Hogwarts: Harry Returns from Azeroth

Chapter 245, Section 244: The Departing Students and the Board of Trustees

Incidentally, another person who was heavily criticized was Dumbledore, because as the headmaster of Hogwarts, he failed to appear when Hogwarts needed him most, which was considered a dereliction of duty.

Even Harry couldn't say anything to Rita about this, since Rita was telling the truth again—the only thing Dumbledore had that Fudge was better off than him was that the owls that sent messages to insult him couldn't find his exact location and had to turn back.

Fudge, on the other hand, had already been pickled in owl droppings.

Whether Fudge would grit his teeth and continue as Minister of Magic or resign in disgrace was no longer Harry's concern. After the Battle of Hogwarts, he and many other professors were busy all over Hogwarts, not only trying to repair the broken castle, but also dealing with the vast number of... students' parents.

“I’m sorry, tutor, I have to go.” Zacharys Smith stood nervously in front of Harry, having already packed his bags. “Hogwarts has become unsafe, and my father wants me to transfer to Beauxbatons.”

"Are you trying to run away, Smith?" Katie asked directly.

"Hey girl, watch your mouth!" Smith's father said viciously. "Hogwarts is no longer safe. I can't leave my child in a place like this! A piece of crap where even the headmaster is nowhere to be found and hasn't shown up yet!"

"You are not allowed to insult Dumbledore!" Katie said angrily. "Smith is also a shaman, and we are purifying Hogwarts! This is our responsibility and duty!"

“Then to hell with your responsibilities, little girl,” Smith’s father said bluntly. “Let’s go! Zacharias, I’ve already arranged the boat tickets to France. We can’t waste any more time in this lousy place.”

"you--"

“Alright, Katie,” Harry interrupted, looking at Zacharys and saying seriously, “Do you remember my first lesson? I won’t stop you from staying or leaving, as long as you keep in mind everything I’ve told you.”

“I will, Professor,” Zacharias said, swallowing hard.

“Hey, watch your tongue, young professor,” Zacharias’s father said, walking over. “Zacharias is no longer a Hogwarts student, you understand? So what if he doesn’t remember your bullshit admonitions?”

“You’ll die,” Harry said coldly, glancing at the man. “You can try.”

Zacharys' father opened his mouth, his face flushed red, his strong sense of pride causing him to clench his fists, which prompted him to want to fight. However, when he saw Harry's eyes, he froze.

He felt a sense of oppression from the young professor in front of him, whose height didn't even reach his shoulder. He had never felt this way from anyone else.

"...Let's go! Zacharias!" In the end, the man simply turned around and roughly snatched Zacharias's suitcase. "This is insane! A school of madmen! Mad professors!!"

While muttering these curses incessantly, the man quickly left the castle, and Zacharys, after glancing at Harry and the others, also left without looking back.

“Cool, Professor,” Katie said angrily, waving her fist at Zacharias and his father’s retreating backs. “Those cowardly bastards, pshaw!”

“There’s no need to be so angry, Katie,” Harry said, shaking his head. “We’re not some terrorist organization, the kind that only allows entry and not exit. As long as he doesn’t use the knowledge I taught him to do evil, that’s fine.”

“Okay, you’re the professor, you’re in charge,” Katie said, shrugging.

Zacharys is the only one of Harry's current shaman apprentices to choose to leave Hogwarts. However, Harry is not angry about his departure, after all, he is just an ordinary apprentice, and the master-apprentice system he is practicing now is not the traditional master-apprentice system of Azeroth.

As long as he doesn't commit a crime, let him be.

As for the other apprentices, they were all more excited than the last. They ran around the castle every day, working hard to cleanse every bit of fel and demonic blood pollution with purifying water.

In fact, besides Zacharys, some students at Hogwarts have already been picked up by their parents. They can no longer bear to see their children living in a school that is attacked by demons. From Death Eaters to Basilisks to demons, these parents have had enough of the dangers of Hogwarts.

There is no right or wrong in this matter. The students who choose to stay are certainly courageous, but there is nothing wrong with the students who choose to leave. Hogwarts is, after all, a school, and it is wrong to subject students to things other than learning knowledge in a school.

For Harry, however, the more important thing right now is Ginny's situation. Ron and his two brothers come to him almost every day to check on Ginny's condition.

Having been possessed by two fragments of Voldemort's soul, Harry, who was still a learner of wizarding magic, couldn't confirm whether Ginny still carried the effects of Voldemort's Horcruxes in Dumbledore's absence.

"So, on the day of the demon invasion, you destroyed two Horcruxes in the Headmaster's office?" Professor McGonagall took a deep breath. "Voldemort's Horcruxes?"

“Yes,” Harry nodded and said, “In fact, Lockhart was not the real demon summoner, Voldemort was. Voldemort’s Horcruxes tempted Lockhart to fall and made him a sacrifice and a coordinate. One of the Horcruxes even used fel energy to transform itself into a new demon.”

“Merlin’s socks!” Professor Flitwick said, rubbing his forehead. “I never imagined that something like this would happen that day. I thought the appearance of a demon in the castle was the worst thing that could have happened.”

"So you were injured because of her that day?" Snape glanced expressionlessly at Ginny, who was standing blankly to the side. The little girl now knew what had happened to her and was fearfully clutching Harry's clothes, hiding behind him.

“I didn’t expect there to be two Horcruxes, so I was caught off guard and ambushed,” Harry said frankly. “There’s no need to blame Ginny. The poor child has no memory of what happened since she started school. When she woke up, she thought she had just started school.”

