Volume 5: The Burning Golden Flame Chapter 328 Graves
Such an arrangement, in Rozier's words, was a humiliation.
But in fact, John and Dumbledore had anticipated such a situation before coming here. Since they arrived at Hogwarts Castle, they had not seen those enslaved Muggle-born students, which showed that the people in the castle were deliberately cautious.
According to Hermione's intelligence, a large portion of the Muggle-born students who remained in the castle had been completely enslaved, but a small portion had their memories altered and were forced to become slaves because they had once organized a society.
The Oblivion Spell is very powerful, but it is not an Unforgivable Curse. The reason why the Unforgivable Curses have such a special status in the wizarding world is that there is no antidote for these three spells.
The spell of oblivion can obviously be lifted, but the difficulty and method of lifting it vary depending on the means used to cast the spell.
Hogwarts Castle deliberately avoided the appearance of those Muggle-born students in front of Dumbledore and his party, and Snape also emphasized that they were not allowed to enter Hogwarts Castle privately. Part of the purpose was definitely to prevent them from having contact with these Muggle-born students.
Last year, John rescued the first and second grade students in the castle, which completely cut off the school's source of "slaves". Voldemort certainly would not give them another chance to rescue the remaining students who could still be saved.
But in fact, neither John nor Dumbledore had such an idea.
From the moment they decided to come here, they had no intention of abandoning the castle again, instead of simply rescuing the people who needed to be rescued.
However, Snape's words also revealed some information. After he left and returned to the carriage, John followed Dumbledore to the headmaster's office alone.
"The first competition event is related to the Forbidden Forest?"
Dumbledore just shook his head at this.
"The competition items were jointly determined by us, Riddle, and the International Confederation of Wizards. Each party determined an item, and then handed it over to the Confederation for coordination and adjustment. But apart from the Confederation, we and Riddle only know the information about the items we proposed. The competition items we proposed should be in the second round, so we don't know what will be the competition in the first round and where it will be held."
"But from what Snape said, I can tell that the first event should be related to the Forbidden Forest."
Hearing him say this, Jon stroked his chin and asked at the right moment.
"Professor, were you familiar with this Snape before?"
Dumbledore was stunned for a moment, then a somewhat emotional expression appeared on his face.
"He, don't look at him like this, he is actually a very pure person, just a little too pure..."
Having said that, Dumbledore shook his head.
"Don't mention him for now. I just happen to have something else to talk to you about."
Jon was still analyzing the meaning of Dumbledore's words, but when he came to his senses, he looked puzzled.
Dumbledore looked at him seriously.
"I need you to lend me the invisibility cloak that Lily gave you for a while."
…
The students on the carriage did not stay there obediently for the entire afternoon.
Anyway, the places that people were warned not to enter were the Forbidden Forest and the castle, and the scope of Hogwarts was far from being limited to these two places.
After Dumbledore gave some instructions in the car, some students got off the car and strolled along the Black Lake.
"I heard from Bill that every year at the beginning of the school year, the new students of Hogwarts had to take a small boat across the lake and enter the castle. At that time, Hagrid was the person in charge of welcoming the new students."
George squatted by the lake, looking at the quiet, mirror-like lake surface and splashing water, chatting with Lee Jordan beside him.
"There's also a giant squid in the lake, but Charlie said it's very friendly to students. Once when their team was practicing Quidditch, a Quaffle accidentally fell into the lake. There was no hope of finding it again, but the giant squid helped to send it back from the bottom of the lake."
Li looked at the lake, as if he wanted to find the legendary friendly squid in it, but even though he looked until his eyes were sore, he didn't find anything.
"Speaking of Hagrid, I just saw him heading towards the Forbidden Forest. He was very careful in his movements, as if he was deliberately avoiding people."
George shrugged.
"Hagrid has a special feeling for this forest that we don't have. I heard from my father that he was a gamekeeper here for more than 40 years. The Forbidden Forest is his home. Now that he is back again, he must have deeper feelings than us."
"Will he sneak in?"
"That's not surprising. I heard he has many magical animal friends in there."
"I saw Hagrid talking to himself by the fire before. He seemed to be apologizing to someone called Fang."
"Maybe it's not a person. He likes to name every animal he can recognize."
"Ah, let me guess, that sounds like a dog's name."
They were chatting by the lake when a wizard came to them out of nowhere.
The expressions on George and Li's faces suddenly became alert.
They knew very well that this was in Britain, and it was also the base of the Dark Lord. Any stranger would most likely be hostile to them.
"Hello sir, what can I do for you?"
Lee asked politely but distantly, not hiding his alarm.
The middle-aged wizard wore a grey top hat and a long open-collared trench coat. His black hair under the hat was neatly groomed. He had a gentle smile on his face and did not look like a malicious person.
"Hello, my name is Matthew Graves, a member of the International Confederation of Wizards. Are you students of Headmaster Dumbledore?"
His English accent was very unique, a version that neither Lee nor George had ever heard before.
George looked him in the eye and nodded, but did not lower his guard.
"What do you want?"
"Can you take me to see your principal? We have been friends for a long time. At that time, he was still the president of the Federation."
The wizard named Matthew said as he smiled and winked at George.
George and Li looked at each other, and after some eye contact, they quickly made a decision.
George didn't move, while Lee turned around and trotted towards the carriage. Matthew saw their movements, with a smile on his face. He knew that the black boy was going to find an adult. He looked at George and seemed to be in the mood to chat.
