Hogwarts 1991

Chapter 493 Chaos in the Ministry of Magic
After Kingsley and the others left, Arthur greeted the Aurors back to the Burrow and made them each a cup of strong tea.

The small kitchen of [The Burrow] has been casted with the [Traceless Stretching Curse], and it is almost three times larger than when Harry and the others left.

Enough for the Aurors and the Weasleys, with Harry and Hermione in it.

Bill and Charlie waved their wands and stretched the original table. After they found some stools and relocated them, they began to prepare breakfast.

As for Mrs. Weasley... she was persuaded by everyone to sit down, and Mr. Weasley poured her a glass of Ogden Old Stout whiskey so that she could drink it and calm down.

Breakfast is very simple (fried eggs, milk, toast, and baked ham).

After several people ate, Mr. Weasley took the "Daily Prophet" from Bill, and began to skip the two black and white cover pictures without titles, and browse what was written on the second page that made his wife so worried.

Percy and some of the Aurors also came up to watch.

Mr. Weasley simply read it aloud:

"The Dark Mark reappeared...the Quidditch match was stopped for the first time...the Ministry of Magic in Bulgaria and Ireland raised the most serious protests...Many foreign guests were at a loss...The Ministry of Magic was attacked at the same time...The British Ministry of Magic suffered the biggest stumble in history..."

"... Cornelius Fudge claims that both events are likely to be the work of remnants of the same Death Eaters..."

"But according to the internal information of the Ministry of Magic obtained by this newspaper...the one who attacked the Ministry of Magic is very likely to have returned...the mysterious man himself...and Albus Dumbledore was also there...it is said that he drove away the Dark Lord..."

"The newspaper's special correspondent, Rita Skeeter, asked Cornelius Fudge to confirm the news..."

"Fudge didn't deny this, he just said—'The time is too short, we can only come to the correct conclusion after the Ministry of Magic conducts a detailed investigation... I hope the British wizards can give the Ministry of Magic a little more time...'"

"..."

"Is... really... the mysterious person?"

Percy exclaimed tremblingly, "Why didn't anyone tell me when I went for help, Dad?"

He stared at Mr. Weasley with wide eyes.

The others were also staring at Mr. Weasley with the same horror.

The same is true for the Aurors, it seems that they are not very clear about this matter.

"Who wrote this...how can it be?"

Mr. Weasley didn't give a clear answer. He read the newspaper again before confirming the reporter's name.

"Rita Skeeter, of course she, no one else..."

"That's not right. I remember that Rita Skeeter has accepted Fudge's invitation to become a special inspector stationed in the "Daily Prophet" and other magical newspapers... How could she make such inflammatory remarks."

"Could it be... Secretary Fudge implying that she reported this?"

Percy was talking to himself, and suddenly thought of the truth of the matter, "Impossible? Why did Fudge do this? Is the mysterious man really back?"

Everyone present was shivering, and many Aurors were shaking their thighs anxiously.

"Okay, please? Percy, don't talk nonsense... Let's just wait for the news quietly like the newspapers say! The Ministry of Magic... and even the entire wizarding world is already in chaos this week, don't add any terrible rumors!" Bill persuaded.

Mrs. Weasley didn't want to stay in the kitchen any longer when she heard such a topic.

She hurriedly led those Aurors up to see how Kingsley and the others cleaned up the room earlier, and if they could give these Aurors a rest.

Harry wanted to know another thing.

"Mr. Weasley, may I have a look at that newspaper? There's a McGuffin on the cover photo... I want to see if there's any news about the MacGuffin..."

Mr. Weasley handed the newspaper to Harry, saying, "Harry! Don't worry! Albert... he probably just passed out."

"St. Mungo's Hospital will heal him, not to mention Professor Dumbledore is by his side..."

At this time, Mr. Weasley was finally willing to reveal something about McGuffin's current situation.

But that didn't make Harry feel any better.
When Harry was flipping through the fifth page of the "Daily Prophet" in the capital, he finally discovered the description of the McGuffin.

"Here! Ron, Hermione... reports about the MacGuffin."

"What?" Mr. Weasley also leaned over.

