Hogwarts Is Facing a Crisis Too / The School Has Trouble on Both the Inside and the Outside

Just as Harry was lost in thought, everything suddenly went black again.

He felt as if he were back in that cemetery, surrounded by complete darkness and utter silence, with nothing but tombstones...

"Roar!!"

In the next instant, the skull of Death appeared before him with a chilling roar. The two dark, ghostly flames in its eye sockets burned Harry with murderous intent, making him tremble uncontrollably from head to toe.

"Mortal, don't even think about pushing your luck, and don't try any more tricks on me!!"

Light returned to his eyes. This illusion came and went quickly, but the fear in Harry's heart lingered for a long time.

He knew this was Death's warning to him.

The version of myself who used the Time-Turner, after resolving things here, likely took advantage of the lull to go and cause trouble elsewhere... perhaps gathering information at the Ministry of Magic, or perhaps rushing back to Hogwarts.

However, his actions displeased Death, who then manipulated the rules of time, causing his other self to disappear along with Eliezer; instead, he preserved the self that should have vanished, and even subjected him to a period of despair in a dream...

It's a bit convoluted, but Harry truly experienced the terror of the so-called 'gods' that Rowena spoke of through this experience.

Being able to distort the rules of time without anyone noticing and punish oneself for abusing cheat codes, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that Death is the GM of this world.

So... why is that terrifying guy so fixated on me?

"Hey Harry, what's wrong with you, standing there like that?"

When Harry looked up again, he saw Xenophilius calling him with concern, while seemingly waving a stack of documents in front of him.

"It's nothing, I was just a little distracted." Harry chuckled casually. "What... uh, I meant to ask, Mr. Xenophilius, are you alright?"

Seeing the pile of documents in Xenophilius's hand, Harry instinctively wanted to ask why, but then suddenly remembered that he hadn't even inquired about the other person's situation, and couldn't help feeling a little embarrassed.

Ultimately, Xenophilius was purely implicated by his own actions this time.

"You're really strange. Didn't you already ask me this question when you saved me?" Xenophilius said suspiciously. "I told you I was fine, just a little startled. Then you gave my wand back and said a bunch of things about being implicated and apologizing, but I didn't really understand them."

"Besides, you were the one who found these things and gave them to me. You even told me they were the house deed and construction plans, as well as the keys to the rooms and the safe... You said you'd hand them over to me personally after I went to Hogwarts with Mr. Black. You also went Grawp and on about a whole bunch of other things, saying you had to go to the Ministry of Magic first or something, but who knew you'd suddenly turn back."

"Uh... okay~" Harry sighed inwardly upon hearing this. It seemed that he had indeed been too conspicuous after using the Time-Turner, which was why he had been punished by Death.

What he doesn't know is that the reason Death is preventing him from going to the Ministry of Magic is actually to prevent him from discovering certain 'truths'.

To this day, Harry still doesn't know who the real owner of Peter Pettigrew is.

But what kind of conspiracy has that guy plotted...?

Chapter 491 Hogwarts is also facing a crisis

"So... should I keep these things, or should I hand them over to you now?"

Seeing that Harry seemed to be lost in thought again after just a couple of sentences, Xenophilius couldn't help but ask him in confusion.

"You can give it to me now." Harry shrugged awkwardly and took the stack of documents from Xenophilius.

Upon seeing these things, Harry immediately understood his earlier intentions.

The fact that he Xenophilius keep the property deed, construction drawings, keys, and the like clearly showed that he had designs on this mansion.

Once these documents fall into Harry's hands, he can easily change them, and after the mastermind behind it all dies, the mansion and all its belongings and property will be transferred to the Granger name.

After all, there's no such thing as a crime of possessing unexplained wealth in the Wizarding World.

Although Witanhurst appears to be just an ordinary mansion on the outside, it is actually inhabited by a vampire, so its internal structure is built entirely according to the standards of magical architecture.

A fully equipped, magnificent magical building—isn't this the retirement home Harry has been searching for?

Believe it or not, after killing that Peter Pettigrew, Harry actually got a huge trophy this time.

Once he has a general understanding of the mansion's foundation structure, he can naturally find a way to move it entirely to Hogsmeade Village!

Luckily, I bought 25 hectares of land near the Shrieking Shack with Old Hengist back then, otherwise we really wouldn't have been able to fit such a big house there~

It just so happens that Rowena, this great goddess, now lives in my mind. The Four Founders could even move Hogwarts Castle up a cliff back then, so with her guidance, moving a villa would be a piece of cake!

In this way, he could save the expense of buying a house. He only needed to spend a little time decorating some functional areas and adding some high-end furniture, so that his teachers and others could move in with just their bags.

As for how to handle the aftermath of the sudden disappearance of this mansion in Highgate Village, it's actually quite simple: just set a fire and stage the scene to make ordinary people think that the place has been completely burned down.

