"You mean Kira?" Dumbledore nodded slightly. "Yes, it attacked young wizards in the castle, and since the Ministry of Magic has no penalties for house-elves harming people, dismissing it seemed like the punishment it deserved."
As if anyone would believe that.
Lynn secretly rolled his eyes, gathered his thoughts, and continued.
"Professor, I don't know whether you know that I'm an orphan. I grew up in a Muggle orphanage, and my parents died when I was very young. But they left me a considerable fortune. As far as I can remember, they were completely ordinary people. After I was admitted to Hogwarts, although I was sorted into Slytherin and discriminated against by my housemates because of my blood, I never resented or doubted my origins..."
He raised his head to look at Dumbledore. Dumbledore met his gaze with a gentle nod, seeming to encourage him to continue.
"But right after Hubert insulted my blood, he was attacked. The same happened to Raphael. It made me feel as though someone in Hogwarts was secretly protecting me. On the night Professor Foxx fought the Death Eater, you told the whole school that the murderer was that dark wizard. Of course, I believed what you said.
"But Professor Foxx told me why that dark wizard had been hiding in Hogwarts. Perhaps he really was the culprit, but what if he had accomplices in the castle?
"So Ian, Cedric, and I came up with a plan.
"Ian and I deliberately had a conflict in the Great Hall. He insulted me with the same words Hubert and Raphael had used. Two weeks later, yesterday, a house-elf—Kira—attacked Ian. I caught it on the spot. It burst into tears, knelt before me, called me its master, and admitted that it had carried out the first two attacks