When Joel opened his eyes again, he had already stepped on the luxurious carpet in the office. The setting sun outside the window was casting its last rays of light on the earth without hesitation, and the cubicle where they were was silent.
"This is..." Joel had never been to this compartment before, and his first reaction when he came to a strange environment was to protect Haylis in his arms.
Fox threw them aside, put his paws on the bookshelf and looked up at the sky at an angle of 45 degrees. His obsidian eyes were particularly eye-catching.
"This is Professor Dumbledore's dormitory. Please take a rest for now." Professor McGonagall got up from the ground and straightened her messy bun. "The principal is having a meeting with the school directors."
Professor Flitwick patted the dust on his body and conjured several wooden chairs for everyone.
Joel sat on a chair and observed Professor Dumbledore's dormitory, a single bed with purple sheets and purple quilt cover... This was the first time that Joel realized that Dumbledore liked purple so much. The large wardrobe was tightly closed and under the bed
There are several pairs of boots of different styles on display, and there are also several well-growing plants on the windowsill.
At this time, the arguments outside the cubicle became louder and louder.
"Dumbledore!" It was the voice of Hayley's father, Mr. Selwyn, "I'm warning you, don't go too far!"
"My son and daughter are uncertain whether they are alive or dead underground. How did you become the principal of Hogwarts!"
"Don't be too nervous," it was Mr. Rozier's voice, "Bernie and Haylis will definitely be fine."
Dumbledore's voice was low and magnetic, "Selwyn, I have to admit that the whole thing was a dereliction of duty on my part, but it was not what I wanted. I also have two professors who went underground, and they will definitely take care of it."
This question."
"I don't quite understand Mr. Malfoy's approach," Dumbledore continued, his tone calm, as if he was discussing with someone whether to eat stew or fried fish tonight, "If you hadn't pulled
I insist on convening a school board meeting, and I should also be underground helping students out of trouble."
"Dumbledore," Lucius Malfoy finally revealed his true face, gently twitching his lips with a winning smile, "we, the ten school directors, received the news and came here just for your position as the principal."
"As of today, a total of one faculty member and two students have been petrified, one employee has recovered after being injured, and five students and one professor are missing." Lucius took out a document from his pocket,
"This has exceeded the bottom line of our tolerance. This is the vote to remove you from your position as principal. Please take a look at it, all school directors."
Four of the school directors signed their names on the document without even looking at it. The remaining few looked at each other in confusion, and everyone could not make up their mind.
"This is a very vicious and hurtful incident!" Malfoy knew that several of the school directors were neutrals. They did not favor either Dumbledore or Malfoy. What Malfoy had to do was to put pressure on them.
"We have not warned Dumbledore before, but he did this? Regardless, the prevention and control measures on campus did not protect the safety of students at all!"
"Even at this critical juncture, he has to go to the United States on the other side of the ocean to speak at an international conference!" Lucius Malfoy was proud. He was absolutely sure that he could pull Dumbledore down this time. "This
As a result, he failed to rush back to Hogwarts immediately to deal with cases of missing students and injured staff. Isn't this dereliction of duty?"
Several neutral school directors were also shaken. They thought for a moment and signed the vote, "Albus, you have too many responsibilities. It's not that I doubt your ability to work, but you don't seem to be able to take care of them at the same time."
When dealing with such busy matters, it might not be a bad idea to take a short break.”
The head of the Selwyn family did not hesitate to sign his name on it, "If anything happens to Haylis and Bernie underground, I will never be done with you, Dumbledore!"
"This is the only remaining direct bloodline of my Selwyn family! Do you really want our Selwyn family to die out?" Mr. Selwyn became furious every time he thought about this.
The head of the Greengrass family was still trying to smooth things over, "Should everyone be calmer? Haven't there been no fatal accidents yet? Those employees and students have all been petrified. Wait another two months for the mandrake to fully mature.
We can make potions, and then we can not only save these students, but also find information about the murderer."
Dumbledore took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. He had no choice but to do this. The long journey back to Hogwarts from New York without stopping had consumed most of his magic power. Even if he followed several professors to the underground, he would still be able to help.
