Chapter 88: Power Storm

Ma Erfu's accusation against Jin Ni is not unreasonable, but Tang Mu obviously didn't provide any evidence here. Harry believes that Tang Mu has already said everything he could, because judging from the expression of that smoke, he is a bit afraid of him and shouldn't hide anything.

Moreover, Jin Ni attacking the first three people can barely be explained, but deliberately attacking her brother's girlfriend on the day of the Gryffindor Quidditch final is definitely not something Jin Ni could do.

To this day, Harry no longer thinks about who is the real culprit of the Chamber of Secrets attack. Various clues, true or false, are gathered in front of him. The truth has so many possibilities, and the whole thing is so confusing.

Originally, he somewhat irresponsibly followed Ma Erfu's opinion to suspect Jin Ni, but now the Eight-Person Group and the diary don't seem to have any problems. He decided not to play the reasoning game with Ma Erfu anymore, but to start from the facts he can be sure of, and return to the conclusion of the night of the first attack, which is not to think about what the truth is, but to think about what he can do.

Harry's principle is to follow Deng Buliduo's will and cooperate with Deng Buliduo's plan. Deng Buliduo emphasized several times that Tang Nade can be trusted, and set up the Avalon hidden realm with him. That is to say, Deng Buliduo is trying to strengthen his combat power, and this approach undoubtedly indicates that he hopes he can go to solve the monster in the Chamber of Secrets.

And where the Chamber of Secrets is, Harry no longer wants to continue to rack his brains for it. Whether starting from the diary trusted by Tang Nade or from the conclusion fifty years ago, Harry chose to believe that the monster in the Forbidden Forest is a spider. Rather than continuing to search aimlessly in the castle for a basilisk that may or may not exist, he decided to sweep the spiders and announce that the Chamber of Secrets incident has been resolved.

"Let's go, Luo En, Na Wei." Harry told his two little partners his decision, "We will go to scout the spiders in the Forbidden Forest again and formulate a plan or scheme. In any case, we must solve these monsters. We need to put a period to the attack incident."

"Grandma once said that people who know the truth will not be deceived by illusions." Na Wei said, "I will continue to investigate the basilisk and find out the truth about the opening of the Chamber of Secrets."

"That's good." Harry took out his Invisibility Cloak, "Same as usual, we act separately and cover every aspect."

The night now is different from the past. The corridors have become very crowded. Teachers, prefects, and even ghosts are patrolling the surroundings in the passages. The Invisibility Cloak cannot isolate sound, so Harry and Luo En walked very slowly, for fear of making even the slightest sound.

Just when they successfully left the castle and walked to the edge of the Forbidden Forest, Harry found that Haige's hut had lights on.

"We'd better go ask Haige about the situation." Harry said, "After all, these spiders should belong to him."

"Makes sense, if he doesn't want us to clean up the spiders." Luo En said, "I mean, perhaps he can hand over the corpses of one or several spiders, pretending that we have already cleaned up the spiders."

A few seconds after they knocked on the door, Haige pulled the door open abruptly. He was holding a crossbow in his hand, and Ya Ya was barking loudly behind them.

"Oh." Haige put down his bow and arrow and looked directly at them, "What are you two doing here?"

"The situation is quite serious, Haige." Harry said seriously, "I need to know about those spiders in the Forbidden Forest..."

Haige hurriedly spilled the water in the kettle into the fire, almost extinguishing the fire. His big hand trembled nervously and crushed the teapot again.

"Are you okay, Haige?" Harry asked worriedly.

"Oh, I heard about the fourth attack." Haige's voice had a slight inconsistency, "But it's not Alagoke, he said he didn't."

Harry was just about to ask who Alagoke was when a burst of urgent knocking interrupted him. Luo En quickly put the Invisibility Cloak on him, and the two retreated to the corner to hide.

"Good evening, Haige." Deng Buliduo walked in with a serious face, followed by another person.

This stranger had slightly white silver hair, a well-proportioned figure, a square face, and a faint smile on his face. He was wearing a gray suit and a light blue shirt, with a striped tie, looking very formal.

"That's Dad's boss!" Ron whispered. "Humphrey Appleby, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Magic."

Harry touched Luo En lightly, letting him keep quiet.

Hagrid turned pale and was sweating profusely. He slumped into a chair, his gaze shifting from Dumbledore to Humphrey.

"I have to regretfully say that the situation is becoming worse than I expected, Mr. Hagrid." Humphrey said in a clear and emotionless voice, "Given that there have been three student victims in the four attacks, I think you need to cooperate with our work."

"I never, " Haige turned his head, looking at Deng Buliduo with pleading eyes, "You know it's not me, Professor Deng Buliduo, this..."

"I hope you understand, Humphrey, I have complete trust in Hagrid." Dumbledore said with a frown.

