The Shopkeeper of All Worlds in the British Wizarding World

Chapter 629 Current Situation
After finishing lunch with regret for not being able to attend the opening party, Ryan and his team spent the entire afternoon patrolling and strengthening the various defensive magics of Azkaban Castle.

While no one was paying attention to the defensive magic, Ryan and Hermione contacted Lupin through the wolf head sculpture tie clip that they had strengthened before. After some communication, they got the latest information about the current situation and some acquaintances.

Lupin told them that when Voldemort raided the Ministry of Magic, Percy was the first to realize something was wrong, and then found his superior, Ms. Bones, and his father. He used the special portkey given to him by Lion to take Ms. Bones, Mr. Arthur, and the team members to escape to the Burrow before the Ministry of Magic completely blocked it off. Now they are all safe.

The Weasley twins and the Muggle wizard employees took part of the goods to the Hogsmeade branch. Fortunately, after the Death Eaters attacked Hogwarts at the end of last semester, Ryan and the twins had mainly stored the goods in the werewolf base in Norway. There was not much inventory in London and Hogsmeade, so the loss in this hasty retreat was not serious.

In retrospect, their retreat was timely, because less than ten minutes after their retreat, a group of wizards in black robes and masks covered their faces and closed down Weasley's Joke Shop in Diagon Alley in the name of the Ministry of Magic.

After hearing the news that their acquaintances were safe, Ryan and the others breathed a sigh of relief. Then Hermione asked into the communicator, "How are Professor Dumbledore and the students now?"

"They are now all safely inside Hogwarts Castle," Lupin said. "They used magic to speed up the Hogwarts Express, and the train arrived at the station just 15 minutes ago. I think everyone is now safely inside Hogwarts Castle."

"I'm actually in Hogsmeade right now," Lupin suddenly said after explaining the whole situation. "Dumbledore summoned most of the Order of the Phoenix members to a gathering at the Hog's Head Inn five minutes ago, and I just got here from Norway. Most of the information I've received is confusing and contradictory, so apart from some confirmed information about acquaintances, I can only tell you after this gathering is over."

"By the way, didn't you enter the school on the Hogwarts Express?" Lupin suddenly realized and asked after telling the information he had collected earlier. "Why are you asking about everyone's situation now?"

"We are in Azkaban now, Professor Lupin," Hermione said. "We came here on our own initiative to prevent You-Know-Who from sending Death Eaters to take control of this vital magical prison."

"--what's going on?" Lupin asked. "Is there anything I should tell Headmaster Dumbledore?"

"Just now, a group of more than a dozen Death Eaters attacked Azkaban, but we have driven them all away." Hermione briefly described the battle just now. "We believe that the enemy will not attack here again in the near future, but this place is seriously short of manpower and the magic circle was broken just now. We now need the headmaster to send enough support personnel and supplies to strengthen the defense here."

"No problem, I will pass on your request to Headmaster Dumbledore. Well, I'm about to run to the Hog's Head Inn now." Having said that, Lupin ended the call.

"It's a mess." Hermione said after the call ended. "I wonder if we could have prevented this catastrophe if we had done our best to investigate before."

"It's unlikely." Ryan knew that Hermione was feeling some kind of survivor's guilt, so he put his hand on Hermione's shoulder to comfort her. "The Ministry of Magic was able to be occupied so quickly this time. I believe that the You-Know-Who side definitely has enough insiders in the Ministry of Magic."

"Think about it. The intelligence network established by Professor Dumbledore with more than 100 years of experience in the wizarding world did not predict this attack in advance. What can we who have only been in the wizarding world for six years do?" Seeing Hermione nodded in agreement with his point of view, Ryan continued: "The current situation is just the transformation of the previous secret war into an open war. Things are not much worse. We just need to cooperate with Professor Dumbledore to end this war and win in the end. And don’t you think it’s much better now than before? At least we know who the enemy is and who is the friend. We can do our best to exert our strength."

"You're right." Hermione adjusted her mood at this time, "Besides, this war is something we have already anticipated. This is also an opportunity for us, an opportunity for change."

In the following time, Ryan, with the help of Hermione, tried his best to repair and improve the defense magic of Azkaban. It was not until the sky was completely dark that Ryan and his friends, who were eating sandwiches for dinner on the roof, finally received the message from Professor Dumbledore.

The news came from the communication room downstairs. After meeting with Director Bones, Professor Dumbledore successfully took over the various communication facilities of the Ministry of Magic. After ensuring the safety of the students, he began to contact various locations of the Ministry of Magic to count the situation of both sides.

This was the only solution, because Voldemort had remained silent since he captured the Ministry of Magic, so the attitudes of the places controlled by the Ministry of Magic varied. Some firmly supported the Ministry of Magic and supported whoever controlled the Ministry of Magic, some were controlled by Death Eaters and announced their support for Voldemort. Some were inspired by Dumbledore and decided to join Dumbledore's side.

There were even small-scale exchanges of fire at several key points, with Death Eaters, members of the Order of the Phoenix, and Dumbledore's supporters fighting for control after confirming that Voldemort had captured the Ministry of Magic. In short, the entire British wizarding community is now in chaos.

"I'm glad to hear that Azkaban is under our control." Dumbledore's face appeared on the two-way mirror in the communication room. With his magic level and the Ministry of Magic key given by Ms. Bones, he easily took over the entire communication network of the Ministry of Magic. "What's the situation over there?"

"After the group of Death Eaters who tried to take advantage of the situation were driven away, no enemy has attacked since then." Ryan said, "And I have repaired the magical defense of Azkaban Castle that was destroyed just now."

"But we are in big trouble now." After explaining what he had just done, Ryan began to get to the point. "We have eliminated all the Dementors, which means Azkaban needs more people to guard the prisoners. But we also have to guard the castle, so the manpower is far from enough. Not to mention that Azkaban has previously imprisoned many innocent people who were mistakenly arrested, and we need to send judges to identify them. In short, we need more manpower now."

"Besides more people, what else do you need?" The headmaster seemed very tired when he spoke. It seemed that Voldemort's surprise attack today was beyond his imagination. As the greatest white wizard, he now had countless things to deal with.

"Supplies, especially enough magic materials." Ryan said solemnly. "The food and water reserves here are enough, and we and the prisoners can consume more than a month. But there are too few magic materials. Now we can only barely repair and reinforce the defense array. It is basically impossible to do anything further."

"Okay, I understand." Dumbledore nodded slightly. "Give me the list of supplies you need and the new Azkaban Magical Defense Key you set up, and I'll have someone deliver the supplies to you tonight. As for new personnel, it may take some time for you to find them, because after the Ministry of Magic was raided, I really couldn't find anyone to take over your defense of Azkaban in such a hurry."

(End of this chapter)