The Prisoners of Hogwarts

Chapter 7 The Final Test

As soon as Lin Qi finished speaking, a rustling sound came from behind the bushes.

Soon, a gray wolf with cold eyes and a lean body emerged from behind the bushes.

The gray wolf walked towards Lynch. As it took its first step, its body suddenly grew taller, transforming into a male wizard.

He wore a gray robe and covered his face with a wide hood.

The wizard stopped at the edge of the white brickwork.

Lynch looked at him. "You shouldn't be here. Dumbledore will find you."

"I am an Animagus, and you should have confidence in my ability to conceal it. Besides, according to your plan, your strategy is key to our fight against the Mystic, and I need to be here to see how your plan is progressing."

The grey-robed wizard responded to Lynch in a low, hoarse voice with no inflection.

Lynch knew that this was because the man's vocal cords had been severely damaged, and even after receiving the best treatment at St. Mungo's Hospital, the damage was still permanent.

"My plan is going very smoothly." Lynch looked around at the Forbidden Forest and found it incredibly pleasing to the eye. "All of Dumbledore's reactions were exactly as I expected."

"He was the one who locked you up here back then. He refused the Ministry of Magic's offer to send you to Azkaban, citing 'too dangerous and inconvenient to move.' Now he's going to release you himself?"

Lynch chuckled softly: "That's our beloved Headmaster Dumbledore, who always puts personal likes and dislikes last and always compromises for a greater goal. Although he considers me very dangerous, he also believes that my harm to the wizarding world and the Muggle world is far less than that of Voldemort. So when I told him that Voldemort had been reborn, it was only natural that he would release me to help him fight Voldemort."

The hoarse voice remained flat, "You've just moved from a small cage to a bigger one."

"I am in a cage, and my reward is that the only wizard in the world who can stand up to Voldemort directly stands by our side. Although his path is different from ours, he is on the same side as us, and we all have the same goal, which is to completely destroy Voldemort."

Lynch glanced at the gray-robed wizard: "One day in the future, you'll be glad he's on our side."

"Perhaps," the grey-robed wizard said noncommittally, then asked, "Why are you still standing there? If I understand correctly, Dumbledore has already lifted the restrictions on you, or are you preparing to reject his olive branch offered to ease tensions?"

"Oh, my dear Reggie," Lynch gently wagged his finger, calling out the grey wizard's name, "this is no olive branch of reconciliation, this is Dumbledore's final test today."

"It was a very hasty, but also a very bold, test. He really opened a hole in this cage and then left, leaving no trace of his methods." Lin Qi stretched out his right hand and gently stroked the invisible crack on the stone house's barrier, sighing softly, "Freedom, ah, what an alluring thing. Only after losing it do we realize how precious it is."

"Isn't he afraid you'll really run away like that?"

"He's afraid, but he needs to know more whether he can trust me to take down Voldemort."

"If I leave the stone house before he arrives with witnesses tomorrow, even if I eventually return to the stone house, it will prove that the desire for freedom is the strongest in my heart. Then I am just a liar who uses clever words to disguise himself for the sake of freedom, and I am not trustworthy."

"If I'm not on his side, then keeping me around would mean he'd have to expend energy dealing with both me and Voldemort. In that case, it would be better to just let me leave so I can continue hunting dark wizards. Maybe then Voldemort will come after me first."

"He can keep you locked up here, since you've already given him the most important information."

Lynch glanced at the grey-robed wizard named Reggie, "Knowing that the enemy is stronger than himself and almost impossible to kill, he still chose not to use a powerful card in his hand. Dumbledore is not such a pedantic and foolish person."

"Dumbledore made the right bet. I won't run away. Destroying Voldemort is indeed the most important thing in my heart." Lynch's voice became somewhat erratic. "Besides, Dumbledore is still keeping my wand. It's the only wand in the world that can fully utilize my magical advantages. Without it, my chances of winning against Voldemort will be very slim."

"So you can't leave Hogwarts anytime soon...?"

The hoarse voice was flat and monotone, but Lin Qi could still detect a hint of disappointment in it.

He looked at Reggie: "I knew you had something else on your mind besides my freedom. Tell me, what happened?"

"It's not a big deal, but it's a tricky one, and nobody but you can handle it," Reggie said. "It's those house-elves."

He continued, "Our main factories rely heavily on those house-elves; they are key to our creation of those battle cards. And the reason they work so devotedly in the factories is to repay the life-saving grace of the 'Mist Hanger'."

"But you were locked up and never showed up."

A warm smile returned to Lynch's face. "So some fools jumped out and started sowing discord?"

"Yes," Reggie replied. "There are people on the board who want to take control of the factory. The wolves we brought in for rapid expansion are now eyeing our wealth."

Lin Qi waved his hand dismissively: "Don't bother with those idiots from the Twenty-Eight Pureblood Families. They're a bunch of maggots who escaped trial through underhanded means. We can deal with them later."

Reggie looked up at Lynch: "Kill them all?"

Lynch stroked his chin. "Consider them lucky. The unbreakable oath I made with Dumbledore stipulates that I can't kill anyone anymore. I don't know what the consequences of the decision I make now will be when the oath expires. Let's use the evidence of their misconduct in the Chamber of Commerce and kick them out."

He then continued, "Tell those house-elves that I will see them in a month."

"A month later? Bringing so many pet elves to Hogwarts is not a good idea."

"I'm not bringing them to Hogwarts," Lynch said. "I'm going to see them."

"You can break the unbreakable oath!?"

Reggie's hoarse voice finally rose in pitch.

"No, I haven't broken the Unbreakable Oath." Lynch's smile remained unchanged. "The oath stipulates that I must not step out of Hogwarts, and I will stay here obediently until the oath expires."

"But what I learned in Muggle society taught me that sometimes you can talk to people thousands of miles away from home. You don't have to worry about anything else, just send me the materials I need."

Ignoring Reggie's astonishment and confusion, Lynch continued, "Now, my friend, you should head to Paris. Ten years of preparation will now yield results."