When Elena pushed open the oak door and walked in, the two old wizards in the room did not look at her immediately.
Dumbledore, who has just returned to the office, is not sitting behind the mahogany desk reading as he does most of the time. The old man is tapping his exquisite silverware that rotates and spits out smoke with his wand, seeming to be debugging and maintaining these magical "humidifications."
device".
Grindelwald, on the other hand, was teasing Fawkes, the phoenix, at the bird stand by the door, while replenishing food and water for Professor Dumbledore's big bird. The division of labor between the two seemed particularly harmonious and warm.
"Okay, I just have one question," Elena said after waiting patiently for half a minute, "Who forged my signature?"
Grindelwald seemed to want to help explain this question, but Dumbledore was the first to answer.
After such a long time, Dumbledore began to understand a truth:
There is no free substitute in this world - if you rely too much on others to help explain, you will pay a more painful price in the future.
Although "Ah No Dumbledore" is very useful when dealing with the Ministry of Magic, when dealing with the "Little Devil", Dumbledore is quite suspicious of the other party's position:
This is not the first time that two generations of Dark Lords, grandfather and grandson, have teamed up to plot against the poor, helpless and kind-hearted Headmaster of Hogwarts.
"This is the plan I requested, but the magic handwriting was done by Professor Apokalis." Dumbledore said.
"The announcement at the door of the auditorium was posted by Mr. Filch, but the specific actions and text were jointly drafted and confirmed by the prefects of Gryffindor House and Slytherin House - we only authorized it,
The reason why I signed your name is mainly based on the respect of the person who proposed the detailed rules."
Elena nodded noncommittally.
After she beat the toad happily, she was not so angry anymore.
She believed Dumbledore's explanation. As the recognized white wizard in the wizarding world today, even if the old man had some calculations, he would rarely deliberately shirk responsibility and confuse right and wrong - if it were Grindelwald, it would be different, old potato.
Like her, she is an artist who is good at speaking skills.
"I understand how you feel now, Elena."
Dumbledore said in a very soft voice, and before the girl could speak, he added another sentence.
"A few months ago, I had a similar shock - more than once."
"Oh, so you're going to continue this tradition? Rua?"
Elena said there was no sign of embarrassment or anger.
During this period of interaction, Dumbledore would occasionally respond with a "skinny" response - in fact, the old wizard was not a serious, old-fashioned elder. This kind of "tit for tat" education
The method is also very consistent with Elena's understanding of Dumbledore.
Of course, if Dumbledore doesn't give a reasonable explanation, he will soon know what the power of youth is.
"No, of course not..."
Seeing the threat in the eyes of the little witch in front of him, Dumbledore smiled helplessly.
Ever since Elena learned the "power of the ancient bull", she has become too dangerous in such a closed place.
"Forget it, let me explain -"
Grindelwald shook his head, took the initiative to take over the topic and spoke.
"Student activities at Hogwarts are coordinated by the deans. This is the result of our discussion before - if the announcement applied by the prefects of the two houses does not have your signature, your influence among the students may be reduced.
Big discount. And regarding the issue of 'secret duel', I don't think we can rely on the words of those young wizards. Instead of waiting for rumors to add fuel to the fire, it's better to show it clearly and directly."
"Well, is the situation so urgent that we can't even wait until get out of class is over today and then discuss it and decide at night?"
Elena frowned and her eyes fell on the accomplice who forged her signature.
"No, because Professor Umbridge is from Slytherin House," Grindelwald said. "By the time your class ends today, the senior official from the Ministry of Magic will have the reaction time to collect intelligence - this is the least variable."
This is the way to deal with it.”
The Ministry of Magic has always wanted to interfere with Hogwarts. This is something even the drunkards in the Leaky Cauldron know.
In the past few months, they have tried to install house elves and tried to win over full professors through vetting.
For this reason, Dolores Umbridge even lost her position as Senior Deputy Minister. Under such circumstances, even the Archanas could not confirm the extent of infiltration of the school - after all, there were nearly a thousand people in the castle.
Among all students, it is inevitable that there will be one or two "good" children who are attracted to them.
"Well, in theory, this is indeed the most reasonable thing to do."
Elena turned around and sat on the round table with claw-shaped corners in the center of the room.
She is not that kind of unreasonable childish girl. As one of the "Fools" of the Major Arcana, if Dumbledore and Grindelwald's decision-making is in line with the overall strategy, Elena doesn't have many ideas that can cause anger -
—After all, the validity of this signature is only "Elena Student".
As for the "three" bet she lost to Hermione because of this, Elena didn't think it was a bad thing, and she didn't suffer any loss anyway.
"Then, there is an unexpected situation now——"
Elena raised her thumb and gestured towards the closed oak door not far away.
"On my way here tonight, there seemed to be a toad behind me. Although I don't know what she wanted to do, I guessed it wouldn't be anything pleasant - she never took the initiative to attack, so I didn't
You know how to get the initiative mark..."
Umbridge can be said to be the most difficult and disgusting target Elena has ever encountered.
This is not only the disgusting character of the other party, but also her disgusting "witch ***" concept.
More importantly, no matter how provoked Umbridge is, she will never take action.
Due to the effect of Dumbledore and Grindelwald's "contract", Elena's response must be based on counterattack, and at this point Umbridge did not give Elena any chance to mark her "red name".
Apart from that surprise arrest, Umbridge hardly revealed many flaws.
