The moon and the stars in the sky are gone, the darkest hour before dawn, when cold and silence reign over the earth, and the brightly lit Hogwarts is like a torch in the endless darkness, or the lonely lighthouse on the stormy shore drives away the eroding fears.

"If I had to rank the worst of what had happened in the last twelve years, Dumbledore, before today, I could tell you for sure that Sirius Black had escaped from Azkaban, but now, something even worse has happened!"

Half an hour ago, under the leadership of Amosta, Fudge and a group of Ministry of Magic officials stormed the school hospital.

Despite Madam Pomfrey's solemn protests, at Fudge's behest, the resolute Rufus Scrimgeour sent his men to take the place of Professor McGonagall and take care of all the faculty and staff who had entered the Forbidden Forest tonight.

Especially in the comatose Sirius, nearly half of the Aurors, including Kingsley, were crouching at his bedside with their wands pointed at him, while most of the other half were interrogating Peter in an abandoned classroom.

On the way from Hogsmeade to Hogwarts, Amosta had already explained it roughly, but it was only his words after all, and Amosta himself used a very powerful fire spell in front of everyone, even if it was to kill the evil werewolves, which also caused the credibility of his own words to be greatly reduced in Fudge's heart.

However, when Dumbledore led them to Peter Pettigrew, who had been dead as a hero for twelve years, nothing needed to be explained.

"That's Sirius is actually innocent!"

Amosta contributed his office, and Fudge and Miss Burns, who represented the will of the Ministry, and Dumbledore and Amosta, who represented Hogwarts, were discussing how to handle the matter properly.

Dumbledore sat upright on the couch against the wall, and Miss Bones sat in a similar position to him.

And Amosta, who didn't need to express his opinion for the time being, squatted in front of the fireplace with his back to the crowd, and played with the firewood in the fireplace.

Only Fudge, who was as big as an ox, strode around the spacious office, wiping the sweat drops from his forehead, but his face was blue.

"I understand your troubles, Connelly—"

A hint of helplessness flashed in Dumbledore's blue eyes, and his voice remained steady,

"But we have to face the facts, face the truth."

"The truth?!"

Fudge paused and laughed angrily,

"Who cares about the truth, Dumbledore, it's Sirius Black, it's the Daily Prophet or the people of the wizarding world?"

After being suppressed for a long time, Fudge completely opened the conversation, and the glass of his screeching office was trembling.

If Blake cared about the truth, he should have told it twelve years ago, instead of letting himself be sent to Azkaban!

Do the Daily Prophet and the shareholders behind it care about the truth, they only care about whether there is something of interest to the public on the front page of the newspaper, and if the newspaper can sell more, then the merchants who produce brooms and crucibles will have to pay more Galleons to advertise on it!

Do the people care about the truth, oh, Dumbledore, they like funny stories, they like tragic heroes, they just want to see the Ministry of Magic unlucky, it's good, now they all got their wish, only the Ministry of Magic, only the Ministry of Magic is unlucky!

Stupidly the Ministry of Magic awarded a Death Eater the Merlin Order of the First Class and sent the hero who fought against the Mysteries to Azkaban, haha, that's funny, the prestige of the Ministry of Magic is all over, in my hands! ”

"Cornelius—"

With a solemn face, Bones softly reminded Fudge to pay attention to his image,

"It's because it's tricky that we should stay calm."

Fudge stared at the floor and didn't speak, while Miss Bones lifted her monocle and turned her gaze to Dumbledore, worried,

"Albus, Cornelius' concerns are justified, if we don't handle this matter properly, then the credibility of the Ministry of Magic and the Wizengamot will be hit, and people will start to stop trusting us, and we can't afford to lose this loss."

In fact, with Dumbledore's experience and wisdom, how could he not think of these things, but the perspective is different, the focus of care is different, and some words are not suitable for coming out of his mouth.

Dumbledore's half-moon lenses flashed, and he sighed helplessly in his heart as he stared at Amosta, who had been squatting there for a long time fiddling with firewood, making the temperature in the office a little dry.

Except for the crackling sound of sparks crackling, the office was silent for a while, and no one wanted to express their opinions easily.

Sirius, who was lying asleep in a hospital bed, probably didn't realize how much trouble his actions had caused the Ministry of Magic, and how much trouble Dumbledore had caused to save him.

Once the truth is known to the public, the Ministry of Magic will immediately become a laughing stock, this is a very serious political matter, someone must be responsible for the damaged reputation of the Ministry of Magic, and this almost means that Fudge will be blamed for stepping down, so it is very difficult to get Fudge to take the initiative to clarify the truth and restore Sirius's innocence.

"I'll just get to the point, Dumbledore--"

After a while, Fudge, who was in the most embarrassing situation, gasped and said,

"You have to order everyone at Hogwarts who knows about this to keep it a secret, and Peter will be imprisoned in Azkaban, where he will be secretly sentenced to life imprisonment.

And Sirius Black's Ministry of Magic will revoke his wanted arrest at the right time, I mean, when people are no longer paying attention to it, you know what I mean, he just needs to keep a low profile to live outside, and of course, the Ministry of Magic can pay compensation for this wrongful trial and twelve years in prison."

Dumbledore didn't look surprised, as if he had anticipated Fudge's calculations.

"It's not fair to Sirius, Connelly—"

Dumbledore lowered his eyelids and said tiredly.

On the other hand, Ms. Bones was also very embarrassed, on the one hand, Fudge's decision was not in line with her personal style, and she could not support Fudge's approach, and on the other hand, as a representative of the Wizengamot jury, she had to consider the far-reaching implications of the matter.

"It's his own choice, isn't it?"

Fudge's face was gloomy, and he said coldly,

"It's not that he didn't have the opportunity, not only back then, but he could tell the truth at any time in the past ten years, but he himself just chose not to say anything."

Fudge paused, then continued,

"And, I think you haven't forgotten, Dumbledore, Sirius tried to walk into Grimmauld Place, where the Aurors were watching, last September, and he caused a lot of damage to the Muggle world, and put an Auror in St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Injuries and Injuries for a few days, for which he deserves twelve years in prison, and now, the Ministry of Magic can choose not to blame—"

"There's no evidence that the Dark Wizard who appeared in London's Grimmauld Square at the time was Sirius, Connelly, and I think you know very well by now that it wasn't Sirius—"

Dumbledore said in a serious tone,

"I'm guessing it's just a dark wizard trying to break into the Black family's mansion, trying to find Blake, and then exchange it for a bounty from the Ministry of Magic."

Ahem, yes, it's me.

Amosta, who had his back to the crowd, smiled slightly.

The situation is deadlocked again, neither Fudge nor Dumbledore can give up their views, and a reputation for impartiality Miss Bones is also in a dilemma for various reasons, this is a difficult game, and if it continues to develop, it is likely that both sides will lose.

Of course, Dumbledore had the strength to turn the table, but he couldn't do so, which was in conflict with the beliefs he had always adhered to.

"Ahem--"

Amosta, choked by the flying debris, coughed a few times and muttered in confusion,

"Who presided over the trial and ordered Sirius Black to be sent to Azkaban?"

I'm sorry to everyone, it's been a month's worth of time, and today I'm starting to resume two shifts

(End of chapter)