Successful Return and Detention

"Mr. Dumbledore?"

Hector Fawley stopped and turned to ask.

Everyone's eyes followed, focusing on Dumbledore.

Dumbledore didn't answer the Minister for Magic.

He frantically pulled out a necklace from his robes, with an old photo on it.

"Ariana! Anna! Are you there?..."

Dumbledore called out for a long time, but the photo remained empty.

"Anna is..."

Before Hector Fawley could finish speaking, Fawkes appeared in the office with Luna and Cypher.

The two of them tumbled to the ground in a sorry state.

Everyone turned their attention to them.

Cypher was covered in sweat, his face pale, his clothes torn, and his wounds bleeding.

Luna seemed to be in better condition, but she was unconscious.

Dumbledore quickly glanced over, recognizing the signs of magical exhaustion.

He immediately went to Cypher's side.

"Professor, I have Essence of Dittany in my pouch." Essence of Dittany is a special medicine that quickly stops bleeding and heals external injuries.

Dumbledore quickly found the Essence of Dittany in Cypher's pouch and poured it generously on Cypher's wounds.

The intense pain caused Cypher to struggle involuntarily.

However, with the unconscious Luna still on top of him, his struggles were more like electric shocks.

After struggling for a while and enduring the excruciating pain, he resigned himself to lying on the ground, gasping for breath, feeling exhausted and suffocated.

"Oh! Good heavens!"

Bernice Leslie, the kind-hearted Head of Hufflepuff, was the first to break the silence, exclaiming, "What are you all waiting for? Can't you see the student is injured? Expecto Patronum!"

A badger emerged from her wand and quickly disappeared out the door, heading straight for the hospital wing.

"Calm down! Calm down..."

Dumbledore looked at Bernice Leslie with a steady gaze, instantly calming the agitated Head of House.

"Bernice, it's not that we're not helping, but Cypher has been hit by some kind of curse. If we cast spells rashly, it could have unforeseen consequences. Unless absolutely necessary, don't complicate matters."

"Oh, right! Sorry, Albus, I..."

The Head of House said helplessly, and Dumbledore waved his hand, telling her not to blame herself.

"Cypher, can you hear me?"

Dumbledore bent down, getting as close to Cypher as possible, and asked loudly.

"Of course, Professor... I won't be able to hear you if you don't move Luna off my back first..."

For the first time, Cypher thought Luna should be a little lighter.

Seeing that Cypher was still in the mood to joke, it meant that things hadn't gone too badly in Hogsmeade.

Dumbledore, worried about his younger brother, secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Is it okay to cast a spell on you?"

"I was injured because of Apparition..."

Hearing this, Dumbledore immediately understood that Cypher must have been attacked by a Dark Wizard to be forced to Apparate continuously, pushing him to the limit.

He quickly waved his wand, causing Luna to float up from Cypher's body.

Cypher took the opportunity to flip over like a salted fish.

"I was suffocating, ouch..."

Cypher's complaint had just left his lips when

"Enervate!"

Dumbledore, without hesitation, raised his wand and pointed it at Cypher.

The exhaustion in Cypher's body was temporarily swept away.

"The person who attacked in Hogsmeade Village seemed to be a foreign wizard. He claimed to be an officer of the Shadow Empire named Austin Charles. He had many Dark creatures in his pockets. Oh! Right, he also had a Nundu cub, which released a poisonous fog that filled the entire village. The barrier was a kind of war magic that could isolate the connection of magic inside and outside. Then... we tried our best to cast spells to resist these Dark creatures until Fawkes appeared and took us away."

Seeing Dumbledore subtly winking at him, Cypher, aware of the Ministry of Magic officials present, quickly changed his story, concealing some of the facts.

"Minister, only the Transfiguration Charm and the Water-Making Spell were used."

On the other side, an Auror silently picked up Cypher and Luna's wands and cast a Priori Incantatem spell to check their spellcasting history.

Hearing that it was indeed a first-year wizard's spell, all the wizards present except Dumbledore secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Everyone understood that Cypher had suddenly changed his tune at Dumbledore's prompting.

Even with Dumbledore vouching for them, the treatment of a young wizard would be different depending on whether or not they had cast Dark Arts in this incident.

Casting it would raise suspicions of an inside job, and that Dumbledore was covering something up.

But if it was just a young wizard's spell, then it was merely a case of Dumbledore's favorite student being attacked by a Dark Wizard.

The hidden possibility was an alchemical weapon that Dumbledore didn't want the outside world to know about. They all filled in the blanks themselves...

"Alright, in that case, I'll trouble you all to quickly resolve the matter. I don't think you need to retake Care of Magical Creatures."

With that, Headmaster Armando Dippet made his concluding statement.

Why the two of them appeared in Hogsmeade was no longer the Ministry of Magic's concern.

The subsequent punishment was a matter for the school.

He had already tacitly allowed the Aurors to search the students' wands, proving to the Ministry of Magic that the matter was unrelated to the students, which was already a great concession from the school to the Ministry.

Originally, the Ministry of Magic only had the right to propose educational rules; they had no right to interfere in the affairs of young wizards.

The Ministry of Magic staff understood this, and a flurry of footsteps echoed through the room.

The headmaster's office instantly felt much emptier.

Armando Dippet seemed troubled as he scratched his head.

"Cypher, although you brought valuable information to the Aurors, preventing unnecessary casualties, I must still punish you for going to Hogsmeade. I don't want young wizards to think that doing wrong can go unpunished just because of a lucky break."

"Yes, Headmaster, I was indeed in the wrong."

What else could he say? Hogwarts' biggest rule was, don't get caught. As long as you weren't caught, you could do anything. If you were caught, and the headmaster reprimanded you, you had no reason to say you were right.

"Let me think... I've got it!"

"Recently, groundskeeper Ogg has been complaining to me that he has too much work, from patrolling the Forbidden Forest to taking care of..." He paused.

"These are troubled times, and the professors don't have time to help, and the older students are all busy at the front lines. So, for the next two weekends, you and Luna can go and help him with whatever you can."

Dumbledore felt that something was off, but after thinking about it, it didn't seem like much.

Dumbledore knew what Ogg was taking care of.

Helping out now would most likely...

Oh, right! It was getting cold, time to build sheds for the Diricawls.

It was understandable that Headmaster Armando would arrange for them to secretly help out, since Dumbledore was looking out for Cypher and Luna.

The older students were a mixed bag; who knew if there were any enemy spies among them? It wouldn't be appropriate for them to help.

Letting Ogg do it all alone would be too tiring, and it would be good for the two of them to get some experience.

Cypher opened his mouth, wanting to ask if he could change the punishment, but Dumbledore agreed for him.

Cypher silently suppressed his opinion.

He believed that Dumbledore wouldn't harm him.

Once the four young wizards in Hogsmeade were found, the rest of the matter would be unrelated to Hogwarts. At this point, the headmaster told Dumbledore that Cypher and Luna could be sent to the school infirmary for examination.

Dumbledore nodded to show understanding. They used magic to levitate the two of them into the air and strode towards the school infirmary.

"Helping Ogg might bring unexpected gains."

Cypher rolled his eyes inwardly. He didn't believe that detention could bring any surprises!