Hogwarts Raven's Claw

Chapter 538 Not Optimistic
In the bright meeting hall of the Freemasons, a copy of the Daily Prophet was quietly lying on the huge conference table in the center of the hall.

On the cover of this newspaper, Chris, dressed in a suit and tie, is standing in front of a podium with great dignity, surrounded by several high-ranking officials of the Ministry of Magic, announcing a series of reforms to the Ministry of Magic and the upcoming public trial of the criminal Mike Townley.

Unlike Chris in the newspaper, Franklin, Penelope and others sitting on both sides of the conference table all had melancholy looks on their faces.

Chris becoming the Minister of Magic happened so suddenly that all the Freemasons still feel like they are dreaming.

But even more outrageous things are yet to come. They originally thought that even if Chris became the Minister of Magic, it would take him quite a long time to completely take control of the Ministry of Magic. After all, no one could accept letting an underage child be the Minister of Magic.

Judging from the current situation, although other officials of the Ministry of Magic have expressed their dissatisfaction with Chris, this dissatisfaction only lasted for one day!
In other words, it only took Chris one day to completely control the huge behemoth that was the Ministry of Magic!

No one knows what exactly happened, but it is undeniable that this incident reflects the huge power of Chris, otherwise the attitudes of those officials would not have changed suddenly.

On the other hand, although the development of things was almost the same as Franklin expected, the Ministry of Magic could not withstand the pressure of public opinion and chose to try Mike in a rare way, such as a public trial.

But Chris's promotion brought more variables to the trial.

You know, Chris and Mike didn't have a very good relationship when they were in Hogwarts.

Oh no.

It was terrible, because Mike bullied Chris a lot at that time.

In addition, Mike has always regarded Chris as a thorn in his side, and has been looking for ways to attack Chris since leaving school, which makes it almost impossible to reconcile the conflict between the two of them. In this case, there is no guarantee that Chris will take ruthless action during the trial.

When they thought of this, Franklin, Penelope and others became extremely irritated.

"We've been sitting here all night! So...what should we do now? Does anyone have any suggestions?"

Penelope at the head seat finally couldn't bear it anymore and stood up and said weakly.

You know, she has been very busy running around because of Mike's affairs recently, and now she has been sitting in the conference room all night. If she hadn't been drinking magic drink to refresh herself, she would probably have collapsed by now.

However, in the face of her questioning, everyone present remained silent, which made her even more angry.

"Why don't we just go in directly? The situation has already reached its worst point, right?"

Franklin said this coldly, and Penelope covered her face and shook her head in annoyance when she heard it.

She was really annoyed now. This Franklin had been advocating his theory of violent attack all night long, but in fact he couldn't come up with any feasible plan!

You have to know that the information they have about Chris now is almost zero!

In this situation, rushing in headfirst will never lead to any good results.

At this moment, Benjamin on the other side said:
"Actually, what Franklin said does make some sense. The situation is indeed very bad, and a violent attack is a feasible method."

As soon as he said this, Benjamin attracted everyone's attention. Franklin cheered loudly, but the others did not say anything and just looked at Benjamin quietly.

They knew very well that since Benjamin could say such things, he must have a follow-up plan.

As expected, Benjamin ignored Franklin and continued after a pause:

"But before we launch the assault, we still have a lot of work to do. The first is intelligence. We currently have too little intelligence. In addition, many wizards of the Los Santos Wizarding Corps are recovering from their injuries. It will take time to complete these preliminary tasks. So I suggest that we wait for the public trial to be over. If we cannot accept the results of the trial, then it will not be too late for us to launch the assault."

"Excuse me, how long will it take to complete the preliminary work you mentioned? You know, we have no channels to obtain information from the Ministry of Magic. Are you sure we can collect so much intelligence in just a few days?" Franklin gritted his teeth and said, "And how can you guarantee that Mike will not be sentenced to death in court? You know, Chris is a lunatic. He can do anything!"

"I don't think that's going to happen."

"Why do you think so?"

"I just know it."

"fart!"

……

Listening to the quarrel between the two, Penelope sat back in her seat helplessly.

She had seen such scenes many times today. Every time they started discussing, the two of them would start arguing like crazy. This was why this meeting lasted so long.

At the beginning, Penelope was able to rely on her status and loud voice to restore the situation, but now, she no longer has the strength and energy to do so.

Without Penelope's support, the conflict between Franklin and Benjamin escalated further.

Even Franklin had rolled up his sleeves and started walking towards Benjamin.

Benjamin on the opposite side also drew out his wand.

Seeing that an internal conflict was about to break out, Zhou Hong, who had been sitting in the corner in silence, stood up and said weakly:
"Well...actually, the intelligence problem is quite easy to solve."

"Huh?"*2
Benjamin and Franklin both looked at Zhou Hong. Seeing this, Zhou Hong quickly hid behind Penelope and continued:

"Professor Flitwick contacted me yesterday morning when I was at Hogwarts. He said that Dumbledore had the resources we wanted and could provide them to us free of charge."

"What? Why didn't you say so earlier?"

Benjamin stood up and said.

On the other side, Franklin slammed the table hard and roared:

"That old bastard Dumbledore! It's all his fault that things turned out like this! We must never cooperate with him! In my opinion, we should kill him first! He is the culprit of all this!"

As he spoke, Franklin made a move to grab Zhou Hong. Fortunately, Zhou Hong had already hidden behind Penelope and escaped this time.

Zhou Hong, who had gotten down safely, silently spread out his hands and made a helpless gesture.

"You see, I knew it would be like this." Although he didn't say anything, his meaning was clearly conveyed to everyone.

"Why would Dumbledore help us?"

