A friendly day at Hogwarts

"...by a unanimous vote of all the members of the Wizengamot, it was unanimously decided that Mr. Gilderoy Lockhart would be awarded the Order of Merlin, First Class, in recognition of his role in the capture of Peter Pettigrew. His heroic performance, and his great contribution to the security and stability of the wizarding world... In addition, the Wizengamot also paid tribute to his assistant, Mr. Glenn Ollivander, a third-year student at Hogwarts. A medal of the Order of Merlin, Third Class, was awarded, which will be delivered to Mr. Lockhart on his behalf..."

Below this passage, there is a photo taken after Fudge placed the medal on Lockhart.

On the screen, Fudge had a look of relief on his face. Lockhart specially wore an exquisite sky-blue robe and maintained the same elegant smile on his face, showing eight neat and white teeth.

On his chest, a gorgeous gold medal was hung. The ribbon of the medal was green, which meant that it was a rare first-class medal of the Order of Merlin.

It can be seen that in order to win over Lockhart, Fudge showed great sincerity.

Normally speaking, according to the importance of this incident, it is far from reaching the first-level standard. At most, it is only a second-level medal.However, with Fudge's hard work and hard work, he was able to help him win this highest-level award, which clearly shows his intention to win over.

In addition, the third-class medal handed over by Lockhart was obviously a gesture of goodwill to Glenn.

Seeing this, Qiu looked at Glenn with a puzzled face, and asked in a low voice: "It was obviously you who caught Wormtail, why did the Ministry of Magic give the highest reward to Lockhart?"

Glenn looked around and saw that no one was paying attention to the two of them, so he explained Dumbledore's plan to her in a low voice.

"Since Sirius Black was unable to be present, the Ministry of Magic announced compensation measures for him directly to the public. In order to compensate for the injustice he suffered and his contribution to this incident, the Wizengamot will award him a Sir Merlin was awarded the Second Class Medal. At the same time, on the basis of a large financial compensation, the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, also expressed his willingness to provide Mr. Black with the opportunity to work in the Ministry of Magic and invited him to serve as Deputy Director of the Auror Office. position..."

Facts have proved that the Ministry of Magic has spent a lot of money in order to prevent this unjust case from affecting its overall reputation.

Although the Order of Merlin is only a nominal award, as the highest honor in the magical world, it cannot be given out casually without restraint.Not to mention three medals awarded at once, over the years, only Damocles, who invented the wolfsbane potion, and Lockhart, who became famous by writing books, have received one second-level and one third-level medal respectively.

Even though Fudge is the Minister of Magic, he cannot arbitrarily influence the decisions of the Wizengamot.At least in the original book, the first-class medal he won for himself on the grounds of his contribution to magical society as the Minister of Magic is now completely gone.

As for other arrangements, he showed his political wisdom, especially the position of deputy director prepared for Sirius.

Although this position has vaguely touched the power center of the Ministry of Magic, the actual value is not even as good as the financial compensation of real money, but it can show great sincerity in front of the public.

To Fudge, the Crouch line had completely lost its competitiveness, and Lady Amelia Bones was not interested in power struggles.So apart from "external threats" like Dumbledore, the only one who is most likely to affect his status is Rufus Scrimgeour, the director of the Auror Office.

This is indeed the case. After Fudge stepped down in the original book, it was Scrimgeour who took over as Minister of Magic.

And throwing Sirius, who is likely to be Dumbledore's direct descendant, to Scrimgeour, if you are lucky enough, it may cause a conflict between the two and reduce the possibility of Dumbledore and Scrimgeour working together to deal with him.To take a step back, even if there is no conflict between the two, it will not be harmful to him. At least the public can see his sincerity in compensating Sirius.

Of course, these calculations were meaningless to Dumbledore, and it was impossible for Sirius to accept the invitation to serve in the Ministry of Magic.He had already made the decision to take over the role of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor for the next school year together with his friend Lupine.

......

With the publication of this issue of the "Daily Prophet", not only Hogwarts, but also the entire wizarding world caused an uproar.

Who would have thought that Black, the notorious criminal who had been imprisoned in Azkaban for more than ten years and wanted for more than half a year, would have a complete identity reversal overnight.On the contrary, Peter Pettigrew, who had always been regarded as a hero, was the real traitor and murderous executioner.

For a time, the evaluation of the Ministry of Magic has become one of the hottest topics nowadays, and the reputation of the Ministry of Magic has also become polarized. Some people think that the Ministry of Magic's actions and arrangements are quite complete and have made great contributions to maintaining the stability of the magical world. Not a small contribution.Others began to accuse the Ministry of Magic of having a corrupt system and chaotic management, which led to such a serious unjust case, causing an innocent outstanding wizard to be wrongly imprisoned and endured more than ten years of torture in Azkaban. The compensation is far from making up for the pain he has suffered over the years.

It is conceivable that if Lockhart had not proposed the plan to Fudge, the Ministry of Magic would have been blamed far more seriously than it is now.

This situation also greatly improved Lockhart's good impression in Fudge's mind.

Of course, the one who gained the most from this incident was not the Ministry of Magic, nor Sirius, who was finally acquitted, but Lockhart.

With the awarding of the Order of Merlin, First Class, and the constant praise from the Ministry of Magic, Lockhart's status in the hearts of the magical people has once again risen, and he has become the most popular figure among young people.There are even a large number of idiot fans exaggerating the facts and directly comparing him to Dumbledore.

Dumbledore made no comment on this.

In addition to him, Glenn's name gradually began to spread throughout the magical world.As the youngest recipient of the Order of Merlin, coupled with his ancient orthodox blood origin and undisputed outstanding performance, his reputation at Hogwarts has completely surpassed Harry's, becoming a true leader in the eyes of the students. characters.

In this regard, Harry, who was familiar with him, did not show any dissatisfaction.

For him, maybe this isn't such a bad thing.Compared to the days when he always stayed in the spotlight, where his words and deeds were judged, and he often had to shoulder the responsibility of being a savior, today's environment is obviously more conducive to his growth.