Archaeologists at Hogwarts

Chapter 198 Capture and Departure

The truth is even more thrilling than the rumors - it's rare, but it doesn't never happen.

For example, Dumbledore was elected as the new Minister of Magic many times, but he declined every time. After taking office, Fudge wrote to Dumbledore almost every day to ask for advice, so as to adapt to the new situation.

A difficult period of rule after taking office.

Many people know these two things, but this is the first time Toby has personally experienced Dumbledore's power and wisdom. He has taken everything into account, including Toby himself, Fudge, the reaction of the Ministry of Magic, "The Quibbler"

and the "Daily Prophet", and even Voldemort's hidden purpose.

This left Toby silent on the way back to the castle, silently thinking about how long Al's identity could be hidden.

All in all, in silence, the three of them returned to the castle together and rushed to the ancient magic office.

When Toby pushed the door open, he happened to see Lockhart carefully staring at the skeletons on the left and right.

"do not come!"

As soon as he found Toby, Lockhart shouted in fear: "What are you going to do? Why are you locking me here? Do you want to turn me into a skeleton? I'm warning you, I, I - you again

who is it?"

His eyes were suddenly filled with confusion.

Compared with Toby, who is dressed in pitch black, Dumbledore really doesn't look like a bad guy.

"You've seen it all, principal." Toby turned around and said: "He was back-bitten by the magic circle, which is very similar to the effect of the Forgetting Curse. But to be honest, it's pretty good that his brain wasn't hollowed out - I

It means literally."

Lockhart was obviously frightened by Toby's flat tone: "Knock out my brain? You want to knock out my brain? And you said you don't want to make me into a skeleton - ah! Stay away from me!" he screamed.

He said, huddled up on the sofa, with two skeletons guarding him on the left and right, and all their empty eyes turned to Toby.

Dumbledore stared at Lockhart, his eyes twinkling: "You were stabbed by your own sword, Gilderoy."

"What?" Lockhart was stunned: "Sword? Are you in the same group with him? Are you going to stab my brain with a sword?"

He has trouble with his brain.

The skeletons silently turned their eyes to look at each other, and all they saw were empty heads.

"It seems that I can only take him to the hospital." Dumbledore said, "I can also send the injured Dobby there. As for Hagrid, I will leave it to you."

Toby nodded, he and Al left the castle, and found a scarred Hagrid in the cabin. He was in a daze, with tears streaming down his face. As soon as he saw Toby, he asked excitedly: "

Principal. What will the Principal do with Aragog?"

"It depends on your performance, Hagrid." Toby said, holding up the shovel, and Al also looked at him up and down, his eyes sweeping over him over and over again.

"Performance?" Hagrid asked in horror, "What are you going to do?"

"Don't move! I don't want to saw your arm off."

"what!!!"

——

The next day, different rumors spread among the students. Some said that the centaurs were coming to attack Hogwarts, some said that the animals in the Forbidden Forest were going to take over the entire campus, and some even said that the centaurs were coming to attack Hogwarts.

People mistook the explosion of the scepter for a fierce duel, and suspected that the Dark Devil wanted to usurp the throne and fight to the death with Dumbledore.

Well, as the deadline approaches, the influence of the Pharaoh Mask on Toby becomes more and more profound. He always shows his flaws and often talks nonsense in class and during exams, which makes the vice-principal McGonagall specially look for him.

After passing him once, I finally managed to get away from him.

But Toby didn't care about this trivial matter. He arrived at Hagrid's cabin early. Opposite him sat a dull-looking Hagrid, motionless. The hound Yaya sniffed at Hagrid's feet and looked at him suspiciously.

lock up.

The smell is right, but...

"Want some rock cakes?" Toby attracted Yaya's attention. He tried to break the rock cakes into pieces, but he couldn't break them into pieces, which surprised him.

At this time there was a loud knock on the door.

Hagrid stood up immediately, and the expression on his face gradually became vivid. He walked over and opened the door.

"Good evening, Hagrid."

It was Dumbledore. He walked in with a very serious expression, followed by a very strange-looking man.

The stranger was short, stocky, stocky, with messy gray hair and an anxious look on his face. His clothes were a strange hodgepodge: a pinstriped suit, a bright red tie, and a long black t-shirt.

A cloak and purple pointed-toe boots. He held a dark green top hat under his arm.

Hagrid suddenly turned pale and began to sweat on his forehead. He fell down on a chair and looked at Dumbledore and then at Cornelius Fudge.

"That's too bad, Hagrid." Fudge said in a clear and fast tone. He suddenly noticed that there was another person in the room. If he didn't pay close attention, he could easily be ignored: "Do you have a visitor?"

