The Admiral of Hogwarts

Perhaps because this year's events concluded several weeks earlier than in the novels, the end-of-year exams were still proceeding as scheduled.

For Hugo, this change earned him 0.5 Fate Points. Although the number was small, considering that killing the Basilisk and destroying the diary had only yielded 36 Fate Points, 0.5 points was a decent bonus.

The reason he had only earned thirty-odd Fate Points after busying himself for so long was simple: the diary not being in Ginny's possession from the start had already granted him a portion of Fate Points. It was impossible to earn Fate Points twice for the same event.

During this period, several students were summoned to Dumbledore's office for a chat. Besides the Hufflepuff victim trio and Harry, who was still unnerved by Hugo's Parseltongue ability, Hugo and Veneto were naturally among those invited by Professor Dumbledore.

Hugo found it somewhat strange that, during his conversation, Dumbledore focused almost entirely on the runestones Hugo had used in the battle, aside from asking about some details of that day.

"I suspect your headmaster has something in mind for you, and it probably has something to do with the creation of runestones," Hood suggested after they returned to the dormitory to discuss.

"But regardless of the specifics, judging from Dumbledore's current approach, it seems he has something good in store for you, so just wait patiently," he added.

Indeed, after all the petrified victims had returned to normal, the end-of-year exams concluded. However, before this time, two events had affected the entire school.

One of them was Gilderoy Lockhart's arrest by two Aurors during a Wednesday class in front of a group of fifth-year students, causing quite a stir.

In just half a day, several versions of the reason for Lockhart's arrest spread throughout the school. The most widely circulated rumor claimed that Lockhart was related to the monster attacks in the Chamber of Secrets.

The rumors ranked 2nd, 3rd, and 4th in popularity were mostly related to scandalous content, the only difference being the pairing of the characters involved.

However, the 2 Fate Points Hugo received that evening made him realize that Lockhart's arrest was likely related to him.

Indeed, the next morning, the Daily Prophet dedicated a large article to the news that Lockhart was facing a Wizengamot trial on multiple serious charges.

It turned out that, after nearly a year of treatment, Glory had finally helped the American old wizard recover his memory about a month ago.

Following this, the ship girls in America and England mobilized to collect evidence and filed a complaint through the Magical Congress of the United States.

It must be said that, although this method took a roundabout route, it was the only effective way.

Lockhart's ability to obtain the Order of Merlin, Third Class, as a bestselling author proved that he definitely had some background power in the British magical world. It would be difficult for a foreign wizard alone to bring down such a celebrity.

Especially since the British Ministry of Magic, under Fudge's leadership, had been following a policy of 'no merit sought, but no fault desired' for over a decade. Without sufficient pressure, they would likely have covered up the matter directly.

However, the ship girls had naturally anticipated this. After learning about what had happened to the American old wizard, they spent a lot of time and effort tracking down the wizards whose memories had been wiped by Lockhart, and brought them together to Britain for treatment.

Therefore, shortly after the American old wizard recovered, a French witch and a German wizard also regained their memories and simultaneously filed complaints with their respective Ministries of Magic, along with evidence.

Immediately, the British Ministry of Magic's ostrich policy was bankrupt. At this time, the second round of accusations from Britain was also delivered to the desk of the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement at the British Ministry of Magic.

The Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement at the British Ministry of Magic at this time was Amelia Bones, a highly talented witch and a serious and upright Ministry official. So she quickly launched a secret investigation into Lockhart.

Obviously, these criminal investigations were conducted in secret, so Lockhart had not heard any rumors before this.

After a month of investigation, Ms. Bones confirmed that he had indeed committed multiple felonies, signed the arrest warrant, and directly sent Aurors to arrest Lockhart, who was giving a theatrical performance on the stage at the time.

Lockhart's arrest did cause a lot of discussion on campus. However, due to his clumsy performance during the entire academic year, not many people thought he had been wronged.

On the contrary, a group of Monday-morning quarterbacks emerged in various colleges, using various opportunities to tell those who were willing to listen to their bragging that they had discovered this a long time ago, but did not say it out of consideration for the school's reputation.

"What were they doing before?" Hermione turned to Hugo beside her and complained as they walked past a talkative senior Hufflepuff student.

"You know, many people rely on this to realize their self-worth, so let them brag. Anyway, the listeners are just looking for fun, and not many people believe it," Hugo shrugged. "By the way, is Hagrid at home right now?"

This was the afternoon of the end-of-year banquet. After hearing that Hagrid had returned to Hogwarts after being released from Azkaban and finishing his recuperation, Hugo and his friends decided to visit him.

"He should be at home." At this time, Hugo and the other two had already walked out of the castle gate, and Hermione pointed to Hagrid's hut and said, "Look, smoke is already coming out of his chimney."

"Hey, Hagrid, has anyone been here just now?" After Hagrid welcomed them in, Hugo noticed two half-empty cups of tea on the table.

"Harry and Ron left a few minutes ago. If you had come a little earlier, you might have met them," Hagrid said, then took out a few new cups, filled them with tea, and handed them to Hugo and his friends.

"I really want to thank you this time, and of course, Professor Halsey," Hagrid said gratefully to Hugo as he handed out the tea.

"Thanks to your help, I was able to get out of Azkaban. To be honest, that place was terrible. The guards there give people a feeling that they can never be happy."

"So after being released from Azkaban, I listened to the headmaster's advice and went to the south of France for a few weeks to bask in the sun, and only came back this morning."

"Did you get any compensation, Hagrid?" Hearing Hagrid say this, Hermione asked somewhat urgently. "Although I don't know what the wizarding world is like, in our Muggle world, such wrongful arrests are compensated."

"No, there was no compensation at all," Hagrid shook his head helplessly. "But at least it cleared my previous suspicion of murder. From now on, at least I'm innocent in that regard."

Speaking of this, Hagrid realized that Hugo and his friends were too young to tell them so many dark aspects of the adult world, so he forcibly changed the subject.

"By the way, Dumbledore has agreed to let me take over Professor Kettleburn's position as the professor of Care of Magical Creatures."

This may be a major benefit brought about by clearing the record. After all, Hogwarts is the only magic school in the entire UK, and it is impossible to let someone with a criminal record come to the school as a professor.

"This is a good thing. You can just use your book as a textbook for everyone," Hugo said, seemingly thinking of something.

After all, Hagrid's book also involved his participation in the writing work, so he naturally realized that the book he had participated in writing before was indeed suitable as a textbook.

"No, no, no, I found a more interesting book than mine. I will find a way to let you see that book in advance during the summer vacation."