Hogwarts Raven's Claw

Chapter 251: Fudge the Clever

As soon as Mike stood up, he felt a strong sense of dizziness. At the same time, he felt as if his limbs were soaked in ice water, so cold that he almost lost consciousness.

Mike knew that his face must be extremely pale, so he extended his hand to Snape.

Although Mike was still in a state of tongue-locking and unable to speak at all, his meaning was already very clear.

Snape curled his lips, and seeing that Mike looked like he might fall down again at any time, he reluctantly took out a bottle of black and purple potion and handed it to Mike.

The taste of this potion is very special. As soon as Mike took a sip, he felt a foul odor exploding in his mouth.

If I have to describe it, the smell is similar to that of shark jerky produced in Iceland. It is the kind of smell in the toilets in slums that is so smelly that it hurts the eyes and makes people instinctively want to vomit.

Mike strongly suspected that Snape was deliberately taking revenge on him!
However, the effect of this potion is really amazing. When Mike swallowed it while enduring the stench, it quickly turned into a warm current that spread throughout his body, restoring vitality to Mike's body which had become weak due to excessive blood loss.

Black and Lupin, who were still hanging in the distance, also breathed a sigh of relief when they saw this. They didn't really care too much about their future fate. To them, Mike, the child implicated by them, was the most important.

After Snape cast another restraining spell on Mike, he came back to Black and Lupin.

The first thing he did was to wave his wand and use magic to pull down their pants!
Black's pants looked extremely luxurious, as they were made entirely of silk. Although Snape did not recognize the brand printed on them, judging from the appearance and material alone, they should be a luxury item.

This made Snape very angry. He recalled Black's identity. He was the eldest son of the Black family and the only heir now!
At the same time, he also remembered the all-round bullying he had endured by the rich second-generation Potter and Black since he was a teenager!
This made Snape very unhappy, so he flicked his wand imperceptibly, and Black's only remaining pants disappeared.

Blake obviously couldn't stand being humiliated in front of Mike, his junior. He struggled hard, and angry roars continued to come out of his mouth.

However, to Snape, these roars sounded like the most moving music in the world. He rubbed his hands excitedly and came to Lupin.

Compared to Black, Lupin was obviously a more frugal person, as could be seen from his beige striped trousers with gray patches.

Seeing this, Snape could no longer control himself. He held his stomach and laughed. After he calmed down a little, Snape raised his red face and asked:
"How poor are you, Lupin! Even...even this needs to be patched...Hahaha!"

Snape burst into laughter again when he was halfway through his words.

This time his laughter was even more exaggerated. He fell directly to the ground without caring about the dirt and gravel on the ground, holding his stomach with one hand and pounding the ground frantically with the other hand.

Amidst the continuous laughter, Lupin's face was so gloomy that it seemed like water could drip out of it, but since he was completely powerless against Snape at the moment, he could only lower his head and try not to look at Snape's hateful face.

I don't know how long it took, but Snape finally seemed to remember Mike's existence.

Perhaps in order to restore his majestic impression in front of Mike, Snape stood up quickly, brushed off the dirt on his body, wiped away the tears from laughing, and then put on his usual arrogant and indifferent expression.

At this moment, the Aurors who had noticed the battle here arrived.

"Merlin! Professor Snape, you actually caught him! I really should award you a First Class Order of Merlin!" Fat Fudge squeezed out from the Aurors. When he saw Black hanging, a hint of surprise flashed across his face. "Mr. Black, it's so hard to find you! But it doesn't matter. Thanks to my unremitting efforts, we finally meet!"

After saying that, his eyes quickly glanced at Black's vital parts, and then teased Snape: "Wow! Much smaller than I thought!"

This witticism successfully made many Aurors present laugh, and just when Fudge was proud of his sense of humor, he suddenly noticed Mike and Lupin standing beside him.

"Professor Snape, can you explain to me what is going on with these two people?"

