Hogwarts does not have the right to judge and convict, so even if the person killed is a school director, the person must be handed over to the Ministry of Magic.

But when they brought a large number of Aurors to the classroom where Malfoy was imprisoned, they were stunned.

Is the classroom empty?

Professor Flitwick, who was in charge of guarding the room, lay unconscious on the ground, and Malfoy was nowhere to be seen.

"What's going on!" Scrimgeour asked angrily. "Where are the people?"

"That's what we want to know, too." Professor McGonagall's expression was equally grim.

It would be a complete disgrace to Hogwarts if the culprit who killed Dumbledore was allowed to get away like this.

Professor Sprout hurried to check on Professor Flitwick, but couldn't wake him up.

"Pomona, go find Madam Pomfrey now and ask her to come here as soon as possible." Professor McGonagall said, then looked at the portrait on the wall.

"Tell me what happened here!"

"Someone broke in, Headmaster." said a witch holding a jar. "He took the student in the room away."

"Who is it?"

"I don't know." The witch shook her head. "He was wearing a hood and his whole body was hidden in a black cloak. I couldn't see his face."

Hood, black cape...

Seeing such standard attire, everyone present immediately thought of Death Eaters, and they just happened to have reasons to do so?

"They must have sneaked in during the funeral just now!" someone couldn't help but say.

Although the others didn't say anything, they all thought the same thing.

Only a Death Eater would risk his life to save Malfoy.

But some people have thought of another possibility.

"You didn't hide him," Scrimgeour said doubtfully, obviously not believing that the Death Eaters would risk their lives to come to Hogwarts to save Malfoy.

They are not so united.

"What do you mean?" Professor McGonagall looked at him, her lips tightly pursed.

Those who are familiar with Professor McGonagall know that she was very angry at this time.

"Perhaps you would like to avenge Dumbledore yourself," said Scrimgeour, also trying to suppress his anger.

"We were all attending the funeral outside, and no one had time to come to the castle to transfer Draco Malfoy." Professor McGonagall said, "Mr. Scrimgeour, you should be most aware of this."

"No, there is one exception." Scrimgeour looked at Professor Flitwick who had fainted on the ground.

Just like Professor McGonagall said, everyone was on the field before, so he had plenty of time to move Malfoy away and then come back here to try to knock himself out.

There was a hint of obvious anger on Professor McGonagall's face. She couldn't accept that a professor at Hogwarts was being accused in such a groundless way.

"That's enough, Rufus."

Fortunately, Amelia Bones appeared in time to ease the awkward atmosphere.

"Minister." Scrimgeour frowned slightly, but did not continue to be aggressive.

"I believe Minerva and Filius, they would not do such a thing, they must be Death Eaters." Bones said. "And our main task now is to find them as soon as possible.

"As far as I know, Apparition is not allowed in Hogwarts. We were outside in the grounds the whole time. They couldn't have escaped. They must still be inside the school."

"I see!" Scrimgeour's eyes lit up, and he said in a reserved tone, "Principal McGonagall, do you mind if we look for it in the school?"

"Of course, I don't mind." Professor McGonagall smiled expressionlessly.

"I'm sorry, Minerva." Bones spoke again, "We also want to help Hogwarts. You certainly don't want the culprit who killed Dumbledore to be rescued like this."

Professor McGonagall's eyes flickered.

If it wasn't for this reason, how could she have agreed to Scrimgeour searching the school?

Soon, the Aurors scattered around looking for clues.

At this time, Professor Sprout and Madam Pomfrey also hurried over.

"Oh, what happened again!"

Looking at Professor Flitwick lying on the ground, Madam Pomfrey shuddered subconsciously.

First it was Dumbledore, and now it's Flitwick's turn?

"He's been attacked," said Professor McGonagall. "See if you can wake him up as soon as possible."

"Wake up...oh!"

It took Madame Pomfrey a moment to realize that Flitwick had simply fainted, and she stepped forward in relief.

"Hmm... a very sophisticated stunning spell, and it seems there is also a petrification spell..."

Madam Pomfrey checked it quickly.

"It won't be hard to wake him up... I just happen to have a suitable potion." She waved her wand, causing Professor Flitwick to float in the air, ready to take him back to the headmaster's office.

"Oh, right."

At this moment, Madam Pomfrey seemed to suddenly think of something and glanced at the crowd, "Where is Professor Snape? Ask him to quickly take those students who are occupying the beds away. That is the school hospital, not the guest room of the Leaky Cauldron."

Professor McGonagall glanced back and noticed that Snape was not nearby.

And if you think about it, it seems like he just disappeared after the funeral.

It’s really unreliable... Those Slytherin students are like this, and so is the head of house.

"I'll tell him." Since she couldn't find anyone, Professor McGonagall could only say this.

Madam Pomfrey was still a little unhappy.

According to her, it would be best if Snape could take those students away immediately, or transfer them to St. Mungo's, so that she wouldn't have to waste so many potions every day.

