The mastermind behind Hogwarts

Chapter 223 Return to Hogwarts

Dumbledore's gaze held a deeper meaning, but Moriarty ignored him; his relationship with Grindelwald was still ambiguous.

After leaving the principal's office, Moriarty went straight to the second-floor corridor to Professor McGonagall's office for a make-up exam.

Professor McGonagall's office was small, like a small study.

Inside, there was a roaring fireplace, and two armchairs were placed in front of the fire. Professor McGonagall sat on one of the armchairs to warm herself by the fire.

Professor McGonagall saw Moriarty walk in and greeted him warmly, "Sit down, Moriarty."

As soon as Moriarty sat down on another sofa, Professor McGonagall couldn't wait to start talking about the Quidditch World Cup.

It's clear that Professor McGonagall is extremely excited about her student being a professional athlete.

The system then promptly issued a random task: ride a Nimbus 1990S and take Professor McGonagall for a spin.

Let Professor McGonagall experience the speed of a top Seeker!

Task reward: 300 points.

Penalty for failure: None.

"Only 300 points? That's too little." Moriarty spoke to the system: "The price of magic in the shop has increased tenfold, and the rewards for random quests should also be increased tenfold."

With the exorbitant prices in the store, a few hundred points are pitifully insignificant.

Moriarty was initially reluctant to take on the task, but he noticed the eagerness in Professor McGonagall's eyes when she talked about the match.

He stood up from the sofa and gave Professor McGonagall a standard gentleman's bow.

"Dear Professor Minerva McGonagall, may I invite you to ride with me on a flying broomstick for a spin in the sky?"

"Oh!" Professor McGonagall stood up, covering her mouth in surprise. She looked at Moriarty: "Are you serious, Moriarty? Your speed..."

"Yes, that's right," Moriarty nodded with a smile, "at maximum speed during the race."

"That's fantastic! What are we waiting for?" Professor McGonagall looked out the window with delight. Through the window, she could see the empty Quidditch pitch. "Let's go!"

The students had all gone home, and the Quidditch pitch was deserted. Moriarty carried Professor McGonagall through the air several times.

Whenever Moriarty swooped down, Professor McGonagall would scream with excitement like a young girl.

The professors who stayed on campus came out of their offices and onto the sports field to watch them.

After Moriarty landed with Professor McGonagall, the professors swarmed around him, asking one after another if he could take them for a ride.

The professors also wanted to experience the speed of a top seeker.

Perhaps, except for Professor Snape.

St. Peter did not show up; he remained in his underground office.

What is not widely known is that he accepted Mrs. Malfoy's invitation to go to Hyprose to watch the final match.

When the professors asked for a ride, Moriarty generously gave them a ride around the field. It didn't take long and was effortless for Moriarty, but he gained the professors' friendship.

If it were Percy, he would probably be overjoyed.

Moriarty, however, didn't care much; these were just small favors.

Often, seemingly insignificant acts can yield huge rewards. During the flight, Professor Flitwick suggested that Moriarty consider improving the cushion charm when designing the next broom.

Moriarty noted that great things are found in small things, and that details are key.

He smiled politely at each professor who thanked him, saying, "No need for thanks, my professors. It is my honor to fly with you."

Dumbledore had somehow appeared on the pitch. He smiled at Moriarty and said, "You don't sound like a pureblood at all. For a nobleman, selfishness is a basic quality."

Moriarty shook his head: "I have never claimed to be an aristocrat. I do not believe that Slytherins are superior. All men are created equal and die equal."

"Including Muggles?"

This time Moriarty did not answer immediately. He thought for a moment and then used Isaac as an example.

"I know a vampire who wants to become a human, but as everyone knows, vampires and humans are not equal."

"So, Professor Dumbledore, why do you think he wanted to become human?"

"Ah," Dumbledore sighed, "the reasons are always varied, but I think they are nothing more than feelings, interests, life and death..."

"You've hit the nail on the head," Moriarty exchanged a glance with Dumbledore. "So you see, in the face of the real reason, doesn't equality become irrelevant? Otherwise, why would vampires become human?"

