In the midst of the young wizards' abundant resentment, the opening ceremony finally came to an end.
It was at this point that Harry and Ron were, of course, told to stay behind. Professor McGonagall was now "escorting" the two of them to her office with a serious expression on her face. At this moment, she really wanted to ask her two students what on earth had possessed them to be so audacious as to cause such a large-scale magical exposure incident.
At the same time, strangely enough, Victor was also inexplicably told to stay. Dumbledore's voice boomed from the High Table, "Mr. Dreyar, please stay!"
Victor, who was about to leave, was confused. Why was the old bee suddenly looking for him? So he instructed Penelope next to him, "Penelope, tell everyone not to go back to the dorms yet. Have them wait for me in the common room. I have something to tell everyone."
"Understood!" Penelope nodded in response.
Then, Victor walked toward the high table. "Professor Dumbledore, is there something you needed?" Victor glanced at the unfamiliar face standing next to Dumbledore and then looked at the person in the distance who was getting a camera ready. He immediately had a guess.
Sure enough, Dumbledore began to introduce him, "Victor, this is the current Minister for Magic of Britain, Cornelius Fudge."
"Mr. Dreyar, hello!" Fudge took off his glove and extended his hand with a smile.
Victor inwardly rolled his eyes, but he couldn't just ignore a friendly gesture, so he politely shook Fudge's hand and said, "Hello, Minister Fudge!"
Click!
Just then, a flash went off from the camera nearby, and a puff of white smoke rose. The old-fashioned magical camera took a picture of the two of them shaking hands.
That's right, the main reason Fudge had personally come to Hogwarts today was to connect with the Ravenclaw heir. Over the past two months, Victor had gained immense fame for obtaining the Ravenclaw inheritance. As the Minister for Magic, Fudge naturally wanted to use this opportunity to gain some popularity for himself.
The only pity was that throughout the entire summer, besides those close to him, only Rita Skeeter had actually met Victor in person. Even though Fudge had tried everything, and even tried to ask Dumbledore to find someone, he was ultimately politely rejected.
So when Dumbledore saw Fudge today, he immediately understood what he was there for, and he even brought a photographer. It was so obvious it was practically an open secret!
And so, Fudge and Victor began to exchange half-an-hour of formal pleasantries, and it was only then that Victor was able to get away.
Looking at Fudge's receding figure, Victor said with a deep frown, "If that kind of person comes looking for me again, just tell them I'm dead!"
"Oh, you shouldn't say such things, and you're still so young!" Dumbledore was a little surprised that the person in front of him would come up with such a ridiculous excuse.
"I'll be heading back now if that's all!" Victor said with a bit of a grimace, then turned to leave. But at the same time, he left a warning, "And Professor, tell that fellow to stop bothering me, or I'll throw him into the Forbidden Forest to feed the Acromantulas!"
With that, he glanced at Lockhart, who was walking over and thought he looked very handsome, then instantly vanished, leaving Dumbledore alone in silence and Lockhart in a state of confusion.
Back in the Ravenclaw common room, the young Ravenclaws had already been waiting for a while. As soon as they saw Victor, they collectively greeted him with respect, "Lord of Wisdom!"
"I told you all to just call me by my name…" Victor shook his head with a helpless expression, rubbing his forehead. "Anyway, I actually called everyone here because I wanted to say one thing!"
"This school year, I will personally be teaching our house's Defense Against the Dark Arts class!"
Upon hearing this news, the young Ravenclaws were all filled with questions. One of them raised their hand and asked, "Why?"
"You'll know once you've had one of Lockhart's classes." Victor didn't immediately explain the reason, because it was better to let the young Ravenclaws experience for themselves what a waste of space he was, rather than just telling them. "Of course, we can't just skip class so openly. So everyone, come and get one of these from me later. Learn it as quickly as possible, and then you can quietly come back and attend my classes."
With that, Victor took out a small notebook that he had just prepared. Inside was a simplified method for a clone magic. Although the clone that was created would be difficult to fool the heads of house, it would definitely be more than enough to fool Lockhart.
"One more thing, as a reminder: according to the school's new system, I will personally be giving you a test during both the midterm and final exams. It won't be a theoretical exam, but a practical one!"