With nothing to do, he simply let his pet Fox go underground and try to bring the students and professors to the surface safely.
There was a gentle knock on the door leading to the compartment.
Professor Dumbledore was stunned for a moment, and quickly used magic to sense his pet, feeling overjoyed.
He opened the door and saw that his students and professors were all sitting on their chairs. Professor McGonagall's hair was still as neat as before, but the emerald green robe was covered with dust, and her previous serious face softened a little.
, Fox was still sitting on the bookshelf, looking up at the sky, pretending to be melancholy.
"Gentlemen," Dumbledore breathed out, "the students and professors have all returned and are safe and sound."
"What?" Mr. Selwyn reacted fiercely to this. He rushed forward and saw his daughter being held in the arms of Joel, and his son Bernie lying on the ground unconscious with a broken leg.
left arm.
But it's okay, at least he's not dead.
Mr. Selwyn lost his previous calmness and took Haylis out of Joel's arms.
"Dad..." Hailis couldn't help but feel a little guilty when she saw her father's red eyes and haggard face. "I wasn't hurt at all. Joel protected me very well."
She also didn't forget to take credit for her boyfriend.
"What? How is it possible..." Lucius rushed up after hearing the news. He couldn't believe it. How could someone escape from the secret room? Is it possible...
"Mr. Malfoy, what do you mean?" Lockhart looked pale. He stood up and straightened his back. "Is it possible that you want us to die underground?"
Lucius gritted his teeth and denied it, and forced the corners of his mouth to curve, "Of course not. I'm really happy to see that you all are safe and sound."
He knew that the long-planned operation to force him to be imprisoned had completely failed. The injuries to several students were not serious and could not be used as evidence to impeach Dumbledore.
"That's great." The head of the Greengrass family also had a smile on his face. The Greengrass family has shops all over Europe. They uphold the principle of making money through harmony. As long as the problem is not serious, they can just pretend that nothing happened. "Everyone is in harmony.
It would be nice to sit down and talk."
Professor Flitwick moved the chair out of the dormitory. Hayley wanted to go to Joel, but was held back by Mr. Selwyn.
"You haven't applied any medicine to your wound yet," he said without explanation, "I'll help you stop the bleeding, and we'll go directly to St. Mungo's later."
Joel and Lockhart spoke as representatives and truthfully informed them of everything that happened underground.
"You said it was all Bernie's fault?" Mr. Selwyn became furious after hearing this. He looked at Bernie who was slumped on the chair and unconscious next to him, and cast a spell of clear water like a spring.
Hit my son directly in the face.
The strong flow of water woke Bernie up from his sleep. He wiped his face, his eyes were unfocused, and he glanced around at the people around him. Only then did he react when he saw his father's gloomy face.
"You traitor!" Mr. Selwyn went up and slapped him in the face, making Bernie's eyes shine with stars.
"Selwyn!" Rozier quickly stepped forward and pulled his friend down, "Calm down and don't hit the child!"
"You are a guy who has failed to achieve anything but failed!" Mr. Selwyn slapped his son in public and he was so angry that he fainted. Thinking about it carefully, it was indeed rude. He calmed down and sat on the chair, his chest heaving violently, obviously angry.
Not light.
"Mr. Selwyn," Dumbledore said in a gentle tone, with the black notebook with a big hole poked in the middle in front of him, "Can you tell me how you and this Riddle established... a friendship?
?”
Dumbledore thought for a moment and chose the word friendship.
"I..." Bernie hesitated for a moment. Seeing the overwhelming anger on his father's face, he still revealed everything. He believed that he had no real friends in Hogwarts, and even Haylis didn't care about him.
, in loneliness, he found a notebook of unknown origin. Curious, he opened the notebook and wrote and drew on it. Unexpectedly, he got a response from the notebook.
Bernie felt that he had discovered some kind of treasure, and he began to communicate frequently with Riddle in the diary. Riddle was a master at playing with people's hearts. It didn't take much for him to mobilize the negative emotions in Bernie's heart and make him do his bidding.
Own.
