The Admiral of Hogwarts

Saturday of the first week of school arrived, and after a whole week of continuous rain, the sun finally came out. When Hugo and his friends finished their dueling practice and walked out of the Room of Requirement, the sun was already high in the sky.

As they walked through the corridor, unusually bright sunlight shone through the gaps in the windowless corridor, making it hard for them to open their eyes.

From these gaps, they could see the treetops of the Forbidden Forest swaying gently in the breeze, allowing the fresh air to caress their faces. In short, today was a good day.

"Any news related to us?" Hugo asked as he sat down at the long table, watching his sister habitually pick up a copy of the *Daily Prophet*.

They had practiced for quite a long time in the morning, so most people had already finished lunch and gone back to rest. Only a few students were still sitting at the long table eating their lunch.

"Yes." Hermione said, pointing to a small article and handing it to Hugo. The article was less than an inch long and was titled: Illegal Intrusion into the Ministry of Magic.

Sturgis Podmore, 38, residing at No. 2 Goldfinch Gardens, Clapham, recently appeared before the Wizengamot, charged with illegally entering the Ministry of Magic on August 31 and attempting robbery.

Podmore was apprehended by Ministry of Magic guard Eric Munch, who found him attempting to pass through a Level One security door at 1 a.m. Podmore refused to defend himself and was found guilty on both charges, sentenced to six months imprisonment in Azkaban.

"I remember this guy," Hugo said in a low voice. "He was supposed to be one of the guards escorting us to King's Cross Station the day we took the train to school, but he didn't show up, which made Moody very unhappy."

"That's right, and look at the date of his arrest," Veneto said, stepping forward and tapping the newspaper with his finger. "It was the day before going to the train station, which is why he didn't come to see us off that day."

"And either the other party was suddenly attacked by the Ministry of Magic, or they were carrying out some highly confidential mission for the Order of the Phoenix," Hugo analyzed calmly. "Otherwise, Moody wouldn't have been unaware of his whereabouts the day after his arrest."

Although Moody had honorably retired from the Ministry of Magic, he had also built up a very well-informed network of contacts during his long career as an Auror, so it was obviously unusual that he couldn't find the target in a day.

"It's also possible that both reasons are true," Hermione said, recalling. "I remember hearing the Weasley twins say before that the Order of the Phoenix wanted to protect something."

"Under normal circumstances, if you want to protect something, it would naturally be more appropriate to keep it under your nose, but according to the twins, the Order of the Phoenix can only send people to guard it."

"So, I guess that thing is likely to be something placed in the Ministry of Magic, and Sturgis Podmore was carrying out a guarding mission at the time, but I don't know what happened, he was ambushed by members of the Ministry of Magic who were on Voldemort's side."

"Your analysis makes a lot of sense," Hugo nodded. "Considering that the Ministry of Magic is actually secretly controlled by those pure-bloods, it is entirely possible for the other party to use this method to test the Order of the Phoenix and some uncontrollable areas of the Ministry of Magic."

The Ministry of Magic is a very large organization. Pure-blood wizards can indeed control the overall direction, but it is unlikely that they can control it from top to bottom without any loopholes.

To give a simple example, the Department of Mysteries has never been controlled by the Minister of Magic from the beginning. Although pure-bloods can send people in, they can only get some information at most.

After all, in the wizarding world, knowledge really equals power, and the knowledge contained in the Department of Mysteries is enough for them to operate independently without any external influence.

After finishing lunch, Hugo and his friends returned to the Ravenclaw Tower, only to find a dozen Ravenclaw students gathered together talking about something, while even more students surrounded them, listening.

Walking closer, Hugo found that the students in the middle were complaining about this year's Defense Against the Dark Arts class, and the students around them were whispering.

"Why did the Ministry of Magic send such a person to the school? I think if this continues, our class will be ruined this year," a second-year student complained, "We're just copying textbooks every day in class, it's really—"

"You're just a lower-year student after all, it's not a big deal to waste a year. It's worse for those of us who are facing important exams," Lisa Turpin shook her head angrily, "Why would a senior official from the Ministry of Magic come to be a professor this year?"

"This may be because the Ministry of Magic and our headmaster had a conflict," Marietta shared the information she knew with everyone at this time.

"My mother got the news from her friends in the Ministry of Magic that Fudge doesn't want us to do dueling training. Because he's worried that Professor Dumbledore will organize his own secret army, and then he can use it to compete with the Ministry of Magic."

"Actually, Fudge himself has a private army—" Luna, who had a faraway expression on her face, suddenly said at this time.

"It's an army composed of Heliopaths. They are huge creatures covered in flames, galloping across the earth, able to burn everything in their path to ashes—"

No one took Luna's words seriously. Everyone was used to Luna's often spaced-out behavior, so they quickly focused on other things.

"Alright, there's nothing we can do to solve this problem by complaining now," the president of the Ravenclaw student council, standing in the middle, pressed his hands down and said, "We must now find a way to continue learning Defense Against the Dark Arts normally under these circumstances."

"Then why don't we create a mutual aid group in the house? I remember there seem to be a few storage rooms in our Ravenclaw Tower that have been empty for a long time," Veneto said, raising his hand at this time.

"So, we can clean up those rooms, and then go to these rooms in our spare time to practice the magic we need to learn in Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"That's a good idea, but what should we do if we have problems?" After seeing Veneto speak, everyone quickly focused their attention on her and asked questions.

"If you have problems, you can discuss them with your classmates and friends first. If you really can't solve them, ask the upperclassmen. I think most of the problems can be solved this way," Veneto thought for a moment and replied.

"If we encounter something that everyone can't solve, I think we can ask Professor Flitwick. Although the professor teaches Charms in school, I think as a dueling champion, he will definitely not be bad at Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"As for equipment, Hugo has learned some interesting things in Transfiguration and Alchemy. So, if we repair the abandoned teaching aids in the school's old equipment warehouse, the equipment problem should be solved."

"Ravenclaw's house funds can solve the material funds for repairing those facilities," Bruce said, hearing this, "If we really do what you said, then we can get this training class up and running."