allendalepharm Chapter 287 The Ministry of Magic Conference
Chapter 287 The Ministry of Magic Conference
Chapter 287 The Ministry of Magic Conference
The little golden retriever and the curled-winged demon returned quickly.
They also brought someone back.
Scrimgeour, Head of the Auror Office at the Ministry of Magic.
Scringer's feelings toward Lockhart have changed many times. First, there was the disgust he had accumulated over the years for boastful peacocks. Then, after reviewing Lockhart's materials, he felt disgust and aversion to the liar. Later, after experiencing the "Thunderstorm Wildfire" and the compromises and hypocrisy among politicians after Fudge's warning, he himself did not know what kind of psychological journey he had gone through. In this way, he gradually came to respect Lockhart.
Respect for a master magician.
Upon arriving at the cabin, they bowed respectfully and inquired whether they could provide assistance to the Auror Office.
He was very sincere, gesturing to the 'Memory Mirror' he had obtained from Professor McGonagall, and pleading with Lockhart to help try out the Purgers.
Lockhart did not refuse.
However, he still had one more thing to do.
He turned to look at the Purifier's corpse on the floor, brandishing his wand, "Disappear and ascend to heaven!"
The corpse instantly disintegrated, turning into wisps of ashes that flew high into the sky, drifting and then disappearing completely.
Scrimgeour's cheek twitched.
He certainly knew about this spell. He had learned during his investigation of Lockhart that the professor was promoting this spell at Hogwarts, hoping it would serve as a first-aid measure for young wizards when facing uncertain dangers, creating time and space to assess the situation.
But he didn't know that this magic could achieve such a feat.
What is this?
A fresh clean?
Scrimgeour even had some doubts about whether this magic could be used on living people.
A spell was cast on a street, and everyone on the street vanished. One moment it was bustling with noise, the next it was utterly silent.
The mere thought of such a scene sent chills down his spine.
Does this spell have a counter-spell?
If not, this magic is even more evil than the Killing Curse!
But he dared not say anything, dared not ask anything, and just awkwardly tugged at the corners of his mouth before standing respectfully to the side.
Lockhart wasn't Dumbledore; he wouldn't dare press the issue by asking about the terrible consequences of teaching this magic in schools, forcing them to abandon its spread in schools or come up with a solution to counter the spell.
Ask one more question, and it's hard to say whether he himself will experience what it means to "vanish into thin air and ascend to heaven".
He didn't want to die yet.
The two quickly arrived at the Ministry of Magic, took the elevator to the tenth basement level, and walked along a series of courtrooms to a dark corridor at the very edge.
A large door was open at the end of the corridor, and the light shining from it was accompanied by a great deal of noise.
Lockhart followed Scrimgeour inside and found that it was larger than a typical courtroom. It was filled with tables and chairs, piles of files and various office supplies, and some fairies were organizing files at some of the seats.
Around the seats, against the walls, were rows of iron cages. People could easily see the Aurors interrogating criminals inside and hear shouts coming from inside, but they couldn't make out what was being said.
Just then, another group of Aurors rushed in, arresting some people.
They saw Lockhart and Scrimgeour bow quickly, and then lock the criminals into individual iron cages.
"Boss!" Kingsley walked over and looked at Scrimgeour. "They've all been captured."
Scrimgeour nodded and looked at Lockhart beside him. "After we captured all the Purifiers in Hogsmeade, we obtained information about their accomplices through the fast-track trial process. Now we've captured everyone we could."
Lohat nodded, glancing around. "What information do you need me to find out?"
Scrimgeour's eyes narrowed. "I want to know everything about the Purifiers through them, preferably all of them!"
Lockhart laughed. "Are you sure? All of them? There are some things you might not be able to handle."
Some things are common knowledge, such as the ambiguous relationship between the Magical Congress of the United States and the Purifiers, and the ambiguous relationship between ancient pure-blood families in Europe, the Magical Congress of the United States, and the Purifiers.
We can't investigate everything, can we?
What if they find out something?
Scrimgeour remained silent for a long while, then finally nodded. "The British Ministry of Magic's territory. I want to know all the Purifiers within that territory. I want to wipe them out!"