"I heard that during these years, Headmaster Dumbledore and you guys never left England? You were in exile in a carriage and attending classes at the same time?"
George glanced at him.
"Aren't you a friend of Professor Dumbledore?"
The wizard burst out laughing.
"Don't be so cautious, kid. Even if this is the base camp of your enemies, they will not attack you during the Triwizard Tournament."
His words did not ease the atmosphere at all, and George still looked at him with suspicion.
"Your principal and I are indeed old friends, but that was when he was still the president of the Federation. I had a lot of dealings with him as a diplomat in Congress, but after the change of masters in the UK, we have no contact. This time I happened to have the opportunity to come and visit him."
After listening to Matthew's explanation, George seemed to have discovered something.
"Are you an American wizard?"
"Director of the International Magical Cooperation Department of the MACUSA and the International Confederation of Wizards USA Office."
Matthew said as he pulled out a certificate from his windbreaker pocket and handed it to George.
George confirmed his identity. Such a document could certainly be forged, but since Lee had already gone to inform Dumbledore, there was no need for him to forge it.
"You are one of the judges for this Triwizard Tournament."
George had apparently also heard that someone from the International Confederation of Wizards would be present at the refereeing session.
"The Federation takes this competition very seriously. We all hope that the conflict can be resolved peacefully, so they sent three people over. The other two have already gone to the castle. I came here specially to see an old friend."
Matthew didn't seem to mind George's wariness of him just now, and his attitude remained calm.
George looked at the middle-aged wizard who seemed easy to get along with and asked tentatively.
"So you'll be more inclined towards us when you're the referee?"
Matthew laughed.
"I will only make the most fair evaluation."
At this moment, Lee had already jumped off the carriage at a trot and waved to George from a distance.
"Professor Dumbledore asked me to invite this gentleman to be my guest in the carriage."
Matthew said goodbye to George and then followed Lee into the carriage.
Although Dumbledore did not get out of the car to greet him personally, he took the initiative to wait in front of the office door to show his respect for this old friend.
As soon as they met, they hugged each other.
"It's been years, Albus."
"Ha, Matthew, you're still wearing that perfume. I can't help sneezing every time I smell it."
Dumbledore rubbed his nose and took the diplomat from the Magical Congress of the United States into his office.
"I actually thought that the person coming from America might be you, but I didn't expect that they would actually send you."
The steaming teapot automatically poured tea into the cup in front of Matthew.
Matthew did not hide his gaze towards the wall behind Dumbledore, which was covered with portraits of past headmasters. He shrugged and said .
"That shows that my fairness is known to everyone, doesn't it?"
Dumbledore smiled.
"Yes, the Federation knows exactly what we need. If we want to avoid war, we must maintain basic fairness. Who are the other two referees?"
"They are all your old friends. The Asian wizard is Abdul Rahman, the Arab magic diplomat who always said he would give you an emerald. The African wizard is Imran Kamil, the vice-principal of the Vagado School of Magic, the old witch who said she wanted to send exchange students with Hogwarts but was rejected by you."
Dumbledore crossed his hands in front of him, and the smile on his face did not change at all when he heard the two names.
"The Federation is indeed attentive enough. No matter what decision you three make, it will be impartial. You all have some friendship with me, and you all have had conflicts with me."
Matthew spread his hands.
"This is the candidate that was finally decided after two months of discussion. You know that although I am a diplomat, I rarely lie to people. The Federation does not want to see a war, so we all know that only the fairest referee can avoid this."
"So why did you come to me first?"
Dumbledore was not fooled by his seemingly pertinent words, but blinked and looked at him with calm eyes.
"Rahman and Imran both know that meeting my student first can prevent him from having unnecessary suspicions about you. It is also the best option for the subsequent games to proceed normally. Why did you come to me alone in advance?"
Matthew did not touch the cup of black tea in front of him whose steam was gradually disappearing. He stared at Dumbledore's face. His originally gentle expression gradually faded and became a little cold and serious.
"Because I accidentally received a question in the United States that sounded a bit unexpected. Even if the referee arranged by the Federation this time was not me, I would make a special trip to the UK to see you. I want to confirm one thing from you."
Dumbledore had a look of surprise on his face.
"Yeah, I should have thought of it earlier. You were so eager to see me, there could only be one reason."
Matthew Graves looked him in the eyes.
"So, is that news true or false?"
"It's true."
There was no deliberate change of subject, and no lies. Dumbledore simply and calmly answered the question he wanted to know.
The atmosphere in the principal's office suddenly became quiet, and only the faint snoring of Portrait could be heard.
After a long time, Matthew seemed to have calmed down and spoke again, his voice now becoming extremely cold.
"So, who has the power to release him? The Federation sentenced him to life imprisonment!"
"If he doesn't want to, Matthew, what prison in the world do you think can hold him?" Dumbledore asked softly.
"He should have been executed right away!"
His voice became colder, but his emotions became more excited.
Dumbledore looked at him and shook his head.
"I thought after so many years, you would have forgotten it long ago."
Matthew picked up the cup of cold black tea in front of him and drank it all in one gulp as if he were drinking boiled water. His voice became slightly hoarse without him noticing.
"Not everyone is as generous as you. He killed my father, stole his identity and brought shame upon my family in Congress. Do you think I should forget that?"
