Archaeologists at Hogwarts

Chapter 197 Scepter, Glasses, Dumbledore's Plan, Lockhart

The number of accidents that occurred in a short time was beyond everyone's expectations.

The unicorn suddenly appeared, the acromantula attacked and retreated, and the basilisk appeared briefly because of its molt.
Under Toby's instructions, Al sat on the flying carpet and rushed back to the tunnel in the castle. Gryffindor's sword naturally fell into its hands, and he would rather be tired and out of breath than let go.

Immediately afterwards, Toby kept the three of them in place, and he went deep into the Forbidden Forest alone, and soon disappeared from their sight.

Harry guessed that he might have gone to look for Hagrid, or maybe he was planning to take advantage of the victory and take this opportunity to teach the acromanders a lesson?
Harry didn't know, his mind was on the Sorting Hat.

He walked over and put the hat on his head.The hat was too big, and it slid down over his eyes, just like the first time he had it on.

Harry stared at the black lining of his hat, waiting.At this time, a small voice said in his ear: "Is there something you can't understand, Harry Potter?"

"Yes." Harry whispered vaguely, "Oh - sorry to bother you - I wanted to ask -"

"You've always wondered if I've placed you in the right house." The hat said cleverly, "Yes. Your place is very difficult to get right, but I still stick to my original statement—" Harry's heart Jumping wildly - "You'd be fine in Slytherin."

Harry forced himself to calm down, and he asked, "You mean Professor Highmore's kind?"

"Him?" said the Sorting Hat. "No, Harry Potter. Unlike you, Toby Highmore doesn't have a Gryffindor option. Hogwarts should have a new Gryffindor, I would say." With a house, they're meant to be different. I just sorted him into Slytherin as a last resort."

Harry was surprised at how flatly he accepted the fact.

Luna and Ginny stood beside the unicorn, and Phoenix Fox also landed on the unicorn, accepting their gaze calmly.

"They're so pretty," Luna said.

"Yeah." Ginny was a little absent-minded, she was still terrified of the upcoming punishment - Professor Highmore probably wouldn't let them go so easily.

After a while, Toby in the Forbidden Forest and Al in the castle rushed back at the same time.

However, Toby didn't bring Hagrid back. He carried a branch as thick as an arm on his shoulder.Al flew to his side, muttering quietly for a while with a solemn expression.

"I'll talk about it when I go back later." Toby's voice came from under the hood.

Harry noticed that Professor Highmore's tone was also a bit solemn, and he didn't know what Mr. Ayre had said to Professor Highmore.

Then he saw Professor Highmore walking to the unicorn, and Ginny carefully tugged on Luna's sleeve, but Professor Highmore didn't look at them at all, but waved Phoenix Fox away.

Fox glanced at Toby angrily, it turned into a flame and disappeared.

"Don't be nervous." Toby smiled at the unicorn staring at him vigilantly: "Speaking carefully, I saved your life in the last semester, and of course, you also saved my two students this time. ,so--"

He patted the unicorn's arm and suddenly pulled it down, pulling off a tail feather. The painful unicorn immediately kicked off its hoof, but Toby dodged as expected, and the unicorn ran away angrily. He disappeared into the Forbidden Forest without looking back.

"It's just a little interest!" Toby waved his hand and shouted, then looked back at the stunned three people and said, "It's really violent, but it still let me succeed."

He stretched out his hand and waved it up and down at Luna twice: "The silver basswood and unicorn tail hair are ready, take them out, it's time to reward you."

Luna took out the envelope in her pocket, and after opening it, there was a small piece of damaged wand inside, only the length of a finger.

"It used to be my mother's wand," she said. "That's all that's left now. The rest were destroyed in that spell experiment."

Harry could hear something was wrong, he was the only one among the few present who didn't know the existence of Pandora.

"It's a bit difficult." Toby looked at the small piece of wand and said, "But you can try it."

Harry hadn't expected to see the scepter being made at this time—Mr. Al took out a pair of half-moon spectacles from his pocket and put them on, which gave it an unrivaled scholarly air, then picked it up. The small shovel danced quickly, and it didn't take long to change the silver basswood into a round stick, and then picked it up and compared it in front of Luna for a while.

Harry asked curiously: "Don't you use a tape measure? I think that's what Mr. Ollivander does."

Toby waved his hand indifferently and said: "No need, Al is just putting on a show, you just need to show an expression of admiration is enough."

Harry: "Huh?"

After making a pretentious comparison, Al began to carve complex patterns on the stick with a small shovel.

