.

Dumbledore was amazed by the child's outstanding talent, but also felt a headache for it.

Whether it's magic or resourcefulness, Loren didn't count everyone in with a thorough mind, he just exerted a subtle influence under the influence of some kind of intuition, so everything led to what he wanted under a specific trajectory. the result of.

Dumbledore sighed. He sincerely hoped that this child would grow up healthy and become a kind and powerful person.

He squeezed the space between his brows tiredly, took out a large stack of papers from the drawer and handed them to Loren: "All Lockhart's manuscripts are here, you can take them and dispose of them."

Loren was overjoyed, and quietly raised his eyes to look at Dumbledore, then... this matter is over?
"Thank you, Principal Dumbledore!" Loren happily picked up the manuscript and was about to leave the principal's office.

When he was about to walk to the door, he suddenly heard Dumbledore's old voice:
"When Madam Pomfrey takes Lockhart to St. Mungo's Sanatorium, you go with them and come back and tell me the results."

(End of this chapter)