Chapter 58 No-nosed monster feels like he's been shot
Cornelius Fudge was in a very bad mood right now.
To be honest, he had not felt this way for a long time since he unexpectedly became the Minister of Magic last year.
After all, Voldemort had fallen a few years ago and seemed to have completely disappeared from history; the only competitor in the ministry, Barty Crouch, was unable to challenge him in his career because his son was accused of being a Death Eater.
posing any threat; and with the most powerful white wizard Albus Dumbledore sitting in the British wizarding world, Fudge once thought that he might be the most relaxed and lucky Minister of Magic in history.
It wasn't until before get off work today that he received this message from the goblins of Gringotts, although the specific news content would not spread throughout the wizarding world until tomorrow morning - Hogwart, one of the magical holy places for human wizards. The school of witchcraft and wizardry was mortgaged to the goblins of Gringotts.
The people who received the news almost at the same time as him were the famous families who make up the Hogwarts board of directors. After the two parties confirmed the reliability of the news through their own channels, they went directly to Hogwarts without any hesitation to hope that
Find out the truth of the matter as soon as possible.
"Hogwarts is mortgaged?!"
"That's the Minister of Magic. He's crazy. How is that possible?"
As the intruders entered the main hall of the auditorium, the leader's face, which was frequently featured in the Daily Prophet, clearly showed his identity: Cornelius Fudge, the current British Minister of Magic.
Combined with what he just said, it is not difficult for the students to guess the reason why Fudge suddenly broke into Hogwarts with everyone from the Ministry of Magic. There is no doubt that as the head of the British Ministry of Magic, this matter is too serious.
For a moment, the entire auditorium exploded. Everyone was talking in low voices. Some people looked at Fudge in disbelief, as if the person who broke into the auditorium was not the Minister of Magic but a giant monster more than ten feet tall. And even more
Many people subconsciously turned their attention to the old man sitting in the middle of the teacher's bench.
"Dumbledore, this..."
Professor McGonagall did the same. The witch quickly turned her head to look at Dumbledore sitting behind her and asked.
However, Elena, who was standing behind McGonagall, had a strange feeling. Professor McGonagall looked a little different from most people. It seemed that what she was surprised and nervous about was not Hogwarts, but a place.
A sense of being caught off guard and confused.
Ding ding ding~
Dumbledore picked up the spoon and knocked the empty glass, making a crisp sound.
"Quiet."
The old man stood up and looked around the entire auditorium with his blue eyes through the half-moon lenses, as if with an inexplicable power. Wherever he looked, the students quickly shut their mouths and sat down quietly.
"Thanks."
Dumbledore smiled slightly and nodded gently towards the students. His eyes finally fell on Cornelius Fudge and his party standing at the door. He frowned and said slightly confused.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Minister, I don't quite understand what you mean." Dumbledore said, waving his hands around, "As you can see, Hogwarts is undergoing its annual sorting ceremony.
I think……"
"Dumbledore, don't try to change the subject."
Behind Fudge, a middle-aged man in a dark gray trench coat walked up and interrupted Dumbledore's words slightly rudely. His hard leather shoes hit the auditorium floor. It was obvious that he was more emotional than he showed.
anger.
"Lucius Malfoy met you in Diagon Alley last month. On the same day, many wizards also admitted that they saw you in Gringotts. Do you want to say that you just went there to relax? Of?"
"Oh, dear Greengrass. If you can investigate further, you will find that I was actually just leading a new student to Diagon Alley to purchase study materials that day. You see, someone has to tell people who are born in the non-magical world. The little wizard is introduced into our world, which is a long-standing tradition of Hogwarts."
The old wizard shrugged, slowly walked down the steps, passed Professor McGonagall, and finally stopped in front of Fudge and others and said, "In fact, I was frustrated to find that after not going shopping for a long time, I even lost money. I don’t even know the Galleons exchange rate very clearly. After all, apart from buying Christmas gifts, there are very few places where I need to use gold coins.”
Facing Dumbledore at close range, Mr. Fudge and Mr. Greengrass' expressions became slightly restrained. The more they were in this position, the more they understood the magical power contained in the body of the white-haired old wizard in front of them.
"Now, gentlemen, could you tell me what exactly happened? Relax and speak slowly."
Dumbledore's face straightened and he spoke in a serious and calm voice.
"Hmm...Dumbledore, did you really just lead the students to purchase supplies for the start of school that day?"
Greengrass asked hesitantly. Now that Dumbledore said this, most of the doubts in his heart have actually been eliminated.
He only needed to verify the records of each store and compare the time, and he could easily deduce the facts. He believed that a great wizard like Dumbledore would not lie about such a trivial matter.
"In this case, the problem may be more serious. Let Minister Fudge explain the specific situation first."
I don't know what he thought of, but the man rubbed his chin, waved behind him, and whispered a few words to a young wizard. The young wizard nodded solemnly and walked out of the auditorium quickly.
"Dumbledore, then students..."
Fudge took off the top hat on his head, rubbed his hands in annoyance, looked around at the students with curious expressions on their faces, and asked hesitantly. After gradually coming to his senses, he gradually realized that maybe he You will face a more troublesome problem.
"It doesn't matter. They are all members of Hogwarts and have the right to know about all important events that have happened or may happen in this school." Dumbledore shook his head and replied.
