Hogwarts and the Holy Grail War

Dumbledore looked at his colleagues who were all preoccupied with their own thoughts, a hint of helplessness flashed in his eyes, and he reached out and gently knocked three times on an obsidian slab on the iron door.

A face that looked neither human nor human appeared on the stone slab, and asked in a harsh metallic voice:

"Who is here? What's the matter?"

"We are professors from Hogwarts, and we are here to look for a Hogwarts student," Dumbledore answered simply and concisely.

"Wait a moment. We need to ask the head of the family about this matter first." The face on the stone slab faded away, then resurfaced after a moment, with a more human tone in his voice:

"Sorry to have kept you waiting. Please come in."

The iron gate opened to both sides.

Several people walked along the granite stone road towards the mansion in the center of the sea of ​​flowers. They all had sullen faces and did not say a word along the way. Even Garrick, who had always been very interested in flowers and plants, had no interest in taking a second look at the flowers on the roadside.

Perhaps the closer we get to the truth, the more afraid we become of facing the truth that we least want to face.

A middle-aged man in a dark green tuxedo stood at the door of the mansion, smiling and bowing to the few people, saying hello:

"Welcome, professors. Your presence here is a real honor to my humble home."

This person is the current head of the Volley family, Alexios Volley.

"We are honored to be granted permission to visit your house, Mr. Worley."

Dumbledore and Alexios exchanged a few pleasantries and then got down to business:

"In fact, we don't come here for no reason. This time we came here to ask for your help."

"I know, but it would be too rude of me to keep waiting for you at the door. Let's go in and sit down and have a good chat." Alexios turned around and walked into the house with a polite smile on his face.

At the same time, in a sunny room on the second floor of the mansion, Cassandra Worley sat on the bed. In front of her was an open dark blue square box, in which was neatly folded a robe that was not her size.

This was the robe Ethan had given her before. She did not throw it away because it was too tattered. Instead, she repaired the scratched parts with various spells and cleaned them, then carefully put them away. She did not throw away the potions and other items she had taken out of the pocket of the robe. Some of them were stored at the bottom of the box, and some were carried with her.

She didn't know why she did this. At the beginning, she would occasionally think, "He doesn't want it anymore, so just throw it away." But as time went on, she became more and more reluctant to throw these things away.

Cassandra kept stroking the robe and finally sighed.

I feel so confused.

In the reception room, several professors sat on the soft sofas on both sides of the coffee table, and Alexios sat in the middle armchair that showed his status as the head of the family.

"Everyone, please use it."

Alexios' wife, Myrrine Vole, gave each professor a cup of tea and then left the room.

Although this can be done by using magic to have the tea served automatically or by having the house-elves do it, it would show the host's importance to the guests if he personally served them tea.

Especially since the guests are respected professors teaching at Hogwarts, there is no reason to disrespect them.

"I wonder what you all want from me?" Alexios asked slowly, taking a sip of tea.

He thought the Hogwarts student that Dumbledore was talking about was his daughter Cassandra.

"I'm sorry, I was a little unclear just now and Mr. Volley misunderstood, but we are not here to look for Miss Volley." Dumbledore replied calmly, as if he was the master of this house.

"Oh, but my daughter didn't bring any friends back these two days?" Alexios raised his eyebrows.

"It's like this, Mr. Wallace. The student we are looking for is a male with short black hair, an Asian face, and about six feet tall. Have you ever seen such a young man?" Professor Figo asked first.

"This..." Alexios hesitated, and the expression on his face was very interesting.

What did they mean? Students, and boys? Could it be that Cassandra had secretly brought her boyfriend home and started having affairs with him?

Don't do that! My daughter is dating so early. She even said she wanted to marry me when she was little. Even if she grows up and reaches the age of falling in love, she should wait at least another ten years!

Wait, it might not necessarily be Cassandra. It could also be that... Myrrine kept a gigolo without her knowing?

That kind of thing is even more unacceptable!

"He may have done many things that offend you or your family. I apologize to you here first, but please hand him over to us for punishment."

Seeing Alexios' face turning pale and red, Snape thought his guess was right: Ethan really had offended them and was locked up, so Alexios' face didn't look very good when talking about Ethan, so he quickly added with a cold face.

This is just to get things done here quickly and return to Hogwarts. It's definitely not because I'm worried about Ethan's safety!

"I understand your thoughts and concerns, but I'm sorry, I've never met such a young man." Alexios retracted his imagination and smiled bitterly, "Could you please explain the whole story to me in detail, professors?"

The most important thing now is to find out what is going on. You can't solve the problem just by relying on your own random thoughts. You still have to listen to them tell you the whole story.

"Of course, let me explain it." Professor Garrick took over the conversation almost anxiously and began to tell the story.

