Hogwarts Raven's Claw

Chapter 98: School-wide Martial Law (Thanks to Global Cold Air for the reward)
The next day, when Mike woke up, he was shocked to find that not only had the martial law in Hogwarts not been lifted, but there were even more patrols.

Mike was very confused about this, because in the original book, Hogwarts did not have such a tense attitude towards the basilisk and the heir of the Chamber of Secrets, except for the fact that it was almost closed in the late second year due to the increasing number of casualties.

However, after a careful analysis, Mike also understood why Dumbledore did this.

In the original book, since the victims were petrified, Dumbledore might not know that the monster in the chamber was a basilisk, or he knew it was a basilisk, but he was confident that he could deal with it. So in order to allow Harry to accumulate adventure experience and prestige again, he deliberately did not impose martial law.

But the current situation is obviously different from that in the original book.

The news that the monster in the Chamber of Secrets is a basilisk has spread, and the other professors and directors of Hogwarts will not allow such a magical creature that may cause huge casualties at any time to continue to stay in the castle.

You have to know that almost all the children in the entire British wizarding world go to school in Hogwarts. These children are the future of the wizarding world. If they are all slaughtered by the basilisk, it will cause a huge blow to the wizarding world.

Under these circumstances it was no surprise that Dumbledore declared martial law throughout the school.

After being discharged from the hospital, Mike joined the temporary management team to protect and maintain the order of students. This temporary team was composed of outstanding senior students. Dumbledore gave them the ability to deduct points from other schools, but set a limit, with the maximum deduction limit of 50 points per person. In order to make up for their wasted study time, Dumbledore promised that as long as they joined this team, they would get extra points in the subsequent NEWT exams.

Mike was originally not qualified to join the team, but after his constant persuasion, Professor Flitwick finally agreed to his request to join.

However, Professor Flitwick was still very worried about Mike. Although Mike had escaped from a basilisk before, he still gave him the task of protecting his classmates and did not let him participate in dangerous patrols.

So Mike's job now is to stay in the Hogwarts Hall with the other team members to protect the students gathered here.

In order to distinguish Mike and other team members from ordinary students, an H-shaped metal brooch, which symbolizes Hogwarts, was pinned on their school uniforms.

The function of this brooch is not only for decoration, it also has the function of instant warning. Once someone encounters danger, as long as the magic power is used to slightly stimulate this brooch, it will issue a warning to all brooches within 5 kilometers. This warning not only allows the person who receives the warning to know the location of the danger, but also has a special reminder function.

After receiving the warning, the needle of the brooch will deform and shallowly pierce the wearer's chest. Although it will not cause any harm to the wearer, the pain will ensure that you will react immediately even if you are asleep.

Mike heard from a senior student in the same team that this brooch is a simplified version of the Auror brooch, so its functions are relatively simple. The special brooch equipped by the Aurors has other practical functions such as real-time communication in addition to the early warning function, which surprised Mike.

Mike had thought that the wizarding world's research in this area was very superficial, but now it seems that alchemy in the wizarding world has developed to a very high level, and even portable communication equipment has been developed.

Dumbledore also made a promise that after this incident, this brooch would be given as a medal of honor to Mike and other brave warriors who were willing to stand up at the critical moment of Hogwarts. This is also the reason why many seventh-grade pure-blood students are willing to join the temporary management team.

In the eyes of these pure-blood students, honor is far more important than NEWT points. Time passed day by day, and the professors and the temporary management team still did not find the basilisk.

The students who were trapped in the hall also knew about the existence of the basilisk, and then what Dumbledore was most worried about finally happened.

"The Heir of Slytherin will kill all the Mudbloods, and you'll be next!" a Slytherin boy yelled at a Muggle-born Hufflepuff student.

The Hufflepuff student was listlessly chewing the dry food distributed by the school. These days, the kitchen of Hogwarts was shut down due to the invisible threat of the basilisk, and he was almost sick of chewing the dry food every day. The Slytherin student suddenly jumped out and yelled, which scared him so much that he dropped the dry food on the ground.

The Slytherin students nearby burst into laughter upon seeing this.

The little Hufflepuff wizard's eyes suddenly turned red as he looked at the people laughing. Amid the laughter of the crowd, he quickly bent over to pick up the dry food that had fallen on the ground and fled away.

His action triggered even more intense laughter, and one Slytherin boy even lay on the floor laughing so hard.

But what they didn't know was that the little Hufflepuff wizard's family conditions were very poor. His mother taught him not to waste food since he was a child. The reason he came to Hogwarts to study was not because he was interested in magic, but because Hogwarts did not charge tuition and provided food and accommodation.

As long as he came to Hogwarts to study, the pressure on the family would be greatly reduced, leaving more food for his younger brothers and sisters.

There are many people like him in Hogwarts. As an old socialist country, Britain is not as glamorous as it seems to outsiders at this time. The rise of the British Empire was built on the corpses of countless workers.

Mike, who was guarding in the auditorium, saw everything that happened. Looking at the Muggle-blooded wizards around him who dared not speak out, he couldn't suppress the rage in his heart.

"Deduct 50 points from Slytherin!"

Under the gaze of everyone in the hall, Mike walked up to the Slytherins and said coldly.

The Slytherins didn't seem to care about the points deduction from Mike. In fact, they were all very smart people. They had already sent letters to tell their families what happened in Hogwarts. Most of their families were old-established aristocrats in the wizarding world and had great influence.

Now the families of these Slytherin students have united to put pressure on the Ministry of Magic. If Dumbledore still can't find the basilisk in the next week, Hogwarts may have to be closed for rectification. If Hogwarts is about to be closed, the house points will of course be irrelevant.

"Oh! Who was that? It turned out to be Mike from Ravenclaw." The leading Slytherin said sarcastically, "Why? You want to be a hero and stand up for your fellow mudbloods again?"

(End of this chapter)