Hogwarts Raven's Claw

Chapter 512 Dumbledore's Long-cherished Wish

Because Sirius and Harry made such a loud noise at the door, Lupin and Mr. and Mrs. Tonks on the sofa were naturally woken up and joined the camp celebrating Harry's return.

Looking at Harry and the others hugging each other, crying and laughing, Dumbledore always had a relieved smile on his face. Perhaps it was because he was old, he always liked to see this kind of happy reunion scene.

On the other hand, Mike was different. He just glanced at them calmly and stood aside and watched coldly.

The most important thing for him now is how to deal with Dumbledore's next questioning, because Dumbledore seems to have bad intentions.

Thinking of this, Mike looked to another corner.

There, Snape was holding his wand and staring at Mike, as if he was ready to attack at any time.

Seeing this, Mike's eyes became dangerous, but at this moment, a man rushed over from the side and hugged him tightly in his arms.

"I'm sorry! Mike! I lost my temper with you, please forgive me!" Sirius said with a sob, "I was just... just too anxious, I should have believed you, thank you!"

"Okay, I get it. And can you please let me go? You're strangling me to death!"

Mike raised his hands and held his breath and said, the smell on Sirius was really horrible.

"Oh! Oh! Sorry!"

"I'm feeling better now."

Sirius stood aside and rubbed his hands awkwardly. He knew that he smelled bad now.

He looked quite funny, and Dumbledore, Lupin and others all burst into laughter.

After the laughter, Dumbledore's expression finally became serious. He looked at Harry and said:
"Harry, what is going on? Who kidnapped you?"

When these words were spoken, not only Sirius, but also Lupin and Tonks beside them pricked up their ears.

You have to know that the couple had been searching outside for a whole day and night, trying almost every possible method but still couldn't find Harry.

However, Harry looked embarrassed when he heard this. He looked at Mike for help and stammered:
"I...actually I'm not sure either. Why don't you ask Mike?"

Everyone's eyes turned to Mike again. Mike had no choice but to recount what had happened in general.

Of course, Mike did not mention the fact that Voldemort's soul in Harry's body had disappeared. In his opinion, there was no need to tell this. People who needed to know, like Dumbledore, should have seen it the moment they saw Harry.

After listening to Mike's story, the office fell into silence. Except for Snape who was still staring at Mike and Harry who looked confused, everyone else looked thoughtful.

Obviously, like Mike, they were also puzzled by this matter, but at the same time they also noticed the weirdness in it.

After a long time, Harry, who was getting a little impatient, couldn't help but yawn loudly.

Dumbledore, who was lost in thought, was awakened by the yawn. He looked up at Harry, who was already sleepy, and then he stroked his beard and said a little embarrassedly:

"I'm sorry Harry, I got distracted accidentally. It's getting late now, why don't you go back and rest?"

Hearing this, Lu Ping and others were also awakened. With their approval, Harry, who was originally a little embarrassed, could only walk out of the office, looking back every three steps.

His godfather, Sirius, desperately wanted to continue to be with Harry.

What happened in the past two days scared him so much that he could hardly imagine his life without Harry.

But his request was cruelly rejected by Dumbledore.

At Dumbledore's insistence, Lupin, Sirius and others were all kindly invited out of the office. Seeing this, Mike also planned to blend in and leave, but just as he reached the door, Dumbledore's kind voice rang out again.

"Mike, I'm sorry, but could you please stay here for a while? I, an old man, have something else I want to talk to you about."

Dumbledore spoke very politely, but Mike did not sense any friendliness at all, because Snape, who had been standing in the corner, had now moved to the door, and the meaning was very clear.

Glancing coldly at the wand in Snape's hand, Mike said expressionlessly:

"can."

"That's great. Please take a seat, Mike." Dumbledore sat down behind the eagle-legged table first, then took out a large pile of candies from the drawer and said, "Our conversation may take a while. I noticed that you didn't eat much at the banquet just now, so if you are hungry, you can take some candies to fill your stomach. Of course, it's not good to eat sweets at night, but... who would care if you are really hungry? But I don't recommend you to eat cockroach piles. There is coffee in that thing. If you eat too much, you will not be able to sleep at night."

Dumbledore talked incessantly. He seemed very excited that Mike was willing to sit down and talk to him. However, Mike was extremely cold and ignored the mountains of candies on the table.

"Let's get down to business, Principal. It's getting late."

Upon hearing this, Dumbledore paused for a moment, then his expression turned serious and he asked:

"Well, Mike. Do you know what happened on Christmas Eve?"

"If you mean how I spent Christmas Eve, of course," Mike said, "Franklin and I went to the United States for a trip, and I spent a wonderful Christmas with Abbott there."

"Abt? Do you mean Abtfree? Oh, I still remember him, a handsome young man. Is he in the United States now? Yes, that's right. It's not bad to go to the United States under the current circumstances, but..."

Seeing that Dumbledore was about to go off topic again, Snape, who was standing behind Mike, couldn't stand it anymore and covered his mouth and coughed deliberately a few times.

"Sorry, I've gone off topic. I'm very sorry." Dumbledore said, "Then let's get back to business. Mike, I received news on Christmas Eve that Voldemort was preparing to raid Hogwarts through a vanishing cabinet in the Room of Requirement on Christmas Eve. But he didn't come later, which was very strange, because at that time we did find a lot of werewolves and dementors ambushing in the Forbidden Forest, and they also admitted that it was Voldemort who ordered them to hide here and be ready to attack Hogwarts at any time. Can you tell me why Voldemort didn't come that night?"

Dumbledore stared into Mike's eyes, as if trying to see something from the changes in Mike's expression.

