Chapter 124: Minister Fudge 2

Minister Fudge began to sweat slightly as he awkwardly chuckled, "You see, Harry, this is quite a delicate matter. I really don't want you to take this the wrong way and jeopardize anything." The man awkwardly babbled.

Harry realized that he must be talking about the Gremorys. Something must have happened that may displease him or her. And like the greedy man that Fudge was, he didn't want to lose his new stream of revenue. After all, one more wealthy backer was always better.

"I am sure, Minister, as long as you personally didn't do or are responsible for anything to harm our interests. Then there will be nothing putting a breach into this business relationship with the Gremory Family," Harry pacified the man calmly, wondering what was going on.

The man began to nod eagerly, as there was relief on his face; he truly was greedy. "Oh, that's a relief to hear, my boy. I am sure you will understand these hard times. You would have heard of it either way soon, as it would appear in the Prophet today. Terrible News. Truly."

Harry kept looking at the man, not impressed by the dancing around the topic. Watching him with an unimpressed look, the minister was quick to notice and continued. "For the first time in our history, there has been a breakout out of Azkaban. My aurors are still investigating how it happened."

Okay, this really was quite the damage to Fudge's reputation, but how it was related to Harry was still beyond the boy. Maybe a dangerous Death Eater, fiercely loyal to Voldemort, had escaped.

Harry knows from Tom's memories that the first iteration of this group had already been created by Voldemort in Hogwarts; many of his plans had already been started there and would only come to fruition years to decades later. They were a gang made up of his 'friends,' they were called the Knights of Walpurgis, and mostly consisted of people who were the parents of the supposed inner Circle of Death Eaters, mostly in it for their gains and motives.

They had been only loyal to Riddle for their own interests. But this had been actually part of Riddle's calculations; his true target of recruitment had always been the next generation, ensuring their loyalty through the right education and indoctrination from a young age. With magical means like the Dark Mark, he would have an army so loyal that they would die for him.

"One or more Death Eaters escaped? Didn't they? And now I am in danger that they will come for me? Isn't that what you are fearing?"And mentally, he added, if something were to happen to him, a major part of Fudge's financial interest was waning.

The Malfoys are becoming weaker politically these days because Draco's constant foolish behavior in school leaves a bad impression on his pure-blooded peers. Now, having also received a crippling injury that may as well impair his ability for magic permanently, at least it would limit his hand movements a bit. And it was also a reminder that he had lost in a magical duel to a blood traitor.

The allies of the Malfoys had begun to turn away slowly. It wasn't anything major yet, but there is a clear split forming in the political power base of the dark faction. After all, purebloods valued strength, and Draco had shown only weakness until now. Malfoy Sr. may stay the de facto leader, but Draco will have a hard time stepping into the shoes of his father, as he wasn't showing anything of his strength and cunningness. Of course, a politically and economically oriented man like Fudge was already looking for new allies.

"Well, it isn't just any Death Eater. It's the right-hand man of Voldemort himself," Fudge explained awkwardly as he used a tissue from his pocket to dry off the sweat running down his forehead. "Sirius Black."

This actually made Harry freeze. Sirius Black was a very complex and conflicting topic for him. The man who had betrayed him and his parents to Voldemort, his own godfather, By all accounts, this was such a clear-cut case: the heir of a notoriously dark family, a family that was fiercely loyal to Voldemort, witnesses that saw him kill innocent bystanders and Peter Pettigrew on a public street, and most importantly, the magic behind the Fidelius Charm wasn't lying.

The Fidelius Charm was one of the most powerful pieces of magic Harry had heard of. Even in the supernatural world, with beings far more powerful than wizards, it would be hard to find such a powerful spell that bordered on divine magic.

Far different from the mass memory spells the supernatural were employing to hide their existence, the Fidelius was a spell that actually buries a secret deep inside an individual's soul. An individual was known as the Secret Keeper, the only person able to share the secret. No other form of magic could force the secret out; the secret keeper had to share it voluntarily. And Sirius Black had been the secret keeper for his parents and him during the war with Voldemort.

But this was hard to believe. If it weren't for the fact that there was no other spell that could have been used to get the secret and that the secret was impossible to steal from the Secret Keeper, Harry wouldn't have believed that Sirius was the culprit.

Serafall, as mad as she was at him right now, had gone deep into investigating his past, his parents, and their relationships. And it was really hard to believe that someone could be born so evil and deceptive like Sirius Black.

For the majority of his life, he had played an act of brotherhood to Harry's father; from a young age, he had played such a role that it was believable. All facts until the actual betrayal had been clear: Sirius was a good man, a close friend, and brother to James Potter, who loved him, Lily, and Harry so deeply that he would rather die than betray them.

But then he had actually betrayed them; Dumbledore himself had cast the Fidelius Charm on Sirius and the Potter Cottage. And Harry didn't believe that Dumbledore would lie in order to keep Sirius away from him; there were many things the man would do for his own goals. But such a crude lie would be easy to uncover and seriously damage his reputation.

"I see. Thank you for informing me, Minister. I will be careful. And don't worry, it is clearly not your fault. As long as there wasn't any carelessness on your part. But I would suggest investigating clearly how this has happened and updating the safety of Azkaban," Harry pointed out tonelessly.

"Of course, Harry. And please stay in Diagon Alley, where we can ensure that you are safe until the start of the year. Don't go wandering around in Muggle London. Black could be out there," Cornelius Fudge said as he put his cloak back on.

"Sure, Minister, I will stay safe," Harry lied.

There was no way he would sit here now that he had the chance to actually talk to Sirius Black. He had to know why. Why did the man betray his parents? Why did he have to go through all the pain with the Dursleys? He was grateful that he met Rias and her family, but he still would have preferred to have grown up with his own mother and father. 

— DXD — DXD — DXD — DXD —

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