Hogwarts: Even Voldemort Can't Stop Me From Studying

Chapter 1056: Chapter 143: Fire Thief’s Secret Meeting

In a cluttered room filled with books and electronic components, Brian Danis sat on the only clean chair, casually put on a rabbit mask, and tapped on the keyboard.

The camera above the computer seemed to emit a faint red light, as the assistant, Becky, placed a cup of coffee near Danis and quietly left the room.

A few seconds later, video windows started popping up one after another, with each person in the videos wearing masks: golden eagle head, shield, skull, butterfly wings, maple leaf, gold coin, purple flower, and so on.

The resolution of the videos was not high, and with the screen divided into over a dozen sections, everyone’s image was even more blurred.

But for everyone involved, this kind of ”blur” was exactly what they needed.

Butterfly wings spoke first, using a processed electronic voice: ”You’re late, Danis!”

”Yes, because such a big event happened, I wasn’t sitting here holding a meeting like you all but was out investigating.” Danis said bluntly, ”Can we skip this pointless small talk and go straight to the main topic?”

Shield mask said, ”I think everyone has already received the news. Although the government hasn’t announced it, the Harrington family, the Blacksters, Shaws, Rhodes... Overnight, more than a dozen of our people were killed!”

”LeBron is also missing.” Gold coin mask said in a deep voice, ”It’s a pity; he solved many tricky problems for me.”

”He is dead too,” Shield said coldly. ”His body was found at the safe house in Queens. Those incompetent police actually concluded that LeBron died suddenly due to drinking!”

”There’s no doubt this is the wizards’ revenge, they’ve discovered us!”

Purple flower mask said with a slight panic, ”Perhaps what we should be doing now is hiding individually rather than holding a meeting! Fortunately, we’ve been preparing for this day for a long time, and even among us, not many know each other’s identities...”

”Calm down!” Golden eagle head said, ”What we need now is intelligence and analysis, not panic. Doctor, you joined last. Do you have any findings?”

He knew, if there weren’t any clues, Danis wouldn’t have spoken that confidently.

”Of course I do!” Danis leaned forward, his gaze seeming to penetrate the camera and directly met the golden eagle head’s eyes, ”I have two key clues.”

”First, snails suddenly appeared in abundance on the streets of New York.”

”Second, during the flooding caused by heavy rain, someone was proactively rescued by a black dog exhibiting extraordinary behavior.”

Behind the videos, everyone fell silent for a moment.

It wasn’t shock, but rather contemplation—what do these two ”clues” signify? That people and animals in New York City coexist harmoniously?

Fortunately, Danis didn’t intend to keep them guessing. He said slowly, ”I strongly suspect that during the hurricane which caused great losses for us, it wasn’t the Magic Congress of the United States nor the Witch Pure Party that destroyed many of our bases, but a more dangerous enemy—Vid Gray!”

Once again, everyone was silent.

Moments later, butterfly wings spoke first, ”No... what’s your logic? How do you transition from those biological phenomena to that Hogwarts student? An even more dangerous enemy... my tabloids wouldn’t dare fabricate things like you do!”

Danis took a deep breath, trying to remain patient, then said, ”I suspect... those rampant snails are Magic surveillance poppets spread by Vid Gray; and the black dog is also a poppet he sent out to rescue ordinary people!”

Another dead silence.

Every time Danis spoke, it would cause a brief dead silence.

After a moment, skull mask said slowly, ”It’s not that I don’t want to believe you, Doctor... but news about dogs saving people isn’t uncommon. Besides, after heavy rain, when there’s too much water on the ground, snails climb to higher places to breathe, which is perfectly normal!”

”Phew... that scared me.” Purple flower sighed in relief, ”There are two snails on the vine outside my windowsill. I just checked, they’re normal creatures, not poppets.”

Shield asked, ”Besides all being creatures, did you find anything... any evidence that they are poppets?”

Danis said coldly, ”I asked the elderly person rescued by the black dog, and he confirmed that the black dog that saved him had no saliva!”

