Chapter 666: Fudge's Decision, the War Begins

Harry learned the brain block technique, which seemed to make everyone happy. Except for Snape and Umbridge, everyone ended the opening dinner in a very happy atmosphere. ơɱ

But the next morning, this happy atmosphere was broken.

During breakfast, Cedric opened the Daily Prophet he subscribed to as usual, ready to see what news was on the front page.

But the next second, he suddenly stood up and exclaimed.

Not only Cedric, more and more students began to scream, as if they saw something terrible.

"What happened?" Connor asked.

Cedric spread the newspaper on the table and pointed to the ten photos on the front page, speechless.

The photos showed nine wizards and one witch, some of whom were laughing loudly, and some of whom were arrogantly looking up. Under each photo were their names and crimes.

[Antonin Dolohov, brutally murdered the brothers Gideon and Fabian Prewett]

[Augustus Rookwood, leaked Ministry secrets to You-Know-Who]

[Bellatrix Lestrange...] As the only witch in the photo, this photo is probably the most eye-catching, and she is also the most arrogant one among all.

Her eyes are filled with disgust, and her thin lips are filled with contempt and disdain, as if there is some disgusting bug in front of her.

And her crime is to cruelly torture the Longbottoms.

Kyle is naturally familiar with Bella. In order to exchange for the key to the Lestrange family vault, he asked the Dementors to bring a small gift to her.

Some candies and chocolates are things that can make her feel happy again... Although Kyle doesn't know if she still has such a thing as happiness now.

Looking up along the photo, is there a line of bold and eye-catching headlines?

[Many people escaped from Azkaban, the Ministry of Magic issued a warning, and You-Know-Who made a comeback! 】

Several notorious Death Eaters escaped from prison, and the mysterious man made a comeback... Seeing such news, it's no wonder that Cedric screamed.

In fact, the hall has long been in chaos, and some timid students were even scared to tears.

Even those students who have always believed in Dumbledore, such as Cedric, Mikel, Justin and others, sat there gasping for breath.

Believing is one thing, but when the Ministry of Magic announced these in the most authoritative newspaper, they still found it difficult to accept.

"Kyle, you really did it."

In the chaotic hall, only Connor whispered: "Fudge didn't continue to pretend that nothing happened. He admitted that the mysterious man made a comeback."

"Yeah." Kyle looked at the newspaper and murmured.

Everything he did before, including creating the illusion that Dumbledore wanted to compete for the minister, or keeping Malfoy from contacting Fudge, was to make him feel a sense of crisis.

When Fudge felt that he had no chance of winning, but did not want to give up the position of Minister of Magic, he had only one way to go...declare the magic world to enter a state of war.

Because at this time, the Ministry of Magic would not easily change the Minister.

His plan was very successful. When he was called to the Ministry of Magic during the Christmas holiday, Fudge was already panicking. As long as Nicolas Flamel's owl came to Hogwarts in front of Umbridge, Fudge would definitely not hesitate again.

Of course, this was Kyle's original plan, but he did not expect that the Death Eaters would escape during this process.

"Why at this time."

Although his plan was considered successful, Kyle frowned and was not happy at all.

If they acted a few days later, even if it was just a show, Fudge would definitely strengthen the guards of Azkaban, and then...

"Forget it!" Kyle suddenly sighed.

If this jailbreak was planned by Voldemort himself, then no matter how much the Ministry of Magic strengthened the guards, it would be useless, and it would cause unnecessary sacrifices.

After all, the only person who can resist Voldemort is Dumbledore. It is impossible to let him leave school to guard Azkaban... This is unrealistic.

Kyle shook his head and stopped thinking about it.

At this time, fear and anxiety began to spread in the auditorium. Fortunately, the professors seemed to have anticipated this situation. Sprout, who was in the auditorium, stood up in time to calm everyone's emotions.

"Don't panic, Hogwarts is safe enough. You won't be hurt here?"

Her words had some effect, and the buzzing discussion in the auditorium gradually became much smaller.

Then, Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick, Snape also came, and finally Dumbledore.

When the headmaster appeared here, the last sound in the auditorium disappeared.

However, Dumbledore didn't say anything, just sat in the teacher's seat as usual and made himself a sandwich, as if he really came to have breakfast.

Taking advantage of this time, Kyle also read the rest of the newspaper.

"The Ministry of Magic announced a large-scale prison break in Azkaban last night. Minister Cornelius Fudge confirmed in an interview in his office that ten serious criminals escaped last night."

"This is the negligence of the Ministry of Magic. Although we have improved the defense measures with the help of Sirius Black, we have forgotten the external factors."

Fudge said last night, "Last night we found a surviving guard and learned from him that someone had forcibly broken through Azkaban's defenses and rescued the Death Eaters amid the siege of dementors.

