While Neil didn't like the air that filled the Ministry of Magic as if he was shouting "We are the center of the world, the primates of all things", he had to admit that the hall was magnificent.

While Muggle armies roamed the world in the name of the Queen, filling the British Museum's collections with looted loot, wizards also benefited from it, enjoying the dividends of cultural progress without any psychological burden. The row of golden doors at the other end of the hall is carved with great care, whether it is a shovel or a wand, it represents a very high level. In the midst of the crowd, Neil couldn't scrutinize the pattern on it, but he felt that it should represent some kind of astrological knowledge, not a deformed product of sheer vanity, like the statue in the middle.

If it weren't for the fear of causing trouble to Headmaster Dumbledore, he even had the urge to take a picture of the centaur on a statue and sneak it into the Forbidden Forest.

"Over here, Neil."

While he was thinking, Mr. Weasley had already walked to a table on the left side of the gate with a "security check" sign. Seeing that Neil didn't follow, Mr. Weasley turned around and waved at him.

Behind the desk was a middle-aged wizard with a sallow, unshaven beard and heavy bags under his eyes, looking even more lethargic than his colleagues who came and went out in the field. Before Mr. Weasley greeted him, he was reading a crumpled copy of the Daily Prophet — janitorial is one of the most tedious jobs in any job, and you'll find yourself having to pass the time by flipping through the day's paper over and over again. jj.br>

This reminded Neil that after the questioning was over, he should probably stay a little longer in London and look at a place like a second-hand bookstore or an antique store to see if there was a way to enrich his spiritual or material possessions. As for Mr. Weasley, he must have been happy to take the opportunity to browse the electronics store or something without his wife's knowledge.

"Come here." The listless wizard called out to him, and then pulled out a yellow, long, thin and dangling rod from under the newspaper, like an antenna on a car. He swept the thing back and forth over Neil, but the stick didn't respond.

"Wand." The wizard put it down, stretched out his hand, and asked briefly again, as if every word he said would make him feel pain.

Neil was about to speak, but Mr. Weasley took the lead, "He didn't bring it, Eric."

Eric raised his heavy eyelids and looked at Mr. Weasley, a look of deep suspicion on his face that he didn't bother to get to the bottom of it. He shrugged, muttered something, and waved his hand for Neil to pass.

"Thank you." Mr. Weasley thanked him and dragged Neil on. Passing through the door, the two of them came to a room that looked like an elevator hall — of course, although the term "elevator hall" wasn't invented until 2014, that didn't stop us from using it during our presentation — it was packed with people. Seeing them enter, several people approached and greeted Mr. Weasley, but most immediately twisted their faces contemptuously at the sight of the red hair.

Neil playfully pretended not to notice this.

The two of them squeezed into one of the elevators, and the slender Mr. Weasley had little advantage in this kind of activity, but he managed to hold up a small space in the corner for Neil as much as he could, so that the wizard next to him would not throw the mummy-like object in his face.

The wizard holding the mummy noticed his small movements and tried to straighten the object in his hand, but it was too big and heavy, and he tried several times without success, so he continued in his original position, smiling guiltily at Mr. Weasley.

"I'm sorry, Arthur - this thing is taking up a bit of space."

"Dan." Mr. Weasley nodded, "What is this?"

"It's bad here, I don't know! This morning, a Muggle in Cornwall called the police to say that he had dug up the foundation and at first thought it was just a common murder, but when the siren sounded, it actually got up and ran away. Others

I'm still working on the memories of those people on the spot, and I'm in charge of bringing them back to the professionals first...... Seriously, I've never seen anything like this in England."

"Is it not moving now?"

"For the time being...... Probably not." Dan let out a long sigh of relief in weariness, "We chased it for five or six streets, shooting at least forty stun spells before we brought it down. This shit is running so fast, bastard...... Oh, I'm sorry."

As soon as the swear words came out, he suddenly remembered that there was a child next to him, and quickly covered his mouth, forgetting that he was carrying a heavy load. The detached mummy slammed into his toes, and it hurt so much that tears were about to flow out.

At this time, the elevator stopped, and the voice of the indifferent woman who had heard it in the phone booth before called "Magical Sports Division", and one or two wizards got off the elevator from this floor. As soon as they stepped out, the back feet of the elevator door closed, and the elevator room continued to rise with the cacophony of machinery.

Dan lifted the foot he had just been pressed on, and rubbed the tip of his shoe against the back of the trouser leg of the other leg.

"You're a little late today, Arthur."

"yes, I'm at the guest entrance today—to bring him here."

"What's going on? Who is this kid? Are you going to take him to the Muggle Mediation Council?"

"Nope." Mr. Weasley hesitated for a moment, not knowing whether to tell the story or not, but when he thought that he was already in the Ministry, he felt that there was no point in continuing to keep it a secret - anyway, those who should know would always know, "He is a student of Hogwarts, and the Ministry asked him to come...... Assist in the investigation, for that incident this spring, you know."

"Ahh Dan's expression suddenly became shrewd, and he carefully looked Neil up and down, his eyes focused on the silver badge on his chest.

"Hello, boy." He blinked, "I'm Dan Evans, and I've heard that those stupid big guys can choke your school enough, huh?"

"To be honest, I don't know, Mr. Evans......" Neil bowed as he struggled to find a gap in the crowded elevator, and said in a humble and confused tone, "I wasn't in the castle when it happened."

"Really?"

"Really." Mr. Weasley, who knew Neil's usual way of speaking, had a rather strange expression when he heard him imitate this slow and slow tone of sleep. Fortunately, Evans's attention was now focused on finding a flaw in Neil's look, and he didn't notice his suspicious reaction, "I was guarding the cabin in the hunting ground next to the Forbidden Forest, helping my friend take care of the injured animals......