"So you all need to be mentally prepared for it. I can only guarantee that you won't die."
"But the exam for the first-years will be relatively easier, but you still shouldn't let your guard down."
"That's all. You're dismissed!"
With that, Victor gave the clone magic method to Ivanna and told her to distribute it. However, just as he was about to make a quick escape to the guild headquarters to prepare for the upcoming recruitment, Helena Ravenclaw suddenly floated out of the wall and found him.
At the same time, in Professor McGonagall's office, Harry and Ron were standing nervously in front of Professor McGonagall and began to explain their actions from earlier today.
"Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley! Don't you two have something to tell me?" Professor McGonagall looked at the two of them with a grim expression, her eyebrows furrowed.
"Professor, it's like this…" Harry gradually explained everything, from the appearance of an unknown house-elf at home, to the two of them crashing into the pillar at the entrance of Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, and finally to how the young Ravenclaws rescued them.
Professor McGonagall sighed helplessly after hearing their story and then said, "I understand everything. Whether it's the strange house-elf or why the platform entrance was suddenly closed, the school and the Ministry of Magic will try to investigate it as soon as possible!"
"But I'm still very curious. Since you weren't able to get on the train back to school, why didn't you just go home and wait?"
"…" Harry and Ron both fell silent at this question. To be honest, they didn't know what had possessed them to think about driving the car back to school.
Professor McGonagall saw the grim expressions on her two students' faces and had already guessed that they probably couldn't come up with a reason. So she continued, "Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley! Your reckless behavior this time has caused a very serious magical exposure incident. The Ministry of Magic's Aurors are still dealing with the aftermath of this incident."
"So, Professor, we won't be expelled, will we?!" Ron asked nervously.
"Not yet!" Professor McGonagall looked at Ron with a blank expression. "But through this incident, I hope the two of you can fully recognize your mistake. I will be writing a letter to your families tonight, and your punishment will be to copy the school rules after dinner every day."
"Ten times!"
Upon hearing that final number, Harry and Ron were instantly dumbfounded, looking at each other in disbelief. Ten times?! Their hands would break before they could finish!
You have to remember that the Hogwarts school rules were at least dozens of pages thick, and they were filled with all sorts of bizarre rules that had never been deleted or modified since the school was founded.
"And there's more!" Professor McGonagall then continued coldly, clearly not planning on letting them off the hook so easily. "If your Transfiguration grades this semester do not reach an 'O', then it will be considered a failing grade. I don't think you two would want your Christmas holidays to be ruined, would you?"
After receiving their punishment, Harry and Ron walked out of Professor McGonagall's office with a miserable look on their faces. The two of them stood at the door and looked at each other, both seeing the despair of the new school year in the other's eyes.
But on another note, Professor McGonagall said she would write a letter to their parents? This suddenly felt less like a punishment for Harry and more like a way to vent her frustrations on his behalf.
On the other side, Victor was following Helena to the Bronze Tree Palace in Ravenclaw. He looked at the beautiful figure floating in front of him with curiosity and couldn't help but ask, "Helena, what do you need from me?"
Just a moment ago, the beautiful lady in front of him had suddenly found him and said she wanted to ask for a favor.
"Before my mother disappeared, she said that besides her diadem, there was another relic she had left behind in her room," Helena said softly, floating in front of him. "It was a gift to her from the father I thought I had never met."
"Thought you never met?" Victor had a question mark on his head. Why did that sound so convoluted?
Helena led Victor to a bookshelf and then pointed to a book with a slightly conspicuous red cover. "My mother told me that the item was behind this book!"
Upon hearing this, Victor quickly walked over and pulled out the book Helena was pointing to. He then reached inside and actually felt an unusual protrusion, so he instinctively pulled on it with force.
With a snap, the bookshelf not far away suddenly split into two. Victor immediately walked over and opened the bookshelf to reveal a fist-sized pine box with a three-dimensional lion head decoration lying inside the mechanism.
Curiously, he took out the box. After getting Helena's permission, he slowly opened the box, and a ring with a carnelian gem instantly came into view.
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