From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

"Of course it's me. It's been mine ever since I set my sights on it, and the rest just made it a little faster..." Voldemort stared at the newly surrendered Death Eater, somewhat dismissive, but his tone was more friendly than usual.

Things took an unexpected turn, but it wasn't entirely wrong—that's how purebloods are, no matter where they are.

If the chaos continues, the authority of the thirteen families will be lost. And we've learned from various sources about some of Miss Bertha's speeches, which are quite interesting...

This excuse came from the wizard before him—just because of a speech, he decided to join forces with the Aurors to place a heavy bet.

'What a lucky guy, he won his bet, and Bertha is as lucky as ever.'

He liked that speech—or rather, the speech he gave to Bertha. There were wizards, were, and would be drawn to his ideals—but this Auror's premature coup certainly saved him a lot of trouble.

"It's getting late, Bertha, it's time to prepare your speech—our new president of the Magical Congress."

Tom smiled, ending the conversation, and gave orders to Bertha over there. Now the dust had settled, everything was proceeding as he had planned—there were no problems now, the only problem was…

'Is Bertha reading the wrong script?'

This thought suddenly occurred to the Dark Lord, and he immediately felt a chill run down his spine…

-

The International Confederation of Wizards' Law of Secrecy, signed in 1689, was designed to protect our world from Muggles. This manifesto, like a beacon, brought hope to thousands of wizards living under the shadow of witch hunts and other laws targeting wizards, ending our fear and our long night.

However, today we must confront the fact that, under the cover of secrecy laws, we are starving, lacking resources, huddled indoors, forced to accept exorbitant food prices, massive unemployment, and the ever-present threat of attack.

The Law of Secrecy serves every wizard! We are not its servants, but its masters! Since its inception, the Law of Secrecy has been designed to ensure that wizards can live in peace and protect their world.

As things stand, the secrecy law hasn't been effective. It just keeps telling us what we can and can't do. Under these restrictions, we've gone hungry, we've almost frozen to death in the cold night. Has our magic wand lost its power? I don't believe we're unable to get food, and I don't believe we're so chaotic that we can't even guarantee everyone's survival!

We must urgently tell every wizard that now is not the time to talk about secrecy laws and strictly enforce them; now is the time to ensure the survival of every wizard.

【...】

Bella, hiding in a corner, watched Bertha deliver her generous speech, her teeth practically grinding to powder.

She was indignant; why was it Bertha?

She was simply reviewing documents in her office when suddenly a bunch of Aurors showed up, seemingly to offer their allegiance after listening to some speech they'd never heard of! Her health had been gradually recovering, and she was finally able to participate in the Dark Lord's great cause, but all of that came to an end!

She couldn't understand it at all. In the morning, they were assigning tasks to create chaos in the castle, but by the afternoon, they had become the people maintaining security and order!

Look at this, look at that, and then distribute supplies to the people—the giants can do all that, why do we need her?

She was the most loyal Death Eater, having endured over a decade in that godforsaken place, Azkaban, only to have some unknown Death Eater steal her credit! And to make matters worse, Bertha had taken the credit, but the Dark Lord had also gained a large number of loyal pure-bloods—the thirteen families established by the Magical Congress were pure-blood families even by British standards, so there was no reason for the Dark Lord not to utilize them…

'And that little Barty guy... he was almost killed by that Bertha, and he didn't even utter a word of complaint...'

Today should have been a happy day, but she couldn't suppress the rage within her; she wanted to kill someone…

We will increase the supply of goods, distribute unemployment benefits and free lunches, and we will provide…

Bertha's speech continued, and the crowd even cheered—if everything could be carried out smoothly, then they naturally wouldn't care about the Magic Congress or anything like that.

When people are starving, how many are willing to care about ideologies or anything like that?

Since the new president of the Magic Congress promised not to let them go hungry, then it must be her.

