Archaeologists at Hogwarts

Chapter 180 Ministry of Magic and Reporters

Burrow.

While sleeping, Mr. Weasley felt something poking his arm.

"Stop making trouble, Molly is shaking."

He turned over and murmured while half asleep: "I know it's Christmas, but I really can't have any more children. There are too many of them. Even Ron's wand is second-hand."

Molly also responded in her sleep: "There are also Ginny's new shoes. I have to find a way to buy her a new pair of shoes."

"No problem, dear." Mr. Weasley answered and slowly fell asleep: "Just leave it to me."

The thing was poking his arm again.

"Um?"

Mr. Weasley finally opened his eyes. For a moment, he couldn't tell whether he was at home or in the office - a paper owl stood on him. After Mr. Weasley woke up, it turned into an ordinary paper owl.

The letter fell on Mr. Weasley's face.

"What's this?"

He subconsciously picked it up and read it - [Go to Malfoy Manor quickly, and don't forget to check the basement, there is what you want there.]

basement?

The "Muggle Protection Act" was officially passed not long ago. Mr. Weasley also went to Malfoy Manor to inspect it, but that time he did not find any basement. Instead, the proud face of Lucius Malfoy was vividly visible.

In the eyes, he was so angry.

He sat up all of a sudden, his mind gradually clearing up - it turned out that Lucius had hidden all the prohibited items in the basement!

"Where are you going?" Molly asked, looking at Arthur who was in a hurry to get dressed.

"It's time to work overtime, my ex." Mr. Weasley hurriedly kissed Molly's forehead, and he said excitedly: "I finally have a chance to defeat that Malfoy guy. Let's celebrate when I come back!"

——

Early the next morning, Draco Malfoy woke up from his sleep.

He couldn't wait to laugh at Harry Potter.

Yesterday, the same announcement appeared in the house magazine in the Slytherin common room - influenced by the trio, Professor Hemmer planned to change the ancient magic class in the second half of the semester.

What else could the impact be? Would it be good?

No, of course it's bad!

Although this heralded the return of Professor Highmore, which made Draco's mood a little bit worse, what could make him happier than seeing Potter unhappy?

"Boss, boss!"

Crabbe stopped Draco in a rare move. He pointed at the college magazine in a low voice and said: "Look at that, something seems to have happened to Mr. Malfoy!"

"What?" Draco forcefully pushed away the people blocking the front, and walked to the college magazine amidst the yells of curses. His face suddenly turned extremely pale.

There was a new report published there, and the title was——

[The basement of Malfoy Manor]

In the photo is a panicked Lucius Malfoy, and Mr. Weasley standing aside with an air of dignity.

Lucius was caught, or he was caught by Mr. Weasley himself!

This is big news. With the spread of the college magazine and the new edition of "The Quibbler", it has become the center of discussion both in Hogwarts and outside the school.

Draco also saw the photo of the basement. The shelves were filled with dark magic items. Under the photo was a long list, which was dizzying.

"How is this possible?" He murmured, suddenly pushing away the classmates who were looking at him, ran back to the dormitory, and hurriedly wrote home to ask what was going on.

Seeing the panicked Draco, the students all confirmed the authenticity of the news, otherwise he would not be like this.

On the other side, in the Ancient Magic Office.

Toby closed "The Quibbler" with satisfaction, believing that this first-hand report would make wizards in the magical world pay more attention to this magazine and help spread the word.

He asked Al casually: "How are the other newspapers?"

Al's little face was unusually solemn, and he silently handed Toby a copy of the "Daily Prophet" that had just been released this morning.

Toby flipped back and forth for a while, and finally stopped at the front page, and his eyes became heavy.

There is not a single report about Lucius.

The news page that occupied the front page was the secret room of Hogwarts. It was deliberately revealed and attracted everyone's attention. He was also mentioned as a professor who was attacked twice. He became the target of attention and replaced

Lucius Malfoy is a truly notorious guy.

This is not a good sign.

Toby noticed that Lucius's incident was indeed very topical, but it was far inferior when compared with the mysterious secret room.

Especially in Hogwarts, many students are not very surprised that there are a lot of dark magic items hidden in Malfoy Manor, but the Chamber of Secrets is a legend spread in the school, and the students are obviously more interested in this.

After Toby was silent for a while, he received a note from Principal Dumbledore. This was their first conversation after breaking into Malfoy Manor, but it was one-way.

[I am on my way to Egypt now. Before I come back, I hope you will not do anything drastic. For example, attack the Minister of Magic. When I come back, we will have a good talk.

】

——

At the same time, at the end of a dimly lit and dilapidated corridor on the second floor of the Ministry of Magic, opposite the broom closet, there was an office with a faded brass sign on the door: No Misuse of Muggle Items Office.

The place was dark and shabby, and seemed to be slightly smaller than a broom room. Two desks were squeezed inside, surrounded by a row of file cabinets that were almost overflowing along the wall. There were also packages of crumbling files piled on the top of the cabinets.

