The Phoenix's flames enveloped the three, and when they opened their eyes, they were already in the Minister's office at the Ministry of Magic.
"Dumbledore! You! Why didn't you knock? I'm swamped with things right now. If your visit isn't extremely urgent, please leave!"
Fudge reeked of smoke and fire, and the bird's nest on his head looked like it hadn't been washed in days.
"In a magical society of four thousand people, what important matters could the Ministry of Magic possibly have?" Kaisen found a sofa, sat down with his arms crossed, and grumbled.
"Hmph! The Azkaban prisoner, Sirius Black, has escaped from Azkaban! Isn't that important enough?!" Fudge, hearing Kaisen's sarcastic tone, immediately roared at him.
Dumbledore and Hagrid's expressions changed upon hearing that name, but Kaisen was different; he considered him just another prisoner from Azkaban and immediately retorted.
"I didn't rescue Sirius! If you think my saying the Ministry of Magic has nothing to do offends you, then please stick to the facts instead of assaulting my eardrums with your high-decibel voice."
Hagrid timely stepped in front of Kaisen; he wasn't sure if Fudge would pull out his wand the next moment, or if what he was doing now would escalate the conflict, but he just felt that Kaisen definitely wouldn't want to see Fudge's face right now.
"...What do you want?" Fudge looked at Hagrid, who stood in front of him like a small mountain, then at Dumbledore, who was still standing in the center of the office, and took a deep breath before speaking.
"The real culprit in Myrtle's case has been caught, and Hagrid is innocent," Dumbledore said concisely.
"Alright, I need my Ministry of Magic personnel to go and see the real culprit and bring the culprit to Azkaban."
"You can see it, but the culprit is already dead and has become Severus Snape's private collection," Dumbledore explained.
Fudge's face suddenly turned pale: "He finally reached this point."
"The culprit is a Basilisk, the one from the Hogwarts Chamber of Secrets legend. Now the Basilisk is dead and has become Severus's Potion material," Kaisen explained, seeing that Fudge had clearly misunderstood.
This effectively prevented Snape's reputation from being harmed.
"Go to Umbridge in the Deputy Minister's office next door..."
"Not Umbridge," Kaisen instinctively said.
"...Then go to Scrimgeour in the Auror Office; he will handle this. Now please don't bother me; I truly have a lot of vexing matters right now," Fudge said, scratching his thinning hair.
"...How did Sirius escape from Azkaban?" Dumbledore asked.
"I don't know. Maybe someone rescued him, maybe there was an inside man, or a Portkey was leaked, or he accidentally picked up a discarded wand and fixed it; it's not impossible..." Fudge replied.
"How do you plan to resolve it?" Dumbledore continued to ask.
"We are currently investigating security vulnerabilities within Azkaban, examining all Aurors, Hit-Wizards, and prisoners who have entered and exited Azkaban within the past year."
"This matter is currently under secret investigation to avoid unnecessary panic. It would be best if this matter is resolved before Hogwarts closes for the holidays; if not, we will have no choice but to issue a wanted poster," Fudge replied.
"...Well done. Why do you think Sirius came out?" Dumbledore, uncharacteristically, praised Fudge's normal operation.
"Why... does one need a reason to escape from Azkaban? Of course, it's for freedom."
"No, no, let me rephrase. Where do you think Sirius will go after leaving Azkaban?"
"His home, or perhaps his former Death Eater comrades. If he didn't get a wand inside Azkaban, he'll certainly need one once he's out," Fudge replied.
"Then what will he do after he gets a wand? What is the thing he wants to do most?" Dumbledore continued to ask.
"..."
"Think about how he got in."
"...He wants to harm Harry Potter!" Fudge finally came to this conclusion, and Kaisen, sitting in the corner, suddenly coughed.
He quickly pulled Hagrid over: "Who is this Sirius, and why does he want to harm Harry?"
Hagrid's face was a bit grim: "In short... he's a traitor, a coward. He's more despicable than a true Death Eater! James and Lily were so good to him, so close, and Pettigrew was his good friend, and he still..."
"Wait, wait, Hagrid, get to the point," Kaisen said, listening to Hagrid's increasingly long-winded speech, truly fearing that if he didn't interrupt Hagrid, he might talk until the Ministry of Magic closed for the day, so he immediately cut him off.
...He's a Death Eater, so naturally, he wants to kill You-Know-Who's enemy, Harry Potter."
"Got it," Kaisen nodded, while Dumbledore on the other side continued to talk to Fudge.
"If we still can't find Sirius before the start of term, the Ministry of Magic will have no choice but to station Dementors at Hogwarts."
Kaisen, listening to Fudge's outrageous statement, rolled his eyes helplessly.
He now immensely regretted that Dumbledore was a civilized man; if his temper were just a little more explosive, he would have seen Dumbledore give Fudge a huge slap and shove his head into the wall.
Instead of just listening to Dumbledore's verbal sparring with Fudge as it was now.
Then the next second's scene completely stunned him.
Dumbledore's eyes darted around, his mind filled with who knew what thoughts.
"Alright."
Kaisen, who was bored to the point of picking at his fingernails in the corner, almost pulled his own fingernail off. Just as he was about to transform into a righteous judge and personally step forward to give Dumbledore a few big slaps, to make him act less crazy next time, Dumbledore seemed to guess Kaisen's thoughts.
He quickly added: "I think this is a very good opportunity to encourage them to learn the Patronus Charm."
"Hagrid, what is the Patronus Charm? Is it easy to learn?" Kaisen asked, putting down the palm he was about to raise.
"The Patronus Charm is a spell that can block and repel Dementors. As for whether it's easy to learn... I don't know, I don't know this spell."
Kaisen nodded: "So it's very difficult to learn, right?" Kaisen nodded, slowly stood up, shook his hand, and began to walk towards Dumbledore.
Danger!
[Dumbledore]
[(Danger, Dumbledore) If you don't understand this part, you can simulate it in your mind. Dumbledore has a red (Danger) sign above his head, so these characters are iconic, not ideographic.]
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