"Where does this passage lead to?" Lermontov's face turned sickly red, and his whole body was shaking with excitement, full of the pleasure of finding the truth.
Director Bones frowned and called the owner of Honeydukes Candy Shop over.
"To Hogwarts Castle..." the old man said.
"The one-eyed witch passage on the fourth floor." Joel answered. The shop owner had seen him walking out of this passage. There was no need for him to be secretive. If he didn't tell anyone, it would arouse suspicion.
"Aha!" Lermontov jumped out and pointed at him, "You admitted it, right? It was you who took William into the secret passage early that morning, right?"
"Why did you slander someone's innocence out of thin air!" Joel was very aggrieved. He had perfect Occlumency and was already very proficient in acting. With Lermontov's skills, there was no way he could see through it.
"Many students at Hogwarts know about this passage..." Joel's gaze shifted to Director Bones, "Director Bones, you know that I come from a Muggle orphanage and there is no guardian at all.
I signed the consent form for visiting Hogsmeade. On weekdays, I can only enter Hogsmeade through this passage. I watch my classmates laughing and playing from a distance, as if I am also among them..."
The words were touching and moved everyone present.
Director Bones opened his lips slightly and said, "Yes, Mr. Lermontov, please provide some definite evidence."
Lermontov jumped directly, and his wand directed the golden dust to lead the way.
A group of thugs looked at Director Bones.
"You go back to the ministry and call Miss Crawford," she ordered.
Everyone walked forward along the dim tunnel, and soon arrived at Hogwarts Castle.
During the summer vacation, Hogwarts Castle is quiet, leisurely and empty. Ghosts and house elves have become the "owners" of this ancient castle. Most professors have their own residences outside the school, and they do not live in the castle during holidays.
Miss Ellie Crawford followed up at this time. She looked energetic and had a pair of long legs with strong steps.
After entering the castle, she first looked around, taking in all the scenery in the castle corridors, and then moved closer to Director Bones, "Do you need me to inform Mr. Dumbledore? After all, this is..."
Director Bones nodded.
"The principal's office is on the eighth floor. There is a stone beast guarding it. All you need to do is explain your intention to the stone beast." Director Bones ordered.
Joel glanced at Miss Crawford in surprise.
The girl ran out with a pair of long legs, and Lermontov began to direct the golden dust to recite the events that had happened in this corridor before.
"Mr. Lermontov, Hogwarts school rules stipulate that magic spells are not allowed in the corridors." Joel began to feel disgusted with Lermontov.
Lermontov was stunned on the spot and was at a loss. He knew who the principal of this school was, and the school rules set by Dumbledore... He really didn't dare to touch them rashly. In their Russian magic school, breaking the school rules would lead to serious consequences.
He was hung up by the administrator lady and beaten with a leather whip all night long.
The batter and Ms. Bones present looked at Joel with strange eyes, but in the end they couldn't say anything.
Isn't that school rule aimed at current students? Director Bones looked at Joel's serious look and felt that there seemed to be some errors in his memory of the seven years he spent at Hogwarts.
Lermontov snorted coldly and put away the golden dust in the corridor. The surging magic power in his body withered in an instant. His face was much older, part of the flesh and blood seemed to have disappeared from his body, and his face was wrinkled.
Joel frowned and thought, is this the price of using the Evernight Mark to overdraw the magic power?
After a while, Miss Crawford rushed over behind Professor Dumbledore.
"It must have been a while since we last met, Amelia." Dumbledore felt better when he saw his former student, and stepped forward to hug Director Bones.
"Long time no see, Professor Dumbledore," a smile appeared on Amelia's stern face, "Roughly speaking, it's been four or five months."
"Is this Mr. Lermontov from Russia?" Dumbledore extended his right hand to signal him, "What a distinguished guest from afar, but I have something to explain to Mr. Lermontov."
"Mr. Joel Taylor is an outstanding talent in our school. He has achieved a series of excellent results at a young age." Joel did not expect that Dumbledore would actually speak for him. "Your staff members are missing in the UK."
I guess it has nothing to do with Mr. Taylor."
Lermontov gently took his hand away from Dumbledore's palm, with a cold expression on his face, "This matter will have to wait for me to conduct an on-site investigation before I can make a conclusion."
Dumbledore looked slightly regretful, "Do you need me to provide any information?"
"Can you use the spell of footprints to reveal... the situation on this corridor in the early morning of April 18th?" Lermontov did not refuse. If he wanted to trace the traces three months ago, he would have to
The magic power level of the body must be overstretched to use the magic power contained in the mark of the Eternal Night Man. There is one of the strongest wizards in contemporary times, and he will naturally not be able to do it.
"...No problem." Dumbledore's eyes suddenly became extremely sharp. He looked at Joel, who remained calm, and thought for a moment before agreeing.
There is no doubt about Dumbledore's power. He didn't even need to chant spells. He just used silent spells. The effect of golden dust was more significant than Lermontov's overdraft of his body.
Golden dust condensed in the air again, and the one-eyed witch's passage suddenly opened. A person whose body was so blurry that only the outline of his body could be seen jumped out, carrying a large sack in his hand, and walked towards the end of the corridor.
"Follow him!" Lermontov was like a hyena that smelled the scent of prey, his eyes flashed with excitement, and he jumped out.
The Ministry of Magic and the others were worried about letting Lermontov roam around Hogwarts Castle, so they quickly chased after him, leaving Dumbledore and Joel behind.
"How was your summer vacation, Mr. Taylor?" Dumbledore strolled, walking side by side with Joel.
"Not bad," Joel replied, "I'm going to visit the Lovegoods in the next two days."
Dumbledore nodded thoughtfully and turned to chat with Joel about the wizards' outfits in the last issue of "Wizard Weekly". It seemed that he didn't care at all whether Joel was the initiator of the disappearance of Russian wizards.
They followed the golden dust all the way to the edge of the Forbidden Forest, and then the dust fell vertically to the ground and stopped moving.
"What's going on?" Lermontov was very impatient.
"Obviously, the traces were broken after reaching here," Dumbledore squatted down with interest. "He seemed a little careless, and many of the traces were processed roughly. I don't know why he didn't put them in Hogwarts Castle."
Instead of erasing all traces after entering the Forbidden Forest.”
Because Joel met Tiger Tom who appeared for a while after entering the Forbidden Forest, he was particularly careful to erase the traces of this journey.
"It seems we have to enter the Forbidden Forest to find out what's going on." Dumbledore's tone seemed a little happy.