Volume 1 Chapter 32 Respected and Dear
Led by Filch, Flitwick soon arrived at the restaurant.
The spells on the door were cast by him. If someone opened it, he could naturally find traces of magic on the intruder.
But he checked every student present and found nothing.
All the students of Hogwarts were here, 56 in total, and no one was absent.
This made Mag's face look very ugly. There were only three possibilities for such a situation.
It was true that a student broke into a room that was not allowed to be entered, but this was not unintentional or just a student's curiosity and prank, but a premeditated act. He then cleared the traces of the spell on his body.
The possibility of this happening is very low. Even if it is just a small spell, it is a spell cast by Flitwick and not something that can be broken by just any student.
The second possibility is that, as the fact is in front of us, no student broke into the room without permission, and the only people in the carriage besides the students were professors, and the action in front of us was actually the work of a professor.
This was the most unlikely guess that McGonagall thought. There were only three professors in Hogwarts who did not include Dumbledore. Lily, Slughorn, and Flitwick were either her students personally taught or colleagues who had worked with her for many years. All of them had withstood the test at critical moments, and no one of them could be suspected.
So in fact, Mag is more inclined to the third guess.
Since he is neither a student nor a professor, it can only be that someone who shouldn't be in has broken into this carriage!
Thinking of this, Mag's face turned extremely pale.
She didn't dare to think about this possibility, because nothing like this had ever happened in Hogwarts during her seven years of exile, but she had to think about it.
If this really happened, it would mean that all the students in this carriage were in an extremely dangerous situation!
"Everyone stay in the restaurant! Don't go anywhere!"
Her voice suddenly became shrill, which frightened all the students present.
McGonagall's face looked frighteningly grim. She handed the matter over to Flitwick, who also realized the seriousness of the problem, then hurried out of the restaurant and walked quickly towards Headmaster Dumbledore's office.
The panic in her heart even made her forget to knock on the door. She just pushed it open and walked in.
"ALBUS! You have to know this! ALBUS!"
Dumbledore was quietly writing a letter with a quill. Faced with McGonagall's sudden intrusion, his face did not show the slightest surprise.
He put down the pen, but his eyes were still on the letter he had just written.
"Don't worry, Minerva. The carriage is still moving and I'm still here. There's no need to panic."
Dumbledore's calmness seemed to calm McGonagall's nervousness. She breathed steadily but still spoke impatiently.
"Someone broke into the forbidden rooms on the carriage. These rooms were all spelled by Filius before. Anyone who opened the door would leave a trace. But I checked all the students on the carriage, and no one had this sign. Someone must have broken in! It was probably during the last Auror attack. That time was too strange. If their purpose use the attack to distract our attention and then let someone sneak in, then that would explain it!"
She finished her guess quickly, but Dumbledore's expression did not change at all. He was still studying the letter in his hand, as if he was considering the words used in it.
"Hmm~"
Seeing his appearance, McGonagall frowned again and she shouted Dumbledore's name loudly.
"Albus!"
Dumbledore seemed to be drawn back to his attention by her voice. He raised his head and blinked at McGonagall.
"What's wrong?"
"Did you hear what I just said?"
Dumbledore sighed, put the letter aside, and crossed his fingers in front of him.
"Of course, I have listened to you about your speculation that the attack was a Ministry plot to put someone on the carriage. But I think if that is the case, you have nothing to worry about, Minerva."
He spoke softly, his voice was nonchalant, as if he really didn't care that much about this matter that Mag was extremely nervous about.
"Why shouldn't we worry? No one has ever been able to break into this carriage in the past seven years. If someone really comes in now, especially someone from the Dark Lord's side, how can we guarantee the safety of the students?"
In response to her question, Dumbledore simply answered calmly.
"First of all, someone breaking into the carriage is just your guess. Although we left at that time, Horace was guarding the carriage. I believe in his ability more than anyone else. If someone really broke in, he would not fail to find it. Moreover, if someone really broke in and was able to lie dormant in the carriage for three months without harming the students or being discovered by us, then we don't have to worry so much. If he really targeted the students, he would have taken action long ago and would not have waited until now. This means that he has other intentions. We just need to wait for him to show his hand. Think about it on the bright side. An enemy sneaking in from the outside is always better than a traitor in our own ranks, isn't it?"
His words made sense, and this answer finally calmed McGonagall down a little. After all, as long as Dumbledore was in the car, there would not be any major trouble.
"So what should we do now?"
After calming McGonagall's nerves, Dumbledore turned his attention back to the letter, as if he could see through it.
"You don't have to do anything. Let Hagrid find a place to celebrate the holiday. We should prepare to spend Christmas with the children this year."
"That's it?" Even though she had calmed down, McGonagall still found Dumbledore's way of handling the matter a little unbelievable.
Dumbledore nodded.
"That's all. Then please call Horace over for me later. I want him to help me with something."
After hearing that Dumbledore was not completely helpless, McGonagall felt a little relieved. But when she was about to leave the headmaster's office, Dumbledore suddenly called her again.
"Perhaps you can help me with something. After all, you wrote the admission letter to Hogwarts when we were in the castle. You should know more about vocabulary and grammar than I do."
McGonagall turned her head again in confusion. She was actually very curious about the letter in Dumbledore's hand.
"What's the word?"
"'Dear Mr. Grindelwald', do you think this term is too unfamiliar? Although we haven't seen each other for four or five years, we are old friends after all. Would it be better to use 'dear'?"
Mag: “…”
