"He's said to have returned to England now, and should be at the Ministry of Magic, reportedly having been invited," Tonks replied.
"Alright, I hope the news he brings when he gets back here is good news." Kayson nodded, and then an envelope suddenly appeared before him.
He tore open the envelope in surprise and glanced at it casually.
"What's wrong?" Sirius asked.
"Dumbledore wants me to go to the Ministry of Magic, I don't know what it's about, but I'm going now." Kayson explained, then disappeared with a buzzing Ender Teleportation.
Next to the fountain at the Ministry of Magic, Dumbledore was sitting on a bench, quietly waiting, and Kayson soon appeared beside him.
"Is something the matter?" he asked.
"It's Fudge, he's asked me for a private meeting. He's clearly flustered now. His strategy towards me is no longer simply… I need a plausible explanation…"
Dumbledore paused uncharacteristically after saying this, and then Kayson spoke up.
"A sycophant?"
"Something like that. He's changed his strategy towards me. For example, he's now invited me for a talk. Clearly, he intends to pressure me." Dumbledore explained.
"How so? Did he ambush seven or eight hundred axemen in his office?" Kayson asked.
"Who knows? Let's go in." Dumbledore shrugged casually and walked towards Fudge's office.
Neither of them had the habit of knocking, they simply pushed the door open and walked in.
Fudge, who was using the cigar cutter on his Alchemy arm to cut a cigar, looked up at Dumbledore. Just as he was about to show a false smile, he saw Kayson behind Dumbledore and instantly stopped grinning.
"Let's be frank, Cornelius." Dumbledore sat in the chair directly opposite Fudge, while Kayson sat on a nearby sofa.
Soon, another person knocked on the door and entered the office. Kayson looked over and saw the pink toad Umbridge. At this moment, she was looking at the long sofa where Kayson was sitting, and Kayson happened to see her…
A second later, he changed his posture, lying down instead of sitting, perfectly taking up Umbridge's seat.
The latter could only stand awkwardly behind Fudge.
"Allow me to introduce…" Fudge was about to point at Umbridge and introduce her, but Dumbledore raised his hand to stop him: "Thanks to her, I'm quite familiar with her."
Fudge nodded without batting an eye: "Then I'll be direct, Dumbledore, I need your support."
Dumbledore shook his head: "I made it very clear to you when you first became Minister for Magic that I have no political ambitions."
"But now I'm asking for your help! I've done what you asked me to do; I've admitted You-Know-Who's return. Now it's time for you to fulfill your promise!" Fudge said.
"That wasn't your intention. You were only forced to admit it by Barty Crouch, and you haven't done anything that should be done to resist Lord Voldemort." Dumbledore shook his head.
"I've done a lot! I haven't even pursued the matter of one of you making a ruckus in Azkaban! If I chose to pursue it, all of your people would end up in Azkaban!" Fudge said, raising his voice.
"Pfft!"
A sudden laugh caused a ripple in the quiet office.
"What are your thoughts, Professor Kayson?" Umbridge asked, steeling herself to look at Kayson.
"Lord Voldemort and the Death Eaters swaggered into Azkaban and took away all the Death Eaters loyal to him, and those with foresight went to stop him. Now you're subservient to Lord Voldemort, but you're hitting those with foresight with a heavy hand. You're doing a great job as Minister!"
"Or are you saying Lord Voldemort is a bad person, so anything he does is reasonable?"
"And those people are good people, so they deserve to have wands pointed at them?" Kayson sat up from the sofa, speaking without any regard for politeness.
Fudge elbowed Umbridge behind him, and the latter took a deep breath: "Whether it's Lord Voldemort or those so-called righteous individuals, those with foresight, they all violated the laws set by the Ministry of Magic and need to face trial and then rot in Azkaban."
"Then please, Ministry of Magic, apply equal punishment. For example, first put Lord Voldemort and his large group into Azkaban, or simply legislate to prohibit all Wizards from resisting Lord Voldemort, and those who violate it will be directly sent to Azkaban. Believe me, the Ministry of Magic would be very lively then." Kayson said, rolling his eyes.
"We will punish them equally, the only difference is which side we catch first. Or does Professor Kayson know a clue?" Umbridge said dryly, trying to shut Kayson up in this way, making him quickly comply.
Unfortunately, Kayson did not do as she expected, sulking and sitting back down to shut up. Instead, he rolled his eyes: "I was the one who fought Lord Voldemort in Azkaban this morning. Is there a problem?"
The office fell silent again, a deathly silence.
Dumbledore, sitting opposite Fudge, appeared calm and composed on the surface, but in reality, he was already starting to feel bewildered.
Theoretically, he wasn't here today to conflict with Fudge, but merely to discuss important matters with him. Calling Kayson was only because Fudge was afraid of Kayson, and having him there would help Dumbledore in negotiations.
But Kayson didn't comply.
He had no intention of negotiating. His current mindset seemed to be to frantically look for trouble, and then find an opportunity to cut Fudge down.
"Ahem…" Dumbledore, anticipating that things were about to spiral out of control, coughed: "Kayson, please be more peaceful, we need to get to the main point."
"Mm-hm." Kayson rolled his eyes and lay back down on the sofa.
"Where were we?" Dumbledore looked back at Fudge and asked.
"We… we were talking about… I need your support." Fudge said dryly.
Dumbledore shook his head: "I've already told you, I won't support anyone, including you."
"Dumbledore… Albus Dumbledore, I need you, just as you need me. Why is the academic atmosphere at Hogwarts so different from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons? Although the other two schools have higher learning efficiency, why do the Ministry of Magic and the school board agree to Hogwarts maintaining this… 'happy education'?" Fudge began to say.
