Harry Potter: Glory Bows to Me

When Fudge said this in shock and anger.

Amanta noticed that many people found that they could not leave here using Floo Powder and Apparition, so they had to push open the door of the restaurant in panic and run to the corridor outside the restaurant.

Judging from their appearance, there are probably many people here who have done something wrong.

But she was not worried that little Barty would escape among the crowd.

Judging from the situation at the Ministry of Magic, I'm afraid the entire Malfoy Manor has been surrounded.

The leading Thestral carriage had already driven quickly towards the restaurant at this time, and then stopped sideways in front of a huge floor-to-ceiling glazed window.

Through the glazed window, Amanta could vaguely see that inside the carriage sat a witch with a square jaw and an arrogant look, and opposite her sat a tall wizard with a cold expression.

Seeing the carriage stop in front of the window, the crowd standing by the window immediately stepped back, leaving a passage near the window.

The witch sitting in the carriage opened the door, pointed her wand at the window, drew the shape of a door, and a "door" immediately appeared on the window. Then, she pushed open the "door", jumped from the carriage to the windowsill, and walked straight into the restaurant.

Several more people got off the carriages, and then the people from the carriage behind also got off. Amanta noticed that Moody also got off from one of the carriages and stood behind the group of people.

When they were all inside, the last person raised his wand and pointed it at the window, restoring it.

"Rufus! I knew it was you who did it!" Fudge walked over angrily.

He raised his cane and pointed it unceremoniously at the leading man.

"What on earth are you doing? You've ruined this wonderful Christmas Eve!"

Amanta looked at the person standing in the front and center among the people getting off the carriage.

It looked like the man in the lead was Rufus Scrimgeour, the Head of the Auror Office.

He has brown hair, sharp eyes, and wears a pair of gold-rimmed glasses.

Although he walked with a limp when he got off the carriage, he had a sense of elegance and stride, giving people a sense of toughness and sharpness, just like an old lion.

Faced with Fudge's questioning, Scrimgeour remained unmoved and simply pursed his lips, which were so thin that they were almost invisible.

"As you can see, Fudge, there is something important."

"Important things? What could be more important today than having a wonderful Christmas Eve? - As the head of the Auror Office, I think it's time to change someone else!"

Fudge banged the base of his cane hard on the marble floor, making it thump.

The reason why he was so angry was not only because he was worried that some bad incidents would occur during his political career, which would affect his political achievements.

...Of course, they were worried that the Ministry of Magic would offend Lucius because of this.

After all, Lucius secretly sponsored Fudge a lot - Fudge was of course afraid of offending this big moneybag.

But Fudge's threats had little effect on Scrimgeour.

Scrimgeour simply narrowed his sharp eyes and said, "Fudge, you know very well that no one else can take over this position except me."

"..."

Fudge was speechless because of his words, and his face turned red with anger.

With such a big thing happening, the host of the banquet, Lucius, of course had to come over with a frown on his face.

"May I ask what the Auror Office has to offer...all of them, surrounding this little party of mine? I think nothing could be more important than having a pleasant evening."

"However, since you are here, you are all guests of Malfoy Manor - as the host of the party, I invite you to join the ball."

"How about we settle your affairs after this banquet is over?"

Lucius said this quite tactfully.

But his attempts to smooth things over probably had little effect.

The square-jawed witch spoke up.

"Lucius, you understand that we are not here for dancing, so please do me a favor."

Lucius held his forehead with his hand in pain and looked at Fudge.

After all, he didn't want to offend the guests here.

Fudge frowned and was about to say something.

Before Fudge could speak, Scrimgeour spoke first, "We from the Auror Office came here together because we are worried about the safety of all the guests. According to reliable information, a notorious fugitive has sneaked in here. Of course, we are here for this reason."

After he finished speaking, the square-jawed witch continued, "Although we are Aurors, we are also ordinary wizards. We were reunited with our families at home before we received the news. As Aurors, we know how precious this opportunity is. We hope to return home sooner than you do."

"If you have done anything wrong, don't worry. We will turn a blind eye tonight and let you go."

"So, please cooperate with us. Once we catch that notorious fugitive, we will leave."

This combination of soft and hard tactics is really wonderful.

After hearing what they said, the crowd who were originally panicking and whispering, as well as those who were trying to quietly push open the restaurant door and leave, all looked much more relaxed.

"Let them look for it quickly. They're not looking for us anyway." Someone in the crowd whispered.

"Since so many carriages have arrived, I think this place has already been surrounded. It will be searched today anyway. As long as they don't attack us, I don't care."

A witch hugged the frightened and sobbing little girl tightly in her arms.

"We have to find the fugitive quickly and don't let him do anything dangerous - I don't want anything to happen to my Sadie, don't cry, baby..."

Obviously, even if they thought they might have done something guilty, they would not become the notorious fugitives they described themselves as.

Since they have been guaranteed not to be pursued for the time being, they have nothing to worry about.

"Who is the fugitive?" Lucius asked.

The witch replied, "Sorry, this is confidential within the Auror Office."

"What kind of secret is it that even a minister like me cannot know?" Fudge frowned.

Scrimgeour turned back and said, "All right, Savage, you go tell him."

One of the Aurors came forward and whispered something in Fudge's ear.

Everyone pricked up their ears, trying to hear what he said, but he seemed to have set up a shielding spell around them - everyone's face showed a slightly disappointed look.

When Fudge was told all this, he first widened his small grey eyes in disbelief, then glanced at old Barty who was not far from him in doubt.

