Chapter 230 Oh, My Horse Has Fallen Off

Although when she just listened to Fudge and Umbridge's nonsense, Hermione was still gritting her teeth in anger and wanting to chop them into pieces and feed them to Lu Wei. After turning around and walking away so that she could no longer hear the dirty words, Hermione quickly calmed down again.

Feeling the pull of the robe, Loren turned around and saw Hermione looking like she was hesitating to speak.

Hermione opened her mouth, hesitated, and finally said it: "I, I have some questions about the Animagus to ask Professor McGonagall. You can continue the tour. I'll leave first."

After saying that, she turned around and left.

You do seem to have a problem... Loren reached out and grabbed her robe, and asked doubtfully: "Aren't we reviewing the knowledge we learned last semester? Do you have any new questions?"

Hermione's footsteps stopped, and she turned to look at Loren, who was also looking at her, the meaning in his eyes seemed to say -

There is something wrong with you, something very wrong with you.

Hermione blinked, trying hard to think of a problem to solve. But she wasn't good at lying, so she simply didn't make up any excuses. She grabbed the corner of her clothes, stirred it a few times, and twisted it around a few times to get out of Loren's hand.

"Oh, don't worry about it, I just have questions to ask Professor McGonagall anyway."

"Hey, no...you're acting weird today." Loren reached out to grab the corner of her clothes again, refusing to let her go.

Hermione made up her mind not to fight with him, and pushed Loren back with determination, until she was against the wall of the stone tunnel. The little witch pressed hard several times, as if she wanted to embed him into the wall so that he could not catch up.

He was stunned by the series of big movements, and his eyes were blank. Hermione then retracted her hand and told him with a serious face on the surface: "Stay patiently and don't ask any more questions."

As soon as he turned his head, he whispered: "Nagging, nagging..."

Loren looked at the girl's retreating figure and tilted his head, filled with questions.

The little wizards around them noticed them and cast playful glances one after another. Loren thought for a while and had no intention of pursuing the matter. After all, who doesn't have some secrets?

He turned and got into the crowd of people watching Snake Skin.

The outer circle is the little wizards who are watching, the inner circle is the Ministry of Magic staff who are measuring and collecting evidence, and there is Professor Snape next to them. Snape walked slowly around the snake skin, monitoring these Ministry of Magic employees to prevent them from stealing Hogwarts property.

Loren was doing nothing, following Professor Snape, and the two talked quietly.

"Greedy, that Cornelius Fudge is no different from a pure-blood family member." Snape warned those Ministry of Magic professions with his eyes and introduced him with a disgusted voice.

"In 1990, after the previous Minister of Magic, Millicent Bagnor, resigned, the most prestigious Barty Crouch at the time lost his chance to run because of his Death Eater son. Dumbledore became confused and refused to serve as a magician. Minister. Lucky Cornelius Fudge got the job."

"1990? Then it was just a few years after taking office."

"This is the most ridiculous thing." The corner of Snape's mouth raised a sarcastic arc. "When he first took office, he could only rely on Dumbledore's support to maintain the operation of the Ministry of Magic. He had to write to Dumbledore to ask Dumbledore for anything. Lido's opinion, someone gave him the nickname - Dumbledore's yes-man."

Loren couldn't help but smile. Fudge was young and asked Dumbledore to govern. Now that he was full-fledged, he had to beware of Dumbledore's rebellion.

"Later, those in the pure-blood family praised him all day long. Now he feels that he is fully capable of being the minister, and he has no intention of giving up power in the short term."

"Dumbledore is like this, always doing unnecessary things. If he hadn't chosen Fudge..."

Seeing a Ministry of Magic employee who was trying to cut a large piece of snake skin, Snape cast a spell on him and light burst out.

It didn't have any power, it just warned the Ministry of Magic employee not to do anything.

The clerk smiled and continued to measure, obediently taking samples according to the standard, no larger than the size of a fingernail each time.

"Insatiable greed." Snape sneered: "I have given them a box of snake scales, a box of flesh and blood, and a box of snake bones, and they actually want to take the entire snake skin back to the Ministry of Magic."

"Can the school say no?" Loren asked.

"Oh, of course. Otherwise, what do you think Professor McGonagall has been doing? Even the school board is not qualified to interfere in the school's decisions now."

The following topics between the two gradually became boring, about the application of the Shen Feng Shadowless Curse, and about the exploration of the medicinal value of basilisk materials...

On the other side, Hermione came all the way to the Transfiguration Professor's office. When she opened the door and walked in, Professor McGonagall was replying to a letter to the parents of the students.