"I am happy to serve you, Mr. Minister." Snape bowed slightly and explained, "This person is called Remus Lupin, and he is the new professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts. You may not know that he and the murderer Black were very good friends when they were students, and this time he wants to stop me from arresting Black, so I think he should be Black's accomplice!
As for this little wizard here, I think I don't need to introduce him anymore, the famous duel champion (Snape's tone suddenly became frivolous when he said this)! Although he also attacked me with Lupin, considering his age, I think he should have been bewitched. "

Fudge nodded continuously as he listened to Snape's explanation.

In his opinion, Snape's explanation was logically clear and well-reasoned, and could almost be used as testimony in court.

"Very good. Then we will take care of Black and Mr. Lupin first. As for that guy over there..."

"Wait!"

Fudge, who was suddenly interrupted in the middle of his words, looked towards the source of the voice indignantly, and saw that Mike had broken free from Snape's restraints at some point and was now walking towards him.

Snape frowned as he looked at the wand in Mike's hand. He remembered that the black wand had been knocked away by him.

But after seeing Shuke behind Mike, he understood everything.

"Mr. Minister, Black is innocent, and Peter Pettigrew is still alive!" Mike straightened his collar and looked at Fudge, "It was not Black who betrayed the Potters, but Peter!"

When Mike opened his mouth, Fudge and Snape both looked at him blankly. After a while, Fudge burst into shocking laughter.

"Hahaha! Mike, Mike, it looks like you've been brainwashed. Why are you talking nonsense?"

"I have Pettigrew locked up in Hogwarts now."

Fudge's smile stopped abruptly. He stared into Mike's eyes, trying to find some evidence to prove that Mike was lying. At the same time, his brain began to think rapidly about the pros and cons.

After a long time, Fudge came up to Mike and asked seriously:

"Mike, can you guarantee that what you said is true? If you were lying just now, I advise you to admit it now, because the consequences of playing a trick on me will be very serious."

"I swear on my wand."

After getting a positive answer, Fudge's face was filled with smile again. "I believe you."

As soon as Snape heard this, he immediately became unwilling. He thought that everything Michael did was just to delay time. If he really delayed until Dumbledore came back, his plan of revenge and sending Black to hell would probably encounter new changes.

However, Fudge did not intend to listen to his advice. He did not even have the desire to appease Snape's emotions. He directly ordered the Aurors to take Black and others back to Hogwarts.

Seeing this, Mike whistled at Snape, and then followed Fudge back to Hogwarts with Snape's murderous look.

He had expected Fudge to react like this.

When Black was sentenced, Fudge was not yet the Minister of Magic. The person who dealt with Black was the Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Barty Crouch.

Mr. Crouch, who is from Ravenclaw College and belongs to the same Raven's Nest as Mike, perfectly fits people's inherent impression of Ravenclaw:

Knowledgeable, powerful, slightly eccentric, and extremely capable.

Although Mr. Crouch has some minor shortcomings, this does not prevent him from being successful in the upper echelons of the Ministry of Magic.

He was even once a hot favorite in the ministerial election.

It’s a pity that he has a son who betrays his father.

His son Barty Crouch Jr. was a fanatical admirer of Voldemort. After this was discovered, not only was he thrown into Azkaban, but even his father, Mr. Crouch, lost the right to run for minister.

As for what happened with Blake, Mr. Crouch can’t be blamed entirely.

It was when Voldemort fell from power that a large number of Death Eaters were arrested. After being arrested, these people began to blame each other, hoping to redeem themselves through this method.

As a result, the Ministry of Magic's temporary detention center was overcrowded for a while.

The Law Enforcement Department simply does not have enough staff to conduct a comprehensive review of everyone, so even though Mr. Crouch knew that there would definitely be many innocent people involved, he still chose to cut the Gordian knot, bypassing many trial procedures and directly throwing a large number of suspects into prison.

