A flicker of surprise crossed Dumbledore's eyes.
Clearly, he had not expected Fudge to reject him so directly.
In the past, although Fudge occasionally disagreed with him, he had never openly stood against him. Most of the time, the Minister would eventually compromise.
But tonight was different.
Dumbledore's gaze shifted slowly as he studied Fudge in silence.
"I understand, Cornelius."
After receiving the answer, Dumbledore did not press the matter any further.
Instead, he quietly left the Ministry of Magic and returned alone to the Headmaster's office at Hogwarts.
The old wizard lowered himself into his rocking chair, exhaustion visible across his face.
As the chair creaked gently back and forth, Dumbledore began replaying everything he knew about Fudge over the past few months.
Before tonight, there had been no obvious changes around the Minister.
Nothing unusual.
Nothing out of place.
The only true variable…
Was Lucien Grindelwald.
Yet the time Lucien and Fudge had actually spent together was incredibly short.
Even Dumbledore found it difficult to believe that someone's attitude could transform so drastically in mere minutes.
"Was it really you, Lucien?" he murmured softly.
"To influence Cornelius so deeply in such a short time…"
A faintly complicated look appeared in his eyes.
"As expected of Grindelwald's successor… Gellert."
.....
After completing his examination at St Mungo's, Lucien was personally escorted back to the manor by Mrs Weasley.
Vita had received news shortly after Lucien left the Ministry and had been waiting anxiously at the entrance ever since.
The moment she saw him return safely, the worry in her eyes finally eased.
She immediately quickened her pace and walked over.
"Lucien, are you alright?"
"I'm fine, Aunt Vita," Lucien replied reassuringly.
He then glanced toward Arthur and Molly beside him.
"Aunt Vita, this is Mr Arthur Weasley and Mrs Molly Weasley. They accompanied me to St Mungo's."
"Thank you for helping him," Vita said with a graceful smile as she nodded toward the couple.
"You're too polite, Madam Rozier," Arthur replied somewhat nervously.
Arthur clearly treated Vita with enormous respect, while Molly showed no such restraint whatsoever.
The moment they stepped inside, Molly immediately pulled Vita aside and began repeatedly lecturing her about Lucien's condition and future care.
Arthur stood nearby looking increasingly embarrassed.
"Thank you. I'll make sure to be careful," Vita answered seriously, showing no impatience despite the endless instructions.
Once the conversation finally ended, Arthur quickly spoke up.
"Now that Mr Grindelwald is home safely, we should be leaving."
Standing in front of Vita clearly placed him under considerable pressure.
Only after the Weasleys departed did Vita finally speak again.
"That Weasley boy is quite impressive," she remarked thoughtfully. "If I remember correctly, his wife is the sister of the Prewett brothers."
"The Prewetts?" Lucien raised an eyebrow slightly.
He barely remembered anything about Molly Weasley's past. The original records revealed very little beyond the fact that her brothers had once been exceptional fighters during the First Wizarding War.
"They were among the original members of the Order of the Phoenix," Vita explained calmly. "Both were killed by Death Eaters during the war."
"Not bad at all."
Lucien immediately understood why Vita knew so much.
There was no need to explain the significance of the Order of the Phoenix.
During his years living alongside Vita, Lucien had long noticed that although she appeared to have moved on from the past, the scars left behind by that era had never truly disappeared.
She paid extremely close attention to Dumbledore and the Order.
The information regarding the original members was likely memorised by heart.
"Aunt Vita," Lucien asked, changing the subject, "after I was taken away, were the Saints affected at all?"
"No." Vita shook her head. "After you were arrested, I left a small number of people behind to continue today's operations while gathering most of the Saints together to avoid anyone taking advantage of the chaos."
"I originally intended to go to the Ministry personally, but Lucius kept secretly sending messages."
A faint chill appeared in her eyes.
"Still, even I didn't expect Scrimgeour to be insane enough to actually use Veritaserum."
Even now, merely thinking about it sent a cold shiver through her heart.
This time it had only been Veritaserum.
Even if Lucien had been forced to drink it, the consequences would merely have caused trouble.
But what about next time?
Who could guarantee they would not use truly deadly methods?
"I miscalculated this matter as well," Lucien admitted quietly.
"I thought he would try ordinary interrogation methods. I didn't expect him to be so utterly shameless."
Even Lucien felt lingering fear after the fact.
He had planned nearly every possibility beforehand, but Scrimgeour's stubborn recklessness had completely exceeded expectations.
It was like trying to reason with a charging troll.
"Fortunately, you and Lucius reacted quickly enough," Vita said grimly. "Otherwise the consequences would have been unimaginable."
"Aunt Vita, remember to prepare gifts for everyone who came to help tonight."
Lucien sat down slowly as he spoke.
"There were many ordinary British wizards among them. We probably can't contact all of them individually, so hold special activities at the Saints' shop tomorrow instead. Consider it a return favour from the Saints."
"As for the Hogwarts professors and Dumbledore, I'll prepare their gifts personally."
He paused briefly before sighing.
"And regarding the Weasleys…"
A rare headache surfaced on Lucien's face.
Given Arthur and Molly's personalities, they would almost certainly refuse any expensive gifts he sent.
But if everyone else received something while the Weasleys received nothing, rumours would inevitably start spreading.
"Forget it. I'll personally visit the Burrow tomorrow instead. Just prepare some practical household items."
Vita nodded before suddenly smiling.
"By the way, today's sales at the shop were excellent."
Her tone carried completely undisguised excitement.
"We earned nearly ten thousand Galleons in a single day."
"In the past, that would've been close to an entire month's profit."
"If not for the incident at Gringotts disrupting business around noon, today's earnings might've doubled."
"Ten thousand?" Lucien nodded slightly. "That's acceptable."
Then he frowned.
"What exactly happened at Gringotts?"
Vita sneered coldly.
"What else could happen? The goblins are pretending nothing's wrong."
"Unfortunately for them, British wizards are furious about today's events."
"A huge number of people have already begun withdrawing their stored Galleons."
"No matter how desperately the goblins try to persuade them otherwise, nobody listens."
A trace of amusement appeared in her eyes.
"And if the goblins get too emotional, the wizards immediately ask, 'What's wrong? Planning a third goblin rebellion?'"
"The goblins become too frightened to say another word."
Lucien frowned slightly.
"No reaction from the pure-blood families?"
"Their wealth is too massive to transfer quickly," Vita explained calmly. "They won't move immediately."
"That makes sense."
After briefly discussing the gifts and tomorrow's arrangements for the Saints' shop, Lucien finally returned to his room.
The exhaustion he had been suppressing all night suddenly crashed over him like a tidal wave.
Clutching his pillow tightly, he fell into a deep sleep almost instantly.
.....
The next morning.
Carrying several carefully prepared gifts, Lucien arrived outside the Burrow and knocked gently on the crooked front door.
A handsome young wizard with messy red wolf-tail hair opened it.
The boy froze slightly after seeing him.
"You are… Mr Grindelwald?"
....
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