Dumbledore went to open the door, and when he saw the gloomy figure enter, Harry let out a huff so loud that Cyrus had to elbow him again.

It was Lucius Malfoy outside the door.

Lucius Malfoy strode into Hagrid's hut, wrapped up in a long black traveling cloak and with a cold, contented smile on his face.

Fang began to bark wildly.

Seeing Malfoy's appearance, Cyrus was finally relieved. No matter what, things had finally developed to this point. Malfoy had cooperated with him and used some tricks to expel Dumbledore from the school.

Without Dumbledore, Hogwarts no longer posed any threat to Cyrus.

His mood suddenly brightened and he couldn't help but curl the corners of his mouth.

Another person who was not surprised by Malfoy's appearance was Dumbledore. He had long guessed that this day would come. Tom Riddle would never let himself stay in the school, which would be detrimental to the final step of his plan. That would be too unsafe.

Just like last year, it's best to find a way to get yourself out of the way.

Dumbledore was originally wondering when the other party was going to take action.

Apparently, the time is now.

"You've come, Fudge," said Malfoy with satisfaction. "Very good, very good..."

It was also his "master's" plan to let Hagrid take the blame once again, and this matter inevitably involved him putting pressure on Fudge - all he had to do was buy off some public opinion - and now that Fudge had arrived at Hogwarts, Lucius Malfoy was naturally very satisfied.

But Hagrid didn't like this uninvited guest. What good could there be in the Malfoy family?

"What are you doing here? Get out of my house!"

"My dear friend, please believe me, I am not happy to enter this - oh - you call it a house?" Lucius Malfoy looked around the small shabby room and sneered, "I just came to the school to take a look. Someone told me that the headmaster is here."

Malfoy's behavior was indeed annoying. If Cyrus didn't know that the other party was now one of his own, even he would have wanted to punch Malfoy a few times.

"What exactly do you want from me, Lucius?" Dumbledore asked politely.

"Things are terrible, Dumbledore." Lucius lazily rolled up a long piece of parchment. He looked relaxed and seemed confident of victory, even when facing Dumbledore - or rather, it was because he knew he was facing Dumbledore that he was not panicked at all.

"The board feels that you should be dismissed. This is a temporary suspension - all twelve of the board have signed it. We feel that you are not living up to your talents. How many attacks have there been so far? At this rate, there will be no Muggle students left at Hogwarts, and we all know that would be a terrible loss for the school."

He spoke as if he was expressing great heartache and regret for the attack on students from the Muggle world.

"What are you talking about, Lucius?" said Fudge, looking alarmed. "Dumbledore has been suspended... No, no... We absolutely do not want to..."

"The appointment or temporary suspension of the headmaster is a matter for the board of directors, Fudge. The Ministry of Magic has no right to interfere." Lucius's face was calm. He never took Fudge, the incompetent minister, to heart.

"Since Dumbledore has failed to prevent these attacks..."

"But you see, Lucius, if Dumbledore can't stop it--" said Fudge, his upper lip beginning to sweat. He thought the governors were crazy to suspend Dumbledore at this point. "I mean, who can stop it?"

"We'll see," said Malfoy, a sly smile on his face.

Prevent?

He never thought of stopping it.

Malfoy was naturally not afraid of Hagrid. He said sarcastically: "I want to give you a piece of advice, don't shout at the guards in Azkaban like that. They won't like it."

The thought of Dumbledore being suspended made Hagrid no longer afraid of Azkaban.

"You can't take Dumbledore away! If you take him away, the Muggles will have no chance of survival! There will be murders soon!"

"Calm yourself, Hagrid," said Dumbledore sternly. He looked at Lucius Malfoy.

"If the board wants me to go, Lucius, I will certainly give up my position."

"But—" stammered Fudge.

"No!" growled Hagrid.

Dumbledore's piercing blue eyes remained fixed on Lucius's cold grey ones.

"However," Dumbledore said very slowly and clearly, so that everyone present could hear every word he said, "I will not truly leave this school until everyone here betrays me. You will also find that at Hogwarts, those who ask for help always get it."

Cyrus was quite certain that Dumbledore had glanced at them, a look that was both a reminder and a warning.

He not only discovered Harry and Ron, he even discovered himself!

"That's a commendable sentiment," Malfoy said, bowing. "We will all miss your unique way of dealing with things, Albus. Let's just hope that your successor can stop the killings once and for all."

Malfoy strode to the door of the hut, opened it, and bowed to see Dumbledore out. Fudge played with his top hat, waiting for Hagrid to get ahead of him, but Hagrid stood still, took a deep breath, and said carefully:

"If anyone wants to find something, they just have to follow the spider and they'll be in the right direction! That's all I have to say."

Fudge stared at him in amazement.

"Well, here I come," said Hagrid, putting on his moleskin coat. But just as he was about to follow Fudge out the door, he stopped and said loudly, "Someone needs to feed Fang while I'm gone."

The door slammed and Ron pulled off the Invisibility Cloak.

"This is troublesome," he said hoarsely. "Dumbledore is gone. They will probably close the school tonight. There will be attacks every day while he's gone."

Yaya started barking again and scratched at the closed door with his claws.

The next day, the news that Dumbledore had left quickly caused fear to spread rapidly in an unprecedented form.

Cyrus was in a very good mood. The weather had been sunny recently. The clear sky and the lake were shining. The trees in the forbidden forest were lush and green, and looked very full of life. Cyrus greedily enjoyed all of this by using Ginny's body.

Vibrant——

For the other students at Hogwarts, fear was hanging over them like a cold fog, but for Cyrus, he was getting closer to a new life!

Thank you for the two 520 rewards from Brother Yanlin who always loves me! I love you too, baby ('▽'｀)

(End of this chapter)