Hogwarts: Dumbledore reigned over the wizarding world.

Chapter 282 Blatant Framing

Despite her exhaustion, she picked up the crystal ball and asked, "Is there any difference between this and the initial interrogation results this morning?"

"If you're asking about a list, then there isn't one," Scrimgeour said sternly. "But there's something else. We mobilized our most elite Aurors and spent four hours thoroughly analyzing John Mill's mind."

"Through screening, it was discovered that 38 days ago, John Mill was bribed by a wizard known as Mr. Mystery and began to cooperate with him to incite the emotions of the North American werewolves and lead the marching crowd to clash with the wizards—based on the timeline, it can be basically confirmed that these memories are real."

Listening to his report, Amelia picked up the crystal ball, tapped it lightly with her wand, and the thick fog swirling inside the crystal ball immediately began to move.

To restore each scene.

The safest way to read someone's memories is through a crystal ball or a Pensieve, since not all wizards are proficient in memory magic.

After a quick glance, Amelia frowned: "That mysterious gentleman hasn't taken off his hood?"

"Yes, we examined all the memories from those 38 days. The other party was very cautious. In addition, according to John Mill, who was under the influence of the truth serum, he judged that the mysterious man was accompanied by about 5 or 6 people, who were well-mannered and generous."

He paused his speech at the appropriate moment.

But Amelia had already caught his unspoken message: "John Mill has no real evidence. Who exactly is this so-called Mr. Mystery?"

"Yes!"

"Then why did he provide that list to Vaughn?"

Upon hearing Amelia's question, Rufus Scrimgeour hesitated for a moment before finally saying in a low voice, "That's the problem, Amelia, that list is very likely a forgery by Weasley!"

Amelia looked up at him. "Rufus, do you have any evidence? John Mill has solid evidence in his head. He said it himself under the influence of truth serum: the list is real!"

"----No----"

Scrimgeour's expression grew increasingly grim. He said in a deep voice, "But Vaughn Weasley is a master of memory magic. Look here—"

He waved his wand and touched the crystal ball. The thick fog inside the ball quickly changed, revealing John Mill's last memories from the previous night.

Vaughn's eyes glowed blue as he used Legilimency to bewitch him and extract a confession!

He tapped the crystal ball with his wand again, pausing the scene. Scrimgeour scoffed, "Silent, wandless spellcasting—such profound skill! Even if he stuffed a lump of stuff into John Mill's brain, we wouldn't detect anything amiss. Aurors aren't experts in this area—I suggest we seek help from the Memory Deletion Department!"

He revealed his purpose.

Upon hearing this, Amelia immediately composed herself, her thoughtful expression vanishing, and resolutely refused: "No!"

"Why?" Scrimgeour frowned. "Is it simply because the Memory Deletion Department belongs to the Department of Magical Accidents and Disasters and is a fan of Cornelius Fudge?"

That is indeed the reason.

But Amelia, of course, wouldn't admit it: "I trust you and your Auror, Rufus, but only you two. After Vaughn produced that list, the entire Wizengamor almost came to blows. John Mill, as the sole witness, absolutely cannot be allowed to slip up!"

"This is also what Vaughn expressed at the meeting just now, why he illegally manipulated John Mill to give his testimony—frankly, I don't trust any department except the Department of Magical Law Enforcement right now!"

Scrinker felt somewhat annoyed.

But as a member of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and with Amelia having put it that way, he really couldn't voice any objections.

After sitting for a while, he left with a stern face.

Once his figure disappeared, Amelia let out a long sigh and rubbed her forehead.

They're all such a handful!

Scrimgeour's ambitions are growing ever larger. His suggestion to seek help from the Memory Deletion Department was not out of altruism; he wanted to use this opportunity to bring Cornelius Fudge into the picture.

That greedy fat man, Vaughn had just appeased him during the international magic school potion exchange event a while ago, but now that he sees an opportunity, he's secretly plotting to cause trouble again.

Of course, she wasn't worried that Scrimgeour would completely side with them.

Scrimgeour loathed Fudge's incompetence even more than she did.

Another troublesome person is Vaughn!

She was looking at the crystal ball beside her, deep in thought, when the office door opened again and Vaughn, dressed in a purple robe, walked in, with several trays floating around him, filled with bowls and plates.

"Lunch is here, Amelia. You must be tired from chairing the meeting today."

Amelia put aside her thoughts and smiled: "Ordered from a Muggle restaurant again?"

"Yes, Chinese food, a modified version, should suit your taste." Vaughn waved his hand, and the clutter on the table next to Amelia flew up automatically, with the tray falling down afterward.

Then, he saw the crystal ball.

