Chapter - 40 Dirty Politics

Dragon went on to deliver his letter to Dumbledore, while Milia stayed.

William took out a  coin of five knuts, and Milia proudly stretched out her long leg asking him to put the coin into the small leather bag tied to her leg.

Then, she ate her remaining snacks and flew towards the Hogwarts owl shed.

William opened the envelope, the contents of the letter were definitely not a letter.But the latest edition of the Daily Prophet.

Several people gathered around William, wanting to know about the latest investigation done by the Ministry of Magic.

After William opened the newspaper, the headline in bold letters read was attack on the Ministry of Magic.

The title was written with heavy black ink: Ministry of magic attacker evidence found..

There was a photo below - of a magic wand.



William found the picture very familiar, as if he had seen it some where,

he must have seen it in Diagon Alley.

—Lucius Malfoy's wand!



It was indeed Lucius' wand, without the Malfoy's family crest engraved on it, as at the top of the wand can be seen like something was fixed there.

During the fight in Diagon Alley that day, Lucius only founded his wands head, but not his wand.

Now, it has appeared at the scene of crime on the ministry of magic as an evidence.

"Could it be the Malfoy's who did it?" Cho asked after reading the newspaper.

Listening to everyone's description, Lucius Malfoy didn't looked like a good person.

"You are right Cho, their family was on the dark lords side when he rose in power." George said angrily.

"When the You-Know-Who fell, Lucious should have been banished to Azkaban.

But he claimed that he was controlled by the dark lord and also paid a large amount of Galleons to the ministry for not imprisoning him.

The Malfoys are not a good bunch, and I don't believe his claims about mind control and was forced to do what he did. "

George was still angry about what happened in Diagon Alley that day.

Lucius mocked their father for having so many children and being unable to feed them,

And called him a blood traitor.

It was the word used for those who betrayed their own,and was one of the worst things one could say to someone like mud blood.

Holding his chin Cedric "But lucious was fighting with Mr. Weasley in Diagon Alley that day, and we were there when it happened."

Cho pointed at a certain passage in the newspaper which stated,

"According to the reports, the attack happened in the first half of the night, means after the fight so he could still do that.

But you also said that he lost his wand, but who would steal his wand without the head,

We all know the head with the gem was worth way more then the wand.

All of it must be a set up by him. "

Cho's analysis made a lot of sense.

But the twins exchanged glances.

Fred looked around and whispered, "Remember the day when my dad said about Mad Eye investigating Lucious?"

"Who is Mad-Eye?" Cho wondered.

George replied: "Mad-Eye is the nickname of Alastor Moody, and he's a retired Auror.

He was very powerful. The Death Eaters he caught can alone fill half of Azkaban's cells. "

Fred continued: "The most important thing is that he is definitely on our side... I mean, he has a good relationship with Dumbledore."

"Since he is watching Malfoy, have you heard anything of interest?" Cedric asked.

"There is indeed something." George considered his words. "This is what Fred and I overheard from their conversation."

"My dad threatened Malfoy that day about how Mad-Eye wanted to investigate him just to provoke him.

So that he will transfer all the dark magic items hidden in his house to somewhere else.

After Malfoy returned from the fight, he really moved and sold his things at night. Mad-Eye was at the Borgin and Burkes magic shop in the Knockturn Alley and caught him. "

Fred said regretfully, "But Mad-Eye was too early, he should have waited a few days.

Although Malfoy sold a cursed necklace, but the level of black magic in the necklace was not high,

he just out came to test the waters. About the news, he paid the fine for having a black magic artifact and got Scot free. "

Cho thinks about it for a while, then asked in doubt: "But, doesn't this just happened to prove that the Malfoy's didn't attack the Ministry of Magic?

Rather he went to sell his things at night, so how could he have the time to perform the attack? "

Fred smiled bitterly and said, "That's the problem, Mad-Eye was very annoyed when he heard about the attack on the ministry's warehouse.

That night, if he hadn't caught Malfoy, the other party wouldn't be able to prove his innocence,

and would have been placed in azkaban. "

Cho showed a very confused expression, while frowning "Since Lucious wasn't the one behind the attack, then why does the Daily Prophet report on his wand as evidence from the attacker?

Isn't this just intentionally misleading everyone?"

"A scapegoat, Cho." William explained, "The Ministry of Magic can't find anything about the attacker, and Fudge needs a scapegoat to divert the populace attention somewhere else.

This would make him appear less as an incompetent minister and won't tarnish his image as the Minister of Magic for the next election. "

Looks like cases of unfair, false, and wrong  accusations aren't rare, even in the magical world.

William always had his doubts.

He wondered why the Daily Prophet was so interested covering the Weasley-Malfoy conflict now.

The tension between these families was widely known, and as a part of the sacred 28 was usually kept out of public discussion.

Yet, the most widely read newspaper had been closely following this story for over two weeks.

William began to realize that Fudge might have been attempting to conceal the attack on the Ministry of Magic.

It was quite common strategy in the future.

During major crises, diverting the attention by creating more sensational news is a common tactic—a strategy to distract the public.

The general public often moves on quickly to new topics, much like fish with short memories.

As the buzz around a particular issue fades, people tend to stop discussing past events that previously sparked outrage, until the next similar incident resurfaces.

The Ministry of Magic being attacked by dark wizards was a huge scandal they wanted to keep under wraps.

This incident was a big hit to the Ministry's reputation, especially since Cornelius Fudge had only been the Minister for six months.

Fudge couldn't afford to be seen as incompetent. For a politician aiming for long-term re-election, that kind of label would be devastating.

So, Fudge opted to let the Daily Prophet cover the fight in an effort to shift everyone's focus.

However, Fudge underestimated the attack's impact, and despite his attempts, rumors persisted.

When the Ministry realized they couldn't contain the information any longer, they took the initiative to reveal the truth.

By this point, almost a month had passed since the attack on the Ministry of Magic. The delay in reporting and addressing the issue enraged public opinion.

Often, regular people aren't so much concerned about the truth or the aftermath of an incident.

As they're are about being misled.

Those in power concealed the events essentially trick the public.

In times like this, a shrewd politician might toss out a culprit or two, mere scapegoats, to redirect public attention.

The severity of the attack on the Ministry of Magic is vastly different from a case where a murderer is caught.

Malfoy seems to be the perfect scapegoat, the one who takes the fall, especially with the wand found at the scene according to the report!

Despite the actual truth, William noticed that the newly appointed Minister of Magic wasn't as incompetent as Hagrid had previously claimed.

At least when dealing with the general population, Fudge is a skilled and an extremely shrewd politician.

----------------------------------------------------------

If you can support me on P@treon will mean a lot. And I will definitely publish more chaps.

P@treon.com/Rakasa