After Dumbledore's funeral, all the students who attended the funeral boarded the Hogwarts Express and set off on their journey home.
Of course, Harry, Ron, and Ginny were exceptions. They did not leave on the express train, but stayed in school, preparing to leave with the members of the Order of the Phoenix later. Doing so would undoubtedly be safer and would also prevent the Death Eaters from attacking the train and causing trouble for the students.
At this moment, in Professor McGonagall's office, members of the Order of the Phoenix were holding an impromptu meeting to discuss Harry's safety and whereabouts.
"Harry, you really don't plan to go back to your Uncle Vernon's?"
Mad-Eye Moody was extremely troubled by this. Dumbledore's death disrupted many original plans and made everything a mess.
"No, there's no point in going back now." Harry shook his head. "When I come of age, I should go and complete my mission. I think I need to do something more meaningful in these few months."
"What mission?"
Mrs. Wesley still refused to give up.
"Sorry, this needs to be kept secret."
"I think Arthur and I have a right to know..."
"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I can't tell you if Dumbledore hasn't told anyone else." Harry knew this would happen, so he acted calmly.
"Don't look at us like that. We don't know either." Fred and George shrugged and said, "Maybe Albert knows. I suggest you ask him yourself."
"Why does Dumbledore think Anderson is more reliable than us?" Sturgis Podmore muttered in dissatisfaction.
"Don't be stupid, Sturgis." Mad-Eye glanced at him and reminded him, "Now is not the time to discuss this."
"The problem is that No. 12 Grimmauld Place is not safe now." Lupin frowned and reminded, "After Dumbledore's death, the secret keeper of No. 12 Grimmauld Place was transferred to us, and the protection there was greatly weakened. Especially with Snape's betrayal, No. 12 Grimmauld Place has become completely unsafe."
This is also the main reason why everyone thinks Harry needs to return to his Uncle Vernon's house to spend his last few months before adulthood.
"Didn't the Order of the Phoenix prepare other new safe houses?" Hermione suddenly raised her hand and asked, "I mean other safe houses protected by the Fidelius Charm."
There was a sudden strange silence in the office. Apparently the Order of the Phoenix had no other safe houses protected by the Fidelius Charm.
After all, apart from the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, which was originally under the Fidelius Curse, no other place was safe.
"Perhaps, we need a new, reliable safe house." Ron also felt incredible. "If No. 12 Grimmauld Place is no longer safe, I think such a place is necessary."
Dumbledore had been dead for days, didn't the other Order members realize that
No, of course they were aware of it, but they simply couldn't find a suitable house to serve as the new headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix.
Moreover, who will be the secret keeper is also a problem.
Sensing the atmosphere around them, Fred and George looked at each other and were a little surprised by the current situation.
In their impression, a safe house is very important.
This is not only to ensure that Harry has a safe and secret place to stay until the end of July this year when the heddle in his body completely disappears, but it is also related to the safety of the lives of the members of the Order of the Phoenix.
At least, when their lives are threatened, they can have a place to hide from danger without being endlessly hunted down by the mysterious man and the Death Eaters.
However, they were silent when talking about it.
"To be honest, everyone is confused now. Not only us, but the Ministry of Magic is also in chaos now." Kings came and tried to divert everyone's attention to avoid embarrassment for others.
Just now, all members of the Order of the Phoenix learned from Professor McGonagall that Dumbledore's death might have been voluntary, but they could never understand why Dumbledore did that. Maybe he really didn't have many years left to live. But after Dumbledore's death, the entire British wizarding world fell into chaos.
What exactly does he want
Everybody was confused!
This news also caused the entire Order of the Phoenix to fall into chaos.
Of course, the Order of the Phoenix needed a new safe house, especially after knowing that Harry had no intention of returning to Uncle Vernon's house to spend the time before he came of age, they realized that the Order of the Phoenix could not guarantee Harry's life.
