From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 309 Percy

"Have a cup of hot cocoa, kid."

Percy didn't come back to his senses until the heat from the hot cocoa transferred to his cheeks through the paper cup.

He stared blankly at the Auror Office Director beside him, who obviously hadn't heard what had just been said.

Scrimgeour handed Percy the hot cocoa and repeated his previous words.

"Thank you, sir." Percy held the paper cup in his hand, but had no intention of drinking it. He was just in a daze, as if he had lost his soul.

"Drink," urged Scrimgeour.

Percy took a sip as obeyed, but judging by his expression, he obviously had no idea what he was drinking.

Scrimgeour nodded in satisfaction and returned to his seat.

Now he and Percy were sitting in an interrogation room. The walls were painted a dazzling white, but Percy was not restricted by anything. Only his wand was kept by Scrimgeour himself.

An hour ago, when the Dark Mark lit up over the Quidditch World Cup camp, nearly 20,000 wizards witnessed it. A few minutes later, almost all the wizards who came to watch the Quidditch World Cup knew about it, and all kinds of rumors and news were flying around, and the officials of the Ministry of Magic were even more worried.

Fudge handled the matter in his office, and except for Scrimgeour, he did not meet with any of the parties involved. It seemed that if he buried his head in the sand, he would not be bothered by the Dark Mark.

Of course, he claimed that he needed to appease the Bulgarian Minister of Magic who came to watch the World Cup. In fact, until now, the stupid Fudge hadn't figured out that the other party could speak English, and was still trying to communicate with him using clumsy gestures.

As Head of the Auror Office, Scrimgeour was given full authority by Fudge to deal with the riots that occurred after the finals, with only one requirement: to ensure peace in the British wizarding community at all costs.

That was why Percy was sitting in the interrogation room with him.

"In fact..." Scrimgeour was satisfied to find that his low voice attracted Percy's attention. Although his eyes were still unfocused, at least he was sure that he was listening to Scrimgeour.

"More than a decade ago, we encountered a similar situation when we were fighting against the followers of the You-Know-Who. It caused widespread discussion in the wizarding world at the time." Scrimgeour's attitude was very relaxed. "You should have heard that the Aurors are allowed to use equal force against dark wizards, the Death Eaters who released the Dark Mark tonight."

"Equal force?" Percy's voice was weak and unlike himself, the male student council president of Hogwarts, the owner of twelve OWLs. Usually he always had a seriousness and a very craftsmanlike arrogance.

"The Unforgivable Curses," Scrimgeour said mildly. If his other subordinates saw this, they would surely smash their glasses to the ground.

“We fight the Killing Curse with the Killing Curse, the Cruciatus Curse with the Cruciatus Curse, and the Imperius Curse with the Imperius Curse,” Scrimgeour explained quietly. “You didn’t cast the Cruciatus Curse tonight, did you?”

"Yeah, but..." Percy tried to say something.

Scrimgeour's voice was faster than his because he only needed the "yes" and didn't need the "but" to follow it.

“That wasn’t even one of the Unforgivable Curses.” Scrimgeour leaned forward in his chair, looking curious. “What was that spell? The Inflammatory Curse?”

"Pyroblast," Percy corrected.

"Ah, Pyroblast." Scrimgeour smiled. "Who did you learn that from?"

"Professor Victor," Percy replied.

"Professor Victor?" Scrimgeour looked thoughtful. "I thought it was Black who taught you that. You know, they say he blew up a whole street thirteen years ago. But this Professor Victor..."

"He only taught us for less than half a year." Percy added, "Professor Victor left Hogwarts during the summer vacation of 1992."

"Ah! I seem to have heard the striker in the ministry mention this name. When they went to monitor and investigate Rubeus Hagrid, this Professor Victor was also at Hogwarts." Scrimgeour tapped his forehead and said with sudden realization.

"How is he now?" he asked again.

Percy shook his head. "I don't know. We never heard from him again. We don't even know if Victor was his first or last name."

"Well, Percy. Do you know why he taught you this spell?" Scrimgeour continued, "Or do you think he had some ulterior motive?"

"He didn't teach me..." Percy quickly clarified for the professor, "I learned it from a senior student myself... I was still in the fifth grade at the time, and Professor Victor only taught this spell to the seventh grade advanced class students."

"For what?" Scrimgeour followed closely.

"In order to cope with the NEWT exam." Percy said, "Hogwarts always changes the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor every year, so our progress has not been ideal. In order to allow more people to pass the Defense Against the Dark Arts exam, Professor Victor taught this spell to the seventh-year students."

"He believed that as long as we used a spell to remove the dark magic creatures in front of us, we could pass most of the exams." Percy's voice was no longer as weak as before when he talked about exams and study. "I thought it would be useful in future exams, so I learned this spell from a seventh-year student at the time. But I didn't expect that the first time I used this magic outside of school..."