But unfortunately, Mike had already activated the brain occlusion technique, which made him look calm and flawless.

"I'm sorry, I don't know."

"Really? I see." Dumbledore asked again, "Then do you know why Voldemort attacked the Ministry of Magic yesterday?"

This time Mike didn't answer immediately. He really didn't know about this matter.

But under the disguise of brain occupation, he still performed flawlessly.

"I'm sorry, I don't know."

"Well," Dumbledore nodded disappointedly, "it's getting late, why don't you go back and rest. Oh, by the way. Don't you really need to bring some candy back?"

"No thanks Headmaster Dumbledore, good night."

"Good night, Mike." Dumbledore sighed deeply as he watched Mike slowly disappear at the door and close it.

It was obvious that he was not as calm as he appeared to be at the moment.

Snape, who had remained silent, became even more furious. As soon as Mike left, he walked up to Dumbledore, slammed his hands on the desk and roared:
"He's lying! He must know something! He's not even willing to pretend now!"

Facing Snape's roar, Dumbledore was not angry. Instead, he showed a look of pity and said slowly:
"Is it starting to hurt again?"

Hearing this, Snape was stunned for a moment, then he put his right hand behind his back and said with an unhappy look:

"no!"

Dumbledore lowered his eyes, looking a little guilty.

He knew very well that the Dark Mark on Snape's arm had been tormenting him every moment since Christmas Eve. This was Voldemort's punishment. In Voldemort's eyes, Snape had undoubtedly been abandoned, and the most hateful one at that.

This is also the reason why Snape did not receive any news from Voldemort after such a long time.

Pursing his lips, Dumbledore asked tentatively:

"Severus, maybe you should take a vacation and rest for a while."

"No! Absolutely not!" Snape's nerves, which had just relaxed a little, tensed up again. He roared, "Harry has just been kidnapped, and you're asking me to rest now? Then who can stay by his side and protect him after I rest? Is it you? With your half-crippled arm?"

Dumbledore said nothing, but just looked out the window silently.

Snape obviously noticed that his words were a bit harsh, and his tone suddenly softened.

"Anyway, I won't rest. Also, I suggest you send someone to capture Mike Townley and get rid of him immediately! He is a very dangerous man! Relying on the Los Santos Group, he has developed too many people. Maybe one day your worries will come true!"

Dumbledore shook his head imperceptibly and still said nothing.

The weather today is quite good, which makes the moonlight tonight particularly bright, and it creates a wonderful mood when it shines on people.

And now Dumbledore has been immersed in this artistic conception and cannot extricate himself.

He also noticed that the soul in Harry had disappeared.

He even suspected that this kidnapping was planned by Michael from the beginning, in order to quietly remove Voldemort's soul from Harry.

After all, if the person who kidnapped Harry was Voldemort, then there would be absolutely no possibility for Harry to survive.

And this is also the reason why Dumbledore didn't want to take action against Mike.

In his opinion, there is still love in Mike's heart, and that is enough.

All he cared about was the entire wizarding world. After experiencing the ravages of the Dark Lord twice, he had an instinctive aversion to war.

Can't Dumbledore see the various problems that exist in the wizarding world today?

Of course he can see it, but he prefers to use gentle and subtle ways to change the world.

So he didn't really care about what Mike did. Even if Mike finally became the Minister of Magic and began to lean towards non-pure-blood wizards in policy, he wouldn't care. After all, what Mike did was exactly what he hoped for - to make the world a better place.

But this does not mean that Dumbledore will absolutely trust Mike, because in his opinion, Mike is developing too fast.

Faced with such great power and strength, it is difficult for a young man like Mike to control his desires.

'Don't let me down, Mike.'

Looking at the bright starry sky outside the window, Dumbledore sighed silently.

……

"Dear Mr. Townley! Is there anything we can help you with?"

In the Hogwarts kitchen, an old house-elf was bending over and talking to Mike with a happy face.

Behind him stood a large number of house-elves. They were extremely respectful and looked at Mike with eyes full of admiration. This was the result of Mike helping them during the Clark incident.

"Um, just give it a try." Mike seemed to remember something and continued, "Just a little bit will do. I can't eat too much by myself. Don't waste it."

"Okay! Dear Mr. Townley!"

The leading house-elf nodded excitedly, and then shouted and directed the other house-elves to take action.

Suddenly, the originally quiet kitchen became brightly lit again.

At this time, Mike sat in his old seat, tossing the Masonic gold coins in his hand with a serious face.

After a while, the color of the gold coin suddenly began to turn red. Seeing this, Mike quickly grabbed the gold coin and pressed it hard.

"Penelope, any news?"

"Yes, Mike, we have already found out everything." Penelope's voice came out clearly from the gold coin, "Voldemort did attack the Ministry of Magic yesterday, and he went alone. When we sent people to look for Harry, all the Aurors and strikers were transferred to support the Ministry of Magic, so they had no time to take care of us."

"He went off on his own to attack the Ministry? Why?"

"I'm sorry, the reason is unknown."

Mike nodded and continued to ask:

"So, what about the Ministry's casualties?"

"Very serious! The entire Auror Corps has been almost crippled, and the Strike Corps has also suffered heavy casualties. Even Minister of Magic Scrimgeour himself has been seriously injured and is being treated at St. Mungo's. The entire Ministry of Magic is now basically paralyzed. Kingsley Shacklebolt, who replaced Scrimgeour as Acting Minister, is trying to restore order, but the effect is minimal. Not many people are willing to listen to him."

Penelope paused for a moment, then said in a trembling voice:

"But they have also achieved great results!"

(End of this chapter)