Lohat nodded. "Okay."
Scrimgeour quickly asked, "Which one would you like to start with?"
Which one?
Oh no, Lockhart looked around at the densely packed iron cages and knew that it would take who knows how long it would take to get through them all.
Let's come together.
"???" Scrimgeour was full of doubt and didn't quite understand.
"Memory corroborates each other; individual memories may differ, but collective memories constitute time, and time is the imprint of the real world."
Lockhart's explanation was incomprehensible to Scrimgeour and Kingsley, but since the big boss had said so, they decided to do it this way.
Scrimgeour nodded to Kingsley, who immediately waved his wand to cast a spell. Soon, all the sounds from inside the iron cages were transmitted clearly, as if some invisible barrier had been removed.
The Aurors in the prison seemed to sense the change as well, and they all came out carrying files.
Scrimgeour quickly stepped aside, indicating that Lockhart could begin his performance.
Kingsley, however, was quick-witted and came over to ask if any arrangements needed to be made.
"No need for that."
Lockhart drew his wand and shook it gently. In an instant, all the prisoners in the surrounding iron cages floated up, their heads sprouting numerous silver threads that swayed and wriggled, drifting and extending towards the desk in the center of the trial chamber.
Silver light converged, ripples shimmered, and dozens of images appeared simultaneously.
Purgers living throughout Britain began to converge on London using various means of transport and methods, under various pretexts.
"Huh?" Lockhart stared at these memories, stunned. "They're actually two separate factions? And they don't even know each other?"
Scrimgeour's eyes lit up. "Who else but the Purifiers?"
Lockhart refuted this claim, stating, "It appears there were only purgers, but they seem to be different factions, even differing in origin, system, and direction."
Kingsley looked up at the images and nodded. "Boss, it seems they're intentionally breaking things up and hiding themselves in different places."
However, this dispersion can only be limited to the bottom level. As long as attention is focused on the upper class, there is a way to find the core group of troublemakers by following this line of thought.
However, reality took a bizarre turn.
As these images are combined one after another, eventually converging into three large images, everyone can easily see that a person with gray hair, dressed elegantly and appropriately in a white suit, is hosting the event in all three images.
"Did they use a time converter?" an Auror exclaimed curiously.
"It's also possible that they used compound decoctions and the same person's hair," another Auror analyzed. "If that's the case, either the host in the white suit is very important, or they have the same source of compound decoctions."
"Find this person!" Scrimgeour stared intently at the figure, knowing full well that this person was not among those supposedly captured.
Even a meticulous and experienced Auror like Kingsley had naturally overlooked this figure during the previous capture operation.
This must be some kind of magic.
"It's not just him, there are several others who are not among the group of people you arrested."
Lockhart waved his wand, replicating the scene before him. Streams of silver threads drifted and converged, eventually coalescing into silver mirrors.
"Each mirror represents a person, and everyone present has memories of that person in it."
Then he made a larger copy of the mirror, which contained only fragmented images. "The figures in these images are all related to them, but they weren't involved in this operation."
As for who these people might be involved, that's beyond Lockhart's comprehension.
He believed Scringer would think carefully about how far the investigation should go.
After finishing his work with the Auror division, Lockhart was planning to go home and study the ghost ship properly, but then he received another letter announcing a meeting.
Every important figure in the Ministry of Magic received this letter.
Clearly, this incident of Muggles infiltrating the wizarding world was taken seriously and was not treated as a typical leak under the Secret Service Act.
The Ministry of Magic rarely holds meetings; there's no tradition of this here. The main reason is that meetings are often associated with arguments or even fights.
Wizards don't fight like Muggles throwing punches; a conflict between two groups can be a disaster. In this unique social environment, authority cannot truly constrain the behavior of every wizard. Even in a powerful institution like the Ministry of Magic, people ultimately have more faith in their own magic.
My sword is just as sharp as mine!
Aurors are nothing, and Minister of Magic, get out of here!
It would be very embarrassing to let the situation become so awkward. We should try to negotiate more, and it would be more practical for different levels to hold their own small meetings.
The meeting was held not far away, in the first courtroom on the same floor, which was large enough.
