Hogwarts: I am Harry's eldest cousin

"Does Professor Dumbledore know about this?"

Dudley nodded: "Of course Dumbledore knew. He was the one who recruited Voldemort into Hogwarts."

"What?" Hermione covered her mouth in surprise.

"He is the one who knows Voldemort best. Otherwise, why would Voldemort be so afraid of him?"

"Don't worry, Hermione." Dudley put his hand gently on Hermione's shoulder: "We still have time to grow. When that guy comes back completely, maybe we can defeat him."

The Dark Lord's reputation was too big. Hermione was not as optimistic as Dudley. She was seriously thinking about how to deal with it if Voldemort returned within a year, so she didn't even notice the big hand on her shoulder.

Seeing that Hermione didn't react, Dudley moved closer and changed his hand on her shoulder from an embrace.

"By the way, I'm going to the Ministry of Magic in a couple of days. Do you want to come with me?"

Dumbledore had previously told Dudley that he would need Dudley to go to the Wizengamot with him in two days.

The matter of the Order of Merlin, First Class, is almost settled.

Shaking her head slightly, Hermione said, "I want to stay and practice spells. I have some ideas for combining spells recently."

Hermione is just such a person. Once she sets her goal, she will keep working hard towards it.

"!!!"

Finally realizing that their posture was somewhat ambiguous, Hermione's face instantly turned red, but she did not push Dudley away or dodge, as if she had acquiesced.

Chapter 234 DUANG, Red Fat Chicken

In the headmaster's office of Hogwarts, Dumbledore changed into formal clothes for the first time. He wore a small round hat on his head, and a silk embroidered robe with translucent silk embellished on the hem, giving people a feeling of "immortal style".

"Dudley, has anything good happened recently? You seem to be in a good mood."

Dumbledore asked with a smile on his face.

Speaking of good moods, it was obvious that Dumbledore was in a better mood.

“I remembered some happy things.”

Dudley made up an excuse very perfunctorily and responded with a smile, although his smile was not much different from anger to many people.

"Professor, I don't think the clothes you are wearing are the special robes of the Wizengamot?"

Wizengamot members wear a uniform of purple robes with flat hats and a delicate silver "W" embroidered on the left chest.

The one Dumbledore was wearing clearly had nothing to do with purple, and there was no silver 'W' on it.

"After all, I am the chief wizard there, so I have some privileges."

Dumbledore said, winking at Dudley.

The purple robe was too flashy, and Dumbledore didn't like it very much. He preferred pure purple or light purple clothes.

"Are you ready?"

Dumbledore said, "It's about time. I think we should go over there."

"Anytime, Professor." Dudley shrugged, indicating that he was fine.

Dumbledore looked at the Phoenix Nest in the headmaster's office and said, "Fawkes, please."

The Hogwarts Castle was cast under a spell by the four founders of the schools. Wizards cannot use the Disapparate skill in the castle, and even the headmaster does not have this privilege.

However, it does not prohibit creatures other than wizards from using it, such as magical animals and house-elves.

Among them, the Phoenix is ​​one of the few magical creatures that can change its shape.

Hearing his name being called, Fawkes poked his head out of his nest and called out lazily to Dumbledore.

Dumbledore, wearing his half-moon glasses, said uncertainly, "Have you gained some weight recently?"

It's more than just a little bit, Fox has obviously gained a lot of weight.

If it looked like a phoenix before, now it can only be seen as a fat red chicken.

Mainly because the food is too good

Ever since this guy became acquainted with Crookshanks, he has never been short of food for magical creatures.

Fawkes called out again and finally came out of his nest, flapping his wings and flying to Dudley's shoulder next to Dumbledore. The whole process did not seem to be any effort at all.

Although its size is larger, it does not affect its flying ability.

Don't be fooled by its small size; it can carry creatures that are a hundred times heavier than itself.

That seemingly round belly can actually be eliminated instantly if Fox wants to. It is just enjoying the process of slowly digesting food.

The Phoenix is ​​one of the most powerful magical creatures. If it had little desire to attack wizards, giving it a 5X level would be more than enough.

"Thank you for your hard work, Fox."

Dudley scratched its chin, and his skillful technique made Fox squint his eyes comfortably.

It's not just cats that like to have their chins scratched. Most furry creatures like to have their chins scratched.

"After a while, maybe Fawkes won't even recognize me." Dumbledore joked.

In response to Dumbledore's joke, Dudley just smiled and shook his head.

Even if there were magical animal rations, Dudley would not have been able to take Fawkes away. The phoenix is ​​a very loyal magical creature, and there are almost no cases of it being tamed by wizards in history. Even if it is tamed, it will only accompany one wizard, and the wizard who accompanies Fawkes is Dumbledore.

It's good that it's close to Dudley, but it's more loyal to Dumbledore.

Fox flew above their heads, and accompanied by a not-blinding white light, the two of them disappeared into the principal's office together.

When the two appeared again, they were already on the streets of London, or to be more precise, near Whitehall in London.

Dumbledore waved his wand lightly, dispersing any ordinary people who might approach the two.

"I don't think you've ever been to the Ministry of Magic, Dudley."

Dumbledore stopped in front of a shabby red telephone box, surrounded by a few shabby buildings of unknown use, a bar and a haphazardly painted wall on a dirty street.

Even on the busiest streets of London, the surrounding environment is extremely bad.

England's sanitation workers are not so diligent.

The salary they receive is not enough to cover their daily cleaning efforts.

Forcing them to issue targets by force will only anger them and lead them to go on strike en masse.

