I, Hogwarts Second Time Around.

Chapter 420 Developments

The federation's statement is not yet finished.

Hermione reached out and turned the page.

The wording in the second part is completely different.

Compared to previous worries and anxieties.

What followed was all condemnation.

—Furthermore, the Magical Congress of the United States' performance in this incident is incomprehensible; a week after the outbreak of war, no official had yet reported the events or casualties to the Congress. Based on previously exposed demonic imposters, this leads us to believe that the Magical Congress of the United States is rife with imposters, and that they have joined forces with the Death Eaters.

"Currently, the Federation has recalled its directly subordinate troops in Africa. They will be deployed to North America as soon as possible. I hereby appeal to all European countries to send Auror troops to support the frontline operations and prevent further casualties."

—For further updates on this incident, please follow the Federation's External Liaison Office.

Finally, the young wizards, including Owen, finished reading the statement.

"Has Voldemort gone mad?"

This was the first thought that came to Irving's mind after watching it.

Does he have the power to stand against the entire wizarding world?

Judging from the power he displayed after his resurrection last year, he was even less powerful than Dumbledore.

Of course—this might be because he has just recovered physically and hasn't fully recovered yet.

But that's precisely why he should remain silent for a while and accumulate strength.

Instead of creating such a bizarre large-scale invasion, this just doesn't make sense.

And—is it really that chaotic in America?

Has the Magic Council's power weakened to this extent?

Could it be that the states are planning to split or declare independence?

Is it about to follow in the footsteps of the Soviet Union and crumble into pieces?

Otherwise, as one of the most powerful magical governments in the world, the Magic Congress shouldn't be so weak.

Meanwhile, on the faculty and staff's desks.

Professor Dumbledore still has not appeared.

Professor Glenn was talking quietly with Professor Flitwick, both of them with unusually serious expressions. Professor Sprout leaned the Daily Prophet against a bottle of ketchup, intently reading the first edition, his spoon held high in the air, unaware that the egg yolk in the spoon had dripped onto his leg.

At the other end of the table, Umbridge stood a distance away from all the other professors, gulping down her cereal.

The toad's eyes scanned the contents of the newspaper with ease, occasionally casting a resentful glance at Owen.

"Look here—" Hermione frowned, quickly flipped through the newspaper again, and pointed to page three.

That is—the list of victims and missing persons.

The Federation has confirmed the deaths of some wizards and the disappearance of others.

Owen glanced around and saw that there were dozens of death wizards.

Most of them were native American wizards and some foreign tourists and businessmen.

The missing persons list is much longer than the death list.

There are more than a hundred names.

Arranged alphabetically.

Irving quickly found Ernie and Ron's names.

In addition, there were seven or eight Hogwarts junior wizards.

Most of them are from Ravenclaw.

The only Slytherin is Tracy Davis, a Muggle-born witch.

The sudden name caught the young wizards watching off guard.

Many of the names—they had met just a few days ago.

They may be friends or rivals.

Who could have imagined that just one holiday would mean their last?

"Oh! Broga." Padma Petir burst into tears from the crowd.

Mandy Brohe was her friend; they were both Ravenclaw students, in the same year, and roommates.

Mandy Brohe invited her to travel to the United States during the Christmas holidays, but she declined because she and her sister had to return to India for the holidays.

Who would have thought that this would be a final farewell?

the other side.

In the Gryffindor common room.

Harry slowly opened his eyes.

He didn't know how he got back to his dorm room.

His memory flashed through short clips, and now his mind is blank.

Weakly getting up, Harry found the room empty and looked out the window.

The sky outside was overcast, and the howling wind was hitting the window, making it impossible for him to tell what time it was.

"Ron!" Harry called out.

He rubbed his head.

His scars bulged, and the intense pain was as if someone were hacking open his head with an axe.

Harry held his head for a while before realizing that Ron hadn't returned yet.

He is currently in the United States.

Thinking of this, Harry suddenly had a bad feeling.

Yesterday—oh—damn—he remembered.

Yesterday, under Snape's torment, he learned Occlumency, and then—and then he seemed to have entered Voldemort's consciousness again.

Then--

"No—no—no!" Harry screamed.

Then, she hurriedly put on her clothes and staggered out of the dormitory.

On the spiral staircase, Harry's first thought was to get to the headmaster's office.

But he didn't know the password.

He tried to find Professor McGonagall, but her office was locked and no one was home.

In the end, he could only go to the auditorium.

The noisy voices of the young wizards filled his ears.

He heard Padma Petir crying out.

"Harry!" Ginny was the first to spot him.

"Where is Professor Dumbledore? I have something important to tell him."

Harry hurriedly made his way through the crowd and headed straight for the main stage.

Professor McGonagall looked at him, her brow furrowed. "The principal isn't at school. What do you need?"

"Not here? At this time?" Harry was taken aback, then remembered that Snape had been casting Legilimency on him at the time. He must have seen Voldemort torturing the young wizard, and he had already reported it to Professor Dumbledore.

