My Hogwarts has a serious problem.

Chapter 277, Section 274: The Principals

"The real purpose of this attack was not to cleanse the bloodline, nor was it aimed at me. He wanted to divert our attention and then break into the principal's office."

Lynn and Dumbledore entered the entrance to the Headmaster's office and then went up the spiral staircase.

Dumbledore didn't speak; he seemed calm and didn't appear worried that anything in the headmaster's office might be missing.

On the eighth floor, the principal's office door was wide open, and the room was a complete mess, with all sorts of things scattered on the floor. The intruder made no attempt to hide their intention to find something there.

Dumbledore and Lynn stopped at the door of the headmaster's office at the same time, but did not go in immediately.

A tiny flame was slowly burning on the branch where Fox was.

Not long after the flames died down, an ugly little bird, its feathers all gone, stood on a branch, screeching angrily.

It had clearly been killed once before, and it had just been resurrected when Lynn and Dumbledore arrived.

Besides Fawkes, who had come back from the dead, the Sorting Hat, which had been sitting on the chair, was roughly thrown on the floor. There was also an overturned silver basin next to the bookshelf. Various parchments on the desk were scattered all over the room. The portraits of the past Hogwarts headmasters hanging on the wall had all disappeared. One of them looked like it had been attacked, with a large hole burned in the middle, revealing the charred wall behind it.

"Is there anything missing, Professor?"

After confirming that no one was hiding inside, they went in. Dumbledore waved his wand and put all the messy things back in their original positions, while also repairing the broken picture frame.

Hearing Lynn's words, Dumbledore shook his head.

"No, nothing is missing." He walked over to the silver basin in the cabinet. "Nothing is missing, but your thoughts may have been spied on."

Lynn looked at the silver basin and, to confirm his suspicions, asked, "Is this the Pensieve?"

"That's right, it's a very useful alchemy tool. I often store some important memories in it."

As Dumbledore spoke, he shook his head again. "The murderer doesn't seem to have come specifically for it. In the short time I was away from the headmaster's office, there wasn't enough time for him to see anything. If his target really was this basin, then he should have just stolen it."

Lynn looked around the entire principal's office and said, puzzled, "So what did he want to do by going to all that trouble to sneak into the principal's office?"

Dumbledore walked around the room once, then stopped in front of Fawkes, who looked ugly after being resurrected.

Fawkes looked furious and spoke in the Phoenix Language to Dumbledore, who nodded slightly.

"It was ambushed and petrified by the basilisk before it could even see the face clearly, and it hasn't been revived until now."

Although Lynn didn't understand bird language, he could tell that Fawkes had said more than just those few words after listening to him "whimper" for so long. It's likely that Dumbledore omitted all of Fawkes' swear words.

Just then, a furtive old man suddenly appeared in the picture frame hanging on the wall. He carefully observed the situation in the headmaster's office, and when he saw Dumbledore, he shouted.

"Albus! Why are you so late? Do you know I was almost burned alive!"

He was an old wizard with a wise face and a goatee, whose speech sounded rather rough.

Dumbledore calmly sat back in his chair and said to him, "Phineas, call Delis and the others back. It's safe here now."

"They specifically sent me to scout ahead," Phineas muttered as he left the picture frame in the principal's office. Not long after, the principals who had temporarily sought refuge returned to the picture frame in the principal's office.

"Oh my god! This is terrifying! A dark wizard has broken into the headmaster's office!"

"This is an unprecedented event in a thousand years; you must take Albus seriously!"

"He was rummaging around here, and so was that big snake, which was guarding it menacingly. None of us dared to look it in the eye."

"Even those of us who have been turned into portraits cannot avoid that terrifying magic of death immediately."

"Phineas just yelled a few words at that dark wizard, and he almost burned him to the ground!"

The headmasters chattered amongst themselves, recounting to Dumbledore everything that had happened in the headmaster's office. They all seemed shaken and deeply disturbed by what had transpired.

Dumbledore stopped them from talking together and called out the name of a kind-looking headmistress.

"Delis, did you see the intruder's face?"

Delis shook her head with a worried look: "I'm sorry, Albus, he didn't show his face, but judging from his voice, he should be a wizard."

"Did you find out what he was looking for?"

"As soon as he came in with the giant serpent, he told us to leave. Phineas roared at him, and then, as if annoyed, he attacked the portrait. We had to escape from here and take temporary refuge. I don't know if he found what he was looking for."

Dumbledore didn't seem particularly disappointed; it was as if this was exactly what he had expected.

"Phineas," he called out the name of the rough-looking old man who had come in first.

"I'm here, I've always been here," Phineas replied.

"Please ask all the portraits in the castle if they have seen where that giant snake came from. We must capture this basilisk for the safety of Hogwarts."

"Okay, I'll go take a look right away."

Phineas disappeared from his portrait, and silence returned to the principal's office.

Lynn kept observing Dumbledore's expression, sensing that he seemed to have discovered something.

"Professor, do you know why that intruder broke into the principal's office?"

Dumbledore tapped the table lightly with his index finger and pondered for a moment.

"I do have some guesses, but I'm sorry, Lynn, this is a secret that has been guarded by all the headmasters. I can't tell you these things unless you take over my position."

Lynn understood what Dumbledore was saying. Such an ancient house must have its own secrets. If it weren't for that, Lynn would have suspected that Dumbledore was hiding something from him.

"Did the intruder succeed?"

Dumbledore's gaze deepened, and he spoke softly.

"It seems he hasn't succeeded yet, but we don't know what he was looking for."

(End of this chapter)