The Admiral of Hogwarts

“Looks like Fudge has made his decision.” Hugo said to his sister and Veneto early the next morning, glancing at the day's *Daily Prophet*.

Because in the *Daily Prophet*, besides writing about the smooth progress of the current competition, only an inconspicuous corner on page four mentioned the sudden attack on France by British werewolves last night.

Apart from that, most of the content was Fudge's platitudes to whitewash the situation and an article that sarcastically said Professor Dumbledore was already senile.

The emergence of this situation was not unexpected. Since Fudge believed that Headmaster Dumbledore wanted to seize his power, it was understandable that he would launch some public opinion preparations at this time.

“Isn't this what we expected before?” Hermione folded the newspaper into a pile and said with a look of disdain. “If we treat them as enemies, this kind of stupidity is not a bad thing.”

During this time, Veneto also signed a cooperation agreement with the Weasley twins in his own name. Of course, this was mainly not to make money, but to obtain all kinds of important information.

After all, with the twins' brains and their relationship with pure-blood families, their business would flourish in the future. In this way, they would be able to grasp a lot of secret information about all parties during wartime.

Of course, the Weasley twins only knew that Veneto, as a Muggle-born wizard, hoped to take this opportunity to invest and gain a foothold in the wizarding world, and did not know the behind-the-scenes planning.

“What do your parents think about the current situation in the British wizarding world?” Just as the two parties were signing the agreement, Hugo pretended to casually ask about the views of those pure-blood wizards on the current situation.

“My parents definitely support Headmaster, but most of the people they know think Dumbledore is a bit too sensitive, and even think he's a bit like Mad-Eye Moody before he retired.” Fred shook his head.

“This is mainly because of the Ministry of Magic's propaganda recently.” George sighed. “Fudge has even taken the opportunity to remove the Aurors who were patrolling Knockturn Alley or other places, on the grounds that it would cause unnecessary panic.”

“Unnecessary panic? Fudge is definitely crazy.” Veneto felt that it was rare for humans to be so stupid. “He can only let the situation gradually deteriorate like this.”

“Who says it isn't?” Fred showed a helpless expression. “French guests were inexplicably killed in the school, and Harry was also kidnapped. Anyone with a brain should see that the current situation is obviously abnormal.”

“Even so, there are still people echoing Fudge. For example, my father said that Dolores Umbridge, the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic, is singing praises for Fudge on various occasions. I really don't know if her head is full of reeds or if she is morally depraved, ignoring all morals in order to please her superiors.” George added from the side at this time.

“It's a pity that Fudge's favorite thing to promote now is this kind of person, and then the situation of the entire Ministry of Magic will naturally go from bad to worse.”

After chatting with the twins for a while, Hugo and the others prepared to take a stroll to Hagrid's. Compared to the somewhat gloomy castle, the bright sunshine outside obviously made people feel much better.

As soon as they approached the door of Hagrid's hut, Fang jumped out of the open door, barking happily and wagging his tail.

“Who is it?” Hearing the dog's barking, Hagrid asked as he walked to the door, and then saw Hugo and the other two walking towards his hut.

“Hugo, Hermione, and Veneto!” He strode out of the door to greet them, gently patting their shoulders with his big hand:

“I'm so glad to see you, it's really a pleasure to see you visiting me at this time.”

They walked into Hagrid's hut and saw two sets of teacups and saucers the size of buckets on the wooden table in front of the fireplace.

“Had a cup of tea with Olympe,” Hagrid said with a smile, noticing Hugo and the others staring at the teacups, “She just left.”

“Sounds like your relationship is progressing.” Veneto joked, and Hagrid immediately became coy upon hearing this, and a small patch of skin on his face that was not covered by his beard turned red.

“Speaking of which, I really have to thank you for your advice, it's really not easy for her all these years. I almost caused her trouble. But now through communication, I found that we have a lot in common.”

Hagrid said happily, while taking out a few more cups from the cupboard. He made tea, brought a plate of rock cakes and distributed them to Hugo and the other two, then leaned back in his chair and carefully looked at Veneto with his black eyes.

“How does it feel to win the Triwizard Tournament? I heard the twins say that you invested most of the money in the Weasley twins' business. I hope the twins' plan can get their mother's permission—”

“You know Mrs. Weasley?” Hermione asked in surprise.

“Of course I know her.” Hagrid nodded. “You know, I've been in the school for half a century. The first time I saw Molly, she had just entered Hogwarts. At that time, her strong personality was already evident—”

Listening to Hagrid talk about those past stories, Hugo and Hermione realized that although the half-giant in front of them looked similar to a middle-aged person, he was actually of the same generation as Voldemort, and was also a person in his 60s today.

Of course, the giant bloodline gave him a longer lifespan. Physiologically speaking, he was still only a middle-aged person. Therefore, his romance with Madam Maxime could not be regarded as twilight love.

This is a characteristic of the wizarding world, that is, the lifespan between different creatures is also different. Although wizards who can live to 150-180 years old are already much stronger than ordinary people, they still can't compare with giants or something.

Hermione showed a thoughtful expression at this time. At least after becoming a ship girl, she would have a long lifespan, so today's chat made her realize that she should talk to her other ship girl sisters about knowledge about long-lived species.

“By the way, what did Madam Maxime ask you to do? It wouldn't just be to chat with you, would it.” When Hagrid stopped after telling a part of the past, Hugo seized the opportunity to ask.

“To find me some work to do this summer,” Hagrid said, “But, it's confidential. I can't say, the only thing I can tell you is that Olympe—that's what you call Madam Maxime—may be working with me. I think she will, it looks like I've convinced her.”

“Is this related to the Dark Lord?” Hermione asked curiously.

“Probably,” he said vaguely, “Anyway, I definitely won't say it, and you guys don't ask me anymore.”

Obviously, Headmaster, who has always believed that giants and werewolves should be won over and that the Ministry of Magic should dismiss the Dementors, is likely to have the two half-giants doing the work of winning over the giants at this time.

It's a pity that their actions are destined to be fruitless this time. Because now the neutral faction among the giants, which accounts for less than 1/5, has been completely won over by Hugo and the others with the help of that atavistic giant, and almost all of the rest are radical factions.

However, considering that Madam Maxime is traveling with them, the two people feel that at most their actions will fail, and there shouldn't be any life-threatening problems.