Hogwarts: From Luna's House to Godhood Through Intense Competition

He looked behind Parkinson and Yaxley, and said with a hint of surprise, "I really didn't expect... you two actually came. Was it really necessary to make such a fuss?"

“I think it’s necessary!” Parkinson stood in front of Dumbledore. “I seem to remember that you are no longer the headmaster of Hogwarts.”

“Is that so?” Dumbledore smiled slightly. “I’m not that old yet… I remember the exact wording was ‘temporarily suspended’…”

"You need to investigate me and determine that I am no longer suitable to be the headmaster of Hogwarts before you can truly remove me from the position..."

"So now..." He lowered his head slightly, glancing at Parkinson and the others' hands, "the investigation results are out? You didn't bring them with you?"

"So what?" Parkinson snapped. "You're suspended now, you have no right to act on your own!"

“By returning to Hogwarts now, you are ignoring the demands of the Board of Governors. Don’t you know what that means?”

“Of course I understand…” Dumbledore’s lips curled up slightly, revealing a perfectly measured, gentle smile. “I suppose none of you here represent the entire Board of Governors?”

“I still remember what happened last night… There was a riot in the Forbidden Forest, and another board member contacted me… hoping I would return to the school as soon as possible to deal with this sudden riot.”

Yaxley stepped forward. "This is a clear indication of your lax management! At least as far as I know, Hogwarts has never..."

“Indeed, it is quite a coincidence,” Dumbledore agreed with a smile. “Actually, there is another coincidence concerning all of you here…”

……

"What do you want to say?"

Not only Parkinson and Yaxley, but other school board members also started to shout, their brows furrowing as if they had realized something.

“What I want to say is…” Dumbledore said calmly, his eyes extremely bright, as he slowly turned his head to meet the gazes of the school board members.

When the board members felt Dumbledore's gaze, they either lowered their heads or turned away, instinctively avoiding his gaze.

Dumbledore maintained his smile, "I've noticed that you all seem to be plotting something under some pretext."

"I remember back then you all used various reasons... to claim you were innocent... either you were controlled by the Imperius Curse, or your families were coerced..."

“You have no evidence! There is absolutely no way you can have any evidence!” Yaxley straightened up and let out a low growl like a trapped beast.

Dumbledore smiled at Yaxley. "Perhaps? You seem a little too fanatical... thinking your former master has returned..."

"Of course, it could also be because of guilt... that they are willing to reveal more of their secrets... as a gift of atonement..."

"The secret entrances to those cellars... or some secrets hidden deep in the mountains, lakes, and forests... there are many kinds..."

“I must admit, Mr. Lucius Malfoy was more rational this time. I remember he was also a member of the Board of Trustees, and he had a good relationship with you all…”

"But this time he was wise, he knew what he should do... he understood what responsibilities he should bear as a member of the school board... What do you think?"

“Lucius Malfoy!” Parkinson’s voice was filled with hatred. “That traitor! That damned traitor!”

"I have something to attend to, I need to head back now!"

"I have something to do too, you guys continue your conversation!"

"I have a banquet to attend, and I'll be late if I don't go soon!"

These school board members wavered, came up with all sorts of reasons, and rushed out of the principal's office.

Dumbledore closed the door and sat back down in his seat.

He pulled open one of the drawers, inside which was a crypt made by Vizzett, containing fragments of the souls of Voldemort and Tom Riddle.

Those soul fragments contain a lot of interesting content, including... Tom Riddle's memories of his contact with the pure-blood family during this period.

These memories are extremely precious. Since Voldemort was willing to give them up as a condition for exchange, it shows that Tom Riddle's fragment of soul was more important to him.

Dumbledore also had dirt on these families, but it wasn't as effective as the information in his memory, nor could it take effect as quickly.

“Vizette, you’ve saved me a lot of trouble!” Dumbledore stretched slowly. “Judging by the time… the people from the Ministry of Magic should have already gone there…”

……

In the corridor, the school board members started discussing among themselves.

Is what Dumbledore said true?

"What exactly is Dumbledore planning to do? Will the Ministry of Magic come after us?"

"That pure-blooded traitor! The search hasn't stopped! He'll definitely make a big deal out of this!"

"But we have people at the Ministry of Magic. If we go back and write a letter now... at least they can buy us some time!"

"Doesn't Dumbledore have anyone else? Like this time... those school board members actually agreed... Dumbledore must be behind this!"

"I told you Dumbledore was a tough opponent! You were the ones who advised me against it! You even said the Dark Lord was controlling everything behind the scenes, but where is the Dark Lord? Where is he?"

"Yaxley! Parkinson! Say something! Where is the Dark Lord now?"

