Hogwarts: From Little Wizard to White Lord

Any Minister of Magic, including him, who dared to deny the Wizengamot would be denying the legitimacy of his own power.

If the situation really develops to that point, the Wizengamot will be fine, but it is hard to say what will happen to the Minister who has lost the protection of magical laws.

Therefore, Fudge can only play the string game within the rules.

According to the original development, Fudge felt that he still had some hope. No matter how powerful Dumbledore was, he could only make people fear him, not obey him.

As far as he knew, among the more than 50 seats in the Wizengamot, only about a dozen wizards such as Amelia and Mrs. Marchbank were Dumbledore's die-hard fans, and they would support Dumbledore unconditionally.

The rest of the people can only be considered neutral. Politically, they have no unified demands and their stances and starting points are different. They are objects that anyone can win over.

During the previous questioning meeting, Vaughan attended the entire meeting and answered questions patiently in order to win the votes of these neutral parties.

It was precisely because Fudge noticed this that he visited them frequently after the questioning meeting, hoping to win them over to his side and turn the tables in the final decision-making process.

Originally, he was progressing smoothly...

"The day before yesterday, Alred Travers secretly wrote me a letter. He told me that Fudge was contacting the pure-blood families, trying to get them to vote against it. Many families have wavered..."

In the evening, Vaughan and Crouch rushed to the Ministry of Magic to wait for the Wizengamot to vote.

Amelia said to Vaughn when she saw him.

She was still a little dissatisfied: "I wanted to contact you and Dumbledore at that time, but there was no news from both of you. It was not until today that I found out that Dumbledore secretly went to visit his 'old friends', and you also had the full support of Mr. Crouch - if Barty hadn't told me that you were with him, I wouldn't have known!"

Her dissatisfaction naturally came from the fact that neither of them had discussed it with her.

"Sorry, Amelia." Vaughn calmly made up a story: "Actually, I've been staying at Mr. Crouch's house these days, trying to persuade him. I finally convinced him today, so I really didn't have time to inform you..."

Crouch's cheeks twitched beside him, and he almost couldn't help but open his mouth to expose him - where was the soft and hard coaxing? Vaughn was clearly sure he would cooperate. He hadn't mentioned it in the past few days, causing him to rush to write letters to the pure-blood families this afternoon.

But Amelia obviously believed it.

Her expression softened until Vaughan spoke harshly of Dumbledore: "... Dumbledore must have forgotten you. Look, he didn't even send a message with his Patronus..."

Amelia took a deep breath and couldn't help looking to the side.

The air there fluctuated a few times, and Dumbledore with a white beard appeared, looking at Vaughan with a smile.

This was undoubtedly an embarrassing scene.

But Vaughan remained calm, not even pausing for a moment. "...But I believe that as soon as Dumbledore's old, muddled head comes to his senses, he will inform you personally, Albus, am I right?"

"My dear, you really understand me."

"No, no, you haven't been wandering around the wilderness lately. The professor mentioned to me last time that you might die out there someday. Rather than not being able to find you then, he might as well give you a bottle of poison now. He's holding his temper every day, so you'd better be careful!"

"Alas, Severus is not very open-minded and is obsessed with some trivial things in the past. Unlike me, when others slander me in front of me, I just smile and don't take it to heart. At most, I will hold a grudge for a while."

When the two met, they started to exchange sharp words and smile with hidden daggers.

This peculiar way of getting along surprised Amelia and Crouch.

Although everyone knew that Dumbledore supported Vaughan, they thought that the relationship between the two should be more like that of an elder and a younger generation, or in other words, Vaughan should obey Dumbledore.

But now it seems that the relationship between the two seems to be very equal!

Vaughan and Dumbledore exchanged a few words on an equal and "friendly" basis. It was getting late, so Amelia said goodbye first as she still had to go and set up the venue.

Not all Wizengamot members need to be present today, probably only about ten or so.

But because a new organization may be established, almost all departments of the Ministry of Magic will send one or two representatives to attend and observe the resolution.

