Chapter 931 Confusion

At the end of the 20th century, the European continent gradually experienced a trend of declining birthrates.

In the relatively involuted and closed magical world, this situation is even more serious. With the exception of the Weasley family, most magical families have only one child, and for the middle-aged widowed Xenophy As far as Lius was concerned, Luna was almost everything to him.

Therefore, Elena can quite understand Mr. Lovegood's occasional mood.

No matter in which era, the way parents and children get along is an unavoidable problem.

In Elena's original vision, she originally planned to use some tough methods to make Mr. Lovegood understand that Luna would eventually have her own social circle and life. This is why she has always prohibited Xenophi from staying. Sli took advantage of the "O5 weekly meeting" to visit his daughter.

It's a pity that she couldn't be cold enough to ignore Mr. Lovegood's lonely back.

However, although Elena can help Xenophilius create more opportunities to get along with his daughter, that's all.

"...You guys, you must remember to pack your things in the future and don't leave anything behind."

"I also had this problem before, but I have improved a lot since then..."

"It becomes troublesome after the library closes at night. If you lose your homework, textbooks, etc., it will be a lot more troublesome in class later. I remember when I was studying at Hogwarts, I once put the Transfiguration homework and textbooks together. All the land was lost, and then..."

On the way from the Hogwarts foyer to the staff lounge, Xenophilius Lovegood became obviously more interested. While he was telling Luna various things to pay attention to, he recognized the surroundings from time to time. direction, leading the way.

Behind Mr. Lovegood, whom Mr. Lovegood didn't see, Miss Lovegood's face became darker and darker.

"Dad! The house elf will help us deliver clothes and homework to the bedroom."

"Uh...eh?"

Just when Xenophilius began to recall how he explained to Professor McGonagall that his homework was missing and how he struggled to get through that week's Transfiguration class without a textbook, Luna finally couldn't hold it back and angrily Interrupting Xenophilius's memories.

"Hermione, myself, and Hannah, the three of us are the Discipline Committee of Hogwarts. Our duty is to appear on the scene as quickly as possible when an emergency occurs to assist the professors in controlling the situation. As for textbooks, clothes, etc. Everything is marked, and the house elves will help us organize these things half an hour after we leave temporarily, and deliver them to the bedside before twelve o'clock - completely different from you at that time."

Luna glanced at Mr. Lovegood and said stiffly with a straight face.

"Also, we've arrived at the staff lounge. Maybe we should keep our voices down so as not to disturb other people inside..."

"Uh, uh—okay. Of course."

Xenophilius Lovegood hesitated awkwardly and smiled sarcastically.

He finally understood why the expressions of the other two little witches were a little subtle when he showed up with a lot of clothes. If he hadn't been trying to be smart, the girls wouldn't have carried their schoolbags all the way to listen.

Fortunately, he was temporarily saved by the heated questions and answers coming from the faculty lounge. ,

…………

Hogwarts staff room.

Tonight's emergency "press conference" seemed to be reaching its climax.

As soon as Xenophilius and his party quietly slipped into the room, they heard Barnabas, the editor of the Daily Prophet, asking Fudge a question. .

"...So does Professor Quirrell really commit a serious violation of the law? Does this mean that the Ministry of Magic has the authority to go beyond Hogwarts and be directly involved in the appointment and removal of Professor Quirinus Quirrell, as well as Mr. Quirinus Quirrell? Will he face imprisonment in Azkaban?"

Next to Basbana, a magic quill floated out of thin air on the notebook, as if a transparent person was holding it.

The editors and reporters of other magazines in the room were also staring at Cornelius Fudge with all their attention. All kinds of magic cameras, radio props, and shorthand tools were all ready. The Minister of Magic, let alone speaking, even sighed. Even a fart will be recorded...

This is almost the most popular large-scale conflict in the past six months, and it is inevitable that the media in the magical world do not pay attention to it.

"Well, about this..."

Cornelius Fudge regained his composure and sat upright behind the temporary podium.

After time buffered, his complexion became much better than the previous color of pig liver that seemed to be broken.

The Minister of Magic looked around at the reporters and coughed lightly.

"Yes and no."

"Sorry, could you please make it clearer?"

