From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

"Yes, Ministry of Magic. To be precise, a serious prison break occurred in Azkaban, and the perpetrators successfully escaped."

Lupin stared wide-eyed at Sirius Black—the first prison break he had ever heard of was orchestrated by Sirius, and he couldn't control his gaze.

"Successfully escaped? How is that possible?"

William shook his head. "Could it be that the Dark Lord has appeared and is leading the team personally? He actually dared to expose himself?"

They had warned Fudge to have more people in Azkaban to prevent a possible prison break—if the other side succeeded under such circumstances, it could only mean that the Dark Lord had intervened.

But if the Dark Lord were to make a move, it would actually be good news—it would mean that Dumbledore would have a good reason to leave the country and take action without worrying about causing panic. After all, Dumbledore is like a walking strategic weapon, inspiring fear wherever he goes.

"No, the guards, the Aurors, and the strikers all said that the opponent's appearance and departure were very sudden, but there was no overwhelming, invincible opponent. So I believe Voldemort did not make a move."

"Voldemort didn't make a move, so the Dementors have rebelled?"

No, not at all.

"At least one Auror on duty, plus a striker, and a group of Dementors whose fighting strength is not bad, and they still failed?"

William shook his head, simply unable to believe such a thing could happen.

What a joke! He's seen Aurors before, and none of them have ever stooped to this level!

Wait!

He suddenly thought of something quite important.

"Who escaped? Were there any dead or wounded prisoners—and what about Umbridge? How is she now, Headmaster?"

Dumbledore nodded and smiled.

"Just as you suspected, Umbridge is dead."

He spread his hands. "There were also about thirty Death Eater prisoners who were mistakenly killed during the pursuit. According to the report, the intruders were powerful and carried a large number of wands, which they distributed to the prisoners on the spot. Those Death Eater prisoners who regained their wands became extremely dangerous, so the only option was to issue a kill order..."

'Oh…'

Dumbledore only spoke halfway before William understood the situation—escape was the only option; otherwise, how could they prove the attackers were so powerful that the Aurors and Strikers had no choice but to kill?

Fudge wanted to solve the problem once and for all. There was no comparison between putting the prisoners back in jail and killing them. With the latter, there was no need to worry about any rescue plans. William was sure that if killing them all hadn't been so outrageous, there would probably have been even more Death Eaters killed by mistake this time.

Of course, it's also possible that those unfortunate souls died so that Umbridge's death wouldn't seem so abrupt—William doesn't know for sure. The only thing he's certain of right now is that if Umbridge is alright, the Ministry of Magic hasn't done anything wrong; if something does happen, it's most likely that Fudge has other plans.

"How many Death Eaters escaped, Headmaster?"

"Ten people is still within an acceptable range; this is the list of escapees."

As Dumbledore spoke, he handed William a piece of parchment. William took it, then pulled a small booklet from his pocket and began to compare it. After three or four minutes, he nodded. "Most of them are the kind Professor Moody described—not very combat-effective, except for three troublesome fellows..."

“Bella is a troublesome dark wizard,” William shook his head. “Minister Fudge should talk to us. Bella shouldn’t have been released.”

He genuinely hadn't expected Fudge to be in such a hurry to kill Umbridge; otherwise, he would have definitely persuaded Fudge to accidentally kill that dangerous woman as well.

“It’s acceptable,” William finally nodded, “although it deviates somewhat from the plan.”

"What plan?"

Sirius finally couldn't help but interject, but Dumbledore showed no sign of reproach on his face. "A plan that prepares us all."

"It just wasn't executed very well..."

William shook his head. "However, now that this has happened, I can openly and legitimately conduct checks when entering and leaving the school without worrying about smudging anyone's makeup."

“Not only that, Professor William.”

Dumbledore shook his head slightly. "Actually, the Ministry of Magic wants you to go to Azkaban to examine the traces of the Death Eaters' intrusion so that the investigation can be more comprehensive."

The Ministry of Magic's independent investigation always gives people a sense of distrust, especially when so many pure-blood criminals have died at once. The Ministry of Magic can't take all the blame, and Hogwarts has to step in to take the fall.

Whether they are experts or not is another matter; the key is Dumbledore's attitude.

"Should I go get checked?"

William raised his hand as if to slam it on the table, but held back in the end. "They've done such a mess, and you expect me to inspect it?"

Sirius was engrossed in the story, but Lupin tugged at him, and when he didn't react, he tugged again before finally making an excuse to leave, leaving William there panting.

"Alright—let's do the inspection...but we need a special search warrant from the Ministry of Magic."

William gritted his teeth. "I want to search the files, residences, and Gringotts vaults of the rescued Death Eaters."

-

"The files are one thing, but the residence, Gringotts' vault?"

Fudge was in a very good mood, even humming a little tune, but he was stunned after hearing the news reported by his assistant.

The records are fine, but the residence and Gringotts vault are big problems.

Even when Sirius Black, who was known as the first Death Eater, was arrested, there was no precedent for searching his vault and residence—although this was mostly because the Black family had expelled him, but nothing is done.

