My Hogwarts has a serious problem.

Chapter 290, Section 287: Capture Harry Potter!

"Professors should be assigned to patrol every night to increase the intensity of investigations and severely punish students who have recently violated school rules. At the same time, you should also pay more attention to students who are behaving strangely."

Professor McGonagall assigned the tasks, and while the professors took it seriously, they weren't overly worried.

Even though Dumbledore is gone, Hogwarts still has a dozen or so professors who are top-notch in their respective fields. If anyone dares to openly cause trouble at Hogwarts, unless they are someone of Voldemort's caliber, they are confident that they can handle it.

As for the news that Dumbledore had left the school and the castle and that there might be danger there recently, only the four headmasters and Lynn knew about it.

Even the night patrols were carried out by these five professors in shifts.

Three days after Dumbledore left, nothing unexpected happened at Hogwarts.

One day, Harry got into a fight with Malfoy at school.

Malfoy used a spell to summon snakes in an attempt to attack Harry, but Harry suddenly displayed his talent for Parseltongue and persuaded the summoned snake to leave, allowing the castle's young wizards to discover his secret of being a Parseltongue speaker.

This sparked another round of speculation among the students about who the successor of the Secret Chamber was. Everyone had almost forgotten about it because Professor Sprout's Mandrake was about to mature, and the only victim, Finley, would soon recover and be able to leave the school hospital.

As a result, Dumbledore's removal from his position as headmaster due to the Chamber of Secrets, coupled with Harry's Parseltongue revelation, reignited the rumors of the Chamber of Secrets among the students.

However, these are just rumors.

However, on the morning of the fourth day after Dumbledore left Hogwarts, an unexpected incident occurred.

"So why is that?" Even after a day, Harry still didn't understand. "Does speaking Parseltongue automatically make someone a Slytherin descendant?"

Ron said solemnly, "That's right, that's basically what everyone thinks. Don't forget what the representative animal of Slytherin House is."

"snake?"

"Yes, because Salazar Slytherin himself is a Parseltongue, and Parseltongue is hereditary, so unless a second person in Hogwarts becomes a Parseltongue speaker, you are indeed the only one who could be the murderer."

Hermione frowned and said, "But we all know Harry couldn't be the murderer."

"But no one else in the school knows, you didn't see the way everyone looked at Harry yesterday, like they'd seen a ghost. The hero who defeated Vanderbilt is actually a Slytherin descendant, and he's going to open the Chamber of Secrets to cleanse Hogwarts of its impure bloodline! Oh my god, I'm sure this story went viral in the common rooms of all the houses last night."

Although the Weasleys are known as traitors among pure-blood families, their family history is long and distinguished, and Ron certainly knows what it means to be a Slytherin descendant.

Harry looked embarrassed when he heard the title of the hero who defeated Mystic.

After the last semester, he and Hermione both knew who the real person who defeated Mystic was, and he hadn't heard anyone call him that in a long time.

Just as Harry and his friends were about to go into the Great Hall for breakfast, a young wizard who was rushing by saw them. He looked at Harry with a terrified expression and suddenly shouted.

"Professor! Harry's here! The heir of Slytherin is here, Professor!"

Harry said angrily, "I told you I didn't."

However, things were not as simple as he believed. After the young wizard shouted, a large group of people rushed out of the Great Hall, including students and professors. They surrounded Harry and his two companions, as if afraid that he would run away.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were all startled by their actions.

Harry looked at Professor McGonagall in the middle of the crowd and explained in a flustered manner.

"Professor McGonagall, I am truly not a descendant of Slytherin, and I did not open the Chamber of Secrets to harm anyone!"

Professor McGonagall looked at him, her face almost transparent with paleness, and said in a trembling voice.

"Scatter! Everyone scatter! Those who haven't had breakfast, go eat it now! After you eat, go to class quietly! No gossiping! And you, Harry! Come with me!"

Professor McGonagall took Harry away. Ron and Hermione, meanwhile, anxiously inquired with those around them what had happened.

They soon found out why Professor McGonagall wanted to take Harry away.

Early this morning, Snape, who was patrolling the castle, was attacked!

He wasn't petrified, but his injuries caused him to fall into a coma. His last words before being found unconscious were—"Catch Harry Potter!"

Lynn participated in Professor McGonagall's questioning of Harry Potter.

He had only just learned of Snape's attack; it happened very suddenly. He hadn't slept in the early hours of the morning and was using his Animagus to monitor the "suspect."

Then, just as he was transforming back into Professor Lockhart and preparing to go to the Great Hall for breakfast, he heard the news that Snape had been attacked.

This news caught Lynn off guard, because he had been watching the "murderer" he believed to be the whole night, and yet the "murderer" made no move before Snape was attacked.

Moreover, Snape had Harry held captive before he fell unconscious.

This made Lynn suspicious.

He didn't doubt whether he had targeted the wrong person; instead, he felt there must be something he hadn't considered.

So he rushed to Professor McGonagall's office without even having breakfast to participate in this "interrogation".

"Where were you at 5 a.m. this morning, Harry?" Professor McGonagall stared at Harry Potter with an extremely serious expression. She didn't actually believe that Harry was the murderer, but she wasn't the only one present when Snape said he had captured Harry Potter in the Great Hall; many young wizards had heard it.

Even if she believed Harry, she still had to get to the bottom of this matter, not only to clear Harry's name but also to give an explanation to all the young wizards.

Harry only then realized what had happened to Snape, and he panicked, desperately trying to explain.

"I stayed in my dorm all night teaching, I didn't go anywhere, Ron, Seamus, and Neville can all testify to that."

Professor McGonagall shook her head.

"Seamus and Neville told me they can't testify for you because they've found your bed empty before when they got up in the middle of the night, saying you have a habit of going out to the castle at night. They weren't awake at 5 a.m. this morning, so they can't testify whether you were in the dormitory at that time. As for Ron, he's usually on good terms with you, and you're now living in the Weasleys' house, so his words can't be used as testimony."

Harry was really panicked. All the evidence pointed to him, and even he himself began to doubt whether he was the murderer!

(End of this chapter)