Hogwarts Homecoming

As everyone could have predicted.

What happened last night immediately hit the top of the 'hot topic list' at Hogwarts. From breakfast to morning classes to noon, no matter where in the castle, you can hear the little wizards talking about it. .

Harry was surprised by the intelligence-gathering abilities of his classmates.

Last night, only the three of them heard the subsequent conversation between Professor Braine and Professor Dumbledore. However, under Sirius's warning, they did not tell anyone about it. But by noon, Professor Braine and Professor Dumbledore It is no secret that the eight-eyed spiders in the forest had a fight and drove them deep into the Forbidden Forest.

Everyone was extremely excited about it, except Hagrid.

"Hagrid didn't come to lunch—"

Looking at the largest vacant seat on the staff table above the auditorium, Harry whispered to Ron,

"He didn't eat breakfast either. Ron, Hagrid must be feeling bad right now."

Ron, who was frowning and listening to the beaming Neville, was considering gathering his team to fight the eight-eyed spider in the Forbidden Forest. He turned his head back when he heard Harry's words, and he also cast a sympathetic look towards the staff table. glance,

"But what Professor Brain did was not bad at all, Harry, no one would like those scary big spiders. Except Hagrid, and you heard it, Professor Brain just drove them deep into the Forbidden Forest, It’s kind enough not to catch them all.”

Harry had a close encounter with the big spider named Aragog, when they accidentally entered the territory of the eight-eyed spider while chasing Peter Pettigrew.

It was an absolutely terrifying adventure, Harry still remembered, when he and Hermione revealed their identities as Hagrid's friends, but the evil old spider still refused to let them go.

To be honest, Harry would never think that Professor Brain was too cruel to those eight-eyed spiders, but he couldn't ignore Hagrid's mood.

"The Daily Prophet has published—"

Just as Harry was thinking about whether to go see Hagrid after school, Hermione, who was sitting opposite him, took a deep breath, and her calm face was exposed from behind the newspaper.

"What?"

Harry looked surprised,

"The Daily Prophet published Professor Brain's expulsion of the eight-eyed spiders. They are so well-informed."

"Don't be silly, Harry. The Daily Prophet is certainly well informed."

Hermione sighed at Harry's slowness;

"But they obviously won't report this matter in a big way now, because it will undoubtedly make Professor Blaine's reputation bigger. This is not what the Ministry of Magic wants to see. What I am saying is-"

Hermione handed the newspaper to Harry,

"Sirius told us last night that the Malfoy family has returned to the Hogwarts School Board again. Oh, you can look at those Slytherin guys."

Hermione raised her chin, pointed at the Slytherin table, and said in a contemptuous tone.

Harry and Ron immediately turned their heads to look at Malfoy. Fred, George and Neville, who heard their chat, also turned and looked at the Slytherin table.

"Oh, that little trash—"

Fred hummed a few times,

"It's his turn to be proud again, isn't it?"

To be honest, Fred's evaluation was not particularly objective.

Although Draco had a touch of arrogance on his face, he was far from being domineering. Instead, he was surrounded by a group of students who congratulated him, and their flattering expressions made Harry nauseous.

Neville stared at Malfoy, who was lazily dealing with a group of flattering students. After quickly glancing at the newspaper in Harry's hand, Neville suddenly looked at Hermione.

"What does this mean?"

Everyone's eyes fell on Neville's face, and Neville's face turned a little pale.

"The Malfoy family returned to the school board. The Daily Prophet reported it extensively. So, it was the Ministry of Magic that pushed this matter?"

Harry and Ron both looked at Neville in surprise. Regarding this matter, Sirius had indeed tipped them off last night, but they didn't expect Neville to guess it just based on the report.

"Does the Ministry of Magic want to interfere with Hogwarts through the school board?"

Neville looked at Hermione and continued to ask,

"What will they do? Remove Professor Dumbledore and Professor Blaine. The Ministry of Magic is afraid of them, isn't it?"

Removing Professors Dumbledore and Professor Blaine? !

Harry's face suddenly turned pale. Sirius had indeed reminded them last night that Hogwarts might be in trouble, but Harry did not expect that the Ministry of Magic might use the school board to fire Professor Dumbledore and Professor Blaine.

