Hogwarts: Becoming the White Lord from Breathing

Chapter 122 Cornelius Fudge

“Tell Damon? But this is my agreement with Lockhart. I shouldn’t have told you.”

Harry felt guilty.

Although he disliked Professor Lockhart, an agreement is an agreement.

Professor Lockhart shared a secret with him to help clear up the misunderstanding caused by Parsley's accent, but he failed to keep their promise.
"Since you've already told us, what difference does it make to tell Damon too?" Ron shrugged, his attitude quite nonchalant.

Hermione urged him on, "I didn't expect that Parseltongue would actually be connected to the Slytherin successor. He actually left a dangerous monster in Hogwarts? Merlin's beard, I really don't know what he's thinking."

Why have the professors never thought of solving this problem?

“Perhaps even the professors don’t know this secret? Or perhaps if we just leave it alone, there won’t be any danger at all?” Ron followed up.

Harry listened to their discussion, his mind in turmoil. "The most important thing right now is to find out the truth about Hagrid's matter. Would you like to come with me to find Hagrid tomorrow? Let's get to the bottom of this together."

"Dude, are you really not considering bringing Damon along? To be honest, I feel like there's something off about Professor Lockhart. If he accidentally causes something, we might not be able to handle it, right?"

Hermione, who was standing nearby, heard Ron's criticism of Lockhart but remained silent.

Ron continued:
“Let’s call Damon, but don’t tell Dumbledore. This matter will remain within the purview of the three of us students and Professor Lockhart. What do you think? Think about it.”

"I will, but perhaps I need to see if Damon has time?"

"He should be. Hasn't he been spending more and more time in the Room of Requirement lately? According to him, his Auror training is over, and he's currently on standby waiting for work."

Seeing Harry's surprised expression, Ron suddenly realized:
"You haven't been here much lately, so you don't know about this. Haven't you noticed that Damon is almost always here whenever you come?"

"I thought it was just a coincidence!"

Harry couldn't help but feel a pang of regret—Damon had more free time, which meant he would spend more time with them, occasionally offering guidance—this was invaluable, no wonder Ron seemed to be getting better and better lately!

All the previous troubles combined couldn't compare to Harry's "regret" at this moment.

Why would he waste his time on Professor Lockhart?

Compared to the locked-room crisis Professor Lockhart mentioned, Voldemort might return in the future! He should seize the time to become stronger as soon as possible.

That night, Harry tossed and turned, and only fell into a deep sleep after taking a tranquilizer. He had heard that Professor Snape's teaching of Damon had ended, but the old bat was still clinging to Damon, insisting on passing on his potions skills to him. This was Damon's own account, though Harry couldn't imagine Snape doing such a thing.

In short, thanks to them, there are now many useful everyday medicines in the dormitory.

The following day, Harry told Damon everything directly.

Unexpectedly, his expression showed no surprise or shock; he simply nodded in agreement and said calmly:

"There must be some misunderstanding about this. Hagrid may be a very outspoken person, but he shouldn't be capable of causing someone's death."

"Is that so? Is that what you think?"

Influenced by him, Harry began to calm down. Yes, Hagrid did have a fascination with large monsters, but it shouldn't be this outrageous. His monsters might hurt people, but to say they would kill someone...
With questions in mind, the group headed to Hagrid's cabin after class—Damon had even sent a message by owl to Hagrid beforehand.

But accidents always happen before plans. Hagrid's cabin welcomed an unexpected visitor today, one who arrived even before them.

Cornelius Fudge, Minister for Magic.

This was theoretically Damon's first meeting with him.

Dumbledore was also there.

"Hagrid, I've received word that you illegally brought a Thunderbird into the country? Do you know how dangerous that is?"

As soon as they arrived outside the cabin, they heard Fudge's voice, followed by Hagrid's stammering response.

"That's slander! Look at me, where is the Thunderbird's resemblance?"

"The evidence is conclusive. Don't try to play tricks on me. Although Dumbledore mentioned that he might build a magical zoo at Hogwarts, you can't hide it from me, you know? Everything has to be done under my watchful eye."

"Connelly, I thought we had reached a consensus on this matter?"

Dumbledore's voice rang out at just the right moment.

But Fudge's voice rang out immediately afterward:

"Albus, please think about this for me too—Hagrid has a criminal record, and the Ministry of Magic has to take some measures against such a repeat offender—think about it, if we know that illegal and disorderly conduct exists but do nothing about it, what will the school board think of you? What will the outside world think of us?"
I'm under a lot of pressure too.

Dumbledore's voice faded away.

"Hagrid, this is an ultimatum. Do not do anything that might provoke the Ministry of Magic. For Dumbledore's sake, thank you!"

The door opened again, and a short, elderly man with a head of fluffy white hair, wearing a pinstripe suit and a bright red tie appeared behind the door. Beside him was Dumbledore, whom everyone recognized very well.

"Oh, Master White!"

Fudge spotted Damon in the crowd immediately and was extremely enthusiastic.

He spread his arms wide, looking like a mother hen, and quickly approached, ignoring Damon's thoughts, and embraced him warmly.

"Speaking of which, this is our first meeting! I've wanted to meet the youngest Transfiguration master in history for a long time, but firstly, I've been too busy, and secondly, Dumbledore has been too protective of you, as if I were going to do something bad to you. Look at him."

Damon looked at Dumbledore, his gaze questioning, but the old man simply shook his head slightly, his eyes filled with apology.

Clearly, his promise to Damon has now fallen through—Fudge doesn't intend to fully honor their agreement.

Something seemed to have triggered the old man, making him somewhat extreme.

Damon rolled his eyes at Dumbledore—"I told you this a long time ago, now you understand a little better, right?"
(End of this chapter)