Toby explained at the right time: "It is imprinting a magic circle. If it succeeds, it may be able to reduce the influence of ritual magic on you. It is a novel attempt."

If successful?

Harry became curious again: "Will it still fail, Professor?"

"Yeah." Toby said, looking in the direction of the Forbidden Forest, "Then I'll have to look for the unicorn again. I hope it hasn't gone far."

Harry decided to pretend he didn't hear anything, Ginny gradually got used to the atmosphere, and Luna focused on the unfinished scepter.

This is a very complicated magic circle, more complicated than anything Harry has ever seen.This time it was useless for Harry to ask Toby, so he said ahead of time, "The Patronus Charm, this is the magic circle for summoning the Patronus. It's not time for you to learn it, and you can't use it smoothly just by memorizing it."

Finally, Mr. Al, who was sweating profusely, finished marking the magic circle, and it was time for Toby to play next.

He took out the magic ball, let it melt, wrapped the unicorn's tail hair, and attached it to the surface of the scepter little by little.After condensing again, the tail hair has successfully turned into the core of the staff and integrated into the staff.

Then there was the small piece of magic wand left by Pandora.

The finger-sized wand was placed obliquely on the top of the scepter by Professor Haimer, and it was also wrapped with a magic ball. With a flash of light, the two pieces of wood had grown into one piece, and there was no difference.

"Try it," said Toby.

This scepter is far less exaggerated than Professor Highmore's. Instead, it looks like a large wand, but it is half the height of Luna.

She caught her wand in both hands, watching Harry and Ginny enviously.

Then Luna looked at Al, pointed to the glasses on the bridge of Al's nose and said, "Can you give this to me? I want to make anti-demon glasses."

Al's glasses weren't the right size, but he took a pair that fit Luna out of his belly pocket and handed them to her.

Toby probably guessed what Luna was going to do.

Luna was not in a hurry to use the scepter now, she whispered: "That experiment was born because of my father and me. Mom hopes to help him distinguish who is good from who is bad, and also hopes to help me Myself. I intend to repeat that experiment today."

Instead of saying no because of the risks, Toby told Harry and Ginny to back off, then stood beside Luna and said, "I think Pandora would like this gift."

Under the watchful eyes of several people, Luna raised the scepter with both hands, and the posture looked a bit weird.She pointed the tip of the staff at the glasses on the grass, moved it a few times with great effort, and then recited a strange spell, causing the magic circle on the staff to light up in an instant, shot a spell, and hit the glasses——

Almost at the same time, the magic ball formed a magic circle. Toby quickly lifted Luna's collar and knocked the scepter away with one hand. Finally, it exploded with a bang, forming clusters of flames, which were blocked by the barrier constructed by the magic circle.

When the smoke cleared, Luna stared blankly into the air, Harry and Ginny fell down on the grass.Toby waved his hand, and said with a headache: "The magic circle still can't make peace with the ritual magic, and it's really hard to do—sorry, Miss Lovegood, it seems that Pandora's relic is—"

Before Luna could react, Toby reached out to catch a small part of the wand that fell and said, "It's okay. It's difficult to preserve the whole scepter, but I can still do this little thing."

Harry watched the professor put the wand in Luna's hand, with that look of admiration that Toby had said earlier on his face.

"Smart." Toby reminded without missing any opportunity for education: "This is smart. Well, let's see what we have made."

He picked up his glasses from the grass, stuck them into the black mist under the hood, and turned his head, looking first at Harry, then at Ginny, and finally at Luna, but nothing extraordinary.

In the end, he wore glasses and looked at Al, who sat on the small flying carpet a little tiredly, and let out a low "Yeah".

At the same time, a line of words appeared on the top of its forehead - so tired and thirsty, why did it fail?Now I can't even do the scepter business, "The Quibbler" hasn't paid back yet, how can Toby spend so much money?
Toby took off his glasses silently, and made a glass of ice milk float in front of Al, then stared at the glasses in his hand for a while.

Luna asked from the side: "Professor, can I have a look?"

"Well" Toby mused, "No!"

"Huh?" A question mark appeared on the heads of the three of them at the same time.

"Not yet." Toby said with a deliberate tone: "As the creation of the scepter of failure, I can't rest assured to hand over these glasses to you now, so as not to let you see some weird things that affect you. Just Just leave it with me first, and I will return it to you after all the risks are eliminated. Oh, yes, at the end, remember to ask Pandora if there are any other spells you want to create, and you can write a note at that time To the Office of Ancient Magic. Anyway, that's it."

The confused three were forcibly driven away by Professor Haimer.