"The striker saw that person's appearance, and when the Aurors rushed over after receiving the news, they also saw the Dark Mark in the sky... Yes, I have to regretfully tell everyone that the mysterious man is back.

"I think I need to apologize on behalf of the Ministry of Magic to Headmaster Albus Dumbledore. He was the first to discover that his nemesis was back, but we at the Ministry did not take it seriously.

"I will go to Hogwarts in person soon to express my apology to Principal Dumbledore and discuss together how we should deal with the terrible Dark Lord.

The Ministry of Magic will do its best to protect everyone's safety, but the public is also asked to remain vigilant and be sure to carry your wand with you. The war has begun! "

…

"Hey, Fudge is smart." Cedric sneered after he came to his senses, "The Ministry of Magic didn't pay attention to it. How could he have the nerve to say such a thing? He spent six months telling everyone Dumbledore is an old madman, isn't he?"

"That's true, but I know he won't admit it." Connor continued to flip through the newspaper, "The entire wizarding world is in chaos, Kyle, do you think Professor Dumbledore knows about this? "

"You should know." Kyle looked up at Dumbledore on the teacher's bench.

Just in time, Dumbledore also looked over, his blue eyes flashing behind his lenses.

After breakfast, Professor McGonagall came to the Hufflepuff table.

"Please wait a moment." She called Kyle, "The principal has asked for leave for you. You don't have to go to the first transfiguration class. You can just go to the principal's office directly. The password is the same as before."

"Okay." Kyle agreed.

After Professor McGonagall left, Connor couldn't help but ask: "Does the principal want to see you for anything?"

"I think it has something to do with today's Daily Prophet." Kyle said.

"Then what are we going to do next?" Connor looked a little confused. "The wizarding world is suddenly declared to be at war. Can we still stay in Hogwarts?"

"Don't worry, at this time, Hogwarts will be less likely to close down."

Kyle smiled and said, "And you don't have to pay too much attention, Voldemort won't jump out of the darkness just because of a report, just go to class.

But what we have to learn next may not be as simple as before. "

"It doesn't matter, as long as Hogwarts doesn't close." Connor smiled, waved her hand, and ran towards the Transfiguration classroom.

Kyle also went straight to the eighth floor.

When he arrived at the principal's office through the spiral staircase, he found Fox standing on the same perch as before. He didn't know when he left the box.

And Dumbledore is already waiting here.

"I'm curious." He looked at Kyle with curiosity. "What on earth did you do to make Fudge admit that Tom was back without seeing him with his own eyes?"

"It's nothing. Didn't we discuss it before?" Kyle said, "Create some pressure on him so that he has to do this in order to keep his position."

"I know, but I'm curious about what you did." Dumbledore said. "I know Fudge. He never does anything unnecessary and only believes what he sees.

"I have approached Fudge many times before and put almost all the evidence in front of him, but he just refused to believe it...anything that could threaten his ministerial position, no matter how small the possibility, he would not go. made."

Dumbledore glanced at the Daily Prophet spread out on the table, especially the last sentence on the front page.

"The war has begun..." he said softly: "In Fudge's view, this decision is equivalent to drinking the blood of a unicorn to survive. If it is not a last resort, you will never do it. What have you done? ?”

"Just wrote a few letters." Kyle shrugged and briefly recounted what he had done in the past few days.

When he heard Kyle asking Fawkes to deliver the letter to St. Mungo's without any disguise, the corner of Dumbledore's mouth twitched sharply.

And when they heard what Kyle asked Malfoy to do and what he did to deliver the letter to himself, others were even more stunned.

He was only out for a few days, why did Kyle do so many things... No wonder Fudge did so many unreasonable things out of character.

In fact, it's not Fudge's fault. If this happened in Hogwarts...for example, if the owl from the school director flew into Professor McGonagall's office every day, he might also doubt whether Professor McGonagall wanted to be The principal.

"But I think what finally made Fudge make up his mind was this prison break." Kyle said, "Ten people escaped from prison. This is not something that can be fooled by just making an excuse."

"No, you underestimate Fudge too much." Dumbledore said. "If it weren't for your actions that made him feel unprecedented pressure, maybe he could really find an excuse... The little Barty Crouch who escaped is A good excuse.”

"But there is one more thing I'm curious about." Dumbledore asked with interest: "Are you so sure that Fudge will use this method to keep his position?"

"Actually, I can't guarantee 100% success." Kyle said, "So I actually sent letters to Nicolas Flamel, Newt, Mr. McPhail, Ms. Maxim, and Dean Sacia. .

"And three of them have already replied to me. They readily agreed that if Fudge has not announced that the mysterious man has returned on the 20th, they will cooperate with me in another plan..."

Kyle glanced at Dumbledore and didn't continue, because he probably didn't want to hear what he said next.