Old Batty was puzzled by his gaze and stared at him expressionlessly.

Fudge said nothing, and seemed to be considering the matter for a while.

Amanta guessed that he was weighing the impact of this incident on himself or on old Batistuta more.

If this matter were to be exposed, it would probably be the biggest scandal during his tenure. After all, it would directly undermine the image of Azkaban as the most secure prison and would also make everyone doubt the security of the Ministry of Magic.

But as Batty Jr.'s father, Sr. Batty cannot escape the blame.

Once little Batty was caught and questioned, they would find out how he managed to escape from prison - his parents assisted him, concealed the truth, and secretly hid him in their home for ten years.

I just don't know if old Barty has guessed that the Auror office has already discovered his son.

Barty Sr. remained calm, but took the initiative to speak: "Since Fudge already knows, as the Director of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, shouldn't I know too?"

According to what old Barty had said, the square-jawed witch was about to speak when Fudge raised a hand, motioning for her to let him do it.

"Oh... but you also know that you are the Director of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, and have nothing to do with the Auror Office anymore," said Fudge.

Old Batty looked over with a stern look.

"But I was also once Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement."

"That was 'in the past'. You know that these matters are not your responsibility now. You naturally have no right to interfere in the Auror Office."

"I don't think there's any need to hide this matter - it's just a matter of catching a fugitive. Tell us his name and we'll search together. There's strength in numbers," said old Batty sternly.

Scrimgeour spoke up: "I'm sorry, Barty, in order to avoid panic and commotion, so that we can catch him more quickly, we have to keep this secret for now."

"Okay, then I hope you can arrest this fugitive as soon as possible. However... I remember that according to the procedure, a search warrant is required before searching a wizard's mansion."

It was obvious what old Batty said. He was hinting at one thing: the search by the Auror Office was illegal.

"This is an urgent matter. I hope everyone understands. We will issue the search warrant later," Scrimgeour replied.

Fudge laughed and said sarcastically, "Oh, dear Barty, searching wizards' houses without a search warrant, and imprisoning criminals without trial... Aren't these your usual practices? Why, now that you're old, you start criticizing others?"

What he said was indeed correct.

Old Barty became famous and renowned because he imprisoned Sirius Black in Azkaban without trial. Many people believed that he would become the Minister of Magic.

Although Sirius was innocent, everyone at the time believed that he was the indirect murderer of the Potters - so many wizards strongly supported the tough old Barty.

If it weren't for his son's incident, Fudge would probably not have been the Minister of Magic.

Old Batty just said with a stern face: "People always grow up, and I have realized my mistakes now."

But Fudge began to become unreasonable.

"Dear Barty, speaking of your mistakes... are you sure you haven't been hiding anything from me? If you tell me now... I can forgive you for being my colleague."

Fudge was no longer angry at this time, but said to old Barty with a smile.

"I'm sorry, Fudge, I don't understand what you're talking about." Old Barty said sarcastically, "After all, I have lived an upright life, and I'm never like some people - I've done much more in secret than his meager political achievements."

Fudge was once again irritated by his words.

"Just wait and see, Barty! Your good days are numbered."

"Fudge, I doubt your motive for saying these things to me - are you trying to frame me? There's no need to make such a big fuss and disturb so many people. I don't have the face to do that."

Old Batty was unmoved.

Amanta couldn't help but start to admire.

Old Batty acted as if he had no idea what was going on.

But Fudge's hints were so obvious that she couldn't even detect a hint of panic in old Barty's expression.

Scrimgeour said, "Minister, Mr. Lucius, if there is nothing wrong, may I ask if we can start the investigation?"

"Wait." Fudge said suddenly.

Judging from Fudge's expression, he was still struggling with the seriousness of the matter.

"What's wrong?" Scrimgeour asked.

"…Forget it, just check it out."

But maybe... After Fudge had a struggle in his heart, the idea of ​​completely defeating his arch-enemy temporarily prevailed in Fudge's mind.

Fudge silently restrained his expression and said nothing more.

Lucius glanced at Fudge and seemed to confirm Fudge's attitude.

So he continued his usual smooth style, facing all the guests, and said loudly: "Speaking of which... As an ordinary law-abiding citizen of the Ministry of Magic, I will certainly not interfere with the Ministry's actions, but before you investigate, I would like to ask for the opinions of the guests."

"Do you agree with the Ministry of Magic's investigation?"

A few people - probably those who believed they had never done anything wrong - raised their wands first.

"Investigate quickly. I'm waiting to go back and have a good sleep." One of them urged loudly.

Then some more people looked around and raised their wands.

"I have no opinion."

"Since the Ministry of Magic and Lucius have spoken, we naturally support them."

With their encouragement, more and more people raised their wands, and finally almost everyone raised their wands.

"Then please resolve this matter quickly, Aurors. After all, this is a rare peaceful Christmas Eve, and I don't want to ruin everyone's mood over such a small matter."

Lucius clapped his hands.

Since the owner of Malfoy Manor and the guests at the party had agreed to the search, Scrimgeour immediately turned around and whispered instructions to the Aurors.

Under his assignment, two Aurors were guarding the two entrances and exits of the restaurant respectively.

Most of the other Aurors had already left the restaurant. They were going to search the entire Malfoy Manor for the guests who had previously run away for various reasons, and then bring them all back to the restaurant.

The square-jawed witch faced them and said, "Please be patient and find a place to sit down while waiting for all the guests to arrive."