My Hogwarts has a serious problem.

Chapter 364, Section 361: Mediocre Minister

England, in an undisclosed manor.

A blond young man sat in the main seat of the reception room, gently swirling the red wine in his glass.

The wine glass contained no wine, only grape juice that looked very much like red wine.

Although Lynn is now dressed like an adult, he is still only 15 years old and not yet of drinking age, so Old John did not serve him any drinks.

Cornelius Oswald Fudge, a graduate of Hufflepuff House at Hogwarts, claims to be a pure-blood, but there is no evidence to prove which pure-blood family the Fudge surname belongs to.

Fudge became Minister for Magic after Millicent resigned in 1990, a position that would never have been given to him otherwise.

He became Minister of Magic because Barty Crouch's son was accused of being a Death Eater, which caused Crouch, the most likely candidate for Minister of Magic, to lose his chance, and Fudge was recommended after Albus Dumbledore refused to take the position again.

Fudge's abilities were quite mediocre. Not to mention compared to Dumbledore, even compared to Crouch, who was implicated by his son, his political skills were far inferior. He was somewhat aware of this from the beginning. In his first year as Minister for Magic, whenever he was about to issue a decree, he would write to Dumbledore to ask for his opinion. At that time, many Ministry of Magic employees secretly ridiculed him behind his back, calling him Dumbledore's yes-man.

Although his political abilities were poor, he still possessed a certain level of political acumen.

After two years in the ministerial position, he had cultivated his own group within the ministry. Gradually, he seemed to gain confidence, eventually ceasing to write to Dumbledore and clearly moving closer to the ranks of pure-blood families.

As Lynn listened to Old John's account, he flipped through the documents in his hand and discovered a number of dirty political deals.

"How interesting. He actually wanted to sell a position in the Ministry of Magic to the Malfoy family, but Lucius Malfoy refused."

"Yes, Lucius Malfoy isn't that stupid. He has a history of being a Death Eater. Even though he escaped being imprisoned in Azkaban by using the Imperius Curse, the Dark Mark on his arm can never be erased. He's fine as a businessman in the wizarding world, but if he accepts Fudge's offer to work for the Ministry of Magic, he'll become the target of everyone's hatred."

"But it seems our Minister of Magic isn't getting along very well with these pure-blood families either?"

"Because those people never really respected him. In the end, Cornelius Fudge wasn't one of them. It was Barty Crouch, who was originally slated to take over the position, who was the true pure-blood."

While Fuchsiah claimed to be a pure-blood, in the eyes of those pure-blood families, he was no different from a half-blood or a Muggle; his appointment as Minister of Magic was simply a matter of good luck.

Lynn didn't finish flipping through the document in front of him. Some of the things recorded there were just too filthy and disgusting. He was afraid that if he kept reading, he wouldn't even be in the mood to drink grape juice.

"But Minister Fudge also knew that he wouldn't be able to hold onto his position as Minister of Magic for long without someone backing him up. So, after distancing himself from Dumbledore and discovering that the pure-blood families had never considered him one of their own, he started contacting us?"

Old John nodded.

"We had met before at a dinner party. After the party, I gave him a pure gold shield made by medieval fairies as a gift. He was very happy and returned the favor with a cup of English black tea. We have been corresponding ever since."

Lynn frowned and asked in confusion.

"But isn't your public identity that of a German wizard? If his secret collaboration with you is discovered, wouldn't you risk being accused of treason?"

Old John said neither humbly nor arrogantly, "It is true that I am a German wizard, but young master, your current identity outside is that of a person of Prussian royal blood."

Lynn was speechless.

Intermarriages between royal families in various European countries were frequent. Having Prussian royal blood meant being half German, one-sixth French, one-sixth British, and one-sixth of other mixed races.

Moreover, Germany no longer has a royal family; the descendants of the former royal family are scattered throughout Europe and could be said to be from any country.

"You think they'll actually believe you just making things up like that?"

"It's just giving them a way out to cooperate. No one will investigate whether this is true or not. And I'm not lying. Young master, you do have Prussian royal blood, from your mother's side."

Lynn shrugged.

"Alright, just giving them a way out. What good is royal status? No matter how high your status is in Muggle society, it's just a joke in the eyes of wizards. Your contact with Fudge has reached the final stage? So, I need to confirm the exact exchange of benefits between the two sides?"

"Yes, that's why Fudge agreed to meet with you tonight."

Lynn brushed aside his slightly uncomfortable golden bangs. He certainly couldn't meet Fudge with his original appearance, as that would probably scare the Minister of Magic.

With Old John's help, he created the appearance of a typical noble young master for himself.

However, this noble young master was drinking grape juice instead of red wine.

"Such people are actually easy to control. He only contacts us to secure his position as minister and also wants to make money. For us, any problem that can be solved with money is not a problem. In other words, what Fudge dreams of is not worth mentioning at all."

Lynn pondered for a moment and said that he didn't take this meeting with Fudge too seriously, because the outcome was easy to predict: they would have a pleasant conversation. Lynn was more concerned about the school board's affairs.

"Have those pure-blood families noticed your movements?"

Old John said, bowing his head.

"Some of them have noticed that the United Company's market share in the UK is declining and have questioned me about whether there has been a problem with the company's recent operations. I brushed them off with the excuse of technical adjustments. They also warned me to be careful of our Lungard Company, saying that the company has grown too rapidly recently and may threaten our position in the British wizarding world. They told me to figure out a strategy to deal with them as soon as possible."

Things are progressing smoothly here, and there's nothing for Lynn to worry about.

"Let's speed things up and get started once we've finalized the cooperation agreement with Minister Fudge tonight."

(End of this chapter)