Hogwarts: Becoming the White Lord from Breathing

Chapter 155 The Ministry of Magic's Summons
The New York Morning Post, February 12, 1992

[Sudden ground tremors hit London; experts describe it as a "localized shallow earthquake"]

Yesterday afternoon, residents in many parts of London reported feeling a strong tremor. Although the tremor was brief, it was intense and caused brief panic in the city center and surrounding areas.

According to information released by the British Geological Survey (BGS), the tremor was initially identified as a "localized shallow earthquake," with its epicenter located approximately 3 kilometers underground in London and a magnitude of 4.8.

“We are analyzing the data and currently believe this is an atypical but natural crustal movement,” Dr. Martin Slater, a seismologist at BGS, said at a press conference. “Although London is not a seismically active area, occasional local fault activity is not uncommon.”

The Daily Prophet

A massive magical shockwave has occurred in the London underground. The Ministry of Magic has confirmed that the incident was not caused by natural magical flow, but rather by an energy echo triggered by an extremely high-level spell.

The intensity of the magical fluctuations was unprecedented in England in the last thirty years, causing the ground to tremble for five minutes throughout the Muggle district of London, resulting in widespread panic.

According to the Ministry of Magic's Underground Detection Department's preliminary assessment, the magical energy spread over a range of more than nine miles, with the magical waves reaching a level seven reaction. In just ten seconds, the frequency of the magical bursts reached the known record limit, far exceeding the possibility of conventional spellcasting.

The identity of the spellcaster is still unclear, but it may have been caused by a conflict involving high-level magic.

Regardless, this was a premeditated and extremely heinous riot!
Someone is trying to shatter the hard-won peace in the magical world!

Whoever he is! The Ministry of Magic will find him and bring him to justice!

"Fudge looks really angry. Is he going to arrest me?"

Inside Dumbledore's office.

Damon finished reading the two newspapers and casually tossed them on the table, as if he hadn't been the one who caused such a huge uproar in the wizarding world yesterday.

Dumbledore's expression was very serious.

He took an envelope from his pocket and handed it to Damon—it was from the Ministry of Magic.

Dear Mr. Mortos:
We now have concrete evidence that you recklessly used a wide-area destructive spell within the Muggle residential area at 4:32 PM yesterday, an act that constitutes a serious violation of the Secret Code! As an Auror, this is a complete dereliction of duty!
Given your past achievements, we have decided not to issue an arrest warrant for you for the time being—please remember this leniency and do not do anything to betray our trust.

Please voluntarily report to the Ministry of Magic for trial at 9:00 AM on February 13th.

Don't be late!

Cornelius Fudge.

Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Ministry of Magic.

"Is this a summons for trial?" Damon looked at Dumbledore after reading the letter. "But why did you hand it to me?"

"They can't find your whereabouts." Dumbledore's tone was subtly calm. "The Ministry of Magic investigated Mortos's file and found that he was like a mystery. The only thing they could be sure of was that he had an inextricable relationship with Amelia Burns, the Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement."

Dumbledore stared directly at Damon, his expression complex.

“Burnes also got into a lot of trouble because of Caliban Mortos’s overstepping of boundaries—she resolutely refused to reveal the identity and background of Mortos, who had made the recommendation—”

Dumbledore looked up at Damon and saw the young man's handsome eyebrows slightly raised, as if he didn't care about anything he had done. In one fell swoop, he destroyed an underground black market that he had never discovered before, and the evil hidden inside was shocking to behold.

His actions stirred up the entire magical world, yet he remained completely unconcerned.

The day has finally arrived.
"Yes, I believe Burns will handle everything."

Damon didn't take Dumbledore's words to heart—because Amelia's letter had already been delivered long before that. "You did the right thing, but you did cause some trouble. Everything's fine on my end, just be careful."

The Ministry of Magic's summons will reach you soon. Don't worry, I'll help you.

Therefore, he had nothing to worry about regarding the potential problems—since Amelia said everything was fine, he would trust her for the time being.

After all, the other party was the Director of the Department of Law Enforcement, whose power was second only to Fudge, the Minister of Magic. This kind of indirect mess shouldn't affect him much—Damon raised his head, shifting his attention from the letter to Dumbledore.

Old Deng's words just now sounded alarmist—why?
"So, what have you decided to do?" Dumbledore's gaze met Damon's raised eyes.

“You are my teacher, what do you want me to do?” Damon looked directly at him.

"Me? This is your business, I have no right to make decisions for you—besides, there should only be one decision on this matter?"

Damon didn't speak, but simply leaned back—the originally straight chair back silently transformed into a reclining chair, supporting Damon's body as he moved backward.

That's how the distance between him and Dumbledore widened.

But he was still looking at Dumbledore, only this time, the smile was gone.

Dumbledore thought for a moment, then decided to stop testing him and continued:

"I hope you will go to trial—I believe they will give you a fair verdict."

Damon nodded: "I never intended to refuse the summons."

"However, if the Ministry of Magic were truly fair, this trial should never have happened."

As he claimed, he had dismantled a massive black market and rescued a large number of poached magical creatures—Newt Scamander was ready to take over the matter and specifically thanked him via a remote magical telegram from the Ministry of Magic.

The kidnapped Muggles are currently receiving treatment at St. Mungo's Hospital and may return to their respective lives after some time.

However, the Ministry of Magic completely erased his achievements on the grounds of negative impact, and instead adopted a posture of punishing him.

This has absolutely nothing to do with the fairness that Dumbledore talks about.

Of course, it was also Mortos's fault—who told him to only target the dark wizard and not let those lazy maggots feel his power?

“Damon, we live in the bonds between people.” Dumbledore lowered his eyes. “No matter how powerful a person is, they cannot live apart from the community.”

People are all different, and naturally they will have different opinions on the same thing. I believe we must learn to accept this, so that we don't let our own ideas completely override those of others.

"At least in this matter, I believe I am absolutely right."

Damon got up to leave.

He had already understood Dumbledore's thoughts—the other party was not prepared to break the rules to help him, not even a word of comfort—even Amelia, known for her fairness, had already declared that she would help him.

Dumbledore, on the other hand, simply accepted the inevitable outcome with indifference.

That's it.

(End of this chapter)