"Albus Dumbledore?"
Tonks stared at Scrimgeour like an idiot. Did he even hear what he was saying? Had he been hit by a curse and lost his mind?
"Are you sure?"
"I'm sure. While it's possible the other party used Polyjuice Potion, it's highly probable it was Dumbledore himself. He even admitted to casting the Black Magic Mark and attacking Mr. Crouch."
Seeing Scrimgeour's confident demeanor, Tonks didn't believe him in the slightest.
"You might as well say Dumbledore is the new Death Eater leader, Scrimgeour. I'll take you to St. Mungo's for a thorough check-up right now."
Scrimgeour, seeing Tonks's disbelief, didn't want to waste any more words with her and asked directly, "Are all entrances and fireplaces to the Ministry of Magic already sealed off?"
"They've all been sealed off."
After confirming with Tonks, Scrimgeour ordered the people present, "Dumbledore definitely hasn't escaped yet. Search!"
"But once we find him, what then? We're no match for Dumbledore."
Someone weakly asked after Scrimgeour's order was given.
Scrimgeour heard it, paused, and then seemed to deflate, "If you find him, just hold him off. As for the rest, we'll see."
......
While Scrimgeour and his team were extensively searching for Dumbledore's whereabouts in the Ministry of Magic, Tom had already been taken out of the Ministry by the House-elf Winky, who was under the Imperio, and returned to Crouch Manor.
"Heh, the Ministry of Magic probably never considered that a House-elf's Apparition could ignore anti-Apparition magic. Such a huge loophole, but it's just the arrogance of Wizards."
After scoffing at the Ministry of Magic, Tom stunned Winky and began to modify her memory.
After Tom's careful modification, Winky's memory of today became: she accidentally stumbled upon Dumbledore and a person completely cloaked in black robes doing unspeakable things in the small forest today. Dumbledore even cast a Deletus to enhance the mood. Winky, discovering this secret, fled in fear, but Dumbledore directly chased her to Crouch Manor and then attacked Mr. Crouch and her.
And her final memory was of Dumbledore stripping off Mr. Crouch's clothes, caressing him all over, and then pulling out a strand of his hair.
The flaws were glaring, completely illogical, and obviously fake, but it was enough to disgust a certain someone. Being able to achieve that made Tom very happy. If some fool actually believed this, then it would truly be entertaining.
After happily completing all of this, he returned to Hogsmeade and then went back to Hogwarts through a secret passage.
Counting the time, Tom realized he might just make it for dinner.
......
While Tom was leisurely enjoying his meal in the Great Hall, Scrimgeour was still frantically searching for Dumbledore's traces in the Ministry of Magic.
"Scrimgeour, still nothing here."
"All the Ministry of Magic employees on duty have been mobilized by us. The entire Ministry of Magic has been searched once, and Dumbledore is nowhere to be found."
"Scrimgeour, could you be mistaken? How could Dumbledore do such a thing?"
Scrimgeour irritably ran his hands through his hair. The many events that had happened today were already giving him a headache. Now, failing to find anyone while the Ministry of Magic was completely sealed off was making him extremely agitated.
What made him even more uncomfortable was that most people in the Ministry of Magic, like Tonks, thought his brain had been damaged by a curse. They simply didn't believe Dumbledore was the instigator of all this, only thinking it might be some Dark Wizard. And now, not finding anyone further deepened the crisis of trust in him.
Just as everyone was at a loss, an Auror suddenly proposed a hypothesis: "I heard Dumbledore has a Phoenix. Could Dumbledore have left through his Phoenix?"
Scrimgeour's eyes lit up upon hearing this. That made sense; it might be the most reasonable explanation so far.
Then, Scrimgeour shouted to the Aurors, "Let's go, we're going to Hogwarts to find Dumbledore."
As he was about to lead the group away, he suddenly stopped, "Oh, right, find someone to inform Deletus and Williamson to return to Crouch Manor and inspect it carefully to see if any clues were left behind."
......
Tom ate heartily, let out a satisfied burp, and collapsed onto the chair, not wanting to move.
Then, with a loud "Bang!", the Great Hall doors were heavily pushed open.
Scrimgeour rushed in, leading a group of Aurors.
Tom glanced at Scrimgeour and his group who had burst in, then looked at Dumbledore's empty seat at the faculty table, and couldn't help but curl his lips. There was a good show to watch.
Scrimgeour obviously noticed this as well, and his face turned very grim.
"Rufus, you've brought so many Aurors. Has something happened?"
With Dumbledore absent, Professor McGonagall, as the Deputy Principal, immediately stepped forward to engage with Scrimgeour.
Scrimgeour directly stated his purpose to Professor McGonagall: "Where is Dumbledore?"
"Albus? I haven't seen him all day. It seems he went out on business," Professor McGonagall thought for a moment and replied to Scrimgeour, "Is there something you need Albus for?"
"The Ministry of Magic was invaded today, and the culprit is Dumbledore."
No sooner had Scrimgeour finished speaking than Professor McGonagall cried out.
"That's impossible! You must be mistaken!"
"But that's the truth; I saw it with my own eyes. If there's truly a misunderstanding here, let me confront him face to face."
Staring at Professor McGonagall's gaze, which was like she was looking at a madman, Scrimgeour bit the bullet and spoke.
To help Dumbledore clear his name, Professor McGonagall led Scrimgeour and his group on another search around the Castle, but to no avail. This made Scrimgeour can't help but feel that Dumbledore had fled because of his guilt.
After having Tonks and a few others stay behind to block Dumbledore, Scrimgeour took the remaining people back to the Auror office, only to find Deletus and Williamson, who had already returned, staring at a Pensieve with complex expressions.
"What's going on?" Scrimgeour asked the two.
Hearing Scrimgeour's inquiry, the two finally looked up: "We found his House-elf inside Crouch Manor, and after extracting her memory, the specifics... well... you should see for yourself."
When Scrimgeour emerged from the memory, his face was like a palette, becoming incredibly colorful. The contents within were simply indescribable. Well, so this was Dumbledore's other side.
As for the authenticity of this memory, Scrimgeour, with his meager imagination, truly couldn't fathom which respectable person could concoct such an abstract memory!