Perhaps, this is also the reason why Cornelius Fudge trusts Umbridge. She knows how to play around the edges of the rules very well.
"Did you hear that, Albus?"
Grindelwald folded his hands and said with a nonchalant expression.
"Mr. Principal, it's time to go out for some activities. There are dangerous people lurking outside the corridor. In other words, if you can deal with the Ministry of Magic, I can reluctantly help you deal with the woman outside, as long as you allow me to clean up the trash in the castle.
——”
"Thank you, Professor Apokalis."
Dumbledore said, looking at the door thoughtfully and smiling.
"However, I don't think so, because Professor Umbridge seems to be planning to come in directly -"
Before Dumbledore could finish his words, the doorknob of the principal's office suddenly turned.
There wasn't any knock on the door.
Dolores Umbridge pushed open the door and barged in.
At the same time, the portraits of the male and female principals who pretended to be sleeping while Elena and the three were talking also "awoke" one after another.
With Dumbledore's guarantee, the portraits in the principal's office finally didn't have to be locked behind the curtain for a long time, but when Elena appeared in the room, most of them chose to stay asleep - after all, this little girl
It's too annoying and a little too dangerous.
And when "outsiders" appear in the principal's office, they can obviously move around freely.
"Okay," Umbridge said, as if she had been caught red-handed. "As expected, Professor Dumbledore——"
As she spoke, she glared at Elena with a vicious look like a poisonous snake.
Umbridge knew that the Ministry of Magic might not gain much advantage in this confrontation, but she at least thought of a way to scare the monkeys.
"You should know why I'm here, right?"
Umbridge said, she forced out a disgusting fake smile and said sweetly.
"After observing these days, I found that Hogwarts has made many attempts and has gone astray in terms of rules. The violent and uncertain student duels are on the one hand, but more seriously, some of them are beyond the standards.
The students obviously have—"
"Cough, cough! Cough!"
At this moment, a sudden cough interrupted Umbridge's voice.
Umbridge turned her head and looked in the direction of the source of the sound, still maintaining that false smile.
"Um...Professor Apokalis?"
"Sorry, Professor Umbridge, I think you came at the wrong time -"
Grindelwald grinned, a mirror-like smile appeared on his face, and continued speaking implicitly yet gracefully.
"As you can see, I am discussing matters with Professor Dumbledore and Miss Kaslana. According to the order of first come, first served, should you wait until the matter on my side is over before continuing to express your thoughts?
It’s not appropriate for you to do what you’re doing now.”
"Really? Then you can speak first, I'll be right next to you -"
Umbridge's eyes lingered on Grindelwald for a moment, she took out her notebook from her handbag and walked towards the sofa in the principal's office.
However, before she could take a step forward, an illusory wall of light suddenly erected in front of her eyes.
"What... do you mean? Mr. Paracelsus."
Umbridge's face darkened and she moved her right hand, but ultimately did not choose to pull out the wand.
"This is Hogwarts, the British wizarding world. You should know the 'Covenant of the Immortals', right?"
As a senior official of the Ministry of Magic, she certainly knew the true identity of "Otto Apocalypse".
Compared to Dumbledore, this ancient alchemist from Austria obviously didn't care much about obeying and respecting the laws of the magical government, but the British Ministry of Magic was not worried about him messing around. The International Federation of Wizards
Will have the power to control the immortals.
If these "elderly wizards" disrupt the order of magic, the Ministry of Magic of various countries will unite to have jurisdiction and review.
"Oh, I just wanted to ask a question-"
Grindelwald's smile continued, but there was no smile in his tone.
Unknowingly, the magic in the air began to stir, slowly accumulating the air in the room.
"Feel free to interrupt conversations between seniors..."
"Break into the room without knocking..."
"Being smart..."
Grindelwald walked towards Umbridge step by step with his hands behind his back.
Different from the previous confrontation in the foyer, this time she felt as if she was being targeted by some extremely cruel monster.
Even if Grindelwald didn't have any more threatening words and no more advanced magic, Umbridge still had difficulty breathing and was trembling unconsciously with cold sweat. Every time Grindelwald took a small step forward, she would
Subconsciously take a step back.
The invisible "aura" pushed Umbridge back, and finally pushed her outside the door of the principal's office.
puff.
The aura suddenly disappeared.
Umbridge fell to the ground outside the principal's office involuntarily.
Grindelwald looked down at the fat witch and asked gently at the end.
"Are you polite?"
boom!
The door to the principal's office was closed again.
Grindelwald turned around and said with a humorous look on his face.
"How's it going? I just..."
"So, why did you lock her out again?"
Before the old devil could say anything, Elena said angrily.
"Can't you just block her in a corner of the office and leave it to Professor Dumbledore to deal with, and let me go back to sleep first?"
"Well--"
"Forget it, let's leave it at that for now. I just have something else to say - add a layer of soundproof barriers."
Elena sighed helplessly, and after Dumbledore put down his wand, she continued unhurriedly.
"I plan to hand over the handle of 'The Hanged Man' to the Ministry of Magic, of course those who have been purged, and then find a way to have the Ministry of Magic detonate and complete the final redemption briefing, and by the way prepare for the subsequent werewolf reversal.
Conducting final personnel review.”
Elena paused, a meaningful look flashing in her eyes.
"Therefore, I hope that when you deal with Umbridge later, you can..."