The years of welding at Hogwarts

It is now ten days since the London incident.

The disaster that affected millions of people has basically eliminated all its impact on the wizarding world through the joint efforts of the International Confederation of Wizards and S.H.I.E.L.D.

Note, this is the impact on the magical world.

Not many people in the non-magical world noticed the existence of wizards.

As for the wizarding world, apart from the loss of dozens of Aurors' lives and the excessive destruction of Diagon Alley in London's Charing Cross Road by the Lizardmen, there was basically no other heavy price to pay.

But its impact on the non-magical world was still profound and tragic.

Dumbledore walked silently to the front of the crowd, his slightly lifeless eyes slowly sweeping over every face in the crowd.

"Today, I just want to announce a few things."

Although he had rested for several hours, Dumbledore's face inevitably showed a trace of fatigue, and his voice was slow and firm.

"First and foremost, I am resigning as Acting Minister of Magic."

Most of the people present had no reaction to Dumbledore's words.

Resigning as acting minister? Would his next sentence be to announce his official appointment as minister?

They basically all thought so, and they all agreed with Dumbledore's approach, but Dumbledore did not play the cards they expected. Instead, he announced another final decision as the acting minister -

"The position of Minister of Magic will be taken over by Madam Amelia Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement."

Although Dumbledore was not willing to directly interfere with the internal management of the Ministry of Magic in such an appointed manner.

But after seeing what a fool like Cornelius Fudge could do...

He no longer believed that relying solely on the professional politicians within the Ministry of Magic who were only capable of forming cliques and struggling for power would be able to select an excellent successor.

If he rashly abandoned the position of Minister of Magic, the minister finally elected would definitely be the result of a compromise after all kinds of intrigue.

A minister elected in that way would be no different from that incompetent idiot Connelly.

Without sufficient skills, even if he sits in the position of minister, he can only be a puppet manipulated by others.

Therefore, after ten days of observation, he chose Amelia Bones, Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, who had both character and ability.

In the crowd, Amelia Bones seemed a little dazed by this sudden appointment.

The middle-aged witch wearing a monocle stood there in a daze for a long time, until the people around her took the initiative to make room for her, and then she appeared.

"Professor Dumbledore, this..."

She wanted to say that this unilateral appointment was not in accordance with procedure, but before she could open her mouth, Dumbledore raised his hand to signal the noisy crowd to quiet down.

The old man's voice sounded full of majesty at this moment. "This is the last decision made by me, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, as the President of the International Confederation of Wizards."

Everyone was stunned by the news that Dumbledore had unilaterally designated the next Minister of Magic. Before they could fully digest the previous news, they heard Dumbledore drop another bombshell.

What did they hear?

What was your last decision as President of the International Confederation of Wizards?

Does this mean that...

"As of today, I will resign as President of the International Confederation of Wizards and Chief Wizard of the Wizengamot."

"The new president and chief will be selected through election."

Dumbledore's words were like a depth charge dropped into the water, causing thousands of splashes.

The huge crowd gathered in front of him immediately swarmed over, especially the reporters from various media outlets who were so crazy that they wanted to stuff the microphone in their hands into Dumbledore's mouth.

The Aurors waiting nearby stopped this crazy behavior in time, but their eyes were still full of confusion and puzzlement when they looked at Dumbledore.

Why did Dumbledore make this decision?

If Dumbledore announced that he would immediately become the official Minister of Magic, they would be willing to do so even if such a procedure was not in line with the regulations.

This is Dumbledore's reputation in the wizarding world.

but……

"In addition to this, I will also be stepping down as the headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The new headmaster will be the former deputy headmaster, Ms. Minerva McGonagall."

After saying this, without giving the reporters or other people from the Ministry of Magic any chance to ask questions, Dumbledore's figure directly burned into a ball of golden red flame and disappeared in the magnificent hall.

All that was left was the noisy reporters in the hall and those Ministry of Magic employees who were confused about the situation.

The several decisions announced by Dumbledore seemed to have wings. After the press conference ended, they spread throughout the entire British wizarding community in just a few minutes.

Newspapers such as the Daily Prophet did not even have the time to do any typeset work on the first-hand information their reporters obtained at the press conference. They simply copied the text recorded by the reporters onto the pages of the newspapers and published them.

The wave of public opinion was not limited to the British wizarding world.

Even the European continent, which was only separated by a strait, was in an uproar the moment the news was received.

Just as everyone was arguing over why Dumbledore made this decision so abruptly, Nurmengard Castle, located between the mountains of Austria, welcomed a guest who had not visited here for a long time...

Chapter 241 Mess

Nurmengard Castle.

After decades of erosion, the originally majestic castle has long lost its former glory.

The brick and stone exterior walls have become mottled after years of wind and rain.

Although the interior decoration was renovated last Christmas due to Dumbledore's visit, the scope of the renovation was only the small cell where Grindelwald originally lived.

Looking at the cold tower hanging alone on the edge of the cliff, and the gate

Dumbledore had a complicated expression when he saw the words "For the Greater Good" carved just above his mouth.

Walking up the stone steps, Dumbledore thought he would see Grindelwald in the cell at the top, but he didn't expect...

The oak door of the room was only half-open, and all the decorations inside were the same as when he left, without any change.

Judging from the layer of dust covering the furniture, this place has not been occupied for at least half a year.

It turns out that Grindelwald had left Nurmengard a long time ago.

And he left almost at the end of Christmas, after I left here.

"Gail..."

Completely ignoring the dust on the chair, Dumbledore didn't even need a wand to perform such a simple magic as cleaning it up.

He simply sat down on the chair in the middle of the room, leaning against the dusty backrest, and looked up at the bronze carved chandelier hanging from the ceiling.

