Hogwarts: Dumbledore reigned over the wizarding world.

Chapter 338 Amelia's Questioning of Vaughn

The newcomer was Nymphadora Tonks. The beautiful young woman paused briefly, then laughed heartily and uttered her habitual greeting, tinged with the flavor of southern England: "Hello, Lupin, Vaughn."

"Hello—" Lu Ping clenched his fists nervously.

Tonks scratched her head, blew a bubble in confusion, and felt as if Lupin was about to punch her.

Ignoring Lupin's strange reaction, Tonks approached Vaughn and said casually, "Vaughn, you said on the paper airplane that you needed me to do a mission? Go ahead, I can't wait."

Vaughn smiled and said, "So eager, don't you want the Christmas holidays?"

"No." Tonks said without hesitation. "You know, I've been following Kingsley for a long time. That guy is so fussy and treats me like a child. Now that I'm finally out of my internship and don't have to be protected like a chick by its mother anymore, all I want to do now is move forward with my career and become a fully-fledged Auror."

"Very ambitious and spirited!"

Vaughn said with satisfaction, "I do have an important task for you. Over the next two days, you will serve as Wizengamo's special envoy to inspect the werewolf settlements in various cities under C's jurisdiction."

"—Inspection? Inspect what?" Tonks looked completely bewildered.

"The werewolves' lives, their festival arrangements, the daily routines of werewolf teenagers and children—everything you see should be recorded. Remus Lupin will accompany you throughout the visit as your guide. If you have any questions during the inspection, you can consult him!"

"what?"

On the other side, Lupin looked bewildered and was speechless.

Looking back at the dazed Lupin, Tonks scratched her head. She felt something was off, but couldn't quite put her finger on it. After thinking for a moment, she decided to accept the task.

"Don't worry, I'll definitely inspect it thoroughly!" She patted her chest excitedly. "When does it start?"

"Now—Remus, take her there!"

"I—you—"

Looking at the smiling Vaughn, Lupin froze. By this time, he naturally understood that Vaughn had brought him to the Ministry of Magic not because he needed his help, but because he was using this excuse to arrange for him to be with Tonks.

This made his heart flutter wildly, yet he didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Because he was not mentally prepared at all.

Tonks clearly didn't have such complicated feelings. Having met her in North America, the girl put her arm around his shoulder without any sense of boundaries: "What do you mean 'you, me, and him'? Dude, how come you've become as fussy as Kingsley? Let's get going. To be honest, I'm almost depressed from working underground all day."

The soft touch of the girl's graceful figure, along with the indescribable fragrance, left Lupin's mind completely blank, and he was dragged away by Tonks in a daze.

Vaughn got up, walked to the window, and looked down at the Magic Brothers Fountain Square. Soon, he saw Tonks and Lupin.

The door behind him creaked open, and a figure walked up to him, looking down just like him.

It's Amelia.

"Sometimes, I think you're strange." Amelia beckoned with her finger, and a tray flew over with two cups of black tea on it.

One cup per person.

Vaughn took a sip of his tea, the chill he'd brought from Ireland dissipating somewhat. "What's strange?"

"In many ways, for example, you have always been very rational in front of me and Dumbledore. It seems that you only see the pure material world and objective phenomena. We can hardly see the emotional side of you."

"But when we get this impression, you'll show signs of being emotional in some strange ways—"

Like today, you actually tried to matchmake Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks. When I saw the message on the paper airplane, I simply couldn't believe you would do such a thing.

Amelia walked to the window, the black tea in her teacup rippling slightly, the steam blurring her vision.

This made her gaze even more wistful as she quietly watched Lupin and Tonks walking among the crowd in the square below.

Tonight is Christmas Eve, and the Magic Brothers Fountain has been specially decorated by the logistics department. A colorful Christmas tree, about 6 feet tall, sits atop the fountain.

The wizards' magic entwined it with rainbows, and a light dark cloud floated above the canopy, bringing down small but dense snowflakes. Mistletoe, with its pearl-like white berries, stretched out from among the emerald green leaves, like deer antlers reaching towards the dark cloud and the falling snow.