Then, inside and outside the video, it was silent for a few seconds again.

A moment later, someone couldn’t help but laugh.

Butterfly wings said, ”It was raining at the time, Doctor, did you forget?”

Gold coin mask said, ”Older people’s memories aren’t reliable, especially under suggestive questioning—they’ll fabricate memories for themselves, saying what you want to hear.”

Maple leaf mask said, ”Insects widespread everywhere being poppets in reality? That’s an ingenious idea! If it could really be achieved, I hope we can use this method to optimize our population structure first!”

Golden eagle head asked gently, ”Apart from... saliva, I suppose Doctor has other bases for judgment? ”

”No,” Danis replied gloomily, ”but I feel it’s definitely him! I trust my intuition!”

Everyone: ”...”

”Here’s the thing,” Golden eagle head said with a reassuring tone, ”I’ll ask those few wizards we’ve bribed to check. Hogwarts has already started the semester, and it should be easy to verify whether Vid Gray, such a celebrity, is at school.”

Danis fell silent, frowning tightly, dissatisfied with this perfunctory response.

But the others didn’t waste much time on his baseless speculations. They quickly began discussing how to handle the current situation—

Personnel should remain silent, executing a golden cicada shedding its shell. Financial cuts should be made, and the transfer and storage of core data and Time Particles must be prepared;

Using their influence at the top of the Muggle World to counter hidden enemies, employing the national machinery against magic;

And furthermore using bribed wizards to craft undeniable evidence of Witch Pure Party’s involvement in murder events, provoking conflict between Magic Congress and Witch Pure Party...

Danis listened idly; strategy was not his concern. His responsibility was solely in the lab.

Despite Danis being irreplaceable, even though he was difficult to communicate with, had peculiar needs, fantastical ideas, and a blatant disregard for rules... yet everyone overlooked his shortcomings and tolerated his presence.

The meeting lasted several hours; Danis didn’t speak at all, only occasionally casting glances at the purple flower mask.

—She has two snails on her windowsill?

Excellent!

It seems that even after I warned her, she still failed to raise her guard against such creatures.

I wonder if the others are just as foolish...

As the meeting ended, the video screens darkened in sequence, leaving only the golden eagle head and the rabbit mask representing Danis.

”Are you angry that everyone didn’t take your opinion seriously, Brian?” Golden eagle head asked, his tone much gentler.

Danis leaned forward, whispering, ”Leader, I have studied the Witch Pure Party’s behavior patterns in the past; their style has always been about creating fear, executing openly, acting decisively and brutally, often not caring if innocents are caught up.”

”But this time is different. This time... it was too precise, like surgery! This is definitely not the Witch Pure Party’s MO!”

”It’s not even typical of the Magic Congress either; they don’t kill so swiftly! Nor would they blow things up like this! They’re more worried about exposure in the Magic World.”

Golden eagle head was silent for a moment, ”Why didn’t you just say that earlier?... Anyway, continue.”

He understood that Danis must have gradually clarified his thoughts during their discussion, but because of the previous sneering, he withheld his words, refusing to speak.

”Moreover, this time, the storm’s path, scale, and range of the rainstorm were also very peculiar!”

Danis continued, ”It’s as though someone used an invisible hand to escort it to New York, then sow it within the clouds, turning a natural disaster into a convenient weapon!”

In the golden eagle head’s screen, an elderly hand seemed to clench suddenly, veins bulging.

He asked hoarsely, ”Is this... possible?”

”With our technology, we can’t do it—we can’t be that precise,” Danis said, ”But... if I’m not wrong, poppets can.”

Silence spread once again.

Many moments later, golden eagle head said slowly, ”You know what, Brian... you’ve raised a very frightening possibility...”

The cold light of the computer flickered on their faces, and the golden eagle head gently voiced the scenario they feared most:

”If Vid Gray is in New York and collaborating with the Witch Pure Party against us, it proves...”

He took a deep breath, ”We’re facing not just the Witch Pure Party, but the alliance of Grindelwald and Dumbledore!”

```