As the great wizard who once defeated Grindelwald and is currently the most famous and powerful wizard in the world, Dumbledore directly stood up and refuted the Ministry of Magic's statement with an absolutely strong posture, and announced that Voldemort's return was about to attack Azkaban, which was tantamount to causing an earthquake in the wizarding world.

Most people chose to believe Dumbledore's words after being skeptical, after all, British wizards are basically from Hogwarts House, and Dumbledore, as their old headmaster, is undoubtedly more credible than the Ministry of Magic and Cornelius Fudge, who are basically ineffective.

- A very small part of the population, Fudge and his loyal men, were in a panic.

At the beginning, Fudge was a self-aware wizard, and he knew that he did not become the Minister of Magic because of his magic power or prestige, but simply because Barty Crouch, who was the Minister of Magic at the time, broke out a shocking scandal - his son, Barty Crouch Jr., had countless good evidence that this promising wizard was a Death Eater.

Sometimes a politician wins, not because of how well he does it, but because of the few opponents he has who are worse than him.

That's all.

Given the circumstances, it was impossible for the people to allow a wizard with a dark history to become their Minister of Magic, even though the wizard had been on the front lines of the fight against the Death Eaters. In the excitement of the crowd, Crouch missed out on the position of minister, which allowed Fudge to pick up the leak and become the Minister of Magic.

But even if Crouch was disqualified, there was actually a choice in the British wizarding world at that time, and that was to have Dumbledore be the Minister of Magic. This kind of public opinion has been in the thick since Dumbledore defeated Grindelwald, even if Dumbledore himself has personally refused to know how many times - even when Fudge finally takes the throne, this voice still exists.

In Fudge's view, with Dumbledore's prestige in the British wizarding community, he is simply the uncrowned king of the Ministry of Magic. This also made Fudge respect and fear Dumbledore during his time as minister, for fear that Dumbledore would oust him from power one day, even if such a thing could not happen.

——The hatchlings are born in the South China Sea and fly in the North Sea, not more than the sycamore, not only the practice, but not the food, and the non-liquor spring does not drink. So the squirrel got the rotting rat, and the chick passed by, looked up at it and said, "Scared!"

With the mood of mediocrity and self-disturbance, at the beginning, Fudge would be cautious to consult Dumbledore when he encountered major events, but after a long time, Fudge found that Dumbledore had a laissez-faire attitude towards the Ministry of Magic. Whatever decision he made, Dumbledore would say nothing, smile and agree, and concentrate on being his Hogwarts Headmaster.

Over time, Fudge lost his reverence for Dumbledore. But the inferiority complex in his bones and the jealousy of Dumbledore's prestige made Fudge's dark thoughts gradually turn into a kind of persecution paranoia...... He began to see Dumbledore as an obstacle, an obstacle that might threaten his ministerial throne.

As a result, Fudge began to run his own forces, gradually diluting Dumbledore's influence in the Ministry of Magic, linking up with various pure-blood families, crowding out those who were capable and respectful of Dumbledore in the Ministry, stuffing them into the fringe departments, and installing his own henchmen in important departments.

It has to be said that many meetings with the Muggle Prime Minister taught Fudge a lot of political skills, and he gradually adapted to being active in the wizarding arena as a politician rather than as a wizard.

But Dumbledore's high prestige is still more effective than politics and cliques.

No matter how much Fudge prepared and tried all the tricks, when the things he feared really came, he was desperate to find that only a handful of people chose to side with him...... The pure-blood families that were once wooed either saw the wind and steered the rudder, or had an ambiguous attitude, and they didn't dare to confront Dumbledore head-on.

- Except, the only pure-blood family.

……

In the minister's office, several sad-faced witches and wizards were gathered, and there was an atmosphere of anxiety in this palatial office at the moment. Despite the curtains being tightly drawn, the Ministries outside could still be heard through the cracks in the door discussing Dumbledore's public shouting.

And it was these discussions that made Fudge, sitting behind his large desk, even more agitated.

"Damn it!"

Listening to the discussion outside, Fudge slammed his fist on the desk, using such force that the teacup he placed next to him jumped, and then fell on the carpet that seemed to be worth a lot, and the tea inside flowed to the ground.

But Fudge didn't care about the teacup that fell on the floor, he gasped, his eyes were red, and his whole face looked wrinkled, like a beast that had been cornered, and let out a roar from his throat that he tried to suppress himself: "How dare Dumbledore do this...... How dare he do that! I'm the Minister of Magic! How dare he openly defy my decision—against the decision of the Ministry of Magic! ”

The few people sitting on the sofa at the other end exchanged helpless glances, in fact, this is the fifth time that Fudge has gone berserk, as time goes by, more and more people agree with Dumbledore's opinion, and Fudge's mood becomes more and more unstable. But apart from his incompetent rage and spitting on his subordinates, he only dared to hide in this office, close the door and close the curtains, choosing not to listen to the sound outside, like an ostrich buried in the sand.

But it was obviously impossible to pretend to be dead forever, and after some eye contact, a woman who was short and fat and looked like a big toad whispered: "Minister, please don't worry too much, those fools are just deceived by Dumbledore's lies, and they will eventually realize that you are the right ......"

"I want now, Dolores Umbridge!"

"I need to let those idiots know right now that Dumbledore is all a lie, that no mystery has returned, and that Azkaban is safe!" Before Umbridge could finish his sentence, Fudge roared again: "I don't need to listen to this nonsense, I need to see a solution now!" ”

"Well, we've contacted the Daily Prophet and asked them not to publish Dumbledore's statement and to retract the false reports, and we're working on it......"

