A man in a black robe appeared out of thin air. He looked up at the manor in front of him that was filled with cold fog, and flew towards the manor like a big bat. He shifted his gaze away from the Dementors guarding the gate, and walked into the manor through the thick fog with an expressionless face.
This used to be an old Muggle manor. Before Voldemort occupied it, the manor had been mostly abandoned. Only a middle-aged couple was employed to live here and help manage the manor, but they have "disappeared".
The man in black robes walked through the entrance hall and along the passage to the living room of the manor, which was already filled with silent Death Eaters.
"Severus," a deep, hoarse voice came from the head of the table, "you are late."
"Sorry Master."
Snape met those scarlet eyes with empty eyes and lowered his head.
"Take a seat, the meeting has just begun."
Voldemort turned his eyes away from Snape and began today's important meeting.
"Lucius, you are Cornelius Fudge's old friend. What do you think is the possibility that he will surrender?" Voldemort turned his gaze directly to Lucius Malfoy. As an old friend of Fudge, Lucius Malfoy had more say in Cornelius Fudge's affairs.
"The current Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, is a weak man. If we use covert means, such as coercion, inducement, or the Imperius Curse to transform and control him, there is a chance that Cornelius Fudge will stand on our side."
Lucius Malfoy lowered his head even lower, not daring to look directly into Voldemort's scarlet eyes.
"But it may be difficult to get Fudge to openly stand on our side. I think no matter how weak Fudge is, he would not dare to do that, unless we use the Imperius Curse to control him, but that would not be very meaningful."
"Cornelly Fudge is weak. We can give Fudge a warning and put pressure on him. Maybe... we can destroy an iconic Muggle building or massacre Muggles to put pressure on Fudge and make him submit to his master." Yaxley glanced at Malfoy and offered his opinion.
"Although Cornelius Fudge has a weak character, it does not mean that he will give in. Many wizards in the current wizarding world believe that Fudge is a servant of his master, and Fudge will definitely do his best to distance himself from this," Lucius reminded. He has had the longest contact with Fudge and knows the character and weaknesses of this weak minister very well.
"We can transform Fudge," Yaxley said without hesitation.
"It's meaningless to control Cornelius Fudge. He has done too many terrible things in the past year. Now the entire wizarding world is demanding that Fudge step down." Lucius Malfoy shook his head. "As far as I know, the Ministry of Magic has completely given up on Fudge. Reforming him will only accelerate this process and make the Ministry of Magic wary of it."
"They believe that Amelia Bones is likely to take over Fudge's position and become the new Minister. Scrimgeour even had the Aurors strengthen the protection of Amelia Bones. They also believe that we will take action against Amelia Bones."
There is not a single Death Eater sitting here who doesn't hate that woman Amelia Bones.
"I think Amelia Bones should not be allowed to become the new Minister. That would be detrimental to our infiltration of the Ministry of Magic. We should even make her disappear before she is nominated as the new Minister." Yaxley was also very wary and disgusted with Amelia Bones.
"The Bones are a very ancient family. It is a pity that they have taken the wrong path and chosen to go against us." Voldemort said softly, "Since she has chosen to become a stumbling block on our way forward, we can only kick it away. I will deal with her personally to show my respect for this ancient family name."
"Before we take action, we need to understand the situation surrounding Amelia Bones. If the assassination fails, it will be much more difficult to kill her."
"Master, the Order of the Phoenix seems to have determined that we would take action against Amelia Bones a long time ago." Snape interrupted and reminded Voldemort after he finished speaking: "They sent people to strengthen the protection of Amelia Bones a long time ago. I suspect that this is most likely the work of Anderson. Maybe he predicted Amelia Bones' death a long time ago and provided the news to the Order of the Phoenix."
"Albert Anderson." Voldemort whispered the name.
"He has a good relationship with Dumbledore, and it is said that Dumbledore has also received an invitation." Snape continued
"This mudblood has indeed caused us a lot of trouble." Voldemort turned his head to look at Snape and asked, "Severus, I hope you can bring us some good news."
