Chapter 136: Leave It to Me!
Fudge soon had his answer.
Auror Head Scrimgeour entered the office carrying a Pensieve, carefully extracted a silvery strand of memory with his wand, and meticulously transformed the strand into the Pensieve's silvery liquid.
"Minister, perhaps you should see this."
This was a memory of their recent operation. Few wizards would do this, extracting their memories for others to see, as memories were so fragile, and even a slight error could lead to unimaginable consequences.
Scrimgeour's solemn demeanor immediately made Fudge and Umbridge realize the gravity of the situation.
Fudge quickly reviewed everything. Despite his efforts to conceal his shock, his eyes still gleamed. He thoughtfully glanced at Umbridge, a mysterious smile on his face.
"Minister!" Scrimgeour's face was grim. "Gilderoy Lockhart must be watched..."
Before he could finish, Fudge chuckled lightly, merely uttering a single word: "Foolish!"
"Hm?" Scrimgeour's brow furrowed. He didn't actually respect this politician much, but there were some matters where he needed the Minister's support.
"Gilderoy Lockhart is an expert consultant for our Ministry of Magic's Beast Office, understand?" Fudge replied casually, striding quickly to the office window, pulling open a gap in the curtain, and looking down at the protesters and journalists outside the Ministry building.
"But he's Dumbledore's man, he..." Scrimgeour tried to argue.
"Rufus Scrimgeour! I'm very disappointed in you!"
Fudge turned back, looking at him calmly. "I ask you, can our celebrity stay at Hogwarts forever?"
"No, he can't. How long can he teach Defence Against the Dark Arts? You should know, there are rumors that Hogwarts has been cursed by that person; no one can last long."
"But the Ministry of Magic, oh, there's no place more suitable for him. Global influence, so many fans, his resume from teaching at Hogwarts, all those professional books... this is where he can leverage all his advantages, like a fish in the ocean."
He grew excited as he spoke, rubbing his hands and pacing the office. "We must cheer for our Ministry of Magic hero, Gilderoy Lockhart! He uncovered a terrible conspiracy, faced an attack by thousands of terrifying Dark Wizards, and once again stood before the Aurors, protecting everyone!"
Yes, that's it.
He vigorously waved his fleshy arm.
"He's a hero, our Ministry of Magic's hero!"
Scrimgeour's face darkened. He had to concede that it seemed Gilderoy Lockhart was once again going to step on the Auror Office's head to gain even greater fame, and it was predictable that this would likely receive support from most people throughout the Ministry.
Thousands of Dark Wizards?
Minister, do you even believe such rhetoric yourself?
Fudge, can you get any more outrageous?
Apparently, he could.
Fudge turned excitedly to Umbridge, who was staring blankly at the Pensieve with a look of surprise and uncertainty. "Get me Rita Skeeter from the Daily Prophet, damn it. That foolish woman is sometimes truly useful. We need to vigorously publicize our Ministry of Magic's great victory and the heroic deeds of our Ministry of Magic employee, Gilderoy Lockhart!"
"Quickly!" he urged Umbridge.
"Minister!" Scrimgeour couldn't take it anymore and raised his voice, but then Fudge turned and stared at him, his comical and foolish chubby face suddenly possessing a pair of cold eyes, as if saying—mate, think before you speak.
This made him feel somewhat embarrassed.
Fortunately, Fudge smiled again, a harmless, amiable smile, and put an arm around Scrimgeour's shoulder. "Hey, mate, Gilderoy Lockhart is our man, understand? I don't care how he got into the Ministry, but he is our man."
"Dumbledore..."
He took a breath. "Dumbledore assigned him to the Beast Office? Ha, I can give him more!"
As he spoke, he looked at Umbridge. "We need to thoroughly research our Mr. Lockhart. I must understand him better to know what position would most entice him to willingly stay at the Ministry of Magic."
"As long as a person lives in this world, they will always desire something. Grasp his desires, fulfill them, even give him more! Make him willingly come closer to us!"
Umbridge's eyes darted, and she immediately had an idea, pointing at Scrimgeour. "He's currently conducting a suspicion review on Mr. Lockhart. He'll definitely have the most complete information."
"Merlin's beard!" Fudge exclaimed in surprise, even though he had actually known about it all along. "Suspicion review?!!!"
He waved his hand emphatically. "Cancel it, cancel it for me, Scrimgeour. I don't care what mistake Gilderoy may have committed. Cancel it immediately. He can only be our Ministry of Magic's hero, a hero without any blemish!"
As he spoke, he looked very seriously at Scrimgeour. "You will agree with my approach, won't you? To thoroughly bring Mr. Lockhart into our Ministry of Magic's organization?"
Scrimgeour was silent for a moment, then finally nodded. "Don't worry, I know what to do."
Indeed.
He had reviewed Lockhart's previous files. With his years of extensive experience on the front lines as an Auror, he had spotted Lockhart's issues at a glance.
But sometimes, that's just how the world is: there's no right or wrong, only positions.
Scrimgeour approved of Minister Fudge's approach: to fully recruit Lockhart into the Ministry of Magic.