"Remember to tell him." Madam Pomfrey reminded her again, and then took Professor Flitwick to the school hospital.

Professor McGonagall thought about it and decided not to follow.

Since Madam Pomfrey said there was no problem, there was nothing to worry about. By comparison, it was more important to find Malfoy as soon as possible.

Moreover, such a high-profile search by Aurors would likely arouse hostility from students. In order to avoid a greater conflict, it would be better to have a familiar professor accompanying them.

Everyone took action, and the whole castle suddenly became chaotic.

Even Kyle's cabin was not spared.

And because it is located on the edge of the forbidden forest, it has become a place that requires special inspections.

Although Scrimgeour did not come in person, there were three Aurors.

After receiving the news, Kyle opened the door early, covering the alchemical fog and expressing his full cooperation.

"You are really making a big deal out of nothing." Kyle stood beside him with his arms folded, looking at the Auror who was checking even the cracks in the wall.

Professor Sprout came with the Auror. As soon as she walked in, her eyes subconsciously fell on the opposite wall, but then she was stunned.

Where is the door?

The walls were clean, there was no door, not even a window.

Professor Sprout quickly realized that Kyle must have done something in advance, but she would not alert the Auror.

Scrimgeour's attitude just now was not friendly.

"It's such a small place, isn't it obvious at a glance?" Kyle continued:

"And I got you a large sum of money, remember? The 30,000 Galleons the goblins gave you... With this relationship, how can I go against the Ministry of Magic? We are on the same side."

The Auror didn't say anything, his face was cold and unkind, but he gradually stopped.

Kyle was right about one thing. The cabin was clearly visible and there was no need to keep looking.

Next, the Aurors went to Hagrid's cabin.

In addition to looking for Draco Malfoy this time, there is another thing that concerns them, which is the giant they saw at the funeral before, who seems to be related to the professor of Care of Magical Creatures.

Professor Sprout followed him again, muttering something under his breath, but Kyle couldn't hear clearly because the distance was a bit far.

Kyle looked at the Auror walking away, turned slightly, and said softly: "Professor, did you do this?"

There was no answer, and it seemed that Dumbledore was not in the garden.

In fact, Kyle didn't know where he went. After Malfoy was rescued, Dumbledore also disappeared. It was most likely that he took Malfoy away.

As for where they went... maybe the Room of Requirement, maybe the Hog's Head, but definitely not here.

…

Aurors searched Hogwarts for a day and a night, but found nothing, as if Malfoy had simply disappeared.

Fortunately, Professor Flitwick woke up soon and provided the Ministry of Magic with two key pieces of information.

“You didn’t resist?” Scrimgeour demanded. “From what I understand, you’re a champion duellist.”

"That man was lying in ambush outside. I shouldn't have chased him out." Professor Flitwick's face turned red. "By the time I reacted, I had already been attacked and fainted."

"So you didn't see anything?"

"No, there is one." Professor Flitwick shook his head. "Before I fell into a coma, I heard them mention the secret passage."

"Secret passage?"

"They are secret passages scattered throughout the castle." Professor McGonagall explained, "But they were filled up a few years ago."

"Maybe they reopened it, or maybe they found a new one." Professor Flitwick thought for a moment, "I'm sure I heard them talk about the secret passage. They must be planning to use this method to send Malfoy out of Hogwarts."

"Oh, damn, no wonder we couldn't find it!" Scrimgeour pounded the wall hard, and Madam Pomfrey's stern eyes immediately looked over.

"Where is the secret passage?" asked Scrimgeour.

"I can ask Filch to show you," said Professor McGonagall. "He is familiar with every secret passage in Hogwarts."

Soon, Filch was brought over.

After nearly another day of investigation, still nothing was found. The secret passages had been filled up and could not be used, and there were no signs of having been destroyed.

Scrimgeour insisted that there were other secret passages, but Filch had already shown him all the ones he knew of.

As for the new secret passage that Scrimgeour mentioned, he really didn't know.

This made Scrimgeour so angry that he almost tore down the statue of the hunchbacked witch.

Although they were very unwilling, due to the Aurors' slightly rude behavior in the past two days and the growing resistance from the students, the Aurors had no choice but to leave the school.

However, Scrimgeour still left a team of Aurors behind on the grounds of protecting the school's safety.

There were not many of them, only seven, and they were responsible for guarding the gates of the school and the castle. They would also patrol the castle at night, stealing Filch's job.

In addition, another purpose is to investigate the so-called secret passage.

Professor McGonagall knew this, but she acquiesced. After all, Hogwarts would indeed become very dangerous in the future, and having a team of Aurors to help protect the students was a good choice.

…

"School will resume tomorrow."

After the people from the Ministry of Magic left, Minerva McGonagall issued an announcement in the name of the headmaster, which roughly stated that everything in the school had returned to normal and all activities including the Quidditch match were cancelled.

Although there were occasional complaints, there were not many such voices. After all, the students knew that Hogwarts was no longer the safe castle it used to be.

