The days at Hogwarts

After going up to the ninth floor underground, they saw Dumbledore waiting outside the door of the Department of Mysteries. There was no sign of Mad-Eye Moody; he seemed to have left.

Seeing them, Dumbledore withdrew his gaze from the elevator gate, put his derby hat back on his head, and asked, "How was the trial?"

"Don't mention it!" Arthur said bitterly, "Umbridge didn't mention the Muggle Protection Act at all. The other judges didn't know that a poor Muggle's butt was bitten into seven pieces, and Willy Weathersing didn't have to stay in Azkaban for a day!"

Dumbledore nodded and looked down at Hermione: "What did you learn from listening to a wizard trial, Hermione?"

Legal loopholes…discretion…

Many things flashed through Hermione's mind in an instant. She wanted to say something but couldn't seem to find the beginning. She didn't know where to start. She nodded, then shook her head.

Dumbledore seemed to smile but said nothing.

The elevator appeared with a clattering sound, and a group of people stepped into the elevator and went up along the shaft.

Without the intimidation of Mad-Eye, when they returned to the eighth floor underground, where the main hall was, there were strangers going up and down the elevator. Dumbledore and Hermione stopped talking.

For a moment, the only sound in the elevator was the cold woman's voice: "Seventh Floor, Department of Magical Sports and Games, including the British and Irish Quidditch League Headquarters, the Official Gobstone Club, and the Funny Products Patent Office."

"Sixth floor, Department of Magical Transportation, including the Floo Network Administration, Broomstick Management and Control, Portkey Office, and Apparition Testing Center."

Apparition?

Hermione's eyes changed and she glanced outside curiously.

Just then, a few paper planes whizzed into the elevator and flew slowly around the heads of several people. The light purple paper was stamped with the words "Ministry of Magic".

Arthur patiently explained, "Those are notes used to pass messages between departments. We used to use owls, but the mess was incredible...there was feces all over the desks."

Arthur suddenly remembered something and looked at Hermione enthusiastically: "I heard that you Muggles have a fax machine that can transmit letters to other places through electric current. Do you know how to do it? Can you tell me about it?"

Hermione leaned closer to Dumbledore. "It's not electricity, it's a signal. It's similar to the principle of a telephone. But I don't know the details."

"I really want to see it for myself. It's more magical than magic!"

Mr. Weasley seemed to have forgotten the unpleasantness just now and immersed himself in the surprise brought by the Muggle creation.

Hermione hesitated for a moment, but ultimately decided not to tell him about the email and the printer, as that would have been more complicated to explain.

The elevator continued to ascend, and the cold female voice continued to announce.

"Fifth floor, the Department of International Magical Cooperation, which includes the International Magical Trade Standards Association, the International Magical Law Office, and the British branch of the International Confederation of Wizards."

"Fourth floor, Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, including the Beasts, Aliens and Ghosts Office, the Goblin Liaison Office and the Pest Advisory Office."

"The third floor, the Department of Magical Accidents and Disasters, including the Accidental Magic Reversal Team, the Memory Deletion Command, and the Muggle Issues Mediation Committee."

"Let's go, the information we are looking for is on this floor." Dumbledore led Hermione out of the elevator.

Arthur was a little slow to wake up from his fax machine fantasy and hurried to catch up. He looked back and saw that the note paper planes were still circling the light.

"This is a note from the Transportation Department. There are only the Law Enforcement Department and the Minister's Office on it. This must be information sent to the Law Enforcement Department." Arthur said thoughtfully.

His expression immediately turned indignant again: "This time the efficiency is quite fast. It must be Umbridge's special instruction."

Dumbledore and Hermione both looked at him questioningly.

"It's about Willy Weathersing. We've just announced restrictions on his activities, and the Transport Department's document on adjusting his family's Floo network has been sent to the Law Enforcement Department. Umbridge wants to close the case quickly, and she..." Arthur pursed his lips and didn't say anything more unbearable.

The sentence was too light, the case was closed too quickly, and Umbridge deliberately favored the defendant. It is hard not to associate these things with power trading.

"Forget it, let's not talk about this." Arthur shook his head, getting rid of all the mess in his mind. "Dumbledore said you want to see Peter Pettigrew's information from the past. Come with me."

Hermione looked up at Mr. Weasley, then at Dumbledore. She seemed to understand something in an instant, and her face turned pale.

Arthur led them down a corridor with doors on both sides. Unlike the darkness and silence of the floors below, this floor had windows that let in bright sunlight, and there were many people coming and going.

"Those followers of the You-Know-Who were looking for revenge on Peter Pettigrew because they knew their master accepted Peter's advice to attack the Potter family." Arthur sighed softly, feeling a little depressed.

"Black was also hunting him, and when Peter Pettigrew was trapped on a crowded street corner, he used his wand to create an explosion, cutting off one of his right fingers to escape."

"That incident caused a big stir. An entire street of Muggles witnessed the scene, and twelve Muggles died on the spot. Barty Crouch at the time and Cornelius Fudge, who had not yet become the Minister of Magic, led the team to deal with the incident."

