Hogwarts starts with stealing power.

Chapter 228: Rita's refusal, the vague whispers in the documents, and the investigation of Dobby
Rita's lips pulled into a smile.

She seemed like she hadn't smiled for a long time, which made her smile look a little strange.

"No, Lin Xia, you should discuss this with Professor McGonagall. After I started working, I have rarely studied Transfiguration, and my theory may not be as strong as yours."

Lin Xia said: "How could that be? The older you get, the stronger your understanding of Transfiguration becomes.

She once won the Most Promising Newcomer Award and was the strongest in that class. She must have a lot of unique insights.”

Professor McGonagall had a thoughtful look in her eyes.

She said in a deep voice: "Rita, why don't you stay and discuss with us? It just so happens that I also want to see if you have fallen behind in Transfiguration after working for so many years."

Rita felt that the smile on her lips was becoming a little stiff.

Professor McGonagall was very strict when she was a student.

But it was also under the guidance of Professor McGonagall that she won the Most Promising Newcomer Award that year.

There is no problem in discussing Animagus, but discussing the second question is very problematic.

Rita was not confident that Professor McGonagall would not notice anything unusual.

Her unusually calm personality played a role, and it only took her a few seconds to find the key to breaking the deadlock.

Rita said regretfully, "I would also like to discuss this with you, but unfortunately, I will be leaving Hogwarts soon and I have a lot of work to do in the afternoon."

Professor McGonagall nodded: "In that case, I won't disturb you from your work. By the way, why are you looking for Lin Xia——"

Rita smiled and said, "It's just a few simple questions. Ask Lin Xia how she studies normally."

She interviewed Lin Xia right in front of Professor McGonagall.

The questions she asked were, as she said, very standard.

After the interview, exactly ten minutes had passed. Rita immediately looked down at her watch and said, "Professor McGonagall, I'm leaving now."

Lin Xia watched her walk away until her figure disappeared.

She smiled softly and said, "Professor, I feel that this senior sister Rita is different from what I imagined. I heard that she is a reporter for the gossip section, and I thought her questions would be more daring."

Professor McGonagall said calmly: “Rita’s style of doing things is indeed very big. She has an unusually calm mood and a smart mind, and knows how to judge the situation.

Every question she asked was a carefully calculated question that she considered worth asking.”

Lin Xia glanced at Professor McGonagall and suddenly felt that Professor McGonagall was not as easy to fool as she had imagined.

She specifically pointed out Rita's character, probably to remind her to be vigilant.

But even if the professor didn't say so, Lin Xia would be vigilant.

After all, Rita's reputation in the wizarding world is not very good.

Lin Xia went to her office with Professor McGonagall, took the information and started reading it.

What was more unexpected was that before reading the information, Professor McGonagall also prepared a leaf of clarity for her.

Lin Xia asked in confusion: "Professor, what is this?"

Mag said seriously, "Ever since the evil god's whispers appeared, wizards have been haunted by whispers when reading important documents, and this is not only the case with banned books."

Lin Xia expressed her understanding.

She took the Leaf of Awakening but did not take it. With her physical condition, she should be able to resist the mumbling.

The same is true.

After Lin Xia watched for about five minutes, she began to hear vague and fragmented singing in her ears.

The song was like a siren's temptation, tempting her not to read but to hum along.

At this moment, her body felt slightly warm, automatically dispelling the song ringing in her ears.

Lin Xia continued reading.

About half an hour later, she put down the material and said, "Professor, I have finished reading it."

Mag was a little surprised, "Your reading speed is much faster than I thought."

Lin Xia thought for a moment and said, "Maybe my physique is special and I am not easily disturbed by the vague mumbling."

Mag pondered for a while, "Perhaps so, do you still want to continue studying Animagus?"

Lin Xia nodded without hesitation.

"I plan to practice Animagus in my third year, and study it in advance in my second year to lay the foundation."

Mag said, "Although I don't know what kind of Animagus you want to become, I am happy to help you in this regard."

She paused, "If you have time, come to my place every Wednesday to read some Transfiguration materials."