As for the rebellion of the thirteen families and the escape of the former Speaker of Congress, they were no longer that important—only Susan received a little attention, but when the first batch of supplies was distributed, everyone temporarily forgot about it.

-

The content of the speech has been released!

Just as dawn was breaking, Bertha, the newly appointed president of the Magical Congress, delivered her speech to Hogwarts by an owl.

Although it has not been officially published yet, everyone has already read and circulated this handwritten speech.

"There's no doubt about it. Whether we like it or not, he's back, and he's successfully taken over an entire magical world... What do you think?"

Dumbledore looked at the professors, his expression resolute yet tinged with doubt.

Something about this speech felt off – who was behind it?

"Strengthen campus security, expedite package delivery checks, maintain vigilance during exams, and coordinate with the Ministry of Magic..."

"Classes cannot be stopped; they must continue. We must complete our teaching tasks on time—we cannot allow the students to become too active because of the unrest across the ocean..."

...

There is no new method – after all, it's across the ocean, and no matter how much commotion there is, it won't spread to us anytime soon. The two major exams that are coming up are the most important thing. As for the rest, that's something to discuss with the Ministry of Magic.

"Professor William, please stay a moment."

After the morning meeting, William was called away by Dumbledore.

"Any clues about the last Horcrux?"

“I’m sorry, Professor,” William shook his head, “I was actually planning to go and look for them in person over the summer—it seems we’ll have to find a professional to do it…”

"There's nothing we can do about it..."

Dumbledore shook his head. "Also, what do you think of that speech?"

“A very clever way to shift blame,” William spread his hands. “In fact, the previous supply of materials was not a problem at all. The shortage of materials had little to do with the secrecy law. They were just deliberately stirring up the anger of those wizards and directing the blame at the secrecy law.”

"If it weren't for the sudden attack, I imagine they would have gained a large group of supporters during the summer. Now, they have far fewer—but it's still a problem..."

William paused for a moment, then continued, "The key now lies with the former president of the Magical Congress and with Susan, whose whereabouts are unknown—they might go underground, or they might openly confront us; it's anyone's guess..."

"So what do you think their new Magic Congress will be like?"

"It should take about a month or two to stabilize morale... With ample supplies, recruiting soldiers will be much easier... until their true nature is revealed..."

William rubbed his forehead, which ached from lack of sleep. "My biggest worry right now is that they're not planning to change their slogan..."

"If the Dark Lord abandons his previous views and focuses all his efforts on the Secret Act, it's only a matter of time before his forces expand... And I'm very worried about this, Professor. He's already cut ties with the Death Eaters of the past. If he focuses all his efforts on the Secret Act, who knows what will happen..."

“Yes…if that’s the case…” Dumbledore sighed, “but I know how conceited Tom is.”

"You mean, he still intends to establish a pureblood system?"

"Yes, Professor William."

"Then he's not such a formidable opponent after all..."

"You still don't understand him, Professor William..."

Dumbledore shook his head. "I have a few strange guesses now... Perhaps I should go on a long trip. Take good care of Hogwarts, and if anything happens, call me immediately with the Portkey."

“I will, Professor.”

William nodded.

“Well then, I’d better hurry…” Dumbledore said with a serious expression. “I need to go see where he did the transfiguration and visit an old friend as well.”

Chapter 583 After the Explosion

"It's barely safe now. Everyone take a break. I'll deal with the traces left by Apparition..."

Susan pulled out her wand, her face showing no sign of panic, and loudly instructed the dejected crowd.

She was actually a little unsure herself, but she didn't want to show it to others. If even she was flustered, then the wizards, who were already like frightened birds, would probably just scatter.

'Damn it… The organization was just beginning to take shape, some powerful wizards among the people had only just been persuaded, and everything was on the right track, but what's going on now? Why did the Aurors make their move?'

If she hadn't missed seeing any Death Eaters among the pursuing crowd, she would have suspected she'd been exposed...

