Since Fudge became Minister of Magic, he had never been so angry as he was now. It was not because the Defense Guide magazine predicted that he would be driven out of office by the masses next year, but because someone tried to use the Defense Guide to push him into a dead end.
Is Voldemort really back
Fudge really didn't want to discuss this issue with anyone, because the conclusion would always be that "Voldemort is back" was just a lie.
This is politically correct.
After throwing a tantrum at everyone outside, Fudge slammed the door of the Minister's office.
He angrily threw the crumpled "Defense Guide" in his hand to the ground, stomped on it a few times, but still not satisfied, so he picked up the magazine and tore it into pieces.
What is happening is that there will be a large-scale prison break in Azkaban, and what is happening is that Cornelius Fudge will be driven out of office by the masses next year.
"Damn Dumbledore, damn it, damn it all!"
Fudge could never have imagined that Dumbledore would fight back like this.
He knew very well that if the news of "Voldemort's return" was true, then the magazine in front of him would completely push him into a corner, especially as long as some of the so-called prophecies in it came true, people would believe the contents of the magazine without a doubt.
Will it come true
Fudge didn't know, but he didn't want to gamble, because if he lost, he would be really finished, and perhaps he would be driven out of power by the people as predicted in the magazine.
Then, his reputation fell into disrepute.
This is all Dumbledore's conspiracy!
Sirius Black's magazine
Fudge wouldn't believe such nonsense. If Dumbledore wasn't behind the scenes controlling the situation, would Sirius Black have the brains to do this
How could Sirius Black dare to spread these things without Dumbledore's permission
This is definitely Dumbledore's conspiracy!
Just as Fudge was venting his anger, there was a knock on the office door. It was hard to believe that someone would be so tactless as to disturb his angry boss at this time.
"Minister, we have closed down..." Percy looked at Fudge, his eyes swept across the fragments of the Defense Guide magazine on the ground, and continued to report to him: "...the magazine that published the Defense Guide, but failed to find Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. According to the descriptions of the surrounding shops, the two have not appeared in the magazine for a long time, and the rent of that shop is about to expire. We believe that this is a premeditated action. I suggest that Sirius Black and Remus Lupin be fined, and the Aurors can even arrest them and imprison them in Azkaban prison for several months in the name of disturbing public order, and impose a heavy fine of Galleons."
"Just a few months?"
Fudge yelled at Percy, clearly unhappy with the outcome.
"Yes, a few months at most." Percy explained in a low voice, "Mr. Minister, they are first-time offenders. The Department of Magical Law Enforcement of the Ministry of Magic will not sentence them to a serious crime. The lightest punishment may be a fine. However, as long as they pay the fine, if they commit the crime again, they can be imprisoned in Azkaban in the name of repeated offenses. By then, the entire wizarding world will be at peace."
"Very good, you go and communicate with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement of the Ministry of Magic." Fudge finally agreed to Percy's proposal. Although he wanted to throw Black and Lupin into Azkaban prison, Fudge was not blinded by anger. He knew very well that even if the case went to court, he would only become a laughing stock.
"I remember Remus Lupin was a werewolf!" Fudge suddenly said when Percy turned around and was about to leave.
"Yes sir, Remus Lupin is indeed a werewolf, and he once served as the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts." Percy replied respectfully.
"Send a message to the Daily Prophet, asking them to draw the line at werewolves, reminding them that Remus Lupin was once a member of Hogwarts, and... have Dolores Umbridge come to me."
"I'll do it right away."
Percy wrote down a few things Fudge had told him to do and hurried out of the minister's office.
"Minister, you're looking for me?"
A moment later, Umbridge's shrill voice sounded outside the Minister of Magic's office.
"Have you read the magazine 'Defense Guide'?" Fudge asked.
"I haven't read it. But I heard some bad rumors." Umbridge had a fake smile on her face and followed Fudge's train of thought, "I heard that this magazine was founded by a werewolf named Remus Lupin. Perhaps we should put him on the wanted list. Who knows if those werewolves are doing some illegal underground activities."
