Chapter 288 The Responsibilities Of The Administrator

"You owe me an explanation..."

Dumbledore directed the wand and repaired the last crack in the ceiling. His blue eyes looked at Grindelwald through the half-moon spectacles, calmly and inquisitively.

"Explanation?" Grindelwald rubbed the wand and smirked. "This is in your castle, your school."

"A week ago, when I sent the girl to you, she was just a little witch who could only do a simple spell."

Dumbledore looked at Grindelwald and skillfully touched himself as he twirled his wand. A set of dignified purple wizard robes enveloped his body, replacing the original set of starry pajamas, while he remained composed. He murmured slowly.

"But now, with a little time, I have no doubts that she could destroy all of Hogwarts-this is what you call Elena's explosive power, a little, larger, perhaps?"

With time, any young wizard will grow.

For this, Dumbledore was naturally prepared, but this does not mean that he had imagined that in less than a week, Elena would have the potential to destroy the Hogwarts castle: it's like sending a kitten picked up from the road to your boyfriend's house for a week, and when you get it back, it has turned into a wild beast.

"I repeat it again, and I only taught her three spells in total."

Grindelwald shrugged helplessly, waved his wand, and changed into a wizard robe.

"Mowen Healing, Explosive Curse, Cleaning Charm. Well, I admit the Explosive Curse was an accident... Apart from that, I only briefed her on magical creature protection class, herbology, and magical potions class. Relevant knowledge."

Facing Dumbledore's questioning, Grindelwald responded lightly, with his finger against the tip of the wand, and spoke slowly.

"Albus, you can't blame my students' magical talent and insights on you. The one who recruited her to Hogwarts was you, not me. And you tossed her into Newmontgard Castle. And..."

"Shhh..."

Before Grindelwald finished speaking, Dumbledore suddenly frowned, with his fingers moving in front of his lips.

In the next moment, there were hurried footsteps in the not-so-distant hallway.

"Report, what happened? What's going on?"

Unexpectedly, Professor Snape was not the first to arrive at the scene.

Holding a dim lantern, Argus Filch quickly appeared at the corner of the hallway, and a little behind him, Mrs. Norris' shadow was cast by the flickering light, making her look like some kind of terrible monster.

Undoubtedly, as the administrator of this castle, he may know slightly fewer secret passages than Dumbledore, but in terms of how to get to every corner of the castle more swiftly, he is definitely one of the most powerful members of the Hogwarts faculty indeed, in most cases, he will arrive at the accident scene before Dumbledore.

"Well, Professor Dumbledore? Mr. Apocalis?"

Filch's slightly raised eyes saw the two wizards standing in the middle of the hallway for the first time.

He then raised the lantern and looked down a quiet corridor. Confusion appeared on his face, "Professor Dumbledore, you sense it too, I mean..."

"Professor Dumbledore, what's happened?"

Before Mr. Filch had organized his words, there was another step from the other side of the hallway. Snape, cloaked in a large wizard's robe, walked quickly, as if he were a huge bat gliding along the floor.

"Isn't it... that 'guest' who appeared this morning has reappeared?"

Snape murmured softly and narrowed his eyes, his dark eyes gleaming in the candlelight.

As he spoke, the potions class professor's eyes scanned the hallway. He seemed to want to catch a dark demon hidden in the Hogwarts shadow. The loud thud from earlier was all too reminiscent. Some bad memories, especially, this time it happened not far from his office.

Among the two who had been speaking, Professor McGonagall in pajamas and Professor Sprout in regular robes also hurried to the hallway, looking about as if nothing had happened.

As there have been several accidents on the campus, almost all of the deans' nerves are not consciously tightened, but for any unusual movement, they will all rush to the scene of the accident as quickly as possible, except for Professor Flitwick who lives in the Ravenclaw Tower outside the main castle.

"So, what the devil happened?" Filch, who was the first to arrive at the scene, asked again, pressing his lips, and the lantern in his hand swung back and forth, as if to uncover any traces.

"False alarm, seems to be a prank by a ghost."

Grindelwald looked at the surrounding professors, waved his hands, furrowed his brow, and struggled to recall.

"Albus and I just saw a vague figure. I remember, Mr. Argus, you mentioned it before, that's what Pivi..."

"Peeves! That's right, of course, who else can it be but him!"

Filch exclaimed, with a trace of deep anger on his face, turning to look at Dumbledore.

"Headmaster, as I said a long time ago, we should not indulge this restless ghost repeatedly in the school."

"Let me just say, Headmaster," Snape said softly with his arms crossed. "I don't think the ghost Pippi alone can cause tremors affecting the entire castle. Perhaps it just so happened he's here. It's just a spot."

Snape's lips twisted, revealing a hint of sarcasm, as if deeply skeptical of this. "Perhaps we need to conduct a thorough search of Hogwarts Castle to rule out some instability factors on the campus, in other words, I suspect there is an unwanted guest still lurking on the castle's ground floor."

"To be frank, Professor Snape, you don't know how troublesome Pippi is." Filch said disdainfully, "I daresay this isn't beyond him... If you're interested in staying in my office for an extended period, you'll find he can devise more tricks than magical potions."

For centuries, the ghosts of Pippi have been causing serious damage to Hogwarts. Since the school's founder, Salazar Slytherin, personally appointed Hankelton Humble as the castle's administrator, the struggle between the castle's administrator and Pippi's ghost has never ceased.

This is an endless tradition. Many wizards have attempted to capture and expel the Pippi sprites, but without exception, all ended in failure and compromise. During this time, the Pippi sprites seemed to be omnipotent. The same exists.