"I think he's a vampire with a sweet tooth. He couldn't stand drinking blood all day, so he turned into a human so he could enjoy human food," Dumbledore joked, winking at Moriarty.

"Following your line of thinking, next time I meet an old man who loves sweets, I'll have to ask him if he's a vampire in disguise."

"You may go ahead."

They returned to the castle while talking, and Moriarty was taken away by the professors to complete his make-up exams. Unsurprisingly, he once again received full marks in all subjects.

Professor Binns was delighted to say that Moriarty was only the second student in Hogwarts' history to receive a perfect score on the History of Magic exams for two consecutive semesters.

Moriarty asked who the first student was, and Professor Binns replied, "It's Merlin, my Mr. Slytherin, he's a legend."

Merlin...

Whenever someone mentions Merlin, Moriarty immediately thinks of a black dragon and a giantess...

In short, Moriarty once again came in first in his grade, and he saw the grade ranking on the parchment that Professor McGonagall used to record student grades.

Among the second-grade students, Lilith was in third place, Penelope was in third, and Percy was in fourth.

Jericho fell behind; his alchemy grades dragged him down.

Marcus has made some progress, which could also be due to encouragement from his professors.

In other grades, Tonks was first in fifth grade, and Charlie was second.

The top student in seventh grade was the Ravenclaw chairwoman, and the second was Leon. Moriarty could already imagine Leon's resentful expression.

The competition in the first grade was the most intense, with Soldaya narrowly defeating Cedric to take first place in the grade.

The difference between Cedric and Soldaya lies in alchemy. Soldaya seems to have an innate and keen intuition for alchemy, and he can always complete tasks ahead of others, whether in experiments or theory.

The Weasley twins also did well, while Lee Jordan, who went out and partyed with them at night, had a poorer performance.

After closing his report card, Moriarty bid farewell to the professors one by one, but they told him that they had decided to accept Mrs. Malfoy's invitation to watch his final match!

This includes the elderly couple, Nicolas Flamel and his wife.

Under the professors' somewhat knowing gazes, Moriarty shook his head with amusement. He had to go see Mrs. Malfoy to prevent the woman from trying so hard to get close to him.

Using the fireplace in the church office, Moriarty entered Hogsmeade. The morning weather had warmed up, and there were more pedestrians in the wizarding village. Several figures appeared in the magical revival prop shop.

Mrs. Malfoy was busy in the shop. Although the shop only sold one type of alchemical item, she did not slack off and used magic to polish her wand set to a shine every day.

When she wasn't in the shop, Mrs. Malfoy would have her employees clean it spotlessly.

She needed to maintain the Malfoy family's reputation, so the Malfoy family's shops couldn't be as dirty and messy as a garbage dump.

Another important reason is Moriarty.

Madame Malfoy demonstrated to Moriarty her high regard for the prop shop through its proper management.

Moriarty and Nicolas Flamel will continuously produce powerful and new alchemical tools, and Madame Malfoy hopes to acquire the sales rights to these tools.

To date, two alchemical tools developed by Moriarty are popular on the market: a wand set and a Nimbus 1990S.

Thinking about the profits that the Nimbus 1990S brought to the Nimbus Corporation, Mrs. Malfoy involuntarily clenched her fists.

Moriarty clearly had better partners; the Malfoy family was perfectly capable of handling the job!

And the result? Moriarty's collaboration with the Nimbus Company allowed that unscrupulous businessman Whitehorn to make a fortune.

Mrs. Malfoy realized that she had to take the initiative.

Just like back in Hogwarts, when she took the initiative to showcase the charm of the third daughter of the Black family, she stood out from the crowd and proved the value of the Malfoy family.

Just then, Moriarty led the British team to a crushing victory over France, a crushing defeat against Bulgaria, and a surrender of Poland, miraculously advancing to the final.

Lady Malfoy made the quick decision to invite all the Hogwarts professors and the Everlasting Shining fan club to watch the game.

This time, Moriarty must have taken notice of the Malfoy family's power.

Mrs. Malfoy smiled slightly and handed a wand set to a foreign wizard who had come to admire her, just as Moriarty walked into the shop.

(End of this chapter)