"Okay, since you insist, although I don't think it's appropriate for children to know about this matter. But the Daily Prophet will also publish this news tomorrow, so it doesn't matter."
Cornelius Fudge waved his hand distractedly, looked at Dumbledore and said seriously, "Just now, the goblins from Gringotts gathered all the major newspapers in the wizarding world and held a press conference, at which they announced to everyone The person showed the real estate certificate of Hogwarts Castle and claimed that it was the proceeds of a huge mortgage contract."
"So, the goblins didn't disclose the person who signed the contract or the details?"
Dumbledore tapped his knuckles thoughtfully and asked doubtfully.
"No." The Minister of Magic shook his head solemnly, frowning tightly, "They only revealed that the amount of the entire mortgage transaction was approximately 800 million gold galleons. However, the strangest thing is that the loan obtained was
A Muggle currency called the ruble. Who else could win the goblin's trust if not you."
As the Minister of Magic, Fudge is well aware of the difficulty of the Gringotts goblins. If they were not absolutely sure or driven by huge interests, it would be impossible for those shrewd and stingy magical creatures to generously take out so much.
It comes from money.
"That's not all the strange things."
At this time, Mr. Greengrass, who was beside Fudge, suddenly added, "As far as I know, in all these years, the board of directors has never heard of the existence of real estate certification documents about Hogwarts Castle. Regarding this,
We also want to confirm the authenticity of something from Principal Dumbledore."
"I understand, but if there is really Salazar's mark on that certificate, it's probably not a forgery."
Dumbledore nodded solemnly, "According to documents and school history, before the establishment of Hogwarts, this castle belonged to Salazar Slytherin, one of the four founders."
"But, that was all a long time ago... Wait! So, there is another executor of this contract, and it can only be a descendant of Slytherin?!"
Cornelius Fudge's expression suddenly changed, he turned his head to look at the sturdy wizard who pushed Filch away, and shouted, "Delix, hurry up and check the recent situation of the Gaunt family."
"No need to check."
Greengrass suddenly interrupted, glancing at Fudge with a hint of sarcasm, "Wasn't the last heir of the Gaunt family thrown into Azkaban by you a long time ago? If I remember correctly, he should have died.
It’s over there, right? You shouldn’t know his belongings and the last person he came into contact with during his lifetime.”
After hearing Greengrass's words, Fudge felt as if he had been burned by a red iron, and his thick neck turned red.
"You mean, the Hogwarts estate that appeared in the hands of the Gringotts goblins proved to be made by people from the Ministry of Magic?!"
"I didn't say that...but, if you think about it, who would need a bunch of Muggle currency other than the Ministry of Magic?"
Greengrass whispered with disgust, looking past Fudge and casually scanning the Ministry of Magic staff behind him.
"Slander! This is a baseless accusation. We in the Ministry of Magic will never have such a situation."
Hearing the words of the man beside him, Cornelius Fudge roared angrily.
"In my opinion, if there is really a real estate certificate, would the Hogwarts board of directors really have no knowledge of it all these years? Will the Gaunt family be in such a state of decline? I heard that many of your family's businesses have been exposed recently.
Because of your decline, don’t think that I don’t know that you have been secretly trying to do business with the non-magical world. The informant in my hands..."
"Mr. Minister, can I take this as an insult to the noble pure-blood family? How can we possibly cooperate with those stupid Muggles!"
Greengrass narrowed his eyes and said in an unpleasant tone.
"Cough cough cough!"
Seeing that the dispute between the two groups of wizards was intensifying, and was about to start an ugly quarrel in front of all the teachers and students in the school, Dumbledore, who had been standing aside, coughed hard several times and recalled the words in his arms.
The content on the stack of parchment covered with numbers and patterns blinked and said.
"Gentlemen, in fact, in addition to the Gaunt family, there is another person who also claims to have the blood of the Slytherin family."
"It's impossible. The ancient Gaunt family is the only remaining descendant of Salazar Slytherin, one of the four founders of Hogwarts. There is no one else except them."
Greengrass shook his head and retorted without thinking.
"No, there is indeed another one." Fudge, who was blushing at first, changed his face, with a hint of panic in his expression. He turned his head to look at Dumbledore, "You don't want to say that it's that person, but isn't he already early?"
Just disappear?"
"But obviously not everyone thinks so." Greengrass snorted, "It seems that there are still some rats hiding in the dark. If I remember correctly, the boy from the head of the Department of Magical Enforcement.
"
"Besides, someone seems to have seen a mysterious black shadow in Albania. I told you..." Dumbledore looked at Fudge and said seriously.
"So, this is a conspiracy against the entire magical world?"
Fudge's face became particularly ugly, as if he were a piece of pork liver that had been sitting for a long time. He pretended not to hear Dumbledore's words and said to the assistant beside him.
"Delux, tell the archives to find out that person's origin as soon as possible. Damn it, you know who I'm talking about. I don't want to repeat it a second time. And let me get all the people in the Auror office to move, half
Within a month, I will capture those wishful thinking Death Eaters and throw them all into Azkaban!!"
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Gugugu~ Poor classmate Tom, there is no way, who makes you, the villain, unable to stand up and deny it?
It’s a big chapter of 3700 words, but my conscience Gu Gu Gu didn’t split it into two chapters and publish it!!! Please vote for recommendations!!!