Homecoming from Hogwarts

Just as everyone could have predicted.

What happened last night immediately topped the "hot topic list" at Hogwarts. From breakfast in the morning to classes in the morning until noon, no matter where in the castle, you could hear the little wizards discussing it.

Harry was amazed at his classmates' intelligence-gathering abilities.

Last night, only the three of them heard the subsequent conversation between Professor Blaine and Professor Dumbledore, but, under Sirius's warning, they did not tell anyone about it. But by noon, it was no secret that Professor Blaine had fought with the eight-eyed spiders in the Forbidden Forest and drove them deep into the Forbidden Forest.

Everyone was extremely excited about this, except Hagrid.

"Hagrid didn't come to lunch—"

Looking at the largest empty seat at the staff table above the Great Hall, Harry whispered to Ron,

"He hasn't had breakfast either. Ron, Hagrid must be feeling bad right now."

Ron, who was frowning and listening to Neville's excited thoughts about whether to gather a team and go to the Forbidden Forest to fight the eight-eyed spiders, turned his head back when he heard Harry's words. He also cast a sympathetic glance at the staff table.
"But Professor Braine did a good job, didn't he, Harry? No one likes those scary big spiders, except Hagrid. And as you heard, Professor Braine just chased them deep into the Forbidden Forest instead of catching them all. That was merciful enough."

Harry had a close encounter with the giant spider named Aragog when they mistakenly entered the eight-eyed spider's territory while hunting Peter Pettigrew.

It had been a terrifying adventure, Harry remembered, when he and Hermione had revealed themselves to be friends of Hagrid, but the evil old spider had still not let them go.

To be honest, Harry would never think that Professor Brain was too cruel to those eight-eyed spiders, but he couldn't ignore Hagrid's feelings.

"The Daily Prophet has published—"

Just as Harry was wondering whether to go see Hagrid after school, Hermione, who was sitting opposite him, took a deep breath and her calm face was revealed from behind the newspaper.

"what?"

Harry looked stunned.

"The Daily Prophet published the story of Professor Brian expelling the eight-eyed spider. They are surprisingly well-informed."

"Don't be silly, Harry. Of course the Daily Prophet is well-informed."

Hermione sighed at Harry's slowness.
"But they obviously won't make a big report about this now, because it will undoubtedly make Professor Brains more famous, which is not what the Ministry of Magic wants to see. What I mean is -"

Hermione handed the newspaper to Harry.
"Sirius told us last night that the Malfoys have returned to the Hogwarts Board of Governors. Oh, you can look at those Slytherin guys."

Hermione raised her chin and pointed at the Slytherin table, speaking in a contemptuous tone.

Harry and Ron immediately turned their heads to look at Malfoy. Fred, George, and Neville, who heard their conversation, also turned around and looked at the Slytherin table.

"Oh, that little piece of trash—"

Fred snorted a few times.

"It's his turn to be proud again, isn't it?"

To be honest, Fred's evaluation was not particularly objective.

Although Draco had a hint of arrogance on his face, he was far from being overbearing. On the contrary, the flattering expressions of the group of students around him who congratulated him made Harry feel sick.

Neville stared at Malfoy, who was lazily dealing with a group of students who were fawning on him. After quickly glancing at the newspaper in Harry's hand, Neville suddenly looked at Hermione.
"What does this mean?"

Everyone's eyes were on Neville's face, and Neville's face turned pale.
"The Malfoys are back on the board. The Daily Prophet has made a big splash about it, so the Ministry of Magic is behind this?"

Harry and Ron looked at Neville in surprise. Sirius did tell them about this matter last night, but they didn't expect Neville to guess it based on the report alone.

"The Ministry of Magic wants to interfere with Hogwarts through the Board of Directors?"

Neville looked at Hermione and continued to ask,
"What will they do? Remove Professor Dumbledore and Professor Braine. Isn't the Ministry of Magic afraid of them?"

Remove Professor Dumbledore and Professor Braine?!
Harry's face turned pale suddenly. Sirius had indeed reminded them last night that Hogwarts might be in trouble, but Harry had not expected that the Ministry of Magic might use the Board of Directors to dismiss Professor Dumbledore and Professor Braine.