"Remus Lupin was a professor at Hogwarts," Fudge hinted.
"Oh, my God, this is not a good idea." Umbridge said in an exaggerated tone, "If the parents knew, they would be very unhappy. No one wants their children to be with a werewolf. It's too dangerous."
"Dumbledore is completely irresponsible to his students. I also heard that he appointed someone with giant ancestry as professor of Care of Magical Creatures. I really don't know what he was thinking." Fudge continued to hint.
Umbridge seemed to have guessed something, and said with a smile: "The current situation at Hogwarts is indeed disturbing."
"Dumbledore seems to have not found a suitable candidate for the professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts. I hope you will go to Hogwarts to take the position and save the declining education level of Hogwarts." Fudge stated his purpose of looking for Umbridge. He knew what kind of person Umbridge was and that she had a bad reputation, but so what? As long as she could complete her tasks excellently, she would be an excellent subordinate.
Lately, Fudge had found that there weren't many people he could trust at the Ministry of Magic.
"Oh, of course." Umbridge agreed with a smile, "But Dumbledore may not agree."
"I will tell him about this and he will agree." Fudge said confidently.
In fact, the Ministry of Magic had wanted to place professors in Hogwarts a long time ago, but all of them were firmly rejected by Dumbledore.
This was a good opportunity, and he was confident that he could make Dumbledore compromise.
"I won't let you down." Umbridge nodded and left. She certainly knew what Fudge wanted to do, and this was also a good opportunity for her.
Umbridge saw her chance to move up.
She knew very well how to please Fudge, how to get close to the powerful man in the Ministry of Magic, and even more so how to make Fudge believe that she was one of the few people he could trust.
As long as she gained Fudge's trust, she would be close to a higher position in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
Umbridge became the Director of the Improper Use of Magic Office before she was 30 years old, and had been in this position for so many years, so she naturally had no lack of ability, means and vision.
She was also well aware that the Ministry of Magic had always wanted to have a foothold in Hogwarts.
…
…
12 Grimmauld Place, headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix.
Sirius and Remus were sitting at the table discussing the news in the latest issue of the Daily Prophet.
Because of the publication of the Defense Guide, they are all in trouble and may face heavy fines.
"I knew this would happen." Remus frowned and said, "Fudge must be furious. I wonder if this will cause trouble for Dumbledore."
"What does this have to do with Professor Dumbledore?" Ginny asked in confusion.
"No matter what happens now, Fudge will think it was Dumbledore's order. Come on, Remus, do you think that even if we don't do this, Fudge will stop discrediting Dumbledore? No, he won't stop. If we do nothing, it would be a manifestation of cowardice and incompetence. We need to let everyone understand their current situation, instead of burying their heads in the ground like Fudge, otherwise they will be dead when danger comes?" Sirius read the exaggerated report in the Daily Prophet. He didn't seem angry at all, but instead had an expression as if it was expected.
"Perhaps we should try a different approach," Lupin suggested, frowning.
"Don't worry, Remus, this is just a trick of the Ministry of Magic, a little intimidation." Sirius said lightly, not taking the contents of the Daily Prophet seriously at all.
"Thousands of Galleons. Are you sure this is correct, or has the Ministry of Magic gone completely crazy?"
Ron was shocked when he saw the news about the closure of the Defense Guide and the high fines that Sirius and Lupin would face. He said to Sirius in disbelief, "As far as I know, fifty Galleons is already a high fine."
"It just says here that 'may face', which means that the so-called fine of thousands of Galleons is just a random guess made by the Daily Prophet." Hermione took the newspaper, read it carefully, and corrected Ron's wrong statement.