"Two days have passed, and Dumbledore's statement is still on the front page of the Daily Prophet!"

Fudge angrily patted the large pile of newspapers beside him, and on the newspapers, Dumbledore's large picture kept saying something: "They are just a bunch of wall grass, just like those pure-blood families!" ”

Fudge's spit kept flying out of his mouth, and his big red face made it suspicious that he would be suffocated by lack of oxygen in the next moment due to excessive anger: "Malfoy, Avery, Selwyn...... What is the Divine Twenty-Eight Family, all of them are guys who can only say beautiful things and rudder when they see the wind, they usually say anything about the alliance of interests, but they don't say a word at the critical moment, and they all become turtles with shrunken heads! ”

Hearing Fudge's angry words, the rest of the people present all turned their eyes to a man on the other side of the sofa at the same time, his surname was Yaxley, and he also belonged to a member of the Divine Twenty-Eight Family, that is, Fudge's words just now, whether intentionally or unintentionally, also scolded this man.

Facing everyone's gaze, Yaxley didn't make any other moves, just stood up slowly and said with an expressionless face: "Minister, the Holy Twenty-Eight Families are not in the same spirit, and there are also scum like the Weasley family among us...... Of course, there are many who are firmly on your side, such as our Yaxley family. ”

"What's the use of only one of you! Can the current situation be resolved? Fudge was also dizzy: "That's a good thing, your pure-blood family has come up with a way!" ”

"In fact, Miss Auguri has been waiting in the Ministry's parlor for a long time, and she says there is a solution to your dilemma."

Yaxley suddenly smiled, and his words overjoyed Fudge.

Auguree Lestrange, Fudge's biggest financier and political backer.

Shortly after Voldemort's disappearance seven years ago, the Lestrange family member approached Fudge, who was not yet the Minister for Magic, and not only provided him with a large amount of gold galleon political support to bridge his relationship, but also connected him with a number of pure-blood families. It can be said that Fudge became the Minister of Magic, and Auguri played a big role in it.

"Then what are you waiting for, get Miss Augurie in from the reception room!"

Fudge shouted to his men as if he had finally grasped a life-saving straw. And the henchmen led by Umbridge also wiped the cold sweat from their foreheads and left the minister's office as if fleeing, leaving only Yaxley here.

Soon, the door to the office was pushed open again, and in was a silver-haired witch who wore a pair of glasses, was thin, coughed twice from time to time, and had two large dark circles on her face, apparently in poor health.

"Long time no see, Miss Augury, I hope you can pay more attention to your health and stay healthy."

Even though he was still angry with his subordinates just now, and was about to be cornered by the outside world's public opinion, Fudge still sorted out his emotions a little, and put on a well-chested ministerial demeanor in front of Auguri.

In fact, if it weren't for the fact that Fudge had been married for many years, and Auguria's health was not good with the naked eye, and he was also in-depth and simple on weekdays, and hardly appeared in the outside world, he would have planned to have a political marriage with the witch, so as to firmly tie the interests of the pure-blood family behind her to the chariot, so as to ensure that the position of the Minister of Magic was as stable as Mount Tai.

It was only by sitting in the position of the Minister of Magic that Fudge knew how much power there was behind this group of pure-blood families. With Dumbledore as an imaginary enemy, Fudge needed to enlist the support of the pure-bloods, such as improving the living conditions of Azkaban and abandoning the Dementors, which was one of his overtures to the purebloods.

Although Fudge himself felt that this was a clever move, after all, most pure-blood families had conclusive evidence of Death Eaters who had been imprisoned in Azkaban. However, most of the pure-blood families were indifferent to his behavior, and many even had a faint hostility towards him, which also made Fudge a little confused...... No one really wants to let their family members stay in a place full of Dementors, right?

Of course, this incident is only a small episode, and in the years that Fudge has been the minister, the rest of the pure-blood family has still supported him, at least he has never worried about Jin Garon. All Fudge needs is some policy support, or some openness in the Ministry of Magic.

For example, Miss Auguria, who contributed the most, often went to the Department of Mysteries to consult some books and research magic for the sake of her family's curse. Although Fudge didn't know why the witch didn't go to St. Mungo's treatment or the Hogwarts library, preferring to go to the depths of the Department of Mysteries to study the prophecies, curses, and tattered stone arches, these oddities were trivial at best.

Miss Auguri coughed twice in response to Fudge's greetings, and after a pause, she said in a hoarse voice, "Sorry, Minister, I know you've been busy lately, but I've brought you a way out of your current predicament...... But before I do that, I'd like to make sure this office is safe and confidential. ”

"Hah! Safe, of course safe! ”

Fudge laughed when he heard this: "On my first day in office, I asked all the members of the Auror Office to cast a one-way protective spell on this office, and the walls, doors and windows around it were reinforced many times. And the sound transmission is also one-way, the secrecy performance is absolutely first-class, only the internal can hear the external movement, even if there is an eavesdropper with their ears on the door, don't want to hear half a word! ”

"Very well, as an idiot, this is one of the few outstanding results."

Hearing Fudge's words, the corners of Auguri's mouth twitched slightly, revealing a hideous smile, which was out of place on her ordinary face, like a snake suddenly showing its fangs: "So...... Please complete the last task of being the British Minister for Magic. ”

Fudge's smile froze, he didn't expect to hear it from Aughura's mouth, and just as he wondered if it was the intense stress of this time that caused him to hallucinate, Yaxley had already pulled out his wand when he stood up from the corner of the room......

"Out of body."

(End of chapter)