In the following period of time, all the Death Eaters also started to move.

The first was the slander against Kyle. They even bribed the Daily Prophet and published several articles in it.

But this had little impact on Kyle. He had been in Hogwarts all the time. Both students and professors knew that Malfoy had been rescued by the Death Eaters, and they simply disdained the content of the newspaper.

Some smarter students even drew a conclusion from this... The Daily Prophet seemed to have been controlled by Death Eaters.

"How strange..." Ron took the newspaper and turned it over and over, looking for something.

"I didn't see Rita Skeeter's name. Normally, wouldn't she be the one who likes to publish articles that smear others?"

"It seems to be true." Harry was stunned for a moment.

No wonder he always felt something was missing when he read the newspaper. It turned out to be Rita Skeeter.

In the past few days, she has published many articles about Dumbledore. Basically, she didn't say a single good word about him and directly described Dumbledore as an old liar in disguise.

But this time when targeting Kyle, she seemed to have disappeared and didn't say a word.

"Maybe she doesn't know Kyle." Hermione thought for a moment and said, not caring too much, and threw the newspaper in her hand on the table.

"The credibility of the Daily Prophet is getting lower and lower. Unfortunately, we have no other channels to get the news."

“Actually, there are.”

At this time, Neville came over with a magazine, "I just discovered it yesterday. The content here is completely different from the newspaper."

"The Quibbler?" Ron showed obvious disgust on his face. "Only crazy people would read this kind of magazine."

"No, it's different." Neville stammered. "There are no more Crumple-Horned Snorlax and other magical creatures on it. These are all truths that have been deliberately hidden."

“Oh, it really is…”

While they were talking, Hermione had already opened the magazine.

"Look here, a large number of Death Eaters have been seen gathering together, seemingly planning to attack the Ministry of Magic. They seem to have become active all of a sudden."

"Yeah, Dumbledore is dead, and no one can stop them," Harry blurted out.

The common room suddenly fell into silence.

"Sorry, I didn't mean it." Harry sighed and changed the subject: "Actually, I have thought about leaving school."

"Leave school?" Hermione was startled and looked at Harry in disbelief. "You're crazy!"

"On the contrary, I am very clear-headed," said Harry. "I know Voldemort wants to kill me, and maybe it will be a good thing for Hogwarts if I leave."

"Oh, please, don't say that name." Ron couldn't help but shudder.

"No...you can't do this." Hermione paled slightly.

"Actually, I have another reason."

Harry ignored Ron's exaggerated reaction and continued, "Do you remember the Horcruxes?"

"The secret weapon that allows the You-Know-Who to come back to life?" Hermione thought about it.

"Yes," said Harry. "As it happens, Dumbledore told me just the other day that they had found and destroyed five Horcruxes."

“Isn’t this wonderful?”

"But we previously speculated that Voldemort should have divided his soul into seven parts," Harry whispered.

"This means that there is a key Horcrux missing. I want to find it."

"What are you going to do?" Hermione asked. "Do you know where it is?"

It was like a bucket of cold water poured on Harry's head, instantly extinguishing his fighting spirit.

"I have no idea……"

"Don't think about it, Harry. Even if you know, there's nothing you can do." Ron came to his senses and shook his head, "Principal McGonagall just said yesterday that students can leave school at any time, but they must have their parents' consent.

"Will your aunt and uncle come to pick you up?"

Ron's question completely stunned Harry.

He thought of his aunt and uncle, both of whom were Muggles and extremely disgusted with magic. They would scream for half an hour when they saw a wand. Let them come to Hogwarts? It was impossible.

Sirius could, as his godfather, he could take him away.

But Harry didn't even need to think about it, Sirius would definitely not agree to him leaving school.

"I can use the Invisibility Cloak..."

"Do you think the Invisibility Cloak will keep you from the Aurors at the door?" Hermione said, coming to her senses. "They're not Filch."

"I……"

Harry fell silent.

Could he really fool the Aurors?

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief and picked up a thick book next to her.

"Where are you going?" Ron asked.

"Go to the Ancient Runes classroom."

"Huh?" Ron glanced at the schedule in confusion, "But there are still two hours until the seventh grade ancient runes class."

"But the fifth-year classes are about to begin." Hermione looked a little irritated. "My OWLs for Ancient Runes have just reached O standard, and there are still many things I don't understand, so I plan to sit in on the class."

"What, you mean you're going to take extra classes?" Ron was shocked, finding it hard to understand how Hermione made this decision.

"It's still useful to learn more knowledge." Hermione said without looking back, "Especially at this time, the Death Eaters will not let you off just because you are a student."

Hermione slipped through the passage and disappeared into the common room.

"Actually, what she said makes sense." Harry also took out a spell book.

Ron thought about it and joined in as well.

They also represent the majority of students. After Professor Dumbledore's funeral, the learning atmosphere at Hogwarts seemed to have improved all of a sudden. I don't know if this is a good thing.

…

(End of this chapter)