The sickly, iron-fisted beauty in Harry Potter

"Dumbledore, you've come?"

Rufus Scrimgeour, Minister of Magical Law Enforcement, spoke to Dumbledore coldly, but then rudely refused to speak.

“We have gathered a lot of information, and we can handle this matter smoothly from now on. You can go back to your Hogwarts.”

Like Fudge, Scrimgeour did not trust Dumbledore, and his distrust was not due to any political face-saving reasons.

It was because he knew Dumbledore's past and how dangerous Dumbledore had been.

Dumbledore has indeed saved the wizarding world more than once, but he was also one of the culprits who nearly destroyed it.

The principle of offsetting merits and demerits might hold true for ordinary people, but it doesn't apply to Scrimgeour, because they've seen too many fickle people.

Scrimgeour is indeed qualified to do so.

In his youth, he served as an Auror in the Ministry of Magic, spending most of his time fighting against dark wizards and gradually becoming a seasoned veteran.

He later became the head of the Auror Office, and during the Second Wizarding War, Scrimgeour succeeded Cornelius Fudge as the new Minister for Magic.

Moreover, after taking office, he adopted a seemingly tougher stance toward Voldemort and the Death Eaters, showing no fear of the threat posed by Voldemort.

Unfortunately, Scrimgeour's attitude outweighed his ability; facing an enemy of Voldemort's caliber, the Ministry of Magic alone could not solve the problem.

Horcruxes are an insurmountable obstacle for the Ministry of Magic.

So Scrimgeour eventually died, and the Death Eaters easily infiltrated the Ministry of Magic and successfully used the Imperius Curse to control high-ranking officials.

The Death Eaters' coup was eventually successful, and the wizarding tribes came under Voldemort's control.

Voldemort wanted to know Harry Potter's whereabouts, so he tortured Scrimgeour to extract information from him. Scrimgeour refused to reveal anything and was eventually killed.

Dumbledore has clearly been dealing with Scrimgeour for decades.

Although Scrimgeour was not worthy of being considered an opponent by Dumbledore, he still maintained basic respect for him.

So Dumbledore said, "Scrimgeour, I understand you don't want me involved."

"However, it concerns the life of one of my students, especially in such an environment, where she could freeze to death, drown, or even be bitten to death by wolves at any time."

"Since I'm here, how about I contribute my share? I'll disappear from this afterward, and you can enjoy all the credit."

These words only made Scrimgeour glare angrily at Dumbledore, and he said, "We can resolve this, and it's definitely not for any credit. The Ministry of Magic can protect any child."

Clearly, Scrimgeour was not happy about Dumbledore's questioning.

But what Harry said next made him even more unhappy.

"So, have you found my sister?"

"Where is she?"

Scrimgeour said to Harry with a grim expression, "Give us some time, Mr. Potter."

"But my sister might not have time. If you can't find her now, get out of my sister's room!"

As Harry spoke, he gripped his wand tightly, veins bulging.

His words drew angry glares from many Ministry of Magic staff, including Scrimgeour.

But when faced with this Harry, Scrimgeour remained unusually silent.

It wasn't that she was afraid of Harry's anger or Dumbledore's warning look, but rather that she realized that such anger was brewing a dark emotion.

Scrimgeour spent his life fighting against dark wizards, which naturally included preventing the birth of dark wizards.

He worried that if his side really failed, Harry would probably become a staunch anti-Ministry of Magic wizard, which was certainly not what he wanted to see.

Finally, Scrimgeour relented and said, "Dumbledore, you only have three minutes."

“It won’t take that long, Scrinker.”

Dumbledore took an ancient, spoon-like object from his pocket, placed it on the table, and gently pushed it.

Then, using the magic wand, the last remaining trace of the door key was transferred to the spoon, and the spoon began to spin wildly.

Dumbledore's expression grew increasingly grim, but he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

As the spoon slowly came to a stop, Harry asked anxiously, "Dumbledore, do you know where she is?"

Dumbledore nodded and said, "At least Miss Dursley wasn't thrown into the sea; judging by the distance and direction, she should be in France now."

174 Day 1 of Wilderness Survival

Scrimgeour's eyes lit up as he stared at the ancient spoon. "What is this?" he asked.

Although the Ministry of Magic is indeed not as powerful as Dumbledore, it is still working, albeit inefficiently.

For example, Scrimgeour was very interested in Dumbledore's methods of tracking others.

If he could possess such means, he wouldn't be so helpless when encountering escaped dark wizards in the future.

Dumbledore knew perfectly well what he was thinking, but calmly put away his spoon and said, “When I was young, I traveled the world, and this is a gift I received from the Eastern countries.”