"Someone once told me that the Ministry of Magic is very lenient towards first-time offenders who are not serious offenders, at least they will not impose too severe a punishment." Sirius explained to everyone with a smile, "That is to say, even if we are caught now, we will only be fined 50 Galleons at most. It doesn't matter, Remus, I don't need this little money. If you are really caught and fined one day, I can help you pay the fine first."
"That's not the question."
"No, that's the problem, because we didn't break any law at all. Fudge deliberately made trouble for us. He just wanted to use his power to make us submit because he was afraid. Our magazine can send him to hell." After noticing that everyone was looking at him, Sirius shrugged and said, "At least he can step down with a bad reputation. By then, he will never be able to raise his head again in his life."
"Isn't that too harsh?" Hermione said with a frown.
"Come on Hermione, do you have to wait until Harry is locked up in Azkaban before you wake up?" Sirius sneered, "Don't be merciful to the wrong person, otherwise you may end up killing someone else."
"Sirius." Remus glared at Sirius in dissatisfaction.
"I just want her to suffer less in the future. The adult world is cruel, especially if there is no one to protect her."
Hermione remembered Albert saying something similar, thinking he was really naive.
Ignoring the looks of others, Sirius continued, "This is an unequal political struggle, and political struggles are always life-and-death struggles, extremely bloody, and you cannot have any illusions. If you pity your enemies, you are digging your own grave."
"Yes, that's about it. So, Hermione, you are too naive." Fred and George appeared out of nowhere. "And Sirius said it's not equal because even if Fudge loses, it won't be too tragic. Dumbledore will let Fudge go, but Fudge won't. He will only become more and more ruthless. Next, Dumbledore will gradually be stripped of most of his titles, even the position of headmaster."
Hermione, Ron and Ginny were all stunned by this.
"Albert's prophecy?" Lupin asked tentatively.
"Yes." George consoled, "Also, the Ministry of Magic doesn't actually have this crime. They probably made it up recently. Otherwise, Rita Skeeter would have been sent to Azkaban prison long ago."
"How did you know?" Ron couldn't help asking.
"If you stay with Albert for a long time, you will be easily influenced by him." Fred and George certainly would not say that they are still in contact with Albert.
"By the way, when will the radio station be ready?"
"Radio station?"
Ron, Hermione and Ginny looked at each other, not understanding what they were going to do.
"Still working on it. I've never done that before." Sirius glanced at his old friend and said, "You come and help too. This is very important. It's one of our channels to the outside world."
"Is the time set?" Fred asked again.
"Are you planning to make a statement on the radio?" Arthur helped Mrs. Weasley bring the prepared soup and heard them discussing the wizard broadcast.
"The Defense Guide has been banned, and we need new channels to express our opinions."
"You shouldn't have published that prophecy. Fudge was almost mad. He even had your magazine shut down." Arthur felt that provoking Fudge like this would do no good to anyone.
"It doesn't matter. The rent is about to expire anyway, and there's nothing important in it. We've already moved the printing press away." Sirius seemed to have known the result long ago. He raised the corners of his mouth happily and said, "Fudge will definitely not allow the magazine to be published, but the more he prohibits it, the more curious it will be. If the contents of the Defense Guide are all false, why would Fudge ban it? You know, there have been many articles that speak ill of Fudge or the Ministry of Magic in the past, and Fudge has never done this."
Everyone fell silent again.
"The Defense Guide will be released privately next. With the help of radio broadcasts, we will definitely be able to make our own voice heard, instead of letting Fudge monopolize this aspect and continue to deceive everyone." Sirius introduced his next plan to them. "Believe me, no one wants to be a rat crossing the street. Even if we can't win over more allies, we must make the majority remain neutral or lean towards our side. Especially after certain things happen, they will definitely prefer to get some useful information instead of the nonsense in the Daily Prophet."
"So what are we going to talk about on the radio?" Lupin asked with a frown. He was obviously temporarily convinced by Sirius. Now Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix need more support. They can't face the Ministry of Magic and the Death Eaters alone, otherwise it will be a disaster.
