Chapter 302: Sybill

"You should have expected it, Ms. Trelawney." Arnold stood far away, his expression very calm. "More than one student reflected to me that your teaching style is difficult to understand. Perhaps this is the main reason the Minister agreed to sign."

"This is impossible, no... Hogwarts is like my home!" she screamed. "I refuse to accept!"

Seeing this farce tending to intensify, a sound of footsteps suddenly came. Professor McGonagall squeezed out from the crowd and walked straight to Professor Trelawney, patting her back gently and pulling a handkerchief from her robe.

"Alright, alright, calm down, Sybill, wipe your nose." she said softly. "It's not that bad, we will have a way."

"I'm afraid I can't find a reason to allow Sybill Trelawney to continue to stay." Snape stood beside Arnold and said coldly. "According to current regulations, once the dismissal order is signed, there is no possibility of taking it back."

"But dismissal is dismissal, Sybill can still stay at Hogwarts." McGonagall said. "The headmaster can decide who to keep in the castle, or just like what was said in the newspaper before, set up some administrative position."

"I certainly don't mind, but since someone bypassed me and went directly to the Minister for Magic." Snape said coldly. "They will not accept this result. I'm afraid they will stop only after completely driving Sybill away."

"No, Minerva, leaving school is my own decision," Trelawney sobbed. "If they don't welcome me, I might as well seek a living elsewhere."

"I express my deep regret, Ms. Trelawney." Arnold lowered his head and said. "I'm afraid you have been involved in a political struggle. Some outside forces are trying to infiltrate the school, and I am almost powerless against this."

"Outside forces?" McGonagall raised her head and stared at Arnold alertly.

"Please come to my office first, Professor Trelawney." Snape said suddenly. "We can talk about severance pay, and, you also need to recommend a new Divination professor for me."

"Otherwise, perhaps the pusher behind this matter will be prepared to use the 22nd Educational Decree laid out in advance to arrange their people into Hogwarts." Snape narrowed his eyes and said.

"You only need to find a new teacher before Monday." Arnold was calm. "No matter how anxious the pusher behind the scenes is, the Minister will not go to work on the weekend."

"Follow us upstairs first." McGonagall said, supporting her and walking upstairs along the marble staircase. Flitwick followed behind them, floating Trelawney's two large boxes with a spell.

Some students who were originally gathered in front of the entrance hall immediately started whispering. They were very curious about who the so-called outside force was, and discussed it all at once.

"Perhaps it's the infighting of the Death Eaters, someone wants to intervene in Hogwarts." A student from the Snake House said with certainty. "It shouldn't be Lucius, he is a school board member himself, so that person must be Regulus."

Although the answer was wrong, the analysis was very reasonable. Harry nodded. This person could also be considered well-informed.

"I think it should be the Ministry of Magic's own move." Another student said. "The professors in the school have their own stance leanings, but no one is really working for the Ministry of Magic."

This classmate perhaps felt that Arnold was just a frail old man mixing for a pension at the Ministry of Magic and not receiving attention.

"Could it be foreign forces?" Some students who had been influenced by Professor Haipu began to cast their eyes outside Britain.

Conspiracy theories always had a market, but if foreign forces made a move, why was it the Minister for Magic who signed the dismissal order?

Listening around among the students, Harry felt that he was even further away from the answer. Reasonably and emotionally, he couldn't figure out who was making a move against Trelawney. Although the internal situation of Hogwarts at the current stage was complicated, its overall strength was quite strong. Any party knew that plotting against Hogwarts could only be thankless.

After a noisy breakfast, the children became quiet again. They noticed Snape, McGonagall, and Professor Trelawney, who had wiped away her tears, returning to the entrance hall.

"I regret to announce that Professor Trelawney will step down from the professor position and leave Hogwarts." Snape said coldly. "I hope everyone will arrive at the Great Hall on time before dinner on Sunday to welcome the new Divination professor."

"Goodbye, children." After Trelawney finished this sentence, she walked out of the entrance hall as if fleeing.

This weekend, Harry heard all kinds of gossip in the common room. The children curiously discussed who would come to serve as the new Divination professor. They kept chanting the names of some powerful diviners, such as Anna Claire or Klein Moretti, and some even mentioned Master Xuanjun, which made Harry very excited and couldn't wait to find Zhang Qiu to verify this matter.

"Be pragmatic, Snape has to find a teacher willing to take the blame in two days, mostly he doesn't have time to contact any big shots." Zhang Qiu flipped through that divination book. "Look, it's already written here, he will call a Centaur to teach you Divination."

"Centaur?" Harry revealed an outrageous expression.

"No matter who the pusher behind the scenes is, he will definitely continue to target any professor in this position. If there is any wizard who is not afraid of the Ministry of Magic's targeting, then unless he is not a wizard at all." Zhang Qiu analyzed. "Furthermore, the Centaur's divination technique can be considered quite famous. Taking a step back, even if he doesn't know divination at all, as long as he knows how to pretend to be a god and play the devil, it's not difficult to muddle through the course."