He beckoned with his finger, caught the crystal ball in his hand, and examined it for a few moments: "Is the interrogation of Scrimgeour over?"

"Um!"

"What did he tell you? He still doubted the authenticity of the list, right?"

Amelia smiled but did not answer, her attitude ambiguous.

Vaughn remained unfazed: "I'm sorry, Amelia, I admit I fabricated evidence and didn't communicate with you, but it was out of necessity!"

"have no choice?"

"Yes." Vaughn sighed as he cast a spell to automatically arrange the dishes on the tray. "You know best how much the conflict between North American werewolves and wizards has escalated in the past month or so. I must curb this trend and shift public attention, otherwise it's only a matter of time before it develops into a full-blown conflict."

"So, you've chosen to smear those pure-blood and wizarding families on that list?"

"You really think they're innocent?" Vaughn retorted. "You've read the interrogation records; Mr. Mystery does exist. Of all those well-dressed men sitting in the Grand Courtroom, how many do you think weren't involved, or didn't hear about it?"

"You're a pureblood too, you know. There are no absolute secrets among English families. But before I exposed John Mill, did anyone tell you that there was something fishy going on behind the North American werewolf parade?"

Amelia pondered.

This is sophistry, but from her perspective, it is indeed a very serious problem.

As the person in charge of the laws and rules of the entire magical world, there is a group of people who are blocking her sight and hearing right under her nose!

Amelia is not Dumbledore.

Old Deng can be called great. Regardless of his methods or the views he occasionally expresses, it is undeniable that this legendary wizard, nicknamed the White Demon, has been gradually stripping away utilitarianism in his thoughts since he began to curb his destructive desires 100 years ago.

His thoughts were always on grand themes, such as the survival of the magical world.

The future of humanity!

Last semester, when Vaughn learned that wizards had a "legendary" level, he specifically searched for related notes in the library.

He vividly remembered the evaluation of an ancient shaman in his notes: Legend is the watershed between man and god, the end of all mortals, and the beginning of a new extraordinary one.

It's quite interesting. At first glance, the wizard's assessment wasn't about the increase in strength, but rather the irreversible shift in his mindset after reaching the legendary level.

He believed that humanity would come to an end upon reaching the legendary level, and that what would then dominate the consciousness of the legendary wizard was a gradually awakening divinity that transcended the mortal realm.

That's what makes a legend special.

A wizard who reaches this level will have his thoughts, ideas, and even views transformed by divinity. Generally speaking, they will gradually give up some "narrow" emotions and move towards a more magnificent goal.

Of course, whether something is narrow-minded or grand is a subjective judgment.

Vaughn initially paid attention to this note because he was curious about the nature of the power of legends—for wizards, whose emotions are also a source of magical energy, does the so-called transformation from humanity to divinity imply that the transcendence of the "legendary" realm lies in divinity?

After all, based on his experience with Dumbledore, legendary wizards far surpassed ordinary wizards, yet the magic power that drove their spells had not fundamentally changed.

We've gone off on a tangent, let's get back to the point.

Amelia is not a legendary wizard like Dumbledore; her thoughts are not as grand or transcendent, and she still possesses the flaws of humanity.

She was willing to agree with Dumbledore's policy of treating Muggles well, not because she loved Muggles so much—who would consider a group of "idiots" who can't use magic as their own? Just like no human would consider a pig with more than 90% genetic similarity as their own.

In some ways, the difference between wizards and Muggles is greater than that between humans and pigs.

Amelia's gentle side was only because the situation did not affect her interests. This was also one of the reasons why Vaughn founded C, while firmly rejecting Cornelius Fudge, but also taking the initiative to accept Wizengamo.

Now, the "mysterious men" have threatened her interests. They have disregarded her authority over the law and the rights of Wizengamo, which she actually leads, within C.

Whether the list is real or fake, the interrogation results in the crystal ball show that, as Vaughn said, there are indeed some people who are trying to destroy her power structure without any mercy!

Amelia's expression was serene, but her inner turmoil was intense.

This left her speechless, but she listened with even greater patience as Vaughn continued, "The confrontation has already taken place, Amelia. Even if I'm willing to give them a fair judgment, they might not be willing to treat you the same way—in their eyes, you and I are treated the same!"

".——"

Amelia was silent for a moment before finally speaking: "So what did you want to do by writing down a whole bunch of names?"

Should we push everyone on the list to the opposite side?

"Of course not!"

Vaughn shook his head: "I didn't really expect everyone to believe the list, otherwise I wouldn't have handed John Mill over to Wizengamo. Look, Scrinker spent the whole morning sorting out the details enough to disprove the credibility of my list."