It's not impossible.

After all, this is something that has precedent. At that time, Malfoy almost did it without the support of the Ministry of Magic. Now with the Ministry of Magic as his backer, with the support of the Ministry of Magic, this matter is likely to become a reality. Reality.

"I don't know, Neville,"

Hermione's face looked equally ugly,

"But the school board does have this right."

Hermione was about to express her opinion, but at this moment, Filch suddenly rushed in from the hall and attracted her attention. Filch looked very flustered. He limped across the auditorium and went straight to the faculty. In front of Professor Dumbledore and Professor Braine at the dining table, he stretched his head and said something to them, and then, Hermione noticed that the expressions of the two professors became serious.

Professor Dumbledore told Filch something, so Filch trotted out of the auditorium and walked out of the castle.

Many people noticed something was wrong with Filch. They watched Filch's back disappear into the pale light, and discussed with the people around him what happened.

However, the students' doubts were soon cleared.

About ten minutes later, a woman who looked like a toad and Lucius Malfoy appeared in the hall arrogantly, wearing a short pink coat and combing her curly hair, which made Harry's face turn pale.

Ministry of Magic, Office of the Minister.

"Well done, Lucius!"

A loud sound of approval made the staff passing by the minister's office look astonished.

As we all know, Minister Cornelius Fudge has been in a bad mood recently. When people go to him to report problems or sign papers, they can always see the Minister of Magic with a straight face. This directly leads to the recent The work atmosphere has become much more depressing for a while.

"None of this would be possible without your support, Minister--"

Lucius Malfoy, who had just regained the power of school director, bowed to Fudge, smiled smoothly, and then nodded to Umbridge,

"Of course, I also want to thank you, Ms. Umbridge. If you hadn't been the mediator for the Malfoy family, some of them would not have agreed so happily!"

"This is all for our plan, Lucius!"

Umbridge let out a laugh like a silver bell, with anticipation on her round face, looking at the Minister of Magic who was admiring the letter of appointment about her brought by Lucius Malfoy.

"What do we do now, Minister?"

"Needless to say, Dolores!"

Fudge couldn't contain his excitement. He excitedly ran to the clothes rack and took off his robe. Then he looked at Umbridge and Malfoy, who had a mocking look in his gray eyes.

"We're going to Hogwarts now. I can't wait to see the frustrated expressions on Dumbledore and Brain's faces. They deserve it for their scaremongering, causing chaos, and daring to resist the orders of the Ministry of Magic!"

Fudge led Umbridge and Malfoy out of the office, but in front of the elevator hall, a man with a dull face and wandering eyes stopped them.

"Minister, I have an urgent document that I need you to sign."

The man said very unsightly.

"This is Broderick Bird of the Department of Mysteries, Minister--"

Umbridge saw that Fudge didn't know this man at all, so she reminded him in a low voice, and then said to Bode in a sharp voice,

"Broderick, the minister has urgent matters and needs to go out now. If you have anything, you can wait until we get back to report it!"

"But I need to go to Azkaban for inspection. Check whether those dementors are still under our control. You know the importance of this matter."

Bode still said stupidly, while Malfoy, who was behind Fudge, glanced at Bode quickly, feeling awe-inspiring in his heart.

"The Dementors of Azkaban. Okay."

Fudge frowned, but he did not underestimate the necessity of this matter. He took the document handed over by Bode, looked at it carefully, and signed his name on the signature.

What's even more ridiculous is that Broderick Border walked into the elevator first, then directly closed the door grille, pressed the elevator and went downstairs, blocking the Minister of Magic from outside the car.

Is this guy out of his mind?

Fudge thought angrily.

Being interrupted by this, Fudge, who had just been overwhelmed by excitement, sobered up a little. He looked at the appointment in his hand, rolled his eyes, and stuffed it into Umbridge's hand.

"I just suddenly remembered--"

Fudge's eyes flickered and he said to Umbridge, who was a little confused,

"I have some urgent matters that need to be dealt with. Dolores, I have been putting off the matter for a while. It must be dealt with immediately. It is up to you and Lucius to go to Hogwarts to announce the appointment."