Hogwarts: From Selling White Peppers to Becoming a God

Chapter 359 Fog

"I can tell you're enjoying your trip," the homeless old man said with a mocking expression.

"I have done what I was supposed to do," Dumbledore said. "Unfortunately, I have not succeeded. We have missed the last chance you spoke of. Since failure was inevitable, I think I should let go and accept this outcome."

"Have you become completely indifferent to the life and death of the wizards?" the homeless man questioned.

"I no longer have the power to lead them," Dumbledore said. "More importantly, I don't know what is truly right. Perhaps my failure is telling me that I have become the stone that should be moved."

"Besides, you failed yourself, didn't you?" Grindelwald chimed in. "What gives you the right to look down on us like this? What about your so-called 'extra methods'? I haven't heard of any remarkable operations lately. Are you just going to hide behind these Muggles and spout empty words?"

"I'm under attack," the homeless man said. "Murphy could find me at any moment, and I can't waste any more time..."

"Oh, so you're being hunted? In this situation, you actually want us to fight Murphy to the death?" Grindelwald glared at him. "Guess what? I think I should have a good talk with that Murphy, or maybe capturing you and handing you over to him wouldn't be a bad option either."

Grindelwald disliked the Virgin Mary from the beginning; he was merely following Dumbledore's lead, but only when Dumbledore was determined to get involved.

Now that Albus has let go of all these things and is preparing to enjoy their retirement together, you still have to jump out and cause trouble. How can we tolerate this?!

"Albus Dumbledore, you should go to Hogwarts. If you want to stop him, you still have one last chance."

Dumbledore was taken aback. "Hogwarts, what are you planning to do?"

"The other side, that's... "

The homeless man was about to say something when his eyes suddenly went blank. At the same time, a black patch suddenly appeared on the image of the Virgin Mary in his hand, and then it burst into flames.

A short while later, the homeless man collapsed onto the table, convulsing all over.

A commotion broke out in the restaurant, and Dumbledore and his companion had to leave.

"Albus, don't fall for it," Grindelwald said. "This guy is obviously being hunted by Murphy. You saw it yourself just now; he can barely protect himself. He just wants you to be his shield."

"I know," Dumbledore said, still frowning.

"But you still want to go?"

"Hogwarts, it mentioned Hogwarts..." Dumbledore said with some concern. "It's not holiday time yet, the students are still at school. If it wants to do something there, those students..."

"But if you go there, Murphy might see you as an enemy," Grindelwald warned.

"Unless we remind him of this," Dumbledore said, taking the Philosopher's Stone from his pocket. "Perhaps it's time to return it to its rightful owner."

……

"The Virgin Mary's signal has disappeared." In the research institute, Lucas suddenly reported, "Four hours have passed, and we still haven't found it. It must have hidden itself."

"Did it discover the patterns in satellite operation?" Murphy asked.

"That's unlikely," Lucas said. "In fact, I didn't activate all the satellites to scan the globe simultaneously. Instead, I selected a portion of the satellites based on an algorithm to carry out the work. There's a certain degree of randomness involved. It wants to find patterns from the experience of previous illuminations, and it needs at least a month's worth of samples."

"Where can it hide?"

"Our satellites mostly don't pass over the polar regions, where the monitoring frequency is very low, making it possible for them to hide. Or they might be in areas with magical signal shielding effects, such as places rich in magic, like Hogwarts and the Ministry of Magic."

There are so many wizarding communities around the world, and there are quite a few places like this. If we can block the magic signal scanning, we'll have to send people to search for them.

The Ministries of Magic in the UK are fine, but in other countries, they're not places you can just barge into.

As Murphy pondered the various possibilities, an owl was brought over by a Watcher.

"The owl flew to the Ministry of Magic's liaison office, but the letter was addressed to you." The Watchman handed over a letter and a bag. "We've already conducted a thorough surveillance; there's no danger."

Murphy glanced at the cursive lettering on the envelope, took it with some surprise, and then took out a blood-red stone from the bag.

"Philosopher's Stone?"

Murphy was taken aback. He recognized the thing very well. He had gone to great lengths to obtain a fake of it back then. This was the same Philosopher's Stone that Old Deng had taken.

It's been four years, and they've only just returned the Philosopher's Stone!

I can make it myself, what use is it?!

However, since he sent this thing, is Old Deng asking for a reconciliation?

He immediately opened the letter that had been sent with the package and quickly skimmed through it.

"So they really are trying to make peace."

In the letter, Dumbledore truthfully recounted the negotiations between Murphy and the Virgin Mary, and reminded Murphy that the other party might have set a trap for him at Hogwarts.

Murphy immediately tried to contact the lightning ravens that were stationed at Hogwarts, but found that they had been hacked and were no longer responding.

These crows have their own thoughts, and it's actually quite difficult to get them to stay in one place and keep watch. Murphy's requirement for them is to report when something happens, and there's no need for regular contact unless something is unusual. Therefore, if the enemy is prepared in advance, it's possible to cut off their communications.

Clearly, the Virgin Mary is preparing for a final, desperate counterattack.

Hogwarts should be in danger, but sending ordinary Aurors to deal with the Holy Mother would be pointless.

Murphy glanced at the phoenix feather that had been attached to the letter and picked it up.

With a thought, a lightning raven was teleported to the side of a large lake. Dumbledore and Grindelwald were indeed waiting for him. Seeing the raven, they knew it was Murphy's pet, so there was no surprise.

"Professor," the raven spoke, "thank you for reminding me. Now that you've brought the phoenix feather, it seems we've reached an agreement on this matter. Shall we go take a look?"

Dumbledore nodded. "We don't know what they're up to, but I'm worried about the students' safety. I'll make their safety my top priority."

"Understood," Murphy said. "You just need to not interfere with my killing of the Holy Mother."

After saying that, Murphy looked at Lucas beside him and said, "Come with me."

Even if Lucas's body dies, his soul will be preserved because of the Horcrux. In addition, his strength far exceeds that of an ordinary Auror, making him the only person around Murphy who can play a role in battles between top wizards.

A moment later, the two appeared beside the Black Lake.

Dumbledore glanced at Lucas, some guesses in his mind, but said nothing. Grindelwald, on the other hand, greeted Murphy, "So, kid, have you figured out how to deal with that guy?"

"We still don't know what methods they've prepared," Murphy said. "But this time, we won't let it get away again."

"As for their methods," Grindelwald pointed to Hogwarts Castle in the distance, "do you notice anything different about it?"

Murphy followed the other person's finger and saw that Hogwarts Castle seemed to be shrouded in a hazy mist under the setting sun, indistinct and somewhat unclear.

"fog?"

(End of this chapter)