The slacker professor at Hogwarts

Chapter 359 Seeds of Hope and the Magic House

huh~

咻咻 咻 ~

One after another, figures riding flying brooms swooped down through the clouds.

The Aurors arrived with incredible speed. "Dumbledore, I've received your message. What has happened?"

Scrimgeour waved his hand, instructing his Aurors to quickly deploy an enforcement barrier. This was a type of magic used in bustling Muggle areas without alerting the Muggles, designed to separate magic from non-magic. It was a secret art belonging to the Ministry of Magic and not circulated in the general public.

"I'm here!" Tonks greeted Lupin and quickly ran over to whisper the situation to his boss.

"The Purgers!" Scrimgeour's brow furrowed deeply. "Just when we think we've gotten rid of these nasty fellows, they pop out of nowhere again!"

This secret organization has a concept of detecting wizards, and when expanding its branches, it often sends out a "Burner," who are all high-ranking figures with short lifespans.

The "Ignite" will select a suitable candidate from their list of "extraordinary individuals" with all available resources and intelligence, "pass on the flame" and "burn themselves" to help that candidate establish a brand new Purifier organization.

Once the igniter completes his mission and dies, this branch completely severs all ties with the original organization, except for their shared ideology.

They call this approach "seeds of hope".

This is very effective; even the most powerful wizard cannot find other branches by occasionally capturing a single member or an entire branch organization.

The reason they have been able to maintain this philosophy is due to their composition.

Squibs, direct relatives of Muggle wizards (like Harry's aunt), and other individuals who fall somewhere between magic and non-magic. With an absolute anti-wizard ideology, they aim to prevent disillusioned or malicious dark wizards from integrating into their circle, thus preventing a single Imperius Curse from seizing control of the organization.

Of course, this distributed organizational framework isn't completely isolated; they always need some resources and power to help them, such as certain Muggle forces, or certain hostile wizarding forces among the intelligent beings of the magical world—elves, centaurs, giants, mermaids—

"Don't miss a single one!"

Scrimgeour's face hardened as he ordered the Aurors, "When you encounter these damned rats, any means are permitted!"

A soft chuckle came from not far away. Voldemort looked at the Auror leader with a rather subtle expression. "The Unforgivable Curse works too?"

Scrimgeour snorted coldly, retorting to the demon in a low voice, "Dealing with Muggles doesn't warrant using such forbidden power."

The only time in nearly a century that Aurors were permitted to use the Unforgivable Curse was against the Death Eaters.

He knew perfectly well what Voldemort wanted to say, but he couldn't be bothered to pay attention and quickly directed the Aurors to complete the deployment.

"Without a sound!"

"Safeguarding the town!"

"Turning a blind eye!"

'

"It can be seen that one of the biggest tasks of the Aurors' operation is to maintain the status quo of the Secrets Act and prevent any Muggle in this crowded Muggle mall from noticing them."

Lockhart and the others watched from the sidelines, with no intention of intervening.

In fact, when Voldemort found this hideout and indicated that the Purifiers were in the room right beneath their feet, the entire outcome was already predetermined.

The big shots are all here; it would be absurd if these Muggles could get away.

"action!"

The Auror group brought by Scrimgeour quickly devised an attack plan, and they all came to the roof, formed a circle, and cast spells on the roof below.

Transfiguration.

A huge hole quickly cracked open in the roof, and the middle part collapsed rapidly downwards, transforming into a series of downward-extending staircases.

During this time, people continuously cast forbidden magic such as full-body binding spells into the space below.

"Like opening a can of food," muttered Death Eater Labastan Lestrange, flicking his head to look downstairs. His eyes widened suddenly. "Damn it, that Muggle is laughing! Something's wrong!"

A sense of crisis suddenly rose in his heart, and he quickly drew his wand to guard against any possible explosives.

Yes, he subconsciously believed that Muggle methods involved explosives.

However, he clearly underestimated the Purifiers, an organization that understood the wizarding world.

Lockhart was also looking down into the "can," which looked like a standard office with a lot of strange communication and office equipment, and the filing cabinets around it were piled up to the brim.

The only problem was that the guy sitting on the sofa right in the middle, smoking a cigar, was looking up at them with a sneer.

Boom!

With a violent tremor, the office floor rapidly crumbled and collapsed, sending the purgers and all the equipment and documents crashing down.

Smoke and dust billowed up, and cement and gravel flew everywhere.

In the dim light, one could see what appeared to be a huge snake pit beneath the office, filled with countless brown pythons as thick as an adult's thigh.

With a few dying screams, the Purifiers who fell were torn to pieces by the giant python, their blood and flesh splattering everywhere.

The Aurors, who were about to charge down the deformed staircase that extended downwards, immediately retreated cautiously upon seeing this scene.

"Clear and transparent!"

Auror Kingsley waved his wand and cast a spell, illuminating everything below. Only then did people realize that what lay beneath was not a snake pit, but a giant plant.

The "giant pythons moving around like meat grinders" are actually the root system of this plant.

