As everyone could have easily predicted, as was inevitable in a castle full of curious teenagers.
The events of last night immediately shot to the very top of Hogwarts' "trending topics," and from breakfast through morning classes until noon, no matter which corner of the castle you found yourself in, you could hear young wizards discussing it energetically with excitement.
The students' intelligence-gathering abilities genuinely astonished Harry, left him wondering how information spread so quickly.
Last night, only the three of them—Harry, Ron, and Hermione had overheard the later private conversation between Professor Watson and Professor Dumbledore about the Acromantulas. Under Sirius's stern warning not to spread rumors, they hadn't told anyone about what they'd learned, had kept it carefully to themselves.
But by noon, somehow the fact that Professor Watson had fought with the Acromantulas in the Forbidden Forest and driven them deep into its interior was no longer a secret at all. It seemed like every student in the castle knew the essential details.
Everyone was extremely excited about this development—everyone except Hagrid, that is.
"Hagrid didn't come to lunch—"
Looking at the largest, most conspicuously empty seat at the staff table above the Great Hall, Harry said quietly to Ron, keeping his voice low so only his friend could hear.
"He didn't come to breakfast either this morning. Ron, Hagrid must be feeling absolutely terrible right now."
Ron, who had been frowning while listening to a particularly lively Neville enthusiastically discuss whether to organize a student team to fight the remaining Acromantulas in the Forbidden Forest—an idea that was simultaneously brave and completely mad turned his head back at Harry's somber words.
He too cast a sympathetic glance toward the staff table, his expression was softening with concern.
"But Professor Watson did nothing wrong, did he, Harry? Nobody actually likes those horrible giant spiders—except Hagrid, who befriends anything dangerous. And you heard it yourself directly from Professor Watson; he only drove them deeper into the Forbidden Forest's interior, didn't wipe them all out. That's merciful enough already."
Harry had encountered the giant spider called Aragog up close and personal when he, Ron, and Hermione had mistakenly entered Acromantula territory while hunting desperately for Peter Pettigrew years ago.
It had been a terrifying adventure. Harry still remembered vividly that he and Hermione had identified themselves as Hagrid's friends, hoping that would grant them protection, but that evil old spider had still refused to let them go peacefully. It had been ready to feed them to its children.
In all honesty, with that memory fresh in his mind, Harry would never think Professor Watson had been too cruel to those Acromantulas. They were dangerous, deadly creatures. But he couldn't ignore Hagrid's feelings.
"The Daily Prophet has already published it—"
Just as Harry was pondering seriously whether to visit Hagrid after school to offer comfort, Hermione, sitting across from him at the Gryffindor table, took a deep breath. Her calm, serious face emerged slowly from behind the newspaper she'd been reading.
"What? What did they publish?"
Harry looked bewildered, confused by her tone.
"The Daily Prophet published the story about Professor Watson driving away the Acromantulas from near the castle. Their intelligence network is surprisingly efficient, faster than I expected."
"Don't be silly, Harry. Of course, the Daily Prophet has good intelligence gathering."
Hermione sighed at Harry's seeming slowness, shaking her head.
"They have contacts everywhere. But they're obviously not going to report this particular story at length now, won't give it much attention, because it would undoubtedly increase Professor Watson's fame and popularity. It makes him look heroic, protective. And that isn't what the Ministry wants to see right now. What I'm actually talking about is—"
Hermione handed the folded newspaper across the table to Harry with emphasis.
"What Sirius told us last night in secret—the Malfoy family has officially returned to the Hogwarts Board of Governors. It's announced publicly. Oh, you should look at those Slytherin people right now."
Hermione raised her chin, pointing toward the Slytherin table with a contemptuous, disgusted tone.
Harry and Ron immediately turned to look toward Malfoy's position. Fred, George, Neville, and several others who had overheard their conversation also turned to gaze at the Slytherin table with interest.
"Oh, that little piece of rubbish—"
Fred grunted with disdain.
"His turn to gloat again, is it? To lord it over everyone?"
To be completely honest, Fred's harsh assessment wasn't particularly objective or fair.
Though Draco wore a faint air of arrogance on his pale, pointed face—that superior expression he often had, it was far from being truly domineering or aggressive. Rather, it was the large group of students surrounding him, congratulating him with fawning, sycophantic expressions and eager voices, that made Harry feel thoroughly nauseated. The toadying was disgusting.
Neville stared intently at Malfoy, who was lazily dealing with the crowd of sycophantic students, accepting their congratulations with bored superiority. After quickly glancing at the newspaper article in Harry's hand, reading the headline, Neville suddenly looked at Hermione with understanding.
"What does this mean exactly?"
Everyone's eyes immediately fell on Neville's face with surprise, while Neville himself had gone rather pale.
"The Malfoy family returning to the Board of Governors... The Daily Prophet reporting it so broadly and prominently—so the Ministry is behind this move?"
Harry and Ron looked at Neville in surprise. Sirius had indeed given them a heads-up about this situation last night, explained some of the politics, but they hadn't expected Neville to figure out the deeper implications just from reading the public report.
"Is the Ministry trying to interfere with Hogwarts through the Board of Governors? Using them as a weapon?"
Neville continued, looking at Hermione for confirmation, his voice carrying worry.
"What will they do—try to dismiss Professor Dumbledore and Professor Watson? The Ministry fears them both, don't they?"
'Dismiss Professor Dumbledore and Professor Watson?!'
Harry's face suddenly went pale. His hands clenched. Sirius had indeed warned them seriously last night that Hogwarts might face political trouble, but Harry hadn't actually thought through what that meant—hadn't considered that the Ministry might use the Board of Governors to forcibly remove Professor Dumbledore and Professor Watson from their positions.
