A magical journey that begins at Hogwarts

“Your pet… is quite special.” Hibiscus looked at Abe with great interest. “I’ve never seen such a loyal pet before.”

Abe waved his hand arrogantly, and even Furong looked much more pleasing to the eye.

"Could this also be the tears of a phoenix?" Cedric asked, looking somewhat uneasy.

"Sigh!" Aaron sighed. "I was relatively merciful back then, so I only managed to get this much."

Upon hearing this, Abe's eyes sharpened, and he turned to look at Fox.

The phoenix trembled with fear and retreated onto Dumbledore, letting out a pitiful cry.

“Uh… please keep a close eye on it,” Dumbledore said with a complicated expression. “If possible, it would be best to keep it out of my office.”

"Professor, don't be so stingy!" Aaron said dismissively. "As the saying goes... the winner takes all."

Just kidding, he knows how rare phoenix feathers are.

If Abe isn't brought in, he won't have a reason to pluck the fur even if he wants to. It's not nice to bully the principal's pet!

Bringing Abe in would just lead to some playful fighting among magical creatures. Accidentally plucking a few hairs or collecting some tears wouldn't be a big deal.

Dumbledore rolled his eyes, a rare occurrence for him, realizing he needed to strengthen the protection of Fawkes in the future.

Abe's gaze wasn't scary, but it gave you goosebumps.

"Now that you have all returned safely, could you tell us what happened?"

"We need to compare this with what Harry Potter said to see if we've missed anything," Fudge said seriously, having already clung to Aaron and his companions as his lifeline.

If what they say doesn't match what Harry says, he immediately concludes that Voldemort's resurrection is entirely Harry Potter's imagination and nonsense.

The four exchanged glances and nodded almost imperceptibly.

"I'm very sorry, Minister of Magic."

"I fainted at the time and don't know anything," Krum said with a regretful expression.

He is Bulgarian, an internationally renowned Quidditch star, and Durmstrang's representative in the Triwizard Tournament; he is the most suitable person to start this.

"Dizzy? He's passed out?"

“I fainted too,” Furong said, shivering. “I don’t know what happened, I just suddenly lost consciousness.”

Cedric shrugged, his meaning clear.

"Gaius, and you?"

"Minister, those senior wizards have all fainted. Do you think I'm still standing here perfectly fine?" Aaron retorted.

Fudge raised an eyebrow and continued, "But Harry Potter said you fought a large group of Death Eaters, used several different advanced spells, and fought to the death a third of them."

"Are you kidding me? I'm not that amazing," Aaron said, then looked at Harry with feigned ignorance. "Even if you admire me, you wouldn't make up such a lie!"

Harry froze instantly. When he finally came to his senses, he saw Cedric, Krum, and Fleur giving him meaningful glances.

He seemed to understand something now, but swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue.

It's certain that Aaron reached some kind of agreement with the three of them, preventing them from revealing what they saw.

But in doing so, his version of the truth would only be one side of the story, and perhaps apart from a few people, no one else would believe it.

“You…” Harry opened his mouth as if to say something but then stopped, “You should know how serious this is. You can’t pretend you don’t know anything!”

The three looked at each other, probably unaware of the true value of a life-saving favor.

Moreover, they only concealed the part about Aaron's battle with the Death Eaters; Aaron did not ask them to conceal the most important part about the Dark Lord's resurrection.

Snapped!Snapped!Snapped!

Fudge clapped his hands excitedly and laughed happily, "I told you it was Harry Potter who was hallucinating, you made it up so convincingly."

The mysterious person's resurrection? Absolutely impossible!

“He really came back to life,” Krum suddenly said.

Fudge almost choked on his breath. "Victor, you...you said you passed out, didn't you?"

"He fainted after the mysterious man was resurrected; his magic was too powerful."

“Me too,” Cedric and Fleur said in unison.

Fudge's lips twitched violently as he struggled to shift his gaze to Aaron, asking almost pleadingly, "Mr. Gaius, you didn't also witness the mysterious man's resurrection, did you?"

"No." Aaron feigned a lingering fear and gave an awkward laugh. "I was knocked unconscious by a spell as soon as I landed."

I woke up to find myself inexplicably outside Hogsmeade Village. If Cedric and the others hadn't told me, I wouldn't have known the Mystic had come back to life. It was terrifying.

Fudge was speechless, Harry looked bewildered, and the others understood each other perfectly.

Aaron perfectly absolved himself of responsibility; Voldemort was indeed resurrected, but his subsequent battles with the Death Eaters were all Harry's fantasy, or rather, a dream.

How they escaped back is unknown.

But you can make up any reason you want, like some unknown powerful figure rescuing them from Voldemort.