"Yes! He hasn't been at school for a few days. It's probably related to the federation," Professor McGonagall said calmly.

A few days ago, Albus left in a hurry, and she didn't know what had happened. Today, she realized that Albus's departure might be related to the war that broke out in the United States.

"A few days ago?" Harry exclaimed in surprise, then quickly asked, "What about Snape?"

"Professor! Mr. Potter," Professor McGonagall corrected, "it's the bare minimum of respect."

After criticizing Harry's rude behavior, she continued, "Professor Snape left the school last night, Potter. What happened?"

"They've left?" Harry breathed a sigh of relief.

Because he knew that Snape was definitely going to find Dumbledore.

"It's nothing," he said again.

He was overwhelmed by a profound sense of powerlessness.

"Harry!" Professor McGonagall roared, her tone now stern.

"If you have something to say, you should tell me now," the professor said, somewhat angrily.

Harry seemed to believe he was incapable of handling certain things, so he didn't communicate with her.

Even if Harry doesn't think so, he's already subtly showing it.

"I am your dean," Professor McGonagall emphasized.

"I know, I know," Harry murmured, standing there dejectedly.

Upon seeing Harry, he displayed the same expression as before.

On the Gryffindor bench, Hermione immediately realized something. She moved closer to Owen and whispered, "I think Harry has entered that person's mind again, and he saw something."

Miss Granger pointed at the newspaper, her intention quite clear.

"I think so too," Irving nodded.

Then he picked up the newspaper, got up, and walked over to Harry.

He kicked him, hitting him squarely in the shin.

Harry snapped out of his daze in pain, bent over, and rubbed his leg.

"Look—" Irving said.

Then she handed him the newspaper.

"Did you see something again?"

Harry remained silent, gritting his teeth.

He mechanically took the newspaper from Irving's hand.

Its green eyes darted around quickly, and it finished reading the federation's announcement in just over ten seconds.

He then quickly flipped to other pages, his gaze eventually settling on the list of missing persons.

When he saw those names.

His expression instantly turned extremely painful.

When Ron's name was mentioned, he even fainted for a moment, staggering back a step. It was Owen who supported him from behind so he wouldn't fall.

Harry stared in disbelief, his eyes wide.

He was trembling all over.

"No—" Harry groaned in pain.

Then he covered his forehead and tossed the newspaper aside.

My head hurts—it feels like it's going to split open.

"What happened?" Owen pressed.

Professor McGonagall, sitting on the main stage, also cast a serious glance at him.

Not only her, but also Professor Flitwick and Professor Sprout, who were standing nearby, cast their gazes at her.

"She's dead," he said.

"Who died?" Hermione also got up and rushed over.

I stood right next to him.

"Mandy Broglie!" Harry finally uttered the name after a long pause.

"She also has Stephen, Tracy, and Kevin. They've all been captured by Voldemort. I saw him torturing them, they're dying. There's no hope left."

"What?" Has the thing everyone was most worried about finally happened?

When they saw those familiar names in the newspaper, they already guessed it.

It's impossible for all the little wizards to be so lucky as to escape unscathed.

But when Harry shattered their illusions, the shock of that moment was still hard to accept.

"Oh my God—" Professor McGonagall's face turned deathly pale, and she let out a shrill cry that no one had ever heard before.

Then, to everyone's dismay, it began to shake.

Professor Sprout quickly helped her up.

"Are you sure?" Hermione's face also turned pale. However, perhaps due to her experiences during the summer vacation, having thought Owen was gone forever several times, she had developed some resilience. Although she didn't appear as sad as Professor McGonagall, her voice still trembled as she continued to ask, "Where's Ron? And Ernie, are they there?"

"I—" Harry closed his eyes tightly, his face contorted with pain, "I didn't see clearly, but there were many more people captured. It was a large hall, and there were many people—they were all locked in iron cages. Some were still struggling, some..."

I don't know, there are too many people. I'm not sure if they're among them.

His heart felt as if it were being weighed down by a huge rock, heavy and burdensome.

The horrific conditions of his classmates, who were being tortured by Voldemort, filled him with pain and helplessness.

Especially when those tormenting curses come from "his hand".

Harry once thought he had experienced the worst thing that had ever happened to him; he had even walked with death.

But now he understands.

That's not the case. Watching a friend sink into darkness while you're powerless to help is harder to accept than death itself.

"We have to do something," Hermione said.

"Calm down, darling."

"What you need to do is improve the spellcasting skills of the young wizards as quickly as possible," Owen said calmly from the side.

"As for the situation in North America, currently, the Federation is involved, along with Dumbledore and my grandfather, and a whole bunch of Aurors."

With something this significant happening, Aurors from all over the world will get involved.

Getting involved won't solve the problem quickly. It might even put us in a difficult position and cause unnecessary trouble for others.

His voice was calm yet exceptionally loud.

This quickly alerted Professor McGonagall.

