"Cornelly, can you tell me the reason?" Dumbledore said pleasantly.
Fudge's lips trembled, "The inheritance of those missing persons...has not yet been reviewed. Some of the information may be related to the accident that year."
"I have to wait for the Director of the Department of Mysteries to check and confirm that the inheritance is absolutely free of any classified documents before I can return these inheritances to their relatives." Fudge sat back in his chair.
"How long will it take?" Dumbledore asked softly, "Hasn't it been confirmed for more than ten years?"
Fudge coughed twice, "Well... I have only been in office for a year, and I don't know what happened before. If you want to ask, you have to go to the former minister, Ms. Millicent Bagno."
"Besides, how can this child prove that he is the child of Mr. and Mrs. Meadows?" Fudge seemed to have found a loophole and became very excited. "What did I just hear you say? Joel Taylor! You can't compete with the Meadows."
!”
Joel had noticed that Fudge had tried every means to avoid handing over the inheritance of the parents of the original owner of the body to him.
"The Meadows changed his first and last name."
"That's not a problem, Cornelius," Dumbledore saw the doubt on Fudge's face, but his voice was still calm, "I can go back to Hogwarts and find the Pen of Acceptance and the Book of Admission, Joel's magic
He is quite outstanding. He must have been accepted and written on the admission book when he was born, and what was left behind at that time was his original name."
Fudge didn't expect this move. He hesitated and kicked the ball, "Let's wait until the Director of the Department of Mysteries completes the inspection..."
"Then let's go to the Department of Mysteries on the ninth floor of the basement first." Dumbledore did not insist and took Joel directly out the door. When he opened the door, he suddenly said, "Connelly, I hope Mr. Director
You won’t let me come back to you again.”
Fudge heard a hint of threat from Dumbledore's words, and his body shook involuntarily.
After the office door closed, Fudge immediately stood up, walked around the office twice with his hands behind his back, then gritted his teeth and made a decision, picked up the bowler hat on the table and walked out.
The elevator clanked as it went down, and Joel's eyes flickered in and out, and his heart jumped up and down.
"Don't worry," Dumbledore seemed to see through Joel's thoughts, "You will get your parents' inheritance. This is my promise."
"Just think of it as compensation for what I've owed you over the years." Dumbledore sighed.
Joel understood what he meant. After his parents disappeared, the original owner of the body lived in an orphanage for ten years, during which the Order of the Phoenix did not take care of him. Dumbledore's move was also to comfort Joel.
They went all the way down to the ninth floor underground. This place was far away from the ground and even the temperature was lower than upstairs. Joel was wearing a single robe and felt goosebumps on his forearms.
"Has it always been so cold here?" Joel crossed his arms and crossed his shoulders as he walked out of the elevator and into the corridor. The chill became stronger and stronger, as if it was seeping through his skin and into his blood.
As a last resort, he took out his wand and cast a warming spell on himself. Not only did this spell consume a lot of magic power, but it also had a weird effect. It would cause a burning sensation when it was applied to a person's body, and it could not be used as a thick coat.
"In most cases, that's the case," Dumbledore replied. "There are many things in the Department of Mysteries that need to be frozen and sealed. No matter how well sealed they are, there will still be air-conditioning leaks. Most of the Silent people wear thick robes when they go to work. Even
The same goes for hot summer days.”
There was a simple corridor in front of him. At the end of the corridor was a black door. Dumbledore pushed open the black door and led Joel into a huge circular room.
The circular room was approximately more than 200 square meters in size. The ceiling, floor, and walls were all as black as ink. Joel felt like his soul was being sucked away just by looking at it.
Twelve identical black doors without handles are evenly spaced from each other and embedded in the surrounding black walls. In addition, there are some candles with blue flames dotted on the walls. The cold and weak candlelight is reflected on the bright marble.
on the floor, making it look like there was a pool of black water on the floor.
There were two people chatting in the circular room. When Dumbledore saw him, his first reaction was to close his mouth, and the sparse voice suddenly stopped.
"Professor Dumbledore, are you here..." A young man about thirty years old stepped forward and asked.
"Where is your director?" Dumbledore asked. "Connelly asked me to find him."
