Hogwarts: Don't call me Wandmaker

Chapter 294 Umbridge's Methods

What did she mean by that?

Inside the elevator, Harry watched Umbridge walk out, then turned to look at Mr. Weasley.

"Doesn't it say that Peter Pettigrew was rescued by his Death Eater comrades in full view of everyone?"

"Besides, people from the Ministry of Magic were there at the time. Minister Cornelius Fudge saw it with his own eyes. Why did Umbridge still call him a hero!"

“Because someone doesn’t want to overthrow a hero who received the Order of Merlin, First Class,” Mr. Weasley said softly. “More importantly, he personally awarded the medal, and he believes it will affect his prestige.”

"Who is it?" Harry asked.

But this time Mr. Weasley simply shook his head and did not answer him.

"Alright, we'll talk about this later. Right now, we'd better hurry up and head to the Tenth Trial Chamber, or we won't be able to get in."

Mr. Weasley was the first to step out of the elevator, followed closely by Lupin, and Harry and the others quickly followed.

Along the way, they were still discussing who didn't want Sirius to clear his name.

No, do we even need to guess? Isn't it obvious?

Xilun thought to himself:

Almost everyone in the Ministry of Magic knows that Umbridge is Minister Cornelius Fudge's most loyal echo, and she will do her best to complete every task Fudge assigns her.

No matter how outrageous the matter may seem to others, Umbridge will agree to anything Fudge asks him to do without hesitation and then go and resolve it.

However, even as a deputy minister, she would only act on behalf of Cornell Fudge.

So, the person who helped Peter Pettigrew receive the Order of Merlin, First Class, was actually Fudge?
This was something Xilun hadn't expected.

But thinking about it carefully, it doesn't seem strange. Especially since Xilun happened to get a lot of inside information about twelve years ago from his grandfather.

Siren remembered that more than a decade ago, it was Buddy Crouch who led the Aurors to capture Sirius Black and send him directly to Azkaban.

This wouldn't have been a big deal, since the Aurors were practically capturing people and sending them to Azkaban every day.

Coincidentally, on the same day Voldemort attacked the Potters, he was also "killed" by a child, thus ending the Wizarding Wars that had lasted for many years.

This made Sirius Black, who betrayed the Potters, an instant target of public criticism, while Barty Crouch, who captured and imprisoned him in Azkaban, gained immense prestige as a result.

At this point, Barty Crouch would have been the obvious choice to become the next Minister of Magic, with no one else able to compete with him.

But not long after, someone revealed that his son was also a Death Eater, which completely blocked his chances of becoming a minister.

Connelly Fudge became the luckiest person, but before things settled down, he had to do something to make more people remember his name.

The Potters would be a good choice.

The best target would definitely be the boy who survived the ordeal, but Harry was taken away by Dumbledore at the time, so he couldn't or dared to interfere.

Sirius Black, the traitor, was also imprisoned in Azkaban, and he couldn't be imprisoned again.

Therefore, Fudge could only choose the remaining person in that matter, namely Peter Pettigrew, who was "killed".

He was awarded the Order of Merlin, First Class, in recognition of his bravery and fearlessness. Peter Pettigrew's act of stopping his betraying friend even at the cost of his own life was so heroic that Fudge's decision quickly garnered him a large following.

Then, as everyone knows, Cornelius Fudge became the new Minister of Magic, and has remained so ever since…

Silen thought that if it weren't for Peter Pettigrew's affair, Fudge would definitely have been more willing to help Sirius Black clear his name.

After all, it was Barty Crouch who arrested the man in the first place, and now that things have turned around, it will only affect Crouch.

Not only will he be unaffected, but he can also boost his reputation by overturning the verdict.

But if you want to exonerate Sirius Black, you can't avoid talking about Peter Pettigrew.

With that thought in mind, they arrived at a heavy door.

Dumbledore was standing at the door, talking solemnly to several elderly wizards.

When Harry went up to greet him, he seemed not to see him and turned around to walk into the room with the others.

At the same time, Sirius Black was also brought along.

He was chained and escorted by two Aurors from the other side of the corridor. He looked very weak and staggered as he walked, as if he hadn't eaten for days.

"Sirius, what's wrong..."

Harry instinctively took a step forward, but was stopped by Mr. Weasley. The Auror showed no sign of stopping and walked straight past them into the trial chamber as well.

“It looks like the hearing is about to begin,” Mr. Weasley said. “But before you go in, there’s one thing I must remind you of: you absolutely cannot speak freely inside. No matter how emotional you are, you must get permission before you can speak, otherwise the best outcome will be being kicked out… You must remember this.”

Mr. Weasley's gaze was fixed on Harry and Ron.

Mr. Weasley only continued walking forward after everyone nodded.

But just as they reached the door, two uniformed thugs reached out and stopped them.

"Underage wizards are prohibited from attending the hearing!" one of them said expressionlessly, "Get out of here now!"

“I had no idea there was such a rule.” Mr. Weasley stepped forward. “As far as I know, anyone connected to the parties involved can attend the hearing.”

“And these children behind me,” Mr. Weasley turned and pointed to the crowd, “are all qualified to be witnesses and to attend the hearing.”

“Not this time, Arthur.” The striker continued to shake his head. “We just received news that Deputy Minister Umbridge believes that underage wizards lack rational judgment and are easily influenced by emotions, so he has proposed banning all underage wizards from participating in this hearing.”

“But…” Mr. Weasley frowned, “the Deputy Minister has no authority to influence the hearing!”

“There was no deputy minister, but more than half of the Wizengamo members agreed to the proposal,” the batter continued.

“I’m sorry, Arthur, you can go in, but they really can’t,” another batter said. “And you’d better take them somewhere else. If they stay here, they’ll likely be seen as deliberately disrupting the hearing.”

"That would only make things more complicated."

……

(End of this chapter)