She leaned on the dais, looking as if she had aged ten years, and said, "Mr. Sanchez—Owen is right. All of you must calm down and not think about leaving the school. I know you have ways to leave. Especially you, Owen."

"I understand, Professor McGonagall."

"I hope you understand," the professor said solemnly, his face pale.

She was right there when Snape rushed off to find Dumbledore last night.

Because the only other Floo network leading out of the castle besides the one leading to the headmaster's office is the one leading to Umbridge's office.

He left in a hurry and didn't have time to explain much.

Under her persistent questioning, Snape simply said seriously that something had happened to the young wizard.

Then it left amidst a burst of green flames.

At the time, she didn't think much of it. She assumed that the troublemakers in the college had gotten into another fight or were trying to challenge Umbridge.

Until just now—after seeing the contents of the newspaper and hearing what Harry said.

Professor McGonagall then realized what Snape meant when he said the young wizard was in trouble.

"Now—you continue with your class. Leave the rest to us and the other professors," the professor said decisively.

Then, she immediately got up and left the main table, her heart filled with anxiety.

Exit through the small door on one side.

The other professors followed suit.

Suddenly, only Umbridge remained sitting there, enjoying her food, as if nothing had happened.

Hermione pulled Harry along.

The three returned to the Gryffindor table.

She leaned over and whispered in Owen's ear, "You can ask her... you know, ask her for some information."

"I'm about to!" Owen nodded. He also quickly left the Great Hall. He was going to find Kreacher and have it deliver a message to Bella.

Owen's departing figure did not attract the attention of the other young wizards; everyone's attention was now focused on the newspapers.

However—one person inadvertently raised their head.

That was Umbridge, sitting on the main table.

A hint of joy flashed in her eyes.

Like a greedy venomous snake, it licked its lips.

However, she quickly suppressed that expression.

In less than a second, he reverted to his usual cloyingly sweet smile.

On the other side—

Beside the long table in Gryffindor.

The Weasleys' three little guys finally realized that Ron might have been captured by the Death Eaters.

The news was like a bolt from the blue, leaving them breathless.

"Where's Mom? Why didn't anyone tell us? The clock in the house!" George yelled, then realized, "Oh! I'm such an idiot, of course she wouldn't tell us, Mom's afraid we'd worry."

The Weasley Clock is a clock in the Weasley family that displays the whereabouts of each family member.

This clock is usually placed in the living room of the Burrow, and its primary function is not to tell time. The clock face has nine gold hands, each engraved with the name of a member of the Weasley family.

Instead of numbers, the clock face displays the possible locations or states of each family member, such as "home," "school," "at work," "on the road," "missing," "hospital," and "prison." At the twelve o'clock position on a regular clock, the words "Fatal Danger" are written.

The Weasleys probably knew about their child's danger even before the Federation, or even the Magical Congress of the United States.

They must have notified Sirius or Kingsley.

In short, Dumbledore must have known the news in advance.

"Ron and Bill," Ginny's face turned deathly pale.

She couldn't accept losing two brothers in a single day.

Especially because of Irving's involvement, in his sophomore year, he and Ron used Malfoy's name to commit fraud everywhere and made a lot of money.

Ron bought Ginny's first school uniform, her first set of new textbooks, her new cauldron, and so on.

The relationship between the two is much deeper than it appears.

"No—" she cried out, and her whole body was about to collapse.

Harry, quick-witted and agile, caught her.

Ginny then collapsed into Harry's arms and burst into tears.

The auditorium was immediately filled with sadness, fear, unease, and weeping.

In the time that followed.

The entire Hogwarts fell silent.

Professor McGonagall personally warned the young wizards in the Great Hall that Headmaster Dumbledore, along with officials from the Federation, had gone to North America and believed they would soon be able to rescue the trapped young wizards.

In addition, she forbids any young wizards from leaving Hogwarts.

To ensure that no one causes any more trouble for the professors, all junior wizards will be prohibited from going to Hogsmeade Village starting in mid-January.

She even spoke privately with Harry and Hermione, and of course Owen, seriously warning them not to cause trouble and not to try to sneak out of the castle to go to North America.

Remember your current identities: you are students, not Aurors.

Leave adult matters to adults.

Professor Sprout seemed to have received instructions from Professor McGonagall, and began to drag Owen into the greenhouse whenever he had a spare moment.

They even made him live in a greenhouse.

The young wizards naturally understood the professors' good intentions.

After several hellish, fearful days.

Kreacher finally brought back Bella's message.

She said: Voldemort did capture a group of young wizards. But he didn't intend to kill them; he was merely imprisoning them. He had other plans.

Although Bella's message did not specify that particular person.

But this is undoubtedly good news.

This calmed down Harry, Hermione, and the three Weasleys a little.

Molly has also made contact with her three children.

Tell them that the clock only shows Ron and Bill are in "prison" and that they are not in mortal danger.

Fortunately, the worst-case scenario didn't happen.

(End of this chapter)