Hogwarts Archaeologist Toby

A few seedy-looking offices, a tavern and a dump truck full to the brim on the bleak street.

The situation at this moment was chaotic, many people crowded in front of a red telephone booth, and many voices rang out at the same time.

"Sorry, Dumbledore, I'm late, Muggle trams are really annoying."

"It's all right, Molly. Arthur's waiting for us at the Ministry, isn't he?"

"He's already here, but can I ask why? Why are Ron and Percy called? Did they do something wrong?"

"not at all--"

"Let me tell you. See the cage in my hand? Their pet Scabbers has a problem, a big problem."

"Banban? Professor, why is Banban here? I remember it was at school."

"I have to remind you, Mr. Weasley, that you should remain vigilant even when sleeping - well, let's call it Rule 17 of the Archaeological Code."

"Seventeen articles? Why did I remember it was the sixth article? This is different from what you talked about last semester."

"Oh, what's the importance of this - Mom, my chairman's badge is missing. Could it be that I lost it? This is my first time coming to the Ministry of Magic. I must leave a good impression. I might still be here in the future. This is the job."

"Don't worry, honey, think about it again—"

"Don't think about it, I saw Fred and George just took the badge to play yesterday, and now I don't know what it has become."

"How dare they! Unforgivable! Huh? Is that Professor Angela?"

"Yes, it's her."

Toby went forward, questioned Angela with his eyes, turned around and said after getting a satisfactory answer, "She is here to be a witness just like you."

Percy immediately showed that he had become the boy president of the student union. Ron greeted him in a panic. Mrs. Weasley shook hands with Angela, marveling at the beauty of the other party.

"A wizard can actually grow like this." She said in disbelief.

"You're not the first person to praise her like that." Toby grabbed Angela's arm and said, "It's time to go in. It doesn't look like a big place. Why do we have to come to the Ministry of Magic in this way? No. Floo powder?"

Dumbledore said mildly: "Obviously, Fudge is very dissatisfied with our arrival, so he made this arrangement."

A group of them got into the phone booth. Percy and Ron had to cling to the door. Dumbledore stood in front of the crooked phone and picked up the phone.

After dialing a series of numbers, the dial whirred back to its original position, and a woman's indifferent voice sounded in the telephone booth, but the voice did not come from the microphone, it was loud and clear, as if someone was watching The missing woman stood beside them.

"Welcome to the Ministry of Magic, please state your name and business."

"Albus Dumbledore, Toby Highmore, Angela, Molly Weasley, Ron Weasley, and Percy Weasley."

Dumbledore said the names of several people in a steady tone, without missing a single one. His voice had a calming power. Both Percy and Ron became much more honest, and the uneasiness in Molly's eyes also disappeared. A lot.

"We are here for a case that was not properly resolved many years ago, so we are coming to the ministry for trial today. I hope you have been notified in advance."

"Thank you," the woman said in a cold voice, "Guest, please pick up the badge and pin it in front of your clothes."

Ding Lingling, clatter, something slipped out of the metal chute usually used to withdraw coins - it was a pile of badges. Percy frowned and stared at his name on it, followed by the word "Trial" .

"The first time I came to the Ministry of Magic was as a suspect." He muttered quietly, "There's no better way to start."

Dumbledore just smiled gently, and Toby glanced over his shoulder at Percy.

"That's not what I meant, Professor." Percy immediately apologized in a low voice: "Of course I am willing to help you and the principal, but I am not sure why I am here. Scabbers is obviously fine, before Ron wants to leave. I’ve been raising them for a long time.”

"It's not about leaving." The person who muttered in a low voice became Ron: "Of course you didn't want it, so you gave it to me."

Mrs. Weasley gave Ron a hard look that made him lower his head immediately.

At this time, Toby suddenly asked: "Do you want to be the Minister of Magic?"

Percy's eyes widened: "What?"

"Maybe it's not impossible—"

"Cough cough!"

Dumbledore suddenly coughed twice, and he glared at Toby like Mrs. Weasley, warning him not to cause trouble before the trial, as they would have a lot of battle to fight later.

"Okay then." Toby smiled kindly, and he took Percy's shoulder affectionately, with such strength that it was impossible to break free.

"By the way, Mr. Weasley, you are not an admirer of pure-blood supremacy, are you?"

"what?!"

Fortunately, another voice interrupted the ambitious thoughts, and the indifferent woman said again: "Visitors from the Ministry of Magic, you need to be checked at the security checkpoint and register your wand. The security checkpoint is at the end of the main hall."

The floor of the phone booth suddenly trembled. They slowly sank into the ground. The pavement rose higher and higher outside the glass window of the phone booth, until finally there was darkness above them. They could see nothing but hear the dull, harsh grinding of the phone box as it sank into the ground. Until a thin golden light hit their feet, and then the golden light gradually widened, making the person unable to open their eyes.

Toby slowly took off his half-moon sunglasses, put them back in his pocket and put them away.