Barnabas was stunned for half a second, and the quill hovering in mid-air dipped an ink dot on the notebook.

Cornelius Fudge pondered for a moment, glanced at Dumbledore sitting next to him, and spoke softly very skillfully.

"If you insist on me giving an accurate answer, then I can only say that based on the current situation, looking at the overall situation, referring to the past, taking into account all aspects of consideration and emphasis, analyzing and summarizing, maybe... you may find that, Although this is a bit difficult, in any case, these things are extremely delicate situations, and we can only maintain a certain degree of reservation at this stage. That's roughly it."

"...Well, um. So what exactly--"

Barnabas opened his mouth and clenched and released his hands in mid-air, as if he was trying to grasp the meaning of Fudge's words just now.

"This is suspicion, a delicate state between guilt and innocence..."

Cornelius Fudge answered calmly and quietly, taking the initiative in the question and answer quietly.

"At least without enough evidence to prove that Professor Quirrell is incompetent or intends to violate the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy, the Ministry of Magic has no reason to stop his normal teaching; on the other hand, there is currently not enough evidence to prove that Professor Quirrell is incompetent or intends to violate the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy. Professor Luo can remove his suspicion... All this must be decided by the Wizengamot Court after a rigorous hearing and review."

There was a rustling sound of writing in the huge room, as reporters and editors took notes as if they were treasures on what Fudge had just said.

In such a rare public press conference, any missing details may affect the sales of their magazine.

"During this period, do you have any special arrangements for Professor Yu Qiluo?"

As the core editor of the Daily Prophet, Barnabas quickly identified the key to the problem and continued to ask.

"Can we think that the Ministry of Magic has admitted that other more appropriate actions should be taken to enforce the law and gave up tonight's arrest of Quirinus Quirrell. This seems to be inconsistent with the previous actions of Deputy Minister Umbridge and the Aurors. The revealed 'extreme danger' is somewhat inconsistent..."

"Well, that's not entirely appropriate - my preferred term would be probation."

Cornelius Fudge blinked, turned his head and glanced at Dumbledore next to him, and explained quickly.

"As we all know, Professor Dumbledore himself happens to be the chief wizard of the Wizengamot Wizarding Court. After discussion, we agreed that Mr. Quirinus Quirrell is more suitable at Hogwarts before the court officially opens. Not at the Ministry of Magic or anywhere else."

"Uh, sorry, time is limited...Mr. Doftay?"

Before Barnabas from the Daily Prophet could organize a new question, Cornelius Fudge pointed to another wizard with his hand raised.

However, Cornelius Fudge soon realized his mistake.

Compared with the relatively mild "Daily Prophet", the questions prepared by "Wizard Weekly" are obviously much sharper.

"Dear Mr. Minister, what do you think of Deputy Minister Umbridge's actions today?"

The middle-aged wizard asked straight to the point, not paying any attention to the big pink toad not far away whose face instantly darkened.

"From the information currently known, the Ministry of Magic carried out a controversial emergency operation tonight. As the direct initiator and driver of this operation, has Ms. Dolores Umbridge passed by you? Authorization, and - do you agree with this kind of arrest and search? If you think it is inappropriate, what response and system adjustments will the Ministry of Magic make in the future?"

If the "Daily Prophet" focuses on daily news, then "Wizard Weekly" is positioned as high-quality, analytical reports.

Doftey is not worried about offending any senior deputy minister. Those ancient pure-blood families standing behind "Wizard Weekly" do not care about a certain senior official of the Ministry of Magic. They care more about what the current full strength of the Ministry of Magic may bring to them. potential benefits and potential threats.

"About this, the same is true...yes and no."

Cornelius Fudge raised his eyebrows and answered with increasing skill and ease.

"So... do you approve it or not? There is no need for us to go around in circles here."

Doftai frowned and looked at Fudge impatiently, "Mr. Minister, please answer my question clearly."

"Dolores now has a dual identity, senior deputy minister of the Ministry of Magic, and a formal teacher at Hogwarts - this is an unprecedented special situation: the professor at Hogwarts discovered that there may be a problem with his colleagues, so he reported it directly to the magic Senior Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Finance. From a process perspective, every step is in compliance with regulations and can be explained accordingly. We will seriously consider relevant issues in the future..."