Lin Xia said gratefully: "I would like to thank you, Professor. If you need any help in the future, please feel free to ask."

It's easy to guess that what Mag said meant that she was going to provide her with some exclusive confidential documents.

Otherwise, she would not have asked her to come to the office, but would have asked her to look for it directly in the secret key of outstanding students.

Although reading literature does not bring as much benefit as reading banned books, it does not mean that it is not helpful for wizards.

Forbidden books can assist wizards in delving into the true meaning of the world.

The series of data summarized by predecessors in the literature can help wizards better understand the world.

After leaving Professor McGonagall's office, Lin Xia just took a few steps and suddenly felt a certain acupuncture point in her body loosen a little.

This is……

The body sensed the positive changes in the outside world and automatically opened an acupuncture point?
Lin Xia smiled gently, what a nice surprise!
……

"Lin Xia!"

When I first arrived at the laboratory, Ron, Harry, Hermione and Draco were all there.

As soon as they saw her, everyone couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Hermione smiled and said, "If you don't come back, I'm going to run to Professor McGonagall to call for help."

They were all waiting for Lin Xia here, not for anything else, but because they planned to leave Hogwarts together.

Last week, Hogwarts issued an order to lift the lockdown, allowing young wizards to choose to return home or stay.

A group of wizards chose to leave.

It was also at that time that Draco made some progress in avoiding the investigation of the house-elf.

The branch family member assigned to Dobby, under the urging of Draco's letters, finally revealed that he had sold Dobby to another family.

That family is related to the Malfoy family.

Originally it belonged to the side branch, but something happened thirty years ago and Malfoy expelled that branch of the family and removed it from the list!

The collateral family revealed that the family had been actively contacting him three years ago, wanting a house-elf to help with things.

As long as they are willing to give up the elves, they will be rewarded generously.

There are two house-elves in the side branch. Normally, one of them is enough to support everything, so it is no problem to sell one, so a deal was made with that family.

After receiving the letter, Draco wanted to visit a branch family in person to continue to find out the name of the family that bought Dobby.

Somehow, the news got to Hermione, who told Harry.

Harry thought this was a good way to understand Dobby's motives, so he approached Draco and asked to go with him.

Dobby couldn't have asked him to leave Hogwarts for no reason.

It is unlikely that Dobby is hostile to him.

Harry could feel from the bottom of his heart that Dobby thought he was a hero. But he firmly believed that there was a conspiracy against him in Hogwarts... How did Dobby know this information?

It is very likely that the family it serves found out about it!

As long as he finds that family, he might know the truth.

When Harry learned the news, Ron naturally knew it too. Harry did not hide anything from Ron.

After some discussion, Harry, Hermione and Ron all told Draco that they wanted to go together.

It just so happened that Hogwarts was unsealed, so it was very convenient for the young wizard to leave, and the management was not as strict as before.

Draco simply found Lin Xia and asked her if she wanted to go with him.

Lin Xia agreed without saying a word.

It was she who asked Draco to investigate Dobby, the house-elf.

Now that there has been a key breakthrough, it is her natural responsibility to investigate.

Lin Xia said: "Let's set off without delay!"

They first left Hogwarts Castle and walked towards the school gate.

It was the weekend and the school gate was very busy.

Not only are there senior wizards coming and going, but there are also junior wizards who were restricted from going out in the past and are now running wild like buffaloes.

Lin Xia and others were still considering whether to use the invisibility spell to get out.

Seeing that everyone was playing at the school gate, they looked at each other and walked out openly.

Harry ran into the Weasley twins, who not only saw him, but also saw Ron next to him.

George began to drawl his voice: "Who did I see? I saw my brother who got mad at me because he wasn't selected for the Gryffindor team!"

Fred agreed: "You are so pitiful. How long has it been since he last spoke to you?"

George: "At least half a month!"

Fred: "If it was my brother, I would definitely hang him up and beat him up. How could he not understand his brother's good intentions?"

George: "Well, if you don't have that talent, don't think too much. That's all I want to tell him."