"Can we go somewhere else? I mean the headquarters of the Defense Association." Ron turned his head and looked at the Weiss brothers. "That place should also be protected by the Fidelius Charm!"
"Albert probably didn't plan to let Harry go to the Defense Association headquarters." Fred shook his head and rejected Ron's proposal, "Otherwise, he would have mentioned this matter when they met just now."
"Why?"
Lupin also thought this was a good idea. It was said that the headquarters of the Defense Association was more secure than the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. Harry would undoubtedly be well protected wherever he went.
"I also think the Order of the Phoenix needs its own safe house. Maybe you can find an abandoned manor that no one uses and rebuild a headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix." George also thought it was unreliable that the Order of the Phoenix didn't have other safe houses. As far as he knew, the Defense Association had several similar places.
"But now..."
"Even if you say that, it's useless and meaningless. We are not secret keepers, and there is no way we can take you to the headquarters of the Defense Association." Fred shook his head and reminded everyone not to have unrealistic fantasies.
"Besides, we never thought we could convince him." George shook his head. "In fact, after Dumbledore's death, even Scrimgeour was abandoned."
Everyone present was silent.
"If Harry has no good place to go, then he can stay at his Uncle Vernon's house for the time being. At least it will be safe there until Harry comes of age. As for when he comes of age, I don't think Harry would want to stay at home, so..."
"What does Albert suggest?" interrupted Harry bluntly. He never wanted to go back to his Uncle Vernon's house and waste precious time.
Rebuilding a safe house is never a difficult task.
Fred and George stopped talking. They really felt that the Order of the Phoenix was unreliable. Especially after Dumbledore's death, the Order of the Phoenix was basically doomed.
No wonder Albert really looked down on it at the beginning. Why didn’t they notice this problem before
However, if you think about it carefully, if the Defense Association loses Albert, the situation will not be much better than the Order of the Phoenix.
"Then let's do this. There are many abandoned villages and unused manors in the UK anyway. We can just use the buildings abandoned by Muggles." Harry was also a little disappointed with the reaction of the Order of the Phoenix. They actually hesitated about such a thing. He really didn't understand what they were thinking.
"No problem!"
After saying that, Harry looked at Sirius.
After Dumbledore's death, the Order of the Phoenix must have needed to find a new headquarters.
"It should be... no problem." Sirius hesitated for a moment and nodded: "However, the secret keeper is indeed a problem."
"The secret keeper is actually very simple. Fred or I can do it when the time comes." George said calmly, "Let the secret keeper stay under the protection of another Fidelius Charm. His safety will be guaranteed."
"Will you be the secret keeper then?" Fred asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Scissors, rock-paper-scissors, of course," George said as a matter of course.
"All right."
"That's it, Harry. You go stay at your Uncle Vernon's house for a few days, and then we'll take you to the new safe house." Mrs. Weasley was still a little worried about Harry's safety.
"No, I'll just go to number 12 Grimmauld Place. My Uncle Vernon's house will definitely be under surveillance anyway, and it will be troublesome for me to leave there in the future. Besides, I plan to learn some more useful things from you at number 12 Grimmauld Place." Harry shook his head and said, "It shouldn't take much time to build a safe house anyway."
Several people looked at each other, but in the end no one refuted Harry's words. They all realized that Harry had grown up and matured.
During the meeting of the Order of the Phoenix, the British Ministry of Magic did not block the news of the mass escape from Azkaban. The news had already spread through newspapers, shocking the entire British wizarding community.
However, what was even more astonishing was Scrimgeour's speech at a press conference, in which he said helplessly that this day had simply arrived early.
No one expected that the mysterious man would help the prisoners of Azkaban escape en masse on the day of Dumbledore's funeral. Even if the Ministry of Magic had anticipated it from the beginning, it would have been unable to prevent it.
The entire wizarding world was shocked by Scrimgeour's remarks, and some people were calling for Scrimgeour to be replaced.