"This won't do. So many purebloods have died; things are already difficult to resolve, and now they're being allowed to search at will..."

Fudge suddenly had a headache—damn it, Umbridge was definitely dead!

"Can't…"

After gritting his teeth for a while, Fudge came to his conclusion, "But we can secretly reveal the addresses of the vault and our residence, and then we can apply for a sum of money to Hogwarts..."

At worst, we could just hand over the Galonnaise sent by those well-fed guys...

Fudge thought with a pang of regret—the businesses of the several newly recruited Death Eaters who had died had been perfectly divided up, so there had been some income recently… but recruiting large numbers of strikers and improving the treatment of Aurors would be a huge expense…

"But what if something is missing..."

“How could there be less…” Fudge looked up. “That’s Dumbledore…”

"Yes, Minister."

The assistant nodded. "Gringotts?"

"No need. How could Dumbledore possibly be discovered entering Gringotts..."

-

"An address... will do..."

William looked at the information he had received and knew that this was the limit. He laughed, but Dumbledore's expression was not good.

Just now, he realized a problem. Residences were fine, but Gringotts' vault... he didn't think his professor had the ability to sneak in undetected. Even Quirrell, with Voldemort's guidance, almost had it leaked back then...

that…

"I'm afraid we'll be quite busy from now on, Principal."

William waved the documents around. "I've long suspected that those Death Eaters were helping the Dark Lord hide things, just like the Malfoys did."

For the first time, a clear look of helplessness appeared on Dumbledore's face—how did things turn out like this?

Chapter 541 Holiday Ends

"Hi Fred, George! Thank you for the gift, that fake wand is absolutely wonderful!"

"I'm glad you like it," the twins replied cheerfully. "We absolutely love the team merchandise you gave us!"

"Would you like to sit over there with us?"

"No, we have appointments with others."

...

The twins, who were very popular in Gryffindor, spent a long time greeting each other before finally finding an empty box. Once inside, they immediately used magic to lock the door from the inside and then breathed a sigh of relief.

Normally, they would never admit anything unless caught red-handed, but at this moment, they both seemed a little guilty.

They seem to have come up with something truly amazing during this Christmas break, and after a quick brainstorming session, they decided to bring it to school. It's currently in their suitcase...

"Isn't this a bit too dangerous, George..."

"It shouldn't be... right?"

George frowned. He wasn't sure if what they'd made was too much to joke about, but it was just too much...

"Anyway, we should check it out, check it carefully. I'm really worried about it being folded like this."

After exchanging glances, the two finally decided to open the suitcase.

A crudely made, extremely folded, large scarecrow appeared in the private room. Its head was made of a sack full of beans, its left hand was a mop that was broken beyond repair, its right hand was a spoon attached to a wooden handle, and its body was a smashed chair. At this moment, they were piled together and extremely difficult to separate.

The two patiently unpacked and carefully inspected the contents, only breathing a sigh of relief after confirming there was no damage during transport.

"The spell isn't damaged, let's give it a try..."

They arranged the scarecrow, then poured a thick, black potion from a large bottle, carefully smeared it on the scarecrow, and simultaneously waved their wands to begin casting a spell.

The viscous potion began to evenly coat the scarecrow. As it gradually covered the scarecrow, the potion began to change rapidly, turning a color similar to skin.

About five minutes later, a 'Ron' appeared in the private room.

"Even the scarecrows we made ourselves didn't look so cute when they were made to resemble Ron."

George sighed, then took a small bottle from the box and stuffed it, along with a small prop, into the scarecrow's mouth.

"After all, Ron is easy to fool and can get a lot of experimental materials. Otherwise, it would always be strange to look at his own face."

Fred poked 'Ron' with his wand, and a clear voice came out.

"What do you want, Fred?"

It was Ron's voice. 'Ron' even waved his arm impatiently, trying to shoo them away.

"Anyway..." The two stared at it for a while, then shook their heads. "Something still doesn't seem right."

This was work they had been busy with for two months before the holiday, and they finally finished it during the Christmas break.

Originally, the two were just mocking Ron for weaving scarecrows, but after Ron showed them his materials in a defiant manner, the twins were envious and quickly learned how to do it in about a week.

Just as the fireworks and firecrackers were almost ready, Dumbledore stubbornly refused to retire, which frustrated the two of them, but at the same time, they began to start a new research project - the candyification of Polyjuice Potion.

Because of the large number of truancy drugs they had previously used, they managed to create several less successful works in a short period of time.

The first type is a voice-changing potion—this was created to reduce research costs. After referencing the production and information related to compound decoctions, they successfully created this magic potion that could only change one's voice, and it was of little use except for making jokes.

The second type is transformation mud, which is made from failed transformation candy. The method of use is to apply this stuff to the body, wait for a period of time, and then you can easily use transformation magic to transform yourself into the appearance of the person mixed in with the mud.

Similarly, it's not very useful—the original potion only requires a sip and doesn't need the Transfiguration spell... However, they are currently trying to remove the restriction on the designated target, making it more flexible, but so far there has been almost no progress.