There was a whole stack of envelopes stacked on top of each other, and it was hard for Hermione not to see them.

After staying with Loren for a long time, Hermione's temperament became somewhat casual. Seeing Professor McGonagall put down her quill, she couldn't help but ask: "Reply? Principal Dumbledore also said that he would reply to the parents of the students. Are there so many letters from parents of students every semester?"

Visibly, Professor McGonagall's breathing quickened, and she resisted the urge to roll her eyes: "Dumbledore? Reply?"

"Whenever did he reply to the students' parents? As long as the letters were not written to him by name, they were all given to me."

Hermione shrank her neck, her instinct telling her not to continue this topic.

Professor McGonagall calmed down after scolding Dumbledore for a while. She still had a good impression of the little witch: "What do you want from me, Miss Granger?"

Hermione lowered her head, stirred the hem of her magic robe, and whispered: "Professor, I want to learn Apparition."

"Apparition?!"

This word made Professor McGonagall laugh angrily, her nostrils flaring, and she breathed heavily: "How do you think I agree to let you violate the regulations of the Ministry of Magic, ignore the dangers of this curse, and let a young wizard turn 17 at the age of 17?" Did you practice Apparition privately before?"

The angry retort suppressed the little courage in Hermione's heart. If it were another professor, she might argue with him, but this was Professor McGonagall, the Professor McGonagall she respected the most.

Oops, he was killed by Loren!

Hermione lowered her head, stared at her shoes, and said softly: "But...but...I..."

"Mr. Morgan must have inspired you, right?"

Hermione raised her head sharply and looked at her in disbelief.

How does Professor McGonagall know this?

That's right, how could Professor McGonagall not know...

Professor McGonagall glared and said angrily: "Filius was deceived. He was deceived by Morgan's words and thought that I asked Morgan to go to him to learn Apparition."

"Huh?" Hermione opened her mouth wide.

She thought it was ridiculous, but also felt that this was indeed something Loren could do.

"But...but...why...why..." Hermione stuttered, unable to finish her words.

"Because Dumbledore, after he knew about this matter, asked Filius and I to let it go. At Dumbledore's strong request, we did not pursue Loren's fault."

Speaking of the two naughty boys, an old man and a young boy, Professor McGonagall had a huge headache. One was a daredevil, and the other helped him take care of everything.

Hermione said weakly: "Then, can I still learn Apparition?"

Professor McGonagall didn't answer her and looked straight at the little witch until Hermione got the answer from Professor McGonagall's eyes.

"Oh." Hermione responded dully, her plan died before it even started.

Professor McGonagall really liked this little witch. She sighed and comforted: "Don't worry, when you reach the age, there will be a special Apparition class, and you can learn it in just a few weeks."

"Professor McGonagall, I have one more thing." Hermione had to give up apparation temporarily and focus on another thing.

"you say."

"I want to see Principal Dumbledore. I have something important to tell him." Hermione replied.

Professor McGonagall looked at her suspiciously. Don't blame McGonagall for thinking too much. Anyone who listened to the conversation just now would think that Hermione was going to Dumbledore to ask for privileges and learn Apparition.

"Hermione, listen, Morgan is a very special person. Apparition is not a magic that you should be exposed to now. Be patient, don't be anxious, you have enough time." Professor McGonagall tried to enlighten her.

Hermione wanted to laugh a little: "Professor, it's not Apparition, it's something else, about the new Professor Black."

"Professor Black? What's wrong with him?" Professor McGonagall asked doubtfully.

Hermione avoided Professor McGonagall's eyes and said cautiously: "I, I can't say it yet. I want to tell Principal Dumbledore first."

Professor McGonagall nodded and said nothing more. Although she was also a little curious, she was happy to find something for the principal to do if she could leave it to Dumbledore directly.

After taking Hermione out of the office, the two of them went to the corridor on the third floor, turned a corner silently, and stopped in front of an extremely ugly stone monster.

Hermione heard Professor McGonagall say the command "Sheppy custard balls". The monster in front of her suddenly came to life and jumped to the side. The wall behind the monster split in half, revealing a spiral staircase that looked like an escalator. Keep going up.

Hermione had heard Loren mention it, but this was her first time walking this path under the guidance of Professor McGonagall. The two stepped onto the spiral staircase, spiraling higher and higher until they finally came to a gleaming oak door.

Hermione knew where she was being taken, it must be where Dumbledore lived.

Professor McGonagall picked up the griffin-shaped brass door knocker and knocked. The door opened quietly and they walked in.