Toby stood up on his own initiative. He forcibly grabbed Fudge's hand and shook it hard: "I am Toby Highmore. I heard that you sent an Auror to investigate my employees."

"Toby Highmore?" Fudge's expression changed: "Are you Toby Highmore? The owner of "The Quibbler"?"

"It's me." Toby had no intention of letting go of his hand, but he squeezed it tighter. The black mist under the hood stared at Fudge intently, as if to imprint his face deeply in his heart: "And I

He is also the Professor of Ancient Magic at Hogwarts and an archaeologist. Also, I have a question for you."

Fudge pulled out his palm so hard that he was about to be pinched purple. At the same time, he noticed that Toby's attitude was obviously different from Hagrid's. It seemed that Toby had been waiting for him here for a long time.

"What's your problem?"

He couldn't help but glance at Dumbledore, suspecting that he had arranged this deliberately.

"Of course it has something to do with "The Quibbler."" Toby said softly: "Does the Ministry regard this newspaper as a threat? And Minister, you want to fight with me for--"

"Ahem!" Dumbledore suddenly coughed loudly twice. He forcibly interrupted Toby, who was recovering slightly from his hidden dangers, and changed the subject and said: "Chamber of Secrets, Connelly, let's continue the topic of the Chamber of Secrets."

"Yes, the Chamber of Secrets." Fudge couldn't help but turn the top hat in his hand. He seriously suspected that this rich man Toby was insane. How could Dumbledore recruit such a lunatic?

The topic finally got back on track.

"I need to take Hagrid away." Fudge said: "I heard that there was an attack in the Forbidden Forest last night, and there were cases of Skeeter and Guffy disappearing before. I have to say, I am very stressed.

Damn, something must be done. If it turns out it's not Hagrid, he will come back, and there will be nothing more to say. But I have to take him away - well, Hagrid, what have you got?

Any opinions?"

Under Fudge's confused gaze, Hagrid finally showed a trembling expression.

Although his response was a little slow, Fudge paid more attention to Dumbledore's attitude: "What about you? What do you think of this method?"

Dumbledore glanced at Toby, and then his tone gradually became heavier: "It seems that this is the only way."

"I know this is a bit unreasonable - huh?" Fudge looked at Dumbledore, the confusion in his eyes deepening: "You mean - you agreed?"

Dumbledore nodded with a painful expression: "Since it's for the sake of Hogwarts, that's all. By the way, are you planning to send Hagrid to Azkaban?"

"Of course it is." Fudge said blankly: "How else could it be?"

"That's good." Dumbledore turned around, as if he couldn't bear to see Hagrid's embarrassment anymore.

"Where's the good?"

A series of question marks appeared above Fudge's head. He also wanted to take this opportunity to hold Dumbledore accountable. Why did it suddenly go so smoothly?

At this time, amid Hagrid's whimpering, Toby stepped forward again and squeezed Fudge's hand that he had no time to avoid: "Do you agree with pure-blood supremacy?"

"Of course not!" Fudge subconsciously retorted, how could he admit this.

"Oh? Then have you ever thought about pure blood——"

"Ahem!" Dumbledore coughed twice more. He stretched out his hand and pulled Toby over to face the wall with him. The veins on the back of his hand were popping out.

Just when Fudge didn't know how to deal with this situation, thank God, someone knocked on the door again.

Hagrid opened the door while crying: "Malfoy is wrong, Malfoy! Get out of here!"

Lucius, who was standing outside the door ready to laugh, was startled. He didn't expect Hagrid's reaction to be so violent.

"Believe me, I'm not happy to enter this room of yours - oh - you call this a house?"

He rearranged his clothes and walked in. As soon as he saw Toby, who was staring at him sideways, he immediately stopped in his tracks and almost ran out.

After his expression froze for a second, Malfoy took a step forward, using Fudge to separate himself and Toby, and then continued: "Things are terrible, everyone. The impact of the Quibbler's report on the Ministry of Magic

It’s very unfavorable to accuse Secretary Fudge of all the bad things - of course, everyone knows that it’s just a lie, but it must be controlled.”

"Is this happening?" Fudge said with a cold snort. Apparently, he and Lucius had already communicated with each other.

Lucius said slowly: "Don't you have anything to say about this, Toby Highmore? We all know that you are the boss of this new newspaper. It seems that you are very dissatisfied with Minister Fudge."

Despite his fierce words, Lucius always stuck close to Fudge, completely treating him like a flesh pad, fearing that Toby would suddenly do something irrational.

Then, Toby's reaction was much more serious than he thought. The door of the cabin automatically closed with a bang, almost breaking Fudge's nose.