"Magical plants?" Scrimgeour exclaimed in disbelief to Kingsley beside him, "Damn it, these Muggles are actually starting to use things from the magical world?"

Kingsley shrugged helplessly. "You have to understand, Muggles just can't cast spells, it doesn't mean they're idiots."

But now things are awkward.

Dumbledore specifically summoned them to handle this matter. Although it raises the issue of ordering his subordinates around, it also signifies that this magical master still believes such matters should be handled by the Aurors.

But they clearly have no way of proving that the Aurors can handle it well.

They were right under our noses, yet they still had the opportunity to commit suicide.

"what?"

Lockhart appeared out of nowhere, walked up the stairs, and peered down curiously. "They're still here!"

Scrimgeour knew, of course, that everyone could see the corpses were down there.

"No, what I mean is—" Lockhart, knowing what they were thinking just by looking at their expressions, explained, "I sensed a strong life force in these Purgers; this must be some kind of feigned death!"

Scrimgeour's expression changed. He might have doubted Lockhart's judgment before, but after experiencing one event after another, he had long since developed an acceptance of Lockhart's authority. He quickly asked, "Where?"

Lockhart frowned slightly, rubbing his wand carefully, then looked up at the corner where the wall and ceiling met. "There—"

Before he could finish speaking, Scrimgeour waved his wand rapidly.

Boom!

The Silent Curse's Shattering Curse.

The corner exploded instantly, splattering green blood.

Amidst the reinforced concrete, a plant's thick root system is exposed, oozing green sap.

"Strange!" Lockhart exclaimed in surprise, then gestured to the wall directly opposite him. "And this—"

Boom!

Another shattering spell.

However, it is still just a root system embedded in the cement wall.

"I can't believe they're everywhere here?" Lockhart scratched his head, looking at Scrimgeour with a hint of helplessness. "I'm sorry, I don't know everything. I really can't analyze this one, but I can guarantee that they're here, alive."

This scene undoubtedly piqued everyone's interest.

Everyone went down the stairs and came into the room to observe their surroundings.

"The problem must lie with this strange plant!" Sirius concluded. After thinking for a moment, he looked at Snape, knowing that this guy, who had achieved considerable success in potions, might know about this unfamiliar magical plant.

Snape frowned and shook his head. "I only recognize herbs, the herbs needed for Potions. I don't know all magical plants."

In fact, not only him, but even the three top wizards, Dumbledore, Grindelwald, and Voldemort, could not figure out what it was.

Seeing that he couldn't get help, Scrimgeour thought for a moment and then gave the order: "Dig up this entire magical plant! No matter what this mission is, it is not allowed to appear in the Muggle Marketplace!"

"Wait!" Grindelwald called out to him, gesturing towards a certain direction below. "There's a large amount of explosives buried there. You have to retrieve them first, otherwise, alerting this guy down there will only blow the entire mall to smithereens!"

The Death Eaters were also discussing how the Purifiers were now their mortal enemies, and that the current problems might be encountered again in the future.

Soon, someone tried to cast a flashback spell on the place, and something even more frightening appeared before everyone's eyes.

The condensed form of the thick smoke is a replay of the biomimetic events that occurred here before.

Suddenly, glaring warning lights flashed in the previously quiet office. A female secretary rushed to a monitor, glanced at it, and then whispered to her boss, who was smoking a cigar, "Boss, we detected the sound of flying broomsticks. According to the sound trajectory, there are nine of them, and they're all up there now!"

The leader of the purge made a swift decision: "Activate the final emergency response mechanism!"

Several people quickly went to a cabinet, rapidly pulled up the top shutter, and reported, "The floor will explode in 3 seconds!"

Then they all looked up at the ceiling, where the Aurors were performing a transformation spell, and what followed was the scene of them falling below.

Looking at these roots, which twisted and strangled all life like giant pythons, Tonks, an Auror, suddenly had a thought: "Could this monster not be a plant? But some kind of magical creature? Or even a creature of dark magic?"

Lockhart shook his head. "It's not a dark magic creature, I'm sure of that."

But whether it was a magical creature, he didn't know.

"The Purifiers are more dangerous than we imagined!" Grindelwald exclaimed, looking at Old Deng. "They've quietly grown to their current level while everyone else was ignoring them."

Monitoring the sound of flying broomsticks?

Do they also detect Apparition sounds and monitor FlooNet fireplaces in every corner?

After all, once they've analyzed wizards, it's not difficult for them to do these things.

Left hand: technological power; right hand: magical power —

Horrible!

Dumbledore's gaze was deep. He slowly exhaled, waved his wand, and summoned a series of small birds. "I think we need the help of some experts."

We need to figure out exactly what this tangled mess is—is it some kind of magical plant or magical animal?

The Elder Wand quickly tapped the birds that were circling around him, and a red feather grew on each bird's head. Then, the birds flapped their wings and flew away quickly into the distance.

The feather possessed the magic of a door key, capable of bringing experts directly to his side.