"We can talk about the Triwizard Tournament and Voldemort's resurrection, as well as some of Fudge's policies, such as sending a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor to Hogwarts, or why Barty Crouch was silenced, or how Harry became the fourth champion."
"We need a different voice," George reminded.
"Why?"
"Of course it's to avoid getting in trouble. Although we're not afraid of trouble, we should at least avoid it as much as possible." Fred took out two candies from his pocket and said, "However, the development of the voice-changing candy is not going smoothly. Do you want to try it?"
"Voice-changing candy?"
Ron eyed the candy in Fred's hand suspiciously.
"One will make your voice hoarse, and the other will make it sharp." George explained to the two, "It will take time to recover from the sequelae, maybe a day, or even longer. We can't find a solution for now, maybe we have to go back to school and ask Albert for help."
"You are well prepared." Arthur looked at his son, then at Sirius and Lupin, thinking that there might be something he didn't know.
"By the way, what's the name of the station, Wizard Lookout?"
"Ten heartbeats?" said Sirius.
"Why is it called ten heartbeat minutes?" Ron asked puzzled. Even Lupin was a little confused. Sirius didn't tell him many things in advance.
"Because we only talk for ten minutes, we can be as mysterious as possible, and we also have to set a password to prevent others from hearing the news on the radio."
"What if no one listens?" Arthur frowned. Isn't the purpose of making this broadcast to have more people listen
"There will always be people who will listen. You can treat it as gossip. Everyone likes to listen to gossip, right? Besides, mysterious gossip can arouse everyone's interest." Sirius was not worried at all that he would not have an audience. "Kingsley and you both work in the Ministry of Magic. You can also provide some interesting news, such as Fudge's rage today. Analyze some actions of the Ministry of Magic and analyze the current situation for everyone. Believe me, some things will come true soon. When these truths come true, people will believe more in the content of our broadcast. When the Dementors escape from prison and the entire wizarding world falls into chaos, I think all the wizards in the British wizarding world will be willing to turn on the radio to listen to the news on our broadcast."
"And the Ministry of Magic can't come here and ask us to shut down the broadcast, because they can't find our exact location at all."
Fred and George looked at each other. They heard someone's shadow in Sirius' words.
"Have you contacted Albert?" Hermione couldn't help asking. Ever since she heard that a Death Eater was looking for Albert, Hermione was a little worried about Albert's safety.
"No, he should be hiding." Sirius comforted: "That guy is better at protecting himself than anyone else. I think he is probably hiding in a house protected by the Fidelius Charm. He is very safe. Even Dumbledore can't find where he is hiding."
"Isn't Dumbledore the secret-keeper of the Fidelius Charm?" Everyone was a little surprised. The only weakness of the Fidelius Charm is the secret-keeper, and Dumbledore is undoubtedly the best candidate for the secret-keeper.
"No, no one knows who it is. According to Dumbledore, if we can't find the exact location, not knowing who the secret keeper is is safer than anything else."
"Is he not going to Hogwarts?" Ron raised his eyebrows and said, "Although I don't think it matters whether he goes or not."
"He will go to school. Albert said that Hogwarts will be very interesting this year." Fred blinked and said, "It may be related to the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor sent by the Ministry of Magic."
"Fudge plans to send someone to Hogwarts?" Arthur looked at his son in surprise. He hadn't even heard about it at the Ministry of Magic, so why did they act like they knew about it a long time ago?"
"Of course, it's Albert after all. Do you know how strange it is?" Fred tilted his head and said, "It is said that he will go to a nasty guy."
"I think she's quite unlucky." George said meaningfully, "Defense Against the Dark Arts professor is not a good position. Just look at the previous ones. Moody was locked up for a school year, Remus almost went to Azkaban, Lockhart became a fool, Quirrell died, Smith disappeared inexplicably, and only Professor Bard escaped by luck, and he resigned and ran away early. What do you think will be the fate of the unlucky people in the Ministry of Magic?"