Dumbledore and His Collaborators

The Dark Wizard's attack didn't feel very real to the other Hogwarts students; everyone stayed in the Common Room that night, filled with trepidation and a little panic.

However, the news that everything was alright quickly reached the students who were still awake. They breathed a sigh of relief and began to curiously inquire about what had happened.

The only two people not in the Common Room, Sean and Stephanie, naturally became the focus of everyone's attention. As soon as Sean returned to the Common Room, he was surrounded by people.

"Guys, Professor McGonagall will explain the situation to you all tomorrow," Sean said, rubbing his head.

This kind of thing can't be kept from the students; they'll find out sooner or later, but Sean really doesn't have the energy right now.

He suffered virtually no injury in tonight's battle, but his energy and magic were greatly depleted.

After all, he was facing Dark Wizard who would cast Killing Curse at the drop of a hat. Although they seemed easy to deal with, maintaining a high level of vigilance for a long time could easily lead to fatigue after relaxing, which was exactly what Sean was experiencing now.

Fortunately, Sean was quite influential in Ravenclaw, and seeing that he had said that, the hawks that had been surrounding him kindly dispersed.

"Sean, are you alright?" Hermione and Daisy asked with some concern.

The two of them would occasionally glance at Stephanie, who remained silent behind him, with a puzzled look.

"It's nothing, I'm just a little tired tonight, and I need to process some news. I'll be fine after a good night's sleep," Sean smiled.

He then turned to Stephanie and said, "You've had a hard night, you should get some rest too."

Stephanie nodded. "Good night."

Then he quickly left the scene.

"We'll talk about it tomorrow."

After exchanging a few words with Hermione and Daisy, Sean lay back down on the bed and fell fast asleep.

This was probably the most tiring birthday he'd ever had.

Meanwhile, inside a huge, temple-like building, a shaman dressed in priestly attire was bowing to the old man before him.

"This was just an accident. I admit that there were malicious individuals infiltrated into the Guard Corps. I apologize for the incident that Hogwarts suffered."

The old man in front of him had indifferent eyes, exuding a calm yet somewhat unsettling aura.

"It seems the Guard Corps are also victims?" he asked.

The priest-shaman secretly breathed a sigh of relief and quickly said, "It's great that you think that way. Of course, it's our fault, and I will definitely give you a satisfactory answer, Mr. Dumbledore."

Dumbledore nodded slightly. "I have always believed that it is necessary to maintain trust in our partners—no reply is needed, but I hope you will be more careful in the future."

"Thank you for your understanding and tolerance, Mr. Dumbledore."

"I'll take the interest—" Dumbledore said, then pulled out a wand and swung it sharply before disappearing with a loud bang.

"Sir?" The priest looked up in surprise, wondering why the other party had suddenly said that.

However, he quickly understood what the other party meant by "interest".

Behind him, the temple hidden in the shadows rumbled loudly!

Smoke and dust filled the air, and the mottled stone walls collapsed one after another, causing the entire temple to shake violently and sink.

It's collapsing!

The priest's pupils suddenly contracted, cold sweat dripped from his forehead, and he instinctively reached for his wand to stop it all.

A voice came from the very top of the temple, the only building that hadn't sunk; it floated bare in mid-air, the area below now a ruin.

"Let him be. You have to bear Dumbledore's wrath, and you can't escape his spell—he's gone further than we think."

The priest trembled and retreated to safety, his eyes vacant as he watched the temple, which his ancestors had protected for a thousand years, collapse with a deafening roar.

From the bare, floating top of the temple, several deep, aged voices began to converse.

"It was too hasty... Only we knew that Dumbledore wasn't at Hogwarts, and the fact that he knew was because of us..."

"Just trying it out... However, Pablo Calchas's young and precious life was taken by the contract; he must have suffered inhuman torture..."

"Poor child—" a voice said with an indifferent, yet compassionate tone, "But don't worry about him revealing our secret; the ancient covenant will not allow it."

"I'm not worried about that. What I'm worried about is Dumbledore ..."