Unlike the religious significance of Christmas in Muggles, Christmas Eve in the wizarding world does not involve mass or church gatherings. The Christmas tree is the most prominent symbol of the holiday. Near the Christmas tree, there is a wizard specially arranged by the logistics department who occasionally waves his wand to create a gust of wind, swirling snowflakes, and ringing the gospel bell.

I also offer my blessings to every male and female wizard who walks together under the parasite—well, sometimes I don't distinguish between genders—anyway, I will bless them.

Amelia saw Lupin and Tonks walking through the mistletoe like the rest of the crowd. The Christmas wizard stopped them with an exaggerated dance, said words of blessing, and finally conjured a heart-shaped ice sculpture and gave it to the two of them.

Tonks laughed so hard he almost fell over, while Lu Ping blushed and was at a loss for words, but excitedly accepted the ice sculpture.

As the snowflakes drifted down, the two figures, growing ever closer, gradually disappeared into the crowd.

Amelia turned around: "—Dumbledore once discussed your intelligence abilities with me. One day, he jokingly said: If I didn't know that Vaughn's divination talent was extremely poor, I would even doubt that he could predict the future."

She smiled, gazing at Vaughn's golden-brown eyes illuminated by the light streaming in from the window: "Thinking back now, he probably wasn't joking that day, but rather expressing his own speculation and confusion—don't you agree, darling?"

Vaughn remained calm: "I don't know what Dumbledore thinks. You shouldn't ask me if you're right or wrong. I only know that what you're saying is absurd, Amelia. You should know that prophecy is usually only a general range. Even the prophet himself has difficulty understanding it clearly and may even have to rely on runes to express it."

Runes are also known as "magic runes," or runic language.

It is a rather mysterious writing system, which Muggles believe to be an extinct writing system used to write the Nordic languages.

However, it is not actually a language used to express complex meanings. Its essence should be a trans-temporal symbolic pattern created by one or more prophets to express prophecies.

After all, when prophets make prophecies, they enter a state of "soul infusion" that is the opposite of "inviting the ether." The prophet's brain seems to suddenly connect with some indescribable place where there is no time or space, and information about the past, present, and future is mixed together.

Human language, with its unidirectional linear sequence (as is the case with all human languages, primarily due to physiological limitations), is clearly incapable of expressing such chaotic temporal relationships. Therefore, prophecies cannot be expressed in "human language," and even the prophet himself will forget the prophecy after the "soul infusion" state ends, because the human brain is also unable to comprehend it.

Therefore, prophets created a system of symbols, such as Niven, that could express prophecies in a state of "soul infusion".

But for the same reason, runes are difficult to translate into "human language" that people can understand, so from a human perspective, accurate prophecies are simply impossible to obtain.

This is a fact known to almost all wizards.

Amelia, of course, understood that her purpose was not, in fact, to find out where Vaughn got his information or any suspicious points about it.

She is concerned about some of the recent issues that have arisen with Vaughn.

With her gaze lingering on the window, where the light from the magical dome streamed into the underground space, Amelia said in a low voice, "I've always trusted you, my dear, even though I don't understand or comprehend things like Lupin and Tonks. You seem certain they'll be together, and your actions seem to be making up for some regret—to be honest, I don't care about these things."

As she spoke, she paused, her gaze shifting to several banners hanging from the upper floors not far away.

The banner featured a large photo of Cornelius Fudge, the same one published in the Daily Prophet this morning, with Fudge in the center, grinning from ear to ear.

Those sycophants even created a special effect of flowers being scattered!

"Mr. Fudge has once again declared himself the winner, thanks to your help this Christmas," Amelia said, her face grim. "The timing is perfect. I can only imagine how those conservatives will revel today and tomorrow—double the joy, one holiday! Ha!"

Her tone was sarcastic, and Vaughn did not respond.

He knew that Amelia's sudden remarks were an expression of dissatisfaction.

The reasons for the dissatisfaction are complex, but in summary, the main reason is Cornelius Fudge.