"Albus, of course I also think that the former Headmaster Dippet might have made some errors in judgment due to his eagerness to solve the problem, however, the records left by his preliminary conclusions are still a precedent worth referring to in the eyes of today's Ministry of Magic." Humphrey explained at a very fast speed, "Duty-bound, we have to think about whether we can take some relatively less extreme but perhaps effective measures, even if you might insist that doing so cannot have a significantly positive effect on the situation, however, the Ministry of Magic needs to launch some investigations to make us look like we are paying close attention to the Chamber of Secrets issue."

"But, Humphrey, I don't think there is a need to take Hagrid away." Dumbledore's blue eyes burned with a flame Harry had never seen before.

"In my view, taking Hagrid away to assist in the investigation is a relatively more appropriate method." Humphrey said, "In fact, I have strongly opposed the Ministry of Magic sending officials to interfere with Hogwarts, so when we need to intervene in these sensational attack events, inviting one or two staff members to assist in understanding the situation would be safer and less likely to cause misunderstandings from you or other members of the Board of Governors."

He spoke very politely, but Harry could feel a hint of threat in his tone.

"Take me away?" Haige trembled, "Take me where?"

"Just to cooperate with the investigation." Humphrey looked into Hagrid's eyes, "After we understand the situation, Hagrid, you can come back at any time."

"Not Azkaban?" Haige asked uncertainly.

Another knock on the door came before Cornelius Fudge's answer.

Deng Buliduo opened the door, and Luxius Ma Erfu strode into Haige's hut. He wrapped himself in a black long travel cloak, with a cold and satisfied smile on his face.

"You have already arrived, Sir Cornelius Fudge," he said approvingly, "That's good."

"What are you doing here?" Haige said angrily. "Get out of my house."

"My dear, please believe me, I have no interest in staying in your—um—you call this a house?" Luxius sneered and looked around the hut. "I'm just here to find the Headmaster."

"What do you want with me, Luxius?" Deng Buliduo said very politely, but that flame was still burning in his blue eyes.

"A terrible thing, Deng Buliduo," Luxius said lazily, taking out a long roll of parchment, "The Board of Governors thinks you need to step down and let someone more capable take over. This is a suspension order—you can find all 12 signatures on it. We feel that you might be a bit too old. After all, attacks are happening one after another, and you can't stop them."

"Oh, I don't think things have developed to such a regrettable point," Cornelius Fudge said with a smile, "I think you'd better meet again to discuss this decision, and then draft a proposal to be submitted to the Ministry of Magic..."

"The appointment or suspension of the Headmaster is the Board of Governors' own business, Sir Cornelius Fudge." Luxius interrupted him, "Since Dumbledore failed to stop these attacks..."

"But, Luxius." Cornelius Fudge also looked a bit anxious, "Have you considered who has the ability to stop the subsequent attacks once Dumbledore leaves this school?"

"That remains to be seen." Luxius's smile carried a hint of malice, "But since the Board of Governors has already made a decision..."

"You can't drive Deng Buliduo away!" Haige shouted, scaring Ya Ya so much that it retreated into the basket and whimpered. "If you take him away, Muggle-borns will have no chance at all! What follows will be a massacre!"

"Calm down, Haige," Deng Buliduo reprimanded, looking at Luxius, "If the Board of Governors wants to dismiss me, I will naturally accept it."

"However, in fact, I don't think this has any positive significance for the development of the situation." Cornelius Fudge said eagerly, "You'd better think twice."

"No," Haige growled.

Deng Buliduo did not move his bright blue eyes from Luxius's cold gray eyes.

"However, you will find," he said slowly and clearly, so that everyone could hear every word of his, "Only when there is no one here loyal to me will I truly leave this school. You will also find that at Hogwarts, whoever is in need will receive help."

For a second, Harry was almost certain that Deng Buliduo's eyes blinked toward the corner where they were hiding.

"A respectable point of view." Luxius said with smug sarcasm, "We might miss your highly personalized way of managing things, Deng Buliduo. We only hope that your successor can find a way to prevent—ah—'massacre'."

"If that's the case," Cornelius Fudge tilted his head, he seemed to be looking at Harry's hiding place too, "I think that still doesn't completely rule out the possibility of Dumbledore's reinstatement. Assuming that the successor indeed prevents subsequent attacks and claims that this is thanks to Dumbledore's ingenious arrangements, if things really develop like this, the members of the Board of Governors might find it difficult to continue denying that this management style with a strong personal style has its unique features. Then, whether out of rational consideration of the situation or forced by the expectations of teachers and students, the role played by this suspension order should temporarily remain at its literal meaning."

While everyone was dizzy from his long sentences, Cornelius Fudge walked to Hagrid, "Come with me first, Mr. Hagrid, what you are worried about will not happen."

Haige muttered, "Someone has to feed Ya Ya for me," and then followed the others away obediently.

The door slammed shut, and Harry pulled off the Invisibility Cloak.

"My guess was right, Deng Buliduo's plan has reached a critical part." He said calmly, "We must solve the Chamber of Secrets incident, otherwise he might not be able to come back." ===== CHAPTER 89 =====