Chapter 1070 Accusations and Troubles

"Miss Reporter? Miss Skeeter?"

Before Rita Skeeter could identify it carefully, a deep and deep voice suddenly came to her ears.

The middle-aged Auror named Kingsley looked at her in confusion. He moved slowly, his burly body intentionally or unintentionally covering most of Rita's sight, and to his right was a half-open door. An empty office with the words "Auror Reception Room" written on the door.

Rita suddenly came to her senses, looked away, and asked with a smile as usual.

"Sorry, what did you just say? I might have slept too late last night and was a little distracted—"

"For some reasons - you know, the Aurors always have a lot of secrets, especially Mr. Scrimgeour, and his office might not be suitable for - well, the press - so after careful consideration, we decided to The venue for today’s meeting has been temporarily changed to here.”

Kingsley replied with an undiminished smile, pointing to the large characters on the door panel as he spoke.

Rita glanced at the Aurors sitting in the "back half" and asked hesitantly.

"Let me ask you a question, the gentlemen sitting over there look like..."

"A little nervous? That's normal."

Kingsley shrugged his shoulders and took over Rita's words.

"You must be aware that the Ministry of Magic has recently opened up a number of Auror positions to the society - after slightly relaxing the performance requirements, we have recruited a group of wizards with rich life experience, many of whom have served as bounties It will obviously take some time to get used to such a change in hunter's identity, but you can rest assured that we are all law enforcers fighting for the peace and order of the magic world."

After a brief pause, Kingsley looked at Rita Skeeter with curiosity.

"What's wrong? Are there any Aurors you know over there?"

"No, I just took a look -"

Rita Skeeter smiled politely, suppressed her confusion, and followed Kingsley into the office.

The office was very empty, except for a round table, a few chairs, and not even a decent cabinet.

Kingsley led Rita into the room and sat down before leaving. After the reception room door was closed, the sights and sounds of the Auror headquarters outside were completely isolated. Rita Skeeter sat alone in the empty reception room. In the room, the final psychological struggle was going on in my heart.

In the mission statement before departure, the "organization" clearly told her that there would be someone at the Ministry of Magic secretly protecting her.

However, apart from Tonks, Rita didn't find any other member of the "organization" along the way.

What makes her even more uneasy is...

Compared to the past few months, when the protection was so tight that even a flying insect couldn't sneak in, this time whether she was going to the Ministry of Magic or exposing Lockhart's dirt to the Ministry of Magic, the confidentiality of these links was too rough. In other words, the level of trust in her was too high.

Looking at the worst-case scenario, if she directly reports on the "organization" during this conversation, it may cause a devastating blow to subsequent plans.

You know, according to the rumors Rita discovered, it is not impossible that the Ministry of Magic secretly uses "truth serum".

unless……

Rita Skeeter tried to flash through her mind the wizards she met along the way, as well as the introduction to the mission.

Obviously, Tonks is definitely not the only "organization" member of the Ministry of Magic, and it is highly unlikely that she is the official member who is "secretly covering" her operation - if those big shots are not bluffing - then they are waiting After a while of secret conversation, it became clear that among the employees of the Ministry of Magic who appeared next to Cornelius Fudge and Rufus Scrimgeour, there must be some high-ranking member of the "organization".

Yes, that’s absolutely it!

Rita calculated it several times in her mind and nodded with certainty.

Because only in this way can the "organization" make amends as soon as possible when she "said something wrong".

As for who is the undercover lurking in the Ministry of Magic, you only need to look at the wizards who appear for less reasonable reasons besides the Minister of Magic and the Director of the Auror Office, and pay a little attention to the comparison of the number of people, and you can roughly guess those " The names of the members of Lurking in the Dark.

At this moment, the door to the Auror reception room was pushed open.

Cornelius Fudge and Rufus Scrimgeour strode in.

Then……

The door to the room was closed again.

"Well, Miss Rita Skeeter, let's make this short—"

Rufus Scrimgeour looked over Rita like an old lion surveying its prey.

His tawny hair and thick eyebrows are mixed with wisps of gray. Behind his gold-rimmed glasses are a pair of sharp eyes. Although he is a bit lame, he walks with the grace of a meteor, making people immediately feel that he is a sharp person. , tough guy.

"What kind of information do you have about that famous wizard? You should know the price of teasing an Auror, right?"

"I……"

Rita Skeeter, who was still looking at the door in a daze, was stunned for half a second.

If she remembered correctly, at the previous press conference on the werewolf siege, the speech made by the director of the Auror Office was the only one who had a chance to escape unscathed from the subsequent denunciation storm. When reporters from the Daily Prophet were chatting about the next minister, many people believed that unless there was a third magical war in the future, it would be absolutely impossible for Scrimgeour, the director of the Auror Office, to be elected as the minister of magic.

But if a conflict does break out, and the Ministry of Magic enters a state of tension, the biggest vested interest will be...

At this moment, the words Tonks said this morning suddenly flashed in her mind.

"Rufus Scrimgeour, that's fine."