'What's going on with Ilvermorny? In our communications last week, they were full of praise for my organizational skills, and even asked me to draft a speech for the Ministry of Magic…'

Because she was instructed not to reveal her true thoughts, Susan added quite a bit of her own ideas to the manuscript, but judging from the feedback from Ifamoni, the other party was quite satisfied with it…

'It couldn't be the manuscript that aroused suspicion... but that shouldn't be the Aurors and strikers' doing it. As for the Magic Council, if they had that kind of guts, things wouldn't have developed like this...'

In short, she was not entirely clear about what had happened on Iphamoni's side, but she didn't have the time or inclination to deal with it now. She had to take responsibility for the wizards who followed her.

After skillfully handling the traceable clues left by Apparition, she returned to her followers.

“Listen to me,” she said with a resolute expression, “it all happened so suddenly. We were attacked by Aurors and Strikers and driven to this land, which is currently relatively safe, without any prior knowledge of what was happening.”

"Our primary task is to find out what happened while ensuring our own safety, so that we can decide what to do next and how to do it."

"I hope everyone can take stock of what supplies we still have, how many people we have, and what we need. After we resolve this most basic issue, we will hold a new meeting to decide how we should proceed next."

In the midst of chaos, people need a leader, especially since Susan is responsible for leading these wizards. At her request, the wizards who had fled in panic began to identify each other in a chaotic manner, bringing a touch of vitality to the originally quiet crowd.

Before long, reports of intelligence were handed over one after another. Susan looked at the data and felt a headache coming on.

Many families were torn apart. The incident happened so suddenly that even though she obtained a secret intelligence, she still couldn't bring out her nascent team.

Half of the squad responsible for handling incidents has lost contact—they are the main force fighting the Purifiers and are routinely deployed to assist attacked areas in defending against Purifier attacks.

The wizard squads responsible for spreading the message and providing healing were almost entirely wiped out—they were routinely dispatched to contact non-members in various wizarding communities, and incidentally treat those injured in the attacks and distribute emergency supplies, leaving them no time to be recalled.

Fortunately, the wizards responsible for purchasing and distributing supplies from Muggle society retained more than 80% of the supplies. Although a large amount of supplies could not be transferred in time, the supply channels were not ultimately cut off.

In particular, the wizards responsible for procuring supplies from Muggle society still control a significant portion of the Muggle world's wealth and have access to smuggled goods. This provides them with the resources to conceal themselves or prepare for a future comeback.

After much deliberation, Susan finally made her decision.

"For safety reasons, we'll be disguising ourselves as a circus and integrating into Muggle society—only this way can we conceal ourselves to the greatest extent possible. From now on, anyone who accidentally reveals their magical abilities should immediately announce that they are an apprentice magician..."

"I have already arranged for the wizard in charge of procurement to purchase a series of supplies. I hope that everyone will not try to contact anyone for the next period of time, because once we are exposed, who knows what will happen next - we have lost the strength to confront the Purifiers head-on."

"Alright, that's all for now. Everyone take a break. Food and hot water will be brought over later. I'll find out what happened as quickly as possible..."

-

"Ha, ah—"

William covered his mouth with his hand and yawned widely.

After being woken up by an owl in the middle of the night and receiving such distressing news, it took him a long time to close his eyes in bed and sleep until breakfast.

However, the insufficient sleep he had made up for left him feeling too tired to eat breakfast that day.

"What happened, William?"

Adams, who was over there, finished a piece of chicken breast and asked with some curiosity.

"Have you been too tired from processing wolfsbane medicine lately? Perfect timing, a batch of raw materials for energy potions is almost ready for harvest, I'll save some top-grade materials for you?"

"Thanks," William looked up and stretched slightly, "but not that... I didn't sleep well last night because so many random things happened..."

"what happened?"

"The Daily Prophet should report on this later; if not, I'll elaborate—sorry, I really want to finish eating quickly and then take a nap..."