The newspaper reads:

[The Dark Mark floating above the Quidditch pitch did not cause any substantial damage, although many wizards panicked, because they fled the Quidditch pitch in a panic, and suffered crushing, falling injuries, and various accidental injuries.But in fact the Aurors...or other wizards hadn't found any trace of the Dark wizard, as if the Dark Mark was just a bad joke of the Death Eaters.

But in contrast, at the same time, in the black witchcraft terrorist attack on the Ministry of Magic... the damage was extremely serious.

Although Ministry of Magic officials only claimed that the incident was only for English wizards, the British Ministry of Magic was a serious provocation and did not cause much damage.

——'We will send the best strikers among the Aurors to solve this incident as quickly as possible...'Many senior officials of the Ministry of Magic said the same words as if they had been under the Imperius Curse.

But this kind of words did not give any comfort to the other wizards present, including the reporter of this newspaper.

There are enough witnesses to prove that the office building of the Ministry of Magic has been seriously damaged, and many corpses have been deformed by some kind of black magic...

According to the insider information of this newspaper, among the Ministry of Magic incidents, the wizards who have been severely harmed by black magic include Ms. Mafalda Hopkirk of the Department of Prohibition of Misuse of Magic, wizard Kim Rick, the office building inspector of the Ministry of Magic... and a little wizard McGuffin Albert who was stationed at the Ministry of Magic due to an accident.

Note: MacGuffin Albert is the inventor of the prototype of the new broom for the Quidditch World Cup. He reached an agreement with the [Universal Light Wheel] company to transfer the magic patent of the new broom and obtained a large sum of Galleons.

According to our reporter's investigation, this young genius alchemist in history may have become a VIP client of [Gringotts].

It is rumored that MacGuffin Albert, Hopkirk, and Wizard Jinrik have entered St. Mungo's Magical Hospital for treatment...]

"What to do?" Hermione cried out in panic, "Is McGuffin okay?"

Mr. Weasley said angrily, "Where did Rita Skeeter know so much information? I went with Fudge and the others back then, so I couldn't know such details...Could it be Fudge really..."

Speaking of this, he suddenly realized something, and immediately shut his mouth, with a surprised expression.

"Molly, Molly...I have to be able to go to the Ministry of Magic, I have to check with Fudge about this..." Mr. Weasley shouted upstairs.

"I'll go with you, Dad. Mr. Crouch must be in dire need of help now..." Percy's face was full of excitement.

After hearing these words, Mrs. Weasley ran down the stairs in a hurry, and said very anxiously, "Are you really going? It stands to reason that you are on vacation. This has nothing to do with your office duties... What's more, in this situation, what if... the hint in that newspaper is true? Arthur... don't you know how dangerous it is?"

"Molly, we can't avoid..."

Mr. Weasley pulled his wife out of the kitchen door. They argued quietly and looked back at Harry from time to time.

After the last two sighed deeply, Mr. Weasley pulled Percy out of the kitchen.

Mrs. Weasley looked very sad about this, and she went up the stairs again in a daze, as if she was going to see the Aurors.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione weren't in much better moods.

They read the information about McGuffin in the newspaper, and they were worried about the situation of their friend.

…………

giggle!
A strange cry woke Harry and Ron from their sleep.

Harry rolled over, thinking the ghouls in the attic were up to something again.

"Ron, it's your turn... Make some noise, or it'll be endless!" Harry muttered with his eyes closed, and was about to go back to sleep.

(There is a ghoul in the attic of Ron's house. Although it has an ugly face, it is different from the wendigo (cannibal ghoul) transformed by black magic. This kind of domestic ghoul feeds on bugs and mice. It is most fond of some kind of bug raised from bread, and most of the time, it will only stay in the dark corners of the house...mostly in the attic, basement, or a warehouse full of spider webs.

The only bad thing is that once this thing thinks the house is too quiet, it will make all kinds of strange howls at the top of its throat, or Bang Bang will make strange sounds by knocking on the floor and iron pipes of the house.And it often does this at dawn or midnight, as if trying to get false attention from its owner.However, if someone gave him a loud response... no matter what the sound, this domesticated, harmless ghoul would content himself for a long time. )
Ron was not surprised by this, and naturally thought it was the ghouls who made the movement.