As Amelia said, Fudge's timing was perfect; for a while afterward, the dear minister's prestige will surely soar.

That's what really annoyed Amelia.

"We are allies. In fact, I can disregard what you and Dumbledore are up to, and I can do my best to cooperate with you, but I also hope that you can respect my position."

Amelia spoke in a calm tone, yet uttered fierce words: "What I want is power, the Ministry of Magic, but you and Dumbledore don't seem to care about my thoughts. You're pushing the situation further and further away from my expectations, making it increasingly incomprehensible to me!"

"Yes, even magic cannot accurately predict the future, so what makes you think you can control Fudge? In my opinion, you have already begun to lose control. I, and those I represent, have to see with disappointment that you have not kept the situation firmly in your hands as you promised."

""

Vaughn responded with silence.

The two of them didn't say anything more after that.

Because on this issue, there are insurmountable obstacles for both sides—as Amelia said, she cannot understand why Vaughn and Dumbledore are making increasingly larger concessions.

Vaughn couldn't explain to her the real reason why he and Dumbledore had never taken Cornelius Fudge seriously.

It's not that it can't be explained, but rather it's a matter of trust.

It's clear that today's front-page headline in the Daily Prophet has spurred Amelia on. She's pursuing power within the Ministry of Magic, but what she sees is Fudge not continuing to falter, but rather, with concessions from Vaughn and Dumbledore, his voice growing louder and his power becoming more secure.

When a person is stuck in a mental dilemma, simple language cannot dispel misunderstandings.

Of course, Amelia was also provoked because today, Wizengamo was going to hold a question-and-answer session regarding the potion exchange event.

Traditionally, the Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement usually serves as the chairperson of the meeting, which means she has to personally define the nature of the potions exchange activity, and then cooperate with the Ministry of Magic, watching helplessly as Fudge returns and swaggers around in front of her.

I understand if you're a little annoyed—if you're really annoyed!

I stayed in the small conference room until about 9 o'clock. The noise outside gradually increased. Through the window grille, I could see many wizards dressed in purple robes gathering from various floors.

They will proceed from here to the Grand Court.

After a long silence, Amelia stood up and finally spoke again: "The meeting is about to begin. I'll go over and take charge of maintaining order. Change into your robes and come help me as soon as possible—at least until now, we are still a unit, and we can't let people think we have disagreements."

Political animals are very sensitive. Everyone knows that Amelia and Vaughn have a close relationship. If Vaughn arrives late, many people will probably be eager to make a move.

Vaughn nodded, and as Amelia was about to leave, he called out, "Amelia!"

Amelia didn't turn around, but simply tilted her head slightly.

In the shimmering light and shadow cast through the magical dome, Vaughn's figure, sitting by the window, was reflected in the corner of her eye, as if melting into the light: "Guess how many people will make things difficult for me at today's interrogation?"

Upon hearing those words, Amelia's previously composed heart suddenly tightened. She turned slightly and looked directly at Vaughn: "—"

What are you trying to say?

Vaughn turned around and smiled. "It's nothing. I just noticed you seem to be missing something about the purebloods' movements. Or perhaps you know about their recent actions, but you don't think I'd accept it?"

"7

"My dear Amelia, the meeting is about to begin, and I still need to change my clothes. Like you said, we can't let anyone know we have disagreements yet, otherwise—"

Her robe trembled slightly, and within the wide sleeves, Amelia's hands were clenched into fists, veins bulging.

She had almost forgotten how she walked out of that small office and into the corridor; all she knew was that a jumble of thoughts was pounding through her mind.

When she came to her senses, she had already left the office area of ​​the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and entered the public area.

The festive atmosphere is gradually heating up throughout the Ministry of Magic. Paper airplanes that are shuttling back and forth have been painted with patterns of reindeer, Santa Claus and sleighs. Wizards and witches are wearing Santa hats, and some are even conjuring up white beards for themselves.

Snow began to fall in the public areas as well, and the cleaning staff, the logistics wizards, just smiled and didn't stop them.

Everyone was immersed in a happy atmosphere.

She, however, seemed completely out of place at that moment.