Ginny just felt lucky that she was not punished, Harry was still thinking about what Professor Highmore said, and Luna thought about it blankly for a long time.

Is this robbery?

After the three of them walked away, Toby immediately approached Al and warned, "Be careful what you say in the future."

Al gulped his iced milk and said in a muffled voice, "Yeah? (What's wrong? Nobody can understand what I'm talking about anyway.)"

"Not anymore." Toby waved his glasses and said, "Don't let other people get these glasses, in case Dumbledore knows—"

"Let me know what, Toby." Dumbledore appeared next to the two like a ghost, and he didn't know when he moved his head over, right between Toby and Al, with blue eyes Stare straight at them.

"Give me the glasses."

"No!" Toby immediately leaned back and said, "Unless it is exchanged for Ravenclaw's crown."

"Okay." Dumbledore said calmly.

Toby was stunned, and he suddenly added another condition: "I must also be the headmaster of Hogwarts."

"Can the headmaster?" Dumbledore tried to change the conditions: "Headmaster of Slytherin? I believe Horace would be very willing to see this scene, after all, you are his proud student, taking over his former status It's going to be a good story out of his mouth."

"What about Severus?" Toby asked suspiciously, "Are you sure you can calm him down?"

"I can try it," said Dumbledore.

Toby and Al exchanged a look.

Al suddenly yelled in horror, and it immediately floated behind Toby, looking at Dumbledore quietly.

"Don't be nervous." Dumbledore said, slowly explaining the reason why he did this: "Fox told me that he didn't choose those three students, and he didn't choose you, but chose Al instead."

"Choose what?" Toby asked.

"Choose the person who is most loyal to me." Dumbledore said: "This is really strange. After all, we haven't been together for a long time, and we only had breakfast together not long ago. Plus Gran Fendor's sword. I told you, Toby, only a true Gryffindor could pull the sword from the Sorting Hat, and Al did it."

Trying to change the subject, Toby said, "Well, Headmaster. It's not me, and it's not Harry Potter, I remember you valued him in the first place."

"You are not worthy of attention." Dumbledore stared at Toby and said: "I want to know what happened to you, especially the connection between Al and you, which is almost beyond the common sense of magic. "

Toby was silent for a while, and then for a while, as if intending to stay silent forever.

Dumbledore sighed: "I just want you to know that I am willing to help you."

"Then let's talk about what happened tonight." Toby said, still changing the subject.

This time, Dumbledore finally compromised and did not continue to press.

"Dobby," he said, "the house-elf of the Malfoy family, he's the one who's the problem."

"How is this possible?" Toby also seriously discussed: "Didn't you check him?"

"Of course." Dumbledore said, "But this time Voldemort changed his way of controlling Dobby. It was no longer black magic, but the magic circle that he learned later."

He stretched out his palm, revealing what he was holding in his hand - a green badge with a silver snake hissing majestically.

Toby recognized that it was the exam homework handed in by Draco Malfoy in the first grade. He took it over and checked it carefully, and found that the silver snake was covered with fine magic circles.

Dumbledore explained: "I found this in Dobby's abdomen. It was hidden very well and escaped all investigations. Voldemort knows how to hide Dobby's strangeness. He is very good at this."

Toby thought about it and said: "Then the clues found in the diary before may also point to the elves, so I noticed the trace of the mysterious man at Hogwarts, which actually refers to this badge."

Dumbledore did not deny this, he said: "Actually, I discovered this very early on, and found out that there was something wrong with Dobby, who was a very enthusiastic house elf, and I told him clearly You are largely responsible for his freedom, but he is the only one who behaves plainly to you, and you should know what I mean."

Toby thought about it carefully for a while.

Not long after the coffin and mummy disappeared, Toby and Dumbledore met in the principal's office, and that was the first time Dumbledore called Dobby out.At that time, he showed more respect to Dumbledore and didn't say unnecessary words to Toby.

"It seems that the magic circle knowledge absorbed by the mysterious man is also flawed."

Toby said: "And there is good news, the mysterious man is very weak now, otherwise he wouldn't have to use a student's magic circle item, he could create a new one out of thin air, and help Lucius Cast aside any doubt."

Dumbledore also agreed with Toby's guess: "So the next question is much simpler. With limited strength, how should Voldemort cause more trouble at Hogwarts. There is no doubt that he wants to Do this, otherwise he wouldn't have done anything to Dobby. I had some speculations, such as the centaur, that they would be a good target, because they had a lot of trouble with you."

"It's also like the giant eight-eyed spider."