"You look for--"

"That's what it is!" Dumbledore suddenly said loudly: "That is no longer Toby's newspaper, but my newspaper."

Fudge and Lucius, who was covered in cold sweat, immediately looked at him.

Dumbledore continued: "I bought the entire newspaper at the cost of Gryffindor's sword, and Toby is now serving me."

Fudge's lips couldn't stop trembling; "Do you want-"

At this time, Lucius couldn't wait and laughed loudly. He took out a long roll of parchment: "This is really not good, because the board of directors' temporary suspension order - you will see twelve directors on it.

Signed——"

But before he could finish speaking, Toby suddenly interrupted him: "Does the board of directors have this power? Can they simply remove the principal? Does it have the right to propose? What about appointment power? Wait a minute - is the Malfoy family one of the board of directors?

?”

Even with the black mist blocking him, Lucius couldn't help but feel chills all over his body, feeling as if he was being targeted by a wild beast.

Fudge looked back and forth in surprise - who is this Toby Highmore? Does he want to squeeze Dumbledore away?

Can you try to win over it?

"Go on." Dumbledore said calmly, breaking the silence.

Lucius' face turned ugly: "Stop pretending, as long as you are willing to hand over "The Quibbler", I will try to persuade other board members not to let you be suspended. It's a fair deal, no.

What?"

Dumbledore slowly closed his eyes, seeming to be hesitating about what decision to make.

Fudge also warned him at the right time: "I think this deal is good. What do you think, Dumbledore? Malfoy is willing to pay enough gold for it, and even give up part of the benefits. Think about it, as long as you have this deal,

Money, maybe Hogwarts will no longer need a school board."

"Huh?" It was Toby who made the voice again: "Can the Minister of Magic overpower the school board?"

This time, it was Fudge who felt chills all over his body. He looked around in panic, wondering where the problem was.

"I refuse," Dumbledore finally said.

The furious Lucius was punched hard by the roaring Hagrid, but was eventually escorted away by the arriving Aurors.

Toby watched them leave. Dumbledore slowed down and whispered: "Do you want to take this opportunity to keep them? Don't fool me with hidden dangers, Toby."

Toby's tone returned to normal: "You lost a great opportunity, principal. I could have easily controlled Fudge. It's such a pity."

Dumbledore just left a message: "Waiting for my news."

After that, Toby returned to the Ancient Magic Office alone. The surprising thing was that there was already another Toby in the room.

Al, who was sitting on the flying carpet, asked, "Yeah?"

"Everything goes well." Toby said quickly, glanced at himself as the second skeleton, and then told Al: "I can only go by myself this time, you can't avoid the dementors' investigation.

But the Pharaoh mask can hide myself very well. Let the fake Toby stay in Hogwarts, so as to leave an alibi."

"All that's left is a suitable means of transportation, let me think about it"

The Burrow, Arthur sighed when he came back from get off work. He had been having a rough time since Lucius got away from the case. His feet involuntarily turned to walk to another house, wanting to comfort himself with the wonderful magic car.

As a result, the garage was completely empty. Arthur stared blankly for a long time, his arms swinging back and forth helplessly, groping in the air.

Where is my car?

Where's a magic car my size?

In the night sky, Toby rode a magic car and broke through the clouds. There was a flash of fire on the passenger seat and he left a note. Toby glanced at the direction recorded on the note, immediately turned the steering wheel and flew to the other side of the night sky.

.

In the dark cave, there are guards at all levels and everything is in order.

Hagrid was covered in chains and looked like he was in a coma. He was pushed by a wooden cart and walked deeper.

A person next to the cart said to the Auror who was guarding the place at the end: "I am Kingsley Shacklebolt, and I want to escort this prisoner to Azkaban."

They successfully passed the inspection.

The trolley was fixed on a railway track. Kingsley stepped into the trolley and sat opposite the unconscious Hagrid.

Following the order, the trolley started, speeding up faster and faster, and you could vaguely see the bright light deep in the tunnel - that was the exit.

The cart flew out of the cave with a "swish" sound, appeared outside the steep cliff, fell down, and landed safely on the turbulent sea.

At this time, the roller on the other end of the cart began to shake on its own, as if retracting an invisible thin line, dragging the cart that turned into a boat deeper into the sea.

The invisible magic car in the sky landed carefully. Toby held a telescope and looked at the boat on the sea that seemed to capsize at any time.

Apart from Hagrid, who was disguised as a skeleton, there was only one Auror guard. Dumbledore even helped him get the name of the other party - Kingsley Shacklebolt, an experienced Auror.

Toby put down the telescope and murmured: "As long as you follow this ship, you should be able to find Azkaban."

"But where is the mysterious man hiding? Has he already disguised himself as a guard in advance?"