As the night progressed, the storm became more violent.
The lights in the Hogwarts headmaster's office were still on, and Dumbledore was sitting at his desk, flipping through the latest issue of Transfiguration Today by candlelight.
Next to the desk, a copy of the Daily Prophet was casually spread out. By candlelight, one could clearly read the contents of the newspaper:
Arthur Weasley, Head of the Ministry's Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Department, was fined fifty Galleons for enchanting a Muggle car.
…
A bewitched car crashed at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and one of the school's directors, Mr Lucius Malfoy, recently called Mr Weasley and demanded his immediate resignation.
"Mr Weasley has brought the Ministry of Magic into disrepute," Malfoy told our reporter.
…
Mr. Weasley did not respond to our reporter, but his wife told the reporter to leave or she would release her ghouls to bite them.
…
There is no doubt that Arthur Weasley was in trouble and he was targeted by a group of people.
Of course, this had a lot to do with the fact that some of Arthur's actions angered the pure-blood wizards headed by Malfoy.
To be honest, the Office for the Prohibition of Misuse of Muggle Artifacts was not highly regarded in the Ministry of Magic, and the fact that Arthur was able to obtain approval for a search warrant was itself suspicious.
You have to know that pure-blood wizards hold important positions in the Ministry of Magic, and it is impossible for them to allow officials of the Ministry of Magic to harass them at will.
It was obvious that the search warrant incident was intentional and someone pushed it from behind.
Currently, Arthur's situation is very bad. Although he has not been expelled from the Ministry of Magic for some reasons, the suspension review is still ongoing.
Many wizards who were at odds with Arthur hoped that Arthur Weasley would be expelled from the Ministry of Magic in order to prevent the passage of the Muggle Protection Act, which he drafted. Many pure-blood wizards felt that they were offended by this law.
Just now, Dumbledore wrote a letter to Fudge, agreeing to temporarily delay the passage of the Muggle Protection Act in order to persuade the other party to allow Arthur to continue to stay in the Ministry of Magic as the director of the Office for the Prohibition of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts.
In fact, Fudge was also troubled by this matter.
No wizard was willing to take over the Office for the Prohibition of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts. The salary for this position was average, the benefits were not high, it was extremely busy, and it required frequent dealings with Muggles. Most importantly, there were only two wizards in this position.
Perhaps only a weirdo like Arthur would like this kind of job.
What made Dumbledore more upset was actually something else.
This morning, Dumbledore received a note from Anderson, which contained something that Dumbledore was extremely concerned about.
Harry Potter can hear sounds that ordinary people cannot hear.
This does not bode well in the wizarding world.
Moreover, the note ended with the following words: Something bad might happen.
Bad things
Dumbledore couldn't tell whether these words were true or not, but they were undoubtedly not good.
"Hearing voices that others can't hear, and something bad happening?" When Dumbledore was trying to connect the two things, there was a sudden knock on the door.
Dumbledore put down the magazine, stood up puzzledly, walked over and opened the door, and found that the person coming was Professor McGonagall.
Professor McGonagall placed a document on her desk.
"Anything else?" Dumbledore saw that Professor McGonagall seemed to have something to say.
"I don't know if you have paid attention to Professor Lockhart." Professor McGonagall said with a hint of dissatisfaction in her tone, "He made a mess of the Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Many students came to us to complain about it."
In the past, after Lockhart became famous for his books, the professors at Hogwarts felt that they might have misjudged him and thought that he was contributing to the fight against the dark arts.
As a result, Lockhart's true nature was exposed only one month after he arrived at Hogwarts, and everyone had seen his true colors.
Lockhart was still the same Lockhart who had attended Hogwarts more than a decade ago. He hadn't changed at all, and they had never misjudged him.
"I know it's hard to find a professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, but what Professor Lockhart did is really unacceptable." Professor McGonagall reminded, "In almost all classes, he reads the contents of the book to the students and asks them to perform the scenes on stage. I find it hard to imagine that students can learn anything from this vain reputation-seeker."
"You can learn a lot from a bad teacher," Dumbledore said calmly, "what not to do and what not to be."
Professor McGonagall was silent. She felt that what Professor Dumbledore said did make some sense, but this would require the students to take a semester of Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Isn't the price a bit too high
"I don't think you would want someone like Lockhart to appear among your students." Dumbledore smiled. "Besides, I really can't find a more suitable candidate for the time being. Minerva, you should also know that since Quirrell's death, no one is willing to come to Hogwarts to be the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. Its reputation is really too bad."
"Okay, I'll tell everyone what you mean." Professor McGonagall sighed and left the headmaster's office. He actually knew that Dumbledore would always find a way to convince him.
Looking at Professor McGonagall's departing back, Dumbledore fell into a brief silence. Since he rejected Voldemort, no Defense Against the Dark Arts professor could teach for more than a year.
Many people say this class is cursed.
Actually, this statement is not wrong. Once or twice can be an accident... but fifty times cannot be an accident.
As for what Lockhart did, Dumbledore actually knew about it a long time ago. After seeing some familiar content in Lockhart's book, he took the time to visit his old friend. After noticing the other party's forgetfulness and confusion, he realized that this was the sequelae of a powerful forgetfulness spell.
Lockhart was stealing someone else's work.
Dumbledore did not bother to expose the scam of this internationally renowned writer, and even if he did expose Lockhart in the end, it would not have been of much significance.
People who have been cast with a strong forgetfulness spell usually find it difficult to return to normal, and breaking the forgetfulness spell will only make everything worse.
Of course, Dumbledore did not intend to let Lockhart go just like that. He had already thought of a way to expose his scam.
Yes, as long as Lockhart is placed into a normal school life, his deception will gradually be exposed.
When Lockhart was studying at Hogwarts, Dumbledore was already the headmaster of the school. He knew this student who was once hated by professors and students all too well.
Therefore, Dumbledore tried his best to invite Lockhart to be the professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts. It happened that it was difficult to find a professor for this course every year, and Dumbledore believed that the curse of Defense Against the Dark Arts could also make Lockhart suffer.
As it turned out, this trick was indeed very effective, and everyone has gradually seen what kind of person Lockhart is.