Kayson naturally raised an eyebrow. He already understood some of Fudge's opening remarks. Translated, it meant: I'm going to threaten you now.
"What do you want to say?" Dumbledore asked, raising an eyebrow from his chair.
"What I want to say is, the reason you were able to be absolute at Hogwarts, playing ridiculous make-believe with your favorite boy Harry Potter inside Hogwarts, stuffing all sorts of dangerous things into Hogwarts, all of that was because I unconditionally helped you from behind." Fudge said, his face flushed.
"Please be more direct." Dumbledore said bluntly.
"If you don't choose to support me, I will use completely reasonable and legal means to get Hogwarts back on its proper track, instead of letting Hogwarts be like a fairytale kindergarten in your hands."
"Anything that doesn't comply with Ministry of Magic law, anything dangerous, anything erratic, anything that Little Wizards shouldn't be doing, will be prohibited. This is a completely reasonable and legal action by the Ministry of Magic!" Fudge said, gritting his teeth.
"What do you plan to do?" Dumbledore asked.
"Umbridge will become the Head of Moral Education at Hogwarts, monitoring and managing all aspects of Hogwarts, of course… assisting you." Fudge said, leaning back in his chair.
Kayson was just about to sit up, but after thinking about it, he chose to stand up directly, intending to give Fudge a big slap to see if he would still act crazy.
However, Dumbledore gave him a deep look. He frowned, but still stopped his actions.
"Please, feel free." Dumbledore said, and then left Fudge's office with Kayson.
"Wow, I need an explanation, or you can wait for me to go back and give Fudge and that pink toad a good thrashing, I guarantee they won't act crazy." Kayson said.
"Fudge is right, the Ministry of Magic has every right to supervise Hogwarts, and a certain degree of management. Fudge didn't do this before out of respect for me, but now he's not doing that anymore, it's no big deal." Dumbledore said nonchalantly.
"The problem is Umbridge, she's disgusting." Kayson said with a bitter face.
Dumbledore looked at Kayson in confusion, which made the latter feel uneasy.
"What's wrong with you?" he asked.
"I'm a bit confused. I always thought you were a very principled old man. To speak frankly, with Umbridge coming to our territory, whether she's molded or flattened, isn't it up to us?" Dumbledore said as if it were a matter of course.
"…"
"What are you looking at?" Dumbledore asked, looking at the suddenly motionless Kayson.
"I'm thinking. I always thought you were a very principled old man." Kayson murmured, raising his head to look at the clock.
He blinked. The date displayed was September 1st, the start of the Hogwarts school year.
During this period, a strange balance had also formed within the Ministry of Magic, but one thing had become a consensus among those foul politicians.
Of course, this consensus might also have been forced upon them by Dumbledore, which was that the Ministry of Magic would dispatch a considerable number of Aurors to protect the Little Wizards on the Hogwarts Express, never leaving their side.
At all times, whenever the Hogwarts Express started moving, they needed to be there.
And the adults on the Hogwarts Express were not just Aurors, but also Kayson. He was currently sitting in Harry's compartment, looking at the scenery outside the window.
It was quite beautiful.
Knock knock knock…
"Come in." Hermione said, pulling open the compartment door, revealing Cedric and Cho Chang, the two heavenly couples, outside.
"I heard Professor, you were on the train too, so I came over to say hello. Oh, by the way, I also signed up for your advanced class." Cedric said, scratching the back of his head.
"That depends on your test results at the start of the term. What if your grades aren't good enough?" Kayson smiled, though it was just a joke.
Not to mention Cedric's Alchemy grades were basically the top of their grade level, by a large margin.
And then there was his identity as Professor Kayson's first disciple. Just speaking of Kayson, his advanced class was basically open to anyone who signed up, with no prerequisites.
"I'll definitely work hard, Professor." Cedric replied with a smile.
"Mm-hm." Kayson smiled and saw Cedric off, then suddenly remembered something. After sitting back down, he rummaged in his pocket and pulled out an envelope: "During the holidays, Dumbledore and I discussed who should be the Gryffindor prefect. There were no surprises for the female prefect, guess who it is."
Hearing Kayson say this, Hermione suddenly raised her neck proudly. Sure enough, the envelope containing the prefect appointment letter and prefect badge arrived in front of her.
"But there was a bit of a stir for the male prefect. Dumbledore originally wanted to give the prefect position to you, Ron, but you can totally blame me for this."
"Dumbledore believes that your abilities are perfectly capable of managing the Little Wizards of Gryffindor, just like your brother Percy…"
Kayson was interrupted by Ron before he could finish: "Professor, can you not mention him… That guy went to the Black Old House to see Mum and Dad a while ago, and you weren't there at the time, but anyway, they had a big fight."
"Alright, let's get back to the prefect topic. Dumbledore thought you were a good candidate for prefect, but I suggested to him that Neville be prefect, because even though Neville is pretty much like a normal person now, he's still a little more fragile inside than you guys, so I thought I'd use the prefect position to help him build his confidence."
Kayson was interrupted by Ron again at this point: "Then give it to Neville! It's good, I'm too lazy to be a prefect anyway, so I don't end up like Percy in two years, becoming an ungrateful wretch."
"Alright." Kayson shrugged: "Originally, I brought two appointment letters, planning to let you two have a Wizard duel to decide who gets it." Kayson had no choice but to pull out Neville's envelope and hand it over.
"Uh, isn't that Neville's too? His Levitation Charm can make someone throw up what they ate a year ago." Ron said with disgust.
"Actually, I was planning to let whoever lost be the prefect… because that way you'd be more psychologically balanced." Kayson explained.
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