Hogwarts: Don't call me the Staff Maker

Chapter 655 The Disappearance of Dumbledore

Chapter 655 The Disappearance of Dumbledore

Whether Dumbledore could withstand the agony of his soul being torn apart, Sirius believed he certainly could.

Without delay, after Lupin woke up, Sirius and Sirius immediately left the school hospital and went to the principal's office on the eighth floor.

"Sour popping candy," Xilun recited the command.

But to everyone's surprise, the stone beast with the dripping spout at the entrance did not stand up and jump to the side as before, but remained sitting there.

"It looks like Dumbledore has already left Hogwarts," Sirius said.

He had been a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts for a while, so he knew exactly what that meant.

Dumbledore had already left the headmaster's office and locked the door behind him.

Afterwards, Sirius found Professor McGonagall and asked her about Dumbledore's whereabouts.

"I don't know either." Professor McGonagall glanced at Sirius Black, assuming something was wrong with the Order of the Phoenix, and then said, "Dumbledore left Hogwarts half an hour ago, and in a great hurry. I didn't have time to ask him where he was going."

Half an hour ago — very hurried —

Sirren couldn't help but wonder if Dumbledore had vaguely sensed something, which was why he left Hogwarts at this time.

The old wizard's warning?

But that shouldn't be the case. They came here because they wanted to help Deng Xili and break the terrible Tear Curse. Why is he running away?

There was nothing they could do; Dumbledore had already left, and they couldn't find him for the time being, so they had no choice but to return to the school hospital.

Lupin rested for another night, and the next morning he and Sirius left Hogwarts.

For a long time afterward, Siron did not see Dumbledore at school, nor did he receive any news about him.

Dumbledore didn't even come back to watch the first Quidditch match of the year.

The two teams participating in the competition are Gryffindor and Slytherin, old rivals.

Harry stepped forward and shook hands with Captain Slytherin, a gesture meant to symbolize friendship, but both seemed to want to crush each other's hands.

This match is a big advantage for Gryffindor, as Slytherin is missing two key players, one of whom is their best Chaser, Vassey.

Another is batter Crabbe, and many people doubt that he got into the team on merit because he simply can't remember—

Living by the rules of Quidditch and only knowing how to ride on a broomstick and hit people with a stick—perhaps that's exactly what Slytherin needs.

Thinking about it that way, his absence from the game is actually a good thing. At least the Gryffindor players no longer have to live in fear, constantly worrying that a stick will hit them.

However, Gryffindor's situation wasn't perfect either—Ron was playing as their starting goalkeeper.

His performance last semester was inconsistent, and he always faltered at crucial moments. Many people thought he wouldn't be on the team again this year, but he still made it into the regular player roster.

"Ron Weasley has a close personal relationship with the captain, which undoubtedly helped him," the new commentator, Zacharys Smith, openly stated.

These words earned him both ridicule and applause from the Slytherins, but the situation quickly took a turn for the worse.

Ron played exceptionally well, making one spectacular save after another, some even with the tip of his glove.

Under his tight defense, Slytherin failed to score a single goal. Half an hour into the game, Gryffindor led 60-0, and this advantage was growing even faster.

Suddenly, the atmosphere in the audience shifted. Slytherin, who had originally intended to mock Ron, started singing that popular old song—"Weasley is Our King."

Now even the Gryffindors have started singing, and whenever Ron makes a particularly brilliant save, the audience cheers and celebrates excitedly.

But there was one exception.

The better Ron performed, the more serious Hermione's expression became, and she hadn't clapped once since the start of the match.

"This is cheating!"

Faced with Sherren's doubts, Hermione angrily said, "Before the match started, Harry put Felix Felicis in Ron's drink—but Slughorn said that the use of this potion is strictly prohibited in all sporting events!"

Hermione grew angrier as she spoke, as if she were about to rush onto the field and tell the referee, Ms. Hodge, the news.

"You've probably been fooled," Sirius chuckled. "Even a notorious spendthrift like Sirius wouldn't use Felix Felicis in a Quidditch game—don't forget, it's not even the final, just a regular points game, and the first one at that."

“I saw it with my own eyes,” Hermione said. “I saw Harry put something in Ron’s cup. I’ve seen that bottle before; it’s the Felix Felicis that Slughorn gave him.”

"It's just a bottle." Xiren waved his hand, turning a pebble on the ground into a glass bottle the size of a thumb.

"See, this is it." Xilen held the bottle in her hand. "I can put anything in it if I want—milk, syrup, marmalade, can you tell the difference?"

"But—" Hermione's eyes flashed with confusion, "Ron is performing so well—he wasn't like this before, and Gryffindor is having such a smooth run, it's like they can score no matter how they throw the ball."

While they were talking, Ginny the Chaser threw the Quaffle into the Slytherin goalpost again, widening the score gap to one hundred points.

"If you could watch the game a little more clearly, you'd realize this is normal," Siren said casually. "Slytherin's best Chaser, Vasily, got hit on the head by a running ball during practice and is still in the hospital bed right now."

"Crabbe is absent from the game for some reason. Apart from captain Urquhart and Malfoy, who are veteran players, everyone else is a rookie who was just recruited this year."

Do you think such a ragtag group can defeat Gryffindor?

Hermione blinked, thought about it carefully, and it did seem to make some sense.

And just as Siren said, when she put aside her prejudices and really watched the game carefully, she also found that Slytherin did indeed have problems.

Their offense was completely disorganized; whoever got the ball shot without any teamwork whatsoever.

Even if Hermione wasn't that interested in Quidditch, she knew that this straightforward throwing style was the goalkeeper's favorite.

Furthermore, their defense was a complete mess; when the new Chaser came back to defend, his broom tail almost hit Seeker Malfoy in the face.

If they were chasing the Golden Snitch right now, that last move would have been enough to eliminate Malfoy.