This is true for ordinary people who are not seriously suspected, not to mention people like Blake who seem to have solid evidence.

As a result, the Ministry of Magic showed extraordinary efficiency in dealing with Black's case, and put Black into Azkaban in just a few days.

Although this action was really a helpless move at the time, it is different now. In the peaceful days after Voldemort's disappearance, the people are increasingly dissatisfied with the Ministry of Magic, the organization that once protected them. Officials will be severely condemned by public opinion if the slightest mistake is exposed.

Fudge was well aware of this. The Dementors he sent to Hogwarts only sucked a little of the students' happiness. They didn't even hurt anyone, but he was already sprayed like a dog.

So he could almost imagine the extent of criticism Mr. Crouch would receive after the news broke out if Blake's case was indeed a wrongful conviction.

At least he has absolutely no chance in the next ministerial election!
Crouch has always been his biggest competitor in the election for minister. If he can take this opportunity to completely eliminate the threat posed by Crouch, then he will make a fortune!

Thinking of this, the smile on Fudge's face became even brighter, and his steps became lighter.

Mike was relieved when he saw this. Fudge wasn't stupid at all. Just kidding! How could someone who had been the Minister of Magic for so many years be a fool?
The reason why some of Fudge's actions and orders in the original book seem so stupid is simply because his head follows his butt. Sometimes his behavior is incomprehensible to outsiders, but it is in his best interest.

When the group returned to Hogwarts, all the people in Hogwarts had already gathered in the Great Hall, except that the number of people in Hogwarts was much smaller than usual. It seemed that Fudge had planned this in advance, and holding such a quasi-fun activity during the Christmas holidays would undoubtedly minimize the impact.

Fudge was already very anxious. He didn't even ask where Black and Lupin were imprisoned. He followed Mike directly to the Room of Requirement.

When Mike opened the door to the Room of Requirement, Fudge and the two elite Aurors following him did not show any surprise on their faces, which did not surprise Mike.

To be honest, both Fudge and those elite Aurors should have been influential figures at Hogwarts. Such people should know about places like the Room of Requirement, which are secret treasures.

When the group filed in and came to the small cell where Peter Pettigrew was imprisoned, Peter was holding a piece of dry bread and eating it.

Mike clearly saw that when the uniformed Aurors came to the cell, Peter, who was in the form of a mouse, suddenly stopped chewing the bread, and then returned to normal, and the chewing speed seemed to be even faster.

Fudge looked at Mike with a puzzled look, and Mike saw that Peter Pettigrew was still trying to get away with it, so he smiled and said:
"This is Peter Pettigrew, he's an illegal Animagus."

Fudge nodded when he heard this, and then an Auror came forward and grabbed Peter out of the cell.

It was only at this time that Peter began to struggle hard. He twisted his body wildly and bit the Auror's fingers with his big front teeth, hoping that the Auror would let go because of the pain.

It's a pity that these Aurors were wearing dragon-skin gloves, and the rat's incisors could not bite through the skin of such a powerful creature.

The Auror's hands kept moving. He quickly took out his wand and pointed it at the mouse in his other hand.

Powerful magic gushed out, and Peter Pettigrew's struggles became more and more frantic, but the Auror's hand held his body firmly like a pair of iron clamps.

Gradually Peter's body began to swell, and in just a few seconds he changed from a little mouse into a short and fat middle-aged man.

Perhaps because he has maintained the form of a mouse for many years, Peter's appearance and movements are extremely similar to those of a mouse.

Peter was obviously extremely uncomfortable appearing in front of people in human form again. He instinctively shrank his body, and his chubby hands curled up in front of his chest and twisted constantly.

Seeing that everyone present was looking at him vigilantly with their wands raised, his eyes rolled around like a cunning mouse. After a while, he opened his mouth, revealing a pair of yellow buck teeth, and said to Mike kindly:
"Mike! Hello Mike! I'm Scabbers! I'm your friend Ron's pet!"

(End of this chapter)