"Peter Pettigrew Peter... it's so satisfying to see this deserving guy punished! If James and Lily knew about this, they'd be able to feel a little better..."

As he was about to leave, Sirius looked back at the corpse on the statue, whose blood was about to be drained. His eyes, filled with endless vicissitudes, seemed to also hold a sense of relief.

It is said that when a person dies, it is like a lamp going out. Peter Pettigrew was both his best friend and his enemy. They had been inseparable during their student days, and they had also been imprisoned in different places for twelve years.

Because of betrayal and leaks, two former friends are now living in constant fear, while the other is living a life worse than death.

Now, their long-standing feud has finally come to an end.

But while he was feeling emotional, when Sirius looked at Harry, his eyes were filled with deep resentment. "Harry, I have to talk about you kid. How could you solve everything before you thought of calling me to see the body? Next time you encounter this kind of situation, you should call me over earlier."

"Yes, yes, it's all my fault..." Harry said with a helpless smile.

Honestly, if I had let you come sooner, you might have seen more than just Peter Pettigrew's corpse...

However, Harry also knew that Sirius was subtly telling him that he was willing to go through anything with him.

Harry, of course, was very grateful for this.

In short, although the trip to the haunted house was full of twists and turns, it ended well in the end.

Harry successfully rescued Xenophilius and even got a house for free; while Sirius was able to witness his enemy's fate firsthand, which made him feel somewhat relieved.

However, after the three of them left Witanhurst with Eliezer, chatting and laughing, Harry glanced instinctively at Highgate Cemetery in the night, and then froze in place, stunned...

"Eliezer, go check on the situation at that cemetery right now!!"

Witanhurst Mansion is situated on higher ground in Highgate Village, so from the front door of the villa, one can easily overlook Highgate Cemetery below.

But when Harry looked around using his excellent night vision, he noticed that the tombstones in East Highgate Cemetery seemed a bit messy, and he could vaguely see clumps of dark soil that looked like freshly turned over, which gave him a jolt.

He had only seen that kind of scene once before, when he visited Highgate Village, at the West Highgate Cemetery on the other side!

At that moment, Harry desperately hoped that he had misjudged the situation.

But reality is harsh. Eliezer, who quickly returned using Apparition, brought Harry news that was worse than terrible.

"Young master, most of the tombstones in the cemetery over there have been knocked down, and many graves are empty, with the bodies nowhere to be found. Also... Eliezer sensed something very sinister there, like traces of Dark Magic."

"Just as I suspected... it's Inferi!"

Harry immediately realized that the mysterious master behind Peter Pettigrew could turn the corpses in West Highgate Cemetery into Inferi, so taking care of East Highgate Cemetery would be no problem for him as well.

The crucial question now is: where did these bodies go?!

It's important to understand that there are over 53,000 graves in West Highgate Cemetery combined. Even if only one-tenth... no, only one-twentieth of them were turned into Inferi, the consequences of spreading them would be absolutely unimaginable!

So those Inferi... wait!

"I know, it's Hogwarts!" Harry exclaimed in an instant.

Indeed, both the curse from Peter Pettigrew before his death and the intelligence he had previously analyzed clearly pointed to the mysterious enemy as someone with a grudge against him.

Knowing himself as he did, he certainly wouldn't scatter those Inferi on the streets of London to take revenge on society, because he knew he would never do it alone!

So... the only possibility is that they were all transported to Hogwarts by some means!

"Xenophilius Lovegood, Godfather, something terrible has happened!" Having realized this, Harry immediately cried out anxiously, "Hogwarts might be in danger! Eliezer, take me back to Hogwarts right now!"

"What did you say? Hogwarts is in danger?" Sirius was also shocked. "Harry, don't just go by yourself, take me with you!"

"Count me in too. My daughter is over there, and I'm really worried about her safety," Xenophilius quickly interjected.

"Let's go together!" Harry made the decision immediately, and the House-elf snapped his fingers, leading the group away like a phantom mist from the gates of Witanhurst mansion.

Chapter 492 The school is facing some internal and external troubles.

Adjusting the clock slightly forward, just before sunset, almost all of Hogwarts' faculty members stood solemnly on guard at the entrance to the Great Hall.

As the temporary head of the school at this moment, Minerva McGonagall's hand holding her wand was trembling slightly. She had never been so nervous as she was today... not even last year, when the entire school was plunged into a crisis caused by a Basilisk.

At that time, although Dumbledore was temporarily dismissed from his post, he was still safe.

Professor McGonagall knew that he could come back anytime he wanted.

Moreover, before leaving, he made meticulous arrangements, placing his hopes for saving the school on Harry.

But the situation is different now.

