Hogwarts Raven's Claw

Chapter 377 Corruption
It was a happy Christmas spent with the Freemasons, especially Victor, even though his human-modified mecha couldn't even last ten minutes in the confrontation with Mike - and that was when Mike didn't use the mass-destruction spell.

But Victor was not discouraged. He believed that the reason why he lost so badly was largely because he could not think rationally like a machine, and thus wasted too much energy.

So he once again proposed to Mike to transform his brain.

Of course, Mike didn't agree.

After the Christmas holidays, the students of Hogwarts faced another thorny problem - the start of school.

In the hall, Mike, Franklin and others were enjoying their first meal after returning to Hogwarts. Mike was in a good mood because he had 'comforted' Penelope for several days during Christmas, and he was humming a little tune while eating.

But it was different for the other students around him. They all had sad faces and even ignored the breakfast on their plates which was much more sumptuous than usual.

In Mike's opinion, this is a clear manifestation of school phobia.

In the past, this symptom never appeared in Hogwarts students, because for many ordinary young wizards, campus life in Hogwarts was much more interesting than life in their small families.

But this year is different, because there is a new annoying professor in the school——Umbridge.

"Damn it, our first class this morning is Defense Against the Dark Arts! It's so annoying!"

"Hey! Stop it! Are you as upset as I am? I still have five days of detention to serve, and now school has started, Umbridge will definitely come to me again!"

"Hey! *2"

……

Listening to the groans of his classmates and looking at their desperate expressions, Mike silently shook his head and looked away.

At this moment, a large group of owls suddenly flew in from the hallway. They circled over everyone's heads in twos and threes, holding packages one after another. From time to time, they would drop a package like a bomber conducting an air raid, making people want to escape from this dangerous place.

However, only the first-year students who had just joined the group were the ones who really put their ideas into action. The older students were already accustomed to this kind of scene, and they were very confident in the throwing skills of these owl messengers - at most they would smash your breakfast, but they would never hit the package on your head.

"Snapped!"

With a slight sound, a bundle of newspapers was thrown by the owls onto the plate in front of Mike, but the food on the plate had already been finished by Mike, so there were no food residues or soup splashing around.

The owl that dropped the newspaper seemed very disappointed. It circled over Mike's head for a long time before slowly flying away.

Mike opened the latest Daily Prophet with a calm expression.

《Shock! Hogwarts Headmaster Dumbledore was taken away by Aurors last night, suspected of being involved in a corruption case! 》

As soon as he opened the newspaper, this eye-catching headline, enlarged and highlighted in black, caught Mike's eyes.

Mike was stunned at first, then continued reading.

At about 17:37:42 yesterday, the famous white wizard, headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and president of the International Confederation of Magicians... was taken away by Aurors in the headmaster's office at Hogwarts.

According to Mr. Rufus Scrimgeour, the head of the Auror Office who led the team, Dumbledore was reported to have embezzled public funds many times during his tenure as headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, resulting in insufficient funds for the school.

So they will take Dumbledore back to the Ministry of Magic for further interrogation.

Another important official of the Ministry of Magic, Ms. Umbridge, the senior inspector sent by the Ministry of Magic to Hogwarts, said that Dumbledore was the one she reported.

During her tenure at Hogwarts, she discovered that many senior students often encountered a shortage of materials when studying courses such as Potions that required a large amount of expensive materials. This was something she could not understand, because every year the Ministry of Magic and the school directors would send a large amount of supplies and gold Galleons to Hogwarts, and this situation should never occur.

So she investigated the matter, but unexpectedly discovered the secret of corruption by Headmaster Dumbledore.

At present, Ms. Umbridge said that she has obtained a lot of evidence and will definitely give justice to all teachers and students of Hogwarts!
……

After closing the newspaper, Mike had a strange expression on his face.

Because many of the things Umbridge said in the interview came from his mouth.

But this is not the point of the matter. The key point now is that Dumbledore left Hogwarts again!
Mike turned his head and looked around. Sure enough, most of the students around him were in a commotion. Apparently they had discovered the explosive news in today's Daily Prophet.

After clearing the dishes, Mike walked directly out of the auditorium.

There is no doubt that Dumbledore's arrest was Umbridge's revenge. Dumbledore himself probably did not expect that Umbridge's revenge would come so quickly and with such great force that she actually let the Ministry of Magic take him away directly.

But things have already happened. Now it depends on whether Dumbledore can get out of it as soon as possible. Otherwise, Hogwarts will probably soon become a place where Umbridge has the final say again.

Mike's class in the morning was Ancient Magic Literature. The professor of this class had obviously heard about the news of Dumbledore's arrest, so he seemed absent-minded during the class. What he taught was scattered and he was basically distracted the whole time.

In fact, it was not just her. Her classmates in the class were also constantly discussing this matter, and many girls even had tears in their eyes.

After class, Mike was blocked by Harry and his two friends.

"Mike! Did you hear that?"

"You mean Dumbledore being arrested?" Mac said to Hermione. "Of course, I saw the article early this morning."

"Umbridge should be happy now," Ron pouted, looking annoyed, "Hogwarts is hers again!"

"I don't think there's any need to worry too much."

As soon as these words came out, everyone's eyes fell on Harry.

"Dumbledore should be out soon. After all, he is not someone who would commit corruption. This kind of false accusation will not bring him down. So we should be concerned about something else!" "What is it?"

"They are hiding something from us!"

Harry leaned close to Mike's ear and spoke in a low voice.

Mike and Ron looked confused.