But after Scrimgeour is replaced, who will take over and who will step up to clean up the mess
No one.
Yes, no one.
At least, Scrimgeour has done a good job. Since he took office, he has been committed to combating and humanely destroying dark wizards and Death Eaters.
Who else is qualified to take his place
Especially after Dumbledore's death, many people realized that the current position of Minister of Magic is a hot potato.
As for what Scrimgeour said at the press conference: If you feel that I am no longer suitable to serve as Minister of Magic, I can abdicate immediately as long as you can choose a suitable one, it directly shut up those guys who still liked to complain.
I was afraid that Scrimgeour would really quit his position as Minister of Magic.
Who will clean up this mess then
It's not that Scrimgeour is willing to give up on himself, but the position of Minister of Magic is a pitfall for him now. Staying in the position will ultimately lead to death.
Since everyone might be dying soon, Scrimgeour would not tolerate other people. He decided to follow Albert's advice and leave the decision to the entire British wizarding community.
If he really loses his position as minister, he can just run away, or bring the entire British wizarding community together to fight Voldemort and the Death Eaters.
In fact, the majority of people support Scrimgeour.
At least the employees of the Ministry of Magic all supported Scrimgeour. Compared with the unpopular Fudge, they saw all the efforts Scrimgeour made. More importantly, Scrimgeour had been leading everyone from one victory to another.
If another jerk like Fudge appears after Scrimgeour leaves, everyone will be doomed.
"You don't seem very happy?" Piers Thicknesse raised his eyebrows and asked, "Everyone still supports you. I dare say that few ministers in history can enjoy such treatment."
"What's there to be happy about? Are you celebrating your approaching death?" Scrimgeour fiddled with the pocket watch in his hand with a strange smile on his face.
"Why do you say that?" Pierce was shocked. "Could it be that Mr. Anderson..."
"After Dumbledore's death, the You-Know-Who's next goal must be to control the Ministry of Magic." Scrimgeour leaned back in his armchair and said calmly, "And I am their biggest obstacle. Do you think I can survive in that situation?"
"You're giving up just like that?" Pierce couldn't understand. "We still have the most elite Auror team and the crisis response team. Even if the mysterious man..."
"From the very beginning, you got one thing wrong." Scrimgeour put down his pocket watch and looked at Pierce. "The entire British wizarding world has always been protected by Dumbledore. I didn't quite agree with Albert at the beginning, but you saw what happened today. The You-Know-Who released and controlled the prisoners in Azkaban without any scruples. He never took the British Ministry of Magic seriously at all."
"Our previous successes were only created because Albert Anderson needed them," Scrimgeour said self-deprecatingly. "He needed someone to help him take revenge on You-Know-Who and the Death Eaters, and the Ministry of Magic was responsible for this job."
"But everything changed after Dumbledore's death." Scrimgeour handed the pocket watch to Pierce and said, "I believe that the You-Know-Who will soon kill me in the line of duty, and then replace me with one of their own to control the British Ministry of Magic. By then, you should be the one to take over."
"Me?" Pierce was a little stunned. If the Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement of the Ministry of Magic took over, it would be correct, but...
"They will probably use the Imperius Curse to control you!" Scrimgeour said something that made Pierce's face twitch. "Those guys will probably force you to become a Death Eater, and then use you as a transition to help one of their own become the Minister of Magic."
"Are you starting to explain your final arrangements?" Pierce couldn't understand why Scrimgeour could say this so calmly.
"You can think of it this way. If possible, I would like to give the Death Eaters another try. If not, I can split up the crisis response team and let some of them join Albert Anderson and Harry Potter." Scrimgeour muttered to himself, "That guy must have a way, but I don't know what he is waiting for."
"It's a pity that the You-Know-Who won't give me the time and opportunity." Scrimgeour glanced at Pierce and said with a rather regretful tone, "Otherwise, things might not have become so bad."
(End of this volume)