"Okay, Percy. Don't think about it anymore. I might as well tell you the truth. Those who set fire everywhere to trick Muggles after the final deserved it! You don't need to be sad about it. What's more, you saved my life with that spell! I know how terrible the Cruciatus Curse is. Many people who have been tortured by this spell wish they could die!" Scrimgeour interrupted Percy's memories. The dark wizard who was hit by the Pyroblast was dead and could not die anymore. The work of identifying his identity was still in progress, so he had time to comfort Percy here.

"But I did kill someone... I committed a crime!" Scrimgeour said so much, but in the end he couldn't stop Percy from saying this.

This made him feel very anxious, and the smile on Scrimgeour's face disappeared, replaced by a cunning and serious expression: "You did kill someone, but the crime is debatable."

"How?" Percy asked in surprise.

"First, you were on patrol duty; second, in reality, you saved my life; and finally, your opponent was a dark wizard who used the Unforgivable Curses, and you just used a spell to pass the exam." Scrimgeour stood up from his chair and circled Percy in the interrogation room.

"I'm tired of all this beating around the bush," he muttered. "You don't want to be thrown in Azkaban, do you?"

"Of course!" Percy answered quickly, but his face was immediately filled with a look of pain and struggle. "But if I deserve it..."

"Merlin, I've never seen anyone as rigid as you!" Scrimgeour began to wonder if his hint wasn't obvious enough. "You got a high score in the NEWT, didn't you?"

"Yes sir," Percy said, clearly not understanding why he was asking.

"How did you do in Potions?"

"Excellent, sir..."

"I won't ask about Defense Against the Dark Arts. Many old Aurors can't make such a big fuss... What about Transfiguration?"

"Excellent too, sir."

"What about Charms and Herbology?"

"All excellent, sir."

"Very well, then, Mr. Weasley, your parents are very worried about you, and as far as I know, your family's financial situation is not good and you can't come up with the parole bond, right?" Scrimgeour returned to the interrogation table and placed both his hands on the table. The chandelier on the ceiling cast a large shadow on his body, completely covering Percy.

"Yes..." Percy was still wondering why Scrimgeour didn't continue to ask about his NEWT results. In fact, apart from his parents, no one had ever asked him so carefully, as if it was natural for him to get high scores. No one saw how much effort he put in for this. Scrimgeour also noticed the expression on Percy's face, which made him doubt whether his decision was correct: "I'll just assume that this is because the first time you saw blood gave you too much of a shock..."

"What, sir?" Percy didn't hear Scrimgeour muttering to himself.

"Nothing!" Scrimgeour raised his voice. "Do you want to meet your parents?"

"May I, sir?" Percy couldn't believe his ears.

"Not in principle, but as long as you sign this, it's fine." Scrimgeour produced a piece of parchment from somewhere and placed it in front of Percy.

"Job transfer application?" Percy read in confusion. "Applicant, Percy Weasley, I voluntarily apply for a job transfer... from the British Chair of the International Confederation of Wizards, Department of National Magical Cooperation, to the Auror Office of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement? But... I have never made such an application?"

Scrimgeour took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, and finally said only one word: "Signed!"

Scrimgeour's brown hair and eyebrows were mixed with a little gray. His tough style made him trusted by his colleagues. Now, because of Percy's stupidity, he was like an old lion when he got angry.

Percy was intimidated by his power. Without saying a word, he picked up the quill on the table and signed the freshly-made job transfer application.

"Very good." Scrimgeour nodded with satisfaction and picked up the parchment from the table. "You must remember, remember what I am going to say next, Mr. Weasley. You submitted this application half a month ago... no, a month ago. You submitted this application a month ago, and I gave my approval half a month ago. However, due to the fine tradition of civil servants in the Ministry of Magic preventing each other from working, it has not been sent to the Minister's office until now."

Scrimgeour tapped the parchment with his wand, and a scribbled signature "Rufus Scrimgeour" appeared on it.

The head of the Auror Office nodded with satisfaction, then used magic to fold it into a paper airplane, opened the door of the interrogation room and threw it out.

"It's only one floor away. I hope no one will notice it's not purple." Scrimgeour muttered to himself as he watched Percy's job transfer application disappear into the distance.

In the Ministry of Magic, civil servants use light purple notes to pass messages between departments. After writing the message to be delivered, these notes will automatically fold into the shape of paper airplanes, travel throughout the Ministry of Magic, and reach other floors via elevators.

The Auror Office where Percy and his colleagues worked was located in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement on the second floor, above which was the office of the Minister of Magic. After Scrimgeour folded Percy's job transfer application into a plane and threw it out, his target was the pile of documents that the Minister of Magic had to review every day.