He looked at a large group of wizards guarding the underground door. Those people were all dressed in neat uniforms, looking aggressive, and their eyes were unprecedentedly vigilant.

"What a grand welcome ceremony." Toby leaned close to Dumbledore and whispered: "It seems that the White Devil's title is considered real, maybe we should take this opportunity to try the quality of the Ministry of Magic, anyway, the legend of Moody The Aurors have retired."

"But his disciple is still there." Dumbledore said calmly, "But you are right about one thing. I am afraid that in Fudge's eyes, I am really on par with the Dark Lord."

"The Ministry of Magic wishes you a pleasant day." The woman's voice sounded, and the door of the phone booth slammed open.

"It will definitely be very pleasant." Toby called the others out of the phone booth and followed the principal.

At this time, Dumbledore had already met an Auror headed in front of him. The man looked like a living old lion, with strands of gray mixed in his tea-brown hair and bushy eyebrows, and behind the gold-rimmed glasses were His piercing yellow eyes, and despite his limp, had a striding ease about his walk that made one feel immediately that he was a sharp, tough fellow.

"Rufus Scrimgeour." The man introduced his name and position: "Director of the Auror Office, they are all my subordinates. On behalf of all the staff of the Ministry of Magic, I would like to welcome the arrival of the greatest white wizard in the world."

Based on this sentence alone, Toby could tell that this man was at odds with Dumbledore. It seemed that Fudge had done his homework in advance and spent a lot of time for this trial.

But the punch only hit the cotton softly. Dumbledore nodded calmly and continued walking into the hall.

Scrimgeour stepped aside, sent some of his men to follow Dumbledore, stared at his back for a while, and then walked towards Toby.

"Who is Angela, the vice-principal of Waggadu?"

He stared straight at Toby and asked, looking him up and down, ignoring Angela herself who was standing aside.

Toby turned his head indifferently, and waved for the people behind him to follow. Mrs. Weasley quickly embraced Arthur who was standing behind the Auror, and Ron and Percy looked around anxiously.

"Sorry, dear." Arthur said apologetically: "I only got the news this morning. They didn't allow me to inform you in advance that someone will come to greet you - if this can be regarded as a greeting."

"What's going on?" Molly asked in a low voice. She saw the Aurors vaguely surrounding Toby: "Are those people going to attack Haimer?"

"Probably not." Arthur whispered: "They don't dare to mess around in the hall, at least they have to give Dumbledore face."

At the same time, Toby had a faint confrontation with this guy named Scrimgeour.

"Tonks." Scrimgeour called someone's name suddenly, and a pink-haired lady among the Aurors looked up at him.

"To take care of our guests from afar."

Tonks' temperament was obviously more jumpy, she didn't seem to expect that this task would fall on her head, and walked towards Angela excitedly, Toby also heard the other party asking curiously: "Is your hair color really good?" It looks good, how do you take care of it? Oh, by the way, do you speak English?"

"Of course." Angela responded cheerfully: "It's all because of the shampoo Toby sent me, which is very useful—oh, you—"

She watched as Tonks' hair changed to the same color as hers in the blink of an eye.

"Transfiguration Magus." Tonks said proudly, "I was born with this inborn talent, and it was there when I was just born."

"It's amazing." Angela exclaimed, she glanced at Toby, and walked away with Tonks after the other party signaled.

Only then did Toby hear Scrimgeour say to himself, "I heard that you cured the Longbottoms? I just met them not long ago. How did you do it?"

Toby walked slowly in the hall, turning a blind eye to the two-digit Aurors surrounding him. He raised his eyebrows and said, "Are you going to judge me from now on? Even though I have seen many Aurors from many countries The Ministry of Magic, but it's the first time I saw it from the lobby—"

At this moment, Scrimgeour suddenly interrupted: "Are you interested in becoming an Auror?"

Toby turned his head to look at Scrimgeour, who was walking beside him, with a strange look in his eyes.

Scrimgeour continued to say in a calm manner: "I know you have this ability, Toby Highmore, and I have personally read the case records related to you, which are found in various countries, and they are even earlier than Fudge. .If you agree to join the Ministry of Magic, I will have a way to keep you in this trial, and you will not end up like Dumbledore—"

This time, Toby suddenly interrupted: "Same fate as Dumbledore? Are you so confident that you can deal with Dumbledore? Do you think you guys alone -"

Toby looked around and said, "Can you catch Dumbledore? Not to mention that it's you who have the problem. It's you who don't want to see the truth clearly."

"No, I can see it very clearly." Scrimgeour looked directly into Toby's eyes and said: "In Nurmengard, I saw Grindelwald with my own eyes, and I also know what you are planning. Believe me, I know Dumbledore far better than you, my student, do."

"Am I a student?" Toby frowned and asked, "You never went to Hogwarts?"

"I graduated from the Durmstrang School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

Scrimgeour named his alma mater.

