Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 325 Fudge: I feel like I'm having such a bad day. Dumbledore, do you have any ideas?

"Calm down, assaulting the Minister of Magic is illegal." Rice tugged at Helga's sleeve.

"You're actually willing to obey the law?" Hufflepuff looked at his old friend with the eyes of someone looking at a monster. "If the people from back then heard this, their eyes would probably pop out of their sockets!"

"It's not about obeying the law, it's about respecting the rules. Times have changed, and we need to learn to integrate into modern society, instead of taking advantage of our seniority to do whatever we want and cause trouble for our children," Rice said seriously.

He has always considered himself a person of principle.

"It's clearly the younger generation causing us trouble..." Helga muttered, but seeing Salazar hesitate, she added, "Don't worry, I'm not like Godric. I still want to continue teaching here and try to break that ridiculous curse. I won't use my real identity to teach that guy a lesson."

Helga and Rice reached an agreement, and magical energy emanated from both of them.

Meanwhile, Fudge is discussing with Dumbledore the possibility of digging the Dementors out of the lake.

"That's a hundred Dementors. Without them, the guarding of Azkaban will be much less stressful—"

"The Dementors left behind in Azkaban will probably be quite happy, won't they? After all, there are fewer people vying for their food." Dumbledore interrupted Fudge. He understood Dementors better than Fudge, knowing that these dark creatures did not possess human emotions, and their attitude towards their own kind was limited to not devouring them.

Fudge gave a wry smile: It seemed Dumbledore didn't want him to dig out the Dementors.

"Besides, it's simply impossible. They're buried too deep. I measured it before; the lake water alone is fifty meters deep," Dumbledore added from the side. He wanted Fudge to know that he couldn't support Fudge's idea of ​​"salvaging" the Dementors, either emotionally or practically.

"Alright." Fudge bent down and stared into the bottomless lake, as if trying to see through the water to find the Dementors buried beneath.

"Be careful." Dumbledore felt that Fudge's position was not safe. From his previous measurements, he knew that the lake wall in this area was particularly steep, almost vertical. One step ahead was the lakeside grass, and the next step was fifty meters of deep lake water.

"Um, I—" Before Fudge could finish speaking, his foot slipped, and he fell headfirst into the lake.

Fudge struggled after falling into the water, but his first step missed the mark. He panicked and instinctively opened his mouth, swallowing several large mouthfuls of icy lake water.

Dumbledore, who was on the shore, also realized what was happening. He pulled out his wand, flicked out a rope from the tip, and threw it toward Fudge.

From afar, Hufflepuff on the castle wall scoffed: "Albus, you asked for this. Using such magic? You must have lost your mind." She snapped her fingers, and the ground beneath Dumbledore's feet suddenly became slippery.

Dumbledore stumbled, but quickly regained his balance, avoiding falling into the lake like Fudge. However, his own stability was insufficient, as Fudge in the water also grabbed the rope he had swung.

Feeling the pull from his wand and the "restless" soil beneath his feet, Dumbledore didn't hesitate at all and immediately broke the rope that had appeared from the tip of his wand.

Just as Fudge grabbed the lifeline, he fell back into the water and choked on it again.

Having learned from his previous experience, Dumbledore used the Levitation Charm to "salvage" Fudge this time, allowing the soaking wet Fudge to float up from the lake.

After getting ashore, Fudge lay on the ground and dry heaved for a while, feeling as if he had vomited up yesterday's dinner.

At the same time, he felt a chill. It was already late autumn, and the temperature of the lake water was not much higher than zero degrees. Being soaked in such cold water and swallowing several mouthfuls of it was not a pleasant experience.

Fortunately, Dumbledore was an excellent wizard, and he skillfully used spells to evaporate the lake water from Fudge's body.

Fudge quickly realized what was happening and frantically started rummaging through his pockets for his wand. Then he made a nightmarish discovery: his wand seemed to have fallen into the lake!

He didn't even have time to let Dumbledore finish dehumidifying him before begging him to use the Summoning Charm to retrieve his wand.

Dumbledore had no reason to refuse, but when he cast a Summoning Charm, the wand did not float to the surface.

Dumbledore: ?

Fudge: ? ? ?

"I didn't put a Repel Charm on my wand, did I?" Fudge scratched his head.

Dumbledore used the Summoning Charm again, and this time he felt the feedback from the spell, but the force didn't feel like that of a wand at all...

Dumbledore pulled hard and finally managed to lift the wand up. It turned out that Fudge's wand was tangled with a bunch of seaweed growing on a boulder. Dumbledore's Summoning Charm had pulled the wand up along with the several-hundred-pound boulder.

Dumbledore carefully removed the wand from the seaweed and handed the wet, cracked wand to Fudge.

Fudge: ...

He gripped his cracked wand, feeling the soaking wetness of his robes, and couldn't help but look up and shout—and then a bird dropping landed squarely on his cheek.

"Ptooey! Ptooey! Ptooey!"

It took Fudge a long time to recover from this series of blows.

The understanding Dumbledore helped him clean himself up and even dried his wet robe.

"It doesn't seem auspicious to go out today," Dumbledore joked. "How about we go see Professor Trelawney for a divination?"

Fudge began to waver: perhaps he really should go see a fortune teller?

"She must have hot tea and a blazing fireplace," Dumbledore said, delivering the final straw that won Fudge.

"Okay! I feel like I've had the worst day ever!" Fudge decided to go with Dumbledore to Trelawney's place. At worst, he could at least enjoy some hot tea and a fireplace, right?

As the two walked into the castle, Rice and Helga gave a mysterious smile: Cornelius, you're brave, aren't you going back to the Ministry of Magic?

On the way to the castle, Fudge was on edge, fearing something unexpected might happen, but the journey was uneventful.

The moment Fudge stepped into the castle, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief: He was finally safe!

As he stepped onto the moving staircase of Hogwarts, an accident occurred—a step suddenly disappeared, and Fudge immediately sank in, one leg stuck between the stairs, unable to move.

Fudge: ? ? ?

Have I been away from Hogwarts for too long? Is there some kind of mechanism on this staircase?

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.

First update delivered. I'll write the second one after get off work tonight.

(End of this chapter)