Hogwarts: Don't call me the Staff Maker

Chapter 809 The Principal's Office Password

"It looks like Professor McGonagall won."

As Xilun turned his head, he saw a plume of black smoke rushing out of the gate at an extremely fast speed and disappearing from sight.

A few seconds later, Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick also came out in pursuit. Although they were running as fast as they could, they were still a bit slow, and by then Snape had probably already left the school grounds.

"Let's go, Professor McGonagall will be here soon," Celen said.

"Ah, okay—" Harry snapped out of his daze and quickly followed Siron upstairs.

At this time, students were still running down the stairs, and the stairs were almost all occupied. The two had to find some more secluded stairs, or simply take the secret passage inside the castle.

There are quite a few of these secret passages, which can lead directly from the second floor to the fifth floor, or from the third floor to the first floor. Because both sides are inside the castle, they were preserved and were not sealed off along with the secret passages leading outside the school.

Siren and Harry moved aside a gleaming suit of silver armor in the corridor and emerged from the passage behind it.

They came up from a secret passage on the fifth floor, the exit of which faced the ugly-looking dripping stone beast statue in front of the principal's office.

"We've arrived," Siren said. "But there's a problem. Do you know the password to the principal's office?"

'

"Ah—no, I don't know." Harry seemed startled and shook his head stammeringly.

"What's wrong with you? You've been distracted since earlier, and you almost got lost in the secret passage," Xilun asked, glancing at him.

"It's the scar on my forehead." Harry gritted his teeth and took a few deep breaths. "It's been burning like fire since just now. I guess he's angry—but it's okay, I'm used to it. He's been angry a lot lately."

Harry twitched the corners of his mouth, as if trying to prove that he could still hold on.

He didn't need to do this, after all, it concerned the special connection between Harry and Voldemort, and whether he could hold on or not, there was nothing Siren could do.

However, he could help distract Harry.

"To be honest, I've always had a question."

"—What?"

"If you—I mean if you were in a state of extreme anger, would Voldemort be affected? Like, would he have a stomachache, cramps, or something like that?"

"Hiss—" Harry gasped, unsure whether it was from pain or surprise.

He never expected Xilun to ask that question, but he still shook his head seriously.

"I don't know, but—it shouldn't have any impact."

Harry didn't actually know the answer to this question, but he figured Voldemort would definitely use Occlumency, so—he probably wouldn't be affected by the attack.

After that, the two stood at the door of the principal's office and chatted casually.

"By the way—just now, why weren't you surprised at all? It was like you knew Snape would run away." Harry rubbed his forehead, trying to distract himself from the burning pain.

"More or less," Siron said. "After all, Snape was a smart man."

"A smart person—what does that have to do with being smart?"

“Of course,” Siron said. “What would you do if you suddenly found yourself in the Death Eaters’ stronghold?”

"Of course, we should run away immediately," Harry blurted out.

“That’s right, Snape thought so too,” Sirius said. “I guess he never intended to win when he fought Professor McGonagall; his initial goal was simply to escape.”

"Then why did he show up?"

"Probably to get injured and give Voldemort an explanation."

Footsteps sounded behind me, and Professor McGonagall arrived. She still seemed angry about what had just happened; her face was flushed, and she kept muttering things like "coward," "lackey," and "disgrace to the headmaster."

"Why don't you go in?" she asked the two people standing at the door.

"Professor, we don't know the password yet," Harry said.

"Password—oh, sorry." Professor McGonagall patted her forehead.

So much happened in such a short time that she completely forgot about the password.

"Professor, do you know the password Snape set?"

"I don't know, maybe it's the name of some kind of potion." Professor McGonagall stepped forward, facing the drooping stone beast.

Just as Siron was wondering how Professor McGonagall could get in without knowing the password, she continued.

"But it's okay. Albus once told me that if I ever need to get into the principal's office and he happens to be out, I can try this—let me think, how about some honeydew honey?"

The dripping stone beast remained motionless, still sitting there silently watching them.

"Oh, something's not right." Professor McGonagall frowned slightly.

"What's wrong?" Xilun couldn't help but ask.

"The temporary password," Professor McGonagall said absentmindedly, "is Albus's favorite candy—that's what he once told me."

She tried several more candy names, but none of them were right.

"Dumbledore's favorite candy—" Sirius blinked and muttered, "It must be cockroach skewers."

As soon as the words were spoken, the stone statue suddenly stood up and jumped to the side. The wall rumbled and cracked open to both sides, revealing the spiral staircase leading to the principal's office.

Professor McGonagall's face was extremely grim, her lips pressed tightly into a thin line. Even when Snape ran away earlier, she hadn't shown this level of utter disgust.

She remembered what Dumbledore had told her that day.

"Minerva, I'm sure you know what it is—"

"This is the only thing I'll probably never have guessed, Dumbledore," Professor McGonagall said softly, her tone unusually disdainful. It was as if the cockroach skewer from earlier wasn't just a command, but something Dumbledore had actually eaten right in front of her.

She then walked up the spiral staircase, and Siron and Harry quickly followed.

To their surprise, the principal's office had not changed much; it was almost exactly the same as when they last visited.

The silverware on the table was still emitting smoke, and behind the table piled high with parchment were portraits of all the headmasters. For some reason, Snape hadn't even taken down and replaced the enormous portrait of Ariana in the very center.

"Thank goodness," Harry whispered to Siren. "I thought Snape would turn this into his private storage room. Trust me, you definitely wouldn't like a place like that."

"You can imagine," Siron said.

At that moment, Professor McGonagall had already walked skillfully to the area in front of the portrait of the principal.

This time, none of the principals pretended to be asleep.

"Minerva," Armando Dippert looked at her, "excuse my bluntness, but we just heard some—very interesting news."

"It's true, I've gotten rid of the headmaster," Professor McGonagall said calmly. "Severus Snape betrayed Hogwarts and sided with Voldemort, and now I need to make sure the school's protective magic hasn't been compromised by him."