After this, Toby never spoke a word to Scrimgeour.

The wand inspection process went extremely smoothly, and Toby was mentally prepared for this. However, his eyes looked particularly scary, and he stared at the staff's operation without blinking. The other party was so frightened that he completed the inspection as quickly as possible and quickly handed the black walnut wand back to Toby.

Angela is the most special, because Wagadu Magic School has always been famous for its wandless magic, so it seems natural that she does not have a wand. Despite this, Angela was asked to wear a pair of hard steel gloves to prevent her from bending her fingers during the interrogation and causing any trouble.

The only surprising thing is that the wand Toby saw Dumbledore handed over was not the one the headmaster usually used.

Toby could still recognize this difference. He had taught himself wandology and was originally preparing to make a scepter.

The principal never mentioned this to Toby. He didn't know that the principal actually had two wands and passed the inspection successfully.

"Let's go."

Dumbledore glanced at Toby and said, causing Toby to immediately look away from Dumbledore's pocket without showing any strange thoughts.

The White Devil...could he really be the White Devil?

A group of people walked through the gate in a mighty way, and came to the smaller hall on the other side.There were at least twenty elevators there, blocked by elaborate golden bars.Several of them were deliberately guarded to make room for them.

"Come in batches." Scrimgeour pointed at the Weasleys and said, "You go first."

Before they could say that they wanted to leave with their children, they were surrounded by two Aurors and walked into the elevator step by step.

Then came Ron and Percy, and then Angela. She still walked with Tonks, but the number of Aurors with her also increased. Besides Tonks, there were two female Aurors. .

The rest are Toby and Dumbledore.

The one who went first was Dumbledore, followed by the rest of the Aurors. The fence gate of the elevator blocked Toby's sight a little bit.

Now only Toby was left, and most of the other Aurors, Scrimgeour was also there.The wizards who came back and forth looked at them curiously, but no one came over to say hello.

It seems that the Ministry of Magic is more wary of Toby than Dumbledore.

After the elevator fell down again, Toby walked over and said, "You don't have to be on guard against me like this. If you really read those files, you should know that I'm not the kind of unscrupulous dark wizard."

Scrimgeour followed him closely and replied coldly: "If you regret it now, it's still too late."

Toby didn't understand where Scrimgeour's confidence came from. Did the Ministry of Magic really intend to convict Dumbledore?

In Toby's opinion, the reaction of these people was still too radical.

Just as the fence door was about to close, he was suddenly held down by a hand, and a vaguely familiar face to Toby appeared outside the door - he randomly remembered that this person was Kingsley, who was also an Auror.

It was he who escorted Hagrid to Azkaban in the first place, and that was the time when Toby followed to find the threat to remove the pharaoh's mask.

Toby suddenly remembered that he still didn't know who Dumbledore's eyeliner was in the Ministry of Magic. The other party helped Dumbledore provide the exact time when Hagrid was taken to Azkaban.

But the headmaster just mentioned that Moody's disciples are also in the Ministry of Magic... It's hard to imagine that Mad-Eye would have a successor.

At this time, after blocking the door, Kingsley said urgently: "Can I go with you? You should be going to the tenth courtroom, right? I just want to go to the ninth floor."

Toby could see that Scrimgeour didn't want to be disturbed at this time, but the word "nine floors" made him change his mind, and Kingsley was able to squeeze in smoothly.

With a burst of tinkling, rattling, rattling, the elevator slowly ascended, and the chain rattled.

The main hall is located on the eighth floor of the Ministry of Magic, and the elevator takes only a few seconds to reach the ninth floor that Kingsley mentioned.

An indifferent woman's voice rang out from the phone booth: "Department of Mysteries." Then the voice fell silent.

Outside the door was an empty corridor with no doors or windows, except for a simple black door at the end of the corridor.

Kingsley ran straight towards the door. Scrimgeour looked at Toby and said, "It's time for us to leave. The tenth courtroom is on the tenth floor. The elevator can't reach it. You have to walk to the last floor - What are you looking at? Take care of your eyes, there’s nothing on this level that will make you look at anything more – it’s all for your own benefit.”

Toby slowly looked away from the black door, and at this time Kingsley had disappeared through the black door.

"Department of Mysteries?" he whispered, "I like the name. You know, archeology is also full of mystery. Is this the same as I imagined?"

Scrimgeour urged him to hurry up to a staircase on the left, unwilling to stay here for too long.

"None of this has anything to do with you."

Toby didn't hear what Scrimgeour said next, maybe he was trying to persuade himself to join the Ministry of Magic, either as an Auror or a Striker.

He couldn't hear anything anymore.

The delicate magic circle covered by the witch robe is ready to move.

Toby could feel it.

Now the distance is very close, close enough to hook the magic circle he engraved on his body.

That was an important step in the ceremony, making the magic ball his exclusive "scepter".

Yes, Toby knew—

The orb is in the Department of Mysteries.