A post-match celebration was out of the question, or at least Veratia didn't have the time to stay and celebrate; she had many pressing affairs that required her personal attention.
After all, as a Minister of Magic of a country, it was impossible to waste all her time on personal matters.
However, after the feast ended and the Great Hall gradually emptied, before Dumbledore could even try to keep Veratia back, he saw Professor McGonagall stride over angrily, followed by the Minister for Magic, Fudge.
Seeing the Minister for Magic arrive at Hogwarts, the students stopped leaving, intending to stay and watch the drama unfold.
"Dumbledore!" Fudge scowled, sweeping a gloomy look over the surrounding crowd. "A word, in private!"
The students sighed in disappointment. Dumbledore turned and called out to Harry.
"I'll go see what's going on first," Harry reassured Cassandra. "It looks like there might be some kind of sudden situation."
"Mm," Cassandra nodded.
Harry followed Dumbledore and the others into a side room.
The moment they entered the room, the atmosphere suddenly turned cold.
"What has happened?" Dumbledore's gaze was stern as he scanned the room, looking first at Fudge, then at Professor McGonagall. "Why are you here in the Great Hall? Minerva, you surprise me—I asked you to guard Barty Crouch Junior..."
"There's no need to guard him anymore, Dumbledore!" she shrieked. "The Minister has ensured that!"
Professor McGonagall had never been so impulsive; in Harry's impression, she had always been a composed lady, but now her cheeks were flushed with anger, and her hands were clenched into fists, trembling with rage.
"We informed Mr. Fudge that we had discovered a Death Eater was responsible for tonight's events," Snape narrated in a low, slow voice. "He seemed to feel his personal safety was compromised, so he insisted on summoning a Dementor to accompany him into the castle... and then, he brought the Dementor into the office where Barty Crouch Junior was—"
"I told him you wouldn't approve, Dumbledore!" Professor McGonagall said furiously. "I told him you absolutely forbid Dementors from setting foot in the castle again, but—"
"My dear woman!" Fudge roared. Harry had never seen him this angry before. "As Minister for Magic, my authority is absolute—I am entitled to decide whether or not to bring a bodyguard! Because I was going to see someone who might be extremely dangerous—"
But Professor McGonagall's voice drowned out Fudge's.
"The creature—the creature went straight into the office," she pointed at Fudge, shaking all over, and screamed, "and swooped down on Crouch, and—and—"
Professor McGonagall struggled to find the words to describe what had just happened. It was probably that the Dementor had given Barty Crouch Junior the fatal kiss. It had sucked his soul out through his mouth. Crouch Junior was now in a state worse than death—in Muggle terms, a "vegetable."
"By all accounts, he deserved it!" Fudge said aggressively. "He appears to be responsible for the deaths of several people!"
"But now he cannot testify, Cornelius," Dumbledore said, fixing Fudge with a penetrating gaze, as if seeing through him clearly for the first time. "He cannot provide evidence as to why he killed those people."
"Why he killed them? Well, it's obvious, isn't it!" Fudge said, beside himself with fury. "He's a roaming lunatic! From what Minerva and Severus have told me, he seems to have believed he was doing everything according to the Dark Lord's command!"
"Voldemort did indeed give him orders, Cornelius," Dumbledore said. "Those deaths were merely the collateral damage in the execution of Voldemort's plan to rise again—that plan succeeded, and Voldemort has indeed returned."
Fudge looked startled, as though someone had punched him in the face. He blinked dazedly, staring blankly at Dumbledore, seemingly unable to fully believe what he had just heard. After a long moment, he seemed to recover, stammering as he spoke, his eyes still fixed on Dumbledore.
"The Dark Lord... returned? Impossible! Absolutely impossible! The Dark Lord died fourteen years ago in Godric's Hollow! Don't joke with me, Dumbledore... Or do you have some secret plan?"
As he said this, Fudge turned his eyes towards Veratia, who was standing gracefully not far away, and then glanced at Sirius Black, who was sitting on a stool leisurely reading a newspaper.
Perhaps... Dumbledore intended to ally with that Grindelwald woman? Was he planning to seize his position as Minister for Magic? Heh, I've long heard that Dumbledore and that Gellert from the Grindelwald family had something ambiguous going on...It looks like he plans to support his granddaughter? Or, use Grindelwald's power to overthrow him and become the Minister for Magic himself?
The more Fudge thought about it, the more he felt this was possible. After a long mental storm, he was convinced: Dumbledore wanted to stage a coup and take the position of Minister for Magic himself.
Yet he completely forgot that Fudge owed his current position entirely to Dumbledore's support. And if Dumbledore had wanted to be the Minister for Magic, he could have done so long ago, without going through this much trouble and taking such a huge detour. Back when Voldemort first fell, if Dumbledore had stepped forward to take on the burden of the Ministry of Magic, there would have been no role for Fudge at all. At that time, Dumbledore's prestige was at its peak; he was the only person Voldemort feared.
"Minerva and Severus have undoubtedly told you," Dumbledore said, gazing intently at Fudge, his eyes burning brightly. "We heard Barty Crouch Junior's confession. Under the influence of Veritaserum, he told us how he was smuggled out of Azkaban, how Voldemort learned from Bertha Jorkins that he was still alive, freed him from his father, and used him to cause trouble for Harry... Let me tell you, the plan succeeded. Crouch Junior has helped Voldemort return."
"Listen to me, Dumbledore," Fudge said, a flicker of a smile appearing on his face. "This, this can't be true, can it? You—you can't actually believe all this, can you? The Dark Lord—returned? Don't be ridiculous, don't be ridiculous... Of course, Crouch Junior might have thought he was acting on the Dark Lord's orders—but how can you take the word of a madman seriously, Dumbledore..."