Dudley nodded, "Yes, Professor."

"Come in, then," said Dumbledore, pushing open the door of the telephone booth.

After closing the door, Dumbledore dialed the number and Dudley saw the numbers clearly - 62442.

At this time, a female voice sounded above the booth, asking the two people why they went to the Ministry of Magic. A silver badge with their names and reasons came out of the phone, and then the telephone booth descended like an elevator for about a minute, and the elevator slowly arrived at the station.

Dudley and Dumbledore came out.

"Welcome to the Ministry of Magic, Dudley."

"Thank you for your welcome, Professor Dumbledore."

The place where the two appeared was the main entrance of the Ministry of Magic. As long as you take the corresponding elevator, you can reach any department of the Ministry of Magic from here.

In fact, you can use Apparition to come directly to the Ministry of Magic. Unlike Hogwarts, there is no spell prohibiting the use of Apparition here. However, except for the staff of the Ministry of Magic, it is not recommended for others to do so, as they may be regarded as intruders.

They were heading to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement of the Wizengamot Council, located on the second floor underground.

The Ministry of Magic has ten floors, all underground.

By the way, the two of them are currently on the eighth floor underground.

To be fair, the appearance of such an underground building complex in this era is quite shocking.

Following Dumbledore forward, we arrived at the hall of the Ministry of Magic. In the center was a circular pool of water, in the middle of which stood a group of pure gold statues of wizards, witches, centaurs, goblins, and house-elves.

This is the famous Magic Brothers Fountain.

The wizards and witches stood in the center, while the centaurs, goblins, and house-elves surrounded them, looking at them with adoration.

Dumbledore led Dudley to the famous fountain.

"Wizards cannot gain the respect of centaurs and goblins. Many wizards do not even treat them as equals. People always look at them with prejudice, as beasts, enemies and servants. The 'Magic Brotherhood Fountain' is not a 'Brotherhood Fountain' but a 'Hypocritical Fountain'."

A wizard passing by heard Dumbledore's words and thought they made a lot of sense. He thought wizards should really reflect on this.

However, although Dumbledore's words were philosophical, Dudley had other opinions on it.

When describing the area around the telephone booth leading to the Ministry of Magic, I referred to the original novel, and it is quite different from the clean streets in the movie.

Chapter 235 The Youngest Wizengamot Member in History

"Professor Dumbledore, I don't think so. In fact, wizards, centaurs, and goblins are all the same."

"You are right about wizards being hypocritical, but fairies are greedy by nature. As long as there is enough money, they will sell everything they have. In their eyes, perhaps only the golden galleons are worthy of respect. The centaurs claim to be the representatives of the stars. They only look at the stars every day, waiting for the guidance of the stars, and look down on everything. Rather than saying that wizards always look at them with prejudice, it is better to say that the centaurs look down on wizards from the beginning. If you want to gain their respect, you must turn into a star."

What Dudley said was really correct, no matter how backward you think the centaur tribe is and how sparse their population is.

But they think they are the most noble and they are the protagonists of this world.

"Even if we exclude wizards, centaurs and goblins look down on each other. They all have the prejudices you mentioned. How can wizards treat them equally?"

You can't just mention the issue of wizards and not say a word about anything else. If you have to talk about anything, you have to talk about them all at once.

There is no problem with the centaurs and goblins, that can be said to be the problem of wizards, the problem is that these two are not very good.

Dumbledore's words are thought-provoking and worth reflecting on.

But the problem doesn't just lie with the wizards.

What’s the point of them just reflecting on themselves?

You can't just put your face in front of someone who is cold, right?

As for house-elves, Dudley has not done in-depth research on them. As the saying goes, without investigation, there is no right to speak, so Dudley will not comment on them.

"Makes sense."

After hearing Dudley's words, Dumbledore did not refute but nodded repeatedly.

This is what makes Dumbledore different from many other wizards, he can tolerate other people's voices.

If that incident had not happened that year, perhaps Dumbledore and the man in the tower could have really changed the world.

If it were Voldemort who heard someone questioning him, it would be easy for him to reward the person with an Avatar. He would probably torture the person until he collapsed first, and then reward the person with an Avatar.

The two of them took the elevator to the second floor. The old-fashioned elevator kept making creaking noises, and it felt like it would fall apart at any time. With a mechanical 'ding-dong' sound, they arrived at their destination, the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

The Department of Magical Law Enforcement has three branches: the Improper Use of Magic Office, Auror Command, and the Wizengamot Administration.

Ron and Percy's father, Arthur Weasley, works in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Department of the Ministry of Magic, which is a subsidiary of the Misuse of Magic Office.

The area of ​​the second floor is the same as that of the main hall on the eighth underground floor, but there are obviously fewer wizards to be seen.

Dumbledore led Dudley to the Wizengamot administration with ease.

"Albus, you're finally here."

Shortly after entering the hall, a witch who looked very old came towards me.

"Griselda, it's nice to meet you."

Dudley could hear a hint of respect in Dumbledore's tone.

Judging from her appearance, this is a witch similar to Professor McGonagall, but she is much older than Professor McGonagall.

Griselda Marchbank, senior member of the Wizengamot and head of the Wizarding Examinations Authority.

It is said that he once served as Dumbledore's NEWT examiner a hundred years ago.

In terms of seniority in the entire Ministry of Magic, she can be ranked among the top three.

Before the two of them could talk for long, another slightly dull voice sounded.

"You came here just for this child? Mr. Chief Wizard, our name, you haven't been here for more than ten years."

This was a wizard who looked equally old.