Chapter 318: Phoenix Falls From the Altar

Hogwarts Castle, eighth floor, principal's office.

Dumbledore sat quietly in his seat, his hands clasped against his chin, his eyes flickering behind his half-moon lenses, obviously deep in thought.

The principal's office was quiet, and in front of him was Professor McGonagall, the vice-principal of Hogwarts.

Just last night, he had assigned all the main tasks of the Order of the Phoenix, and only Mag was left by his side. McGonagall appears here because just last night, she officially declared her allegiance to Dumbledore and chose to join the Order of the Phoenix.

During the First Wizarding War, Professor McGonagall chose the side of the Ministry of Magic instead of joining the Order of the Phoenix due to some personal reasons. She originally planned to do the same this time, but Fudge's performance last night disappointed her deeply——

Although what Fudge said is not unreasonable, Bertha Jorkins has been missing for so long, and Barty Crouch's disappearance is even more bizarre. Instead of taking any meaningful action to find out the truth, the Ministry of Magic has To throw the blame on a young man who has just graduated shows that the Ministry of Magic has become bureaucratic and even corrupt after Fudge took over.

Although there is no direct evidence to prove that Voldemort has returned from resurrection except Harry's testimony, it is an indisputable fact that Grindelwald escaped from prison! How can the Ministry of Magic still pretend that nothing happened and whitewash the situation?

It was precisely because of the inaction attitude and corrupt system of the Ministry of Magic that McGonagall made up her mind to join the Order of the Phoenix.

In this way, Fudge has done a good thing and added Mag as a powerful general to the Order of the Phoenix.

Among Hogwarts, apart from Dumbledore himself, the four deans have the most powerful magic power. In terms of magic power alone, they are even half stronger than Scrimgeour.

Of course, Schelling has proven with countless examples in the past that magic power does not mean combat power - compared to the Aurors who capture dark wizards and carry out dangerous missions every day, the combat experience of McGonagall and Sprout is obviously inferior. The former.

Snape and Flitwick are exceptions. One of them was a former Death Eater and specialized in black magic. The other was a dueling competition champion and specialized in various dueling techniques.

At this time, McGonagall spoke: "Albus, there are only two of us here now, can you tell us what your plan is?"

The relationship between McGonagall and Dumbledore has long gone beyond a simple master-disciple relationship. When McGonagall lost her husband and family, it was Dumbledore who gave her support and guidance in life. McGonagall was also the first to know Dumbledore's family. , one of the people with emotional problems.

Although Dumbledore loved playing the Riddler, he still revealed many of his secrets to McGonagall.

Dumbledore pondered again and again, then said cautiously: "Minerva, you know me, everything I do is to maintain the stability of the magical world... What happened back then... made me know clearly that I am not a Suitable candidates for contact with powerful circles..."

McGonagall pursed her lips. She didn't know what the meaning of Dumbledore's irrelevant words was, but she chose to continue listening.

"It is undeniable that...because of my inaction...many things are still the same as they were...no different from 10, no, even 20, 30 years ago..." Dumbledore was a little agitated. He sighed tiredly and said: "Actually, you and I both know that many concepts, regulations, and measures in the magical world are outdated today... It can even be said to be decadent..."

"What the wizarding world needs..." Dumbledore closed his eyes, as if he was too ashamed to face what he wanted to say next, "is a reform..."

McGonagall vaguely grasped a certain key in her heart, but she still couldn't figure out Dumbledore's true meaning. She slowly said: "What you mean is... whether it's Grindelwald or the mysterious man, this is about to happen." The dark moment that descends on the wizarding world is a crisis, but it is also an opportunity for... change? "

Dumbledore opened his eyes. He did not answer McGonagall's question, but asked another question. He stared into McGonagall's eyes and said, "What do you think of the student Sherlyn Malfoy?"

"Thank you, Xie Lin?" McGonagall was stunned for a moment, obviously not expecting that Dumbledore would ask this question. "He is an excellent child - he has good academic performance, pays attention to etiquette, is polite, and is willing to help his classmates. Possess leadership skills..."

"Although he comes from the Malfoy family, there is absolutely no trace of the arrogance and arrogance of the pure-blood family in him..." McGonagall paused. She should have stopped there, but she couldn't help but add, "Honestly. Said, his attainments in transfiguration have long surpassed mine, and I think his talent is not inferior to yours at all, Albus..."

Dumbledore shook his head gently. It could be said that he was not surprised at all by McGonagall's answer.

Xie Lin's external performance was exactly as McGonagall described him, a good student with excellent academic performance and good manners.

Dumbledore had always been very confident in his IQ and vision, but even so, he still had a vague feeling in his heart - he had made mistakes in the past three years, and he had underestimated Sherrin too much.

Until what Schelling said in front of Fudge last night, which directly gave the final word to Fudge's ridiculous speculation - Scrimgeour, who had always been meticulous, directly recognized it, and even McGonagall and Flitwick, who had known him for many years, They were all said to be shaken in their hearts.

At that moment, he finally tasted it.

Schelling and I have never been the same person.

