Chapter 50: The Real Culprit 2.

"Professor McGonagall…" Harry got out of the trace his head stopped hurting.

McGonagall looked at Harry worriedly.

"Potter you should take care of your b

ody. And don't worry we have already caught the real culprit behind today's incident. You will definitely be given justice."

She walked away saying this to harry.

"The real culprit?... I knew it. Liam wasn't the one responsible."

Ron looked at Harry weirdly, "Harry, how can you be so dumb. Look around a bit do you see Liam around here. Professor McGonagall clearly meant Liam when she said the real culprit."

Harry nodded he didn't want to waste his time arguing with Ron, "Why isn't Hermione sitting with us."

Ron was furious when harry mentioned Hermione, "Don't talk about her she is also a traitor she thinks that it wasn't Liam who enchanted your broom."

Harry was very confused to hear such a thing, "Do you have any evidence that it was Liam…"

Ron became startled over this question, "Evidence???" He held his head.

'Hate Liam … Hate Liam..'

"What evidence… It was clearly Liam who else could it be. He is clearly jealous of you. He took your credit of defeating the troll…" Ron babbled in a weird tone.

Harry held Ron's shoulder, "Ron what the hell are you talking about… it was Liam who saved us. You ran towards the troll mindlessly and Liam cast a spell and saved you. If it weren't for him you would still have been in a hospital."

Harry was interrupted by the sudden arrival of professor Dumbledore.

Dumbledore walked towards the podium with a grim expression. He wasn't happy with the current turn of events. There was clearly involvement of outer forces in Hogwarts. Manipulating students to do the deeds for them. He was worried sick for the future of Hogwarts.

Standing in front of the podium, Dumbledore started to speak with a disappointed tone, "Today a lot of things happened. A student was involved in illegal act. We have found the person who was guilty of that act and have put him in the dungeons. When we investigated we found that dark magic was used which has been clearly been banned by the ministry. Because of this the student may be sent to Azkaban."

All the students held their breaths and started to chatter.

"A Hogwarts student sent to Azkaban…."

"This is madness…"

"How did he get his hands on dark magic…"

"That student must be a Slytherin… only students from Slytherin house have access to dark magic."

"SILENCE!" Dumbledore shouted.

"I hope you all take this as a lesson. Another notice, Professor Snape has gotten into an accident and it may take a while for him to recover so his class will be on hold till his recovery. That is all." He went back to his seat.

The dinner was served.

"Harry just take a look around the Slytherin table. Do you see Liam?." Ron said to Harry in a smug voice.

Harry looked around and couldn't find Liam.

Ron puffed his chest, "See I told you Liam was the culprit. He isn't here, which means he is probably in the dungeons." He laughed.

Harry didn't believe anything Ron said he couldn't believe Liam would do anything like this.

"There are many students who are no here. Didn't professor Dumbledore say that professor Snape got into an accident? Maybe Liam is with professor Snape."

Ron was very disappointed, "Tsk Tsk… Harry how can you be so innocent? If you don't want to believe me then don't. You will know tomorrow when the auror from the ministry comes."

In the Ravenclaw table, Edward was smiling and looked very happy. Grant was sitting beside him he looked at the smiling face of Edward, "Looks like your plan worked? It's maybe that poor Michael or that Liam who is in the dungeons it may even be both. I don't understand something, why is it that you hate Michael so much? I have seen the picture in the Ravenclaw common room wasn't that Michael's father with your parents. Shouldn't you be in good relations?"

Edward's expressions changed suddenly. He went from happy to angry in few seconds. He slammed the fork in his hands on the table near Grant's hands.

Grant quickly removed his hand from table in fear, "What are you doing?"

Edward looked towards Grant, "The next time you ask such question, I won't miss. You are a dog so act like and dog. Don't try to get chummy just because I treat you nicely."

Grant moved away a bit but he had a mysterious smile.

…

[After the dinner, Snape's office]

The door knocked.

Dang Dang dang…

Liam had eaten dinner he was waiting for Scrubs to comeback. He wanted to catch and interrogate him. Just as he heard the knock on the door he couldn't keep his composure and rushed to the door.

"That was a quick response, you weren't waiting for a girl were you?" Filch asked with suspicion.

"I am eleven years old. Do you think I would be waiting for a girl?"

'Has there been any previous case of first year students who did something like this? Hopefully not…'

Filch regretted his choice of words, "Don't talk back to me boy, Now go quickly the headmaster has called you in his office."

Liam hadn't changed into his pajamas he quickly made his way to Dumbledore's office.

"Professor you called me here" Liam arrived at Dumbledore's office and saw Professor Flitwick, Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore in the room. Cedric was also there in the room.

"Liam I heard what Cedric said and it seems to be more of a problem. I am afraid Arlo isn't the culprit."

Liam already was also thinking the same thing. Arlo's didn't have any reason to do something like this. Not also that but the fact that the situation seemed very suspicious from the beginning.

"I know that you may hold some resentment towards Arlo as he has put your friend in great danger. I also feel wronged as this has even caused professor Snape to get hospitalized. But I know that Arlo isn't a bad kid he must definitely have been blackmailed. I hope you don't hate him for what he did." Flitwick's words were filled with regret for not having paid attention to Arlo.

"Blackmailed or not, what he has done is not something we can let go of? He will get punished for doing what he did. Because of him Severus was hospitalized you were also put in a deadly situation with two other students. He is also responsible for framing Liam and also performing a banned dark magic. I don't think he deserves mercy." McGonagall let out her anger, "But during the dinner I noticed that the ritual curse has not broken. I think that we should investigate more."

Liam was shocked, "The curse hasn't broken yet!! I clearly remember Cedric break the bracelet in Michael's hand… The curse should no longer exist."

"Yes, I did break the bracelet. After that Michael fell unconscious." Cedric followed up with Liam.

Dumbledore looked grim, "The bracelet wasn't the object for the Ritual of resentment but just held the possession ritual. The real object for the ritual curse is still out there. Tomorrow the Auror's from the ministry will come to Hogwarts. And with the current evidences Arlo will be held responsible and sent to Azkaban while the real culprit roams around freely."

Flitwick showed expression of worry, "Professor Dumbledore, I know that Arlo doesn't know any ritual magic or any kind of dark magic. We must find the real culprit and save Arlo."

"But how would we find that student…

The room fell into silence.

Cedric broke the silence, "The note… The note Michael wrote… I think Michael may know something."

"But he is still unconscious, any we still don't know how long it will take for him to get up." Liam said.

"Don't worry… I will do something." Dumbledore said, "You all may leave, take a good rest. You all have performed very well, I will handle the rest." He smiled.

"But professor…" Cedric was interrupted.

"Cedric Professor Dumbledore said he will handle this… trust him." McGonagall assured Cedric.

Cedric nodded.

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