Chapter 45: Singing a Different Tune to the Ministry
Terry Boot asked impatiently, "What did they want with Headmaster Dumbledore?"
"Why the rush? I'm getting to it!" Anthony cleared his throat. "Apparently they thought Headmaster Dumbledore had turned traitor. To restrict him, they put a Warning Ring on him."
Chris Mohn asked, "What's a Warning Ring?"
"A magical device for monitoring wizards." Wizette frowned as he explained. "Has effects similar to the Trace, but more precise."
"When wearing a Warning Ring, the Ministry knows what the wearer does, what spells they cast. If I had to compare it... it's like shackles on your hands."
"What do they think Headmaster Dumbledore is!"
After Wizette's explanation, not just his roommates—students who'd heard their discussion erupted in righteous anger and shouted together.
"See? They're just bullying Headmaster Dumbledore." Anthony shrugged. "The Ministry's always been like this. The Daily Prophet's gone bad too."
"That's the Ministry slandering Headmaster Dumbledore!" Michael's tone was indignant. "The Daily Prophet's slandering him too!"
"Better read The Quibbler!" Terry spoke up. "Recent issues have been covering Fudge's crimes!"
"If I had to choose... believe Dumbledore's harboring criminals, or believe Fudge murdered goblins—I'd definitely believe Fudge murdered goblins!"
Wizette laughed. "I think so too!"
Xenophilius still respected Dumbledore greatly.
Plus he was The Quibbler's editor-in-chief. Now that The Daily Prophet was slandering Dumbledore again, Xenophilius naturally counterattacked.
Since The Daily Prophet was defaming Dumbledore, The Quibbler attacked Cornelius Fudge and compiled considerable evidence.
This time Xenophilius was clever—didn't attack by name, just made it clear between the lines that the story's character was Cornelius Fudge.
Fighting fire with fire. Plus The Quibbler's nature suited this.
The Quibbler wasn't prominent, an extremely niche magazine. The Ministry never interfered.
If the Ministry took action, it'd prove one thing—Cornelius Fudge really did these things.
But if the Ministry did nothing, some people would believe Fudge really did shady things.
Through this long-distance war of words, people dissatisfied with the Ministry and The Daily Prophet became The Quibbler's audience. Terry was a typical example.
Even if this audience wasn't permanent, during this special period, it was enough to make Cornelius Fudge uncomfortable.
"Hagrid's been arrested!" Harry and his friends pushed into the crowd. "We saw it after Potions class!"
Hermione's brow furrowed deeply, looking extremely worried. "If what you said is true, they must be going after Headmaster Dumbledore now!"
Her guess was immediately confirmed. More commotion came from the distance.
"Headmaster Dumbledore's coming down!"
"Ministry people too!"
"Nothing in his hands?"
From the marble staircase direction, a procession slowly descended.
A short, stout middle-aged man walked in front, a dark green bowler hat tucked under his arm, wearing dark green velvet robes.
His mouth slightly open, panting, he held a white handkerchief and constantly wiped sweat from his forehead. Looked somewhat nervous, eyes darting around.
Perhaps because of too many students, needing to show dignity, every step down he held his head high, eyes not falling on the stairs. Each step looked unsteady.
Behind the middle-aged man, several black-robed wizards surrounded Dumbledore and Hagrid.
Among the black-robed wizards, one witch was conspicuous, looking extremely young—probably under twenty.
Her hair color was also special, like bubblegum. As she descended step by step, her hair changed from ear-length bob to fluffy afro.
A nearby black-robed wizard turned and noticed the witch's hairstyle. Immediately said with displeasure, "Miss Tonks, you'd better change to a less conspicuous hairstyle."
"At least I need to distinguish myself from you, let students know I'm not with you." Tonks' tone carried equal displeasure.
"If I'd known we were taking Headmaster Dumbledore, I definitely wouldn't have come! I thought we had leads on that dragon thief!"
The other black-robed wizards also stirred, showing obvious displeasure. Clearly they'd been "tricked" into coming too.
The first black-robed wizard warned, "If you don't change back, you'll intern again!"
Dumbledore smiled. "Miss Tonks, since you're already an Auror, you'll face more situations. Please don't mind these things."
"Fine!" Tonks sighed, returning to her original hairstyle. Even her hair color turned brown.
At the back of the procession, two grim-faced wizards wore impeccably tailored robes. Nearly every finger had gemstone rings.
"Truly great! Headmaster Dumbledore always understands people..." One wizard said caustically. "If you could understand my daughter, it wouldn't have come to this!"
Dumbledore maintained his smile. "Mr. Parkinson, if you'd talked more with your daughter and noticed her abnormalities, perhaps it wouldn't have reached this point."
"You!" The caustic wizard gritted his teeth.
"Why bother talking to our former..." Another wizard drawled. "Hogwarts Headmaster? He can't do anything now!"
Dumbledore smiled in agreement. "Right... Mr. Yaxley's correct. I truly can't do anything now."
Undoubtedly, the leading middle-aged man was Cornelius Fudge, current Minister of Magic.
The black-robed wizards surrounding Dumbledore and Hagrid should all be from the Auror Office.
The two wizards at the back should be Board of Governors members from pure-blood families. Their surnames were pure-blood families mentioned in the Pure-Blood Directory.
Compared to others, Hagrid's condition was actually worst.
This was the first time Wizette saw such obvious fear on Hagrid's face.
Hagrid's full beard trembled constantly. Every step felt stumbling, like he might miss a step any moment.
The next second, Hagrid really missed a step, lost balance, and fell forward.
The black-robed wizard moved first, drawing his wand while shouting, "Minister Fudge, watch out!"
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