My Hogwarts has a serious problem.

Chapter 512, page 509: The Strange Karkaroff

Harry and his friends' discovery was just speculation.

It was noon, and the bar was in its peak business hours with quite a few customers. In addition, the waiter didn't seem very friendly, so Harry and his friends didn't want to embarrass themselves by going up to him and asking him questions, as these were clearly personal matters.

As the number of customers in the pub gradually increased, Harry and his friends also encountered acquaintances from Hogwarts.

"Hi, Hagrid."

Ron recognized Hagrid immediately when his tall figure appeared in front of the Pig's Head pub and waved to him.

Hagrid also saw them, and after ordering a large glass of wine from the waiter, he walked over to the table where Harry, Harry, and his friends were sitting.

"Why are you here? I've run into a lot of Hogwarts students on the way here, but it's not the weekend today!" Hagrid asked, puzzled.

Hermione explained it to him.

"It was Professor Fox who brought us out for a practical course in moral education. In fact, we've been in class all day."

Hagrid frowned and took a big gulp of beer from his glass.

"Even if you're out here to attend classes, Pighead Bar isn't a good place. There are good and bad people here, and it's hard to guarantee that no one will have any designs on you."

Harry replied nonchalantly.

"Don't worry about Hagrid. This is a place Lynn recommended to us, and besides, you come here often, don't you?"

"I'm different. I was just invited here to play cards by an acquaintance," Hagrid muttered.

"Hogwarts has been quite busy lately. Several headmasters and referees are disagreeing on how to proceed with the second event. Apart from Dumbledore and the two directors of the Ministry of Magic, the other three headmasters disagree with continuing the competition in the Forbidden Forest."

Harry and his friends, however, were not worried about it at all.

"No matter where the competition is held, Lynn will definitely be number one."

"I have no doubt about that either. Besides, the matter of the unicorn being killed in the Forbidden Forest has not been resolved yet, and it is indeed not safe there. Even Dumbledore does not approve of opening the Forbidden Forest to the outside world before the matter is thoroughly investigated."

Ron cautiously looked around before lowering his head and whispering to Hagrid what they had just discovered.

"The owner of this bar also has the surname Dumbledore. Do you know his relationship with Professor Dumbledore?"

Hagrid's eyes widened.

"Also surnamed Dumbledore? How did you know?"

Harry and Ron exchanged a glance, and they said smugly.

"We found a portrait in the innermost bedroom on the second floor. It was probably a portrait of the boss when he was young, and it was signed Aberforth Dumbledore."

Although Hagrid was one of Dumbledore's most trusted men, he didn't actually know whether any of his family members were still alive.

He looked up and stared intently at the waiter wiping the bar for a few moments.

After Harry and the others pointed it out, he could actually see that this person did look somewhat like Dumbledore.

"Don't tell anyone about this. There must be a reason why Dumbledore's family runs this run-down pub under assumed names," Hagrid warned Harry and the others.

"Lynn must have known all along, otherwise he wouldn't have let us choose this boss as our subject of observation," Harry said with certainty.

Instead of having lunch at the Three Broomsticks that Professor Fox had mentioned, they ate steak and pasta at the Pig's Head, with Hagrid treating them.

The taste wasn't exactly bad, but it was certainly a bit strange.

Just as Hagrid's card-playing buddies arrived and he went to another table to play cards, Harry and the others sat at the table drinking butterbeer out of boredom.

A black-robed figure, completely unnoticed, walked into the Pig's Head Bar.

Harry caught a glimpse of his face and was momentarily stunned.

He grabbed Hermione and Ron by the shoulders, lowered their heads, and whispered.

"It's Karkaroff."

The man who walked into the Pig's Head Bar dressed in a black robe that covered his head and face was none other than Karkaroff, the principal of Durmstrang Institute.

After entering, Karkaroff glanced around the Hog's Head pub, paying little attention to Harry and his two companions, and went straight to a wooden table in the corner.

There was already a wizard sitting there, dressed in a black robe and wearing a hood, so his face and gender were not visible.

Most of the patrons in the bar were dressed like them, so the two men didn't stand out.

But Harry and his friends clearly noticed that Karkaroff's purpose in coming here was not so simple.

Just like Hagrid said, those who hide in the Pighead are usually people with impure motives.

And what kind of impure motives might Karkaroff, the headmaster of a magic school?

Harry and Ron both recalled the conversation they overheard between Snape, Moody, and Karkaroff while hiding in the bushes after the Christmas party.

As they watched Karkaroff begin to converse with the mysterious man in black robes, a sense of unease stirred within them.

"I guarantee they're not talking about anything normal," Ron said quietly.

"If we were talking about something normal, we wouldn't dress like this at the Hog's Head. The Three Broomsticks would be a much better place," Harry chimed in.

Hermione looked at them suspiciously.

"What kind of crooked ideas are you coming up with now?"

Ron slyly pulled a flesh-colored thin rope from his pocket.

"This is a small gadget that George and his team invented called a telescopic ear. You just put one end into your ear and extend the other end to where you want to hear, and you can hear the sound there clearly, like talking right next to your ear."

Hermione glared at him: "Why would you bring something like this out?"

"Yesterday I saw Fred and George secretly experimenting with this thing at school, and I thought it was very interesting, so I asked them for it and put it in my pocket without taking it out."

"Let me listen."

Harry didn't care about any of that. He snatched the thin string from Ron's hand, stuck one end into his ear, and let the other end, like a thin snake, quietly spread to the table where Karkaroff and the others were sitting.

Soon he could clearly hear two men talking in a low voice.

"It was really difficult to get you to come out, Karkarov."

"There are many people watching me in this school. I even suspect that Dumbledore specially invited Moody to be the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor this year just to keep an eye on me."

"So, have you thought through what I told you before?"

Don't wait for the next chapter, read it tomorrow morning.

(End of this chapter)