This also includes wizarding residents, media reporters, etc. who are willing to come.

Amelia will have to count the votes and her job is not easy.

After she left, Crouch quickly made an excuse to leave as well, because he felt guilty and didn't dare to face Dumbledore in private.

As expected, just as Crouch's back disappeared out the door, Dumbledore retracted his gaze and looked at Vaughan. "Barty's support for you has exceeded many people's expectations. Everyone is wondering why he would rekindle his old connections because of you. Before today, he had long stopped contacting some pure-blood families."

During the questioning meeting, Vaughn, who often came to Amelia's office to play, found the drink familiarly, took a sip, and said, "We had an agreement and trusted each other!"

"Of course, I wasn't trying to question you." Dumbledore smiled. "It just suddenly occurred to me that a few years ago, Barty asked me if memory magic could reverse the corruption of a person by the Dark Arts."

"Oh, that's an interesting thought. How do you respond?"

"I told him it was impossible!"

Dumbledore looked at Vaughan, his azure eyes filled with mystery. "The effects of Dark Magic are irreversible. They only accumulate. Even I can only rely on Memory Magic to try to weaken the corruption caused by each use of Dark Magic and delay its effects."

Vaughan remained noncommittal: "Nothing in the world is absolute, Albus!"

Chapter 88 Make your choice, Dumbledore!

Dumbledore is a very smart man. This intelligence is not limited to his mind and knowledge, but also includes his experience and insight.

When Dumbledore made his tentative move, Vaughan knew that Dumbledore had guessed something based on his rapidly developing partnership with Crouch.

In fact, as long as a person has enough information and a rich and bold imagination, it is not too difficult to guess why Crouch is willing to help Vaughan.

For a man who is so heartbroken because his family is broken and he is even willing to give up his political future, what else can help him to cheer up again?

His family, of course!

Vaughan didn't think about hiding anything. He wanted to win over Crouch to take advantage of Crouch's reputation and connections, so there was naturally no need to hesitate.

Even Crouch himself didn't care - he just wanted to fulfill his and his wife's wishes and get his son back. Apart from that, he could ignore everything!

Dumbledore heard Vaughan's subtext.

He was silent for a moment, then pondered, "Have you ever considered that those who are corrupted by the Dark Arts aren't entirely due to the corrupting influence of the Dark Arts? In a sense, we can also believe that power is neither right nor wrong. Just like a Muggle gun, it won't just come into your hands and force you to use it... Magic, like guns, is just a tool, without a mind!"

"Every fallen wizard who became addicted to the dark arts was first guilty of sin in their own hearts. Dark magic was merely a tool they used to carry out their sins. Just because the tool then influenced its owner doesn't mean all the blame should be placed on it... For people like that, do you think there's any need to change their ways or save them?"

Vaughn smiled. "You shouldn't say that to me. I'm just... a doctor, so to speak? I deal fairly with the patient's family. He helps me, and I help him. As for whether the patient is guilty or not, that's a matter for the law enforcement and the family. It has nothing to do with me, a doctor!"

Old Deng sighed and said nothing.

He knew that his attempt to influence Vaughn with morality had failed again, and this was also where he felt most powerless towards Vaughn. Vaughn was only 12 years old, but his worldview was shockingly mature.

He has his own logic and way of doing things, and they usually make sense - even if they are twisted, they are still quite convincing.

And the more important problem is that Dumbledore discovered it too late!

It was only this afternoon, when Dumbledore learned that Crouch had sent more than 20 letters in a row to support Vaughan, that he realized that Crouch's support for Vaughan far exceeded the normal range.

So, before coming to the Ministry of Magic, he went to the Crouch family cemetery in Godric's Hollow, where Mrs. Crouch was buried with Barty Crouch Jr.

However, his magic only found one body in the two tombs...

If he were acting entirely from his heart, Dumbledore knew that he should immediately notify the Ministry of Magic and have Barty Crouch arrested.

This is where he finds it difficult to make a decision - once Crouch is caught, the establishment of the Werewolf Affairs Committee is likely to encounter setbacks.