"You said we don't care about you?" Haylis was furious after hearing her brother's statement, "Bernie Selwyn! I don't think I am unqualified as a sister, right?"
Bernie lowered his head and remained silent.
Haylis sneered, "Just because of the conflict at the beginning of the school year, I asked you to apologize to your Muggle classmates in public, and just because I didn't agree to your excessive request on Valentine's Day and pretended to be your admirer to write you a love letter.
, do you think I am an incompetent sister?"
"You can't go too far, Bernie?"
"You are my brother, yes, but I cannot be partial to you in the face of right and wrong! That would be condoning you and letting you go further and further down the wrong path!"
The words were so loud that Bernie had no power to refute.
"Bernie, I never thought you would do something like this," Mr. Selwyn shook his head. "After insulting your classmates, how many more surprises are you going to create for me?"
The disappointment was palpable. He felt that it was a wise move for him to deprive Bernie of the inheritance rights of the Selwyn family. If Bernie Selwyn now has the identity of the Selwyn family heir on his head, the trouble caused will definitely be huge.
Much bigger than now.
"Thanks to Mr. Taylor and Professor Lockhart this time," Mr. Rozier changed the subject. "If it weren't for the heroic performance of you two, the children would probably be buried in the secret room."
"That's right," Mr. Selwyn agreed, nodding. "You two deserve your reward."
The complacency on Lockhart's face could not be concealed. Although he did not kill the basilisk alone and act as a superhero, he was happy to see the result. Together with a group of children, he killed the basilisk in the secret room and ate it without knowing the truth.
The people will definitely attribute great credit to Lockhart.
"This diary..." Joel changed the subject. He wanted to disgust Lucius, "I remember it belongs to Mr. Lucius Malfoy, right?"
"This..." Lucius became more and more panicked when he saw everyone present turning their attention. However, decades of experience made him indifferent to emotions and anger. He said calmly, "I forgot, maybe it was me.
Was it accidentally put somewhere and Mr. Selwyn took it?"
"By the way," he pretended to suddenly realize, "when Mr. Selwyn was reflecting at home last September, I held a banquet and invited the Selwyn family. Do you still remember it? It was probably that time when Selwyn
The gentleman took the diary from Malfoy Manor."
He said it was taking, but in fact what Lucius meant was stealing, and he didn't seem to know it.
The truth is not the case, this was all part of Lucius's plan. Ever since he bribed members of the Wizengamot to get himself acquitted, he began to plan how to maximize the effectiveness of the diary in his hand.
He heard that Bernie Selwyn was sent to reflect at home because he made mistakes at Hogwarts, so he came up with a plan to send the diary to Hogwarts through the Selwyn child.
Open the Chamber of Secrets, make the school a mess, and then write a letter to impeach Dumbledore and expel him from the position of Headmaster of Hogwarts.
Once something goes wrong, it will eventually affect the reputation of Malfoy's rivals, the Selwyn family, killing three birds with one stone.
"It seems that Mr. Malfoy has always been forgetful," Joel stabbed him. "You also stuffed this diary inside when you returned the inheritance at the Ministry of Magic last time. It seems that you particularly like to give away your things to others?"
The head of the Selwyn family glared at Lucius Malfoy with sharp eyes. The school directors present were all old foxes. There were no fools, so they could naturally judge the truth of the matter.
"Okay," the head of the Greengrass family continued to talk. He didn't want any business conflicts between Selwyn and the Malfoy family. The malicious bidding would affect his business. "I think Mr. Selwyn is still young and his ability to distinguish right from wrong is still there."
If he needs to improve, just take him home and discipline him well. I see that he is still injured, so go get him treated as soon as possible."
Mr. Selwyn glared at Bernie, looked at his broken left arm, snorted coldly, and left the principal's office with his two children. Before leaving, he did not forget to say harsh words, "Lucius,
The Selwyns will remember this."
"Now that the real culprit has been found, does that mean we have nothing to worry about?" Mr. Rozier stretched, "I have to go back and have a good sleep. Albus, you continue to perform your duties as principal."
.”
"No problem." Dumbledore agreed readily and watched as several school directors tore up the impeachment vote.