Rita's pupils shrank slightly, and there was a chill in her heart.

She suddenly remembered where she had seen the uncomfortable feeling of the "new Aurors" outside.

A few months ago, when she was dragged out of the magic trap by the field wizards of the Tianming Group, the unsmiling field staff gave her such a depressing atmosphere. This was a kind of depressive atmosphere that came from long-term collaborative training. A feeling of suffocation and oppression.

"Oh, Rufus, don't be so impatient...Miss Skeeter is not a criminal to be tried."

Cornelius Fudge shook his head, looked at Rita expectantly and said, "If I remember correctly, your previous letter said that this content will be related to the reputation of a famous wizard in the magical world. A wizard who works at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry..."

"Yes, yes. But this involves the safety of the students, and justice..."

Rita quickly made up her mind and nodded extremely seriously under the gaze of Cornelius Fudge.

"Mr. Minister, Mr. Scrimgeour, I have reliable evidence here. Gilderoy Lockhart, who is now working at Hogwarts, the anti-dark magic hero who was famous in the wizarding world, is actually a A liar who uses the Forgetting Curse to impersonate others."

"What's even more shocking is that Professor Dumbledore seems to know part of the truth..."

"Oh! Miss Skeeter, that's a pretty serious accusation."

Cornelius Fudge said softly, his expression was serious, but a trace of uncontrollable excitement flashed deep in his eyes.

"You should know what this means. Even if only one of the two is established, it will be enough to open a formal wizard court case - the two people you are talking about are honorary members of the Anti-Dark Arts Alliance and the chief of the Wizengamot. Magician. Oh, Rufus, it should be safe for us to talk here, right? It's not that I don't trust the Aurors, but this matter may need to be treated with extra... extra caution and seriousness..."

"Of course, this is even safer than my office -"

Rufus Scrimgeour frowned, his face so gloomy that it seemed to be dripping with water.

"Gilderoy Lockhart? I remember that he was selected as an honorary member of the International Anti-Black League some time ago. He enjoys the same freedom of travel as Aurors from various countries in the global wizarding community, as well as assistance when vicious incidents occur. Law enforcement powers... Do you have any evidence for your accusation?”

"Yes, this is not a trivial matter. Do you have any evidence?" Fudge said.

"The evidence is solid," Rita said firmly.

"Are there any witnesses or physical evidence? You can't convict based on letters or anything like that."

"Yes, all of them," Rita said.

"What do you think? Scrimgeour, what are you going to do now?"

Cornelius Fudge frowned heavily and turned to look at Scrimgeour.

"There is nothing to hesitate about. Verification of evidence, arrest, trial——"

"However, this may involve charges against Albus Dumbledore..."

"Not yet. Besides, I have always been suspicious of descriptions after 'shocking'."

Scrimgeour said without hesitation, looking thoughtfully at Rita for a few seconds before continuing.

"As for Professor Dumbledore's subsequent events, we have to wait until Gilderoy Lockhart's crime is established before there is room for discussion. If Miss Skeeter's evidence is clear and accurate enough, maybe we can get it in the next few days. Draw a conclusion - of course, the specific processing and coordination are naturally decided by you, Mr. Minister. After all, our Auror's work scope does not include those complicated communication matters..."

"Well, that's what I said -"

Cornelius Fudge nodded in agreement, his eyes sparkling with excitement.

"In short, once the Aurors make preliminary decisions, I will convene a ministerial meeting immediately."

"Professor Dumbledore is old, and it is inevitable that he will be deceived by a few people with ulterior motives. As the Ministry of Magic that maintains the order of magical society, we still have the responsibility to help Hogwarts find the bad apples and fill the loopholes... So, Sky Miss Te, shall we begin?”

"Okay, Mr. Minister..."

Rita Skeeter replied calmly, smiling slightly.

She removed the parchment from her handbag, the magic quill hovering over the paper.

"The first is the book "Wandering with Werewolves". Due to the Ministry of Magic's operation some time ago, I planned to write a side story about fighting werewolves, but during the process of collecting materials, I found that the story of this book is actually based on An old American wizard. He was the real 'hero' who saved a village from the scourge of werewolves, and this was just the first victim..."

In the early preparations, the "organization" provided Rita with five complete chains of evidence.

However, she only planned to tell the Ministry of Magic about three of them for now.

As a journalist, she is well aware of the pressure of timeliness and urgency. If the Ministry of Magic had obtained all the information from the beginning, they would undoubtedly have invested a lot of time and effort in the process of identification, discussion, and planning. energy.

But what if...

…

Noon the next day.

Ministry of Magic, Cornelius Fudge's office.

boom!

Cornelius Fudge slammed his fist on the table, making the coffee cup clink.

"Check! Who leaked the news——"

On the desk in front of him, there was a copy of today's "Daily Prophet" spread out. The huge headline that caught his eye was:

【Shock! Gilderoy Lockhart publicly admits that there is another person based on the protagonist of "Walking with Werewolves"! 】

————

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Great!