When Lockhart arrived, there were already many people there.
There were about fifty members of the Wizengamo, draped in crimson robes. There were about a dozen Muren, draped in matte black robes.
These two forces, one from the International Confederation of Wizards and the other from the Wizarding Council, are both beyond the direct control of the Minister of Magic.
In fact, even among the other departments, the Minister of Magic doesn't have much influence in many areas.
For example, the International Magic Cooperation Division oversees the International Magic Trade Standards Association, the International Magic Law Office, and the UK branch of the International Wizarding Federation. This is a force of mutual compromise and support between the International Wizarding Federation and local ancient pure-blood families (part of the Wizarding Council).
Not to mention the influence and power of Director Barty himself, even without Fudge, it would be difficult for him to get involved.
Too much.
Each department here has its own interests, and the people in those departments also have their own interests. It will be very, very difficult for Minister Fouché to unify any particular ideology.
Unless something happens.
For example, war.
"This is a war!" As soon as the meeting began, Minister Fudge eagerly waved his fist, looked around at every face, and shouted, "A war big enough to destroy wizarding society!"
"I want you all to understand this!"
"My enemies are not Muggles, remember that, not Muggles!"
"They are the purgers!"
"They are attempting to reignite the horrific witch hunts; we will absolutely not allow it, we will never agree to it!"
"We must stand with the Muggles and resolutely oppose this act of instigating war, which will harm the interests of everyone on this earth. They are the sinners against humanity!"
Fudge was shouting on stage, but everyone was secretly watching Albus Dumbledore, the chief wizard of the Wizengamot administration under the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
Dumbledore showed no expression; he simply sat there quietly.
Sometimes, remaining silent is also a form of expression.
So everyone looked at Fudge again and began to listen carefully to his words.
"I will activate the wartime agreement. I require all departments to unconditionally comply with every clause of the agreement. Violators will be prosecuted for crimes such as condoning and covering up violations!"
What followed was a lot of official jargon, which Lockhart couldn't quite understand.
Fortunately, Umbridge was there to explain, "There's nothing going on with the Department of Mysteries, but there are some things to take care of in your position in the Department of Magical Creatures Control."
"In order to strengthen the principles of magical creature management, you must begin to regulate every house-elves under your 'House-Elf Relocation Office'."
This is an interesting decision.
When a wizard faces a formidable enemy, his first thought is to restrain those magical creatures.
Especially humanoid organisms.
Fairies, centaurs, fishmen, giants —
And the house-elves who were very closely involved in the wizarding life.
Each family's house-elves are naturally managed by the wizarding families themselves, and the Ministry of Magic has no jurisdiction over them. However, house-elves without owners must be strictly controlled.
No one can imagine the extent of the destruction that would result from these house-elves coming together with the Purifiers.
House-elves can easily bypass Hogwarts' map and castle magic, and enter the school without most people knowing where Hogwarts is.
What if they come with Muggle combat troops?
Or perhaps they're just bringing a huge amount of explosives, enough to blow the entire school to smithereens?
Just this one time.
One-third of Europe's new generation will be completely cut off.
If all three schools were to conduct this simultaneously, ha, the European wizarding community could simply declare itself doomed.
The destructive power of other magical creatures is the same. Although humans live on land, even excluding lakes and rivers, 71% of this planet is ocean, and those places are the domain of the fish-men.
Muggle aircraft carriers? Destroyers? Submarines?
They are no match for the merfolk who possess magical abilities and know how to raise other magical creatures as their subordinates.
Fudge on stage was still shouting.
"I hope the knights of Merlin's Order will explain this clearly to the Muggle knights!"
"Muggles need wizards!"
"Without the protection of wizards, Muggles will face doom, and all so-called technology, lacking the fertile ground to support its development, will lose its foundation!"
"I hope you remember that too!"
"Wizards need Muggles too!"
"Without Muggles, and without Muggle-born wizards to replenish the population, the biggest headache for wizards today should be discussing whether our wizarding population is dwindling and on the verge of extinction!"
"Gentlemen!"
"This is war!"
"This is a war to defend the sacred Law of Secrecy!"
"Please remember the fundamental reason for the existence of the Ministry of Magic!"