"Tonight, when Harry touched the Triwizard Cup, he was transported directly to Voldemort," Dumbledore stated firmly. "He witnessed Voldemort's return with his own eyes. You are welcome to come to my office, and I will explain everything to you—and if you want the details, I also witnessed Voldemort's return. Why don't you look at my memory?"
Harry suddenly noticed a small beetle not far away. It looked inconspicuous, but Harry saw it anyway. It was Rita Skeeter. It seemed Veratia's 'invisible hand' was about to start working.
"Enough, Dumbledore!" Fudge began to grow impatient. "You are being an alarmist—you're basing the Dark Lord's return solely on the word of Potter—Potter, a child—and the ravings of a lunatic, are you? This is an irresponsible act toward the British wizarding world! Please forgive me, but I cannot accept this!"
Dumbledore sighed, suddenly feeling weary. It is said that you cannot wake a person who pretends to be asleep, and Dumbledore knew Fudge all too well. The news of Voldemort's return would undoubtedly be a huge blow to his reputation, so he would deny it vehemently. He hadn't yet had his fill of being Minister for Magic.
But he decided to make one last effort.
"Listen to me, Cornelius," Dumbledore said. "I know this is hard to accept, but Voldemort created many Horcruxes. That is how he managed to escape death..."
"Ha!"
Fudge gave Dumbledore a vicious look, then turned his gaze to Veratia.
"I understand now, I understand now, Dumbledore—I understand why you keep trying to force me to acknowledge the news of Voldemort's return. I couldn't understand what benefit there was to you in propagating this news, causing public panic and constant dread, but now I see: there are Germans inciting this!"
"Germans?" Dumbledore was taken aback. He clearly had not expected Fudge to say such a thing.
However, Fudge no longer cared. He said coldly, "Ever since Madam Grindelwald's Greater German Ministry of Magic was founded, it has swallowed up several countries. It seems Czechoslovakia and Denmark are no longer enough to satisfy your appetite. Is the next target... Britain, right? No wonder you chose to come to Britain for school. It turns out you're colluding with Dumbledore!"
Upon hearing this, Veratia ignored him. A mad dog was snapping wildly; to take it seriously would be to lose.
This was an extreme breach of decorum, openly accusing the head of another nation's Ministry of Magic...
But Fudge didn't care. If it meant keeping his position as Minister for Magic, what did a little loss of face matter? Since he couldn't refute the news of Voldemort's return, then... he would exploit the British wizards' resistance to the Greater German Ministry of Magic!
Bringing up the bogeyman of a 'foreign power' could indeed divert the public's attention and make them focus on the fabricated news that the "Greater German Ministry of Magic is attempting to swallow Britain." Moreover, there were many Muggle-born witches and wizards in the wizarding world who knew Muggle history. Such stories had occurred during the Second World War, and this would undoubtedly make them recall those dark days. In fact, many wizards also participated in the Second World War, fighting against the Schurig Gesellschaft [Schurig Society, a hypothetical reference to a shadowy Nazi-like group].
"Perhaps he truly has gone mad," Veratia quietly told Harry, her words full of disdain for Fudge. Such a worm could occupy the seat of the British Minister for Magic? What a colossal joke of the year...
"Cornelius..." Dumbledore sighed. He gave up on trying to persuade Fudge. "The fact remains, whether you believe it or not. It is here. If Voldemort has truly returned, then the British wizarding world..."
"A fine 'fact'! But Dumbledore, don't you forget! I am the Minister for Magic of Britain, not you!" Fudge sneered. "Don't forget, the fifty-nine counties of Great Britain are resting on my shoulders. How the British wizarding world fares is not for you to decide!"
Harry leaned closer to Veratia and whispered in her ear, "It seems Minister Fudge is also a weightlifter, to be able to carry such a heavy Britain..."
Veratia lowered her head and gave a faint smile. She knew that Fudge's political life, as well as his biological life, had already entered its countdown.
But then again, as the Minister for Magic of the Greater German Ministry of Magic, Veratia would certainly not act against Fudge. That would be a case of 'suspicion falling where there is none' (literally: mud falling into one's pants), which would be impossible to explain away. What she needed to do now was stand and watch the show, just as the book she had read recently said: "One who does too much injustice will surely bring about their own downfall. Just wait and see."
With that final statement, Fudge stormed off, leaving the room of people behind.
"It seems Fudge is absolutely determined not to believe it," Dumbledore said, reaching up to rub his temples, looking utterly exhausted. "I truly didn't expect him to be this kind of person, a heartless, power-hungry idiot!"
"Perhaps this is a good thing," Sirius said from the side. "We must always look at both sides of everything, the good and the bad..."
"Stupid dog," Snape slowly interrupted Sirius. "Do you truly think the Dark Lord's return is a good thing? Or has the sunless life of Azkaban rotted your mind, making you think you are a Death Eater too?"
"Oh, Snivellus!" Sirius retorted. "I don't know if I'm a Death Eater, but you definitely are!"
"Enough," Veratia interjected to mediate. "Stop arguing... I don't think Fudge will simply let this go... He will certainly try every possible means to suppress the opposition within Britain to maintain his fragile rule."
"What will he do?" Harry asked curiously.
"I don't know," Veratia answered straightforwardly. "I apologize, but I cannot interfere in this matter, as it is your British Ministry of Magic's internal politics... In my opinion, Fudge intends to provoke populist sentiment in the British wizarding world, setting me up as the target of a 'foreign power' to counter his own paranoid idea that 'Dumbledore is attempting to seize power.' If I get involved, it will only give him the pretext he needs."
Mr. Bagman, who had been listening on the side for a long time, finally couldn't hold back. "Does he truly think Dumbledore wants his job as Minister for Magic? Oh, Merlin's white beard, are there really people in this world as utterly stupid as a pig?"
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