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The professors, who had been on the sidelines for a long time, finally found a chance to step in.
When Audrina was rescued from the Chamber of Secrets by the professors, she was already barely alive, clinging to life.
Gray-white hair, a face full of wrinkles, loose skin that had lost its shape. She had aged so much she looked like a woman in her seventies or eighties.
Her life force had been absorbed by the diadem.
Brought out with her was the smaller basilisk. Since only the bones throughout its body had been shaken apart, this smaller basilisk was preserved almost perfectly. Its eyes, fangs, scales, blood, and flesh were all intact. Although with the basilisk's death, its eyes had already lost their instant-death effect, they could still be used to make Petrification tools.
When the students saw the basilisk, they cried out in surprise one after another.
Even if they did not recognize basilisks, the enormous body and ferocious appearance alone were enough to make them understand that this creature was absolutely not something to provoke.
After learning that this basilisk had been dealt with by Dudley, and that he had also resolved the Chamber of Secrets crisis, everyone sighed again.
As expected of that Dursley.
And so Dudley's reputation at Hogwarts rose another level.
Even quite a few Gryffindors looked admiring when they mentioned Dursley.
The crisis had been resolved, and there was no longer any need to live in fear.
As for the protagonist of this incident, Dudley was currently writing a letter at his desk.
As Hedwig flapped her wings and left, Dudley stood on the castle's lookout tower, feeling the breeze brush lightly across his cheeks as he gazed into the distance.
All that remained was waiting.
Some celebrated; others had a very bad night.
That night, a certain fellow who was enjoying life in his own courtyard suddenly received extremely bad news for him.
It instantly made him lose his aristocratic bearing and fly into a rage.
Three days later, early in the morning.
The students were sitting at the long tables, preparing to enjoy a lovely breakfast, when the doors of the Great Hall were once again slammed open with great force, banging against the wall behind them.
Lucius rushed in like a gust of wind and strode toward the professors' table. His face was livid, and his expression was furious beyond measure.
This time, Minister Fudge had not come with him. He had come alone.
"Good morning, Lucius," Dumbledore said kindly, looking in a very good mood. "Have you had breakfast? Would you like something?"
Lucius stared fixedly at Dumbledore and strode forward. He looked to be in a terrible state, his face haggard, his eyes bloodshot. Fire seemed to be shooting from his eyes. If his gaze could attack, Dumbledore would already have been hit by dozens of spells.
He clenched his teeth and squeezed several words out from between them.
"Dumbledore!"
Last night, he had received news. The remaining eleven Hogwarts governors had jointly acted, the Ministry of Magic had reviewed it, and the Wizengamot had ruled.
Lucius was stripped of his position as a school governor.
Effective immediately.
Joint action by the governors, Ministry review, Wizengamot ruling. If even the slightest problem had appeared in any one of those three links, Malfoy would not have lost his position as governor.
Over the past few days, he had tried to reverse the situation, but no matter which side he approached, their attitude toward him had been extremely firm.
There was no room for reversal at all.
Lucius truly could not understand why.
After throwing enough money around, he finally obtained a hint.
The answer he received was: Hogwarts.
Hogwarts. Was that not Dumbledore?
At that moment, Lucius was so angry his lungs nearly exploded. He completely lost his usual gentlemanly manner and was unwilling to wait even a moment, storming over in fury.
"How could you take away my position as governor? The Malfoy family has been a Hogwarts governor for generations! Do you know what we paid?"
Lucius absolutely would not allow the important governor position of the Malfoy family to be lost by his hands.
Although the governors had no authority within Hogwarts Castle itself, they still possessed a certain amount of influence in the wizarding world. Otherwise, why would the Malfoys, who never did anything without profit, cling to that position and refuse to let go?
A trace of helplessness appeared on Dumbledore's face, and he shook his head at Lucius. "Lucius, I think you have misunderstood. This truly has nothing to do with me."
"If not you, then who else could it be?"
Who had enough influence to persuade eleven governors? And who had enough energy to move the Ministry of Magic and the Wizengamot?
Because of Lucius's mistaken investment after Voldemort's rise, the Malfoy family had already suffered enormous losses.
They had paid a great deal of money to barely escape imprisonment in Azkaban.
Even so, officials in the Ministry who disliked him still found excuses every few days to search his manor.
If he lost the position of school governor as well, the Malfoys' influence in the wizarding world would fall again.
"Uncle Lucius."
At this moment, a voice somewhat familiar to Lucius sounded from the Slytherin table.
Lucius followed the sound and saw a familiar figure.
Richmond Carrow.
The current head of the Carrow family. As soon as he graduated, he had used thunderous methods to remove the previous family head. Then, with sharp and ruthless judgment, he turned the family business from loss to profit in one stroke, saving the Carrow family.
Carrow spoke with a calm expression. "This was the decision of the remaining eleven governors."
"Why would you do this?" Lucius glared angrily at Carrow.
Carrow completely ignored Lucius's anger. Others might fear Lucius, but he would not. He had already uncovered some information. Lockhart's earlier acquisition of Witches and Potions Publishing had been connected to Lucius.
"Why?" After hearing Lucius's words, Carrow stood from the Slytherin table and met his gaze levelly, shouting sternly, "Lucius, you still have the nerve to ask why?"
He had even dropped the word Uncle. Calling him that earlier had only been out of respect for a senior.
The moment Lucius acted, they had already become enemies.
"You believed Professor Dumbledore was incompetent. Through various threats and inducements, you removed him from the headmaster's position, took him away from Hogwarts, and sent him to the Wizengamot for trial."
"Do you know? The moment you took Professor Dumbledore away, the mastermind behind the scenes acted."
Carrow's presence was full and forceful. After hearing his words, Lucius's gaze began to dodge.
This was a sign of guilt. Of course he was guilty.
He had secretly given Ginny the diary Voldemort had given him. He clearly knew that object was a very dangerous Dark Magic artifact.
At the same time, a faint expectation also rose in him.
Was the Weasley family going to lose a daughter?
They had given birth to so many. Losing one was fine.
If that was the case, it was not unacceptable.
Lucius thought this with no lack of malice. Toward the astonishingly prolific Weasley family, he was not without jealousy.
He had only one son.
Unfortunately, Carrow's next sentence disappointed him completely.
"The youngest daughter of the Shaffer family paid a terrible price because of your error in judgment."
"A large amount of her life force was stolen. Even now, she is still lying at St. Mungo's, her life and death unknown."
"Lucius, you must take full responsibility for this!"
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