Archaeologists at Hogwarts

Chapter 198 Arrest and Departure

Facts are even scarier than rumors—rarely, but not never.

For example, Dumbledore has been elected as the new Minister of Magic many times, but he shirks it every time.After taking office, Fudge wrote to Dumbledore almost every day to ask for opinions, so as to adapt to the difficult period of rule after taking office.

A lot of people know about these two things, but for the first time, Toby felt Dumbledore's wisdom of power firsthand, and he counted everything, including Toby himself, Fudge, the reaction of the Ministry of Magic, The Quibbler And the Daily Prophet, even Voldemort's hidden purpose.

This made Toby silent on the way back to the castle, silently thinking about how long Al's identity could remain hidden.

All in all, in silence, the three returned to the castle together, and rushed to the ancient magic office together.

When Toby pushed the door open, he happened to see Lockhart carefully staring at the left and right skeletons.

"do not come!"

The first time he found Toby, Lockhart yelled in fear: "What are you going to do? Why lock me up here? Do you want to turn me into a skeleton? I warn you, I, I - you again who is it?"

There was sudden confusion in his eyes.

Compared with Toby in black, Dumbledore really doesn't look like a bad guy.

"You have seen it all, Principal." Toby turned around and said, "He was backlashed by the magic circle, which is very similar to the effect of the Oblivion Curse, but to be honest, it's pretty good that his brain hasn't been hollowed out--I It means literally."

Lockhart was visibly taken aback by Toby's flat tone: "Empty out my brain? You're going to empty out my brain? And say you don't want to make me a skeleton - ah! Get away from me!" he screamed. Dao, huddled up on the sofa, two skeletons guarding him one on the left and one on the right, turning to Toby with their empty eye sockets.

Dumbledore stared at Lockhart with a gleam in his eyes: "You were stabbed by your own sword, Gilderoy."

"What?" Lockhart was stunned: "Sword? Are you with him? Are you going to stab my brain with a sword?"

He is having trouble with his brain.

The skeletons silently shifted their gazes to look at each other, and all they saw were empty skulls.

"It seems that I can only take him to the hospital." Dumbledore said, "By the way, I can also send the injured Dobby there. As for Hagrid, I will leave it to you."

Toby nodded. He and Al left the castle and found Hagrid who was scarred in the cabin. He was in a daze with tears streaming down his face. When he saw Toby, he asked excitedly: " Principal. How will the principal deal with Aragog?"

"It depends on your performance, Hagrid." Toby said holding up the shovel, and Al followed him up and down, his eyes sweeping over him over and over again.

"Performance?" Hagrid asked in horror, "What are you going to do?"

"Hold on! I don't want to amputate your arm."

"what!!!"
-
The next day, different rumors spread among the students, some said that the centaurs were coming to attack Hogwarts, some said that the animals in the Forbidden Forest were going to take over the entire campus, and some even People mistook the explosion of the scepter as a fierce duel field, suspected that the black devil was going to usurp the throne, and fought with Dumbledore to the death.

Well, the deadline is approaching, and the influence of the Pharaoh's mask on Toby is getting deeper and deeper. Sometimes he will show his feet, and he will often speak nonsense in class and during the exam, which makes the vice principal McGonagall look for After passing him once, it was hard to get rid of it.

But Toby didn't care about this little thing. He came to Hagrid's cabin early, and the stiff-looking Hagrid sat opposite him, motionless.Fang the Hound sniffed at Hagrid's feet, and looked him around suspiciously.

The smell is right, but.
"Would you like some rock cakes?" Toby attracted Yaya's attention. He tried to break the rock cakes into pieces, but he couldn't break them, which surprised him.

Then there was a loud knock on the door.

Hagrid stood up immediately, and the expression on his face gradually became vivid. He walked over and opened the door.

"Good evening, Hagrid."

It's Dumbledore.He walked in with a very serious expression, followed by a very strange looking man.

The stranger was dumpy and stocky, with a mop of gray hair and an anxious expression on his face.He was wearing a strange mishmash of clothes: pinstriped suit, bright red tie, long black cape, purple pointed boots.He carried a dark green top hat under his arm.

Hagrid turned pale suddenly, and sweat began to break out on his brow.He sank into a chair and looked from Dumbledore to Cornelius Fudge.

"Too bad, Hagrid," said Fudge in a crisp, quick tone, suddenly noticing that there was another person in the room who could easily be missed if he didn't stare carefully: "You have a visitor?"

Toby stood up on his own initiative. He forcibly grabbed Fudge's palm and shook it firmly: "I'm Toby Highmore. I heard that you sent Aurors to investigate my employees."