At the same time, on the second floor of the mansion, Myrrine knocked gently on Cassandra's door: "Cassie?"

"What's wrong, Mom?" Cassandra asked, sitting at her desk, shifting her gaze from the Latin textbook in front of her to her door.

"There are guests at home, and they seem to be here to see you. Don't you want to go down and take a look?" Myrrine asked through the door.

"Guest, looking for me? Who is it?" Cassandra frowned.

"They are the professors from Hogwarts. Your father is entertaining them in the living room now. Do you want to go out and take a look?"

"Professor? What do they want to ask me?" Cassandra muttered, and then raised her voice and replied:

"Okay, Mom, wait a minute, I'll be right out."

Cassandra stood up from the desk, took off the ill-fitting robe she was wearing, blushed, folded it as quickly as possible and put it back in the box, then picked out a short coat and put it on. Then she patted her chest to calm her throbbing heart, and walked towards the door leisurely.

In the reception room, Alexios listened patiently to Professor Garrick's explanation, and his heart was relieved. He took a sip of black tea slowly and spoke slowly:

"I roughly understand the whole story: it may indicate that Mr. Ethan's location points to our home, so you all came to visit."

"This may be difficult for you to accept, but this is our only clue at the moment." Professor Figo smiled awkwardly, "I am extremely sorry for coming to bother you just because of such an unreliable clue."

"No, I don't doubt the professors. On the contrary, I trust what they say." Alexios waved his hand and said, "After all, this student has been missing for nearly a week, and he may be involved in the matter of the dark wizard. It concerns his safety, so we must not miss any possibility."

"I understand the professors' anxiety at the moment. After all, I am also a father. If the missing person was my precious daughter, I would not be able to react calmer than you professors."

"But I still say that I haven't seen this Mr. Ethan at home in the past few days. If the professors still have doubts, they can search my house. Of course, I don't think we can get the results you want."

"Thank you very much, Mr. Volley." Professor Dumbledore nodded, "Then please accompany us to start the search."

This was not to push the issue too far. Seeing that Alexios was easy to talk to, he made another rude request. Dumbledore said this, on the one hand, to show that what they were going to do was completely open and transparent, and they were not afraid of Alexios seeing it; on the other hand, having an insider of the Wally family accompany them in the search would also make them feel relieved, and at the same time, having someone to guide them would save a lot of trouble.

"Of course, so where should we start?" Alexios put down the teacup in his hand and stood up from the armchair.

"Severus?" Dumbledore turned his head and glanced at Snape.

"Wait a moment, Mr. Wallace." Snape took out the parchment with the location marked on it and unfolded it on the coffee table, then tapped it with his wand:

"Please indicate the direction."

A black arrow suddenly appeared on the empty parchment. The arrow swayed back and forth a few times and then stopped in the southeast-southeast direction.

A red dot appeared almost at the tip of the arrow, flashing continuously, and moving slowly towards the arrow at a speed imperceptible to anyone, with a tendency to split into two.

"We just need to follow the direction of this arrow." Snape explained briefly.

crunch--

The door of the reception room suddenly opened gently, and Cassandra greeted the people in the reception room at the door with grace and grace:

"Dad, and professors, sorry to bother you all. Is there anything the professors can talk to me about?"

The black arrow on the parchment suddenly moved, making an alarm sound so sharp that it was almost piercing, pointing to Cassandra's location.

The professors' and Alexios' eyes suddenly became sharp when they looked at the parchment. After a brief pause, they all turned their gazes to Cassandra.

"Why, what's wrong?" Cassandra felt a little uneasy at being stared at like a needle, and asked with a guilty conscience, "Why are you looking at me like that? I shouldn't have done anything wrong."

The professors came to my house and made such a big scene, and my usually kind father was also acting abnormally...

Could it be that the professors had discovered what happened between him and Ethan in the Forbidden Forest?

-

It’s the usual time for the heroine’s picture, this time it’s the casual clothes mentioned in Chapter 200.

Chapter 220 Don’t blame yourself for this, be proud of it instead

Cassandra sat on the sofa, feeling uncomfortable under everyone's unfriendly gazes.

"Miss Wally, we have told you the whole story. Could you please explain to us why the arrow points to your location?" Snape asked with a stern face, his eyes that seemed to be able to pierce people's hearts swept over Cassandra.

Dumbledore had just briefly explained to Cassandra why they came here, but he only briefly mentioned that Ethan escaped from Hogwarts and that they were just here to catch a truant student. He did not mention the possibility of a confrontation with the Salamanders.

After all, this matter has a lot to do with the dark wizard, so it's better not to let her, a student, get involved in such matters.