Benjamin asked, frowning.

But Zhou Hong shook his head, indicating that he didn't know either.

After pondering for a moment, Benjamin finally said:
"How about this, I'll go to Dumbledore to test the waters first. If...if they are really sincere, then we can actually cooperate. After all, rescuing Mike is our top priority right now!"

Upon hearing this, everyone in the conference room nodded in agreement, even Franklin, who had been in a state of irritability, stopped talking.

Seeing this, Benjamin no longer hesitated. After saying goodbye to everyone, he walked out of the meeting room and headed for Hogwarts.

……

Entering Hogwarts is a rather troublesome thing for others. After all, the entire Hogwarts is covered by anti-Apparition and anti-Apparition. If you want to enter, you can only take other vehicles slowly.

But for the members of Freemasonry, this is very simple, because the Masonic Secret Realm was originally rebuilt based on the Ravenclaw Secret Realm, and it has a built-in teleportation array leading to Hogwarts.

So Benjamin soon entered Hogwarts.

It was the time when students were enjoying breakfast in the early morning. Benjamin, who was passing by the auditorium, looked at the students playing and fighting at the dining table, and felt deeply moved.

People only know how to cherish something when they lose it. This is the case with Benjamin at this time. After leaving the campus, he was full of nostalgia for Hogwarts, the school where he had stayed for seven or eight years. This nostalgia reached its peak when he returned to the campus again!

He climbed the stairs and started walking towards the principal's office on the eighth floor.

Along the way, he was interested in everything in Hogwarts, just like when he first came to Hogwarts. He touched the wall and the knight's armor standing at the corner. These things that seemed ordinary to him in the past were now full of interest.

Such a strange behavior naturally attracted the attention of many students. Everyone looked at him as if he was an idiot, but Benjamin didn't care. He walked all the way to the door of the principal's office.

Looking at the familiar stone statue of a monster at the door, Benjamin was about to open his mouth to say why he was there when a very familiar voice came from the side.

"I can't believe that the person they sent would be you, Benjamin."

Benjamin turned around in surprise, and saw Professor McGonagall, who looked much older, standing in the shadows beside him, looking at him expressionlessly.

"Come with me."

After saying this, McGonagall turned and walked away, and Benjamin quickly followed.

The two of them came to McGonagall's office without any obstruction. Benjamin's face was full of surprise, because there was no one in the office. It was obvious that Professor McGonagall wanted to talk to him alone.

"Where's Dumbledore?"

He asked instinctively.

"I'm sorry," Mag said, "he's not in a good condition to see anyone."

Upon hearing this, the corners of Benjamin's mouth curled up, a smile that was filled with a strong sense of gloating.

He completely understood what Professor McGonagall meant. He was present at the battle, so he knew very well that Dumbledore was already at the end of his strength at that time. Now that Dumbledore had exhausted his last bit of strength, he could only lie on the bed and wait to decay, right?
Benjamin's expression fell into Mag's eyes exactly, and almost instantly her lips were tightly pursed.

Seeing this, Benjamin was shocked and instinctively stood up straight and restrained the expression on his face.

Strictly speaking, he didn't need to do this at all. After all, he was no longer a student and he had an equal relationship with Professor McGonagall. However, the habit he had cultivated over a long period of time still made him instinctively tremble in his heart when he saw Professor McGonagall pursing her lips.

Perhaps this is why Dumbledore chose to have Professor McGonagall come to see him.

Benjamin's expression became bitter. After thinking for a moment, he decided not to beat around the bush with Mag and said directly:

"How exactly can Dumbledore help us?"

Upon hearing this, Mag first looked Benjamin over from head to toe, then sighed and said:

"Everything about the Order of the Phoenix. Although the Order of the Phoenix has almost fallen apart, the power it has left behind cannot be underestimated. Kingsley, Lupin, Tonks... these people will do their best to help you. Even Dumbledore has already collected a lot of the intelligence you need most right now."

Benjamin nodded with satisfaction. What Dumbledore offered was indeed very tempting, but he was not blinded by the immediate benefits. Instead, he became more alert.

"So what's the price we have to pay?"

Benjamin said expressionlessly.

But Professor McGonagall shook her head, glanced out the window with some sadness and said:

"He doesn't want anything. These are provided to you free of charge."

"This is impossible!"

"But this is the fact." Professor McGonagall placed a thick file bag on the table and said, "Dumbledore... he has always cared only about the peace of the world. Everything he has done is to ensure that the peace of the world continues. So, Benjamin, I hope you don't blame him. He is just... just too pure, so pure that he is not like a human being."

A sarcastic smile appeared on Benjamin's face again. He had no intention of listening to Professor McGonagall's explanation for Dumbledore. He picked up the file bag on the table and quickly left the office.

Perhaps in the eyes of McGonagall and others, Dumbledore is a great man who dedicated his life to world peace, but in Benjamin's eyes, Dumbledore is just a despicable villain who stabbed his own students in the back!

Benjamin knew that his idea was wrong, and he was also very clear that Dumbledore's due credit had almost completely been overlooked by him.

But he still firmly believed this, because the man who was backstabbed was named Mike Townley, Benjamin's best friend and boss!

Helping the right and not the relatives, if such a thing could be done so easily, it would not be widely spread. Helping the relatives and not the right is the most common thing in reality!
Gritting his teeth, Benjamin quickly walked towards the stairs. At this moment, the nostalgic feeling in Benjamin's heart had long disappeared, and was replaced by anger towards Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore!
He didn't want to stay in Hogwarts for almost a moment!

But just when he found a hidden spot and was about to leave using the portkey, the familiar trio unexpectedly appeared in front of him.

(End of this chapter)