"Voldemort knew the existence of the acromantula. When he was in school, he thought of planting the Chamber of Secrets on Hagrid's pet, that is, Aragog. The acromantula is a dark creature, and only Aragog can control it. Children. Afterwards, Dobby, who was controlled, attacked Aragog, put him in a coma, and then lured her and Ginny through Luna's letter to create trouble. Even if the attack on all teachers and students was not realized target, but as long as the two of them are left alone, it is enough."

"But what's the purpose?" Toby asked, "Is it just to make trouble?"

"I have some guesses about this." Dumbledore guessed again.

"Hagrid was framed because of the Chamber of Secrets incident and was imprisoned in Azkaban for a while. Now Voldemort obviously dare not contact Lucius anymore because he left traces in Malfoy Manor. He needs more helpers, more help What a reliable, powerful subordinate."

"And these people are all imprisoned in Azkaban."

"It's not just you, Toby, Voldemort wants to go to Azkaban too."

"He needs the criminal, he needs a guide."

Dumbledore paused, and then continued to clarify: "Whether the attack is successful or not, we can't continue to hide the acromant. They made too much noise, and the students in the dormitory might be awakened." Few. I think the soonest is tomorrow, and tomorrow someone will come to Hogwarts, and that gives them a reason for being taken for granted."

Toby was silent for a moment.

This time he didn't stay quiet for too long before asking, "What about you, principal. What is your purpose? Why didn't you solve Dobby's hidden danger from the beginning?"

"Because I'm waiting," said Dumbledore. "Only when the event actually happens will I know what is hidden in Dobby's body. I also need to know if there are more things like diaries and diadems. Voldemort needs They came to solve the hidden dangers of that body, but he couldn't do it alone, so he was forced to go to Azkaban to find a reliable helper."

"I also have to know exactly how many of them there are, I doubt there will be more."

"In addition, I have one more thing to think about: whether or not the news of Voldemort's return should be announced."

Toby suddenly figured it out: "That's why you just watched me control Skeeter and Guffy in order to increase the sales of The Quibbler?"

"It's more than that." Dumbledore said: "Although Voldemort already has a new body, we all know that there are great hidden dangers in it, and it is impossible for him to completely control himself. And you also have the problem of the pharaoh's mask. To solve it, you have to go to Azkaban."

"In my original plan, I would have used the sword of Gryffindor as a bargaining chip for the purchase of The Quibbler - an estate that I, without doubt, have power over. Before I draw the sword from the Sorting Hat , that has been missing for a long time. According to the values ​​​​of wizards, and according to the values ​​​​of Godric Gryffindor, the sword is already mine."

"Then I will tell Fudge the news of Voldemort's return in private, making Fudge even more hostile to me - he will definitely think so, the taste of power has blinded him for too long, and he has been deeply involved, thinking that I It's trying to take his power away with the Quibbler and Voldemort's fake news."

"Then I will take the initiative to secretly reveal the news that I have captured Skeeter and Guffy. In this way, I will be imprisoned in Azkaban by Fudge without a trial, and it will also give you a chance Dive in."

"But don't worry about me, because "The Quibbler" is still on our side. It won't be long before the news of Voldemort's return will be widely publicized in the newspapers, and the Ministry of Magic will not be able to control "The Quibbler". Pressure, Fudge will definitely release me from Azkaban, he alone cannot solve such a big problem, and it will also cause all kinds of speculation, which is not conducive to his consolidation of power."

The black mist covered the expression on Toby's face, but Al was already dumbfounded.

It slowly moved its head to look at Toby, as if wondering who is Toby's principal?

Probably not. Toby's methods are all learned from Dumbledore.

"Well" Toby pondered for a long time, he took two steps back secretly, and opened the distance between him and Dumbledore: "Then what should we do next?"

"Hagrid." Dumbledore said: "Now we have a new culprit, Hagrid, which can leave more room for our plan. But I don't want Hagrid to be caught in Azkaban, I remember you Collected skeletons can transform into humans, which is extremely rare and almost non-existent, and it can be fooled on the spot to make the skeletons be treated as criminals."

"Well, very good, principal, it's no problem." Toby said after deliberation: "It only needs some blood from Hagrid to do it, but he is relatively big, so maybe he needs more blood."

"Also, there is one more thing." He said hesitantly, as if surprised by the principal's series of thoughts, his tone became cautious.

"What's the matter?" Dumbledore asked calmly.

"Lockhart has become a fool." Toby quickly explained, "It's not me, it's him."

"He paid the price for the failed magic circle, and turned into an ignorant fool."

(End of this chapter)