The Shopkeeper of All Worlds in the British Wizarding World

Chapter 427 Office Confrontation

Just as Ryan and Hermione successfully returned to the common room, Harry was being held by Umbridge and walking towards the headmaster's office. He was arrested after being attacked by Malfoy with a tripping curse.

At this time, Harry felt extremely annoyed, because he felt that it was he who brought those classmates into this dangerous situation. Now he could only silently pray that others could escape successfully. Just when he was worried, they walked to the stone monster.

"Beeze," said Umbridge rhythmically; and the stone monster leapt aside, the wall behind it cracked in two, and they walked up the moving stone staircase to a bright door with a griffin knocker, but Umbridge did not bother to knock, she held on to Harry tightly and marched straight in.

The office where only Professor Dumbledore usually stayed was now full of people. In addition to Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall, Fudge was also standing in the headmaster's office with two Aurors. One of the Aurors was Kingsley, and the other one he didn't know. In addition, there was a young wizard with acne standing there. He held a quill and a thick roll of parchment in his hand, obviously ready to record at any time. Harry only knew that this was a Slytherin student who graduated last year.

"Well," Fudge glared at him angrily after seeing Harry being pulled in by Umbridge, with a gloating expression on his face and said sarcastically. "Well, well, well. Look at our little hero."

Harry glared at Fudge angrily, his heart beating fast, but his mind was surprisingly calm and clear, because he knew that at this time he had to be in the best condition to catch a glimmer of hope.

"Then Potter, I think you should know why you are here, right?" Umbridge was about to say something to show off her achievements, but Fudge had already asked his question. This made Umbridge retreat awkwardly, like a toad watching a juicy fly fly away.

"I--" Harry was about to say it directly to show his contempt for the Ministry of Magic, when he saw Dumbledore shook his head very slightly. The headmaster shook his head very slightly, and no one else saw it, only Harry, who had been staring at Dumbledore, noticed it.

"I don't know." Harry immediately changed his mind and continued with what he had just said.

"I don't know. You don't even know why Professor Umbridge brought you to this office?" Fudge's voice suddenly rose, and his face flushed. "Don't you realize that you have violated the school rules? Shouldn't you be ashamed of this?"

"But I really don't know what school rules I violated?" Harry blinked his eyes and showed an innocent expression. Since Dumbledore didn't let him admit it, he had to do his best to deny all the accusations. But he still couldn't see how he could hope to escape their punishment.

"You mean to say that there are no illegal student organizations in this school?" Fudge said, his tone now full of anger.

"Yeah, that's right," said Harry, with a look of disbelief on his face, like he knew nothing and was very surprised.

"Minister, please don't listen to his excuses." Umbridge interrupted at this time. "I think if there are witnesses we can quickly find out what happened."

Harry's heart skipped a beat after hearing this. He remembered that his DA had recruited too many people and too diverse people, and the turnover rate was high. So it was really difficult to ensure that everyone could keep this secret.

After Umbridge left, the atmosphere in the office became increasingly tense. Just when Harry was about to give up, the door opened and a curly-haired Ravenclaw student was brought in by Umbridge. Harry recognized this person as Marietta from Ravenclaw, who had come to join the DA on Padma's recommendation.

"You did the right thing. The Minister is very pleased with you. He will tell your mother that you are a good girl." Umbridge comforted Marietta first and then said to Fudge, "Minister, Marietta's mother is Mrs. Edgemore from the Magical Transportation Department's Floo Network Office - you know, she helps us monitor the fires at Hogwarts." Marietta kept her head down after entering the door, because in Europe and the United States, this kind of snitching is recognized as a very despicable behavior. When she walked into the headmaster's office, this sense of shame became even stronger, especially when she was stared at by the headmaster's gentle eyes, she was even a little ashamed and couldn't speak.

After calling Marietta a few times impatiently without receiving any response, Umbridge simply put on a disgusting smile and said to Fudge, "Minister, this is the case. Miss Edgecombe came to my office shortly after dinner tonight and told me that if I entered a secret room on the eighth floor, I would find that Harry had established an organization called Dumbledore's Army there. It is said that this secret room is sometimes called the Room of Requirement. After receiving this information, I informed you immediately, and then asked her to stay in my office for tea, while I took some students who supported my work to the Room of Requirement to capture Harry."

"You really are secretly planning how to fight me!" Fudge roared. "I didn't expect you to actually organize an army."

"Are you accusing me of this matter based solely on the testimony of Miss Marietta?" Professor Dumbledore asked calmly, looking at Fudge's face. "The evidence is too weak. You can threaten the student's parents to make her say whatever you want her to say."

"No, that's not all. We have more evidence." Umbridge said excitedly, "Miss Marietta told me there is a list of names containing the incriminating evidence, and I have asked Parkinson to get it. In addition, I believe that students who are willing to cooperate with the Ministry of Magic will always be able to catch more participants. By then, we will be able to piece together enough of the truth."

Listening to Umbridge's smug words, Harry felt his heart sink, and his stomach felt like it was filled with lead. Only now did he realize that he had left a fatal weakness, but now that things had come to this, he could only grit his teeth and hold on to the end.

Soon, Malfoy came up from downstairs. Umbridge immediately greeted him: "Mr. Malfoy, please show me the evidence you just got."

"I'm-I'm sorry." Malfoy bowed his head. "We didn't find the list in the Room of Requirement."

"No?" Umbridge's voice became sharp. "How could there be no?"

After repeated questioning, Umbridge could only admit that some things were not as she had imagined. So she asked with hope, "Did you catch anyone else?"

"Well, I'm really sorry to disappoint you." Malfoy lowered his head even lower, as if he wanted to hide it between his knees. "Many of the students fell asleep, and they didn't intercept those who escaped."

Just when Malfoy reported that the mission had failed completely, Ryan took a sip of hot cocoa and asked Hermione who was sitting opposite him: "How did you deal with those Slytherins? Don't tell me you broke their legs."

"Do you think I'm so violent?" Hermione rolled her eyes at Ryan. "The calming and sleeping aromatherapy you got from the elves last time was really good. I concentrated the one you gave me and found that people would fall asleep as soon as they smelled it. So I just directed the wind to blow the concentrated hypnotic aromatherapy to the place where those people were ambushing. Another advantage of this is that the ingredients in the aromatherapy come from other worlds and cannot be detected by magic."

As they were talking, the door opened and Ginny ran in. She must have come back after hiding outside for a while. Ryan and Hermione smiled at each other: It seems that what they did before was successful.

(End of this chapter)