As long as Scrimgeour could get away with it, his little trick would be considered a success.

"Well, Mr. Weasley," Scrimgeour returned to sit opposite Percy, "technically speaking, you became an Auror half a month ago, so your actions against the dark wizard who conjured the Dark Mark after the Quidditch World Cup final were completely legal!"

Percy looked extremely surprised. He pointed his finger at his nose and asked in disbelief, "Me? Auror?"

"That's right." Scrimgeour handed Percy's wand back to him. "Our routine talk is over. You can go home now."

"I'm free?" Percy still couldn't believe it. "Without any punishment?"

"Now, repeat what I want you to remember," said Scrimgeour suddenly.

Just like answering a professor's question in class, Percy, who had just graduated, said fluently: "I applied for a job transfer a month ago, and you gave me your reply half a month ago... uh... is that it?"

"I now finally believe that your NEWT results are genuine." Scrimgeour smiled with satisfaction. "Next time someone asks you why you were not punished, you must say the same thing. Do you understand?"

Percy nodded dumbly.

"Okay, I'll grant you two more days of administrative leave. Remember to come to work in the department on time next Monday, Mr. Weasley." Scrimgeour waved his hand and drove Percy out.

Percy gave Scrimgeour one last look, and after receiving an affirmative nod, he opened the door and left the interrogation room.

The floor of the Auror's office seemed to be made of cotton, making Percy walk with one foot deep and one foot shallow.

He looked around. There were not many people in the office now. Most of the Aurors were busy cleaning up the scene and arresting those wizards who failed to Apparate away.

Many of the cubicles were empty, and the wanted posters on the walls looked lonely.

When Percy pushed open the office door and left, he ran into an Auror who came back to report, holding a bloody evidence bag in his hand.

Percy looked into the evidence bag and immediately leaned over and vomited.

The Auror realized what was going on and walked away from Percy with the evidence bag.

"What happened?" Scrimgeour also heard the noise and walked out of the interrogation room.

"This is really unfortunate. Let him vomit for a while. Young people will have to go through this." After seeing the situation clearly, he touched his forehead and said, "Williamson, is the result out?"

"Out, sir." Auror Williamson walked around Percy, who was vomiting violently, and headed towards Scrimgeour.

He showed the evidence bag in his hand. "No disguise magic was used. There is no possibility that this head could have faked his death and escaped like Peter Pettigrew. The dark wizard who conjured the Dark Mark after the Quidditch World Cup final is definitely Marcus Goyle."

"Yes, he died very quickly." Scrimgeour nodded. "Did the Unspoken people in the Department of Mysteries find anything valuable in his head?"

"Yes." Williamson pulled a memo from his jacket pocket and handed it to Scrimgeour. "He had an accomplice, and this is a record of their conversation some time before this incident."

"Let me see..." Scrimgeour took the memo and read it quickly.

"Not even a name?" He frowned. "They made all this noise at the Quidditch World Cup just to leave a contact for You-Know-Who?"

"The person who conspired with him disguised himself very well. We couldn't find any flaws in his voice or figure," Williamson replied.

"Do we have any suspects?" Scrimgeour asked again. "Who is Marcus Goyle friendly with?"

Williamson hesitated, then stepped forward and whispered, "Lucius Malfoy, Director of the Department of International Magical Cooperation."

"I know he was accused of being a Death Eater, but his motive is not obvious." Scrimgeour frowned. "A high-ranking official in the Ministry of Magic and a major shareholder of Nimbus Corporation is willing to ruin his own future to contact someone who has been dead for more than ten years? This is inconsistent with my usual impression of Slytherin!"

"A person who is willing to donate money to the Ministry of Magic to buy his innocence would actually cheer for a dead person... Although I don't want to believe it, we must take action until he is completely ruled out as a suspect." Scrimgeour touched his chin.

"What shall we do then, sir?" asked Williamson.

"Anyone who dares to do such a big thing will definitely not show up easily. We are not sure that the mysterious man will really come back. Maybe this is just an accidental incident between two people who are dissatisfied with the status quo and want to vent their anger. Although we do have a suspect, the most important thing now is to ensure that similar things will not happen again at the Quidditch World Cup. Send all the manpower to maintain order!" Scrimgeour thought for a while and then ordered, "After the matter is over, send two more people to keep an eye on Lucius Malfoy."

"Mr. Malfoy would never do such a thing." The weak Percy said, "Although my work at the Department of International Magical Cooperation is not pleasant, I know that as a director of Hogwarts, he is quite close to Professor Dumbledore..."

"Really? Mr. Weasley?" Scrimgeour nodded as if he understood something. "When you come to work at the Ministry on Monday, your first task will be to keep an eye on your old boss. Of course, I will assign you to a skilled Auror."

(End of this chapter)