Facing Cho Chang's questioning, although Filch looked like he was starting to tremble, his mouth remained stubborn and refused to admit fault.
He still didn't think he was wrong, "It's wrong for a Young Wizard to attack a Professor, you're just making excuses for your behavior."
A hoarse and unpleasant voice came from his mouth, and Amanda looked coldly at this "old man" who had some years on him.
"Yeah, only a Professor is allowed to sneak attack me, but I'm not allowed to strike back," Marietta Eckmore retorted sarcastically. "How righteous you are, how much you uphold Hogwarts' rules. Is there even one rule, or even half a rule, in Hogwarts that says a Professor is allowed to sneak attack students?"
"It's all because Headmaster Dumbledore is too soft-hearted towards you now. In the old days, I could have tied your thumbs and hung you in the dungeons... Heh... heh..."
Before Filch could finish his sentence, Amanda's eyes suddenly turned fierce. He was immediately as if something had grabbed his neck, his hands scratching powerlessly near his throat, his face turning red, making difficult gasping sounds.
"I very much disagree with such a practice, Filch. As long as I am at Hogwarts, I will never allow such punishment of Young Wizards to appear in Hogwarts again."
Headmaster Dumbledore looked at Filch with great disapproval, but he also turned to look at Amanda with some disapproval.
"Miss Amanda, Mr. Filch indeed doesn't speak very well, but you see..."
Amanda nodded slightly, and the force on Filch's neck suddenly loosened. "Mr. Filch, don't let me hear similar threatening words a second time."
"I don't like Hermione, my seniors, or my friends being threatened by anyone."
"If this situation occurs, I'll have to find a way to remove the threat. You understand what I mean, don't you?"
Filch gasped for air, his hands constantly rubbing his neck.
Amanda looked at him indifferently, then said something he found hard to believe: "But you probably won't have the chance to say anything to them anyway. From today onwards, you should be leaving Hogwarts."
"Given your hostility towards the Young Wizards of Hogwarts, I believe you are no longer suitable to continue serving as the Hogwarts Castle caretaker. This is also the intention of Mothers."
Looking steadily at Filch, Amanda's words made him tremble all over.
"No, no, no, you can't, you have no right to fire me!"
Filch was like Madam Norris being grabbed by the scruff of the neck, his voice suddenly becoming shrill.
Should it be said that he is indeed Madam Norris's master? Even their voices are so similar in certain situations.
Amanda turned to look at Headmaster Dumbledore. Although she indeed didn't have the authority to fire Filch, her two Mothers did.
"Headmaster Dumbledore, this is also Mothers' intention. If you don't want to agree, it doesn't matter; Mothers will return to handle it themselves."
Pausing for a moment, Amanda gestured towards Filch's position. "It's just that by the time Mothers return, the outcome for Mr. Filch might not be certain."
Headmaster Dumbledore lowered his eyes, pondered for a moment, and then sighed. "Filch, you are getting old. I think you really should go home and have a good rest."
"What? No! Dumbledore, no!" Filch's chest heaved violently, and he stared at Headmaster Dumbledore in disbelief.
"I—I've stayed in this school for most of my life. How could I leave here? I can't leave, I can't..."
"Please rest assured, Mr. Filch," Hermione's voice suddenly rang out. "To demonstrate the Ministry of Magic's care for every ordinary citizen of the Wizarding World, I can recommend you for a cleaning job within the Ministry of Magic."
"This will provide you with a sufficient source of income, enough to maintain the basic livelihood of yourself and Madam Norris."
"Or you can go to my factory to be in charge of cleaning," Amanda added to Hermione's words. "It's similar to your current job at Hogwarts."
"But you absolutely cannot continue to stay at Hogwarts."
Allowing Filch to continue staying at Hogwarts would definitely be a form of torture for the Young Wizards. Filch's attitude towards the Young Wizards had long exceeded the normal scope of management; his words and actions towards them were purely a way to vent his own frustrations.
Headmaster Dumbledore, who was too busy with many things every day, might not understand this side of things, but Amanda, as a student, knew it all too well.