The problem is that even if you know the truth, you can only follow the script arranged by Aaron, since three out of the five witnesses are on his side.

"As expected of you." Adrian couldn't help but chuckle, then gave a thumbs up. "You haven't changed after all these years; you always like to keep yourself out of the loop."

"Sis, I have no idea what you're talking about." Aaron scratched his head, feigning confusion, which made the others secretly click their tongues in amazement.

"Never mind, Genes will give me the records anyway."

Aaron: ......

Generous gift of crabs! I completely forgot about that.

But it doesn't matter. Even if there's no record, if Adrian asks, Genes can only answer truthfully.

“Impossible.” Fudge still refused to believe it. “Do you have any evidence? No, right? Then you can’t prove that the mysterious man has been resurrected.”

“So it was five…” Fudge paused, then corrected himself, “No, it was a prank by four students. Mr. Gaius fainted, and he knows nothing.”

As Minister of Magic, he could yell at most wizards, but he knew those who couldn't afford to offend him.

Fortunately, Gaius's complete unconsciousness throughout the ordeal hinted that he would not participate in the testimony, otherwise he really wouldn't know what to do.

At this moment, Snape strode forward and rolled up his left sleeve.

He stretched out his arm for Fudge to see, and Fudge instantly turned pale and took a few steps back in horror.

Chapter 417 Dumbledore's Arrangements: A Conversation That Killed the Conversation

“Look!” Snape’s voice was hoarse. “The Dark Mark isn’t as obvious as it was a little over an hour ago.”

It was burned to a charred black color, but you could still see it.

"This is the mark Voldemort branded the Death Eaters, the way the Death Eaters identify each other, and the secret code Voldemort used to summon them back to his side."

When he touches a Death Eater's mark, we must immediately Apparate to his side.

Karkaroff and I both felt the mark burning hot tonight; we both knew he was back.

However, Karkaroff betrayed many of his Death Eater companions, and fearing Voldemort's retaliation, he had vanished long ago.

"Professor Karkaroff... ran away?" Krum asked, looking uneasy.

“Yes! He was incredibly fast,” Snape scoffed. “He disappeared before we even had a chance to react; it must have been before Voldemort gave the signal.”

Fudge's eyes widened, and after a long pause, he looked at Dumbledore and said firmly through gritted teeth, "I don't know what tricks you're playing, but I've had enough."

I don't want to say anything more. See you next time, Dumbledore. We need to discuss how Hogwarts operates.

Now, I have to go back to the Ministry of Magic.

Fudge turned to leave, but after taking only a few steps, he turned back.

He took a large bag of gold coins from his pocket and placed it in Aaron's hand. "The prize money for the Triwizard Tournament is one thousand Galleons."

Although you were handling the trophy together, I think everyone assumed you were the champion, and that's what you deserved.

Before Aaron could say anything more, Abe swiftly stuffed the gold coins into his pocket, his face beaming with satisfaction.

“I probably won’t attend the awards ceremony, after all, I’ve had a bit of a falling out with Headmaster Dumbledore,” Fudge said, then glanced at Dumbledore, put on his top hat, and walked out of the headmaster’s office.

boom!

The oak door slammed shut.

Dumbledore shook his head in disappointment, then looked at Cedric and the others, "I think you should go to the university hospital and have Ms. Pomfrey take a good look at you."

"It was quite tiring; tonight was exceptionally exciting."

I need to take some tranquilizer and then get a good night's sleep.

Abe pulled a dark glass bottle from his pocket and looked at his owner with a fawning expression.

Aaron looked at the 'sedative' label and couldn't help but twitch his lips. "You spendthrift! I prepared this step by step, how could you just throw it away like this!"

"Take it back quickly; the potions at the school clinic are free."

Abe gave an awkward laugh and stuffed the glass bottle back into his pocket.

"let's go!"

“No rush, Mr. Gaius,” Dumbledore said. “You and Harry stay behind for a moment.”

“Uh…” Aaron said somewhat reluctantly, “Just leave Harry here; he definitely knows more than I do.”

"Don't worry, it won't take up much of your time."

Aaron's lips twitched slightly, and he nodded helplessly.

Cedric and the other two exchanged glances and silently left the room.

“To be honest, we anticipated Fudge’s attitude, but it has changed the whole situation,” Dumbledore said. “We have to speed things up.”

"Minerva, I need to see Hagrid as soon as possible. If possible, please also inform Ms. Maxim!"

“I’ll take care of it right away.” Professor McGonagall immediately left the principal’s office.

"Sirius, you can turn back into your normal form now."

The big black dog didn't move, it just glanced at Adrian.

There's an outsider here; what if there's a misunderstanding?