But occasionally, it was discovered that almost all powerful wizards in history have exceptional tolerance and patience with the Pippi sprites, and no one chose to personally expel or eliminate the Pippi sprites. This led everyone to believe it might be pity from the strong towards the mischievous sprite.

Therefore, over time, battling Pippi has become one of the responsibilities of the Hogwarts Castle administrators for thousands of years.

"During this time, what Mr. Otto and I witnessed with my own eyes was truly a prank caused by the Pippi Sprite. But as for the method he used, naturally, we will find a way to uncover it later."

Dumbledore looked significantly at Grindelwald beside him and said firmly, "Severus, believe me, this is not the same. Otherwise, I will make you see that person with your own eyes."

In the face of Dumbledore's bright blue eyes, after a moment of silence, Snape turned his face indifferently and let out a soft snort, expressing his reluctance to accept.

As a superior master of mental concealment and telepathy, although Snape cannot see through Dumbledore's thoughts, he can still barely discern the truth of a statement using his eyes, expressions, and tone.

At least, from Dumbledore's behavior at that moment, there is no trace of falsehood.

"Furthermore, Argus, Pippi is also a member of Hogwarts."

Dumbledore raised his eyebrows resignedly, glanced at the furious Filch, and let out a soft sigh.

"Of course, if you can catch him, perhaps this time I will consider letting him disappear temporarily or settle for a while."

"Really? Headmaster, are you finally in agreement? Don't worry, I will definitely catch him."

Upon hearing Dumbledore's response, Argus Filch felt as if Christmas had come early, his face radiating excitement as he cheerfully said to Mrs. Lorris.

"Honey, let's go! We're going to catch the cursed Pippi sprite, and this time we can finally get rid of him."

With Dumbledore's conclusion on the matter, the rest of the teachers naturally had little doubt; they all sighed in relief and lightly made their way out of the hallway.

It's not too early. Except for Filch, who happily leads Mrs. Lorris to search for Pippi sprites in the castle, most of the teachers will have a full day of classes tomorrow. They all long to return to the warm and soft bed for a good rest.

You know, not everyone can be like an old wizard. Except for feeding the birds, most of the time, they can sit idly in the office and do what they love.

...

"You've changed a lot over the years, Albus."

Watching Filch and the others leave, Grindelwald shook his head in amazement.

"Letting a fool catch a spirit, you can really say that. Even if you personally shot it, can you only catch it temporarily for a short period of time? There are several promises like this in the sky castle. What it used to be."

There is no doubt that for Grindelwald, the difficulty of recognizing ghosts is even less than the difficulty of recognizing fools.

Grindelwald, who has deeply studied the Three Sacred Objects of Death and even used them as his own mark, knows very well what kind of existence a ghost is. To be precise, he understands almost all the related documents in this aspect.

Therefore, almost at first sight of Pippi, Grindelwald was convinced that Pippi could never be a ghost formed by the wizard's mark, and upon hearing Argus Filch's description of Pippi, he almost knew what kind of peculiar existence it was: an essence evolved from the spirits of Hogwarts' children.

"Sometimes we have to leave some hope."

Dumbledore smiled slightly and did not deny it. "However, I did not lie. The way to catch the sprites does exist; you should know, of course, first they have to realize the peculiarities of Pippi."

Hiding Pippi's true identity is almost a tacit agreement among the leading wizards.

For the ancient headmasters of Hogwarts, once they realize that the Pippi sprite is equivalent to the suppressed nature of the students, it is difficult to feel bad for this clever little sprite. After all, in a certain sense, the chaotic spirit of the children is also an integral part of Hogwarts.

"Old man, what worries me now is... what does Elena want to do?"

Dumbledore rubbed his eyebrows, showing a puzzled look. "There is no doubt that many of her behaviors seem empty and unrestrained, but every time they can gain some benefits from an unexpected angle."

Over the years, there has been no shortage of contradictions between the little witch and the Pippi sprite.

In fact, almost every year there are hundreds of incidents in which young wizards are tricked by the Pippi sprites. Students use magical spells to defend themselves against the Pippi sprites, which is something that happens from time to time.

However, in Dumbledore's opinion, this time the situation is not so much that Elena and Pippi are fighting, it is better to say... These two demonic kings of the mixed world are building a strange friendship through a special game.

The question is, what exactly does Elena want?

"So... do you mean that girl might have realized this?"

Grindelwald raised his eyebrows and turned his head towards the classroom behind him, showing a look of incredulity.

"Wait, if you follow her connection to Hogwarts Castle, that is..."

"Perhaps, but this is what you need to consider."

Dumbledore blinked mischievously with a smile, "Don't forget, you are now one of the administrators of Hogwarts Castle. After all, this is the glorious tradition of Hogwarts that has lasted for millennia. Dear, Mr. Otto Apocalis."

Watching Grindelwald, whose expression suddenly became difficult to discern, Dumbledore suddenly felt much more relieved, and his chest no longer felt so oppressed. From now on, even if something happens at the school, at least one person will be able to share the pain with him.

"I believe the children have been waiting for a long time. If you have any doubts, why don't you ask them if they are fine? This is your responsibility. The second chapter today is still 4000 words. Oh, great chapter! Praise be!"

In this way, only 15 chapters remain! You can settle all the debts immediately! Spread flowers, happy, proud!

The relentless keyword Ji is about 10,000 words at a stretch. Is that okay? (Whispers)

Zhang said that the explosive change plan continues to be in progress. Achieve 500 chapters in 24 hours and add 2,000 words.

PD1: The red envelopes continue to exist! However, the distribution timing is random, and friends who receive them should remember to say thank you.

PD2: Dear plump-faced chubby chickens, have you given to the diligent and lovely [Elena Kaslana] today? I'm sure you've forgotten for a long time, big feet! Humph! ! !