The mastermind behind Hogwarts

Moriarty met Fudge's gaze and said, "Professor Dumbledore is telling the truth."

"What?!!"

Fudge yelled and shook his head.

"No, no, no!"

His face had turned almost liver-colored as he looked at Moriarty pleadingly.

"It's not that hard to admit Voldemort's return," Moriarty said casually. "Of course, it's not that hard to admit Voldemort has been defeated once again."

After Moriarty finished speaking, he exchanged a glance with Dumbledore. Voldemort had already been dealt with.

Dumbledore was relieved and said, "It seems I need to find a highly skilled wizard to replace Professor William as the professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts. William won't be able to move freely for at least three months, poor man."

Moriarty nodded in agreement: "He only taught us for two weeks."

"Ah, ah..." Fudge's complexion began to return to normal. He looked at Dumbledore, then at Moriarty, and said with lingering fear, "This is all over now, isn't it?"

Nobody paid any attention to Fudge, but Fudge wasn't annoyed. To him, as long as Voldemort didn't return, the world was at peace.

Fudge didn't care whether Voldemort was really dead or not.

"If you need my or the Ministry of Magic's help, just let me know."

Fudge gave Moriarty and Dumbledore a fawning smile, wiped the sweat from his brow, and said, "Alright, we should go now. Hand this guy over to Azkaban!"

He tapped Peter Pettigrew's instep hard with his cane as he passed Tonks, saying happily.

"The department has decided to award Miss Tonks a Merlin Second Class medal. If Miss Tonks wishes, she can report to the Auror office as soon as possible after graduation without taking an exam."

Tonks said indifferently, "I think I'd better take the Auror exam. I don't want to be the subject of gossip."

Fudge, feeling awkward, took his leave.

Dumbledore stood up from the bench, a thoughtful look on his face. "Before dawn, I'll write a few letters and send them out as soon as possible. Maybe I can even get some sleep."

"Hmm...who should I write to? Professor Randy is homeless...maybe my old friend Moody has time? Or Remus Lupin? Hopefully he can substitute for me for a while..."

As Dumbledore walked, he pondered who should take over the teaching duties.

"Oh, Mr. Moriarty," he suddenly turned around, "perhaps you could write to Professor Diana?"

Moriarty shook his head. "Perhaps she's doing something else?"

Ever since Vivian was rescued, Diana has been helping her mentor overcome the shadow of Merlin's disappearance.

"Ah, what a pity," said Dumbledore, "it seems I'll have to write to Lupin."

"I believe I am capable of this job," Professor Snape said loudly, "to substitute Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"I hope you won't do that, Severus," Professor McGonagall advised. "Your time is very tight."

Professor Snape also stood up, limping towards Dumbledore, to defend himself: "I can do it, you know that!"

"Um, Dean."

At this time, the only person addressed as Professor Snape and Dean was Moriarty.

He said with concern, "Marcus told me that I've already brewed the potion to treat the bite from Cerberus."

Strange turned abruptly, his eyes sharply fixed on Moriarty, and shouted, "I'm not so weak that I need a student to brew me a potion!"

“But I’m faster than you,” Moriarty said. “You know that.”

"No!" Snape limped towards his office. "Tomorrow you'll see a perfectly fine Snape!"

With the instructor gone, Moriarty had achieved his goal, and he and Dumbledore exchanged a knowing smile.

"Professor Snape is no longer fit to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts, especially given Sirius Black's death and Harry Potter's first encounter with Voldemort."

“That’s right,” Dumbledore nodded with a smile, pleased that Moriarty had thought of the same thing as him. “So? I’ll write to Lupin again; he’ll calmly tell Harry everything.”

That concludes everything concerning Professor William.

The next day at noon, the students discovered that their new professor had become Remus Lupin.

As another outstanding wizard who graduated from Hogwarts, Lupin's background has already spread far and wide.

While lying in his hospital bed, Harry also heard that Lupin had a very close relationship with his father, as well as Sirius Black.

It is said that Peter Pettigrew, the mastermind behind this incident, also had a close relationship with them.

Neville told Harry all of this when he came to visit.

Neville refused to reveal further details, which led Harry to spend his days fantasizing about his father and the relationship between Lupin and others.

Apart from Neville, no one else came to visit Harry. To Harry's disappointment, neither Marcus nor Draco came either.

Sometimes Harry thinks he has lost Draco as a friend.

But seeing Ron in the next bed made Harry feel a bit better, because apart from the Weasley brothers, no one came to see Ron.

Harry also heard Neville say that an Auror named Leon wanted to rush in and beat up Ron, and the Weasley brothers were exhausted trying to stop him.

Harry just wanted to get away from Ron as soon as possible, but Ron had been acting strangely lately—he would look up at the ceiling every now and then and stare at it.

On several nights, Harry could hear hissing sounds.