Hearing this, a smile suddenly bloomed on Evans' face, and the glint in his eyes disappeared: "Hut? Friend? Ha, you've got a special eye for making friends—Hagrid's old guy is tough, isn't he?"

"Yes, I think so, Mr. Evans." Neil didn't let his guard down, and continued to play the role of his new wretched persona, who was grinding and chirping, as if he could be turned to the ends of the earth with a rope, "I heard that he broke the neck of one troll with his bare hands and threw another troll off the fourth floor......

Evans burst out laughing.

"This is the Hagrid I know!" "To put it mildly, when I was in school, there weren't many people who were more polite to him than a dog. As soon as we entered the school, the upperclassmen told us that Hagrid was a complete idiot, as stupid as his giant mother; And he still has a criminal record, as long as he dares to cause a little trouble, the Ministry of Magic will send someone to come and throw him into Azkaban......

At this point, Evanston paused, as if reminiscing about his school life. At this time, the elevator stopped again, and a woman's voice informed that it was the Magical Traffic Division outside, and several more wizards walked out.

"We were a lot more than the kids are now." Evans continued with a nostalgic expression, so caught up in his memories that he didn't even notice that he was saying another swear word, "Quite a few bad boys run up to his hut all day and throw stink bombs and big dung bombs at the windows - to be more daring than anyone else."

"Oh my God!" Mr. Weasley couldn't help but sigh with a wry smile.

「

Really." Evans nodded, "We all thought he wouldn't dare be rough with his students—Azkaban was there."

"I haven't heard you say that before, Dan."

"Of course, it's not a glorious thing." Evans shrugged (holding the mummy in a rather laborious motion) and turned to Neil, "But I've been grateful to Hagrid all these years, and if it weren't for him, I would have died."

"Really? What happened?"

"That's when I was in fifth grade." He said slowly, "I still remember very well that day in the Conservation of Magical Creatures class, the teacher showed us the Tree Protector Cauldron in the open space outside—brought from the Forbidden Forest, of course. I watched the strange creatures crawl around the grass in a twisted position, wondering what they looked like when they were in the trees, so I snuck out of the castle by myself after dinner...... Aha, looks like you've already guessed the outcome."

Neil pursed his lips noncommittally, thinking that playing stupid was almost the end of it.

"I still don't know what it was that jumped out of the darkness and hit me, but when I woke up, I found myself on the ground with a swollen head. As soon as I looked up, I saw Hagrid scuffling with a monster I couldn't name, and he grabbed him by the waist and slammed it into the nearby tree like a bell, and after several blows, the beast broke free from his arms and fled lifelessly."

Evans smacked his lips wistfully.

"If he hadn't happened to pass by on patrol, I'd have been dragged back to the lair to eat. On the way back, I began to worry that I would be punished for trespassing in the Forbidden Forest, but Hagrid actually kept it a secret for me, saying that he had not noticed that a student had snuck into the Forbidden Forest and that he was derelict in his duties, and even encouraged me that I was not at fault for loving magical creatures...... You see, Hagrid is actually a good guy, but everyone is either afraid of him or looks down on him. Of course, there were times when he was missing a string in his head, and because of that, I didn't even dare to say nice things for him in front of my friends, because I was afraid that they would see me as a freak......

At this time, the elevator stopped at the Magical Beasts Management and Control Division. Evans looked outside, smiled apologetically at the two of them, and squeezed out of the crowd with the mummy in his arms, causing several screams along the way - the stun spell seemed to be starting to fail.

Mr. Weasley looked at his back wordlessly until the elevator door closed.

"Dan is a very shrewd man, I've never heard him say so much truth before."

Neil didn't answer.

"Do you really have a good relationship with Hagrid?"

"Yes, at least I hope so, Mr. Weasley."

Mr. Weasley was silent for a moment.

"A lot of wizards hate giants."

"I've heard that, Mr. Weasley."

"But Hagrid has always been a loyal and reliable friend."

"That's true, Mr. Weasley."

"Dumbledore trusted him, and so wewewe, uh, not because Dumbledore said so...... You know what I'm trying to say, right?"

"Probably understandable, Mr. Weasley."

"We all want Hagrid to have a better life......

"Me too, Mr. Weasley."

Mr. Weasley gave him a strange look, as if he thought he had promised a little perfunctory, but by this time the elevator had stopped on the level of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and there were only a few people left in it, including the two of them.

"We're here - my office is on this floor, we can go there and wait a while."

He led Neil down another hallway, then left to another hallway, and right to a third hallway...... It sounded like weaving through some kind of labyrinth, but Neil noticed that each turn into the place was darker and more dilapidated than before. When they finally stopped at the end of a hallway, the surroundings looked like abandoned buildings. There is a door on the left that is slightly open to reveal that there is a broom room inside, and a faded brass sign on the door on the right: No abuse

Muggle Objects Division.

"I'm right here...... office."

He pushed the door open and let Neil in,

The office was dim and shabby, and seemed to be slightly smaller than the broom room. Two tables were crammed inside, surrounded by a wall full of filing cabinets that were about to overflow, and bags of crumbling papers piled on top of the cabinets, and there was simply no place for people to move their hands and feet around the tables. From the little space available on the wall, Mr. Weasley has a soft spot for things: several car commercials, one of which depicts a disassembled engine; The illustrations of the two letterboxes appear to have been cut out of Muggle children's books; There is also a schematic diagram of how to install the socket.

"There are no windows here." Mr. Weasley said apologetically, taking off his coat and putting it on the back of his chair, "We asked, but they don't seem to think we need ...... Sit down, Neil, and I'd like to talk to you about Hagrid for a moment."