My Hogwarts has a serious problem.

Chapter 52. The Missing Fox

All the young wizards of Hogwarts were housed in the Great Hall.

The attackers chose their timing very cleverly, all during the time when Professor Dumbledore was away from the castle.

Apart from Professor McGonagall, who was in the Great Hall supervising the students, all the other professors were searching for the unknown killer throughout the castle.

Apart from Defense Against the Dark Arts professor Adrian Fox.

He seemed to have vanished into thin air in the castle; he could not be found anywhere.

At a corner of the stairs on the second floor of the castle, Snape encountered Professor Flitwick.

"Did you find anything, Severus?"

Snape shook his head: "No, I didn't find a single stranger."

"What about Adrian? Have you found him?"

Snape gave a cold laugh.

"He may have already fled to avoid punishment."

Professor Flitwick frowned: "I know you had disagreements back then, but it's best not to jump to conclusions before you have concrete evidence. You're not one of those immature students."

"Of course I will make my own judgments; you don't need to teach me that, Flitwick."

Leaving aside the professors who are searching the castle.

Inside the hall, the young wizards were still chattering amongst themselves.

Lynn frowned, ignoring the rumors and focusing intently on the task the system had just given him.

[Breaking Mission: Rescue Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor Adrian Fawkes!]

[Mission Description: Your most respected professor is currently in danger, but everyone is questioning him. Only you believe in his innocence, and only you can help him!]

[Mission Reward: Randomly select one talent from Adrian Fox.]

"Do me a favor."

Lynn suddenly spoke to Cedric and Ian.

"What do you want to do?" Cedric suddenly had a bad feeling.

"I'm leaving the Great Hall for a while. If anyone notices I'm gone, please cover for me and say I went to the bathroom or something. But if I don't return in three hours, please immediately report my sneaking out to Professor McGonagall."

"What are you going out for? It's so dangerous inside the castle! You can't go out right now!" Cedric grabbed Lynn's arm anxiously.

Lynn looked at him solemnly.

"I have a reason to go out. Don't worry, I'm terrified of dying, so trust me, I'll be fine."

Lynn's eyes were resolute, and Ian patted Cedric on the shoulder.

"Trust him, let him go."

Cedric didn't insist; he let go and gritted his teeth.

"You mustn't push yourself, Lynn."

Lynn smiled at them and made a promise.

"I won't."

He then turned around and secretly ran out of the auditorium.

After leaving the hall, he did not linger in the castle. He walked straight out of the castle along the corridor.

It was pitch black outside the castle; dark clouds obscured the starry sky, and a light drizzle was falling from the sky.

"Waterproof and moisture-proof."

He cast a waterproof spell on his robes and then plunged into the night without hesitation.

He still remembered the Marauder's Map that the Weasley brothers had shown him that afternoon.

Professor Fox was last seen in Hagrid's cabin.

Lynn used the Wand Illumination Charm and jogged along the rugged dirt road to Hagrid's hut.

Hagrid's cabin door was tightly closed, and it was pitch black inside, clearly indicating that no one was there.

But Hagrid's hound, Tooth, remained in the yard, restless and barking wildly toward the Forbidden Forest.

Looking at the trail of large footprints on the path leading to the Forbidden Forest, Lynn could roughly guess where Professor Fox and Hagrid had gone.

He didn't rush into the forbidden forest rashly, as that would be tantamount to suicide. He approached the barking dog, Ya Ya, which was chained to the door and barking incessantly, and whispered.

"I want to go to the Forbidden Forest to find Hagrid and the others. Can you take me there?"

As if understanding Lynn's meaning, Ya Ya stopped barking, wagged its tail, and took the initiative to bite its chain and hand it to him.

Lynn unchained Tooth, and it then carried Lynn in a wild dash toward a direction deep within the Forbidden Forest.

Push it forward a little bit.

That afternoon, just as Lynn encountered the Weasley brothers in the castle.

Hagrid kept his promise and prepared to take Professor Fox into the Forbidden Forest to find a red hat.

"It's a pity that Tooth's illness hasn't completely healed yet, otherwise it would definitely be easier for us to bring it along," Hagrid said regretfully before entering the Forbidden Forest.

Professor Fox didn't care about this.

"I believe in your abilities, Hagrid. You've been the gamekeeper here for decades. With you here, I don't think it will be difficult for us to find anything."

"Haha, don't flatter me like that, Fox." Although Hagrid said this, it was clear that he was quite pleased with Professor Fox's compliments.

As they prepared to enter the Forbidden Forest, Hagrid glanced at the sky with some concern.

"The weather isn't very nice today; I'm worried it might rain later."

"Don't you always carry an umbrella?" Professor Fox smiled and pointed to the small pink umbrella in Hagrid's hand. "Besides, damp weather is good for us; the Red Hats love going out in this kind of environment."

Hagrid instinctively hid the small red umbrella in his hand, his eyes darting around, before changing the subject.

"In that case, let's set off."

The two of them entered the Forbidden Forest together, following the path Hagrid had always taken to enter it, gradually venturing deeper from the outer edges.

"We can't just look for Foxes randomly. Do you know what those little guys' habits are like? You said they like damp places? Then we can go to the riverbank and take a look."

Professor Fox shook his head, a mysterious smile on his face, and pulled out a worn silver cup from somewhere.

"No need for that. I have a cup that those little creatures used to use. We can use it to find their kind."

As soon as Fox finished speaking, he cast a spell on the cup in his hand.

"To become visible and traceable."

A blue light emanated from his wand, circled the silver cup, and then pointed in a certain direction within the Forbidden Forest.

Professor Fox's body seemed to tremble slightly, and anyone could hear the excitement in his voice.

"Aha! He was hiding here after all!"

Hagrid looked at Professor Fox and sensed something was wrong; a chill ran down his spine.

"Hagrid, you're falling behind. Hurry up and catch up with me," Professor Fox said, leading the way.

Hagrid snapped out of his daze, thinking it was just his imagination, and quickened his pace to follow behind him.

Finally, we're going to fill in the gaps left by Professor Fox! Hooray!

(End of this chapter)