Hermione felt her heart was slowly freezing, and the temperature of her whole body was flowing there through her blood, bringing out more coldness.

Those bright rays of sunlight that came through the windows looked dead.

"Almost everyone in the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes has been dispatched, including the Accidental Time Reversal Team and the Memory Deletion Command—"

They turned a corner and came to a pair of heavy oak double doors with a sign above them: ARCHIVES ROOM.

Pushing open the door, Mr. Weasley said in a deep voice:

"Especially the Muggle Issues Mediation Committee. In order to cover up the disaster, they negotiated with the Muggle government for half a month, and finally issued a notice based on a series of traffic accidents and gas leaks."

The archive room is as large as a library, and the piles of old papers give off an oxidized, stale smell.

Thanks to the maintenance of magic, there was no stench of mold and insects, but when Hermione faced this room, her breathing suddenly became sluggish and difficult. It was as if all the water in the Black Lake poured into her body from the top of her head, gurgling, and then condensed into a cold hard block, pressing her so that she could not move her steps and dared not enter this archive room.

Dumbledore patted Hermione's shoulder and took her hand. The old man's warm palm made Hermione feel a little better.

She heard Dumbledore whisper to Mr. Weasley, "We won't go in. Arthur, could you please take out all the materials from that year? We want to find a place where no one will disturb us to read the materials."

Mr. Weasley seemed to scratch his head. "Of course, those materials have been there for many years. No one looked at them when Peter Pettigrew was arrested. Wait a moment, I will take you to my office. No one will disturb you there."

He turned and strode into the archives room, and came out a few minutes later...

With a kind of cold sadness, Hermione followed them up the stairs to a dark, shabby office.

In the narrow space, the filing cabinets filled with papers, car advertisements, and hand-drawn engine drawings all looked blurry and dim. All the sounds and images were separated from Hermione by an ice-like barrier. She was underwater, and those things were on the ice.

When Dumbledore placed a piece of paper from the file in front of her, a roar like a train suddenly sounded in the dim room, and the words on it were like the sword of Gryffindor, splitting the ice surface with a shocking force and shattering the ice in the girl's body.

List of victims:

... Emilia Morgan, Orlando Morgan ...

Chapter 248 I Will Not Forgive Any One

"Principal Dumbledore, they are Loren's parents, right?" Hermione asked hoarsely.

"I think so," Dumbledore said quietly, with infinite sadness in his voice.

Hermione's heart ached. She had no extra thoughts at the moment. She just wanted to go back to Loren and give him a hug with all her strength.

Arthur scratched his head and looked at the two of them in confusion: "Principal Dumbledore?"

Dumbledore shook his head at him without explaining anything.

……

At the exit of the Ministry of Magic Hall.

Arthur walked the two outside with a worried look on his face. He wanted to say something but didn't know how to express it.

He deduced something from the last name Morgan. Loren had found out Peter Pettigrew who was hiding in their house as soon as he entered school, and he had done a great favor to their family.

Ron's two best friends are Loren Morgan and Harry Potter.

Suddenly learning that Loren's parents died because of Sirius and Peter Pettigrew, one was their benefactor and the other was a companion of the Order of the Phoenix... Arthur didn't know how to describe his current thoughts and sighed all the way.

Dumbledore held the dazed Hermione by the hand and whispered, "That flying car has a loud horn. They always park it in the Forbidden Forest. Many animals hope to get rid of it as soon as possible."

Arthur looked stunned. "George and Fred said it was torn to pieces by the Whomping Willow—"

He suddenly reacted and said angrily: "Don't worry, professor, I will deal with this matter as soon as possible."

"Two naughty boys, I wonder how they managed to convince Percy to help hide it..."

Arthur muttered to himself until Dumbledore nodded at him and there was a crisp crackling sound in the air.

"boom!"

Dumbledore and Hermione disappeared on the spot. Arthur stared at the place where the two disappeared, and sighed after a long time.

"Merlin..."

Back in the headmaster's office, the crisp cry of the phoenix Fawkes brought Hermione back from her trance. She turned her head left and right unconsciously. The familiar furnishings made her feel her empty heart slowly settle back to reality.

"Principal, I want to find Loren." Hermione spoke, her voice very soft and ethereal, like the sound of the wind blowing through a canyon in the mountains.

"I want to talk to you first, Hermione." Dumbledore pursed his lips, grasped his wand, and waved a silver-white light out of the window.

Hermione heard a cry similar to Fawkes' outside the window, but she didn't think about what it meant.

"Professor, you say." Hermione stood upright beside the desk, her body as straight as a beech tree.

Dumbledore was silent for a moment. The little witch herself didn't realize that her unconscious body language was urging the conversation to end as soon as possible.

The old principal took off his hat and windbreaker, sat back at his desk, poured her a cup of steaming hot black tea, and used actions to guide the little witch to relieve her worried and confused emotions:

"There is a deep bond between you and Loren. I know you care about Loren very much. Because of this care, we need to make plans for some things."