"It was supposed to have a chassis, but unfortunately it has been completely lost."

"So I can only tell the direction and distance, and the error in this distance is within one hundred kilometers."

Dumbledore's final words extinguished Scrimgeour's hopes: "It is practically impossible to determine a person's location by it alone."

Scrimgeour stared at Dumbledore, and ultimately chose to give up.

It wasn't that he believed Dumbledore's explanation, but rather that he knew there was nothing he could do since Dumbledore had said that.

This explains the emotions many high-ranking officials in the Ministry of Magic have when facing Dumbledore.

They disliked the old man. Dumbledore rarely cooperated honestly with the Ministry of Magic, especially when it came to the Ministry's desire to control Hogwarts.

These high-ranking officials were helpless against Dumbledore and could only watch the old man pretend to be crazy. How could they not be angry?

However, Scrimgeour, as a veteran Auror, still possessed a strong work ethic, so he put aside his dissatisfaction and began to assign tasks.

"Then we'll handle the rest."

“Our Ministry of Magic can use diplomatic channels to contact the French Ministry of Magic for help in finding her.”

"However, it's the Christmas holiday now, so it's not so easy to get them moving. We also need to make sure they don't slack off."

For once, Scringer showed a hint of emotion on his face and said, "I think those lazy Frenchmen are unlikely to let us have our way easily."

Harry panicked upon hearing this and said, "Then shall we go find Dolly ourselves first?"

“Mr. Potter, if you wish to leave England for France, you will also need to obtain a visa and then enter through the French Ministry of Magic customs.”

"Otherwise, you would be considered an illegal immigrant, which is a crime."

"Whether it's you or Dumbledore, if you commit a crime, I will arrest you and put you on trial."

"As for your sister, we will do our best."

Harry clenched his fists in anger, but Vernon stopped him from rushing forward impulsively.

Although it was his first time meeting Scrimgeour, Vernon, as an adult, actually understood people like Scrimgeour quite well.

He was just a high-ranking official, and a high-ranking official in charge of legal issues.

While Dolly's life or death is extremely distressing, to ask such a high-ranking official to commit illegal acts because of it would be more painful than killing him.

In fact it is.

Scrimgeour wasn't shirking responsibility; rather, the system and communication between nations in the wizarding world were entirely modeled after the Muggle system.

As the highest-ranking official in charge of law, Scrimgeour would naturally not do anything illegal or disorderly, much less advise or instruct others to do so.

Everything must be done in accordance with the laws and regulations of the Ministry of Magic, and even Dumbledore and Harry Potter are no exception; this is Scrimgeour's bottom line.

Even when it came to Dolly's death, he considered maintaining the order of the law far more important than the life or death of a little witch.

However, Scrimgeour was not a cold-blooded and ruthless person.

In fact, he had done everything he could and even gave reminders.

If the Dursleys and Dumbledore don't understand this warning, then there's nothing he can do.

Dumbledore, of course, couldn't possibly misunderstand such a reminder, so he sincerely told Scrimgeour, "I will keep Harry in check and make him responsible for his own actions."

Scrimgeour nodded before leading his men away.

After everyone had left, Harry glared angrily at Dumbledore, but Vernon spoke first, saying, "Professor, you're going to find my daughter, aren't you?"

Seeing Vernon's hopeful gaze, Dumbledore sighed and said, "Of course, Mr. Dursley, I cannot let a child freeze to death in a foreign land in his pajamas."

"But as you know, this is illegal, so I can't tell you how or when to do it, nor can I involve you."

"In short, I hope you can wait patiently."

Harry then spoke up, saying, "No, I want to go too!"

"And us!"

Two girls rushed in; it was Hermione and Cho Chang.

After hearing Harry's phone call, they realized something was wrong.

They hurriedly took the Knight Bus and arrived, but were now a step behind Dumbledore.

Then they found Penny unconscious downstairs. Hermione used magic to wake Penny and learned what had happened.

Dolly has vanished into thin air!

Then the two arrived at Dolly's door and overheard a few words, realizing that Dolly had actually gone to France.

Since we're looking for Dolly, how could we leave them out of this?

No, children.

Dumbledore became unusually serious and said, "This matter is not dangerous, but it needs to be kept secret."

"With your level of magic, it's difficult for you to do this, so you should stay here with Harry and wait patiently."

“Give us old folks a little trust, and I promise to bring her back as quickly as possible.”

Before they could say anything more, Dumbledore waved to them and disappeared.

The group looked at each other in bewilderment, realizing that they could never catch up with Dumbledore.

"So how exactly did Dolly disappear? Can anyone tell me?"