"Toby Highmore?" Fudge's expression changed: "You are Toby Highmore? The boss of The Quibbler?"

"It's me." Toby didn't intend to let go of his palm, but he squeezed it even tighter. The black mist under the hood stared at Fudge intently, as if to engrave his face deeply in his heart: "And I He is also a professor of ancient magic at Hogwarts and an archaeologist. Also, I have a question for you."

Fudge pulled out his palm so hard that he was about to be pinched purple. At the same time, he noticed that Toby's attitude was obviously different from that of Hagrid, as if he had been waiting for him here.

"What's your problem?"

He couldn't help but glanced at Dumbledore, suspecting that he had arranged this on purpose.

"Of course it has something to do with The Quibbler." Toby said softly, "Does the ministry see this newspaper as a threat? And you, the minister, are trying to fight with me for—"

"Ahem!" Dumbledore suddenly coughed loudly twice. He forcibly interrupted Toby, who was recovering slightly from hidden dangers, and changed the subject, "The Chamber of Secrets, Connelly, let's continue the topic of the Chamber of Secrets."

"Yes, the Chamber of Secrets." Fudge couldn't help turning the top hat in his hand. He seriously suspected that the rich man Toby was insane. How could Dumbledore recruit such a lunatic?
The topic finally got back on track.

"I need to take Hagrid away." Fudge said: "I heard that there was an attack in the Forbidden Forest last night, and there were cases of Skeeter and Guffy disappearing before. I have to say, I am under a lot of pressure Big, something has to be done. If it turns out it's not Hagrid, he'll come back, and there's nothing else to say. But I had to take him away—well, Hagrid, what have you got? Opinion?"

Under Fudge's perplexed gaze, Hagrid finally showed a shivering expression.

Although the reaction was a bit slower, Fudge paid more attention to Dumbledore's attitude: "What about you? What do you think of this method?"

Dumbledore glanced at Toby, and then his tone gradually became serious: "It seems that's the only way to do it."

"I know it's unreasonable—huh?" Fudge looked at Dumbledore all at once, and the confusion in his eyes deepened: "You mean—you agreed?"

Dumbledore nodded with a painful expression: "Since it's for the sake of Hogwarts, that's the only way to go. By the way, are you going to send Hagrid to Azkaban?"

"Of course it is." Fudge said in a daze, "otherwise where else could it be?"

"That's good." Dumbledore turned around, as if he couldn't bear to see Hagrid's embarrassment again.

"Where is it?"

A series of question marks appeared above Fudge's head, and he still wanted to take this opportunity to ask Dumbledore, why did it suddenly become so smooth?

At this time, amidst Hagrid's sobs, Toby stepped forward again, and squeezed Fudge's palm that he had no time to avoid: "Do you agree with pure-blood supremacy?"

"Of course not!" Fudge retorted subconsciously, how could he admit this.

"Oh? Then you thought about pure blood—"

"Cough cough!" Dumbledore coughed twice more. He stretched out his hand and pulled Toby over, facing the wall with him. The veins on the back of his hand popped out.

Just when Fudge didn't know how to deal with this situation, thank God, someone knocked heavily on the door again.

Hagrid opened the door while crying: "Malfoy is wrong, Malfoy! Get out of here!"

Lucius, who was standing outside the door ready to laugh, was taken aback. He didn't expect Hagrid's reaction to be so violent.

"Believe me, I'm not happy to be in your—oh—you call that a house?"

He rearranged his clothes and walked in, and saw Toby staring at him sideways, which made him stop immediately, and almost ran out directly.

After his expression froze for a second, Malfoy took a step, and separated himself and Toby with Fudge, before continuing: "Things are terrible, everyone. The impact of the report of "The Quibbler" on the Ministry of Magic It is very unfavorable to accuse Minister Fudge of his embarrassment everywhere - of course, everyone knows that it is just a lie, but it must be controlled."

"What's the matter?" Fudge said with a cold snort, apparently he and Lucius had communicated a long time ago.

Lucius said slowly: "Do you have anything to say about this, Toby Highmore? We all know that you are the boss of this new newspaper. It seems that you are very dissatisfied with Minister Fudge."

Despite his fierce words, Lucius stayed close to Fudge, completely using him as a meat pad, for fear that Toby would suddenly do something irrational.

Then, Toby's reaction was much more serious than he expected.The door to the cabin slammed shut, nearly breaking Fudge's nose.

"You look for--"

"That's what happened!" Dumbledore suddenly said loudly, "It's no longer Toby's newspaper, it's mine."