"You should change your mindset. Of course, you can't trust your old friend Dumbledore. He's too scheming. But for now, all we need to do is cooperate with him peacefully. We can each get what we need, and that's fine."

"Yes, that's right, we just need to make sure he doesn't team up with Grindelwald..."

"Even without a physical body, my consciousness is still warning me that if these two people remain connected, our plans will suffer a severe blow..."

"Impossible," a voice said decisively. "With that thing around, the relationship between Dumbledore and Grindelwald has been completely torn apart. It's impossible for them to be together anymore."

Another voice agreed, "Yes, I've checked it. That thing is definitely not Dumbledore faked—if he could fake something like this, then his power is boundless, and he has no need to cooperate with us. He can change the world at will."

These voices finally convinced the hesitant one, who ultimately agreed with them, "You're right..."

There was a moment of silence within the floating building, then someone finally said, "Let's proceed as planned—"

"As before, issue the order to mobilize all the resources of the Ministry of Magic. I want to ensure that the new president of the Confederation is one of ours."

"Where is the Qilin?"

"We'll get what we can, and if not, we'll change our goal and stop those self-proclaimed Saints. Let Scamander take the Qilin; he's Dumbledore's men—as long as it doesn't fall into Grindelwald's hands."

"Understood..."

October's last day drew to a close amidst undercurrents, and November arrived.

The students rushed into the Great Hall, eager to know what had happened the night before.

They immediately noticed something was wrong.

Inside the Great Hall, a group of wizards were already seated, and many students recognized them.

Those were residents of Hogsmeade, and many of them had conspicuous wounds on their bodies.

The students entered the Great Hall with surprise and doubt, and soon some of them noticed something was wrong.

In the hourglass of gems representing the scores of the Four Houses, the one belonging to Ravenclaw suddenly increased by a large number of gems. Someone who was paying attention to the scores stepped forward, counted them roughly, and said in surprise, "Someone has added almost 150 points?"

There were only two people not in Ravenclaw last night: Sean and Stephanie.

Professor McGonagall quickly answered the students' questions.

"Last night, Hogwarts was invaded by Dark Wizard, with Hogsmeade suffering the most serious damage. Our friends will be resting in the castle for the time being, and we hope that everyone will not disturb them too much."

"This attack came from an ancient evil force. Many of the attackers were escaped convicts from Azkaban. They were vicious and wanted to disrupt the peace here."

"Fortunately, Hogsmeade did not suffer a complete annihilation, and I must praise two people."

"Sean Wallerup and Stephanie Ollivander from Ravenclaw displayed remarkable courage and excellent magical abilities last night, helping the professors defeat the villains and saving many lives—especially Mr. Wallop, who demonstrated the ability and qualities of one of the finest Hogwarts students, thwarting the villains' evil plans."

Professor McGonagall's tone was serious and earnest, yet full of pride.

All the students' eyes lit up immediately; they rarely heard such praise from the strict Professor McGonagall.

Fred even stood up dramatically and pointed at Sean: "My good buddy, he faced the prisoners of Azkaban head-on and defeated them?!"

Professor McGonagall did not criticize Fred's antics; she nodded earnestly. "Yes, he single-handedly defeated many villains, and he even outperformed me, the professor. Of course, Miss Ollivander was equally brave and excellent."

Among the residents of Hogsmeade, several people stood up and patted Sean on the chest in greeting. Mrs. Flume, the proprietress of Honeydukes, bowed deeply to Sean with gratitude. "Mr. Wallop, you saved my husband's and my lives. My husband told me on his sickbed that you would be a permanent guest of Honeydukes."

Sean could no longer sit still. He stood up to return the greeting and said with a hint of helplessness, "This is what a conscientious wizard should do."

The Great Hall suddenly erupted in noise as students clapped and cheered for Sean, with younger boys and girls looking on with adoration and enthusiasm.

Stephanie was also surrounded by students. She seemed a little uncomfortable with the lively atmosphere, and kept adjusting her Gold-rimmed Glasses.