"This list was shown to the real masterminds so they would know I didn't actually know their identities, and I was so angry that I acted rashly," thus broadening the scope of the attack. In this situation, what do you think they would do?

Amelia unconsciously continued to think according to Vaughn's plan, and the many complex thoughts that had previously surfaced in her mind quickly faded away.

Yes, what will the real masterminds do?

Thank goodness?

After feeling fortunate, what happens next? Should you take the opportunity to hide?

The idea was rejected by Amelia as soon as it came up. Wessengamo had to investigate this matter thoroughly because Vaughn had set the tone too high from the beginning, accusing a conspiracy group at the press conference of splitting C and inciting racial hatred.

With only tens of thousands of people in the magic world, there isn't enough information to divert the public's attention. It's foreseeable that for a long time, the public's attention will be focused on who that "conspiracy group" is.

As the constitutional and parliamentary body of the wizarding world, Wizengamo must produce concrete investigation results in order to appease public opinion.

With Wizengamo's abilities, once they get serious, those guys won't be able to hide their true colors.

Similarly, those guys themselves knew this, so—

Amelia suddenly realized, and looked at Vaughn: "You—you're forcing them to muddy the waters!"

Yes, once Wissengamo shows determination, those people will realize they can't hide it anymore. They will inevitably, and can only, follow Vaughn's "foolish" actions and try every means to make the list real!

Exaggerating simple issues is the most effective way to create chaos and confuse the public!

Amelia felt her mind suddenly clear. She got up and paced back and forth in her office. She was a very politically astute person. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to break through a group of competitors and eventually take charge of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement after the war, when old Crouch lost power due to his son's downfall.

Vaughn only got off to a head and guided her thinking, but she immediately realized that this was a good opportunity!

As Vaughn said, a confrontation has taken place.

The current magical world can be basically divided into three factions. One faction is the pure-blood supremacists, which is self-explanatory. The main force is almost entirely composed of those guys from the Holy 28 races. They have been plotting to seize ownership of magic for hundreds of years and to give all the power to pure-bloods.

One faction, represented by Dumbledore, were anti-pure-blood supremacists. However, apart from the core members who were once based on the Order of the Phoenix, the rest of them did not truly agree with Dumbledore.

Their main resistance was against the violent rule of pure-bloods—a faction that had only emerged a little over a decade ago. Voldemort's madness terrified them, forcing them to unite around Dumbledore, who, in any case, was the only wizard capable of standing up to Voldemort.

As for the last faction, the situation is much more complicated.

Ideologically, the last group has a wide variety of views. Some are fence-sitters who dare not easily take sides, some feel that the tenets of the other two groups do not meet their own demands and are still weighing the pros and cons, hesitating and watching, and some simply have an isolationist tendency, thinking that they don't want to get involved in anyone else's mess.

This last faction also has the most complex origins.

Among these people are the 28 Holy Clans, as well as wizard families whose family history is comparable to the 28 Holy Clans, but whose foundation is slightly weaker.

Of course, most of them are mediocre mixed-race or Mongoloid.

This is a very large and unpredictable force, but no faction has ever been able to win them over or use their power.

This seems to be a counterintuitive phenomenon.

It's understandable that purebloods can't be won over, but why can't Dumbledore's faction be won over either?

The reason for this situation is actually quite simple: the world is too big!

Voldemort's extreme racial policies were undoubtedly a disaster for the English wizarding world, but for many ordinary half-blood and Muggle wizards who appeared to be persecuted under those policies, the outcome might not have been so dire.

England isn't the only country in the world.

If you can't stand staying in the British Isles, you can go to the Southern Commonwealth countries (Southern Hemisphere), or immigrate to Australia.

New Zealand, or South Asia, or even other countries in the world.

Therefore, when Voldemort and the Death Eaters were at their most rampant more than a decade ago, the main force of resistance was never the mixed-race and Muggle races that the pure-blood supremacists were hostile to, but rather the wizarding families.

The reason is that these people can run away, but the wizard families cannot.

Of course, leaving everything in England and going to another unfamiliar country is the last resort.

If they can continue to live a stable life, these swing voters are naturally unwilling to leave, so a strange trend has emerged.

The false atmosphere of peace that enveloped England for nearly a decade after Voldemort's downfall, which was touted as such, was actually created by these swing voters.

Connelly Fudge has always tried to please them.

"You need to create a sense of crisis for everyone, but without actually creating one!"

After pacing a few steps, Amelia murmured, "No wonder when I saw that list, some people were purebloods, some were swing voters, and some were even biased towards us."