"He will be married in mid-July," said Snape.
"Mid-July?" Voldemort was not pleased with that.
"He was well prepared. All the invited guests don't know the exact time." Snape took out a silver card from his robe pocket and placed it on the table, explaining in a low voice: "Many professors at Hogwarts have received invitations, but not me. Anderson didn't trust me from the beginning. This is the invitation."
"Invitation?"
Everyone's eyes fell on the silver card, expressing doubt about Snape's words.
"This is a magical card. It is said that it will reveal the exact time and place of the wedding at a certain point in time." Snape explained to Voldemort, "Anderson is very vigilant. I suspect he knew from the beginning that we were targeting him."
"Master, we should capture that old woman McDougal and interrogate her. We will definitely be able to learn the exact time and place." Bellatrix raised her arm and volunteered, "That old woman actually allowed her daughter to marry a mudblood. It is simply a shame for the purebloods. Why don't I do it..."
"McDougal doesn't live at home, but is hiding somewhere. She doesn't appear anywhere else except for going to work at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries every day." Snape glanced at the slightly crazy Bellatrix and reminded her softly, "Unless you plan to lead people to rush into St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries to arrest people, I have to remind you that the other party has been prepared."
"It only takes a few minutes for me to capture that old woman McDougal from St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries." Bellatrix didn't care about Snape's words at all. Instead, she was eager to try. It was obvious that she didn't take breaking into St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries and arresting people seriously at all.
"Although I don't want to admit it, Anderson is indeed a big trouble." Snape frowned and reminded, "I have taught him for seven years and I know his level very well. If you look down on him just because he is a mud farmer, you will definitely suffer a great loss."
"Master," Yaxley interrupted, "according to the information I recently received, Scrimgeour hopes to use the Mudblood's prophetic ability to find us."
Voldemort fell into a brief silence, recalling some unpleasant memories. Not long ago, the lair was wiped out by the Aurors. All signs indicated that Scrimgeour was likely to have found the specific location through the mudblood named Anderson.
"No matter what method is used, we must get rid of that Mudblood before he becomes a problem for us." Voldemort threw the silver card lightly, and the card landed in front of Lucius Malfoy. "Don't let me down again, Lucius, send a surprise to that Mudblood for me."
"I will get rid of that Mudblood, I promise, but..." Lucius Malfoy took the silver card and hesitated for a moment before saying, "If Dumbledore also attends the wedding, it will not be easy to kill the Mudblood under his nose."
Voldemort suspected that Dumbledore's blocking of the door earlier was also related to the Mudblood's prophecy
His Nagini, his Horcrux.
“I don’t care what means you use, get rid of that Mudblood before he causes us trouble. I allow you to mobilize all your strength.” The murderous aura emanating from Voldemort made the other Death Eaters around him feel suffocated. “As for Dumbledore, I will deal with him personally.”
"Yes, master." Lucius Malfoy said this, but he did not have much confidence in his heart. He knew very well how difficult Albert Anderson was. He tried to murder Anderson last time and suffered repeated failures. However, Lucius Malfoy could not and dared not refuse Voldemort's order.
After failing in his last mission and being captured, he used the portkey to help the captured Death Eaters escape from Azkaban prison.
Although the Dark Lord did not hold him accountable for his failure, Lucius Malfoy knew that Voldemort blamed him for the destruction of the prophecy because he was in charge of the entire plan. Even though the cause of the failure was not his fault, Lucius still could not avoid having to bear the consequences of failure.
"First, warn Cornelius Fudge. If he is unwilling to stand on our side, then teach those hypocritical guys a painful lesson." Voldemort made the final decision. "Yaxley, I need you to find out the security situation around Amelia Bones as soon as possible. Lucius, you will handle the matter of the Mudblood. Severus, I need you to continue to monitor Dumbledore and provide us with more information about the Order of the Phoenix."
