Hogwarts Raven's Claw

Chapter 415 Proposal
"In a brief statement on Friday evening, Minister for Magic Connery Fudge confirmed that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has returned to the country and is active again.

'It is with great regret that I must confirm that the wizard who calls himself the Demon King... Phew... You know who I am talking about. He - he has risen from the dead and is back among us.' said Fudge, who looked exhausted as he faced the reporters. 'It is with almost equal regret that we report that the Dementors in Azkaban have collectively revolted and have expressed their unwillingness to continue to be employed by the Ministry of Magic. We have reason to believe that the Dementors are currently working for the Demon King. We strongly urge the magical community to remain vigilant. The Ministry of Magic is publishing a basic guide to home and personal defense, which will be sent free of charge to all wizarding families next month.'

The Minister's announcement caused anguish and alarm among the wizarding community, which had received assurances from the Ministry three weeks earlier that persistent reports that You-Know-Who was once again active among us were pure nonsense.

Now it seems that what our minister said before was real nonsense.

I believe everyone must be very curious about why the Ministry of Magic changed its attitude so suddenly. Our Minister of Magic, Mr. Fudge, refused to answer this question, but we still got the answer from Mr. Scrimgeour, the current Director of the Auror Office.

'Just last Tuesday night, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and a large number of elite Death Eaters broke into the Ministry of Magic. Their purpose was clear: a powerful magic item hidden in the Department of Mysteries.' Scrimgeour said this with a very tough attitude, 'But we knew about their action in advance and sent out the Aurors. After a fierce battle, we successfully repelled He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and won. Yes, victory, a complete victory. In fact, except for He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named himself and a very few lucky ones, the entire Death Eater army was almost completely wiped out by us. So please rest assured that our Aurors and strikers are powerful enough to protect the safety of our people. Next, we...'

The above is Director Scrimgeour’s speech. We agree with his suggestion because, from any perspective, he is more suitable to be the leader of the Ministry of Magic than Connery Fudge.

In addition, not long ago, the Ministry of Magic officially dropped all charges against Albus Dumbledore and restored his positions and reputations, including headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, member of the International Confederation of Wizards, and familiar wizard of the Wizengamot.

Over the past year, he has insisted that You-Know-Who is not dead as people generally hope and believe, but is recruiting followers and preparing to usurp power again. We have reason to believe that in the coming days, the Ministry of Magic will once again defeat You-Know-Who with his cooperation, just like..."

"That's complete nonsense!"

Black's loud shout interrupted Hermione's reading and startled everyone in the ward, including Lupin, the injured patient lying motionless on the bed.

At this time, they were in a ward of St. Mungo's Hospital for Wizardry. Just as the newspaper said, Dumbledore had all his official positions and posts restored. Dumbledore, who had regained power, was not idle. He almost immediately transferred Lupin to St. Mungo's to be Black's neighbor for better treatment. Then he returned to Hogwarts before the students went to bed to congratulate the students who had finished the exams.

This move of course caused a sensation among all the students at Hogwarts, and even the professors who had originally looked serious had smiles on their faces.

Mike and others immediately asked Dumbledore for permission to visit Lupin, to which Dumbledore naturally agreed.

However, as there was still a lot of work to be done, Dumbledore himself did not attend today's visit.

This did not affect Lupin's good mood. Lupin missed Harry, the son of his old friend, very much.

There was no way, Harry looked so much like his father when he was young. Every time they saw Harry, they had the illusion that James was still alive.

Let's go back to the ward. Lupin was startled by Black's sudden shout and his whole body shook violently.

Then a look of pain appeared on his face. There was no doubt that the previous action must have touched his wound.

Suddenly, everyone else in the ward became nervous, except Mike.

At this moment, Mike was thinking with his head down.

Normally, this report should have been released the day after the Ministry of Magic was invaded, but it has been delayed for so long.

