The Return to Hogwarts

Hermione lifted her chin, pointed to the Slytherin table, and said in a disdainful tone.

Harry and Ron immediately turned to look at Malfoy's side, and Fred, George, and Neville, who had overheard their conversation, also turned to look at the Slytherin table.

"Oh, that little piece of trash—"

Fred grunted a few times.

"Is it his turn to be smug again?"

To be honest, Fred's assessment wasn't particularly objective.

Although Draco wore a faint air of arrogance, he was far from being domineering. However, the obsequious expressions of the group of students surrounding him who congratulated him disgusted Harry.

Neville stared at Malfoy, who was lazily dealing with a group of sycophantic students. After a quick glance at the newspaper in Harry's hand, Neville suddenly looked at Hermione.

"What does this mean?"

All eyes were on Neville's face, and Neville himself looked rather pale.

"The Malfoy family has returned to the Board of Governors. The Daily Prophet is giving this extensive coverage, so it was the Ministry of Magic that orchestrated this?"

Harry and Ron looked at Neville in surprise. Sirius had indeed mentioned this to them last night, but they hadn't expected Neville to guess it just from the news reports.

"Does the Ministry of Magic want to interfere at Hogwarts through the Board of Governors?"

Neville looked at Hermione and continued to ask,

"What would they do? The Ministry of Magic is afraid of Professors Dumbledore and Blaine, isn't it?"

Removing Professors Dumbledore and Blaine?!

Harry's face turned pale. Sirius had indeed warned them last night that Hogwarts might be in trouble, but Harry hadn't expected the Ministry of Magic to use the Board of Governors to dismiss Professors Dumbledore and Blaine.

This is not impossible.

After all, this is something that has precedent. Malfoy almost succeeded in doing this without the support of the Ministry of Magic. Now that the Ministry of Magic is backing him, it is very likely that this will become a reality.

“I don’t know, Neville,”

Hermione's expression was equally grim.

"But the board of directors does indeed have that right."

Hermione was about to express her opinion when Filch suddenly rushed in from the foyer, catching her attention. Filch looked flustered as he limped across the Great Hall and went straight to Professors Dumbledore and Blaine at the faculty table. He craned his neck and said something to them, and then Hermione noticed that the two professors' expressions had become serious.

Professor Dumbledore gave Filch some instructions, and Filch then struggled to run out of the Great Hall and head towards the castle.

Many people noticed Filch's strange behavior. They watched his figure disappear into the pale light and shadow, and discussed with those around them what had happened.

However, the students' doubts were soon resolved.

About ten minutes later, Harry's face turned ashen as a woman who appeared arrogantly in the hallway, wearing a short pink coat, with curly hair and a face that looked like a toad, and Lucius Malfoy.

Ministry of Magic, Office of the Minister.

"Well done, Lucius!"

A loud shout of approval left the staff passing by the minister's office looking bewildered.

As is widely known, Minister Cornelius Fudge has been in a bad mood lately. Whenever people go to him to report problems or get his signature, they always see the Minister of Magic with a stern face, which has directly led to a much more oppressive working atmosphere in the ministry recently.

"All of this wouldn't have been possible without your support, Minister--"

Lucius Malfoy, who had just regained his power on the school board, gave Fudge a slight bow with a slick smile, and then nodded to Umbridge.

"Of course, I also want to thank you, Ms. Umbridge. If it weren't for your mediation of the Malfoy family, several families wouldn't have agreed so readily!"

"This is all for our plan, Lucius!"

Umbridge let out a silvery laugh, her round face beaming with anticipation as she watched the Minister of Magic admire the letter of appointment Lucius Malfoy had brought for her.

"What should we do now, Minister?"

"Is that even a question, Dolores!"

Fudge was overjoyed. He excitedly ran to the coat rack, took down his robe, and then looked at Umbridge and Malfoy, whose gray eyes held a mocking glint.

"Let's go to Hogwarts right now! I can't wait to see Dumbledore and Blaine's defeated expressions! They deserve it for spreading rumors, creating chaos, and daring to defy the Ministry of Magic's orders!"

Fudge led Umbridge and Malfoy out of the office, but in front of the elevator, a sullen-faced man with shifty eyes blocked their way.

"Minister, I have an urgent document that requires your signature."

That man was incredibly tactless.

"This is Broderick Bode, Minister of the Department of Mysteries—"

Umbridge realized Fudge didn't recognize the man at all, so she whispered a hint, then spoke to Bod in a shrill voice,

"Broderick, the minister has an urgent matter to attend to. You can report anything to us when we return!"