This is not impossible.

After all, there is already a precedent for this. Malfoy almost accomplished this without the support of the Ministry of Magic at the time. Now that he has the Ministry of Magic as his backer, with the support of the Ministry of Magic, this is likely to become a reality.

"I don't know, Neville,"

Hermione's face also looked very ugly.

"But the Board of Directors does have the right." Hermione was just about to express her opinion when Filch, who suddenly rushed in from the entrance hall, caught her attention. Filch looked very flustered. He limped across the hall and went straight to Professor Dumbledore and Professor Braine at the faculty table. He stretched his head and said something to them. Then, Hermione noticed that the expressions of the two professors became solemn.

Professor Dumbledore told Filch something, and Filch trotted out of the hall and walked out of the castle.

Many people noticed that something was wrong with Filch. They watched Filch's back disappear in the pale light and shadow, and discussed with the people around them what had happened.

However, the students' doubts were soon resolved.

About ten minutes later, a woman wearing a pink short coat, with curly hair and looking like a toad, and Lucius Malfoy appeared in the hall with a haughty look, which made Harry's face turn pale.

Ministry of Magic, Office of the Minister.

"Well done, Lucius!"

A loud voice of approval made the staff passing by the minister's office look surprised.

As everyone knows, Minister Cornelius Fudge has been in a bad mood in recent times. When people go to him to report problems or get signatures, they always see the Minister of Magic with a stern face. This has directly led to the working atmosphere in the ministry becoming much more depressing in recent times.

"None of this would have been possible without your support, Minister--"

Lucius Malfoy, who had just regained his rights as a school director, bowed to Fudge and smiled tactfully, then nodded to Umbridge.

"Of course, I have to thank you too, Ms. Umbridge. If you hadn't acted as a matchmaker for the Malfoy family, some of them would not have agreed so readily!"

"This is all for our plan, Lucius!"

Umbridge laughed like a silver bell, her round face showing expectation, looking at the Minister of Magic who was admiring the letter of appointment brought by Lucius Malfoy.
"What do we do now, Minister?"

"Is that even necessary, Dolores?"

Fudge was so excited that he couldn't contain himself. He ran to the clothes rack and took down his robes. Then he looked at Umbridge and Malfoy, who had mockery in his gray eyes.

"We are going to Hogwarts now. I can't wait to see the frustrated expressions on Dumbledore and Brain's faces. They deserve this for making alarmist remarks, creating chaos, and resisting the orders of the Ministry of Magic!"

Fudge led Umbridge and Malfoy out of the office, but in front of the elevator hall, a man with a gloomy face and wandering eyes stopped them.

"Minister, I have an urgent document that I need your signature on."

The man said this very tactlessly.

"This is Broderick Bode of the Department of Mysteries, Minister -"

Umbridge saw that Fudge didn't know this man at all, so she whispered a reminder, and then said to Baudelaire in a sharp voice,

"Broderick, the Minister has to go out for something urgent. If you have anything to say, please report it when we come back!"

"But I need to go to Azkaban to inspect and check whether the Dementors are still under our control. You know the importance of this matter."

Bode was still talking stupidly, while Malfoy behind Fudge glanced at Bode quickly, feeling awe-inspiring.

"Dementors of Azkaban. All right."

Fudge frowned, but he did not underestimate the necessity of this matter. He took the document handed over by Bold, looked at it carefully, and signed his name at the end.

What was even more ridiculous was that Broderick Bode rushed into the elevator first, then directly pulled the door grille, pressed the elevator button to go down, and stopped the Minister of Magic outside the car.

Is this guy not right in his mind?

Fudge thought angrily.

Fudge, who had just been overwhelmed by excitement, sobered up a little after being interrupted. He looked at the appointment in his hand, rolled his eyes, and put it back into Umbridge's hand.
"It just occurred to me that--"

Fudge's eyes flickered as he said to Umbridge, who was a little puzzled.

"I have some urgent matters to attend to, Dolores, I have been procrastinating for some time, and it must be dealt with immediately. You and Lucius will go to Hogwarts together to read out this appointment."

(End of this chapter)