"What did Draco call my ability to hear Parseltongue? Parseltongue? Yes, that's it! I'll definitely ask Marcus after I get out of the hospital."

In fact, Harry and Ron only stayed for three days, and they were discharged on the fourth day, which happened to be a Saturday.

"You have something to report to Senior Marcus? What bad luck, they've gone to Hogsmeade Village."

In the library, Neville whispered to Harry.

"I'm waiting for them to come back," Harry muttered. "My head is full of questions."

"You look troubled," Neville said with concern.

Harry shook his head, noticing Neville's notebook was filled with notes, and couldn't help but ask, "Neville, why do you study so tirelessly?"

"Because I want revenge!" Neville said sternly. "Don't you have any enemies?"

"An enemy? Does Voldemort count?" Harry asked, bewildered.

Unexpectedly, this elicited a gasp from the person in the next seat.

Harry turned around and saw Pansy sitting next to Draco, Nott, and Daphne.

Not only were they there, but there were also two girls diagonally opposite them.

Hermione and Hannah, who had their argument with Ron last time.

“I see them almost every day,” Neville winked at Harry. “They’re the best of the first-years here. Don’t hang out with Ron all the time.”

"Even you noticed?" Harry felt ashamed of his poor choice of friends.

"I heard from Senior Soldaya that Mrs. Weasley sent the princess earrings that Ron stole tonight, so the master will definitely be here tonight. If you have something to say, hurry up and say it."

"Thank you, Neville," Harry said sincerely.

That night, Harry didn't go to dinner. He waited anxiously in the common room for Moriarty and the others to return. He felt like he was going crazy if he didn't get the information out of them soon.

Finally, Harry waited until seven o'clock.

A large group of people walked in, chatting and laughing. Harry went up to them and said excitedly, "Mr. Moriarty! Senior Marcus! Can I have a chat with you?"

"Potter?"

After thinking for a moment, Moriarty waved to the other snakes, signaling them to return to their respective dormitories.

Soon only Moriarty and his group remained on the sofa, and Harry stood nervously opposite them.

"You can speak now, Potter."

Harry mustered his courage and recounted his and Draco's experience of tracking William, how Ron had coerced them, and how they ended up in the alchemy classroom, along with his speculations.

Then he talked about Ron's unusual behavior, and finally asked Moriarty what kind of relationship Sirius Black, his two friends, and James Potter had.

After Harry finished speaking, Lilith and the others looked at him with strange eyes, and each of them had a different look in their eyes.

"Harry Potter! You've made me so angry!"

Marcus was the first to speak.

This surprised Harry, who knew that Marcus was not good with words and usually acted without speaking.

Sure enough, Marcus raised his wand, gritting his teeth and roaring, "You dare doubt Professor Snape! He's lame because he was bitten by Cerberus, which I acquired a week ago! In Hagrid's hut! He's still brewing potions, and you dare doubt him! Doubt your own professor!"

Harry was stunned; he hadn't expected this at all.

He collapsed to the ground, completely unconscious!

Marcus fired a spell, Moriarty raised his hand to block it, and the red light grazed Harry's hair as it flew past.

"Sir, why are you stopping me?" Marcus said indignantly. "A student suspecting a professor? This is happening in our college!"

Moriarty didn't look at him, but stared at Harry.

"You said you heard a hissing sound at night, like this? Hiss hiss hiss!"

Harry's eyes widened. "Yes, yes, yes! That's it, Parsley. I forgot to mention that!"

Moriarty seemed to recall something, his gaze towards Harry becoming strange, and he spoke a sentence in Parseltongue in a mysterious and enigmatic way.

Harry thought for a while before he understood, and asked in confusion, "Why?"

"Do as I say, if you want to avenge your parents." Moriarty gestured for Harry to leave, then added, "Professor Lupin will tell you everything about your father."

Harry went back to sleep, and Lilith asked Moriarty curiously, "What did you say to Potter in Parseltongue?"

Moriarty gave her an elegant smile: "Don't you understand Parseltongue?"

"Your Parseltongue is too advanced, I can't understand it," Lilith said helplessly, after all, she wasn't a Parseltongue speaker.

"I had Harry get close to Ron to monitor him, remotely control him, and direct him."

"Huh?" Jericho chuckled. "That silly boy, can he really do it? I have my doubts."

"Compared to him, what problems does Ron Weasley have that warrant your attention?"

Lilith was puzzled; when did Moriarty start paying attention to unlucky Ron?

Moriarty glanced at Lilith, his gaze deep and unfathomable, before shifting to an octopus swimming towards the bottom of the lake.

"Ron, he is Voldemort's eighth Horcrux."

(Chapter 55 wasn't left unwritten; it was posted Wednesday night. It was blocked because of the Narcissa part, so be careful in the future. If you see a title with Narcissa in it, read it quickly, hehe. I'll also revise Chapter 55 and get it unblocked soon.)