Dumbledore may have been ambushed at the Ministry of Magic, and now even the two professors who rushed to his aid are nowhere to be found.

Furthermore, he left no arrangements behind; even the Fawkes flew away.

To make matters worse, Harry wasn't at school either.

Professor McGonagall had to admit that although Harry was only a fourteen-year-old boy, his ability to act was far greater than that of adults like herself.

If either he or Dumbledore were to remain at the school, they would surely be able to stabilize the situation immediately.

"Why are they locking us up again? How many times has this happened this semester?"

"That's right! We've already finished the exams, why do we have to wait at school? We want to go home now!"

A commotion arose behind her; even without turning around, Professor McGonagall knew it was some students quietly complaining.

Hogwarts had a rather turbulent term. Harry caused a scene in the Great Hall at the start of the term, followed by the Dementor' lockdown of the school, and the fabricated invasion by Werewolf and Peter Pettigrew. Every student was on edge at times.

Now that the semester is finally coming to an end, another incident has occurred at the school, which is understandably difficult for some students—especially many Slytherin —to accept.

Slytherin House's overall performance this year can only be described as utterly disastrous. Many Slytherin students couldn't even take their final exams, and they finished last in the House Cup rankings. They'd love to see the year-end ceremony canceled.

However, Professor McGonagall hesitated to readily grant their request to "go home immediately."

They don't even know who the enemy is; they've only roughly deduced that there might be an invasion of Hogwarts by Inferi.

Besides these, Professor McGonagall knew nothing about how many Inferi there were, whether there were other enemies besides the Inferi, or where they would invade from.

Under these circumstances, Professor McGonagall could not guarantee students' safety off-campus, so how could she dare to allow them to leave Hogwarts?

"Shut up, all of you!!"

However, just as Professor McGonagall was about to return to the Great Hall to check on the situation, someone beat her to it.

It was Hermione who spoke. She was holding her wand in her hand, her sharp eyes sweeping over the group of complaining troublemakers. Her imposing presence, though not angry, made her look like a fierce lion hunting its prey.

"Harry and the Headmaster aren't at school right now, are you trying to rebel?" Hermione glanced coldly at the large group of Slytherin causing trouble. "Hogwarts is facing an invasion, and you lot have people protecting you, yet you're still making a fuss here. Aren't you all a little shameless?"

"Hermione Granger... what right do you have to say that to us?" One of the Slytherin House students, who had been causing the most trouble earlier, immediately screamed in dissatisfaction.

"I think she's just putting on airs. Now that Harry Potter isn't backing her up, I don't know what she's so smug about." Pansy Parkinson, who has always been at odds with Hermione, also seized the opportunity to start making sarcastic remarks.

However, Hermione was too lazy to waste words with these troublemakers who couldn't understand human language, and simply flicked her wrist, throwing two spells at them.

"Stupefy!"

This immediately threw the entire Great Hall into chaos.

"What are you doing?!" "Oh no, Pansy's been knocked unconscious!"

A commotion erupted as a dozen or so Slytherin students immediately raised their wands, pointing them menacingly at Hermione.

"Slytherin House, you dare touch Hermione and see what happens?" "Do you really think that without Harry, no one can control you?!"

However, Hermione was not alone. Colin and Will were the first to surround her, followed by the Weasley Brothers, Neville, Cedric Diggory, and many other students who were on good terms with Harry, all gathering around Hermione.

"Alright, stop it!" Percy, the student council president, quickly intervened, stopping the two groups who were on the verge of conflict. "The school is in a crisis right now. Are you trying to start a fight before it even begins? Put your wands down right now!"

"Slytherin, your Headmaster is currently guarding the secret passage exit on the fourth floor alone. I advise you not to cause him any trouble at this time!" Penelope, the president of the student council, had already led a group of girls she was on good terms with, all of whom were targeting the Slytherin House students who wanted to cause trouble.

"You guys..." "Hmph!"

Forced by circumstances, the Slytherin students once again demonstrated their admirable self-preservation skills, sheepishly putting away their wands.

However, even as they retreated, they didn't forget to mutter a few sarcastic remarks like, "You're only good at bullying your own people," and "If you're so capable, why don't you go fight the enemy with the professor?"

However, when Hermione looked over expressionlessly, the muttering guys immediately hid in the crowd again, not daring to show their faces.

"Listen up, all of you! With the school facing a formidable enemy, I don't have time to deal with your problems one by one, but I can deal with the people who caused them immediately. Besides, some people are right, I'm only doing this because Harry is backing me up, so you all had better behave yourselves, lest he come back and settle scores with you!"

"Finally, someone just said I should go out and deal with the enemy, right... Fine!" As she spoke, Hermione strode towards the Great Hall entrance. "This school doesn't just belong to the professors, it belongs to each and every one of us. I never intended to comfortably hide in the Great Hall for protection!"