In the past few years, he has been in charge of Hogwarts, the Wizengamot, and the International Confederation of Wizards. Although he has deliberately stayed away from the center of power, his reputation is there, and neither Fudge nor others can ignore his existence.

And he has clearly stood on the side of the common people, the masses, and the disadvantaged groups, which can be regarded as indirectly shaking the power, interests, and status of the pure-blood families.

He knows very well that the British wizarding world has long been corrupt - bloodline discrimination, talent loss, class solidification, abuse of public power... and countless other small problems... A thorough reform is inevitable, but he is reluctant to become the leader. He was afraid that once he gained power, he would make the same mistakes as when he was young again...

Even so, as the only headmaster of a magic school in the British magic world, the ideas he promoted were influencing the young wizards who graduated from Hogwarts all the time. He was sure that one day, there would be a young and promising wizard who would lead the reform...

After this reform...it was hard to say what kind of impact the pure-blood families would have...

According to this line of thought, all the unsolved questions he had encountered over the years seemed to be explained...

If anyone wanted to stop the decline of the pure-blood families, then he would be a hurdle that he could not get around--

He still remembered the incident when Hagrid's hippogriff attacked Blaise Zabini. He had never expected the fierceness of public opinion. The final result was that the school board, which was originally firmly in his hands, was torn open, and then the establishment of the faculty recruitment committee successfully restricted his power to hire teachers as the headmaster.

After that, many inexplicable coincidences occurred...

For example, inexplicably, Kingsley, who was highly regarded by him, died in a werewolf-killing mission. An elite Auror was killed while hunting a lone werewolf. What kind of a miracle was this? This incident has always bothered Dumbledore. No matter how he thinks about it, he feels that there are too many unreasonable things and doubts everywhere.

Kingsley's death is a major blow to both the Order of the Phoenix and Dumbledore.

For the Order of the Phoenix, Kingsley's death caused the Order of the Phoenix to lose a warrior with elite Auror strength, and also caused the Order of the Phoenix to lose a pair of eyes within the Auror. For Dumbledore himself, before Harry, Ron, and Hermione were trained, Kingsley was Dumbledore's most optimistic candidate for the next Minister of Magic.

This is not Dumbledore's self-conceit. Although he is not directly involved in the operation of the Ministry of Magic, he can still influence the election of the Minister of Magic invisibly based on his popularity. For example, Fudge's victory in the fierce election that year was closely related to his supportive attitude.

After Kingsley's death, there was the disappearance of four students. The four pure-blood families who lost their children jointly found trouble with him. Although they could not do anything to him in the end, it did affect his prestige to a certain extent - students disappeared within the school and under his responsibility and supervision. As the headmaster of the highest responsibility, he must be at fault.

This is not over yet. After the four students, Barty Crouch, a senior official of the Ministry of Magic, disappeared under his nose.

Dumbledore didn't say it, but he felt wronged in his heart.

Under his control for decades, Hogwarts' defense has long been built into an iron barrel - there are a lot of protective magic cast by him in the Hogwarts Castle, and there are also a lot of portraits, ghosts, armor, and statues as eyes. Even so, there can be a series of disappearances, and after the incident, there can be no trace, so that he can't trace it. He really doesn't know what to say.

This is definitely not a coincidence!

The successive negative news undoubtedly began to damage Dumbledore's image of wisdom and resourcefulness. The public began to question whether Dumbledore was old and no longer the wise man who would never make mistakes or make mistakes.

This was verified at the award ceremony last night.

He, Albus Dumbledore, who was once called the greatest wizard at the end of this century and the greatest headmaster of Hogwarts in history, was rejected by the young wizards when he decided to award the championship to Harry Potter!

The booing of Slytherin was understandable, after all, Schelling's foundation was there - but those silent Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws were also unwilling to cheer for Harry, and their attitude was self-evident.

His prestige in the hearts of young wizards had actually declined to this extent, and before last night, he knew nothing about it!

Compared with his own declining momentum, the rapid growth of Schelling's momentum formed a sharp contrast.

Although Schelling has never bullied or discriminated against Muggle wizards in public like his father and brother, this still cannot deny the fact that he is a pure-blood wizard with a good family background.

If Schelling really wants to stop the decline of the pure-blood family and avoid the changes he expected, then this series of actions to hit his reputation can perfectly explain his motives.

And - he also has the ability!

In the eyes of others, they usually only see Schelling's amazing talent, including Magg - only he can see the extremely terrible mind, strategy, scheming and... ambition from the bottom of Schelling's eyes.

With his intelligence and strategy, plus the powerful resources provided by the Malfoy family, it is not impossible for Schelling to do the above.

Last night, Schelling's words in front of Fudge have already shown his attitude.

Dumbledore will never believe that Schelling will not see that what Harry said is all true; Dumbledore will not believe that Schelling will not see that the resurrected one is Voldemort; Dumbledore will not believe that Schelling really tried his best to barely escape as he described.

He chose to help Fudge cover up the fact that Voldemort returned, instead of telling the truth, which can only mean one thing-

He has his own plan!

Thinking of this, Dumbledore's heart was faintly shrouded in a shadow.

In his opinion, Schelling is much more difficult than Voldemort and Grindelwald!