No...it's not very likely, but it will definitely happen!

Now everyone knows that Crouch is also a supporter of Vaughan. For this reason, he even wrote more than 20 letters in one afternoon this afternoon.

As the opponent, Fudge obviously knows it better!

If something happens to Crouch at this time, not only will the Wizengamot who voted in favor be caught off guard and lose morale, but Fudge will also take this opportunity as an excuse to hinder or delay the resolution to establish the Werewolf Affairs Committee!

Barty Crouch Jr. was undoubtedly a cruel and incorrigible Death Eater.

But if the future of more than a thousand wandering werewolves is sacrificed because of him...

Dumbledore is in great pain now. If he knew more about Muggles, he would know that his current troubles are somewhat similar to a classic Muggle thought experiment - the trolley problem.

He is now like the poor driver in the trolley problem, caught in a moral dilemma: should he sacrifice thousands of innocent people in order to punish a villain, or let the villain go for the sake of thousands of innocent people?

"call--"

Dumbledore sighed and glanced at Vaughn with a tired look in his eyes: "Vaughn, did you let me find out on purpose?"

"I just figured it out. You had Crouch suddenly contact an old friend on your last day. You did it on purpose, at this high-profile moment, to draw everyone's attention to your unusual partnership... especially me. You know, I'll definitely find out why Crouch cooperated with you like this!"

"The reason for this is that you plan to make Crouch your spokesperson. He will have more and more contact with me and Amelia in the future. Sooner or later, we will realize that something is wrong with you. In that case, there is no point in hiding it. And you never waste time on meaningless things..."

As he spoke, he smiled bitterly: "Sometimes, I really want to pry open your brain and see what's inside."

Vaughan neither admitted nor refuted the allegations.

He just smiled and replied, "My academic performance can guarantee that my head is not filled with Babo tuber thick water or slug slime, you can rest assured."

"Ha...classic apothecary metaphor!"

"Thank you. I learned this from the professor and it was very interesting."

The smile on Vaughn's face grew wider.

Of course he was happy. The fact that Dumbledore could talk to him in such a harmonious way was enough to show what choice Dumbledore had made.

Obviously, between the future of thousands of people and the sin of one person, Dumbledore unsurprisingly leaned towards the majority.

This is the most likely choice that most people who face a moral dilemma will make.

Seeing the undisguised joy on Vaughn's face, Dumbledore felt a little unhappy and deliberately asked, "Actually, there's a question I've wanted to ask you for a long time. Crouch's secret, the Horcrux... where did you get all this information?"

Vaughn showed little interest in his deliberate probing. "What do you think?"

Dumbledore thought for a moment and said something shocking: "I suspect you have the blood of a prophet!"

"Oh... if you say there is one, then there is one!" Vaughn answered perfunctorily, with a not very good expression.

Dumbledore didn't care about him and asked with a smile: "Then, dear prophet, can you tell me what my future will be like?"

"you will die!"

Vaughn's words were equally shocking, and he sneered back, "His death was horrible. He fell from the Hogwarts Observatory and was smashed into a meat pie. After his death, his grave was dug up. It was so tragic!"

Dumbledore: "Oh - now I am sure that what Aurora (the Astronomy professor) said about your lack of spiritual talent in Divination is probably true!"

Amelia, who had just walked in and accidentally overheard the conversation: "..."

Amelia looked at Vaughn with a vicious smile, and then at Dumbledore with a playful smile, and suddenly felt that these two guys who hurt each other were really alike in some way!

Like, they're all a bit childish...

At night, Whitehall Street on the ground is brightly lit and magnificent.

The Ministry of Magic underground was no less bustling with people coming and going. On the second underground floor, the Wizengamot Conference Hall, which was relatively deserted in the past, became lively again today.

Unlike the last time when the room was filled with people in purple robes, this time, in the huge stepped hall, only a dozen or so Wizengamot members were sparsely seated on the main podium side.

The other sides were filled with Ministry of Magic officials, reporters, and idle wizarding folk who had come to join in the fun after seeing the notice in the afternoon.