But this is not surprising. After experiencing this incident, a huge storm is bound to erupt within the Ministry of Magic, and this time it just happens to coincide with the important event of the Hogwarts examination season.

Therefore, in order to allow the candidates to concentrate on the exam and to free up time to deal with internal conflicts, the Ministry of Magic may have deliberately suppressed public opinion.

At this time, Tonks asked about Lupin's condition with a nervous look on her face. After confirming that nothing serious happened, she rolled her eyes at Black and complained:

"The patient needs rest! Blake!"

"Sorry! Sorry! Hehe!" Black, who was wearing the same hospital gown as Lupin, laughed twice before continuing to complain in a low voice, "I'm just too angry. Those parasites in the Ministry of Magic actually took all the credit for themselves! You know, we are the real heroes!"

"Yes! You are such a great hero!" Tonks sneered, "If you hadn't been kidnapped, Remus's hand wouldn't have been..."

"That's enough, Tonks." Lupin suddenly interrupted Tonks, "This is not Black's fault!"

Hearing this, Tonks' eyes instantly turned red. She lowered her head and remained silent, but her eyes were always looking at Lupin's sleeves that were obviously missing a piece.

The atmosphere in the ward suddenly became somewhat depressing. Harry, Hermione and the other two were silent as a mouse, not daring to even breathe.

Blake on the side also lowered his head, looking very lost.

After a long while, Black raised his head, looked at Lupin guiltily and said:

"Remus, Nymphadora said..."

"Don't call me that name! (The strange combination of words Nymphadora has a meaning that is not friendly to women, so Tonks doesn't like this name)"

Tonks' hysterical scream interrupted Black's words. Black's breathing became a little faster, but he did not lose his temper after all. He continued:
"Well, she's actually right. This is all my fault. If I hadn't been kidnapped..."

"Don't say that!" Lupin said seriously, "The reason I lost my arm was entirely because of my own actions. But I don't regret it at all, because I killed that damn Fenrir, and that's enough!"

As soon as these words came out, Black took a breath of cold air. As a good friend of Lupin, he naturally knew the grudge between Lupin and Fenrir.

Mike next to him secretly curled his lips, thinking that if he had not arrived in time, the weakling Lupin would have been killed by Fenrir long ago.

However, Mike was not a fool with low emotional intelligence. In the current environment, he did not expose Lupin's boasting in front of his friends and girlfriend. Instead, he smiled and agreed:
“This is something to be celebrated.”

Mike's words obviously made Lupin feel relieved, and Black and Tonks also smiled at the same time, which was rare.

But Mike hadn't finished speaking yet. He continued:

"But I think this is not the best news. The best news should be that you have retired successfully and are about to marry the beautiful lady in front of you!"

As soon as these words were spoken, a blush appeared on Lupin and Tonks' faces, and Tonks's hair instantly turned pink.

"You're getting married!"

Black looked at Lupin in disbelief, he didn't know the result of the negotiation between Mike and Dumbledore.

"Actually, it's because of the injury I got this time that Dumbledore wants me to retire early and go back to my hometown to spend the rest of my life in peace," Lupin said. "But I think I can still continue to work, so I don't really want to retire. As for getting married, um..."

Lupin hesitated for a long time without making any clear statement. Tonks' expression began to become lost, and the pink color in her hair slowly faded.

Seeing this, Mike felt something was wrong. Knowing that this matter could not be delayed, Mike made a prompt decision and said bluntly:
"Don't you like Tonks?" "No! I don't!"

Lupin answered eagerly, which made the corners of Mike's mouth rise.

"Then why don't you want to marry Tonks?"

Upon hearing this, Black, Harry and the others showed confusion on their faces. Harry and Hermione felt that Tonks and Lupin were a perfect match.

As for Black, he simply thought that for a man of Lupin's status, it was lucky enough that there was a woman willing to marry him, so why be picky?
Under the gaze of everyone, Lupin slowly lowered his head, and after a while he said in an inaudible voice:

"I...I'm too old."

