Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 324 Helga: Is he Fudge?

Seeing that everyone present had reached a consensus, Henry felt much better: the task Lord Slytherin had assigned him was one step closer to success.

When a Minister of Magic's policies are publicly questioned and then overturned, his political life is practically over. It indicates that his prestige has plummeted to a pitiful state, and he has accumulated far too many dissatisfactions with him.

When the time comes, they won't need to do anything; those ambitious for the Minister of Magic position will automatically contact them, and they can simply set their prices. This is the advantage of pure-blood families; they can sit back and wait, gradually accumulating wealth, status, and prestige for their families. Before they step into the limelight and ascend to the Minister of Magic's seat, they are almost guaranteed to be the losers.

Oh, no, there's something else I need to do: give Lord Slytherin a proper update on my progress, so he doesn't get impatient waiting.

Henry thought that it was just that the adults were unwilling to reveal their identities. If they did reveal their identities in the future, it would be a simple matter of dismissing Fudge.

After successfully gathering a group of influential people, Henry decided to take them to see Fudge and ask him to repeal the Dementor Outpost Act—as for how to capture Sirius, that was not their concern; they only wanted to ensure that no more Dementors would appear near Hogwarts.

Fudge arrived at Hogwarts quickly and met Dumbledore, who had been waiting for him at the school gate.

"Albus, this really was an accident." The flash of anger in Dumbledore's eyes startled Fudge, who instinctively tried to defend himself.

After he finished speaking, he realized: no students were injured, so why was he so nervous?

Fudge quickly calmed down. As a seasoned Minister of Magic, he had already figured out a solution to this incident on his way here.

First, appease Dumbledore and settle things with Hogwarts, then try to fool the uninformed parents outside the school. The goal is to minimize the damage and make a big deal out of nothing.

The two most important aspects of this solution are that Hogwarts must not cause any trouble, and the parents must not coordinate in advance.

Fudge was trying to achieve the first point, so even though he didn't really care, he kept a humble attitude, constantly apologizing to Dumbledore and putting on a show of being extremely apprehensive.

He knew that Dumbledore was old, and old people are always easy to fool.

Sure enough, the anger in Dumbledore's eyes gradually subsided, and he told Fudge that Dementors must no longer be allowed near Hogwarts.

Fudge blinked, thinking to himself that this wouldn't do. Without Dementors guarding the area, who would capture Sirius Black? He just wanted to bring this first Azkaban escapee to justice as soon as possible.

He didn't really care about Harry's safety; he insisted on placing Dementors around Hogwarts because that was where Black was most likely to appear.

"May I go and take a look at the Black Lake first? I heard they were buried in the ground and then sunk to the bottom of the lake?" Fudge did not answer Dumbledore's request directly, but changed the subject.

"Of course, I was also very surprised that this happened." Dumbledore stepped aside and invited Fudge into Hogwarts.

"You're the headmaster, don't you know what happened?" Fudge was somewhat taken aback after learning that Dumbledore was also "surprised".

"Is Dumbledore lying to me?" The thought flashed through his mind. "He's very unhappy with my sending out the Dementors, so even though he could have used the Patronus Charm to dispel them, he still chose to activate the school's defensive magic to seal them all away..."

To be honest, Fudge thought this idea was quite reasonable.

"Hogwarts is a magical school with a thousand-year history, filled with countless mechanisms. Even as the headmaster, I cannot be 100% familiar with all the school's secrets. Even if the four founders were to be resurrected, they would find the current castle extremely unfamiliar—in fact, one morning I had to pee..."

Fudge listened patiently as Dumbledore recounted his "amazing" story of needing to urinate and searching for a toilet. When they reached the Black Lake, he exclaimed impatiently, "Is that it? I see it! The outline of the Black Lake is different from what I remember!"

Dumbledore nodded, led Fudge to the lake, and told him that the hundred Dementors were now at the bottom of the lake.

Fudge glanced at the bottomless lake and swallowed hard.

Such seemingly calm, yet bottomless, deep lakes are most likely to evoke fear in people. He always felt that monsters might roam the bottom of the lake—and he was right; there were indeed a hundred Dementors at the bottom of the lake.

While Fudge and Dumbledore were chatting by the Black Lake, Rice and Helga were also chatting in the castle.

"Old Viper, your skills haven't declined much! I'm so envious of that wide-range freezing rain!" Helga leaned against the window, feeling the humid air outside, praising Salazar's domain endlessly.

Shortly after the Quidditch match ended that day, the rain intensified, as if a hole had been cut in the sky. However, after a day and a night of torrential rain, the several weeks of overcast and rainy weather cleared up.

"You too, the power of the earth is truly awe-inspiring. If I'm not mistaken, if you were willing, you could change the landscape of Hogwarts right now?" Rice was also showering his old friend with compliments.

Helga nodded; if she wanted, she could indeed alter the terrain around Hogwarts.

"I'm thinking of building Hogwarts on a mountaintop thousands of meters high, one of those very steep craters, with Hogwarts nestled in the middle and the Black Lake at the bottom of the crater..." Rice perked up, feeling that while the current terrain of Hogwarts was good, there was still room for further optimization.

Hufflepuff looked at him like he was crazy.

"You can go to the basement and find Rowena, and have her sculpt one for you. In reality, I suggest you be more realistic. If it's really that tall, even students running fast during breaks will experience oxygen deprivation," Helga mercilessly mocked her old friend.

"Wait, who's that person next to Dumbledore?" Her gaze swept casually across the Black Lake, and then she saw Dumbledore and Fudge.

Rice looked closer: Wasn't that Fudge?

"That guy is Fudge? The one who planted the Dementors near Hogwarts?" Helga narrowed her eyes. "Very well, he actually dared to set foot in Hogwarts?"

Rice glanced at Hufflepuff and decided she had to stop her old friend from beating up the current Minister of Magic in front of Dumbledore.

If you absolutely must fight, then you should cover your face.

It wasn't that they were afraid of him, but rather that they still wanted to live a peaceful life at Hogwarts.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

The second update is here!

I'll continue writing tonight and read it in the morning.

(End of this chapter)