Hogwarts Search!

Professor McGonagall had anticipated this.

Now that Dumbledore was not stationed at Hogwarts, she handled nearly all the school's affairs.

On the day Hubert was attacked, aside from informing Dumbledore, who was far away in the Soviet Union, she had also reported the matter to the Ministry of Magic.

If it had merely been an ordinary campus assault, there would have been no need to do so. But since Dark magic was involved, it fell under the jurisdiction of the Ministry's Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

Even if Professor McGonagall had not done so, Hubert's parents would have reported the matter to the Ministry of Magic themselves.

Thus, on the third day after the attack, two Aurors arrived at Hogwarts.

They had not been slow to act. The day before, they had already conducted a professional examination and interrogation of Hubert at St. Mungo's Hospital.

Although they had obtained very limited information, they had preliminarily concluded that the culprit was very likely still at Hogwarts.

The Cruciatus Curse's greatest use was interrogation. Why would a Dark wizard take such a huge risk to interrogate a child?

The most likely possibility was that the culprit was after something within Hogwarts, and the attacked young wizard either possessed it or knew where it was.

On the surface, Hogwarts seemed to have taken no action, but in truth, it was only relaxed on the outside and tight within.

Whether day or night, professors or senior prefects patrolled throughout the castle.

No unusual activity had been discovered so far. This proved that the culprit was still lying low. Perhaps he had already obtained what he wanted, or perhaps he had not and was preparing to act when the opportunity arose.

Of course, there was also a very small possibility that he had fled Hogwarts on the day of the incident.

"We need to take a look at the scene first," Kingsley said, making his request to Professor McGonagall.

Professor McGonagall led them to the corner of the corridor leading from the Slytherin common room to the Great Hall.

This was the only route from the Slytherin common room to the corridor, so it had long since ceased to resemble how it had looked at the beginning of the case.

Besides, even when Hubert had first been discovered, no traces had been left here.

But Aurors had their own methods.

"Savage, Red Powder." Kingsley crouched where Hubert had collapsed and gave the order to his assistant behind him.

Savage took a bottle of black powder from his robes and handed it to Kingsley.

Kingsley scattered the powder from the glass bottle around them. The black powder floated in midair, and upon touching the air, its color rapidly faded until it became completely transparent and vanished from sight.

"Red Powder is a method we commonly use to detect remnants of Dark magic. It reacts with residual Dark magic from within the last five days. If someone cast Dark magic here, the Red Powder turns from black to red. If not, it looks like this," Kingsley explained to Professor McGonagall.

"And what clue does that give us?" Professor McGonagall asked.

Savage answered her question.

"This was not where that young wizard was truly attacked. Someone threw him here."

Kingsley stood. "Come on. It's been a long time since I last saw Hogwarts's portraits. Let's go say hello."

Afterward, they questioned the portraits all along the corridor, but every one of them said that no suspicious person had appeared on the day of the attack. The thoroughly broken Hubert seemed to have appeared there out of thin air.

"Has the castle's anti-Apparition enchantment loosened recently?" After the trail went cold, the young Auror Savage asked a very foolish question.

Professor McGonagall shook her head without hesitation. "There is no need to doubt that. No one can Apparate within the castle."

With no new discoveries at the scene, Kingsley had already intended to investigate the attack from another angle. Just as he was about to ask Professor McGonagall to take them to her office—

A Slytherin young wizard who had been following behind them the entire time suddenly gathered his courage and came forward to ask:

"Are you Aurors from the Ministry of Magic?"

Kingsley raised an eyebrow. He had a feeling this young wizard would bring him something useful.

"That's right, child. My name is Kingsley Shackle, an active Auror with the Ministry of Magic. Is there something you wish to tell me?"

The Slytherin young wizard's body trembled slightly, whether from nervousness or excitement. Like a shameless informer reporting resistance fighters to the occupiers, he shouted:

"It was Professor Foxx! It must have been Professor Foxx! He used to be a Dark wizard, and he's the only one in Hogwarts who would have a reason to do something like this!"

Professor McGonagall's face darkened instantly as she said furiously:

"Slandering a professor! Slandering a professor! Who taught you this? Now! Immediately! Get out! And hand me a one-foot-long self-criticism within three days!"

Professor McGonagall's long-standing authority frightened the young wizard into turning and running, but there was no taking back what he had said.

Professor McGonagall looked solemnly at the thoughtful Kingsley. "Adrien does have a prior record, but I believe you, as an Auror, understand the circumstances better than I do. That is why I trust him. Albus trusts him as well. He can never be the real culprit!"

Kingsley waved a hand to reassure Professor McGonagall.

"I understand, Professor. Of course I know about Foxx's past, and naturally I believe he would not do such a thing. But as you saw, if a student dared to accuse Foxx in front of you, then his reputation among the students must already be extremely negative."

Professor McGonagall's expression still did not look very good.

"Then what do you suggest we do?"

Kingsley said frankly, "Take us to Foxx. We'll prove his innocence."

Ten minutes later, in Professor Foxx's office.

Kingsley sat in his chair, examining the office's decorations.

Professor Foxx had prepared black tea for the three of them and spoke with Kingsley as though they were two old friends who had not seen each other in a long time.

"I thought I would be the first person you came to when you arrived at Hogwarts."

Kingsley and Professor Foxx clearly were not meeting for the first time. Neither of them seemed unfamiliar with the other.

"Of course I believe you would not use your research against your own students. However, your reputation at Hogwarts is not very good right now."

"Enough small talk. How do you need me to cooperate?" Professor Foxx looked into Kingsley's eyes, appearing quite practiced.

"Just like ten years ago, old Foxx, hand me your wand."

Kingsley did not avert his gaze either. The scene brought back memories of that day ten years earlier.

Not long after becoming an Auror, he had been responsible for examining Foxx's wand.

The results of that examination had been—

That wand had cast countless Cruciatus Curses in just three days, along with...

Five Killing Curses!

Even if I die, I'll let out one final rotten cry from my coffin: "Please vote for me!!!"