"Yes, Master!"
"Master, I have found Ingor Karkaroff." Yaxley said after Voldemort finished his important task. "The traitor is hiding in a seaside cottage somewhere in the north."
"Very good, very good, I will execute the traitor myself." There was a dangerous light flashing in Voldemort's scarlet eyes.
He, Voldemort, now wanted to kill people.
…
The next day, Cornelius Fudge returned to the office under everyone's strange looks. Ever since the news of Voldemort's resurrection spread, his situation became worse and worse. Both his former accomplices and former political enemies worked together to try to drive him out of office.
Sometimes Fudge wondered whether he should quit his job.
But he was very worried that he would be thrown into Azkaban prison as soon as he left his job.
Even if he really has to leave early, he must say hello to the next minister, and Fudge believes that his years of ministerial experience can also provide help to the new minister.
Beautiful idea.
But the next minister is likely to be Amelia Bones.
She was a serious, brave, and fair lady.
Fudge was not sure he could convince the other party.
There was a hurried knock on the door outside the office.
Fudge's right-hand man, Arthur Weiss, hurried into the office and reported breathlessly, "Minister, the Brockdale Bridge has collapsed. The mysterious man has collapsed the Brockdale Bridge."
"Is it finally... starting?"
Fudge's body trembled slightly. He had expected such a day to come ever since Voldemort's return, but he didn't expect it to come so early.
"Cornelly Fudge, I am speaking directly to you now."
At this moment, a high-pitched, cold voice echoed between the walls and the floor. All employees of the Ministry of Magic could hear Voldemort's voice. Those who didn't know would think that Voldemort was in the Ministry of Magic now.
"Throw away your hypocrisy and stand with me, and I will let you remain as Minister. If you are not willing to stand with me, a large number of Muggles will die because of you. That bridge is just a warning."
Fudge's face was extremely pale. Voldemort's words just now had pushed him into a desperate situation.
"Minister, are you okay?" Percy quickly reached out to support the staggering Fudge, and glanced at the Ministry of Magic which was in chaos.
"I'm fine, I'm fine." Fudge said weakly. His mind was blank and he didn't know what to do.
"Hold a press conference." Amelia Bones came over, looked at the weak Fudge, frowned slightly and reminded, "Now, we must clarify it immediately."
"Yes, yes, this matter must be clarified immediately." Fudge nodded quickly and said, "Wes, come here, please."
"Leave it to me, Minister."
"Are you okay?" Bones asked.
"Maybe I should resign myself." Fudge's face was bitter. He knew very well that he was finished. It would be useless even if he expressed his position immediately, unless he surrendered to Voldemort. No, even if he surrendered, he would not be able to continue to serve as Minister of Magic.
Bones looked at Fudge and fell into a brief silence. She knew what Fudge wanted to say, but she didn't know how to clean up the mess Fudge left behind.
"As you all should have heard, we are facing unprecedented challenges." Fudge came to the hall and said to all the employees of the Ministry of Magic, "Since the resurrection of the mysterious man, I have expected this terrible day to come, but I will not succumb to it, and the Ministry of Magic will not succumb to such threats..."
Fudge's speech was indeed met with indifference.
"Minister, what measures do you plan to take?"
"Minister, when will you leave?"
"Minister, Minister..."
"I will resign as soon as everyone elects the next minister." Fudge's face was bitter. He knew he had to give an explanation today.
The entire wizarding world has been clamoring for him to resign for a long time.
If a large number of Muggles were massacred because of him... Fudge didn't dare to think about it anymore. Perhaps he should resign early and leave this mess to others.
After receiving Fudge's promise to resign, the employees of the Ministry of Magic all breathed a sigh of relief. They all hoped that the new minister could lead everyone through the current crisis.
But they were overthinking it.
Even Dumbledore couldn't solve the current problem, let alone the Ministry of Magic who loved intrigue. In their eyes, their own interests were the most important.