The Admiral of Hogwarts

“I can understand that, Miss Halsey. After all, there are so few clues left for us now, so we can only speculate about this matter.”

Headmaster Dumbledore had a gentle smile on his face. “So please tell me your guess. Whether this guess is right or wrong, I think it can bring us closer to the truth.”

“Based on my observations just now, the footprints left are imprints of the front 1/3 of the soles of sneakers, so it is impossible to judge whether these are men's or women's shoes.” After Professor Dumbledore said this, Enterprise began to talk about her previous guesses.

“However, from the pattern on the soles, it can be judged that this attacker should be from the wizarding world, or from a family with very good economic conditions in the Muggle world.”

As she spoke, Enterprise waved her wand to display the pattern on the sole, and then pointed to the patterns to explain to Professor Dumbledore.

“This pattern is hand-carved. It has almost disappeared in the Muggle world outside. Only a very few expensive custom brands would choose this method. On the contrary, it is more common in the wizarding world—”

“Ah, I think these shoes are likely to be from a pure-blood wizard.” Enterprise was interrupted by Headmaster Dumbledore before she could finish speaking.

“I have observed this at the school. In fact, most of the teachers and students now wear shoes bought in the Muggle world, because these daily necessities in the wizarding world are obviously much more expensive.”

“Only a portion of pure-blood wizards who are relatively wealthy would consciously wear magical world attire from head to toe, anytime and anywhere. Some of this is because of tradition, but more of it is a manifestation of a certain stance.”

“So, the attacker is a pure-blood wizard? That does fit the legendary Heir of Slytherin—” Enterprise said softly.

“No, of course not. We cannot assume a person's position based on their bloodline.” Hearing Enterprise say this, Dumbledore immediately corrected her. “Under any circumstances, we should face everyone with a neutral attitude—”

“So you and the headmaster checked for a long time, and besides confirming that the attacker is indeed someone from the school, the rest of the time was spent discussing issues related to values?”

When Hugo was lying in bed that night and contacting Enterprise, Enterprise told Hugo about the content of her discussion with the headmaster, which surprised Hugo a bit.

“Obviously, our headmaster also believes that the attacker is from inside the school, and I, a newly arrived faculty member from a foreign country, am naturally a prime suspect.”

“Therefore, our headmaster obviously hopes to understand my thoughts through such exchanges, and then use his own experience to judge whether I am the attacker hiding behind the scenes.”

“Did our headmaster just inquire?” Hugo asked somewhat puzzled, “Although Dumbledore seems more kind after he got older, I think there are some methods he might not use on underage students, but there should be no taboos against adults like you.”

“But that would only be in emergency situations, and the situation is not that bad yet.” Enterprise thought Dumbledore's current approach was normal.

“Not to mention that my current identity is a former Auror, and Auror training includes training to resist Legilimency and Veritaserum. Even if the headmaster really suspects me, he won't take any action at this time to alert the enemy.”

“By the way, I can now confirm one thing.” After finishing talking about the things related to herself, Enterprise stated her observation conclusion.

“That is, today’s attacker should not be a Slytherin student, because I can confirm that they were not at the scene when the attack occurred.”

“There is also even worse news. Do you want to hear it?” At this moment, Veneto entered the Admiral Network.

“Speak. There have been enough unexpected bad news today.” Hugo took a deep breath and said gently to Veneto.

“Although the students on the Quidditch pitch today were not all present, if you combine the list of students on the field with the list of people attending the Halloween banquet and remove the duplicates, you will find that it is a complete list of Hogwarts students.”

Veneto said in a very fast tone. “In other words, there is no student who cannot prove that they were not present during both attacks.”

“What about the school's faculty and staff?” Hugo asked, “Are there any faculty and staff who did not participate in these two events, and whose whereabouts during this period cannot be confirmed?”

“There is only one, and that is Hagrid.” Veneto's helpless tone came from the Admiral Network. “Because he lives alone in a place far away from the castle, there is simply not enough evidence to prove where he went during this period.”

“This is just terrible.” Subconsciously glancing at the location of Hagrid's hut, Hugo sighed. “It seems that Hagrid will inevitably have to spend some time in Azkaban again this time.”

“That's right, using Fiendfyre to attack is no small matter.” Enterprise sighed softly. “Maybe Old Malfoy will drive Dumbledore out of the school like in the original text.”

The next morning, the news that Hagrid had been arrested and Professor Dumbledore had been forced to leave Hogwarts spread throughout the castle overnight. This made the students in the castle feel insecure.

“This is troublesome. Dumbledore is gone. They will probably close the school in a short time. After he leaves, there will be attacks happening every day.”

“The attacker may come back and completely kill those non-pure-blood wizards in the school.”

“Hogwarts is indeed the safest place in the British wizarding world, but a very important reason is that Professor Dumbledore is here. If he leaves here, then Hogwarts is just a magical castle.”

In an instant, a large number of pessimistic remarks filled the entire castle, and fear spread rapidly in an unprecedented form.

Therefore, the sun warming the outer walls of the castle seemed unable to shine through the mullioned windows. Every face in the school looked terrified, and every burst of laughter in the corridor seemed harsh and strange, and was quickly suppressed.

However, this pessimistic atmosphere did not affect Hugo much. Realizing that the previous plan was ineffective, he began to mobilize the ship girls located around the school to search the Forbidden Forest and the Black Lake.

After all, the Basilisk has not been hibernating all the time, and the house elves in the school have not been feeding this monster.

Considering the environment around Hogwarts and the fact that the Basilisk has not been discovered for so long, Hugo and the ship girls almost all judged that there was another exit of the Chamber of Secrets in the Forbidden Forest or the Black Lake.

It's just that neither the Forbidden Forest nor the Black Lake are small in area. And now, because these activities are not suitable for being carried out ostentatiously, the search progress of the ship girls is very slow.

Even if they roughly judged that the exit was probably not in the Forbidden Forest through the fact that creatures like Acromantulas, who are extremely afraid of Basilisks, dare to live in the Forbidden Forest, the Black Lake alone is enough to keep the ship girls busy.

Therefore, during this period, Hugo could only suppress the impatience in his heart and wait silently, waiting for the ship girls to bring him effective news.