"Lucius, perhaps you'd like to hear the perspective of the person involved?" Dumbledore said, glancing distractedly at the position by the window.
Seeing Dumbledore's demeanor, Lucius furrowed his brow.
"Headmaster Dumbledore, it seems you're not particularly concerned about the fate of this Defense Against the Dark Arts professor?" he asked, puzzled.
Lucius recalled that before deciding to convene the Board of Governors, he had first sent a letter to Dumbledore, hoping he would personally dismiss Dracula. However, Dumbledore's reply had politely declined his "suggestion," which led to today's Board meeting.
"He indeed doesn't care, nor does he need to," came a rich and clear voice from the window.
Lucius was startled and quickly turned his gaze to the window of the meeting room.
A man with silver hair and wine-red eyes was leaning against the window, casually sucking on a bright red lollipop, and observing the board members at the round table with interest.
"Who are you, and how dare you eavesdrop on the board meeting?!" one of the elderly board members angrily tapped the table and asked Dracula.
"Eavesdrop? That's not right. I was here before your meeting even began. Isn't it you who spoke for me to hear?" Dracula said with a playful smile. "Or have the board members' eyesight become so poor that Slytherin would be concerned about their management of Hogwarts?"
The elder board member, infuriated, said through gritted teeth, "Young man, state your name. I will see to it that you are expelled from Hogwarts!"
Hearing the term "young man," Dracula raised an eyebrow and his expression became quite peculiar.
"You old man, you really know how to talk. I'm keeping an eye on you," he said cheerfully.
The elderly board member didn't understand Dracula's strange remarks and was about to continue his outburst when Draco, standing behind Lucius, interrupted him.
"Sir, this is our Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Professor Dracula," Draco said quietly to the old board member.
"So you're the current Defense Against the Dark Arts professor!" The old board member was taken aback for a moment, then slammed his hand on the table and declared loudly, "With such a disrespectful person, I don't believe he can teach the students well. I cast my vote for expulsion!"
He promptly took out the Board of Governors badge from his pocket and held it up above his head.
Lucius, seeing this, smiled inwardly and also raised his own badge high.
Soon, four more board members, after a brief hesitation, also lifted their badges, casting their votes in favor.
The passing or failure of the Board's resolution is decided by a vote.
Each board member has a badge that connects to Hogwarts' magical nodes. Whenever a vote is successful, a contract is formed between the badges. If a majority, that is, seven or more board members, cast affirmative votes, the resolution is passed.
This resolution is an exception to the appointment and removal of the headmaster.
The headmaster of Hogwarts has always been a highly esteemed and powerful wizard, and the appointment or dismissal of a headmaster can significantly impact the entire magical community of Britain. Thus, the appointment and removal of the headmaster require unanimous approval from the board members.
However, the vote on whether to expel Dracula was clearly not in this category. With six board members having cast their affirmative votes, as soon as one more board member from the remaining six cast an affirmative vote, Dracula would be expelled from Hogwarts.
It could be said that Professor Dracula's position was precarious.
Yet, Dracula showed no sense of crisis. Watching the voting process of the board, his previously enthusiastic expression gradually turned to one of disinterest.
"Why make such a simple thing as voting so complicated? And it's rather boring," he said with a pout. "Why don't you just expel me directly? It's too much trouble."
Upon hearing Dracula's words, Lucius instinctively looked over, his eyes widening in disbelief.
"You mean, you agree to our expelling you?" he asked incredulously, not even noticing that the badge he was holding had poked Draco in the face.
Dracula took the blood-flavored lollipop out of his mouth, tilted his head to look at Lucius, and then chuckled.
"I think you might have misunderstood, Mr. Malfoy," Dracula said. "What I mean is—I'll expel the entire Board of Governors instead!"
"?!"
The members of the Board of Governors looked at Dracula in confusion, feeling an extremely absurd sensation, unable to understand how this Professor Dracula could say such nonsensical things...
"You? Expel the Board of Governors? Hahahaha..." The elderly board member couldn't help but laugh heartily. "The young people these days have no sense of the world's vastness, always thinking they're the boss, and end up creating all sorts of jokes!"
With someone leading, the other board members also started to laugh, watching Dracula with amusement.
Dumbledore, seated at the head of the round table, watched the performance of Dracula and the board members with interest, occasionally showing a sympathetic expression to the board members. Of course, no board member thought Dumbledore was sympathizing with them; they just thought he was trying to plead for Dracula.
As the laughter of the board members continued, Dracula took an old piece of parchment from his pocket—the deed to Hogwarts.
He infused his vampire magic into the deed, and the mysterious symbols on it immediately began to flow, revealing each magical node of Hogwarts.
Dracula compared the badge Lucius had held up with the magical nodes of Hogwarts and quickly located the nodes connected to this badge.
The slap in the face came swiftly; the board members' laughter was abruptly cut off...
As they were about to form a contract with their badges to expel Dracula from Hogwarts, they found that all the badges had lost their magical power and thus all functionality.
"The badges seem to be broken," Lucius said, tapping his badge heavily. Finding it indeed non-functional, he turned to Dumbledore and asked, "Headmaster Dumbledore, can you repair the badges? They seem to have suddenly malfunctioned."
Dumbledore gave him a cheerful glance without responding, then turned back to look at Dracula, his expression becoming quite expectant.
The next moment, Dracula's voice suddenly rang out.
"The Board of Governors' badges' connection with the castle's magic has been canceled. Congratulations, you've been expelled!"