Both she and Hermione provided Filch with job opportunities. This was both to ensure he wouldn't starve and to see if his hostility towards people who could use magic would extend to adult Wizards.
It could also be considered a form of indirect revenge against Filch.
Stepping forward to look at Filch, Amanda watched him take a terrified step back. "Considering you have, after all, put in decades at Hogwarts, we restrained ourselves from taking action, Mr. Filch."
"Please do not mistake our kindness for tolerance. We have tolerated you enough times. Headmaster Dumbledore, could you please give a reasonable limit on the time for Mr. Filch to leave Hogwarts? To avoid him dragging it out indefinitely."
Without hesitation, she blocked all of Filch's paths. Under Amanda's gaze, Headmaster Dumbledore spoke slowly, "Filch, three days. In three days' time, go home."
"Hogwarts will also bear your retirement pension to ensure your life can be maintained."
After Headmaster Dumbledore finished speaking, he prepared to leave, but Amanda stepped across to block his path. "Sorry, Headmaster Dumbledore, there's one more thing we haven't finished."
"What do you mean, Miss Amanda?" Headmaster Dumbledore looked down at Amanda, who was blocking him, not understanding.
Amanda curled her lips and looked at Filch. "I need Headmaster Dumbledore to act as a witness to help Mr. Filch and me establish an Unbreakable Vow."
"Although I don't want to speculate about Mr. Filch with a negative mindset, from the perspective of rigor and probability, we should still use this method to protect Hogwarts' secrets."
After saying this, Amanda didn't wait for Headmaster Dumbledore's consent and reached out her right hand towards Filch.
She only saw that Headmaster Dumbledore was here and thought he was the most suitable witness, so she asked him. If he didn't agree, Hermione, Senior Cho Chang, or Senior Marietta could any of them become the witness for the Unbreakable Vow.
"Mr. Filch, please cooperate."
Amanda spoke to remind him, and only then did Filch reluctantly grit his teeth and take her hand.
Seeing this, Headmaster Dumbledore sighed helplessly, walked between the two, and pointed the tip of his wand at their joined hands.
"Filch, are you willing to never reveal any secrets about Hogwarts to anyone?"
Amanda was the first to ask. Filch's voice was stiff as she held his hand. "I am."
"Are you willing to never reveal the secrets of any Hogwarts teacher or student to anyone?"
"I am."
"Are you willing to ensure that, no matter the situation, you will never betray Hogwarts?"
"I am."
As the final condition was set, three tongues of flame emerged from the tip of Headmaster Dumbledore's wand, tightly entwining Amanda and Filch's arms.
Slowly releasing her hand, Amanda, having achieved her goal, nodded expressionlessly at Filch.
"Remember to leave Hogwarts within three days, Mr. Filch. We'll meet again if fate allows."
"Goodnight, Headmaster Dumbledore."
The group politely said their goodbyes to Headmaster Dumbledore and then directly exited Filch's office under Amanda's lead.
As soon as they walked out of Filch's office, Marietta Eckmore patted her chest. "That's satisfying, that's satisfying. I feel much better now."
Cho Chang pursed her lips and patted her lover's back soothingly, receiving a smile from Marietta Eckmore to show she was at ease.
With the matter with Filch handled, the incident regarding Umbridge's sneak attack on Marietta Eckmore was completely over.
On the afternoon of the next day, after Amanda, Hermione, Harry, and Ron had finished their classes, the four Young Wizards continued to head deep into the Forbidden Forest together.
They needed to fulfill the promise made to Hagrid: to feed and educate Grawp.
Harry and Ron each held a large bucket filled with cooked meat.
Even though the large buckets had been charmed with Levitation Charms, the two boys still didn't agree to let Amanda and Hermione carry them.
"It would make us look very ungentlemanly," Ron explained.
"If anyone saw, they would definitely laugh at us," Harry said even more earnestly. Since the boys said so, Amanda and Hermione could only go along with it and say it was up to them.
Arriving at the mouth of the cave where Grawp lived, Harry shouted into the cave.
