The Silent Witch of Hogwarts

Chapter 148 Investigation

Chapter 148 Investigation

Early in the morning, when most of the young wizards were just waking up, Harry dragged Ron to the library.

The library was unusually quiet at this time. After all, it was a weekend morning, and most students would probably prefer to stay in bed, including Ron.

He followed behind Harry with a frown, yawning as he listened to his mutterings.

"So you think Professor Hamilton is—a real dark wizard?" Ron said with a huge yawn. "Because you heard her say something like she was going to kill you?"

"Hmm! I know that sounds strange."

"So you did know that—" Ron shook his head and said, "I have a feeling you might have misheard me?"

"Did you hear that right?" Harry immediately shook his head. "That's impossible—I heard it very clearly."

"Maybe it's too late, and you're a little sleepy, so you're hallucinating?" Ron said casually, pulling out a chair and sitting down.

"Don't you believe me?" Harry said, a little annoyed. The reason he hadn't told Hermione was because he thought she wouldn't believe him, and now Ron thought the same thing.

"Uh—" Seeing that Harry was angry, Ron shrugged and said, "It's not that I don't trust you—it just feels a little strange."

"But if that's your opinion—I can help you." Ron slowly stood up from his chair, looking genuinely sleepy. He yawned again before asking, "So what are you going to do?"

"I don't think we can find any information about her in the library."

"After all, aren't most of the people here dead?" Ron's words made a lot of sense, which made Harry pause for a moment.

Yes, it seems so — Harry was so preoccupied with thinking about Professor Hamilton being a dark wizard before going to bed last night that he completely forgot how he could possibly find any information about it in the library.

This made him a little embarrassed. Had he woken Ron up so early in the morning just to accompany him to wander around the school?

Perhaps Headmaster Dumbledore knows? Harry subconsciously considered whether to go to Headmaster Dumbledore—but would Headmaster Dumbledore believe him?

Even Ron was skeptical —

"What are you doing here?" Suddenly, a familiar voice came, startling Harry and Ron.

"Hermione?" Ron said, somewhat surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"Of course we're here to study," Hermione said, shaking her head slightly. "And you guys?"

"You haven't been here many times before—" she said, pausing for a few seconds before subconsciously lowering her voice, "What are you investigating?"

"Can't we just come here to study?" Harry retorted instinctively.

"You guys?" Hermione shook her head with a smile. "Is this some kind of Valentine's Day joke?"

"Of course not." Harry gave Ron a disapproving look, knowing he couldn't hide it from Hermione now, so he sighed and said, "We're investigating Professor Hamilton."

Then, to Hermione's astonishment, he recounted what had happened the previous night.

"That's impossible!" Hermione exclaimed, just as Harry had suspected. "Professor Hamilton couldn't be a dark wizard!"

"Just like Lockhart couldn't possibly be a good-for-nothing?" Ron's words made Hermione pause.

"I—" She pursed her lips and finally frowned as she said, "Although I don't think it's possible, Harry, if you insist on investigating, I can give you some clues."

"Really?" Harry looked at Hermione with some surprise.

"Of course," Hermione said, casually pulling out a book. "We're friends."

She put the book on the table and quickly turned to a page.

"What is this?" Harry paused for a moment, looking at the somewhat complicated list of names in front of him.

"This is the Hamilton family genealogy." Hermione shrugged. "But it's a version from fifty years ago."

"And I can tell you, I didn't find Professor Hamilton's name on it."

"That is, Loila Hamilton."

"But isn't she from the Hamilton family?" Ron paused for a moment before saying, "The Hamilton family, one of the Twenty-Eight Pureblood Clans."

"I don't know about that." Hermione shook her head.

After observing for a few seconds, Harry suddenly realized something and asked, "Professor Hamilton shouldn't have grown up in England, right?"

"She's not a Hogwarts graduate." His words startled Hermione for a moment, then she understood.

"You mean—" Hermione pursed her lips and immediately turned to the last page of the book—

"I see." She nodded gently and said, "The author of this book only recorded British wizarding families—while Professor Hamilton should be German—"

"So, there's a Hamilton family in Germany too?" Ron shrugged.

"Very likely." Hermione nodded slightly, but then sighed. "That would make it even harder to find."

"After all, there's no such thing as a 'German Wizard Family Genealogy' here—" She had just read out the German version of the book's title.

"Looks like we'll have to ask Dumbledore then," Ron said sarcastically. "Didn't Headmaster Dumbledore say that Professor Hamilton is some kind of most outstanding wizard?"

"Wait a minute—" Hermione suddenly remembered something and slapped her forehead. "You're a genius, Ron!"

"Huh?" Not only Ron, but Harry was also taken aback.

"Ron is right—Professor Hamilton is so highly regarded by Headmaster Dumbledore—that means she must have been very famous before!" Hermione said, walking towards a corner of the library.

"Just like Lockhart—Professor Hamilton must have been in the newspapers too!"

Here, there are piles of newspapers and books of all kinds, as high as mountains.

"This is a list of all newspapers since the birth of the Daily Prophet!"

Hermione looked at Ron and Harry, who had rushed over, and said, "If we want to find any clues related to Professor Hamilton—we can only start here."

"What if she's not a celebrity?" Ron asked with a shrug.

Hermione pouted, annoyed. "Then we'll just have to ask Headmaster Dumbledore or Professor Hamilton ourselves."

Do you think they'll tell us?

"Probably not—" Ron pursed his lips.

"That's it then?" Hermione said, casually pulling out a newspaper and glancing at it. "Although I don't know Professor Hamilton's age..."

"But they shouldn't be too old." She looked at Harry and Ron again. "We'd better start looking backwards."

"It started roughly from the year we were born!"

What are they doing?

While holding the Snake Language Commentary and the magic array inscription, Loila glanced at the three students who were quite a distance away from her.

Never mind—it doesn't seem to have anything to do with me—probably?

And even if there's some connection, it's all Miss Nagini's fault!

Loila pouted and glanced at the snake that was dozing off on her right hand.

She's still sleeping—she promised me last night that we'd crack the cipher text together—

Loila sighed, then turned her attention back to the magic circle.