“But I need to go to Azkaban to patrol and check whether the Dementors are still under our control. You know how important this is.”

Bode remained dumbfounded, while Malfoy, standing behind Fudge, glanced at Bode quickly, a chill running down his spine.

"The Dementors of Azkaban. Alright."

Fudge frowned, but he did not underestimate the necessity of the matter. He took the document handed to him by Bode, looked at it carefully, and signed his name at the bottom.

Even more absurdly, Broderick Bode rushed into the elevator, then pulled the door shut, pressed the elevator button, and left the Minister of Magic outside the car.

Is this guy out of his mind?

Fudge thought angrily.

Distracted by this, Fudge, who had been overwhelmed by excitement, regained some of his composure. He glanced at the appointment he was holding, his eyes darting around, and then shoved it back into Umbridge's hand.

"I just suddenly remembered—"

Fudge's eyes gleamed as he spoke to a somewhat puzzled Umbridge.

“I have some urgent business to attend to. I’ve been putting Dolores off for a while now, and it needs to be dealt with immediately. You and Lucius will go to Hogwarts together to read out this appointment.”

Chapter 1015 Bringing humiliation to oneself

2024-07-06

The moment Dolores Umbridge and Lucius Malfoy entered the Great Hall, the previously noisy hall fell silent instantly.

All the young wizards' eyes followed the arrogant Umbridge, while some of the young wizards whose parents worked at the Ministry of Magic looked uneasy.

Harry had met Dolores Umbridge before, and he wasn't unaware of Umbridge's purpose at Hogwarts, but he still gritted his teeth and said...

"What is she here for?"

"Is that even necessary?"

Hermione's face turned pale, and she responded angrily. Then, she looked towards the Slytherin table, wanting to see Draco Malfoy's attitude towards his father's arrival at Hogwarts with high-ranking officials from the Ministry of Magic.

To Hermione's surprise, Draco's pale face showed no joy, but rather a deep unease and some panic.

At the faculty and staff dining table, all the professors left their seats and stood up, staring coldly at Umbridge, some even making no attempt to hide their hostility. Dumbledore and Amosta, on the other hand, remained relatively calm.

"I've arrived, Dumbledore, Blaine—"

Finally, Umbridge stood in front of the faculty dining table, her face contorted with a smug smile, her shrill voice echoing through the quiet auditorium.

The moment of truth had arrived, and Umbridge made no attempt to hide his delight.

"Despite your every attempt to stop me from entering Hogwarts, Dumbledore, Blaine, I have come nonetheless."

Malfoy tried to convince himself that everything was going according to plan, but being within Blaine's line of sight, he was still sweating profusely. He had already silently mourned for Umbridge's arrogant remarks.

“Hogwarts never turns away those with kind hearts, Madam Umbridge—”

Dumbledore gazed calmly and solemnly at Umbridge.

"Unless that person has ulterior motives."

Amosta glanced at Dumbledore with some surprise—the first half of Dumbledore's speech was typical of him, but the second half was unusually sharp, indicating that Dumbledore was also extremely annoyed by the Ministry of Magic's persistent pestering.

"No matter what you say, Dumbledore."

Now that things had come to this point of no return, Umbridge no longer bothered to feign respect for the greatest wizard of the modern era; she laughed contemptuously.

"In the end, it was the Ministry of Magic that prevailed. Oh, I must tell certain people who harbor illusions or are out of their minds—"

Umbridge cast a mocking glance at Professor McGonagall, who was glaring at her.

"Any attempt to defy the Minister of Magic and the Magic Orders will ultimately suffer a shameful defeat!"

“Hogwarts does not seek to confront the Ministry of Magic, Madam Umbridge. We simply want to tell people the truth: the Ministry of Magic currently lacks the courage to face the truth.”

Dumbledore remained calm as he spoke, glancing discreetly at the end of the Gryffindor table—Harry's furious expression sent a chill down his spine.

“I don’t think we should disturb the children’s meal over some trivial ideological differences, Ms. Umbridge. If you’d like, we can talk in my office. I suppose you have some instructions from the ministry.”

"Oh, not from the department, but from the Hogwarts Board of Governors—"

Umbridge said with a smile,

"Why go to your office, Dumbledore? It seems to me to be a very splendid occasion,"

Umbridge turned around, looking triumphantly at the mostly resistant little faces on the four long tables, while some children, the moment their eyes met hers, shrank back and lowered their heads in fear.

"The students were all there, and I happened to have some things to do. Oh, mainly, to expose some lies for them."