The mastermind behind Hogwarts

Neville looked down. The white rabbit looked perfectly normal, just like the pet rabbits in Muggle households.

That's why Neville found it strange; this was Hogwarts—the most normal things are often the strangest.

Neville hurriedly left the library; he needed to get back to the Slytherin dungeons, preferably before Ron left.

But Neville had just taken a step when he felt a weight on his foot. Looking down, he saw that it was White Rabbit tugging at his trouser leg.

The rabbit occasionally tossed its head towards the Forbidden Forest, and a thought suddenly popped into Neville's mind:

"You want me to go with you?"

The rabbit miraculously understood human speech, nodded gently, then released Neville's legs and ran towards the Forbidden Forest.

"Is it an Animagus?"

"Or whose Patronus Charm?"

Neville scratched his head. Even if he was slow on the uptake, he could tell something was wrong, but he didn't know who the rabbit represented.

If it's the Ministry of Magic, this is a trap!

If it were Moriarty...

Neville gritted his teeth and made a decision: he would follow them, even if it meant being trapped!

Neville ran toward the White Rabbit; that's just how he is—once he's decided on something, he'll do it without hesitation.

The man and the rabbit ran swiftly, and as dusk approached, the two figures darted through the woods.

Since Hagrid was dismissed, the guardian of the Forbidden Forest has changed. The current owner of Hagrid's Hut is a goblin, and no one has ever seen the little wizard in the castle.

As soon as it approached the Forbidden Forest, the white rabbit became alert, its movements seemingly designed to evade surveillance, and its route appeared utterly absurd to Neville.

But Neville did as he was told, and the White Rabbit's behavior only confirmed his suspicions.

The white rabbit most likely represents Professor Moriarty! Even if it's not Moriarty himself, it's a wizard connected to him!

Finally, the White Rabbit led Neville into a meadow. Neville looked around and saw a large tree standing in the center, its ancient bark looking quite old.

"The 'Hit-and-Beat Willow'?"

Neville racked his brains before finally finding the tree's name in "Hogwarts: A History of the School".

"The Whomping Willow, planted in 1971, is rumored to have been planted by Professor Dumbledore. Are you perhaps an emissary of Professor Dumbledore?"

Neville looked at the White Rabbit curiously, and the latter glanced back at Neville before running towards the Whomping Willow and disappearing in the blink of an eye!

"Where did it go?" Neville ran closer and saw that there was a tunnel next to the willow tree canopy.

Neville gritted his teeth and crawled into the tunnel!

"May Merlin bless me, and may I meet the right person at the other end of the tunnel."

Neville walked through the tunnel for a few minutes, and the tunnel began to slope upwards. After walking for a while longer and turning a corner, he finally saw a faint glimmer of light.

It's a small exit.

Neville took a deep breath, gripped his wand tightly, and went outside.

This is a room, a messy, gray room.

Neville shook his head and looked around at the furnishings. There was a door in front of him, and just as he was thinking about whether to open it, the door was pushed open from the outside with a "whoosh".

"Your presence here proves that you are the true heir to Slytherin, Longbottom."

A witch entered, followed by four other witches, all carrying wands but appearing relaxed.

Neville's jaw dropped; he recognized the leading witch. "Mrs. Tonks?"

The capable woman with long black hair and a black bodysuit in front of me is none other than Tonks, who has already graduated from Hogwarts!

"I've already graduated, but on Hogwarts' turf, I'd much rather hear my juniors call me 'Big Sister'."

Tonks was as cool as ever, and the witches behind her laughed when she finished speaking.

"Mrs. Furong?"

"Mrs. Qiu Zhang?"

"Mrs. Penelope?"

"Chairwoman Gemma!"

Neville exclaimed happily, now certain that the presence of several of his teachers' wives—even Gemma Farley, who had already graduated—must have brought instructions from Professor Moriarty.

"Looks like you've already figured it out," Tonks waved her wand, and a small black snake appeared on her right shoulder, while the white rabbit that had guided Neville appeared on her left. "Moriarty sent me a message: he's back!"

"I knew it! I knew it!" Neville exclaimed excitedly, then his expression suddenly changed. "Wait! Are you guys sent by the Ministry of Magic—trying to trick me?"

He suddenly raised his wand. "If you really are senior students, how did you manage to slip away from the spell Gamp cast on the school?"

"You're six minutes late, judging by your attitude," Tonks snorted. Penelope stepped forward. "Let me explain. Under the pressure at school, Longbottom won't be at ease unless we explain."