"The purebloods' thirst for power is undeniable, as are those wizarding families who favor us. The swing faction, on the other hand, needs stability and to maintain peace. They are the true conservative force. A list will drag all three factions into this, using their differing stances to increase suspicion and internal strife."

Amelia only truly understood this at this moment.

Vaughn's target is the swing voters.

The list provides a false sense of crisis, a trap set for swing voters!

Without the emergence of a real crisis, they lacked the courage to decisively abandon everything they currently possessed, and could only engage in internal strife with the purebloods under pressure from the behind-the-scenes manipulators to "confirm" the list.

Once internal friction begins, it can never be stopped. The contradictions intensify, attitudes toward the expectation of winning or losing change, competition increases investment, investment increases sunk costs, and thus a vicious cycle of involution is formed.

This involution will eventually become unbearable for some.

It is foreseeable that the first to give out will not be the purebloods.

Magic is like technology. The higher the level of technology, the tighter the control that the technology master exerts over the lower levels, making it more difficult for the lower levels to resist the upper levels.

The same goes for magic.

Ancient pure-blood families are like the ultimate producers in the magical world; the longer they fight amongst themselves, the more the pure-blood families who have mastered various secret arts can ignore the difference in quantity.

Besides, the purebloods still have Voldemort as a trump card!

By then, it will be too late for the swingers to run away—internal strife causes mutual harm; the swingers will suffer significant losses, and the purebloods will not emerge unscathed.

Losses breed hatred, and hatred is an emotion that cannot be escaped, unlike shouting slogans to exterminate the Mud People.

At that time, if the swing faction wants to survive, it will have to change its survival strategy, such as aligning itself with the faction that has always been able to compete with purebloods!

Dumbledore faction!

Or rather, it could be said that these three individuals, representing the werewolf, Wizengamo, and possibly the International Wizarding Federation, have been acting in unison on various occasions over the past year.

Vaughn, Amelia, Dumbledore!

Yes, it's practically like an axis—

Amelia's thoughts wandered deeper and deeper. After an unknown amount of time, she snapped out of her reverie and looked at Vaughn with surprise and astonishment.

"Is this a plan you came up with in such a short time after capturing John Mill?"

She asked in surprise.

Vaughn chuckled: "Just daydreaming. Any plan is just an ideal scenario. The real reason is simply because I failed to capture those mysterious men from John Mill's memories. Sigh, John was right, I should have turned to capturing them instead."

"Internal conflicts among werewolves can be resolved slowly from within, but external covetousness cannot wait. I was indeed a bit emotional at the time."

Upon hearing this, Amelia remained noncommittal. Having witnessed the interrogation and memory extraction, she naturally knew what John Mill had said to Vaughn in the grove.

However, rather than Vaughn's claim of being emotional and making a mistake, she is more inclined to guess that Vaughn did it on purpose!

Of course, Vaughn didn't say anything, and she was too lazy to bring it up. After thinking for a while, she asked, "The premise of all your plans is that the mastermind behind it will actually 'make it a reality' as you expect—how confident are you?"

The so-called "making the list solid" is actually to avoid falsifying the list.

To increase the credibility of a list provided by the "witness" John Mill and avoid being overturned, the natural solution is to eliminate the witness!

Beside the table, Vaughn, who was lighting the brazier with his wand, paused for a moment before calmly replying, "If they don't act, I will make the arrangements. This is the role I should play by sparing his life."

If it were Dumbledore, he would probably re-evaluate Vaughn's character at this moment, but it must be emphasized that Amelia is different.

Despite being in charge of the only violent organization in the magical world, she was quite satisfied with Vaughn's decisiveness. She nodded: "This is the fate that traitors and lawbreakers deserve!"

As she spoke, she suddenly remembered something, "Was the murderer of Alexander and Taylor really, as John Mill guessed, a North American werewolf named François?"

"I'm not sure. When I found this information in John's memory, I arranged for people to go back to the settlements of several North American werewolves to investigate. I plan to interrogate all the North American werewolves he has come into contact with."

"No need to rush. Our current focus should be on dealing with external threats." Amelia paused, then asked casually, almost abruptly, "Are you available to make the arrangements? Wouldn't it be quite a commotion?"

Vaughn understood immediately, glanced sideways, and smiled: "Hard to say, this is your territory."

Amelia felt herself growing to like Vaughn's intelligence more and more.

As they spoke, the dishes were already laid out on the small table. Amelia tucked a napkin around herself and said slowly, "Before you came, Scrimgeour suggested that I seek help from the Memory Erasure Command to continue the thorough investigation of John Mill's memories—what do you think?"

"That's great. The involvement of a third party ensures relative fairness and also allows for the sharing of responsibility."

After saying that, the two looked at each other and smiled.