"So, the key point is, using the identity of a Centaur who is not afraid of targeting to hold off other pressures that may appear later?" Harry nodded thoughtfully. "Actually, changing to a more powerful prophet would also hold up, it's just that you said Snape didn't have time to convince them?"

"Right." Zhang Qiu suddenly remembered something and laughed. "Besides, Master Xuanjun has already predicted that a Centaur will come to teach you, so if he is really a powerful diviner, this divination should come true; conversely, if the person coming to teach is not a Centaur but Xuanjun himself, that instead shows his divination technique is not powerful."

"I think he will find someone to save the scene." As soon as he returned to the common room, Harry heard Neville talking about his own analysis. "Mostly it's Lupin, he is a wizard with strong comprehensive strength. Hogwarts can find him to top up if any course can't find anyone. Most importantly, I find it hard to imagine what other people Snape can contact."

Werewolf prophet? Harry shook his head with a smile and didn't refute. However, this was indeed similar to the Centaur prophet.

However, on Sunday night, all the students were surprised to find that their guesses completely deviated from the development of things: a witch with straight black hair and wearing velvet robes sat in the teacher's seat. Some students who often attended Divination classes exchanged confused looks: setting aside the hairstyle, she looked exactly the same as Professor Trelawney herself.

"This is quite reasonable. If they could really predict who the new Divination professor would be, then they wouldn't need to continue attending Divination classes—they would have graduated." Ron said happily.

Harry didn't laugh. He realized that this matter was not as simple as he imagined.

"I am honored to introduce the new Divination professor, Sybill Trelawney." Snape stood up and said slowly. "She is the twin sister of the former Professor Trelawney and possesses the same powerful prophetic talent."

Arnold sat in his seat, still with that indifferent expression with a trace of a smile.

"Currently, there are not many diviners in the country who have strength and are willing to teach students. I think she is the candidate who best meets the requirements of this position." Snape's tone carried a trace of hardness. "I am also very glad that Ms. Sybill Trelawney is willing to accept this invitation."

"Hello everyone, nice to meet you." Sybill's tone carried a trace of coldness and alienation. "I feel regret for my sister's matter, I hope this will not affect our getting along next."

"This voice." Neville frowned. "Really not a bit of difference?"

Harry, who had experienced "twin brothers" like Donald and Dark, immediately became alert and looked at Sybill in the teacher's seat. He didn't have much contact with Sybill, and at this time he couldn't tell whether it was the same person.

"Could it be that she just dyed her hair and was re-employed?" Hermione blinked. "Saying it's a twin sister, but actually it's the same person?"

Sybill Trelawney had lived at Hogwarts for sixteen years. For teachers who were familiar with her, or students who often attended Divination classes, it was easy to guess that the so-called 'Sybill' and 'Sybill' were the same person. After all, many teachers privately said that Sybill had never mentioned having a sister.

Although private guesses and rumors flew everywhere, Snape the headmaster and Sybill herself insisted that Sybill was a new Divination professor, while Sybill was using this free time to travel and study in South America.

On Monday night, students who had attended Sybill's Divination class gathered in the common room, counting the various fresh evidence, proving from various angles that this so-called 'twin sister' was the same person.

"I mean, their theory about dreams is exactly the same, even the habit of using words." Parvati said.

"She should have made her glasses invisible. I saw her touch her nose bridge several times, she must be pushing her glasses." Seamus echoed.

"There is another detail, the day Sybill left, she left empty-handed. Where did her suitcase go?" Hermione said seriously.

Harry listened to their discussion for a while, thinking, Sybill and Sybill should be the same person, it was just that Snape insisted on claiming so. Snape complied with the Ministry of Magic's decision on the surface, giving the Ministry of Magic a minimum respect. But the clumsy acting of the two and the twin sister story were all Snape showing his tough attitude. He was preparing to tell the forces behind the scenes: Hogwarts was still his call.

However, who was this so-called force behind the scenes? Harry couldn't figure it out no matter how hard he thought. The Order of the Phoenix and the Death Eaters had enough manpower in Hogwarts, and they didn't need to insert anyone else; the Ministry of Magic didn't need and couldn't handle things in this clumsy way that angered Snape; the only foreign force that could invite the Minister for Magic—the White House, they had no interests worth plotting in Hogwarts.

Finally, Harry couldn't help but use an inspiration spell on himself, and a discussion that had happened once became incomparably clear in his memory.

When Arnold just took office as investigator, he and Zhang Qiu analyzed this matter: establishing an investigator was Snape's manifestation of transferring part of the headmaster's power to the Ministry of Magic, and its essence was Snape cooperating with the Ministry of Magic, preparing to warn several disobedient teachers.

Then, after excluding all impossibilities, the remaining shocking conclusion seemed to carry the rationality unique to the truth: the so-called 'force behind the scenes' was actually Snape himself. ===== CHAPTER 303 =====