My Hogwarts has a serious problem.

Chapter 299, Section 296: The Infiltrator

All the students of Hogwarts gathered in the Great Hall.

Professor McGonagall was standing on the high platform in the auditorium, having the prefects of each college count the number of students in their respective colleges.

She spoke loudly with a serious expression.

"Everyone stay inside the Great Hall. Don't wander off. You can all see outside. Professor Lockhart is fighting a monster. He's risking his life to protect you. You can't help, so don't cause any trouble!"

The students sat at their respective college tables, and under the moonlight, through the glass windows of the auditorium, they could clearly see the tyrannical, enormous figure outside the castle, as well as the gaunt figure desperately wielding a sword to stab at the giant serpent's body.

The basilisk's tail occasionally lashed out at Hogwarts Castle unintentionally, and the young wizards huddled in their chairs in fear and unease, placing all their hopes on the figure.

Ian, Cedric, and "Lynn" are sitting together now.

Cedric frowned as he looked at Lynn, who had transformed from Umaru, and asked in a low voice, "Lynn isn't in the castle right now, is he?"

Umaru was nervously watching the battle outside, her face full of unease. When she heard Cedric's question, she hesitated before answering.

"He probably isn't there."

"What do you mean by 'should'?" Cedric was anxious. He was worried that something might happen if Lynn was alone at this moment. "Why hasn't he come out yet? What if something happens to him?"

For a moment, Umaru didn't know how to explain. She moved her lips but couldn't say anything for a long time.

Just as Cedric was about to go to Professor McGonagall to report that Lynn was not in the Great Hall, Ian suddenly grabbed his arm.

Don't go.

"Lynn's safety is the most important thing right now!"

"He is indeed in great danger right now, but even if you go to the professor, there's nothing you can do to help him." Ian didn't look at Cedric when he spoke; instead, he kept staring at Umaru.

Xiaomai felt a little guilty under his gaze and looked away.

"What do you mean?" Cedric didn't immediately understand what Ian meant. He looked at Ian, then at Umaru.

Looking out the window at the apocalyptic scene, Ian said silently.

"The one fighting that monster outside, that must be Lynn, right?"

Cedric was stunned by what he said.

His mouth was agape, his face filled with disbelief.

Umaru immediately jumped up like a startled rabbit.

"You, you, you!"

Ian looked at her reaction and nodded, as if he had confirmed his guess based on Xiaomai's current reaction.

"It was your little actions that told me this. Since we arrived at the auditorium, everyone else glanced at the view outside the castle and then didn't dare to look out again, but you, a little girl, kept staring out the window with a nervous look on your face, as if you were worried about someone."

"Couldn't I just be worried about Professor Lockhart?" Umaru belatedly muttered in defense.

"But when Cedric asked you where Lynn was, you still subconsciously glanced out the window. You're Lynn's cousin, and even if you care about Professor Lockhart, you couldn't possibly care more about Lynn."

As Xiaomai listened to Ian's words, she realized that her acting had been riddled with flaws because she was worried about Lynn's safety.

After listening to Ian's analysis, she blushed.

"You guessed it yourself, I didn't tell you."

Cedric then came to his senses. He stared wide-eyed at Professor Lockhart outside, who was constantly stabbing bloody holes into the basilisk, and asked incredulously in a low voice.

"Professor Lockhart is Lynn?"

"That certainly seems to be the case at present."

Even after analyzing the answer, Ian remained calm. He looked at Umaru, who was frowning and unsure how to explain things to Lynn.

"We won't tell anyone about this. Lynn wouldn't have kept it a secret for so long if it weren't something we really couldn't tell them."

At that moment, a small commotion broke out in the auditorium.

A group of Ravenclaw students gathered and found themselves at the Slytherin table.

"Do you still doubt that Professor Lockhart is a Slytherin heir and opened the Chamber of Secrets?!" a Ravenclaw prefect exclaimed excitedly. "Look at the professors fighting outside to protect us! Aren't you ashamed?!"

The Slytherin students were indeed quite ashamed. After hearing the Ravenclaw prefect's words, they did not make excuses, but silently lowered their heads.

Of the four houses at Hogwarts, Lynn had the highest reputation in Ravenclaw. This was not only because the young hawks liked his teaching style and assigned them enough homework, but also because the "Lockhart" Lynn was now impersonating was a Ravenclaw graduate himself, making him "one of their own."

Therefore, throughout the entire process, Lynn could see that among the reputation titles, the reputation among the Ravenclaw schools was the highest.

Unfortunately, he didn't have the time to check his system panel right now, otherwise he would have found that his reputation with Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw was constantly rising and had already reached over 5.

Of course, Slytherin's lack of a title is only because Lynn didn't receive the Slytherin title; otherwise, he wouldn't have been much lower than the other houses.

After all, his actions were a way of saving all the students at Hogwarts single-handedly. Nothing could evoke such complex emotions in the students as moving, admiring, caring, and feeling guilty towards a professor.

Meanwhile, as the Ravenclaw students questioned the Slytherin junior wizards, Harry, Ron, and Hermione gathered in front of the Great Hall.

"Are you sure? Someone just slipped in from here?" Hermione crouched down and stared at the corridor outside the Great Hall with Harry and the others.

Harry swallowed hard and nodded solemnly.

"I'm sure that while Professor Lockhart was fighting that monster outside, there was a very short thing standing in front of the castle gate. It just appeared there with a 'thud,' and I was the only one who heard the sound. Dobby used the same method when he came to see me during the summer vacation."

"It was Apparition," Hermione said gravely. "But Apparition is forbidden for wizards in the castle, so there must be something wrong with what you just saw!"

Ron said, troubled, "So what do we do now?"

Hermione turned to look at the figure entangled with the basilisk. She knew earlier than anyone else that Professor Lockhart was Lynn, so she was now even more aware of how dangerous Lynn's current situation was.

Reason told Hermione that it was best not to cause Lynn trouble, but her intuition warned her that the person Harry had seen infiltrate the castle was no small matter and was very likely related to the enemy Lynn was fighting.

Ultimately, she made her decision.

"We want to go inside the castle!"

(End of this chapter)