“Oh, poor child,” Professor Flitwick said immediately, “she’ll have to catch up on a lot of lessons… assuming she’s healthy.”

“That’s why I asked you to come and help,” Harry sighed. “I’m still a student of wizarding magic, and Dumbledore is nowhere to be found. So I’d like you to check if Ginny still has any trace of Voldemort’s influence.”

"Your divination couldn't find Dumbledore either?" Professor McGonagall asked. "I can't see him," Harry said, somewhat puzzled. "He seems to be trapped somewhere. I can only be sure he's probably still alive, but I can't keep waiting for him to come back. Ginny can't stay locked in my trunk forever. I haven't even had Ron and the others tell Mrs. and Mr. Weasley yet."

“I understand,” Professor McGonagall nodded, then said to Ginny, who was hiding behind Harry, “Don’t worry, child, you’ll be fine… It’s just a checkup, there’s no danger.”

Then Ginny received a thorough, multi-dimensional examination from Hogwarts' professional magic professors, covering everything from common spells to obscure ones, from spells to potions—after all, Voldemort was involved, and they dared not be careless.

After confirming that there was nothing unusual, Professor McGonagall informed Mrs. Weasley... Only then did the couple learn what had happened to their youngest daughter.

Harry received a big hug.

"Thank you, thank you! Harry!" Mrs. Weasley was so excited that she could barely speak, her words of gratitude flowing endlessly. "I simply can't believe that our family is gone—Oh my God!"

“Don’t worry, Mom,” Ron interjected, “Ginny is all right now.”

"And you too!" Mrs. Weasley turned and shouted, "Almost a semester has passed, and you haven't noticed anything wrong with your sister?!"

“There’s no need to blame Ron and the others, Mrs. Weasley,” Harry defended his good friend. “Ginny was possessed by a fragment of Voldemort’s soul. With Voldemort’s sanity, he wouldn’t have shown any abnormality in front of them.”

“Fragments of the soul of the Mysterious Man?” Mr. Weasley’s hair seemed to stand on end; he never imagined that his youngest daughter could be associated with such a terrifying term.

“This is it,” Harry said, pulling a tattered black diary from his pocket.

"A notebook?" Even Professor McGonagall had never heard of such a thing before.

“His…his diary!” Ginny cried loudly, hugging her mother. “I always wrote in it, he would write to me, write back to me—”

“Ginny!” Mr. Weasley exclaimed, dumbfounded. “Didn’t I teach you? What have I always told you? Never trust anything that can think for itself unless you see where it hides its mind—why don’t you show me or your mother your diary? Such a dubious thing is clearly full of dark magic!”

"I don't know!" Ginny cried even louder. "I found it in a book my mom gave me, and I thought it was—it was—"

“Alright, whatever, it’s all over now,” Harry said to Professor McGonagall. “Ginny shouldn’t be punished, right? After all, she didn’t know anything; she was just possessed.”

“Even though I’m just a vice-principal, I know Professor Dumbledore wouldn’t make things difficult for the children,” Professor McGonagall said, her tone softening. “During the darkest times, even many wise adult wizards were deceived by the Void, let alone a young child like her.”

"So Dumbledore really isn't at the school?" Mrs. Weasley couldn't help but ask. "Even if something like this happened at the school, even if his students were threatened by those terrible monsters, and the school was destroyed like this, he wasn't there?"

The group was still sitting and talking in Professor McGonagall's badly damaged office. Mrs. and Mr. Weasley had already seen the castle's current dilapidated state when they came in.

“I can’t defend Dumbledore,” Harry sighed, “but I believe he must be doing something important, or he’s trapped by some unknown enemy… You know how chaotic things have been all over the world lately.”

“…Well, we understand,” Mrs. Weasley sighed as well. “After all, he’s Dumbledore. There are so many things in this world that he needs to care about…I just wish he could focus more on his job. The children are the most important thing, aren’t they?”

"of course."

Both Professor McGonagall and Harry acknowledged this.

The demons being eliminated doesn't mean the end of the matter. On the contrary, Harry is now even busier. The pollution of Hogwarts needs to be cleansed, the reconstruction of the school requires a lot of stone, and even the Board of Governors specifically requested that Professor McGonagall bring him along during their meetings.

Because Harry understands those demons better than anyone else. Or rather, even if some wizards are unwilling to admit it, they have to admit that, with Dumbledore's whereabouts currently unknown, the one most capable of protecting Hogwarts and the young wizards is not even the senior professors like Professor McGonagall, but rather—Harry Potter.

That's why Harry's opinion is so crucial.

The increase in strength itself brings many benefits.

"So, those demons—they won't be coming to our world anymore, right?" Hector Parkinson asked Harry in a conference room with a long table decorated with antique-looking objects.

He is Pansy Parkinson's father and a member of the Hogwarts Board of Governors.

It has to be admitted that Pansy's father is a bit more intelligent than her.

How can you guarantee that?

Okay, yes, but not many.

“How can I guarantee that?” Harry raised an eyebrow. “Let me give you an example, Mr. Parkinson. Imagine a thief is eyeing an antique in your house. Even though you've set up protective magic and are taking precautions, you can't guard every corner of your house. And your magic has gaps. This thief could come through those gaps at any time and steal your treasure. In that situation, how can you guarantee that the thief will never succeed?”

“Then the only option is probably to kill the thief,” said a Ravenclaw school board member standing nearby. “Otherwise, no one can keep up with the defenses forever.”

(End of this chapter)