"If it were you, you would have the courage to lead the magic world towards a better future..."

Folding his hands on his abdomen, Dumbledore slowly closed his eyes, and the boundless fatigue that surged from deep within his body swept over his entire body and mind.

"The magical world is in your hands."

His breathing gradually became even.

The heart that had been restless due to guilt finally calmed down a little at this moment, but regret and pain could still be vaguely seen on the old face.

……

Hogwarts Castle, Headmaster's Office.

Looking at the empty room in front of her except for the portraits of past headmasters on the wall, the elderly cat girl, who had no idea what Dumbledore was up to and was appointed as the next top leader of Hogwarts the next second, was immediately furious.

Dumbledore was so cool. He announced in front of the entire wizarding world that he would throw such a huge mess into her hands, and then turned around and disappeared?

If she knew where Dumbledore was hiding now, she would really dig this old and stubborn bee out of the ground, whip it dozens of times, and drive it away to another yard.

But let alone any trace of Dumbledore, even the greedy fat turkey that followed Dumbledore every day was abducted by that little devil named Shaflin.

In the huge principal's office, she couldn't even find an owl that could deliver letters.

Fortunately, she didn't need to find an owl to send a letter.

As soon as Snape got today's Daily Prophet, even though he was far away in Spinner's End in London, he immediately rushed to Hogsmeade through the Floo Network after learning the news announced by Dumbledore.

Several headmasters met in Dumbledore's, no, now it should be called Headmaster McGonagall's office, and the four of them looked at each other in confusion.

Except for some information Snape heard from Noah, no one knew what Dumbledore was crazy about.

Even though Dumbledore did not tell the professors at Hogwarts about the difficult decision to hand over the Philosopher's Stone to Voldemort that day.

But they had never imagined that a small Philosopher's Stone could lead to such serious consequences, nor had they any idea of ​​the remorse and guilt in Dumbledore's heart that was enough to devour him whole.

Fortunately, even though the old man Dumbledore was the full-time headmaster of Hogwarts, he was always lazy and never took care of his business.

Even if he stayed in the office honestly, he would either eat dessert secretly or pace back and forth in the room. He didn't do any real work.

In previous years, all the affairs of Hogwarts were handled by Professor McGonagall, the vice-headmaster.

The only change in Hogwarts this year is that the title of vice-principal on Professor McGonagall's head has changed slightly from deputy to principal.

As for other matters, there was no change.

It was the holiday season when all the mythical beasts of Hogwarts went home to wreak havoc on their parents, and there wasn't much to do at school.

The only relatively tedious thing is the enrollment of new students for the next academic year.

But it's not too much trouble.

Just like in previous years, we just need to send owls to the new students according to their names recorded in the admission book.

As for the textbook list and so on, it's just a change of name but the substance remains the same. The professors at Hogwarts have been teaching in the school for many years, and they have never changed the textbooks.

For example, the textbooks used in Professor McGonagall's Transfiguration class -

The Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emery Sweekey.

This was the textbook used by their Transfiguration professor when Dumbledore was still studying at Hogwarts.

Almost a century has passed, and the young wizards at Hogwarts are still using this book in class.

In addition to the admission of new students, another slightly more troublesome issue is the new candidate for the position of professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts.

But that was not a big deal, after all, Hogwarts School now had a new course called [Magical Attack and Defense].

It is called a new course, but the teaching content of this course basically overlaps with the Defense Against the Dark Arts course.

The reason why we still have the Defense Against the Dark Arts

The course was mainly designed to allow the unlucky professor of this course to take the blame for Filius and Snape.

But it is not a good idea to let Snape and Filius take turns to be the professors of magic attack and defense.

Even though the two deans are no longer required to teach lower-level courses, this will more or less affect the two professors' concentration and teaching quality.

and so……

Or maybe you should consider making Snape a full professor of magic attack and defense?

As for the old senior potions class, Professor McGonagall also had a target in mind, that is, Dumbledore's former colleague, another potion master whose potion level was no less than Snape's -

Horace Slughorn.

Old man Slughorn has always been a coward who is afraid of death. As the head of Slytherin House during Tom Riddle's time, when Voldemort was in power, this old man disappeared from Hogwarts in a hurry.

But now Voldemort has been defeated. Even though Slughorn is an elderly man of the same age as Dumbledore, who is over a hundred years old, it would not be difficult to invite him to return to Hogwarts given his love of fame and fortune.

The only thing that gave Professor McGonagall a headache was the series of reform measures that Noah, the little devil, had previously implemented in Hogwarts.

Ever since Noah joined Hogwarts, this school has felt increasingly unfamiliar to Professor McGonagall.

Putting aside the measures that had already been implemented in Hogwarts, the most pressing issue facing Professor McGonagall now was the "large-scale event" that Dumbledore had promised the students, which would occupy their entire month after school started.

Dumbledore and Noah's discussion did not even go through the deans.

Now Dumbledore has simply quit his job. He is quite cool about it, but you must at least hand over your work to me!

After seeing off the other three headmasters of Hogwarts, Professor McGonagall turned her attention to the portraits of the sleeping headmasters on the walls of the headmaster's office.

"Evra."

She said to an old portrait near the ceiling, "Do you know where Dumbledore is now?"

In the frame, a yellow-faced wizard with short black bangs opened his eyes.

The wizard called Everard shook his head. "No one knows. Dumbledore didn't even leave a portrait of himself."

Professor McGonagall could only sigh helplessly, "Okay."

Fortunately, apart from the old bee who deserved to be killed, there was another person in Hogwarts who knew what the large-scale event that would take up a month was.

Noah Shafrin.