Hermione's mind was in a mess because of the news she had just learned. She didn't have time to think carefully. She looked up blankly and asked, "What do you mean?"

"I don't know if you've noticed, but the bloodshot in Sirius' eyes hasn't gone away. Madam Pomfrey told me that he hasn't had a good night's sleep since he came to Hogwarts." Dumbledore filled two more cups of tea, placing one in front of him and leaving the other aside.

"You mean, Loren cast a curse on Professor Black?" Hermione's face turned even paler.

Dumbledore's azure eyes glowed with an inexplicable light, and his eyes were deep: "It's not a curse. In order not to alarm Loren, I did not remove the strange magic hidden in Sirius, but I can feel that it will not kill him."

For some reason, Hermione felt relieved but also more worried, and a layer of mist appeared in her eyes.

Even though the person who killed Loren's parents was right in front of him, he still maintained restraint when casting the spell.

Thinking of this, Hermione felt as if her heart was like taffy, being stretched, twisted, and bent... She felt so heartbroken.

Dumbledore, who was also in a complicated mood, took a sip of tea and spoke carefully: "I would like to ask you to help mediate the hatred between Loren and Sirius. At least, at least appease Loren... I hope he is willing to accept Sirius' compensation."

"Professor," Hermione looked at him pointedly, "I can't agree to this."

Since entering Hogwarts, Hermione has always had sincere respect for the school's professors, but this time, she rejected the headmaster's request without hesitation.

"Loren's parents were murdered. We can't, shouldn't, and can't make any decisions for him lightly, even if it's for his own good."

Dumbledore wanted to persuade him again, but Hermione did not give him a chance to speak. She said seriously and solemnly: "Professor, those are his parents! They were murdered."

Dumbledore was stunned and could not say anything else.

The headmaster's office fell into silence. Dumbledore had flipped the portraits of past headmasters on the wall. Fawkes huddled in the Sorting Hat on the shelf, only occasionally poking his head out to look at the two of them. The silverware of various shapes on the desk was also put away, leaving a space.

Hermione still didn't get what she wanted. She saw Dumbledore get up and enter the compartment, pick up a stone basin, walk to the table, and put it on the empty space for silverware.

A shallow stone basin, with mysterious runes carved on the edge, the form of the flowing things inside is between liquid and gas, like a piece of bright silver, like clouds and flowing water, constantly rotating, gathering, and dispersing, like ripples on the deep surface. It is light transformed into liquid, and like wind condensed into solid.

"This is the Pensieve. I thought Harry might have told you that I once took him to visit some memories of the last time the Chamber of Secrets was opened," said Dumbledore.

If it were Hermione at ordinary times, she might have asked some questions about the principles of magic with great interest, or tried to identify the runes engraved on the outside of the stone basin.

But now, Hermione just raised her head and looked at Dumbledore with a questioning look.

Just then, there was a knock on the door, and Sirius' voice came from outside the door: "Principal Dumbledore, it's me!"

"Please come in."

"Is there anything you asked your Patronus to call me for?" Sirius walked in from outside, panting. His clothes were messy. Although there were red bloodshot in his eyes, he was in good spirits.

Hermione guessed that he was just playing with Harry, Ron and the others, maybe riding a flying motorcycle and chasing a flying car.

The little witch looked at him with burning eyes, and it was hard for Sirius not to notice: "Hey! Miss Granger, why are you looking at me like that?"

Hermione did not answer, and Dumbledore took over the conversation and asked him to sit in front of the cup of cold black tea: "Sirius, we need your memory about Peter Pettigrew blowing up the street and killing twelve Muggles."

Sirius also noticed the Pensieve on the table at this time, and he was a little confused.

"Wormtail? That was 12 years ago. What happened?"

Out of complete trust in Dumbledore, Sirius expressed his doubts while pulling out his wand from his robes and placing the tip of the wand against his temple, trying to draw out that memory from his mind.

The memories he extracted were somewhat strange. Looking at the silver-white color on the tip of the wand with strands of blood-like red in the middle, Sirius frowned and said, "Why is this happening? Did the Dementors mess up my brain?"

Dumbledore looked at the streak of blood with a complicated expression. What a delicate soul magic, what a brilliant design and ingenuity...

He took the wand and swung it a few times, and the blood-red impurities dissipated into the air.

Then he added the silvery-white substance into the meditation basin, and without any hindrance, it merged with the original substances in the basin. They slowly rotated in the basin, emitting a faint glow.

"Where do I begin?" Sirius looked up at Dumbledore.

"Come on, you go in first." Dumbledore sighed, "Let's take a walk on that street full of misfortune."

Sirius picked up the cold tea on the table and swallowed it in one gulp, then leaned forward and plunged into the silver substance.

Hermione looked up and saw Dumbledore nodding to her encouragingly. Hermione suppressed her accelerating heartbeat, took a deep breath, and followed the same move as before.

She felt her feet leave the ground of the office, and in front of her eyes was a spinning darkness. She kept falling, falling... Suddenly, deafening hawking sounds came from all directions. When she adapted to it, Dumbledore landed next to her.