Sean shook hands with the noisy students one by one, and in the crowd he saw Professor McGonagall smiling at him.

He immediately understood what the other person meant, just like what they had said the night before.

"Hogwarts will stand behind you."

Once the students' enthusiasm had subsided somewhat, Professor McGonagall announced loudly, "Sean Wallerup has earned Ravenclaw House a perfect score of one hundred, and Stephanie Ollivander has earned fifty. Furthermore, the school has decided to award them Special Contribution Award — Hogwarts will forever remember your courage and dedication."

Thunderous applause filled the Great Hall.

Room of Requirement, Sean was panting heavily. Sometimes, dealing with enthusiastic classmates was even more tiring than fighting the Dark Wizard the night before.

Hermione straightened his disheveled robes and shook her head, saying, "Good heavens, Sean, you'll have to avoid them for the next few days. Daisy and I couldn't even squeeze within five meters of you just now."

Right next to her, Daisy Sean Sunflower,' stared at her with sparkling eyes and said in a sweet, soft voice, 'Wow, Sean is really amazing!'

"Don't try that on me." Sean looked helpless. "Last night, I let Dave and the others out, except for the Basilisk."

Hearing this, Hermione frowned. "Is the situation that serious?"

"Yes, there were at least forty people who attacked Hogsmeade last night, most of them were escaped convicts. However, their organization was not very strong. After the initial trouble, the rest were just remnants, so there was not much danger in dealing with them."

"Oh my god—" Hearing Sean say that, the two girls realized that they had underestimated the severity of last night's disaster.

"However, the result is alright, no major problems," Sean said with a smile.

Last night, we thwarted one of their plans and also obtained some useful information.

Moreover, what Sean said to Hyuse, the captain of the Guard Corps, at the end was actually a test.

He was indeed very angry, but much of the anger in his words was intentional.

Sean wanted to use this opportunity to test the other party's situation, and Hyuse ' attitude had already shown that the Guard Corps was established by the Returners, but the other party was not all-powerful and at least on the surface, they still needed the cover of official institutions.

However, the true details of the other party's plan are still unknown. Sean's direct confrontation is intended to lure the other party into making a move and disrupt their strategic rhythm.

However, the guy named Hyuse was quite patient; he didn't take the bait directly, nor did he reveal any information that Sean wanted.

But Sean still has a backup plan.

Upon entering the ring, the Aero-Wing Bird, now three or four times its original size, flew over joyfully. It pointed its long tail at the two unconscious, Obscurus and proudly puffed out the skin on its neck.

I've tied them up!

Sean smiled and patted the head of the Aero-Wing Bird that was asking for praise, then walked over to the two Obscurus.

Yes, this is one of his plans.

Wizards are bound by contract spells, but Magical Creatures are not.

Moreover, after dealing with those long-established families, Sean witnessed their outdated and foolish ways—they looked down on Magical Creatures and only used them as tools.

They don't guard against Magical Creatures Magical Creatures like they would against wizards, nor do they befriend them in a gentle way.

Therefore, the Magical Creatures they controlled were probably subjected to unknown spells and corporal punishment.

Now, the two Obscurus controlled by the Calchas family can obviously provide a lot of information, since Sean can speak animal language.

"Dave, tail," Sean called out.

These two Obscurus were clearly controlled by some unknown method, and even Sean's high level of Magical Creature Affinity (11 points) was useless, so he needed to resort to some other methods.

Such harsh control is not a pleasant memory for Magical Creatures, but the Swooping Evil's diluted venom can erase bad memories.

"Hopefully it will work..." After getting the venom from the helpless Dave, Sean directly poured it down the throats of the two Obscurus.

Next, Sean gave the two of them Healing Potion.

One of the Obscurus awoke, its eyes no longer filled with rage and murderous intent, but instead appearing dazed and dull.

Sean was overjoyed as he met the gaze of the Obscurus.

"Come, look at me, little one." His voice was gentle yet carried an undeniable allure.