Chapter 664: Trap

After returning to her office, Umbridge was still struggling.

She paced back and forth in the office restlessly, and stopped from time to time, picked up a quill and wanted to write a letter to Cornelius Fudge, but she gave up quickly every time.

As Dumbledore and Skeeter said, her current situation was very bad, and she had to make some achievements before she could continue to be a Ministry official.

Of course, Umbridge could choose to tell Minister Fudge about the news and ask him to send someone to investigate.

But Professor Trelawney, the master of prophecy in Umbridge's mind, told her that she had to participate in person, and with Umbridge's personality, it was difficult for her to accept giving up a great credit that was about to be in her hands.

As for the dangers she might encounter, Umbridge thought it was normal, because what she wanted most was to find the unknown person who attacked her and the evidence that Dumbledore wanted to deal with the Ministry of Magic.

No matter which one the prophecy points to, she may encounter an enemy she cannot deal with. The danger and opportunity mentioned in the prophecy should be about this...

Umbridge kept thinking and struggling in her heart.

But she didn't struggle for too long. After changing her mind, Umbridge quickly thought of a solution.

Indeed, Umbridge was not good at fighting. It was obviously impossible for her to deal with Dumbledore or anyone else, but she was very good at fighting for power...

She was able to climb to this position step by step, not by pretending to please her superiors, and ruthlessly taking the credit of other colleagues and taking it for herself?

As long as Umbridge first finds out where the tree in the prophecy is and confirms the secret, she can apply to Minister Fudge for a group of Aurors to come to help.

At that time, she will be responsible for leading the battle, and the task of fighting will be handed over to others. In the end, she will take the credit for herself with ease, and everything will be easily solved... If Professor Trelawney had not said that she must participate in person, she could actually stay in the back.

Umbridge thought regretfully in her heart.

After all, the prophecy has already stated that there is danger. If possible, she still doesn't want to take risks, but obviously, power is more attractive to her. Between personal safety and power, Umbridge finally chose to take risks.

After making up her mind, Umbridge's action power is still very strong. She quickly looked for which special trees in Hogwarts...

The results of the investigation gave her a headache...

There are too many special trees in Hogwarts!

As a famous school with a heritage of thousands of years, and a forest as large as the Forbidden Forest, I don't know how many people have planted some strange plants in Hogwarts over the years.

Fortunately, Professor Trelawney's prophecy narrowed the scope for Umbridge, and the tree was relatively "young".

So after Umbridge eliminated all the trees over a hundred years old, the remaining targets suddenly became much fewer. And soon, Umbridge locked her target on the Whomping Willow...

The reason is also very simple. Except for the Whomping Willow, which is on the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest, other special trees are all in the inner part of the forest. Umbridge would never dare to go in alone.

Of course, Fish originally chose the Whomping Willow, or the secret passage under the Whomping Willow.

In the following period of time, the students of Hogwarts were surprised to find that Umbridge was no longer wandering around the school like a ghost, finding faults from time to time to deduct points or put students in detention.

And most of the time, no one could see her figure, as if Umbridge suddenly became a normal professor. Usually, except for teaching students, she stayed in her office.

While everyone felt strange, they were also happy to see such changes. After all, a toad face would appear from time to time, telling you in a little girl's voice that you can't do this or that, which is unbearable for a normal person.

Of course, the disappeared Umbridge did not stay in her office obediently. In Fish's perception, she spent most of her time wandering outside the woods near the Whomping Willow, but she didn't know where she got an invisibility cloak from, so other people couldn't see her.

In addition, Umbridge's caution, or courage, was somewhat beyond Fish's expectations. In addition to wandering around the Whomping Willow these days, she never thought of approaching to check it out. Obviously, she had already understood the characteristics of the Whomping Willow and didn't want to take the risk.

Then the cat ran to find Dumbledore...

That night, Umbridge came to the woods near the Whomping Willow again, but no matter how much she observed, she couldn't see what secrets were under the tree, but it was obviously impossible for her to approach it.

It's not that Umbridge didn't try to do this, but even if she put on an invisibility cloak and hid her voice, this strange tree could still detect her approach. If she hadn't dodged in time, she would have been hit by the branches of the Whomping Willow.

As for using magic to "solve" the Whomping Willow from a distance...

Let's not talk about whether she has the ability to do so. What if the Whomping Willow is not the tree in the prophecy? Wouldn't it be a big deal to alert the enemy? This is related to her promotion. Umbridge dare not take any risks.

Just as Umbridge was thinking that this was not a solution and whether she should ask Minister Fudge for an assistant to come and help, a sound of fallen leaves and dead branches being trampled came from her right side.

She looked in the direction of the sound and found that she did not see any people or animals.

Thestrals?

Umbridge had occasionally encountered them and thought she had discovered something at the time, but she was happy for nothing.

But soon, she realized that something was wrong. The frequency of the footsteps this time was completely different from that of the Thestrals. It did not have the usual casual feeling of the Thestrals, but instead sounded like someone was in a hurry to get on the road.

Umbridge subconsciously held her breath, stared at the direction of the sound with wide eyes, her whole body tense, not daring to move... completely forgetting that she had cast a silencing spell on herself.

As the footsteps got closer and closer, Umbridge also found that the person coming should be a very tall human, because when that person walked by, branches high up were sometimes hit, making a slight rustling sound.

At this moment, the invisibility cloak of the visitor seemed to be hooked by a branch, and a head with white hair and white beard suddenly appeared in the air. Although it was not possible to see the other person's face clearly at night, and the man quickly covered himself with the invisibility cloak again, Umbridge still recognized the other person -

It was Dumbledore! In Hogwarts, except for Dumbledore, no one else met the characteristics of being tall and with white hair and white beard!

Umbridge clenched her fists and trembled with excitement.

The footsteps continued to sound and came to the bottom of the Whomping Willow. Because it was too dark, Umbridge could not see what Dumbledore did. She only knew that after a rustling, Dumbledore seemed to disappear.

Umbridge held her breath and slowly moved out of the forest. She didn't run until she walked out of the outer edge of the Forbidden Forest. The toad face was full of excitement.

…

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