Chapter 1250: Application Form

“Family matters?” Percy asked tentatively, “Do his parents have any inconvenience signing it?”

Filch replied, “What I mean is… who the student asks to sign is his family matter.”

“Whether it’s father, mother, godfather, or mentor, as long as it’s a guardian recognized by the school, I won’t interfere.”

“But you… Mr. Weasley…”

The administrator stared at Percy, suspicion gradually forming in his cloudy eyes.

“Vid Gray enrolls on time every semester, should not be on your ‘student safety issues audit’ list, why are you so concerned with the Grey Family’s affairs… what’s your motive?”

His expression seemed to suspect Percy of wanting to “steal from within.”

Percy’s back felt a bit cold, he coughed lightly and instinctively explained:

“I just… noticed something unusual during registration, as part of the review work, naturally, I need to find out…”

“Oh.” Filch said.

It was unclear if he believed it or not, those sinister little eyes still swept across Percy’s face, making the Ministry of Magic envoy suddenly recall – the awkward and terrifying moment of being grabbed by the administrator and scolded harshly.

He took a step back, creating distance from Filch, hastily saying:

“Since the procedures comply with regulations, then there’s no problem. See you tomorrow, Mr. Filch.”

Filch stood at the door, watching the red-haired figure quickly disappear down the stairs.

Then, he closed the door, slowly walked back to the fireplace, added some fresh water to Mrs. Loris’s bowl, and threw two pieces of charcoal into the fire.

“It’s fine now, come out everyone.” He said softly.

Little crabs crawled out from various corners, gathered around Filch, some climbed onto his palm, others onto the table, their pincers clicking, seemingly awaiting the next instruction.

Filch touched each of them, saying: “You don’t need to clean now, stay home, I’m going out.”

He took the old coat hanging by the door, draped it on himself, and pushed the door open to leave.

…

Professor McGonagall’s office door was knocked on while she was grading vacation Transfiguration papers. The scribbled discussions on the parchment made her furrow her brows.

Hearing the knock, without surprise, she raised her eyebrows slightly and said:

“Please enter.”

Filch entered after pushing the door open and turned to close it.

Under the lamp light, the wrinkles on his face appeared more concentrated than usual.

“Professor McGonagall.” Filch said lowly, “That Percy Weasley, he specially looked at Vid Gray’s application form and spent a long time asking about Professor Morry’s signature.”

Professor McGonagall raised her head, her expression showing no surprise, just the corners of her mouth slightly downturned.

“Understood.” She said, “Continue watching him. Pay attention to his behavior in school, if anything unusual… inform me anytime.”

Filch nodded, but did not leave immediately.

He stood there, his gaze appeared a bit more ruthless than usual.

“Professor.” Filch said sinisterly, “If he truly wants to harm the school – I mean, not just watching a student, but really wants to do something – shouldn’t we do something? More… aggressively?”

Professor McGonagall put down the quill, gazed at the administrator’s frank eyes, and spoke after a while:

“Mr. Filch, a young official from the Ministry of Magic, being more curious and interested in a famous Alchemy genius, this does not prove he harbors malicious intent.”

Filch’s wrinkles tightened, his expression clearly showing he completely disagreed with and didn’t intend to abide by that official statement.

Next, Professor McGonagall said, “Also, Percy Weasley is used to placing himself on the ‘right’ side, he doesn’t have the courage to plan any conspiracy.”

“So if he wants to do something, then he must just be a pawn charging forward. The one truly manipulating his actions is someone from the Ministry of Magic.”

“So keeping Percy, watching him… what we need to know is their true intentions.”

Percy, or rather someone from the Ministry, who wants to grasp information about Vid’s family in Muggle society, although the behavior is suspicious, the intent may not be harmful.

Maybe some worry Vid will cause chaos like Voldemort in the future, hence taking precautions, trying to establish a shield for the Magic World by controlling his family.

If Vid were not a student personally taught by McGonagall for years, merely looking at the abilities of the poppets in his hands, McGonagall herself might also have similar concerns.

Or perhaps some just want to establish a good relationship with Vid in a roundabout way, befriending this future star sure to have a great influence.

Vid is at school, with few opportunities for contact, so they set their sights on Vid’s parents, which is quite reasonable.

Of course, another possibility is that some want to coerce or control Vid Gray through this.

But in that case, they must first consider what Dumbledore’s reaction would be; secondly, they have to think about what an enraged Vid would do.

Just looking at that child’s performance in the league, no one would think he’s an easily persuaded soft target.

Pushing Vid too hard, McGonagall even believed, the instigator even if hiding in Gringotts’ vault, wouldn’t have a good outcome.

Therefore, McGonagall felt the last possibility seemed plausible, but the chances were actually the lowest.

Filch stayed silent for a while, then nodded.

“I understand, Professor.”

He left the office, the door closing softly behind him.

Professor McGonagall’s gaze fell on the flickering candle flame, contemplating for a moment, then she pulled open the drawer to her right, rifled through it, and drew out a piece of old parchment from below.

A Hogsmeade permit application form.

The applicant was Vid Gray, and in the guardian signature column, written boldly was [Ferdinand Gray].

The latter’s handwriting round and proper, giving the impression through the writing of Mr. Gray’s seriousness and caution.

This was the true application form Vid handed in when he started his third year.

When Vid decided to participate in the league, he had requested in this office to have his application form brought out from the archives.

At that time, Professor McGonagall felt, although measures outside the field were to be guarded, this was just a competition between schools, Vid’s concern seemed a bit unnecessary.

But since she agreed, she naturally had to fulfill it.

As for the one Percy saw… it wasn’t fake either.

It was from earlier when Vid needed to go to Hogsmeade for some trivial matters, Professor Morry signed his application form, and because he wasn’t reassured, also accompanied him personally.

But that application was only valid within that week.

What McGonagall did was merely finding and taking out that old application form and erasing the handwritten validity period from it.

Unexpectedly, the defensive measure from a year and a half ago turned out useful now.

What was guarded against was a student she once held in high regard, Arthur and Molly’s son, Percy Weasley.

Professor McGonagall gently sighed and closed the drawer.