Chapter 69: Cornelius Fudge
At night, Harry and Ron went to bed as usual.
They waited until Neville, Dean, and Seamus stopped discussing the Chamber of Secrets and finally fell asleep.
Then they got up from the bed, got dressed again, and put the Invisibility Cloak on themselves.
When they reached the common room, they found Ginny already sitting on the sofa waiting for them.
"Let's go to the Slytherin lounge first. I've managed to contact Mr. Riddle. He will be waiting for us at the door." Ginny said immediately.
The walk through the gloomy corridors was not a pleasant one.
Harry had wandered around the castle in the middle of the night many times before, but he had never seen so many people there after the sun went down. Teachers, prefects, and ghosts patrolled the corridors in pairs, looking for anything out of the ordinary.
Although the invisibility cloak is easy to use, it does not work every time. Once, he and Ron were almost discovered by Snape. He always felt that Snape seemed to be very sensitive to the invisibility cloak.
Finally, they reached the Slytherin lounge, but there was no one outside the door.
"Where's Riddle? He won't be caught, right?" Ron lowered his voice and said with a little worry that there were too many teachers patrolling tonight.
"Here it is!"
Cyrus heard their conversation and suddenly revealed his true identity in the air.
"I used a Disillusionment Charm, otherwise I wouldn't be able to hide from the professors' observation." Cyrus followed the voice and stretched out his hand to lift Harry's invisibility cloak, then frowned, "Isn't it a bit awkward to put it on the four of us? Isn't it Small?"
"Don't you know the Disguise Charm?" Ron asked strangely.
"But I can only guarantee that I will not be discovered when I am standing still. If I move, the professors will notice something is wrong." Cyrus said deliberately. Now, Malfoy's body is no longer useful.
What he wants is - Ginny!
"Ginny, let me possess you. If one of us is less, the risk of exposure will be reduced." He said, "And in this situation, if I keep possessing Malfoy, I'm afraid by the end of the term There is no way to meet you normally."
Ginny didn't seem to resist at all, but showed a shy expression.
But Harry had some doubts: "What about Malfoy?"
"I'll let him have a good sleep. When he wakes up, he won't know of anything."
Ron didn't seem very willing to have someone possess his sister, but Ginny answered first: "That's it. Mr. Riddle is also more powerful. He can protect me."
Cyrus quickly transferred from Malfoy's body to Ginny's body, then stuffed the unconscious Malfoy back into the common room and left him alone.
Then, the three of them left the castle wearing the invisibility cloak.
Harry and Ron both had an awkward feeling. They had finally adapted to Cyrus being Malfoy, and now he was Ginny. This feeling was so strange. But there was no time to dwell on this at this point.
It was a starry night, and they hurried towards the lighted window of Hagrid's residence. They didn't take off the invisibility cloak until they reached his door.
Seconds after they knocked on the door, Hagrid flung it open.
They saw Hagrid pointing a crossbow at them, and Fang, the boarhound, barking loudly behind him. This startled them all. This was the first time Harry had seen Hagrid with this attitude.
"Oh, it's you," Hagrid was obviously relieved, put down the weapon in his hand, and glared at them, "What are you three doing here?"
"What's that for?" Harry said, pointing to the crossbow as they walked into the room. And Cyrus tried to make his presence as low as possible.
"Nothing...nothing," Hagrid said vaguely, "I thought that— Well... it doesn't matter ...sit down... I'll make tea..."
He seemed a little uneasy, and the water in the kettle spilled out, almost extinguishing the fire. Then his thick hand shook violently, knocking the teapot over.
"Are you okay, Hagrid? Have you heard about Hermione?"
"Oh, yes, I heard that," Hagrid said, his voice choked up. It could be seen that he did feel sorry for Hermione, but he kept looking nervously towards the window, as if something more terrifying was waiting for him.
"I think you don't have to worry too much, she will be fine, she will..."
He poured several cups of tea for Harry and others, but forgot to put the tea leaves. He was about to put a thick piece of fruit cake on a plate when there was a loud knock on the door.
Hagrid was so frightened that he immediately dropped the fruit cake in his hand, and he looked flustered.
Harry and Ron were equally flustered as him, and even Cyrus was a little shaken.
Because he knew who was knocking on the door.
"Hide quickly, it will be bad if we are discovered sneaking out." Cyrus hurriedly took Harry's invisibility cloak and put it on them all. The three of them huddled tightly behind the sofa, and Cyrus was breathing harder than before.
Dumbledore is coming in.
When Hagrid saw they were all hidden, he grabbed his crossbow and yanked the door open again.
"Good evening, Hagrid."
Dumbledore walked in first, with a very serious expression, followed by a very strange-looking man.
The stranger was short, stocky, with messy gray hair and an anxious look on his face. His clothes were a strange hodgepodge: pinstriped suit, bright red tie, long black cape, purple pointed boots. He held a dark green top hat under his arm.
"That's my dad's boss!" Ron gasped. "Cornelly Fudge, Minister for Magic!"
"Stop talking!" Harry nudged Ron hard with his elbow to shut him up.
This move obviously attracted Dumbledore's attention. His blue eyes looked at where they were hiding, and the expression on his face became playful. But soon, he looked away as if he didn't notice them.
This made Cyrus wonder if Dumbledore had seen him through the Invisibility Cloak.
But he soon decided otherwise.
This was not an ordinary invisibility cloak. He believed that Dumbledore might have just noticed the existence of the invisibility cloak. After all, he had studied this piece of clothing for a long time.
But he probably didn't know exactly how many people were under the clothes.
Hagrid suddenly turned pale and began to sweat on his forehead. He slumped into a chair and looked from Dumbledore to Cornelius Fudge.
"It's too bad, Hagrid," Fudge said in a crisp, rapid tone. "It's too bad that it had to come. Four attacks on Muggles! This has gone too far, and the Ministry of Magic must take action."
"I didn't, you know I didn't, Dumbledore, sir..."
"I hope you understand, Cornelius, I completely trust Hagrid." Dumbledore frowned.
"But you see, Albus," Fudge said uncomfortably, "Hagrid's criminal record is not good for him. The Ministry of Magic has to take some measures - the school board has been contacted."
"But Cornelius, I have to tell you that taking Hagrid away won't help at all."
"Look at it from my point of view," said Fudge, playing with his top hat. "I'm under a lot of pressure. Something has to be done. If it turns out it's not Hagrid, he'll come back. , others have nothing to say. But I have to take him away. Shouldn't I fulfill my duty——"
"Take me away?" Hagrid said, trembling all over. "Take me where?"
"The time is very short, it is not a punishment, it is just a preventive measure. If another person is caught, you will be released and receive a full apology..." Fudge said to himself, although he and Dumbledore both came here to look for Hagrid, but he never looked at Hagrid from the beginning to the end.
Of course, he may also feel a little ashamed. After all, his current behavior is tantamount to asking Hagrid to take the blame.
But this is very unreasonable.
Even a person with a criminal record should not be directly convicted without evidence. This is unreasonable and illegal. You know, even after Voldemort was resurrected, none of the Death Eaters who had been exonerated were punished without evidence.
As the chief wizard of the Wizengamot, couldn't Dumbledore stop Fudge from such ridiculous behavior?
But although Dumbledore protested, he did not substantially stop Fudge.
Cyrus could understand Dumbledore's horror even more.
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