“How should I know?” Parkinson flung his arm, his eyes darting around. “Lucius must have betrayed us! He’s a traitor! He betrayed my friendship!”

An owl flew in through the window and dropped a letter in front of Parkinson.

Parkinson looked at the family crest on the letter and suddenly panicked, as if he had already guessed its contents.

Just as he opened the letter and was reading its contents, several more owls flew in, delivering letters to Yaxley and the others.

The group stood there, stunned, staring at the contents of the letter, cold sweat beading on their foreheads.

“Arthur Weasley is gone… Search those places…”

"How dare the Ministry of Magic? Where are our people?"

"Don't you understand? Dumbledore has connections in the Ministry of Magic too! The entire Hogwarts belongs to him! Even if we absorb Hogwarts graduates, how many can we absorb?"

"And this time we broke the rules...allowing the Ministry of Magic to launch a search of Hogwarts..."

“No wonder Dumbledore was so easy to talk to…” A school board member slumped down, his robes soaked with cold sweat. “So this was the opportunity he was waiting for!”

Another board member's voice betrayed despair, "Dumbledore used this as an excuse...the Ministry of Magic had to...search our territory as well! That terrible man..."

The scene from the principal's office suddenly flashed into their minds.

The gentle smile that Dumbledore showed then now seemed to them like the delighted expression of a dragon before a meal.

"Do you remember... what the motto of Hogwarts is?"

"Sleep... Sleeping Dragon, please do not disturb..."

Chapter 65 Hagrid's Return

To the Hogwarts students, all they saw was a group of school board members arriving in a menacing manner, only to slink away from Hogwarts as if something terrible had happened at home and they had to go back to deal with it.

Fred and George, arm in arm, watched the departing school board members and smirked as they speculated, "Maybe Dad got some evidence and raided their estate!"

However, for the students, this was just a minor incident and not a significant matter.

After all, with the end of the school year approaching, reviewing and taking exams are what they care about.

Unless those school board members are willing to step forward and advocate for the cancellation of this year's exams, perhaps they will support the statements of these school board members.

While students were busy reviewing their studies, the content published in The Daily Prophet was quietly changing.

News of pure-blood families being found to be involved in contraband or black magic transactions kept appearing in the corner of a newspaper page.

The pure-blooded families involved in the incident have also suffered heavy losses due to this raid, making it difficult for them to make any waves in the future.

They could only lie low, either hoping that Voldemort's "I will never die" was true, or hoping that Dumbledore would die soon so that they could have a better life.

Dumbledore had his own considerations on this matter. It was foreseeable that the resources controlled by the pure-blood families would cause various upheavals if they were deprived of them in a short period of time.

Therefore, there is no need to go too far. We can simply simmer like a frog in warm water, gradually eroding the situation to achieve a smooth transition.

The first task is to restructure the Board of Trustees to better suit the current state of Hogwarts.

……

As the weather grew hotter and the students made the most of their time to study, Hagrid finally returned to Hogwarts.

Compared to when he left, Hagrid returned from Azkaban looking haggard, his eyes, like those of a black beetle, lacking any sparkle, as if he had suffered incredibly cruel torture.

When Vizette and Luna went to visit him, they happened to run into Harry and his two companions who shared the same thoughts.

"I will never forget it...it was so terrible!" Hagrid covered his face, his voice trembling and choked with sobs.

“I have nightmares every night… There are so many people in my dreams… My former classmates, they all say I killed someone…”

“I dreamt about you all…Professor McGonagall…the other professors…they were all scorning me…saying I’ve dragged Headmaster Dumbledore down with me…”

"I also dreamt of the Forbidden Forest... Frenze, Ronan, and the others... Aragog... They were pointing arrows at me... trying to hang me from a tree..."

"It will be alright!" everyone quickly reassured them.

"Wizards' prisons are really that terrible?" Harry asked, his voice tinged with doubt. "They even give you nightmares... and Hagrid seems... to have lost weight?"

“Nobody wants to eat in a place like that…” Hagrid sighed. “I don’t want to go back there…”

"That place is awful! Even if you could eat a piping hot rock-skin flatbread, it would taste bland and tasteless..."

As if he had just thought of something, he looked around and said, "Oh, right! I'm planning to bake some rock-skin flatbread, you guys want some too!"

Harry instinctively said, "No need to bother! We ate too much for lunch!"

“Yes!” Ron immediately added, “I was so full that I didn’t want to eat anything in the evening… You know, Headmaster Dumbledore is back, and we were so happy that we ate a little more.”

Luna was the only one who hadn't experienced Hagrid's cooking, but seeing that Vizet was refusing repeatedly, she imitated the same gesture and waved her hands repeatedly.

……