Penelope exchanged glances with the other women and slowly said, "After Moriarty left, do you think we didn't do anything?"

"It's not what you see on the surface. At first, we wanted to bring everyone together, but then we found out that Hermione did it, and she did it very well."

"Then," Fleur continued, "Gamp used that magic, 'Education Under the Shadows,' right? Whenever someone uses magic to enter or leave the school, Gamp will know."

"So? We tried everything to break this spell, but after trying, we found that without magic like Moriarty's, it was impossible to break it. So we set our sights on the secret passage."

"Thinking back, we even experimented with flying brooms to avoid attracting attention," Zhang Qiu suddenly interjected. "I can't even remember how many nights we stayed up."

Neville stared in shock at the teachers' wives. After Moriarty left, the students often secretly compared Hermione to Fleur and Penelope.

Neville had some complaints about Hermione's responsibility and Fleur and the other women's avoidance, but now Neville realized he was wrong.

Furong and the others are also trying their best to welcome Moriarty's return!

"Whether flying in the sky or passing through the secret passages, everything was shrouded in darkness—the secret passages were blocked by Larpo's men," Penelope calmly recounted. "In the end, we managed to get the message to Big Sister Tonks through house-elves."

"Things will be much easier from here on out," Tonks continued. "Although the secret passage is blocked, Hogwarts is full of talented people. We got help from Remus Lupin, who pointed out the only secret passage Hogwarts currently has."

"The Whomping Willow is the starting point, and the Shrieking Shack is the ending point. This is the secret passage from Hogwarts to Hogsmeade! Professor Dumbledore planted the Whomping Willow in 1971, and now only he and Remus Lupin are involved—Gump or Ralph would never know."

Tonks pulled out a map and said with a smile, "I went back to Slytherin Castle to retrieve Moriarty's Marauder's Map and quickly found this secret passage. It's now being used for our counterattack on Hogwarts!"

"A counterattack on Hogwarts?" Neville's eyes lit up. After hearing the explanation, he completely trusted Tonks.

"That's right. Although Gump and Lalpo aren't at Hogwarts, they'll be back soon. And there are goblins in the castle. We don't know what they're up to, but they're definitely up to no good."

Tonks spoke quickly, glancing at Neville: "By the way, you were originally supposed to meet with Moody and Lupin today, but I persuaded them to stop. If Moody saw you looking so unguarded—you wouldn't want to see his stern face, would you?"

"Heh heh heh heh." Neville chuckled and put down his wand, realizing that his failure to question it immediately was a mistake.

"Are Professor Moody and Professor Lupin here too?" Neville asked in surprise.

"It's not just them," Tonks said patiently. She knew Neville had been behaving well lately and didn't mind revealing more. "Moriarty and Professor Dumbledore are also in London right now!"

"Moriarty is at the Leaky Cauldron, and Professor Dumbledore and Professor Grindelwald are at the Hog's Head."

"Moriarty assembled the Hogwarts pureblood army—they're with Gilderoy, and Professor Dumbledore assembled the Order of the Phoenix—they're in Hogsmeade."

"Great, great!" Neville paced back and forth excitedly. The cramped room had made it hard for him to breathe, but now he felt completely refreshed.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go back to school, get everyone mobilized, overthrow Umbridge, drive out the Ministry of Magic, and eliminate Gump?" Neville looked at Tonks, his face full of anticipation.

"It's you who's going back," Tonks calmly outlined the plan: "Go back and tell Marcus and Thor that Shiva the Basilisk will teleport to the Chamber of Secrets in Slytherin. They need to help Shiva eliminate the Basilisks that Ralph is hiding inside and outside the castle!"

"This is a very important step. Moriarty said that if all the basilisks are not eliminated, Larpo may be resurrected again."

"Is this the secret to his immortality?!" Neville thought in horror, and was also greatly shocked. Hogwarts was not only shrouded in Gump's darkness, but also surrounded by basilisks.

Without this secret passage, their every move would have been under the watchful eye of the basilisk!

"We guarantee the mission will be completed."

After Neville finished speaking solemnly, he left.

Suddenly, only five witches remained in the room. Tonks looked at her sisters, twirling her wands in her hand, a fierce glint in her eyes.

"That good-for-nothing little badger, Cedric, actually sided with the Ministry of Magic and got Umbridge to shut down Hufflepuff Dining Hall!"

"I won't swallow this insult. Let's go, and let Umbridge experience the Hufflepuff's wrath!"

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