harry potter book of crimes

"Good evening, Mr. Scrimgeour."

"Oh, yes, good evening! Please come in..."

Our minister's smile still looks rather stiff, which undoubtedly shows that he is still not accustomed to using richer expressions to deal with those who need him to show his kindness.

However, Maca is still relatively happy about this. Because he thinks that if one day Scrimgeour will smile at him very naturally, then he will need to be more cautious when he faces Scrimgeour again.

.

Unfortunately, once you fully adapt to the position of "Minister of Magic", you will have to face the huge temptation of power.

It is unknown whether Scrimgeour will regard a highly influential wizard like Maka as a potential competitor one day in the future.

After all, although his position has amazing power, the longest interval between elections is only seven years.

"Mr. Maclean, it's rare for you to take the initiative to come to the Ministry of Magic. I hope you didn't bring anything..." Scrimgeour stood up and greeted Maka, "Look what I said... Come, please

Sit down! Do you want something to drink?"

When Maka saw the door open, she put down her hand on the door and walked into the minister's office.

Compared with other rooms, this room can be said to be quite spacious, but there is actually nothing worth mentioning. Oh, except for the large picture frames hanging on the wall - there are all the people who have worked in British magic.

A wizard who has made remarkable political achievements as a minister.

This is actually similar to the principal's office at Hogwarts... Of course, most of the principals at Hogwarts have served for a long time, so even hanging the portraits of each principal on the wall is more than enough.

And on the walls of this office, there are not many things that can have your own portrait among them.

"Don't bother. I came from the bar. I've had enough drink just now..." Maka sat down casually on the sofa nearby and chuckled, "Then, you can rest assured that I'm not here today."

I didn't come here with any bad news."

"Oh, is it?"

Scrimgeour immediately breathed a sigh of relief - originally he was still wondering if something big happened again, so that Maca would come over to talk to him in person!

So Scrimgeour also sat down on the sofa opposite Maka and looked at the latter with a hint of doubt.

"Then...is there anything you need my help with?"

He has been busy at his post all day. Even today, when everything seems to be back on track, there is not much less he needs to do.

The pressure from the Dark Lord has subsided, but the long-standing backlog of government affairs is not so easy to clear. It is not an exaggeration to say that the documents that require his final decision are piling up every day.

It can be seen that the most obvious thing on Scrimgeour's face at this moment is the exhaustion that has nowhere to hide.

"I believe you still have a lot of work to do, so I'll get right to the point," Maka looked at Scrimgeour across the coffee table and said, "I need to go to Azkaban to visit a prisoner - not long ago, I

The alchemy contest attacker who was entrusted to you."

Scrimgeour was stunned when he heard this, and seemed a little surprised.

"That witch from the African delegation?" he wondered, "She is already being interrogated in the wizard prison of the International Confederation of Wizards. Do you also know about the matters we handed over there? Before leaving, weren't you

And let the female reporter from the Daily Prophet..."

When Maka saw him mentioning the old witch, she immediately waved her hand at him.

"No, it's not her," Maka explained, "I mean the one before - do you remember? The bald wizard who attacked during the competition, the one with alchemy tattoos on his body..."

"Oh! It's him?" Scrimgeour suddenly said, "If you want to go, of course you can! I will sign a pass document for you, and then..."

He said, stood up from the sofa, turned around and walked towards his desk.

I saw him rummaging through the pile of documents on the table, probably looking for today's night shift staff list or something, and then quickly raised his head again.

"I'll ask an Auror on night duty to accompany you. It will be smooth sailing when you get there." Scrimgeour said as he took out a piece of paper from a document basket, leaned over and started writing.

Azkaban now is very different from the past.

The incident of Voldemort controlling the Dementors caused the Ministry of Magic to no longer fully believe in those monsters. Instead, it sent additional wizards who were good at the Patronus Charm to take charge of the outer sentries. The prison break caused by Maca also caused the Ministry of Magic to add additional wizards to the cells.

A lot of defensive spells were added to try to reduce the possibility of prisoners escaping.

Of course, this alone cannot stop a powerful wizard of Voldemort's level, and the same goes for Maka, who is currently in front of Scrimgeour.