"I do not care!"

Before Mike could continue asking, Tonks couldn't wait to give the answer first, which made Hermione's eyes light up.

"You don't understand, you are still young." Lupin said with his head still lowered, "You deserve better, do you understand?"

"No, in my opinion you are the best!"

Facing Tonks's somewhat hysterical scream, Lupin raised his head abruptly. His expression looked very complicated. He seemed shocked that Tonks was so stubborn, but also seemed moved.

Finally, Lupin couldn't bear it any longer. With red eyes, he glared at Tonks and roared:
"Don't you understand? I'm a werewolf! You won't be happy with me! Think about it, if we get married, then I will most likely infect you with the virus, and the child we have in the future will also be a werewolf! This is unfair to the child, I absolutely..."

"I do not care!"

Tonks interrupted Lupin again and looked at the stunned Lupin with her chin slightly raised. Although tears were welling up in her eyes, her expression was as proud as a general who had dealt a fatal blow to the enemy.

Her expression seemed to be asking Lupin, "What else do you have to say?"

"Ha!" As if irritated by Tonks's stubbornness, Lupin laughed loudly and spread out his only remaining hand, saying, "I'm a poor fellow. You will definitely regret marrying me! You silly..."

"I have money!"

Lupin's words were interrupted again, but this time it was not Tonks who spoke, but Mike who had been watching from the side.

He slowly walked to the bedside, looked down at Lupin and smiled:
"I have money! Your wedding will be organized by the Los Santos Corporation. I guarantee that it will be a grand wedding beyond compare!"

After hearing this, Lupin and Tonks were stunned, and Black beside them finally reacted, and quickly stood up and said:
"I have money too! The Black family still has a lot of real estate under their names. I can pick one out as your wedding gift!"

The tears in Tonks' eyes finally flowed down. She cried and said words of thanks, then turned around, knelt on one knee towards Lupin on the bed and said sincerely:
"Remus, I love you, will you marry me?"

Lupin was startled by Tonks's action. He looked at Tonks in surprise and was speechless for a moment.

Hermione and others standing by stared with their eyes wide open, especially Hermione, she looked like she was about to cry with emotion.

Mike and Blake covered their mouths with their hands.

Don't get me wrong, this is not because they were also moved to tears.

It's because they want to use this method to hide the smile on their faces that they can't help but smile.

That's right, they both almost laughed themselves silly.

When a woman proposes to a man, this would be news enough to make the local tabloids even in later times, let alone now.

Lupin quickly recovered from his shock. He looked at Tonks with red eyes and said slowly:

"You should let me propose to you."

"You agree?"

Tonkers stood up suddenly and looked at Lupin in disbelief.

The latter wanted to argue about who should propose to whom, but before he could open his mouth, Tonks threw herself into his arms.

This huge movement instantly made Lupin cry out in pain.

"Oh! Oh, I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

Tonks jumped out of Lupin's arms even faster than before, while bowing her head and apologizing over and over again.

But when she raised her head again, her eyes met Lupin's.

A blush quietly floated onto the cheeks of both of them. They instinctively looked away, but after a while they couldn't help but look at each other again.

Seeing the two people looking embarrassed, Mike and the others all showed relieved smiles on their faces.

Blake on the side let out a long sigh.

But at this moment, loud applause was heard at the door of the ward.

Everyone instinctively looked in the direction of the sound and saw a group of nurses and patients from the next door already gathered at the door. They all had red eyes and were smiling at Lupin and Tonks and clapping.

Seeing Mike and others looking at them, the middle-aged nurse in the lead explained: |
"Sorry, you guys were too loud earlier, so we came to check the situation. But now it seems... we can only congratulate you!"

After that, the other people around also started to congratulate Lupin.

Lupin and Tonks on the hospital bed were so shy that they didn't know what to do.

(End of this chapter)