He turned around with the quilt in his arms, bumped against the wall, raised his fist and knocked on the wall, kicked off the quilt again, and fell asleep on his side.

But that strange voice has not disappeared yet.

Instead, it's getting closer.

Accompanied by the sound of rapidly flapping wings.

And Ron felt that the movement seemed familiar,
yes--?
Ron suddenly remembered something, he suddenly lifted the quilt and sat up from the bed.

Sure enough, there was a little gray owl the size of a fist in front of him, going up and down, circling him left and right, making uncomfortable cries...

It looked like something was stuck in the little thing's throat.

However, it still refused to let go of the purple envelope it was holding under its feet.

"Harry, wake up, the piggy is back! The Ministry of Magic has written us back!"

Ron yelled, grabbing the gray owl anxiously, opening its beak, trying to get the thing stuck in the little thing's throat.

As soon as Harry heard the reply, he hurriedly got out of the camp bed he was sleeping on and strode over to Ron's side.

"What message? Has Fudge agreed?"

After seeing Ron and the owl piggy's rivalry, (the little piggy is the little owl that Sirius gave Ron)
Harry turned back and picked up his wand from the table, tapped the piggy's bulging belly,

An oversized piece of owl food was sprayed out and hit Harry on the forehead.

But Harry didn't have time to think about it. He grabbed the piglet and untied the purple envelope from its lap.
Tear open the surface of the envelope, and pull out the parchment that was shining purple inside.

It read in a flamboyant, ornate gold lettering:

I hereby agree... Arthur Weasley (including 'Typhoid') can lead Harry Potter out of the Burrow, go with Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger to [St. Mungo's Injury and Magic Hospital] in the Brain and Thought Injury Treatment Department, and visit No. 2 survivor of the Ministry of Magic attack-McGuffin Albert.

— Cornelius Fudge
The Minister of Magic of England hereby approves

"Okay, tell Hermione soon?" Harry said happily holding up the note.

"Oh, yes..." Ron was also very excited. He casually tore a piece of paper from the side table, picked up a pen and wrote down the news that Fudge agreed to their visit, and planned to mail it to Hermione.

And the little pig who can't remember to eat, saw that he was "working" again, so he sneaked to eat owl bird food, flapped his wings hurriedly, and came to Ron and Harry, circling around, chirping endlessly.

"I know, I know...will bring you to Hermione..."

Ron wrote quickly, waving his hand impatiently to dislodge the little thing that was circling around his head.

It's just that he was halfway through, and suddenly remembered something.

"Harry, why don't you wait? My dad doesn't know when he will be back, and even if he does, he doesn't know when he will have time?" Ron said dejectedly, putting down his quill.

In the few days since Quidditch was temporarily suspended, Mr. Weasley and Percy had rarely been home.

Originally, Fudge and the others let Mr. Weasley stay in [The Burrow] to take care of Harry,

But unexpectedly, the day after that night, the Ministry of Magic was almost overwhelmed by all kinds of shouting letters.

and……

Because the Quidditch match was terminated, there were countless Bulgarian and Irish wizards who came to complain in person, not to mention the foreign journalists who gloated and came to watch the show... Their tricky questions and prying around were simply beyond the reach of the young staff of the Ministry of Magic.

Fudge had to recall every rested or even retired member of the Ministry of Magic to deal with this matter.

What's more, that morning... Mr. Weasley had thrown himself into a trap.

He and Percy were pulled straight away.

So... every morning, before the rest of the family got up, the two left [The Burrow] and didn't come back until after dinner.

"Let's go down and have a look? What if we haven't left yet?"

Harry looked out the window.

A round of red sun was slowly revealing half of the hillside, and the golden red sunlight was pouring into the window of Ron's room.

The owl's cage was swaying and shining golden in the dawn light.

"Well, it doesn't seem too late..." Ron squinted his eyes at Yuan Ri.

Then he dragged Harry out the door and trotted, thumping, into the kitchen.

(End of this chapter)