Therefore, after understanding Maka's intention, he was quite happy in his heart - at least Maka did not run to Azkaban on his own, which was a valuable respect for him, the Minister of Magic.

.

…

The former poker-faced director of the Auror Office was very efficient in his work. Not long after, Maka passed the only door in the Ministry of Magic that led to the island where Azkaban was located, and walked through it again.

journey.

The difference from the last time he came here was that this time his hands and feet were not shackled, and the Auror who came with him would not treat him as a criminal.

In fact, following him was an acquaintance—Kingsley Shacklebolt, an elite member of the Order of the Phoenix.

At this moment, Maka was walking on the stone road paved with black rocks. In the surrounding deserted land, there were no dementors wandering around. There were only some exposed stones on the ground showing the sea water.

Traces of erosion.

This small island in the North Sea is often hit by violent sea storms. In the worst cases, huge waves can even submerge the entire island.

At that time, the existence of the island itself could not be seen, only the towering black stone fortress standing on the sea.

"Kingsley, I heard that you may be promoted? The position of director of the Auror Office is not far away, right?" Maka congratulated as she walked, "Congratulations, busier days are coming."

"Yeah, busier days..."

Kingsley's expression couldn't be told whether he was happy or something else, it looked somewhat complicated. After a while, he shook his head, seemingly putting aside the emotion in his heart for the time being.

"Forget about my little thing," he glanced at Maka and said jokingly, "Your Excellency, the sinner of the Quidditch World Cup and the benefactor of the British wizarding world - how does it feel to be back here again?"

Maka looked around at the surrounding scenery. Since it had already fallen into the night, it was so dark that it was difficult to see clearly when looking into the distance. After looking at it for a few times, he curled his lips.

"Well, maybe I really miss those dementors a little bit..."

The Black Stone Fortress covers a large area, and the two of them hardly exchanged a few words. After walking forward for a few minutes, the iron gate at the bottom of the fortress was already in front of them.

Maka still remembered that in the past, this heavy door was still completely suspended on hinges, because no one would have thought that prisoners would actually escape.

And today, this door finally played its due role and fell steadily into the groove on the ground.

At the door, Kingsley took the initiative to show Scrimgeour's signature document. As the winch was turned by the wizard on duty inside, the gate slowly rose, allowing Maka and Kingsley to both walk in.

In a real prison area.

"Oh," Maka's eyes lit up as soon as she arrived inside, "You know... when I got here, I felt a little like revisiting my old place."

The vestibule of this black stone fortress is much neater than in the past. The dry black and yellow weeds have been cleared away, the broken bricks and stones have all disappeared, and even the cracks that should have been on the wall seem to have been repaired.

If there weren't those wandering dementors, people could actually live here normally - although what Maka misses most here is the group of "cute" dementors.

This time when he came to Azkaban to find someone, Femaka didn't have to put in too much effort. A wizard who was guarding the place accurately brought him to the prison door of the bald old man, and even took the initiative to help him drive him away.

Walked away the nearby dementors.

"Please open the lock!" Maka said softly.

The guard glanced at Kingsley, and after the other party nodded affirmatively, he took out his wand and opened the lock on the cell door for Maka.

Makara opened the iron door and made a harsh "creak" sound, which made people feel quite sad.

In this prison, the bald man was huddled in a pile of old straw, wearing a dirty prison uniform. The sound of Maka opening the door seemed to have no effect on him at all, and it didn't even make him think a little bit.

Move it.

"Wake up."

Maka walked to him and squatted down, patting his back, but there was still no reaction at all.

If he really wanted to ask questions, he would definitely need to find a way to pry open his mouth, but Maka didn't need him to actually speak.

Seeing that this guy was lying on the ground like a dead corpse, with his back turned to him and showing no intention of moving, Maka turned him over with force and opened his closed eyelids.

He came to see the bald alchemist tonight. Actually, he just wanted to confirm whether he missed anything when he used Legilimency last time.

The next moment, a large number of memory images flashed in Maka's mind one by one, and his eyebrows frowned tighter and tighter.

If you just selectively browse through the memories, it's nothing, but if you screen them in large quantities, it will not be easy for the spell caster.