Hermione: "..."
The young witch had always known that Andy had a deep grudge against Professor Lockhart, and had even taken it out on Professor Dumbledore.
Giving Andy a suspicious look, Hermione now seriously wondered if Andy had stopped her from finding the professor just to wait for the two houses to fight and then use it to prove Dumbledore's incompetence.
After all, this had become a very serious matter!
But Hermione also knew that the fight had nothing to do with Andy, and Andy's presence there was purely coincidental.
Stopping her from finding the professor was also for her sake.
But ...
Why did Andy, who slept until noon every weekend, get up so early this time?
That's just too suspicious!
Plus, considering all the things Andy did in the first year ...
He wouldn't make mistakes himself, but he was always urging others to make mistakes.
Also, right after this semester started, Andy lured the first-year freshmen to enter the Forbidden Forest.
So even if this matter had nothing to do with Andy, Hermione couldn't help but associate it with Andy.
This person just isn't good!
Andy looked at Hermione with a face of innocence, what's wrong with you again?
***
When Dumbledore finished his speech, the young wizards were finally free to move around.
Gryffindor and Slytherin planned to visit the heroes of the house in the school's hospital wing; Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff planned to go back to their common room and celebrate.
The sadness and joy of people never connected.
Andy remained the same as usual; there was very little to hold Andy's attention other than studying magic.
Avoiding the crowds, Andy and Hermione made their way to the magic practice room in the Room of Requirement.
Hermione wanted to practice spells from China, and Andy wanted to practice an even wider variety of spells.
As of now, Andy has saved [6] [Potential Points], and the red liquid inside the system orb has been filled up by about one-fifth.
If there was no accident, Andy would be able to increase his [Charms] talent to [7] points within this month.
Andy had been looking forward to this for a long time, and his enthusiasm for practising magic had been unprecedented lately.
"Right. Andy, how's your Parseltongue learning going?" Hermione asked as she practised her magic.
"Not that bad of a learning curve."
Andy laughed, "I've been to that lavatory and opened the entrance to the chamber of secrets with the Parseltongue as well. But I'm not ready yet, so I didn't go in to explore."
"You've opened the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets?" Hermione exclaimed, her hand movements stopped.
"Uh-huh!"
Andy smiled triumphantly, "That's right, our previous analysis was correct. There is the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets, and the Parseltongue is the key to unlock the entrance to the Chamber."
Hermione gave Andy an admiring look.
The guy may be wilful, but he was really smart and talented in magic.
The entrance to the Chamber of Secrets that Dumbledore had spent sixty years without finding, Andy had already found it in just a short month.
"You would be even more powerful than Voldemort if you became the Dark Lord." Hermione blurted out abruptly.
"Nah! You're the Dark Lord." Andy said.
Hermione: "..."
***
Meanwhile, the Headmaster's office.
"Albus, this is so bad that it's bound to reflect poorly on the school."
Professor McGonagall's brow furrowed, "Maybe by tomorrow morning, howlers from parents will be in the envelopes on your desk."
Dumbledore looked as if he had Alzheimer's, "Ah! I haven't got a howler in a long time, and I remember the last one came like twenty years ago."
"It was twenty-one years ago!"
Phineas Black's portrait suddenly said, "You sorted the outstanding bloodline of our Black family into stupid Gryffindor!"
Professor McGonagall pursed her lips.
"As I recall, sorting is supposed to be the job of the Sorting Hat," Dumbledore said slowly.
Phineas Black grunted irritably, "Who knows if you threatened the Sorting Hat."
The Sorting Hat interjected, "I am the fairest of all Sorting Hats and would never be threatened by anyone. There is absolutely no room for error in my sorting."
This time even Professor McGonagall was a little annoyed, "Who knows if you're wrong."
Thinking of Sirius Black, Professor McGonagall's expression was a little complicated.
When he was in school, he was a very good young wizard. Passionate, righteous, and brave ... he possessed all the good qualities of a Gryffindor.
But who would have thought ...
That he would join the Death Eaters' camp and betray his best friend?
The corner of Snape's mouth revealed a hint of ridicule.
In a little while, Sirius Black might be greeted with a Dementor's kiss.
What a pleasant revenge!
"All right!"
Dumbledore interrupted the argument, "The bad effects on the school can only be minimized as much as possible. What we need to do now is to prevent this from happening again in the future."
"You're right!" Professor McGonagall nodded.
Snape just stood quietly and didn't say anything.
After the three of them briefly discussed and decided on a general plan, Dumbledore spoke, "Minerva, I'm going to have to trouble you with the school's hospital wing."
"I will make sure that each of them is discharged smoothly and peacefully." Professor McGonagall finished and turned to leave the Headmaster's office.
"Severus..." Dumbledore looked up at Snape.
Snape said lightly, "It's not like the conflict between Slytherin and Gryffindor is something that just started today."
Dumbledore closed his eyes tiredly at that.
The disagreement between the two houses, the house values were only the surface reason, the real reason was actually the interests of the class.
Without continuing this topic, Dumbledore turned to ask, "That matter; are you really ready?"
Snape calmly looked at Dumbledore and slowly said, "Isn't this what we agreed on long ago? Things have come to this point, and I have no way back."
Dumbledore sighed, "When are you going to do it?"
"Next month! There's still some hesitation on Lucius' part."
Snape said, "I can see that he doesn't actually want the Dark Lord to come back to life. But he's too scared, and he has no choice."
"It's the only way we can eliminate him." Dumbledore's tone was rather hopeless.
The office was quiet for a moment.
It might be possible to pull in Lucius Malfoy, but it was never now.
Pulling him in now would only expose Snape.
Snape hesitated for a moment, then suddenly frowned and said, "Collins ... he knows I left the castle."
Dumbledore jerked his head up to look at Snape.
Snape continued, "He approached me, and he wanted to ask about Black Magic Transfiguration, but I didn't tell him."
Dumbledore's face was serious, "Minerva mentioned it to me once, she said that Collins had approached her to learn Animagus Transfiguration, and she had agreed."
Snape was not surprised by this, "What are you going to do? That boy is prying into the Dark Lord's secrets, he has even figured out that the key to the Dark Lord's immortality has to do with a dark magic item."
----
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