Fudge and the sweaty Lucius looked at him immediately.

Dumbledore continued: "I bought the entire newspaper at the price of Gryffindor's sword, and Toby is now serving me."

Fudge's lips trembled uncontrollably; "Do you want to—"

At this time, Lucius couldn't wait to laugh out loud, and he took out a long roll of parchment: "This is really bad, because of the suspension order of the board of directors-you will see twelve directors on it Signed—"

But before he finished speaking, Toby interrupted him suddenly: "The board of directors has this power? Can they simply dismiss the principal? Do they have the right to propose? What about the right to appoint? Wait a minute—is the Malfoy family one of the board?" ?”

Even though it was covered by the black mist, Lucius couldn't help feeling chills all over his body, as if he was being watched by a wild beast.

Fudge looked back and forth suspiciously—who is this Toby Highmore?He was trying to squeeze Dumbledore away?
Is that something you can try to win over?
"Go on." Dumbledore broke the silence calmly.

Lucius' face became ugly: "Stop pretending, as long as you are willing to hand over "The Quibbler", I will try to persuade other board members not to let you be suspended, it's a fair deal, isn't it Is it?"

Dumbledore slowly closed his eyes, as if hesitating what decision to make.

Fudge also exhorted at the right time: "I think this deal is good, what do you think, Dumbledore? Malfoy is willing to pay enough gold for this, and even give up part of the benefits. Think about it, as long as you have this Money, maybe Hogwarts won't need a school council anymore."

"Huh?" It was Toby who made the voice again: "Can the Minister of Magic overwhelm the school board?"

This time, it was Fudge who felt cold all over his body. He looked around in a panic, not knowing what went wrong.

"I refuse," said Dumbledore finally.

The furious Lucius was severely punched by the roaring Hagrid, but he was finally escorted away by the Aurors who rushed over.

Toby watched them leave, and Dumbledore slowed down. He whispered, "You want to take this opportunity to keep them? Don't fool me with hidden dangers, Toby."

Toby's tone also returned to normal: "You have lost a great opportunity, principal, it's a pity that I can easily control Fudge."

Dumbledore just left a sentence: "Wait for my news."

After this, Toby returned to the ancient magic office alone.The strange thing was that there was already another Toby in the house.

Al, who was sitting on the flying carpet, asked, "Huh?"

"Everything is going well." Toby said quickly, glanced at himself transformed into the second skeleton, and then told Al: "This time I can only go by myself, you can't escape the investigation of the dementors, But the pharaoh's mask can do a good job of covering me up. Let the fake Toby stay in Hogwarts, so as to leave an alibi."

"All that's left is a suitable vehicle, let me think about it"

The Burrow, Arthur, who came back from get off work, sighed, since Lucius got rid of the case, he had a rough life, his feet turned involuntarily and walked to another house, trying to comfort himself with the wonderful magic car.

As a result, the garage was empty, and Arthur stared blankly for a long time, swinging his arms back and forth helplessly, groping in the air.

Where is my car?
What about a magic car my size?
Toby in the night sky broke through the clouds in a magic car, flashed a light in the passenger seat, and left a note.Toby glanced at the direction recorded on the note, then immediately turned the steering wheel and flew to the other side of the night sky.

In the dark cave, there are guards at every level, orderly.

Hagrid was wrapped in chains all over his body and seemed to be in a coma. He was pushed by the wooden cart to walk deeper automatically.

A person next to the cart said to the last Auror standing here, "I am Kingsley Shacklebolt, and I will escort this prisoner to Azkaban."

They passed the inspection without a hitch.

The cart was fixed on a rail, and Kingsley stepped into the cart and sat opposite the unconscious Hagrid.

With an order, the cart started, and the speed increased, and the light in the depths of the tunnel could be vaguely seen—that was the exit.

The cart flew out of the cave with a "swish", appeared outside the steep cliff, fell down, and landed safely on the rough sea.

At this time, the roller at the other end of the cart started to shake by itself, as if pulling back an invisible thin line, dragging the cart that turned into a boat to the deeper part of the sea.

The invisible magic car landed cautiously in the sky, and Toby held a telescope in his hand, looking at the boat on the sea that seemed to capsize at any moment.

Except for Hagrid, who was pretending to be a skeleton, there was only one Auror guard.Dumbledore even helped him get the other's name - Kingsley Shacklebolt, an experienced Auror.

Toby put down the binoculars, and he murmured, "As long as you follow this boat, you should be able to find Azkaban."

"But, where is the mysterious man hiding? Could it be that he has already pretended to be a guard in advance?"

(End of this chapter)