"I heard he's already returned to England. He should be at the Ministry of Magic right now—apparently he was invited there," Tonks replied.
"Alright. Hopefully the news he brings back will be good news," Kasenhis nodded. Then an envelope suddenly appeared in front of him out of nowhere.
"Eh?"
He tore it open in surprise and glanced at it casually.
"What is it?" Sirius asked.
"Dumbledore wants me to go to the Ministry of Magic. Um.. No idea what it's about. I'll head over first," Kasenhis explained briefly, then with a buzz of Ender teleportation, he vanished.
...
Woosh!
Beside the fountain at the Ministry of Magic, Dumbledore was sitting quietly on a bench, waiting. Before long, Kasenhis appeared next to him.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"It's Fudge. He invited me to a private meeting. Clearly, he's already lost his composure. His strategy toward me is no longer simply…" Dumbledore paused unusually at this point, and then Kasenhis spoke up.
"A simp?"
"More or less. He's changed his approach toward me. For instance, inviting me to a conversation like this—clearly, he intends to pressure me," Dumbledore explained.
"How so? Did he plant seven or eight hundred axe-wielding men in his office?" Kasenhis asked.
"Who knows. Let's go in," Dumbledore shrugged casually and walked toward Fudge's office.
Neither of them had the habit of knocking. They pushed the door open and went straight in.
Fudge, who was using the cigar cutter built into his alchemical arm to trim a cigar, looked up at Dumbledore. He was just about to put on a fake smile when he noticed Kasenhis behind him—and instantly stopped smiling.
"Let's be frank, Cornelius," Dumbledore said as he sat down in the chair directly opposite Fudge, while Kasenhis took a seat on the sofa to the side.
Soon, someone knocked on the door and walked in. Kasenhis glanced over—Pink Toad Umbridge. At that moment, she was looking at the long sofa where Kasenhis was sitting, and Kasenhis also happened to see her…
One second later, he changed his posture, shifting from sitting to lying down, perfectly occupying the seat meant for Umbridge.
The latter could only stand behind Fudge with an awkward expression.
"Let me introduce…" Fudge was about to point at Umbridge when Dumbledore raised a hand to stop him. "Thanks to her fiasco, I'm quite familiar with her."
Fudge nodded without the slightest embarrassment. "Then I'll be direct, Dumbledore. I need your support."
Dumbledore shook his head. "I made this very clear to you. When you first became Minister for Magic, I already told you that I had no desire for politics."
"But now I'm asking for your help. I've done what you asked of me. I've acknowledged the Dark Lord's return. Now it's time for you to fulfill your promise!" Fudge said.
"That was not your original intention. You only admitted it because Barty Crouch forced you to. And you haven't done anything you should have done to resist Voldemort," Dumbledore shook his head.
"I've already done a lot! I even chose not to pursue the matter of whoever among you caused chaos in Azkaban! If I decide to investigate it, all of you will be sent to Azkaban!" Fudge raised his voice.
"Pfft!"
A sudden laugh sent ripples through the otherwise silent office.
"What do you think, Professor Kasenhis?" Umbridge asked stiffly as she forced herself to look at Kasenhis.
"Voldemort led the Death Eaters straight into Azkaban and took away all the Death Eaters loyal to him, while people with sense went there to stop him. And now you're all submissive toward Voldemort but strike hard at those people with sense. You're doing a great job as Minister!"
"Or is it that Voldemort is a bad guy, so whatever he does is justified?"
"And those people are good people, so they deserve to have wands pointed at them?" Kasenhis said, sitting up from the sofa without sparing any face.
Fudge jabbed Umbridge behind him with his elbow. She took a deep breath. "Whether it's Voldemort or those so-called righteous people, those people with insight, they all violated the laws set by the Ministry of Magic and must accept judgment and then sit in Azkaban until the end of their sentences."
"Then I suggest your Ministry try something like equal punishment. For example, first put Voldemort and his entire gang into Azkaban. Or just pass a law banning all wizards from resisting Voldemort, and anyone who does gets sent straight to Azkaban. Believe me, if you do that, the Ministry will become very lively," Kasenhis said, rolling his eyes.
"We will punish them equally. The only difference is which side we catch first. Or is it that Professor Kasenhis knows some leads?" Umbridge said stiffly, trying to use this to choke Kasenhis and shut him up.
Unfortunately for her, Kasenhis didn't react the way she expected—he didn't sullenly sit back down and shut up, but instead rolled his eyes again.
"I was the one who went to Azkaban this morning and fought Voldemort. Any problem with that?"
The office fell silent again—deathly silent.
Dumbledore, sitting opposite Fudge, looked calm and steady on the surface, but in reality his mind had already gone blank.
In theory, he hadn't come here today to clash with Fudge. He had only planned to discuss major matters with him. Calling Kasenhis along was simply because Fudge was afraid of Kasenhis; bringing him along would help with bargaining.
But Kasenhis was not cooperating at all.
He had absolutely no intention of bargaining.
Right now, it felt like he was deliberately stirring up trouble and looking for an opportunity to chop Fudge down.
"Ahem…" Realizing things were about to spiral out of control, Dumbledore coughed lightly. "Kasen, please be a bit calmer. We need to discuss serious matters now."
"Mm-hm." Kasenhis rolled his eyes and lay back down on the sofa again.
"Where were we?" Dumbledore turned back to Fudge and asked.
"We… we were talking about… you supporting me," Fudge said stiffly.
Dumbledore shook his head. "I've already said it. I won't support anyone, including you."
"Dumbledore… Albus Dumbledore, I need you, just as you also need me. Why is the academic atmosphere at Hogwarts now completely different from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons? Clearly, the other two schools have higher learning efficiency, so why did the Ministry and the Board of Governors agree to let Hogwarts maintain this… happy education?" Fudge began to speak.
Kasenhis naturally raised an eyebrow as well. He already understood Fudge's opening line.
What it truly meant: I'm about to start threatening you.
________
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