Cornelius Fudge spoke softly and quickly, as if he was competing with the rustling quills to see who could be faster.

"We found that the wizard was possessing dangerous materials, so we immediately dispatched the Aurors. Because the location was in a school, we applied for a search warrant and increased manpower, hoping to complete the work without affecting the students - unfortunately, we It was not executed perfectly, but this is an unavoidable accident at the level of our mission execution, and has nothing to do with the ministry system. After the dangerous goods were seized, in accordance with Article 1 of the International Secrecy Act..."

Cornelius Fudge paused briefly and glanced at Dumbledore pleadingly.

"Article 125 of the International Confederation of Wizards' Statute of Secrecy, Aurors have the right to urgently arrest people who may leak secrets. However, after deleting the following sentence, in critical circumstances, the Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement can directly The privilege of imposing the death penalty.”

Dumbledore said softly, looking past the reporters in the middle of the room and towards the teachers sitting in the corner.

If he remembered correctly, it seemed that a "Mr. Professor" who was present decades ago was almost secretly executed for some unknown reason.

As he mentioned this special law, Newt Scamander suddenly turned his head and looked at the door - a mediocre castle administrator had slipped to the door at some point, blocking everyone's ability to leave. On the way, I was whispering something to the few late observers.

"Oh, thank you. Yes, that's it. According to Article 125 of the Statute of Secrecy, the Aurors have the right to judge whether Mr. Quirrell should be arrested urgently. From the feedback I got, that The 'Muggle Killing Curse' does constitute this reason."

Cornelius Fudge nodded gratefully, Mr. Dofty, and said in a light voice.

"There is no doubt that all our officials perform their work in strict accordance with long-standing regulations and laws. There may be some aspects that need to be considered in terms of on-the-spot judgment, but this is inevitable and can be avoided by relying on subsequent discussions and consideration of human factors. ...Next one. Are you?"

The Minister of Magic turned his face happily and looked at Scott who just raised his hand and asked.

"Scott Byrne. Editor-in-Chief of Transfiguration Today, Mr. Minister."

"Oh, yes, yes. I remembered, are you all here to attend Professor McGonagall's academic conference today?"

After hearing Scott Byrne's self-introduction, Cornelius Fudge's expression obviously relaxed a lot and he said with a smile.

"Transfiguration Today is a very important magic research journal. I often say that we should vigorously develop this type of publication. Do you have anything to ask? If it is about transfiguration, then my answer is Support! The Ministry of Magic attaches great importance to education——"

"Well, it's actually about Defense Against the Dark Arts. We sometimes publish other academic news..."

Scott Byrne coughed slightly, lowered his head and looked at the notebook, and continued.

"It's like this. Before you arrived, Mr. Minister, we had the honor to watch an extremely exciting magic battle. During this, we heard some discussions about Dark Magic Defense. Perhaps there is a course content recognized by the Ministry of Magic today. It must be a fallacy..."

"About this, we..." Cornelius Fudge coughed slightly and was about to explain.

"What's even more interesting is that from the students' mouths, we learned that Professor Apokalis briefly served as the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts last year, but this year the Ministry of Magic sent Dolores Ms. Umbridge took over this position. There are obviously considerable differences between the two in terms of teaching style and teaching content, so we have to ask, is it right for the Ministry of Magic to intervene in education?"

Scott Byrne said bluntly and solemnly, the reporters around him murmured, and the flashbulbs flashed again.

"this……"

The smile faded from Cornelius Fudge's face.

You know, this impromptu press conference was originally just to rush the ducks to the shelves.

Dumbledore gave a lot of suggestions regardless of past suspicions to help him successfully overcome this difficulty. Judging from the previous rounds of speeches and questions, the caliber agreed upon by both parties after consultation has obviously had an effect. ,but……

He was completely unprepared for this problem before him!

The most important thing is that he still hasn't figured out how Umbridge and Scrimgeour lost!

That was a total of four elite Aurors, plus a director of the Auror Office, plus a senior deputy minister of the Ministry of Magic. According to the calculations of Cornelius Fudge's think tank, this lineup even had a chance to win at Hogwart. Force Albus Dumbledore back!

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Great!