"I am Eugene Greengrass, Director of the Department of Mysteries," the young man said, his face clear and elegant, "Do you need any help?"
Dumbledore recounted the story again.
"The accident eleven years ago..." Eugene pushed up his glasses, looked back at his subordinates, "Go and retrieve the files of Mr. and Mrs. Meadows."
After his subordinates pushed one of the black doors and left the circular room, Eugene turned his head and said, "You guys wait here for a while, and we will talk about this matter after he gets the file."
After saying that, Eugene walked around the circular room, holding a quill in his hand and turning it rapidly, with a thoughtful look on his face.
"What is he doing?" Joel asked Dumbledore next to him.
"It should be that they encountered some mysterious and unexplainable phenomenon. People in the Department of Mysteries are always like this. To outsiders, they seem to be talking a lot. Only they know what they are thinking." He responded softly.
Not long after, Eugene got the file. While listening to the report from his subordinates, he read the file carefully with a serious look on his face.
"There may have been some changes in the middle," Eugene Furui's calm face caused a wave of confusion. "Eleven years ago, the inheritance of Mr. and Mrs. Meadows was put into the Ministry of Magic for inspection, but a year ago... the inheritance has been taken away.
Already."
"What's going on?" Dumbledore frowned. Joel on the side felt that things were getting more and more strange.
Eugene shook his head, "I don't know. Not long after I entered the Ministry of Magic after graduating from Hogwarts, I went to the Magical Congress of the United States of America for exchange work. I was transferred back here half a year ago to serve as Director."
"If you want to find out, you still have to go to Minister Fudge." Eugene pulled out a piece of parchment from the file. It was a transfer approval letter. At the end of the letter, there was the stamp of the Minister of Magic and Cornelius at the bottom.
·Fudge’s beautiful cursive signature.
Dumbledore's face turned dark. Fudge had obviously been tricking him before.
Joel once again followed Dumbledore's stride to the minister's office on the ground floor. As soon as they left the elevator, a short, fat woman wearing a pink shirt, pink pleated skirt and pink hairpin stopped them.
"Albus," she said in a sickeningly artificial voice, "are you here to see Connelly? He left here for Northern Ireland half an hour ago."
Oh... Joel sighed inwardly. He didn't expect that he would meet this woman in advance - Dolores Umbridge, the then British Deputy Minister of Magic, a very unpleasant character in the original work.
Dumbledore narrowed his eyes, "Dolores, I'm glad to see you here. You said before that Cornelius Fudge has left?"
"That's right," Umbridge said with a sweet smile, "He also specifically informed me to wait for you here."
"...I understand." Dumbledore took a deep breath.
"Let's go Joel, it seems we have to find another way." Dumbledore was obviously angry, and he took Joel and left without looking back.
In the elevator, Dumbledore glanced at Joel who lowered his head and said nothing, thinking that he was sad.
"Don't worry, we can still find Connelly later," he said, trying to be as gentle as possible, "I have many methods, and the promises I make will definitely be fulfilled."
"Thank you, Professor Dumbledore. I'm really sorry to trouble you."
Dumbledore reached out his big hand and gently rubbed Joel's head.
"Don't..." Joel shook his head and shook Dumbledore's hand away, "Professor, didn't anyone tell you not to rub the child's head?"
Dumbledore was stunned for a moment, "Why? Isn't the president tall?"
"I'll be bald." Joel said with resentment.
He came to the UK for two years and found that the water quality here was extremely poor. Every time he took a shower, a small strand of hair would always be collected (the same goes for his roommates). This made Joel have a strong awareness of the crisis of baldness, and he is now paying great attention to it.
Protect your fragile hair.
With such a handsome face from time travel, it would be bad if he turned into Saitama-sensei.
"You are actually concerned about this issue at such a young age?" Dumbledore wondered. He reached out and touched the back of his head. He was over a hundred years old and had very thick hair. His long hair hung down on both sides and his white beard hung down to his waist.
"It's necessary to prepare for a rainy day," Joel replied.
The elevator reached the Magical Law Enforcement Department on the second underground floor. A group of people walked in. Among them was a red-haired wizard with his back to Joel. He had a large bald spot on the back of his head and was about to turn towards the Mediterranean Sea.