For this, he didn't mind helping Lockhart smooth over all the inconsistencies in his past records, ensuring that even if the elite global Auror team dispatched by the International Confederation of Wizards' Auror Liaison Office came to investigate, they wouldn't find anything.
"Excellent," Fudge said, satisfied.
"Next, you..." He thought for a moment, then waved his hand dismissively, turning instead to Umbridge. "You go soothe Lockhart. Don't let him develop any negative feelings towards the Ministry of Magic. I believe you can perfectly accomplish this?"
Umbridge pushed up her spectacles. "I guarantee he'll feel right at home."
"Very good!" Fudge quickly returned to his desk, sat down, pulled out his quill, and then parchment, beginning to formulate his thoughts. After a moment, he looked up at Scrimgeour again. "Go to Hogwarts and bring that poor child, Vincent Crabbe, right? I want you to bring him here, completely whole, when I give my press conference later."
"Find an Unspeakable from the Department of Mysteries to put his soul back. He should appear healthy, vibrant, and full of gratitude towards our Ministry of Magic during my interview!"
...
Lockhart didn't have to wait long in the Auror office before someone from the Wizengamot Court arrived for an informal review.
Indeed, it was the head of that department, the Chief Warlock—Albus Dumbledore.
Old Dumbledore seemed to be in a hurry, bearing the weather-beaten look characteristic of a traveler.
He took the strong coffee Kingsley offered him and took a sip, grimacing at the bitter taste before looking at Lockhart and Kingsley with a complex expression.
"Voldemort personally showed himself, knowing I couldn't miss this opportunity, and lured me away."
"Did you catch him?" Lockhart asked directly.
Dumbledore shook his head. "He possessed the Werewolf Fenrir Greyback. I cornered him in the Werewolf community, watching him hide inside a house under the Fidelius Charm."
This was a powerful series of secure house spells. Even someone as formidable as old Dumbledore found himself somewhat helpless against it.
The magical world was so wondrous; there were always areas that left one powerless. No one could look down on others in the world just because they mastered a few extremely powerful spells.
In fact, the weakest avoiding terrifying threats from powerful beings through some mysterious magic—that was precisely the most magical magic.
Even at his weakest, Voldemort always found ways to evade Dumbledore's pursuit, which was what vexed old Dumbledore the most.
It wasn't like dealing with Grindelwald before, where you could always find him in the busiest places and simply draw your wand and charge if you wanted to fight him openly.
"But it wasn't without gain."
A gleam passed over Dumbledore's half-moon spectacles, and a smile touched his face. "My magic has completely imprisoned him within Fenrir Greyback's body. The next full moon will be the best time for me to deal with that cup!"
The cup, a Horcrux, Helga Hufflepuff's golden cup.
Lockhart's expression stirred. The next full moon meant about half a month's wait. It seemed it was time to perform a small operation on Tom.
It was quite interesting. Both he and Dumbledore had caught a glimpse of Voldemort's Achilles' heel. Horcruxes, while seemingly granting Voldemort eternal life, also brought crises.
Wait!
The Horcruxes appearing before them now weren't just those two.
There was Harry Potter, too!
Lockhart quickly considered the crucial point. He had tried before, teaching Ginny how to resist the influence of Dark magic, but with minimal success. However, that didn't mean this path was unfeasible.
If it didn't work for Ginny, it might actually work for Harry.
The Boy Who Lived wasn't just a casual title. Harry had extremely promising potential in the field of Defence Against the Dark Arts.
He needed to delve deeper, to invest more in teaching!
The office quickly fell silent. Dumbledore and Lockhart were both contemplating their plans. Kingsley also sat quietly to the side, secretly observing the states of these two powerful figures.
He had previously thought that Dumbledore recruiting Lockhart was like recruiting Mundungus Fletcher—a benevolent act of reaching out to those on the edge of the cliff, while also hoping that those with outstanding abilities in their respective fields could contribute to the great cause of fighting the Dark Lord.
But now it seemed it wasn't that simple.
Lockhart's deep involvement in this matter was beyond his expectation.
If that was the case, perhaps Lockhart was a worthy investment.
Despite Kingsley being just a senior Auror, the resources he could command were extremely rich, far exceeding common imagination. After all, he hailed from the Shacklebolt family, one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight pure-blood families.
For example, regarding Corban Yaxley, who also came from one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight pure-blood families, he knew many small secrets that ordinary people were unaware of!
He believed Lockhart would certainly be interested in this enemy who framed him.
"How should Corban be dealt with?" he asked Dumbledore, needing to know the powerful figure's thoughts first to set the tone.
At the mention of that name, Dumbledore's brow furrowed. "He needs to be brought to justice, but definitely not now. If we want to find the Dark Lord's trail more easily, he's the best signpost."
"Leave it to me!" Lockhart suddenly interjected, smiling at the two figures before him, licking his lips. "I have some magical experiments that require his cooperation."
"!!!" Kingsley suddenly felt a chill down his spine for some reason.
....
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