In any case, Kyle could not let the Ministry of Magic become a stumbling block in their fight against Voldemort. If it was really necessary, Dumbledore would have to work part-time as the Minister of Magic.

After all, one of the people who replied to him was Nicolas Flamel. He seemed to be quite interested in Dumbledore becoming a minister, and even offered to come to Hogwarts.

With Nico's help, this matter is basically more than half successful.

As for the Headmaster of Hogwarts...if Dumbledore is not up to his task, Kyle thinks Professor McGonagall is quite suitable.

Of course, this was just the previous plan and is no longer needed now.

Dumbledore on the side felt chilled all over. He felt that he seemed to have guessed Kyle's thoughts, but he would rather he had not guessed.

"Kyle..." he said after thinking: "I think it would be better for you to seek my consent first when you make a decision next time, what do you think?"

"This is all to deal with Voldemort, Professor." Kyle said with a smile, "Sometimes it is necessary to use some special means. Besides, I remember you said when you were in the Pig Head Bar, as long as you can defeat him, you can give up everything."

"Did I say that?" Dumbledore pretended to think.

"I'm pretty sure, Professor." Kyle said, "And many people have heard it, including the owner of the Pig's Head Bar. If you don't believe it, we can ask."

"Okay, I did say it." Dumbledore sighed and admitted, but when he said this at the time, it was to express his determination, and he did not expect that the so-called "anything" category would be so So wide.

"I have to admit, Kyle..." Dumbledore couldn't help but said: "You can always come up with plans that I would never think of."

"It's nothing." Kyle shook his head humbly, "You don't need to give me 200 points, or give me a special contribution award to the school, I really don't need it."

Dumbledore didn't want to talk to him anymore. After a moment of silence, he said, "Okay, then I won't."

This time it was Kyle's turn to be silent, and he was polite. Why did Dumbledore take it seriously?

But he didn't pay too much attention to this matter, and instead asked: "Professor, is this why you came to me this time?"

"That's right. Also, you helped Harry learn Occlumency. Professor Snape told me about it. He said you taught Harry."

"It's nothing." Kyle didn't want to talk about this topic. He looked at the newspaper on the table, "Professor, will the dementors also turn to Voldemort?"

"I'm glad we thought of the same thing." Dumbledore said with a smile, then changed to a serious expression. "But that's what I want to know too."

"After receiving the news last night, I went to the island where Azkaban is located. The number of dementors there was much smaller."

"How much?" Kyle asked.

"About half." Dumbledore said, "We need to know now whether these disappeared dementors were killed or whether they took refuge with Tom."

"Wait a minute..." Kyle said, "Professor, isn't the only way to kill dementors with the Patronus Charm? Neither Death Eaters nor Voldemort can use this spell."

The Patronus Charm is a very special kind of magic. Only a wizard with a righteous heart can transform the happy emotions in his heart into a Patronus. If a dark wizard with an evil heart tries to use it, not only will he not be able to summon the Patronus, but it will cause the wand to backfire. The wand summons bugs to devour the user.

"Most Death Eaters are definitely unusable, but Tom... he thinks happy things are a little different from us." Dumbledore tapped his fingers lightly on the table.

"Moreover, the Patronus Curse is not the only way to kill Dementors. This spell is more about driving them away. In fact, the Death Curse is also effective against Dementors."

"Okay." Kyle said, "Professor, what do you want me to do."

"Fudge will come to Hogwarts in the afternoon, and he will bring two dementors, who were the guards last night." Dumbledore said.

"I need to know whether those disappeared Dementors have defected to Voldemort. This is related to whether we need to make changes to the existing defense plan."

"No problem," Kyle said.

"There's another thing..." Dumbledore's expression softened a lot, "That's Fudge already siding with us to fight against the Death Eaters. Would you like to write another letter to Doug and the others to explain what's going on now? situation... lest they do something unnecessary without knowing anything.”

"It's not necessary." Kyle thought for a while, "They should read the Daily Prophet. It's all written clearly in it."

"It's better to err on the side of caution," Dumbledore insisted, his blue eyes fixed on Kyle unblinkingly.

"Okay, I'll go back and write now." Kyle said.

"No, it's fine here." Dumbledore waved his hand, and several more pieces of parchment and quills appeared on the table.

"When you finish writing, I'll ask Fawkes to help deliver the letter. After all, an owl can't deliver the letter to Nico, right?"

At this point, he glanced at Fawkes who was sleeping on the branch, and secretly decided that no matter what Kyle said, he would never lend him the phoenix again.

Kyle actually wanted to tell Dumbledore that he had other ways to contact Nico, and he didn't necessarily have to use Fawkes, but after thinking about it, he didn't say anything...

In case it could be used in the future, it's better to keep it secret.

So Kyle sat down quietly at the table and wrote the letter in front of Dumbledore.

...