But seeing how unnatural Cassandra looked after hearing the explanation, maybe she really knew something.

But Snape didn't think of using Legilimency to spy on Cassandra's heart. Such a wizard family with some background would definitely let their family members carry some props to prevent spying. If he rashly used Legilimency on Cassandra, causing the prop to be triggered and causing them to feel resentful, then the gain would outweigh the loss.

"Actually..." Cassandra avoided Snape's sharp gaze intentionally or unintentionally, and stammered, "Actually, it was Ethan who... gave me two bottles of potion before."

As she spoke, she took out the two bottles of Edrus potion she had in her pocket and placed them on the coffee table, adding in a low voice, "These are them. I always carry them with me."

Although it was good that they didn't find out what happened in the Forbidden Forest, and she was relieved, she also understood why they found this place: Ethan had given her all the ampoules with the locating spell along with his robes that night in the Forbidden Forest, and she was still carrying a few bottles of Edrus potion that Ethan had given her, so the arrow pointed to her.

But even so, she couldn't explain to the professors why Ethan gave all the potions to her. No matter what excuse she gave, it would be too blunt. She could only hope that they wouldn't delve too deeply into this issue, otherwise if they found the box in her room...

Snape picked up the bottle and shook it in front of his eyes, then opened the bottle cap and sniffed the potion inside. He nodded to the other professors and confirmed, "Yes, the bottle is mine, and the potion inside is the work of Ethan during that remedial class."

"Hiss——" Everyone took a deep breath when they heard this, and the expressions on their faces were wonderful.

Some people were at a loss whether to laugh or cry because they had expected this development to happen.

Some people were frowning and calculating their next move because the clues were broken again.

Some people began to feel dejected because they confirmed that Ethan was a two-timing scumbag.

"That Ethan, why did he give these things to you?" Alexios also picked up a bottle of Edrus potion and looked at it carefully. He was surprised to find that the quality was quite good. His evaluation of Ethan unconsciously went up a level.

"Ethan and I are friends. Isn't it normal for friends to give each other gifts?" Cassandra pretended to be calm and evasive.

"That's right..." Alexios nodded, agreeing with Cassandra's statement.

But I always feel like something is wrong, what is it?

"...That's not right." Snape, who was looking at the parchment, suddenly frowned and spoke.

"What's wrong, Professor Snape?" Cassandra's heart skipped a beat and she asked.

"Look at these spots of light." Snape pointed at the parchment and said in a deep voice, "I just took a closer look and found that they split into two at some point. Although they are very close, they are indeed two."

"What's wrong with two? Aren't there just two bottles here?" Professor Garrick was a little confused.

"No, it has nothing to do with quantity. I specifically point this out because I made a distinction in the display method at the time: those above me who are more than six feet higher than me are red dots of light, those below me are blue, and those within six feet of me are white - mainly to distinguish whether they are on the same floor. Look carefully here, the red dots of light suppress most of the white dots of light."

Professor Snape's eyes flashed with a gleam, and he looked at Cassandra meaningfully: "And you may not have noticed that just before Miss Wallace came in, there was indeed only one light spot on it. That is to say, just now, some human force separated the ampoules that were originally placed together. Do you have any clues about this, Miss Wallace?"

"I……"

Cassandra rarely felt a little nervous. Although it was true that she was usually very strong, that was ultimately limited to the attitude between her peers. The pressure from professors and parents could be regarded as a dimensionality reduction attack on her as a student.

She was almost at her limit now. If she continued to ask questions, sooner or later she would be unable to withstand the pressure and would blurt out everything that happened that night.

By then, the relationship between myself and Ethan would be even more difficult to explain.

thump—

Suddenly, there was a dull sound of something falling from upstairs, attracting everyone's attention.

Cassandra's body trembled slightly.

Her room was directly above the living room, and the sound came from her room.

Several people noticed that Cassandra was different and looked at each other quickly.

Could it be... that it's really Ethan?

Several people looked at Alexios, asking for his opinion with their eyes. Alexios nodded, stood up and hurried upstairs with a group of professors.

Cassandra also followed the professor in a panic. Although she didn't know what was going on, she always had a bad feeling.

"What's wrong?!" Alexios pushed... no, to be more precise, he broke the door open.

A house-elf was standing blankly on the floor, with an overturned cyan box in front of him. Various potions, dung bombs, Gobstones, and Filibuster fireworks were all rolling on the floor. Of course, the robe that did not belong to Cassandra was also spread out on the floor in a mess.

The parchment that Snape was holding between his hands made another inopportune sound. The red light spot on it changed from red to white, and the arrow pointed directly at the pile of messy things on the ground.

Cassandra's face quickly turned ugly.

She had come out in a hurry just now and forgot to hide the box back into the suitcase.