Hearing Dumbledore's words, Snape breathed a sigh of relief.
He clearly relaxed, his shoulders slumped, and his whole body seemed to loosen up.
He even joked, "It's Neville, huh? The Son of the Champion certainly has a heavy responsibility."
His tone was relaxed, a stark contrast to his tense demeanor just moments before.
Dumbledore, reminding Snape not to say too much, that some secrets should be kept buried in one's heart forever.
Snape glanced at Dumbledore with displeasure, pursed his lips, but said nothing more.
The other professors, upon hearing that it might be Neville, all showed expressions of realization.
The Son of the Champion, to end the evil dark creatures—it makes perfect sense.
From this perspective, the Prophecy makes sense.
McGonagall's expression softened slightly, but her tone remained serious. "We must strengthen our protection of Neville, not just within the school. Although Werewolf and Vampire in the Britain wizarding world are mostly very low-profile, their numbers are not small throughout the European Wizarding World."
Her voice carried an unwavering certainty, as if she had already begun to plan her manpower in her mind.
Dumbledore nodded. "I've contacted some friends to see if I can speak with the elders of the other Vampire clans, but there's been no news yet. Secondly, I feel there's something wrong with the lyrics of the Gori, which is why I've kept him locked up. I want to wait until I have confirmation before I can talk to him."
Hearing this, McGonagall couldn't sit still anymore.
She straightened her back even more, her gaze behind her glasses sharper than before. "This is no excuse for hiding a Vampire from the school. As the vice-principal, I have the right and the obligation to know everything about the castle; I must protect my students."
Her tone was even more forceful than before, and she spoke slowly, each word seemingly squeezed out from between her teeth, carrying a persistence that had remained unchanged for decades.
Dumbledore nodded quickly. "Yes, I was a little late this time. There won't be a next time."
His attitude was very sincere, and the white-bearded man swayed twice as he nodded.
Snape watched this scene coldly from the corner, a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth. He was relieved that it was probably unrelated to Harry; he just needed to keep an eye on Harry and make sure she didn't provoke the Vampire.
Seeing that Dumbledore acknowledged his mistake, at least verbally, McGonagall stopped pressing him and asked, "What do we do now? How do we deal with that guy named Gori? And what about the Vampire at Hogsmeade? They don't seem to be here for any Prophecy; instead, they want to kill the Vampire you've been raising."
Dumbledore did not answer immediately.
He sat in the high-backed chair, his fingers still interlaced in front of him, his gaze shifting from McGonagall's face to Quirrell beside him.
To Quirrell, the meaning was clear: it was your turn to speak.
Quirrell glanced at Dumbledore's eyes, then at McGonagall's stern face opposite him, and felt a chill run down his spine.
He certainly remembered the correspondence between himself and Dumbledore, and he also remembered how Dumbledore had instructed him in the letter to find a suitable time to bring up the Gori's suggestion at the meeting, to test the reactions of the deans, or to take the fall and draw McGonagall's attention.
He didn't think too much about it when he wrote the reply; he thought it was just a matter of passing on a message.
Sitting in this room now, looking at Professor McGonagall's expression that seemed ready to fire at any moment, he suddenly felt that those letters had been written a bit hastily.
Reluctantly, he stepped forward, cleared his throat, and spoke in a steady voice, trying to sound like he was stating an objective fact, "Although Professor Malin and I have been taking turns guarding the Gori in the Forbidden Forest these past few days, the Vampire haven't made any major moves, but there are still Vampire frequently lurking around, testing the waters."
He paused, as if organizing his thoughts, "If we continue to stay in the Forbidden Forest, they will attack again sooner or later. And they will definitely take Professor Malin and my situation into account; the intensity will not be low, and there might even be Vampire elders involved."
After hearing this, McGonagall frowned even more deeply.
She looked at Dumbledore, her voice filled with a resistance to thinking of the worst, "What should we do? I don't want the Forbidden Forest to become a battlefield for Vampire, nor do I want to start a battle with Vampire in Hogsmeade."
She emphasized the " Forbidden Forest of the Castle" with a few words, clearly reminding everyone that it was on the edge of the students' usual area, and that if a fight broke out, the safety of the entire school would be threatened.
Dumbledore explained, "I heard some things from my friend about why they wanted to kill Gori. An elder from another clan of Vampire woke up early and was trying to seize power. It has nothing to do with the Prophecy, though. I can try to have my friend talk to them."
Hearing that Dumbledore had an idea, McGonagall's tone softened slightly.
But she still cautioned, "A peaceful resolution would be best. However, be careful; they might try something underhanded while negotiating. Dark creatures are not to be trusted."
The reason why dark creatures are called dark creatures, and not some kind of dark wizard, is that they have begun to deviate from the realm of humanity. Their emotions, thoughts, and so on are no longer the same as those of humans, and human morality and sense of shame no longer apply to them.
Dumbledore nodded, as if confirming McGonagall's words, then looked at Quirrell, signaling him to continue.
Quirrell's lips twitched slightly.
He knew there was no way to avoid it, so he had no choice but to bite the bullet and continue as instructed in Dumbledore's letter, " In that Gori, the Vampire elder expressed his wish to live in Hogwarts Castle."
The moment he uttered those words, he felt McGonagall's gaze pierce him like a cold arrow.
Quirrell quickly added, speaking a little faster than before, "I've already firmly refused him; Hogwarts Castle will never allow dark creatures to enter."
After saying that, Quirrell felt a pang of regret.
Why did you write a letter to Dumbledore? Wouldn't it have been better to report directly to Professor McGonagall?
Now, Dumbledore has asked him to bring up this topic to draw McGonagall's attention.
Sigh, we should learn from Professor Malin and not care about anything, just stay in the Forbidden Forest more often, and push the reporting tasks to others.
Quirrell didn't realize that Marlene could push the blame onto him, but if he pushed it onto Hagrid, it would be obvious that Hagrid wouldn't write to Dumbledore report this; he would only write that he was raising Vampire very well and that the headmaster could rest assured.
Seeing that McGonagall was targeting Quirrell, Dumbledore quickly seized the opportunity to say, "Of course, the safety of our students will always be our top priority, and that will never change at Hogwarts."