But it wasn't impossible.
After all, there was clear precedent for exactly this—Malfoy had nearly succeeded at dismissing Dumbledore without Ministry support before, back in second year. Now, with the full Ministry backing them, providing resources and political pressure, it could very well become reality.
"I don't know for certain, Neville—"
Hermione's face looked equally grim, troubled. Her usual confidence was shaken.
"But the Board of Governors does have that legal authority under current wizarding law. They can dismiss staff, even the headmaster."
Hermione was about to voice her fuller opinion on the situation when Filch suddenly burst into the entrance hall from outside, catching her attention and everyone else's.
Filch looked quite flustered, more agitated than usual. He limped rapidly across the Great Hall, moving faster than most had ever seen him move and went straight to Professor Dumbledore and Professor Watson at the staff table, craning his neck awkwardly to tell them something urgent.
Then Hermione noticed with alarm that both professors' expressions grew visibly solemn, serious.
Professor Dumbledore gave Filch some instructions, speaking close to his ear, and Filch nodded vigorously. Then he struggled into an awkward, painful trot again, leaving the Great Hall quickly and heading toward the castle grounds, moving as fast as his bad leg would allow.
Many observant people had noticed Filch's unusual behavior, the urgency of his movements. They watched his limping, retreating figure disappear into the pale afternoon light, discussing among themselves in low voices what could possibly have happened to cause such a commotion.
However, the students' questions were soon answered.
About ten minutes later, the appearance in the entrance hall of a woman dressed in an ostentatious short pink coat with curled hair and a face disturbingly like a toad, walking alongside Lucius Malfoy with an air of superiority, made Harry's face turn completely ashen.
Ministry of Magic, Minister's Office.
"Well done, Lucius! Excellently executed!"
A resounding voice of enthusiastic praise made the employees passing by the Minister's office in the corridor wear expressions of genuine astonishment. Several stopped walking, exchanging confused glances.
It was well known throughout the Ministry that Minister Cornelius Fudge had been in a terrible mood recently—irritable, short-tempered, snapping at everyone.
When people went to his office to report issues or get necessary signatures on documents, they always found the Minister of Magic with a stern, unwelcoming face. This had directly resulted in a noticeably more oppressive work atmosphere throughout the entire Ministry building.
But now he was praising someone loudly?
"All of this success is thanks to your support, Minister—"
Inside the office, Lucius Malfoy, having just regained his position on the Board of Governors after years of exile, bowed slightly to Fudge with a smooth smile. Then he nodded respectfully to Umbridge, who stood beside the Minister's desk.
"Of course, I must also thank you, Madam Umbridge. If you hadn't mediated skillfully for the Malfoy family, several influential families wouldn't have agreed so readily to my reinstatement!"
"This is all for our plan, Lucius!"
Umbridge let out a silvery, girlish laugh completely at odds with her toad-like appearance. Her round face showed eager anticipation as she looked at the Minister of Magic, who was admiring the official letter of appointment concerning her position that Lucius Malfoy had brought.
"What should we do now, Minister? Shall we proceed?"
"Need you even ask, Dolores! The time is now!"
Fudge could hardly contain his excitement; he was practically bouncing. He rushed to the coat rack in the corner to retrieve his best traveling robes, then turned to face Umbridge and Malfoy, whose gray eyes held hidden mockery of his enthusiasm.
"We're going to Hogwarts right now, immediately. I can't wait another moment to see the defeated expressions on Dumbledore and Watson's faces. Oh, fearmongering, creating panic in the public, and daring to resist the Ministry's lawful orders—this is exactly what they deserve! This is justice!"
Fudge led Umbridge and Malfoy rushing out of his office in a flurry of robes, but at the elevator hall, a man with a gloomy expression and shifty, darting eyes stopped them by stepping directly into their path.
"Minister, I have an urgent document that requires your signature. It cannot wait."
The man said with remarkable lack of tact or awareness of the Minister's mood and company.
"This is Broderick Bode from the Department of Mysteries, Minister—"
Umbridge, seeing clearly that Fudge didn't recognize the man, whispered a helpful reminder close to his ear. Then she said to Bode in her shrill, irritating voice,
"Broderick, the Minister has extremely urgent business to attend to. Whatever you need can certainly wait until we return later today!"
"But I need to travel to Azkaban for an official inspection—to check whether the Dementors are still under our control and responding to Ministry authority. You know how critically important this matter is."
Bode continued stubbornly, his expression unchanging, while Malfoy standing behind Fudge quickly glanced at Bode with sharp interest. His heart grew wary.
"The Dementors at Azkaban... Very well, very well."
Fudge frowned with annoyance at the delay, but he couldn't underestimate the necessity of this particular matter. Dementor control was crucial. He took the official document Bode handed him, looked it over carefully with narrowed eyes, checking the details, then signed his name at the bottom.
Even more absurdly, even more rudely, Broderick Bode stepped into the arriving elevator first, then pulled the metal gate shut and pressed the button to go down, leaving the Minister of Magic standing outside the car waiting.
'Is this fellow not quite right in the head?'
Fudge thought irritably, staring at the closed elevator gate.
This unexpected interruption sobered Fudge somewhat from his excited rush, cooling his enthusiasm. He looked down at the appointment letter still in his hand, his eyes shifting with some new calculation. Then he stuffed it into Umbridge's eager, waiting hands.
"I just remembered something important—"
Fudge's eyes flickered with sudden caution as he spoke to the somewhat puzzled Umbridge.
"I have some other urgent matters to handle here at the Ministry, Dolores. I've been putting them off for some time and must deal with them immediately, today. You go with Lucius to Hogwarts and announce this appointment in my place. You have my full authority."
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