There is literally no place for people to move around.

On the wall are some things that are dear to the owner of the office: several car advertisements, one of which shows a disassembled engine; two illustrations of mailboxes.

At this moment, the owner of the office, Mr. Weasley, was suspiciously receiving a high-level figure, the Senior Undersecretary of the Ministry of Magic, Dolores Umbridge.

This is a middle-aged old woman with a bloodless face, thick eye bags, a toad-like face and a big mouth. She is short and fat, and wears a big scary pink bow headdress on her short curly mouse-brown hair.

.

After looking at the environment in the office with a disgusting look, Umbridge said in her even more annoying sharp and artificial tone: "I guess you are Mr. Weasley. Sorry, I rarely come here.

, this is the first time I’ve seen you.”

Her tone didn't sound apologetic at all.

Mr. Weasley suppressed his nausea and asked, "Then why did you come here?"

"I'm here under the minister's order." Umbridge said arrogantly: "As for the Malfoy case, someone from the ministry will take over it, so you don't need to intervene."

"Interfering?" Mr. Weasley said angrily: "This is the case I discovered first, how can it be called intervening?! How on earth are you going to deal with Malfoy, are you just going to let him go?!"

Umbridge said in a bored tone: "Of course not, everything will be done according to the rules and procedures. But you must also know that there are many doubts in this case. Compared with Malfoy, we should find ways to find the attacker."

He has the right talent, and that is the real disaster."

"Are you kidding?" Mr. Weasley looked at her in disbelief: "Where is the attacker? There are no clues in the manor. That's just Malfoy's excuse!"

But Umbridge left without even saying hello. It didn't seem like she was here for discussion, but she was directly informing Mr. Weasley with an order.

On the other side, in the Office of the Minister of Magic on the first floor, Cornelius Fudge smiled and took the initiative to shake hands with the gloomy Lucius Malfoy: "On behalf of all the staff of the Ministry of Magic, I would like to thank you for this donation, Malfoy.

Mr. Fu, that’s a lot of money.”

Lucius Malfoy said nothing, he stared directly at Fudge.

"Of course, of course." Fudge continued: "And the large number of dark magic items that you voluntarily handed over. I believe that the people who attacked you deliberately framed you, even though it was a large amount,

It doesn’t seem possible to do it easily in one night. But—”

"That's a donation of tens of thousands of galleons!" Malfoy gritted his teeth and said: "Don't tell me that you can't even solve this little trouble. You know very well that the pure-blood family in question is not just the Malfoy family, they all

Waiting to see how you handle this case. The final result will change their attitude towards you, Fudge."

The smile on Fudge's face faded little by little: "But you should also know that the lies you fabricated are really too much. I understand that you are unwilling to let the "Muggle Protection Act" be passed, and you are unwilling to have your personal information inspected.

Property. But the unknown attacker left no clues. We don’t even know whether he is a man or a woman. In my opinion, you must at least be tried in the presence of Wizengamot members.

Once, this will stop outsiders’ mouths.”

How could Lucius not know what Fudge was planning? In this way, he would have more property to take care of, and he would have to satisfy the majority of the jurors.

But who allowed him to be caught?

Not one dark magic item, not two, but an entire basement. With such a large number, it would be difficult not to attract attention.

Fudge added: "I hope you understand, Mr. Malfoy, it is not an easy matter to order the Daily Prophet to shut up. But you are lucky, there is a big news in Hogwarts, the emergence of the Chamber of Secrets

Enough to attract the attention of those reporters——"

"But what's going on?!" Lucius interrupted angrily. He threw down a copy of "The Quibbler" on the table, pointed to the report against him and said, "Now the news has spread.

If it’s open, why can’t you make this magazine shut up too!”

"Don't get excited." Fudge said with a headache: "This is indeed an accident. I'm sorry for this, Mr. Malfoy. This newspaper originally had a very small audience, but somehow, it suddenly became free.

, which only requires monthly payments, is a very novel consumption method, so it has attracted a large number of readers. I have already sent someone to inquire, and I have to find an opportunity to have a good talk with the boss of this newspaper. Even if it is not for you.

I would do the same thing with this case. The Ministry of Magic doesn’t need a naysayer newspaper. Let alone The Quibbler.”

The expression on Lucius's face became less stiff. He finally shook Fudge's hand and left the office.

——

A man wearing an Auror uniform knocked on the door of the strange house in front of him.

Xenophilius Lovegood's fluffy head was exposed, and he asked doubtfully: "Who are you?"

"I am an Auror from the Ministry of Magic." The man said, "Kingsley Shacklebolt, I'm here to ask about something."

"Auror?"

Already?"

"No," said Kingsley, entering the room: "I'm here for The Quibbler - is that your daughter, sir?"