Lockhart watched him cast the spell with curiosity and amazement. "I know you invented the magical trick of using guardian spirits to help deliver messages, but how did you layer the magic of a door key on top of that guardian spirit?"

Dumbledore smiled and offered a hint: "The point isn't them, it's me."

I?

coordinate?

Lockhart immediately realized, "King's Cross Station?"

Dumbledore smiled and nodded, winking mischievously. "Another little trick for applying magic based on relationship magic."

Awesome!

Rather than being based on relationship magic, it's more accurate to say that different paths lead to the same goal. Old Dumbledore understands everything and has clearly incorporated some of Lockhart's magical concepts into his own spellcasting framework.

This is the significance of a magic master exploring and expanding various disciplines based on their own ideas—it truly generates so many wonderful collisions of wisdom.

Soon, one after another, renowned experts from the wizarding world arrived here.

Among them was someone Lockhart knew—a magical creature conservationist, Newt Scamander.

Newt was no longer the same person he had been in a wheelchair when they first met; he looked energetic and exceptionally healthy.

He nimbly climbed the wall, spat some saliva onto his fingers, and then rubbed them against the "python." He quickly concluded, "This is a plant, not an animal."

Industry specializing in surgery.

No one knows how Newt made that judgment.

Newt didn't know what to do with the magical plant in front of him.

This plant is clearly extremely rare; many experts and masters in the field of botany have come here, but none of them have reached a conclusion.

Several experts discussed and speculated whether this strange thing was a new breed cultivated by the purgers themselves.

Until Professor Pomona Sprout, Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, arrived.

"Merlin's pink nose ring!"

"The Clubhouse?" Professor Sprout exclaimed, looking at everyone in disbelief. "How dare you stay on top of the Clubhouse when it's active? Aren't you afraid of being swallowed by it?"

Her words clearly frightened many people; several wizards quietly moved aside, trying to run back to the rooftop and leave the room.

"The Clubhouse?" Lockhart asked curiously. "Is that its name?"

"Yes, its scientific name is Seed of Hope." Professor Sprout strode forward, pushed aside Scrimgeour who was blocking his way, and quickly waved his wand to cast a spell on the huge plant below.

"The water is as clear as a spring!"

The gushing spring water was drawn by magical power in mid-air, turning into a light rain that gradually poured down.

The huge, thick roots were wriggling rapidly, as if they were quickly absorbing the rainwater. This "irrigation" lasted for a full half minute, until the roots stopped moving completely and turned a gray color similar to cement.

Professor Sprout breathed a sigh of relief and explained to everyone, "In ancient times, it often appeared near wizards' magic houses, on those mountaintops where lightning flashed. Young wizards loved to use it as a toy to play hide-and-seek, so this plant that could help them hide was also called the Magic House."

Lockhart, seemingly lost in thought, then asked, "You just said its scientific name is 'Seed of Hope'?"

Professor Sprout waved and beckoned everyone to walk upwards, explaining as they went, "Many botanists originally thought this plant was extinct, but it was later discovered in some remote areas and played a significant role during the witch hunts."

"One of the most touching stories is about a pair of witch parents who hid their children in the Magic House to protect them from witch hunters. After the parents died, the children were found, and the plant was officially named the Seed of Hope."

Grindelwald chuckled in exasperation. "The plants that protected wizards during the witch hunts were not used effectively, but instead were used by these new-age witch hunters, the Purgers?"

"The Purifiers?" Professor Sprout exclaimed, then thought for a moment, "Perhaps it's because the Muggles discovered that the Clubhouse likes to absorb the energy dissipated by lightning, and they seem to have a way to create a stable electric current to feed this plant."

Soon, everyone returned to the rooftop.

After looking around for a while, Professor Sprout came to a corner where a small, foxtail-like weed was growing in a crack in the wall.

She took off her patched hat, covered the weed with her hands, and turned to explain to everyone, "Don't underestimate this little weed. It's the only stem and leaves in the Magic House. All the others you saw and those growing inside the walls are just its roots."

After a while, she gently opened her hat, rummaged through the dirt and dust on the ground, picked up a few white seeds the size of sesame seeds, counted them in her palm, and asked everyone, "How many people are there? My eyesight isn't very good, so I don't know if I missed any."

"Seven!" Scrimgeour quickly replied, rapidly assessing the number of enemies in the environment—a mandatory skill for Auror combat.

Professor Sprout lowered his head, counted in his palm again, and nodded. "That's it."

As she spoke, she gestured for Scrinker to come and take the seeds, saying, "Soak them in water, and they will grow back."

"Remember, find a big water tank, don't put it in a cup, there are seven people!"

Scrimgeour's expression turned strange as he stared incredulously at the few sesame seeds that had fallen into his palm. "You mean, these are the Purifiers from just now?"

"Isn't the magic house for hide-and-seek interesting?" Professor Sprout said with a smile.

"Yes—yes." Scrimgeour swallowed hard, looking at the few white sesame seeds in his palm that seemed like they could be blown away by the wind at any moment, and for some reason felt uneasy.

He felt that for a long time he was afraid to eat food with sesame seeds.

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