HP: The Duelist of Hogwarts - 447

Chapter 447: Shifting Winds

The Ministry of Magic was in upheaval, and Hogwarts was the first to bear the brunt.

Early that morning, three new notices appeared on the noticeboard in the entrance hall outside the Great Hall.

Each notice announced one thing.

The first removed Albus Dumbledore from the post of Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and named Severus Snape, Head of Slytherin House, as Acting Headmaster.

The second announced the expulsion of Harry Potter, a fifth‑year student of Gryffindor. Under Hogwarts school regulations, Harry Potter was deemed to have taken part in the attempted assassination of former Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge, a crime too grave to overlook.

The third stripped Sybill Trelawney of her position as Divination professor and Joroth Jobbins of his post as Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. The stated reason was that they had failed to teach in accordance with the Ministry’s educational philosophy. Replacement professors in Divination and Defence, appointed by the Ministry, would be installed as soon as possible to provide Hogwarts students with an education that aligned with Ministry standards.

Inside Hogwarts, around half the population did not believe that Dumbledore and Harry had assassinated Fudge. Most of those doubters were in Gryffindor, with a scattering in Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. As for Slytherin…

Slytherin was already celebrating Dumbledore and Harry’s departure and Snape’s promotion to Acting Headmaster. Some of them had even started joking that the school should be renamed Slytherin.

At the same time, the Slytherin Brotherhood’s reserve organisation suddenly became very high‑profile. They moved openly through the house, recruiting every pure‑blood Slytherin they could. A student group that had only just been revived swelled in size at astonishing speed.

In the Defence Against the Dark Arts office, Sean stood facing Gavin.

“Grandfather,” Sean said, “pack your things. We are going to the Forbidden Forest. I have prepared a place for you there.”

“Sean, I feel much better already,” Gavin grumbled. “Can we not lengthen the time between treatments?”

Sean shook his head. “I’m afraid not. The reason you feel so much better now is exactly because we haven’t let up. If we break the cycle halfway, your condition will rebound and everything we’ve done so far will be wasted. Unless my research makes a real breakthrough and I can cure your corpse‑yin affliction completely, we need to keep going at this intensity.”

“Tch. Troublesome.”

Still muttering, Gavin swung his wand. His belongings flew into a trunk on the desk that had been expanded with an Undetectable Extension Charm. Then he went carefully through the room, erasing every trace that might show he had ever been there, leaving the office exactly as it had been before he came.

When he was satisfied, he left the Defence Against the Dark Arts office with Sean and headed for the Forbidden Forest.

Not long after they stepped out, another wizard arrived outside the office, flanked by two attendants. One of them drew his wand and tapped the door, unlocking it. The door swung inward to reveal the freshly cleared office, with no sign at all that Gavin had ever occupied it.

Borell stepped inside and frowned faintly. There was a sense of familiarity in the air that he could not quite name. Then he remembered he had studied here as a boy and had stood in this same office before. Feeling at home here was only natural.

He left his attendants to place and arrange his belongings in the room and walked away at once, making for Snape’s dungeon office.

This appointment of Borell as Defence Against the Dark Arts professor was entirely on Voldemort’s orders.

His scheme to murder Fudge and pin the crime on others had worked so well that Voldemort had been highly pleased. As a result, he entrusted Borell with overseeing Snape’s mission to kill Sean. In Voldemort’s view, the hatred between Borell and Sean was beyond reconciliation; no matter what, Borell would see to it that Snape did not shirk the task.

On that point, Voldemort was absolutely right.

When he heard the Dark Lord’s command, Borell accepted eagerly. Aside from a slight concern about the supposed curse on the Defence Against the Dark Arts post, he had no worries at all. And since the curse had been placed on the position by Voldemort himself, Borell saw no reason to fear it. He was serving Voldemort after all; such a curse should not touch him.

At the sound of a knock, Snape’s brows drew together. “Enter,” he snapped.

Sean pushed open the door of the Potions office, stepped inside, and shut it behind him.

“Professor,” he said, “how did my experimental data look?”

Snape regarded him for a moment, then inclined his head. Some of the tension left his features. “There are no major problems,” he said. “But I am speaking only as far as the potions work is concerned. You have used quite a few methods and concepts that do not belong to potion‑making at all. Until the paper is finished, I cannot guarantee that those parts are flawless.”

In his experiments on treating lycanthropy, Sean had incorporated a great deal of non‑magical knowledge about viruses, vaccines and similar subjects, blending it with Potions theory. The hybrid approach had already yielded a promising direction, and he was now digging deeper along that line.

By Sean’s estimate, his current results still fell short of a true cure for the werewolf condition. Even so, they could already suppress it. The effect was somewhat weaker than Wolfsbane Potion: it could not restore a werewolf’s reason. But it could keep the transformed werewolf in a state of deep sleep. So long as nothing startled them awake, they would sleep through until dawn, drastically reducing the danger they posed.

Under normal circumstances, that would have been enough to justify publishing a first‑stage paper.

But in the present climate, the Ministry risked warping everything beneath it, including the Wizengamot and, by extension, the Golden Cauldron, the journal under its remit. Sean shelved his plans to publish for the time being and continued his research quietly. When the situation at the Ministry turned and things returned to some kind of balance, he would send the paper in. Until then, any move he made in public would only invite trouble.

After they had discussed the matter a little longer, Sean made to take his leave.

These days, every hour of his time was spoken for. Being able to sit down and talk Potions with Snape almost counted as a rest.

As he moved toward the door, Snape hesitated, then spoke.

“Sean,” he said quietly, “from now on, we must reduce our private meetings. With Dumbledore gone from Hogwarts, my excuse for not making a move against you has vanished. The Dark Lord will press me harder. You must not give me any reason to act. We have to keep our contact to a minimum. And if it becomes necessary…” His mouth twisted. “You will have to attack me. Seriously injure me, if you must. Only that will be enough to explain things to the Dark Lord.”