The spacious, round and beautiful room was filled with all kinds of funny little sounds. There were many strange little silverwares on the table, spinning and blowing out small puffs of smoke. The walls are covered with portraits of the old male and female principals. They are all snoring gently in their respective frames.

The Sorting Hat on the shelf and Fawkes the Phoenix on a gold perch. While Hermione was looking at the principal's office, Professor McGonagall said a few words to Dumbledore before exiting.

I don't know how long it took before Hermione came back to her senses and noticed Dumbledore sitting behind the table. He was looking at her with a smile. He could not see the disappointment on his face when talking to Cornelius Fudge in the Chamber of Secrets. .

This was the first time Hermione was alone with Dumbledore. Although they had talked several times in the ward, Hermione was still a little nervous.

Dumbledore motioned Hermione to sit down first, picked up the teapot on the table and poured her tea, with a smile in his voice: "You are different from Loren. When he first came here, the first thing he noticed was me. , instead of these furnishings in the room.”

There was an inexplicable taste in the old man's tone. Hermione was silent for a moment. Was Principal Dumbledore complaining that I didn't look at him first?

Unconsciously, Hermione felt much less restrained. She subconsciously took the teacup handed over by Dumbledore and took a shallow sip.

Sweet! ?

Take another sip.

Not only is it sweet, it's also so sweet that it's a bit sweet.

"Sorry, I should have asked you what you wanted to drink first?"

Sensing the surprise in her eyes, Dumbledore asked thoughtfully: "I also have juice, milk, black tea, butterbeer..."

"That's enough, that's it." Hermione quickly stopped her. She was here to discuss things, not to have afternoon tea.

"The secret is to add more sugar cubes and honey." Dumbledore winked at her, "Loren also likes this. It seems that I am not old enough to lose the taste of young people, right?"

Hermione nodded reluctantly.

Thinking of Loren's mysterious signs and the secrets between him and Dumbledore, Hermione asked curiously: "When was the first time Loren came here?"

"Well, it must have been the first night after the sorting that he noticed that Peter Pettigrew, also known as Scabbers, was suspicious." Dumbledore replied.

It was earlier than she thought... Hermione felt that Dumbledore was easier to talk to than she thought. She tentatively asked another question: "That day, when we were in Hagrid's hut, what were you and Loren talking about?"

Feeling that this question was a bit excessive, Hermione quickly added: "If you can't tell, or need to keep it secret, you don't have to tell me."

Dumbledore smiled and began to look through the drawer for candies: "Don't be so nervous, it's not a confidential matter. If you ask me, if Loren was here, he would tell you."

After digging out a box of cockroaches, after thinking about it, he replaced it with a licorice wand. Dumbledore opened the box and handed the candy to Hermione: "In order to study ways to deal with the eyes of the basilisk."

Hermione's hand receiving the candy trembled violently, and she stared at Dumbledore in shock: "What!?"

Several licorice wands spilled out and broke on the table.

"You, you... Luo, Loren, you have known for a long time, you know about the basilisk?!" Hermione's lips trembled.

Dumbledore picked up the licorice wand on the table, put it in his mouth and chewed it with a "click, click, click" sound, and waited quietly for Hermione to digest the news.

Telling Hermione the relevant things was the conclusion he came to after thinking about it.

Worried that Loren would be exploited by Voldemort and induced to fall into the dark abyss, he would use magic items comparable to sacred objects and the Philosopher's Stone for the wrong reasons.

Using Miss Granger to capture Loren's heart is the best way.

Dumbledore was very willing to believe in the kindness in Loren's heart and that there was a beautiful light hidden in his soul. But the disappointment with Fudge and his original choice made him want to be more secure.

"The basilisk's gaze was too dangerous. I was looking for a way to retain the petrifying magic in the basilisk's gaze and eliminate the life-depriving magic."

No wonder, no wonder all the victims were accidentally petrified.

Visit Filch, ask about Myrtle, brew polyjuice potion...

Countless scenes of dragging Loren through the investigation flashed through his mind, and finally stopped at——

It was the first Duel Club event. She had just finished fighting with Millicent. While Loren was helping herself to adjust her magic robe, she asked, "Are you sure you pulled the hair from her head? You can't make a mistake, right?"

There's no mistake...

There's no mistake...

Hermione screamed crazily in her heart... He knew, he knew, he had known it for a long time!

A mixture of shyness and irritation instantly blinded Hermione's eyes. She just wanted to beat him, beat him hard.

Next to him, Dumbledore bit off a licorice wand with great ease.