Fred: “But some people just don’t realize that they don’t have talent.”

Seeing Ron's face getting redder and redder, as if he was about to explode, Lin Xia immediately asked, "Seniors, what are you doing at the school gate?"

George: "We are selling prank toys to students. Do you want to take a look? There is one that is very popular recently."

Lin Xia glanced at the things in their hands and said, "Give me a caterpillar toy, a recorded screaming chicken toy, and a black smoke bomb."

Fred immediately handed the three things to Lin Xia.

Lin Xia said, "Why don't you help me send it to the lab? I'm going out without any gold Galleons."

George: "As our VIP customer, you enjoy special credit rights."

Fred put the things directly into Lin Xia's arms and said with a smile: "Just take them away. Maybe these things will be helpful to you in the future."

Lin Xia bought something, and then George and Fred left.

After they left, Ron said with a frustrated look on his face: "Lin Xia, don't buy things from them in the future.

I've looked at the prices of the toys they stock, and you can buy them all for less than a silver Sickle in Diagon Alley.

But their cheapest gag toy costs 1 silver Sickle.

From any business theory, they are definitely profiteers.”

Lin Xia spread out her palms.

Just as Fred stuffed the thing into her arms, he also stuffed a small note into her arms.

Lin Xia read the contents of the note, her eyes flickered, and she immediately said:
"We have to hurry up. Hogwarts will close its gates in another hour."

She left quickly, and the others followed closely behind.

Although Hogwarts was unsealed, Hogsmeade village was still closed to junior wizards.

So they had to take the magic bus to another village farther away than Hogsmeade.

This was not Lin Xia's first visit to this village.

During the summer vacation, she went out of school several times to do errands, and she went to Diagon Alley through the fireplace in this village.

Only after they got on the magic bus did Lin Xia pass the note to them.

Finally, the note was passed to Ron.

When Ron saw the content, his cheeks immediately turned red again.

He was ashamed of his previous thoughts!
He thought his brother was really just selling toys at the school gate, but he didn't expect that he was actually selling news.

The note read:

[At 5pm, the gates of Hogwarts will be closed and will never be opened again today.

Students cannot go out, and people outside cannot come in.]

Ron couldn't help but ask, "How did they know that the school gate would be closed at 5pm? Have they been squatting at the school gate these days?"

Harry: "Um, I think so, Ron.

I have used the ESP spell several times and have seen George and Fred running towards the school gate for no reason."

Draco patted Ron on the shoulder and said earnestly, "Although your two brothers speak harshly, they are indeed smart.

Do you think that, while they are selling toys, they are actually selling information to other wizards?"

Ron nodded.

Draco asked, "But did you know that they were actually selling toys, and only when they saw Lin Xia did they switch to selling her information?"

Ron was stunned.

"You mean, they did it on purpose?"

Draco raised his eyebrows: "Of course, otherwise why would they go out of their way to meet us?
Haven't you noticed that the little wizards who really want to buy toys always approach them on their own initiative?"

Hermione said bluntly: "Ron, your brothers are smarter than you, you just have to listen to them."

Ron frowned, and after a long while he said, "No, I don't think so."

I don't know whether he doesn't think Ron is smarter than him, or he doesn't think it's right to listen to them.

Lin Xia put the note away, looking a little serious.

"Now, we have an important thing to consider. Once the gates of Hogwarts are closed, the wizards inside cannot leave, and the wizards outside cannot enter.

This means that after we have finished talking to the Malfoy family's branch, we still have to sort out the housing issue."

Draco interrupted and said, "Don't worry about that. I have investigated the assets of that branch, and they also live in the manor.

Although it is not as big as my house, it is more than enough for a few little wizards to live in, so I asked them to vacate the house. "

Hermione wondered, "Will it be unsafe?"

Draco said as a matter of course: "They are a branch of the Malfoy family, and I am the heir of the Malfoy family. They dare not do anything to me!"

Lin Xia suddenly said, "Draco, Uncle Lucius only has you as his child. Do you understand what I mean?"

(End of this chapter)