Alchemy professor at Hogwarts

Chapter 187 Buckbeak and Fang

Clues from the Sirondo Library lead to Mrs. Pince, who works as a librarian at Hogwarts.

When Hardy returned to the castle, he heard Professor McGonagall talking about Mrs. Pince with others.

"She knows the restricted area very well," Professor McGonagall said, "As long as you tell her what's on your mind, she can always help you find what you want in the first place."

"But she took personal leave, and she won't be back until a few days later."

In the alchemy professor's lounge, the automatic quill was shaking quickly on the parchment, recording the clues so far.

In addition to the Muggles who had already perished in the flames, Mrs. Pince had also been there on the night of the fire in the Silentore Library.

What was she doing as a wizard in a library in the Muggle world?
Set fire?wrong.

That doesn't make sense, because Mrs. Pince wouldn't have bothered to write her name in the visitors register if she wanted to burn down the Silendon Library.

This is so stupid that no murderer would want to do it, and besides, Mrs. Pince's motive for setting the fire is completely unclear.

Hardy sat at the round table with short legs, sipping a cup of hot black tea, "What if Mrs. Pince wasn't the murderer?"

"The murderer's accomplice? Not right." His fingers tapped on the table, "I still can't explain why she took the initiative to leave her mark."

Hardy would like to believe that Mrs. Pince left the Sirendo Library before the murderer set the fire, but the records in the register cannot provide strong support.

The other party, like the other murdered Muggles, had blank "leave time" in the register.

This almost shows that Mrs. Pince was still at the scene until the fire broke out.

"As Miss Granger said," Hardy said to himself, "if Mrs. Pince saw everything, why didn't she report it to the Ministry?"

"Is there any reason why she can't tell?"

A storm was brewing in Hardy's head. He rubbed the space between his brows, knowing that without enough evidence, any speculation would be futile.

While waiting for Mrs. Pince to return to Hogwarts, Hermione would find time to follow Braden to continue her summer experience at the Ministry of Magic.

Ron and Harry were quite envious, and it sounded like a pretty cool thing to experience Auror's work in advance.

But they didn't get the approval of the Minister of Magic, and they couldn't complete all their homework ahead of time like Hermione.

"Sirius Black is still eyeing me," said Hardy, sitting in an armchair in the common room, watching Hermione crawl out of the hole.

"Where did Hermione get the time to finish so much homework ahead of time?" Ron wondered.

……

"Everyone will laugh at me," said Hermione, meeting Hardy at the Leaky Cauldron, "especially Ron and Harry."

Her fair face was full of worry, "I can already imagine the incredible expressions of the two of them, reading aloud in front of me, laughing until their stomach hurts badly."

"What happened?" Hardy drank butterbeer and looked at Braden on the other side.

Raising his hand to wipe the corner of his mouth, Braden smiled and looked at Hermione beside him, "Our dear Minister of Magic has a good idea."

"Enough, please, please don't go on." Hermione's face was pale, "Let me say it."

She hesitated to speak, and sighed several times in a row, until she drank a few gulps of butter beer before she got a little better, "Cornelly Fudge intends to publish the letters I wrote to him."

Hardy could feel the trembling of the voice of the little witch in front of him.

"He's going to set up several sections on the "Daily Prophet" to report on how the Ministry of Magic has satisfied the desire of the cute little witch to have an Auror professional experience." Braden said first.

"but--"

He winked at Hardy and whispered, "That's all an excuse, isn't it, just to highlight how much he, the Minister for Magic, is loved by little wizards."

"I'll be a joke for the whole Hogwarts next school year!" Hermione was trembling. "He insisted on publishing the contents of those letters and hanging my time photo on it."

Hardy gave Hermione a sympathetic look.

But he doesn't seem to be able to help.

"Relax, maybe it's not that bad," Braden patted Hermione on the shoulder as he finished the Flame Whiskey in his hand, "The Ministry is still worried about the mess Kayla caused Catwoman."

He said, "As long as Kayla the Catwoman isn't caught, Fudge won't be in the mood to tout a little witch's adoration for him."

Just in the past few days, Catwoman Kayla, a well-known female thief, visited the manors of several wizard families.

"She stole a lot of valuables, but not a single one," Braden said. "Recently our Miss Granger has been helping to make an inventory of what's lost."

Hermione on the side raised her head, and the expression on her face changed from shame to confusion again, "Speaking of the case of Catwoman Keira, I have a question."

Braden gestured please, but quickly added, "Don't expect me to answer."

"Thank you, Mr. Smith," Hermione pursed her lips, "I know that quite well in my heart."

After getting along for this period of time, they have become a lot familiar with each other.

"Take Malfoy Manor as an example." Hermione took out a note from her small bag, which was densely recorded.

"Catwoman Keira stole 8 collections from Malfoy Manor, but—" she tapped the note with her finger, "the value of these 8 collections is almost nothing compared to other collections."

Braden was a little drunk, "Hey, it seems that Kayla, the catwoman, is not an expert."

"I mean - hiccup - she probably didn't quite recognize the true value of the collection and just took some."

Hermione rolled her eyes at him.

Braden mumbled, "Oh, I'm drunk."

"Quite suspicious," Hardy said. "She must have a special purpose, not just to steal high-value collectibles."

Hermione nodded, "I guess she's looking for something."

Hardy's eyes lit up, "Very valuable inference."

In the next few days, the "Daily Prophet" published several major crimes committed by Catwoman Keira, and the Ministry of Magic was under great pressure.

As Braden said, as long as Catwoman Keira has not been arrested, Hermione does not need to worry about her embarrassing situation for the time being.

The day before Mrs. Pince returned to Hogwarts, Hardy met Hagrid outside the cabin.

He was sneaky, and was about to lead a Hippogriff into the depths of the Forbidden Forest, when Hardy's appearance startled him a lot.

"A hippogriff?" Hardy sized up the hippogriff behind Hagrid. "Is it going to be in your Care of Magical Creatures class?"

Hagrid smiled innocently, and stroked Buckbeak's neck with his broad and rough palm, "Don't be afraid, cute little guy, Professor Ollivander is not a bad person."

Facing Hardy, Buckbeak was quite disturbed, as if he was facing something terrifying.

"It's so cute," said Hagrid, putting his arms around Buckbeak's neck. "The little wizards will love it too."

There were several dog barks not far away, and Fang rushed out from behind the hut, and bit Hagrid's rotten boots with a snap.

It bit hard, making whining noises in its throat.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Fangya, of course I care about you too."

"Wang Wang!"

Hagrid knelt down to touch Fang Fang's dog's head.

Then Buckbeak began stomping his fore hooves so hard that Hardy had to reach out his wand, spraying out a ray of light to block the splashing mud.

Hagrid tried to comfort Buckbeak again, and Fang ran away barking.

"Hey Fang—" Hagrid yelled over his shoulder.

Buckbeak flapped his wings vigorously, ran and rushed into the sky, and disappeared in a flash.

Only Hagrid was left standing there in a daze.

(End of this chapter)