Chapter 265: Wizengamot Substitute
Both Dawlish and Williamson were Aurors who were close to Fudge.
In fact, the reason they were close to Fudge had a lot to do with their lack of particularly outstanding abilities. Most capable people disdained flattering Fudge. Only the lower limits of British Ministry Aurors like Dawlish and Williamson were happy to lick Fudge's boots.
But Fudge never expected that these two guys not only lacked ability but were also willing to be overly clever, turning a perfectly good situation into a mess with their complications.
This world never lacked fools, but no one ever admitted to being one of them.
Dawlish was exactly like this.
Watching Sean directly stand up and leave, followed closely by Snape and McGonagall, Dawlish's expression was ugly. However, he still had some sense and didn't dare make a move at Hogwarts. He could only swallow his anger and prepare to return and report the matter. In Dawlish's view, the Ministry would inevitably pressure Hogwarts, and at that time, whether Sean was willing or not, he would have to cooperate!
Sean bid farewell to Snape and Professor McGonagall and went directly to the Great Hall. It happened to be lunchtime, and Sean went straight to the Slytherin table. However, as soon as he sat down, quite a few Slytherins came to his side to express their congratulations.
At first, Sean was somewhat puzzled, but he quickly realised that the final exam results must have been released.
Sure enough, before long, Blaise and the others rushed over. Seeing that Sean was already sitting at the Slytherin table, they immediately sat beside him.
"Sean, congratulations."
"Congratulations for what?"
"Stop pretending. You must have guessed, right?"
Looking at Blaise, Sean shook his head and laughed: "I came first?"
"That's right, first in the entire year. The combined scores of required courses and the two best elective course grades earned you first place. Then the Gryffindor Know-It-All came second, and that Catherine from Ravenclaw came third."
An unsurprising result.
In terms of studying, Hermione's talent was indeed quite astonishing, and she was willing to put great effort into her studies, so this result wasn't unexpected. Of course, Sean had put in even more and greater effort than Hermione. Throughout his third year, Sean himself couldn't count how many mental restoration potions he had consumed at Hogwarts. He even vaguely felt that his body had developed slight resistance to mental restoration potions, so recently he had been alternating between using the old and new versions of mental restoration potions.
After lunch, with the new Wolfsbane Potion research basically finished, Sean focused most of his energy on his Transfiguration thesis.
You should know that yesterday when attending the Fir Club, Professor McGonagall had indirectly and tactfully reminded Sean that with the Potions thesis finished, it was time to focus energy on the Transfiguration thesis. Sean deeply agreed with this, so he put the Transfiguration thesis in second place, with continuing advanced studies in Alchemy in first place.
Sean sat in the library with Blaise beside him. However, unlike Sean, Blaise was listlessly reading a novel written by some wizard from the magical world. This was a novelist who had emerged after Lockhart entered Azkaban and had been popular in the magical world for the past year. Although in Sean's view, the level of this novel was just so-so.
"Sean, Headmaster Dumbledore is looking for you. He said the password is Fizzing Whizzbees."
Looking at Madam Pince, who had suddenly come looking for him, Blaise was startled and frantically tried to put away the novel in his hands. But he quickly realised he was in the library, not in a classroom, so there was no need to hide anything.
Madam Pince glanced at Blaise and completely ignored him. For someone with social anxiety like her, coming to relay Dumbledore's message was already quite difficult.
Looking at Madam Pince, Sean immediately stood up.
Regarding this usually cold librarian, Sean could be said to be very grateful to her. Without her, Sean would definitely have had no way to find Antonius and learn Alchemy from him.
"Madam Pince, thank you very much for what happened before."
Seeing Sean speaking to her, Madam Pince stepped back and gave Sean a very perfunctory nod before turning and disappearing behind nearby bookshelves.
Sean was helpless.
This social anxiety was really too severe.
"Blaise, I need to go to the headmaster's office. Just go back directly later."
"Alright, go ahead."
Sean had been very busy recently, and Blaise was already used to it.
Taking his things, he went directly to the headmaster's office, spoke the password, and entered.
When Sean arrived inside the headmaster's office, he immediately saw three Ministry officials sitting there. Seeing them, Sean immediately knew this was the Ministry sending people to make amends.
Sure enough, when Sean entered, Dumbledore immediately introduced: "Sean, please sit. Let me introduce you. These three are Ministry officials. This is the Head of the Ministry's Auror Office, Mr. Rufus Scrimgeour. He represents the Ministry in discussing matters regarding the new Wolfsbane Potion."
"I thought the people at noon were here to discuss this matter. The attitude and conditions they gave seemed to already represent the Ministry, didn't they?"
Rufus Scrimgeour had thick, long brown hair and looked like a lion. However, at this moment, he didn't have much of the dignity of an Auror Office Head, but instead smiled very gently at Sean: "The noon incident was indeed a work error by the Ministry. We will handle some of the noon problems and also provide compensation to you, Sean.
That matter we previously refused. Now I can agree to it on behalf of the Ministry. Actually, based on those theses you've published in The Golden Cauldron, you would qualify even for formal membership in the Wizengamot. But you also know that in wizarding society, relationships and family are factors that must be considered.
You're too young. So young that no one can imagine what you joining the Wizengamot would look like. But as compensation, the Ministry can help you become a Wizengamot reserve. As long as there's a vacant position, you can serve as a substitute. Are you satisfied with this compensation?"
"There are quite a few Wizengamot substitutes too."
"There has to be a beginning, doesn't there? Once there's a beginning, advancing in rank isn't uncommon."
Looking at Rufus Scrimgeour, Sean showed a smile and nodded: "Then, let me wish for our pleasant cooperation in advance."
"Pleasant cooperation!"