"Remember when Mr. Weasley was attacked by a snake? I had a dream at that time. In the dream, I was the snake! It was a very wonderful experience. I could clearly sense all the feelings of the snake, including its thoughts!" Harry said, "So I know very well that the snake was not going for Mr. Weasley at all. Its target was the things in the room behind Mr. Weasley. And why did Mr. Weasley appear in that place in the middle of the night? Wouldn't it be nice to sleep at home? So, the answer is already very obvious. Mr. Weasley must have been..."

"…Guarding something!"

Harry and Ron gave the final answer in unison.

"This is not the scariest thing. I discussed this with Black and the others, and we all think that the giant python that attacked Mr. Weasley was sent by Voldemort! In other words, the person who really wants that thing is Voldemort!"

Everyone present was bewildered upon hearing this, and Ron looked around nervously, as if he was afraid that others would know that Harry had called that person's name.

Suddenly, Hermione beside her clapped her hands violently, and then as if she remembered something, she placed this morning's Daily Prophet in front of everyone.

Ministry of Magic Staff Died

St Mungo's Hospital last night pledged a full investigation into the death of Ministry of Magic employee Broderick Bode.

Mr. Bode, 49, was strangled to death in his hospital bed by a potted plant, and the therapists were unable to save him.

Mr. Bird was injured in a work accident a few weeks ago.

Meliam Straw, the therapist in charge of Mr. Bird's ward at the time of the accident, was suspended with pay and declined to be interviewed, but according to reliable sources, Mr. Bird died because someone gave him a devil's ivy as an ordinary potted plant.

We still don't know the exact source of this devil vine, but there is no doubt that the management of St. Mungo's Hospital bears an unshirkable responsibility...

After reading the entire report, Ron looked envious and said:
"Paid suspension? That's great. I want to find a job like this in the future."

Hermione rolled her eyes at him, poked at Mr. Bode's photo in the newspaper and said:

"Why is your focus so strange? Take a good look, we have seen this Mr. Bode before! He was in the ward next to Mr. Weasley, lying there staring at the ceiling. We also saw the Devil's Snare, and the healer said it was a Christmas present!"

"Oh! Doesn't that mean that if we had looked more carefully at that time, Mr. Bode would not have..."

"Come on, you can't blame us for this. After all, who would have thought that the Devil's Snare would be disguised as an ordinary potted plant?" Ron refuted Harry's words, "If we have to blame someone, we should blame the person who sent the gift. Who made him so stupid that he didn't even know what he bought."

Hermione rolled her eyes again, and Mike spoke up:

"I don't think this is an accident. After all, no one would be stupid enough to give a Devil's Snare to someone else as a gift. So this is murder, a very smart murder!"

Harry and Ron took a deep breath when they heard this, while Hermione snapped her fingers and said:

"Mike is right! And I also found out some interesting things there. Mr. Bode works for the Department of Mysteries, and he is a silent man!"

Ron exclaimed again, Mike nodded, and only Harry was still confused.

"The Department of Mysteries in the Ministry of Magic is just like its name. It is a place dedicated to mysterious experiments. The people there specialize in studying curses, prophecies, space, the universe and even time. The employees there have signed confidentiality agreements and cannot say a word about what is going on inside. So the employees there are also called Unspoken." Mike said, "I understand what you mean, Hermione. You mean that what Voldemort (Ron shuddered again) wants is very likely to be placed in the Department of Mysteries, so they will try every means to torture and silence Mr. Bode, right?"

"Yes, that's it!"

"I don't think this is something we can solve on our own. We'd better tell Dumbledore and let them handle it."

"I told them!" Harry suddenly raised his voice, "but they just said they knew and wouldn't tell me anything! Especially Dumbledore, he seems to be very cold to me recently. He forced me to stay in St. Mungo's Hospital during Christmas, and now he wants me to learn some kind of brain-blocking technique from Snape. I guess he thinks I'm crazy!"

As soon as these words came out, Hermione's expression immediately became very interesting, Mike's mouth corners slightly raised, and Ron's face was shocked.

"What? He actually let Snape teach you?" Ron said, "This is really terrible. That old bat Snape will definitely torture you severely."

"Who said it wasn't? Oh! I have to go to his office for my first class tonight, and I don't know what to do."

"Um, I don't suppose you know what Occlumency is, Harry?"

Hermione asked slowly, with an awkward expression on her face, while Harry shook his head in confusion.

"Occlumency can seal the user's brain, making spells that can invade the brain, such as Legilimency, ineffective. This is an extremely difficult spell. To learn it, one must have sufficient magical power and extraordinary talent." Mike explained, "I have to say that although Professor Snape's character is not very good, he is indeed a very talented wizard. In the spell of Occlumency, he can be regarded as a master. So Harry, I think Dumbledore has been very kind to you. It is rare for a master wizard to personally teach you Occlumency."

Hermione on the side nodded quickly and said that if possible, she would even like to take Professor Snape's class instead of Harry. As long as she could learn the brain-blocking technique, she would be willing to accept any scolding or punishment from Professor Snape.

Unfortunately, Dumbledore didn't think it was necessary for her to learn this spell.

"But...but I..."

Harry looked unconvinced, and it was obvious that he was racking his brains to think of reasons to refute.

"Anyway, Harry," Mike said, "go and try to learn it first. Even though Snape doesn't get along with you, it's worth it if you can learn the brain block technique. If you really can't lose weight by then, you can always make your request to Dumbledore, right?"

“…All right!”

Harry said through gritted teeth, Mike's words really left him speechless.

(End of this chapter)