Hogwarts: Don't call me the Staff Maker

Chapter 786 The Approaching Bottom Line

We made it back to school without any major incidents, and it was almost noon by then.

At this time, the last class of the morning had just ended, and the empty corridor saved Xilun a lot of trouble, allowing him to arrive at the dungeon smoothly.

The place is now empty; there's not a soul in sight. The spot where Alecto Carlo was imprisoned is now just an empty chain.

Well, he should have thought of that sooner.

If Alecto Caro were to suddenly disappear, it would certainly attract the attention of Snape and the other Death Eaters, and even Voldemort himself. The trouble that might arise would be far greater than that caused by Alecto Caro alone.

Although he knew Professor McGonagall wouldn't make such a basic mistake, Siron couldn't help but take a look, and only went back upstairs after confirming it was true.

Instead of going to see Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick, Siron went directly to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

Through the window in the door, Siron could clearly see Alecto Caro describing to each student in a fanatical tone how wonderful black magic was.

"If you cast the Cruciatus Curse on someone, you will hear the most beautiful sound in the world—"

Yes, black magic, and an unforgivable curse at that.

Although Professor McGonagall has explicitly forbidden the introduction of dark magic into Hogwarts, Alecto Caro clearly has his own ideas.

Siren also saw Ginny and Neville, who were sitting below, their hands clenched into fists under the table, their expressions full of resistance.

It's clear that they have an instinctive resistance to such words.

Even so, no one stood up to oppose her—or perhaps someone had already opposed her.

Judging from his familiar tone, this probably wasn't the first time Alecto Caro had said something like this in class. Given the nature of those Gryffindors, they wouldn't pretend nothing happened; most likely, they figured objecting was pointless.

After all, even Professor McGonagall couldn't do it, so what's the use of a few students objecting? In the end, they'll just get punished for nothing.

There are no results, only punishment; no one but Harry, that hothead, would be willing to do such a thing.

Unfortunately, Harry isn't at school right now.

Siren watched from outside for a while longer and found that Alector Caro was indeed acting normally, seemingly having completely forgotten what had happened before.

Reassured, Siron left and went into Professor McGonagall's office before the bell rang.

This was something they had arranged in advance; once Sirius returned from Hogsmeade, he would wait for her in Professor McGonagall's office.

He was only a little late because he had spent some time at the Pig Head Bar.

A few minutes later, the bell rang to signal the end of get out of class.

Almost as soon as the bell stopped ringing, Xilun heard a series of hurried footsteps coming from the corridor outside.

With a bang, the office door was forcefully pushed open from the outside.

Professor McGonagall walked in nervously, but visibly relaxed when she saw Siron next to the cabinet.

"Oh, thank you, Merlin—" Professor McGonagall immediately closed the door. "I thought you would be back in half an hour."

"It could have been done, but we were delayed a bit in Hogsmeade, and when we came back, everyone was in class."

"Sillen said."

"Wasting time—have you been discovered?" Professor McGonagall tensed up again, instinctively drawing her wand.

"No, it's something else. Those Death Eaters didn't find me."

"That's good." Professor McGonagall breathed a sigh of relief. "How did it go?"

She didn't press Siron about what he had done, but only asked about the situation at Hogsmeade. Siron also told her about the shopkeepers' attitudes.

Professor McGonagall believed that all the trustworthy shopkeepers chose to help Hogwarts search for the hidden Death Eaters in the vicinity.

Professor McGonagall seemed to have anticipated this outcome, her expression remaining unchanged, only letting out a slight sigh.

"I hope you haven't forgotten to tell them—and of course, you should remember it too."

"All we need to do is find the Death Eaters, and we'll take care of the rest."

"I already said so," Xilun nodded. "Except for the owner of Wenrenju, everyone else said there's no problem."

"A scholar's residence?" Professor McGonagall thought of Patel Delaney and pursed her lips.

One of her students, a typical Gryffindor, disagreed, presumably wanting to deal with the Death Eaters himself.

"Never mind, leave this to me." Professor McGonagall rubbed her eyes.

"There's something else I think I should tell you, about Alecto Caro. To avoid arousing Snape's suspicion, Felius and I both think we should release her."

"But we didn't do nothing either. Felius used a forgetting charm and a confusion charm on her. In Carol's memory, after leaving the Slytherin common room last night, she went to see Mr. Draco Malfoy and gave him a good beating."

Poor Malfoy.

"No, it's just that Carol remembers that she punished Mr. Malfoy, but she didn't actually do anything."

"Oh, that's a real shame."

"What?"

"It's nothing." Xiren quickly shook his head. "I mean, it's such a waste to let Carol go like this. Just now, I saw her telling seventh-grade students how wonderful the Cruciatus Curse is."

"You mean, she's teaching students to use dark magic again?" Professor McGonagall's face immediately darkened.

She believed she had made herself very clear: Hogwarts would not tolerate any form of dark magic, or she would rather close the school.

Even though Snape, the headmaster, agreed, Carol still went her own way.

Professor McGonagall instinctively wanted to find Snape, the headmaster, but she suddenly stopped just as she reached the door.

Because she realized that doing so was pointless. Although Snape was the nominal headmaster, as Death Eaters, their status was not that different.

If Alecto Caro had obeyed Snape's orders, she wouldn't have said those things in class.

As for actually closing Hogwarts—frankly, Professor McGonagall wouldn't do it if there were even the slightest possibility.

Closing the school means that hundreds of students will have to face Death Eaters and Voldemort without any preparation, which is nothing short of a disaster for them.

Especially for those mixed-race and Muggle-born young wizards, without the protection of schools and professors, it is really difficult for them to survive this war.

Ultimately, it all comes down to Voldemort.

Professor McGonagall's expression gradually calmed down, and she turned around and sat back down at the table.

"We need to speed up the plan."

"It won't be quick." Xilen, having roughly guessed her thoughts, shook his head and said, "The key now is that giant serpent called Nagini. We need to know where it's hiding. Did Carlo give us any useful information?"

"No," Professor McGonagall said.

Xilun and the others had already asked once before, but they hadn't found anything, so naturally they were no exception.

"So now we can only wait for news from Harry."

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