"Grawp, Grawp, come out and eat!"
Harry's voice entered the cave, stirring up echoes. Before long, Grawp walked out of the cave, swaying.
Harry and Ron simultaneously pushed the large buckets of cooked meat towards Grawp and then quickly backed away, watching Grawp finish the two large buckets of meat.
After finishing the meat, Grawp sat down and looked around Amanda and the others. Seeing that Hagrid wasn't there, a somewhat unhappy expression appeared on Grawp's face.
However, this expression quickly dissipated after he saw Amanda and Hermione. A look of joy appeared on the Giant's massive and innocent face. Perhaps out of a biological instinct to seek benefits and avoid harm, Grawp instinctively gave up on Amanda and instead reached out his right hand towards Hermione.
Hermione pulled out her wand alertly, ready to make any necessary reaction at any time.
But Amanda was one step faster than her, taking a step to the side and blocking Hermione.
"Hey! Put your hand back."
"Grawp, don't do anything stupid!" Harry and Ron also reacted, shouting while pulling out their wands and standing in two different positions around Grawp.
If Grawp made even the slightest abnormal move, two Stupefy spells would hit him at once.
Blocked by Amanda and shouted at by Harry and Ron, Grawp showed an expression of grievance plus dissatisfaction, like a child whose toy had been taken away.
Looking at him like this, Amanda's brow furrowed tighter and tighter. The Giant's ways were really obvious in Grawp; he actually wanted to grab Hermione.
"Grawp, Hermione is not your toy. For your own good, you'd better put your hand back."
Amanda opened her mouth, but what came out was the language of the Giant race. Grawp was stunned for a moment upon hearing his own tribe's language.
He then also spoke in the Giant language, "This girl, pretty, want to play with her. Little one, go away."
Raising an eyebrow, she looked at Grawp playfully. It seemed this guy hadn't realized he was already in a human settlement.
He still thought he was among the Giant race, where size decided everything.
"Heh."
Telling her to get out of the way? Amanda only gave a cold snort, raised her right hand, and made a grabbing and lifting motion to the side. A tree several times taller than Grawp was uprooted.
The communication Amanda just had proved that for a Giant like Grawp, reasoning sometimes didn't work. Only by beating him into submission would he behave, or even listen to your reasoning.
Holding this thought, Amanda swung her right arm, and the large tree, carried by the Levitation Charm, slammed heavily into Grawp's back with massive force.
Thud!
After a dull sound of physical impact, there was a roar from Grawp due to the pain.
This blow was actually far from being an injury for a Giant; it would just cause him to feel pain.
Obvious anger flashed across Grawp's face. He roared and tried to get up, but Amanda's left hand casually clenched into a fist and gave a light pull, and he fell face-down onto the ground again.
Her right hand rose and fell repeatedly. The large tree controlled by Amanda struck Grawp's body time and again, perfectly avoiding all parts that could cause him injury, and she calculated the appropriate force values in her mind beforehand, with every strike strictly following the calculated values.
Actually, if Grawp had committed any other mistake, Amanda wouldn't have been so strict. But he was planning to lay hands on Hermione, which was something Amanda could not tolerate.
She had to make Grawp remember that he absolutely, must not lay a hand on Hermione or any human.
The beating lasted for nearly five minutes. Amanda waved her hand to set the large tree aside and walked forward slowly to approach Grawp.
Having just felt the pain end, Grawp cautiously raised his head and saw Amanda coming towards him. He immediately flipped over quickly and backed away using both hands and feet. It was this little person just now.
Clearly so small, yet able to hit him so hard with a large tree. He must stay far away from this little person.
"Stay here and don't move, Grawp," Amanda warned in the Giant language. Grawp immediately stopped his movements.
Nodding in satisfaction, Amanda raised her hand and used a detection spell on Grawp, confirming that he really hadn't suffered any injuries.
This was immediately followed by a healing spell, completely eliminating the pain on Grawp's body.
It was enough to make Grawp remember his mistake; excessive prolongation of pain... Amanda, based on her own experiences, believed it was unnecessary.
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