"One of them is." Xenophilius said, pointing to Luna who poked her head out of the stairs, and then pointed to another red-haired girl and said: "The other one is a child from a nearby family. She is a friend of my daughter.

, I just came as a guest this morning - by the way, would you like a cup of Gordig root tea?"

Kingsley saw a look of fear on the red-haired girl's face, and he hesitated and said, "Let's forget it."

Xenophilius looked a little disappointed.

Next, Xenophilius took Kingsley to visit the printer on the second floor. Now it has been modified and can be used to produce special magazines containing magic circles.

Ginny and Luna looked at Kingsley curiously and heard him ask Xenophilius a lot of questions after sighing about the magic of the magic circle, including the origin of the magic circle and the acquisition.

Who is the new boss of The Quibbler?

"Toby Highmore." Xenophilius felt that there was nothing worth hiding. He said: "He is a good boss and has made my salary higher than before. Do you have any other questions? If

If you don’t mind, I was about to take my two children to buy new shoes, but the ones I bought before didn’t fit, so I was—well, I wasted a lot of money.”

He almost told Pandora what she was complaining about. His intuition told him that it was better not to reveal this, lest it be regarded as a dark magic item.

"No more." Kingsley said politely.

After he left, Xenophilius urged the two girls to finish breakfast quickly so that he could take them shopping together.

"Am I involved too?" Ginny said in surprise.

"Mom asked Dad to do this." Luna pointed to the notebook in her hand and said, "If Mom hadn't reminded me, Dad wouldn't have even remembered that the shoes didn't fit. Just think of your share as a gift from me.

The Christmas gift is ready, that’s what I planned to do.”

Ginny looked at her gratefully, but Luna didn't think this was a big deal. It should be shared between good friends.

"But it's about Professor Hemmer." Ginny asked hesitantly: "Did he get into trouble? Otherwise, why would he be questioned by the Ministry of Magic?"

Luna opened the notebook and scribbled something down.

"There's no need to ask." She said in a matter-of-fact tone: "I wouldn't be surprised at all. Professor Heimer is obviously the kind of person who will cause trouble everywhere. But he is also very interesting, just like my mother.

Same."

Ginny saw Pandora's notebook and responded:

[No, dear, Professor Heimer’s ideas are much more interesting than mine.]

The time came for the day when school started after the holidays. Toby got ready, reset his mood, and prepared to welcome the returning students and teach them a lesson that would be deeply engraved in their memories and will never be forgotten in their lives.

Just as he walked out of the office, he met Professor Lockhart, who was rushing over. Behind him was a strange woman with weirdly curly hair, which looked special when paired with her big-chin face.

awkward.

"Hey, Professor Hemmer!" Lockhart waved happily and said, "I've found a way for you to increase sales. Look who this is - Rita Skeeter, she's from the Daily Prophet.

A top reporter, with her help you will definitely become famous."

Toby's eyes under the hood looked at this flamboyant woman. He remembered that Principal Dumbledore had said that he would help him reject Rita Skeeter's interview last semester - because Toby was in the first class of school.

The reasons for the controversial remarks in class.

In addition, Toby also remembered that Skeeter once described Dumbledore as a rigid old madman, which was also said to him by Principal Dumbledore himself.

Al leaned close to the hood and muttered quietly, reminding Toby that the recent reports related to the secret room in the Daily Prophet were all written by this woman.

Toby nodded understandingly.

Lucius's case was not mentioned, but only the chamber of secrets was reported.

Skeeter watched this scene with interest. She had heard about this magical Niffler, but that was all. It was said that he was the assistant of the professor in front of her.

A sniffing assistant, what a topic this can cause.

Just thinking about it makes Skeeter extremely excited.

The quill in her hand that can automatically fabricate news is already thirsty.

"I really want to see you, Professor Toby Hemmer."

Skeeter kept talking: "Perhaps you don't know, I planned to interview you last semester, but unfortunately Dumbledore turned it down. He is hindering your future. Think about it, you obviously

To achieve something much greater than that, I heard you were also a famous archaeologist, it's just - oh, do you have anything to say?"

She couldn't wait to open her crocodile leather handbag, took out her notebook and a long, dazzling green shorthand quill, and stared at Toby with bright eyes, who raised one of his palms.

Toby glanced at Lockhart first and said to him: "I really hope we can work together until graduation this semester."

"What?" Lockhart was stunned, then subconsciously took two steps back.

Under his increasingly panicked eyes, Toby turned his hood in Skeeter's direction and said in an indifferent tone: "Daily Prophet? Just wait, the Quibbler will step on you and become the wizarding world

of the most popular newspapers.”

"Also, there is one more thing -"

As if a chill was rising from the soles of Skeeter's feet, she heard Toby, who passed directly over her, say: "Don't let me see you write anything bad about me in the newspaper, otherwise just try it."

"Let's see if I'm as tolerant as Dumbledore."