Dumbledore's Army at Hogwarts

"What?! You're saying you destroyed Erkstag Prison?!"

In the brightly lit Great Hall of Hogwarts, the Charms professor from Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry asked in surprise.

"Um, don't be so loud, Professor Hicks." Xiwen glanced somewhat guiltily at the young wizards eating around them and said to Professor Hicks, "Actually, it's not so much about destroying it, but rather eradicating those extremely inhumane forms of punishment in prison at their source!"

"Yes, the three of us killed a Manticore!" Theseus laughed, patting the Fantastic Beasts terrarium that Newt had placed beside him.

Newt was sitting at a long table, next to him in a transparent box containing two small, pale orange Fantastic Beasts with crab claws and scorpion tails. The two Scorpiontail cubs no longer looked as ferocious as they had in prison; instead, they appeared pitiful.

"To be precise, Strange killed the Scorpiontail all by himself," Newt said quietly, gently moving Theseus's hand aside. "The two of us only played a supporting role."

Professor Kettleburn, now with only one arm and half a leg, clattered over on his wooden prosthetic leg, looking curiously at the enclosure next to Newt, and asked, "Is this Manticore? It doesn't quite look like one!"

"It must have been the wizards of the Germany who experimented on and modified them, removing the most intelligent part of the Manticore, and completely transforming it into a Beast bred with human blood!" Newt explained dejectedly to Professor Kettleburn.

"Those people from that Germany are despicable!" Professor Kettleburn cursed emotionally.

"Yes, I think so too." Newt nodded in agreement.

"..."

Newt and Professor Kettleburn hadn't seen each other for a long time, and with the common topic of Scorpiontail, they quickly started chatting.

Theseus tried to join the conversation by voicing his indignation at the German Ministry of Magic. However, he couldn't get a word in edgewise into the academic dialogue between the two Magizoologist and could only silently turn to Professor Hicks.

"Hey, so you guys saved a candidate at the International Confederation of Wizards's banquet?" Theseus asked, trying to make conversation.

"That's right," Professor Hicks nodded. "Grindelwald wanted to murder candidate Wisencia Santos; he poisoned her drink."

"Is Grindelwald really that unconfident in winning the International Confederation of Wizards presidency based on his own merit?" Hearing her words, Xiwen frowned and asked doubtfully. "Won't his actions of sabotaging other candidates only alienate voters?"

"I don't know what he was thinking," Professor Hicks shook his head, saying to Xiwen and Theseus. "But what he did was likely more than just assassinating a candidate."

"What do you mean?" Theseus asked, frowning as well.

"Grindelwald deliberately sent Queenie Goldstein to deliver the poisoned wine to Santos, as if to deliberately provoke Jacob," Professor Hicks said to Xiwen and Theseus, glancing at Jacob chatting with the young wizards from afar.

"Jacob was too worried about Queenie and was quickly enraged by Grindelwald, who pulled out his wand without a core. Grindelwald then secretly cast a spell, creating the illusion that Jacob wanted to attack him, thus framing Jacob for poisoning Santos as well."

"I don't know why Dumbledore gave Jacob that wand, or if he had foreseen this. But the current situation is that most of those present who are unaware of the truth would believe that the assassination of the candidate was Muggle Jacob's scheme," Professor Hicks said gravely.

"Saboteurizing a candidate, if successful, eliminates a competitor; if it fails, it can frame a Muggle, inciting conflict between wizards and Muggle." Theseus shook his head and sighed, "Grindelwald really used a brilliant tactic!"

"So now I want to know, is everything still on track with our so-called 'plan'?" Xiwen crossed his arms and pondered silently.

At that moment, Xiwen's eye twitched, and he looked speechlessly toward the Slytherin table.

Hogwarts Great Hall, on the Slytherin table.

Abraxas was discussing some things with the Young Wizard Xiwen and Mobley.

"How dare they? How could they let a Muggle into Hogwarts?" Abu shouted at Mobley and the Young Wizard Xiwen, his expression extremely indignant. "This is blasphemy against Hogwarts! It's an insult to the Wizarding World!"

"I think we need to teach him a lesson, Abu!" Mobley said angrily, rolling up his sleeves.

The Young Wizard Xiwen quickly grabbed their hats, pulling the two eager boys back.

"No, no, that Muggle was invited by Dumbledore," Xiwen said to the two. "You don't want to offend Dumbledore directly, do you?"

Abu and Mobley hesitated for a moment, but still looked somewhat unwilling.

"How could Dumbledore invite a Muggle? This is a blatant betrayal of our wizarding honor!" Abu said through gritted teeth.

Mobley was also very angry, and he looked like he was about to go find Jacob and curse him at any moment.

"Don't be impulsive! Ravenclaw is waiting to surpass our House Points!" Xiwen said sternly, staring at the two. "If you maliciously cast a curse on the Gryffindor Headmaster's guest, I can't guarantee what kind of punishment you'll face!"

"Fine!" Mobley sat back down, shrugging helplessly. "For Dumbledore and Xiwen's sake."

Just then, Abu noticed some candy and snacks on the table and suddenly had an idea.

"Xiwen, we shouldn't have any problem giving that Muggle some gifts, right?" Abu asked.

"Probably not..." Xiwen paused, looked at Abu, and asked, puzzled, "You're that kind of person?"

Abu grabbed a bag of Cockroach Cluster from the snacks on the table and laughed gleefully.

Xiwen: "... You're really something."

Dumbledore arrived at the Great Hall as lunch service was nearing its end.

"I'm so glad to see that everyone has arrived at Hogwarts safe and sound, without anyone missing a limb," Dumbledore greeted everyone playfully.

"Dumbledore, I want to know if our 'plan' has worked," Theseus asked eagerly upon seeing Dumbledore. "It seems we're back to square one."

"Theseus, in fact, our situation is much worse than it initially appeared." Dumbledore, then chuckled softly. "Now that Grindelwald has gained the right to vote, the situation is quite unfavorable for us."

"So what should we do next?" Xiwen asked, frowning.

Dumbledore smiled slightly but said nothing. He simply gestured for the members of the Dumbledore's Army to follow him, and then walked straight to the front of the Great Hall.

"Minerva, could you help me evacuate the young wizards?" Dumbledore said to a young witch sitting in the professors' chair. "We have some important things to discuss."