Kasenhis looked at the one man and one dog inside the cage and let out a helpless sigh.
Lupin, who had been using Sirius as a pillow, sat up awkwardly. "I honestly don't know either. We really had nowhere to go, so we thought we'd hang out in your office for a bit. And the moment we walked in, this cage just dropped on us."
Kasenhis didn't say anything. He simply pointed at the sign hanging near the door.
No Sirius or dogs allowed inside.
"You two really think this sign of mine is completely useless, that it's only there as a warning?" Kasenhis said as he found a nearby lever and pulled it. The cage trapping the two of them slowly rose up.
"Finally… finally… freedom!" Sirius quickly turned back into human form and stretched. The space inside the cage really couldn't be called big, so at Lupin's pleading, he had no choice but to turn into a dog and serve as a pillow for a while.
Lupin, meanwhile, yawned and went off to find a bed to sleep in…
Mm. He went straight to Kasenhis's bedroom on the 1st floor of the office. In a certain sense, he was even more dog-like than Sirius.
Alright, Sirius was even faster than Lupin. When it came to being a dog, Sirius was still the reigning champion.
...…
Time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, Hogwarts was on break once again.
This time, though, the holiday atmosphere wasn't quite normal.
On every young wizard's face—well, not every single one, but at least most of them—you could see a trace of confusion.
After all, the three-way battle inside the Ministry over this period had been far too chaotic.
In the morning, the Daily Prophet had just reported Voldemort's return, the Dark Lord's comeback, the You Know Who rising again.
By noon, Fudge held a press conference at the Ministry, declaring that the Dark Lord's revival was pure fabrication, that it was all a scheme by Barty Crouch to seize power again. He also conveniently revealed that Barty Crouch had broken the law and abused his authority to swap his own son out of Azkaban.
By the afternoon, the conflict at the Ministry went straight from cold to hot. The Daily Prophet and several Ministry employees led by Fudge were directly investigated by Mr. Weasley. Many people were detained on baseless charges, then promptly fired.
A few of the loudest troublemakers were even jointly thrown by Scrimgeour and Barty Crouch into the outer ring of Azkaban to cool off for a week.
It was said that when those people were released a week later, they were sent straight to St. Mungo's, where their old schoolmate Lockhart was there to help them work through their psychological trauma.
And just like that, the three-way struggle in the Ministry dragged on for nearly a month without any clear winner.
Of course, that was only on the official surface.
On the public side of things, although Barty Crouch had his flaws in private conduct, he still had plenty of supporters. And honestly, the old man's personal charisma was leagues ahead of Fudge's.
Then there was Scrimgeour, head of the Auror Office, tough from head to toe.
And of course, Dumbledore and the entire Hogwarts faculty—this group was even more heavyweight.
With all three sides saying that Voldemort had returned, that the Dark Lord had reappeared, it was impossible for ordinary witches and wizards not to believe it.
Take this holiday, for example. Those who wanted to hide went into hiding—most neutral pure-bloods and half-bloods among them. Those who wanted to run, ran. Some newly rising mixed-blood families, along with most Muggle-born wizards, simply fled England altogether.
Oh right, the Malfoy family was among them too.
Then there were those who wanted to face Voldemort head-on—the Weasley family, the Black family, the Longbottom family, and many more small families and individual wizards. They gathered around Dumbledore, ready at any moment to find Voldemort's lair and charge in to wipe out every last Death Eater.
Of course, aside from these more reasonable reactions, there were also the greedy and the timid—people who didn't want to move from the fortunes and wealth they had worked so hard to build. That was understandable. Not everyone could be so free and easy.
And beyond all that, there were the ones who actually felt excited by the news of Voldemort's return.
Those… really didn't need much explanation.
Pure-blood dogs, the worst kind of beasts among beasts.
And just like every other holiday before, Kasenhis stood in his office, watching the young wizards board the Hogwarts Express. Meanwhile, deep underground in London, something nasty was brewing in the Minister's office at the Ministry of Magic.
Fudge, who had been cornered from all sides by Hogwarts, Barty Crouch, and Scrimgeour until he was practically scared out of his wits, finally let go of the last shred of his dignity as a human being.
He decided he wasn't going to act like a person anymore.
Unfortunately, in a way, Fudge was also the type who wanted to do big things but still cherished his own skin.
Deciding not to act like a person didn't mean he was willing to take off the human skin he was wearing.
So he very smoothly went and found himself a white-glove specialist for dirty work.
Umbridge… the pink toad.
"So that's the situation. Give me an idea," Fudge said lazily, using the built-in cigar cutter on his alchemical arm to snip the tip of his cigar.
"If we can't solve the problem, then we solve the people who raise the problem," Umbridge said with a fawning smile.
"And exactly how do you plan to do that?" Fudge asked.
"I need your… ashtray," Umbridge said carefully.
Seeing this, Fudge waved his hand and handed the skull-shaped ashtray to Umbridge. Of course, in his hands it was just an ashtray—but in Umbridge's, it was the controller for the Dementors.
And as Fudge watched Umbridge pick up the Dementor remote with a vicious grin, he didn't think much of it. In his mind, the purpose of the Dementors was obviously to sneak into Barty Crouch's and Scrimgeour's homes while they slept and give them each a cruel Kiss.
In the end, Dumbledore would have no other choice but to choose him.
And then he could sit back and name his price—Dumbledore would have to come begging him instead. Wouldn't that be perfect?
But he had clearly overestimated Umbridge's intelligence.
Umbridge didn't choose to control the Dementors to kill Scrimgeour, nor did she go after Barty Crouch.
She didn't even choose to cause some chaos with the Dementors to make Dumbledore run around in a panic.
Instead, she chose to have the Dementors squat in Harley's bedroom at the Dursleys' house.
That way, when Harley—who still hadn't shaken off her female body—returned to the Dursleys' to recharge, she would inevitably draw her wand and attack the Dementors.
And in the very next moment, appearing here alongside Sirius, there was also a summons from the Ministry of Magic.
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