Dumbledore laughed softly.
"Albus?" The red-haired wizard turned his head when he heard the familiar laughter and came closer excitedly, "Are you coming to the ministry to do business today?"
"This is Arthur Weasley, who works at the Ministry of Magic." Dumbledore introduced Joel, and the two shook hands.
Dumbledore avoided Mr. Weasley's questions with a brief introduction and asked him about his family.
"It's better now," Mr. Weasley said happily. "When my youngest girl Ginny enters school this fall, the family will become richer and richer, and Charlie and Bill's wages will not be low."
Dumbledore also smiled and agreed.
The elevator quickly dropped to the hall on the eighth floor underground. Dumbledore took Joel all the way out of the golden door and back to the foyer before apparating away with him.
They returned to a narrow alley in Charing Cross Street again, and Dumbledore took out a fiery red bird tail feather from his arms, with a little bit of deep black at the end.
He put the feather on the ground, took out his wand, touched it and muttered something.
After chanting a series of incantations, the feathers suddenly rose into the air, burst into dazzling flames, and disappeared into the air.
"Okay, hold my hand," Dumbledore stretched out his left arm. "In five seconds we will be standing next to Mr. Minister."
Joel put his hand on it, and the world spun again, and his body disappeared with a feeling of weightlessness.
The surrounding scenery changed rapidly, and finally settled in a restaurant, where Dumbledore and Joel were standing in front of a table, and Cornelius Fudge was enjoying a steak sandwich at his seat.
"Dumbledore!" Fudge's reaction was not slow. He quickly stood up and was pushed back by Dumbledore's slap.
"Connelly," Dumbledore said with a smile, "What did I say before? 'I hope I won't come back to you later.' But the Director of the Department of Mysteries told me that the transfer letter transferring the inheritance was
Does it have your signature?"
"Albus..." Fudge changed his title. He smiled and said, "Is there any misunderstanding between us?"
"If you hand over the inheritance of Mr. and Mrs. Meadows before sunset today, there will be no misunderstanding between us." Dumbledore looked at Fudge with his lake-blue eyes. "If you can't do this, there may be a real misunderstanding between us."
There will be some unnecessary conflicts."
Fudge was sweating in his heart, "No problem, the inheritance of Mr. and Mrs. Meadows will be returned immediately!"
He originally wanted to delay for some more time and find two excuses to deal with Dumbledore, but he never expected that Dumbledore actually knew where he was.
Joel was observing the restaurant from the side. Picture frames were hung on the surrounding walls. The people in the picture frames were constantly moving, and there was also a photo of the Quidditch team.
It was not the lunch rush hour yet, and there were not many customers in the restaurant. A waiter came over and asked, "Sir, do you need help?"
Dumbledore pressed Fudge's shoulders to prevent him from escaping, while shaking his head at the waiter with a smile.
"Cornelly, I will sit here with you today," Dumbledore sat on the chair opposite Fudge and whispered, "Whenever the inheritance is returned, you can return to the Ministry."
Fudge sighed and picked up the wand on the table.
Dumbledore raised his eyebrows.
"I'm not running, I just want to send a message..." Fudge explained, "Calling the gods for protection!"
A cloud of silver mist formed in mid-air, and a silver-white lynx emerged from the mist, jumping up and down around Fudge.
"Tell him to send Meadows' inheritance back intact as soon as possible!" Fudge ordered in a hurried voice. The silver-white lynx seemed to understand his words and circled twice in the air before disappearing.
"Let's go back to the Ministry of Magic first and talk about this matter slowly." Seeing Dumbledore's unwillingness to give up until he achieved his goal, Fudge knew that he would not be able to work if he didn't settle this matter today.
Five hours later, Joel drank his tenth cup of tea and looked at the clock on the wall. It was already 3:50 pm.
Fudge was dealing with some documents sent by the staff, his brows were furrowed, and the quill in his hand looked more like scribbling to Joel, and his mind was obviously not on the documents; Dumbledore was sitting in his chair.
He looks very patient.
Joel couldn't stand it anymore.
He ran directly into the toilet of the minister's office on the pretext of peeing.
When I came out after draining the water, I found a man sitting on my chair.