Magical Studies at Hogwarts...

Chapter 303 The Ministry of Magic's Counterattack

Death Eaters ravage Britain – Godric's Hollow destroyed.

Last night, the infamous Death Eater Ike Strayder and his werewolves ruthlessly destroyed Godric's Hollow. Numerous Muggle and wizarding homes were burned to the ground…

To date, seventeen Muggles have been killed and over three hundred injured; twenty-four wizards have been killed. The following is a list of the victims…

...The Ministry of Magic has yet to respond to this...

"Bang!"

Scrimgeour slammed the Daily Prophet onto the table, his face contorted with rage. He had aged considerably in just a few months, appearing as if he had suddenly aged twenty years; a third of his once golden hair had turned white.

The pressure from Voldemort and his Death Eaters was immense!

Attacks occur daily. Dementors, giants, werewolves, vampires, and all sorts of dark creatures proliferate, targeting both wizards and Muggles, spreading fear without restraint.

In contrast, the Ministry of Magic had to consider the Statute of Secrecy, which made them somewhat hesitant in their battles against the Death Eaters. Furthermore, the combat skills of the two groups were not on the same level.

Aside from the Aurors, most of the Ministry of Magic's personnel are relatively weak in combat. Even with the purchase and equipping of Weasley's Anti-Charm series products, it often takes two or three people working together to deal with a single one of Voldemort's henchmen, yet they are still powerless to capture him.

Therefore, from the outside perspective, in the months following Voldemort's return, the Ministry of Magic was completely at a disadvantage, and could even be said to be powerless to fight back.

Although some results were achieved, arresting those who wanted to make a fortune in the chaos and confiscating some cursed magical items would not win the public's approval for the Ministry of Magic.

People chose Scrimgeour as the new Minister for Magic in the hope that the Ministry, under his leadership, could defeat the Dark Lord, rather than cleaning up the mess left by the Death Eaters. In their view, that's exactly what the Ministry is doing now.

Scrimgeour sat in his chair, leaning back completely. His gaze swept over the Daily Prophet on the table, and after a long silence, he finally picked it up again. But after only a couple of glances, he tossed it aside.

"Bang, bang... Minister?"

"Come in!"

A knock came at the door, and Scrimgeour tidied himself up a bit before letting the man in. Looking up, a smile unconsciously appeared on his face.

"Kingsley, sit down... So, is there any good news?"

Shackle Kingsley bowed slightly to Scrimgeour, sat down in the chair opposite him, and said, "I'm sorry, Minister, we were too late. We didn't catch Strayder; only a few slow werewolves were captured."

"Bang!" Scrimgeour slammed his fist on the table in frustration, leaping to his feet. "Damn it! Damn it! What use are those werewolves to me! Can werewolves shut the people up?!"

As he spoke, he grabbed the Daily Prophet and swung it around again, this time the newspaper fell apart.

Kingsley didn't get up. He slowly tidied up the scattered newspapers and placed them neatly back on the table.

He knew perfectly well that Scrimgeour was just venting; recent events had indeed left him quite overwhelmed. As Minister for Magic, he undoubtedly bore the brunt of the pressure.

Scrimgeour, panting heavily, stood there for a while before finally calming down a bit. He tidied his somewhat disheveled hair, sat back down in his chair, and his expression returned to calm.

"You must have seen today's paper, Kingsley?" he asked.

"Yes, Minister," Kingsley replied.

"We're short-handed... I mean, those who can fight on the front lines," Scrimgeour said slowly. "Besides Auro, only Arthur and his office staff seem to be of any use..."

"Of course I know that those people are not good at fighting and have been doing clerical work in the Ministry of Magic for so many years, but even so, they should be able to do more than a decent Ironclad Charm!" Scrimgeour's tone was serious, but his wide eyes were full of disappointment.

"I really don't know how Hogwarts teaches..."

"Minister!" Kingsley suddenly interrupted Scrimgeour, "In the fight against the Dark Lord, our goals are aligned with Dumbledore's."

"Yes, yes..." Scrimgeour realized as well, but his face showed more annoyance and resentment. "We have the same goal, but the newspapers are full of articles criticizing me."

"That's Dumbledore, the only person the Dark Lord feared, yet he couldn't even defeat a teenage wizard..."

This time, Kingsley remained silent. He knew perfectly well that the minister before him had followed the same path as his predecessor. This was expected, and inevitable.

As long as Dumbledore is alive, whoever sits in the Minister of Magic's position will feel a deep sense of dread towards him. After all, no ambitious person would tolerate someone they cannot control constantly drifting away, while they are forced to rely on that person in certain matters.

Everyone knew perfectly well that, in the matter of defeating the Dark Lord, Dumbledore and his Order of the Phoenix were the real main force, compared to the Ministry of Magic.

Although they haven't achieved any good results yet.

After talking for a while and venting his frustrations, Scrimgeour finally stopped. Taking a sip of tea, he cleared his throat and asked, "Kingsley, lately I've been thinking about whether we should focus our efforts on eliminating some of the Dark Lord's henchmen. We can't keep being led by the nose by them; we simply can't provide adequate protection for our people."

He tapped the newspaper cover and pointed to the photo of "The Burning Godric Valley," saying, "The dispersion of power gave them an opportunity and kept us running around in circles."

"That's possible, but Minister, which wing of the Dark Lord should we remove?" Kingsley nodded as he countered, "Werewolf, vampire, or giant?"

"Forgive my bluntness, but this does not solve the fundamental problem."

“Of course I know!” Scrimgeour glared at Kingsley and said, “But who among us can handle those guys? Lestrange is alright, but what about Strawberry?”

"Then... I think we might as well target the werewolves," Kingsley said after a moment of thought. "Capturing Fenrir Greyback, and then capturing and killing as many of the most vicious werewolves as possible, might weaken the Dark Lord's power to the greatest extent possible."

He pointed to the photo in the newspaper and said, "According to Stan Sampark, the Knight Bus conductor, and the survivors, it was only the werewolves who actually did it."

"Given the current situation, dealing with the werewolves is the easiest objective to achieve compared to dealing with the Dementors and the giants."

Upon hearing this, Scrimgeour fell into deep thought. After a long while, he sighed and nodded.

"Alright, that's settled then... However, it seems I'll have to meet with Dumbledore and have a proper chat."

(End of this chapter)