"Professor, what are you doing? How did you let the Aurors run in here?" Aiden frowned, his tone sharp with disapproval.
"There's no choice. Fudge deployed additional Aurors to search the school because of the Buckbeak incident," Dumbledore replied with a helpless shrug.
"Let's go meet this incompetent fool," Aiden said grimly.
Handing the unconscious Snape on his shoulder to Dumbledore, Aiden secretly regretted not having Sirius use a Levitation Charm to drag Professor Snape along the ground for the journey.
"Lada, you go watch Sirius. If Fudge plans to flip the table, take him away immediately," Aiden instructed.
As a Hypnotist cat who also possessed psychological invisibility abilities, Lada could easily protect Sirius without being detected.
"Astoria, what about you? Are you going back to the dormitory or coming with me to meet Fudge?" Aiden asked.
Astoria said nothing, simply extending her hand, which Aiden took without hesitation.
Two angry dragons were heading to the battlefield.
"Oh, isn't this the head of the Prewett family? So late at night, well-behaved little wizards should be in bed sleeping," Fudge said with narrowed eyes, wanting to dismiss Aiden like a troublesome child.
"The moonlight is quite charming tonight, Minister. Perhaps you'd be interested in some significant political achievements," Aiden didn't take Fudge's bait and smoothly changed the subject.
"Oh, what important political achievement would warrant Mr. Prewett personally delivering it to me?" Fudge showed a mocking expression, his voice dripping with false interest.
"Look, we've captured Peter Pettigrew, the supposed hero from twelve years ago who was actually a traitor who betrayed his friends," Aiden said, flicking his wand to make Peter Pettigrew fly over.
"Peter Pettigrew, you're actually still alive, and what do you mean by traitor?" Though everyone was speaking English, Fudge somehow couldn't seem to understand the implications.
"He's the one who betrayed James and Lily Potter. As for political achievements, the previous Minister made such a huge oversight, while the current Minister, wise and mighty, vindicates the wrongfully accused hero, demonstrating the Ministry's unwavering spirit toward civilians and tireless pursuit of fairness and justice."
"Sounds very moving," Fudge said, looking genuinely interested for the first time.
"But why should I go to such great lengths? Wouldn't it be better to kill Sirius Black and close the case?" Fudge bent down and glared at Aiden with suspicious eyes.
"Don't think I don't know you have connections with that woman Bones. You want to bring her political achievements to help arrange her rise to power, right? I didn't expect someone so young to have such cunning."
"Oops, someone's about to get angry," Astoria said tactfully, withdrawing several steps.
The transformed dragon's might roared forth, impacting Fudge with an invisible aura that pressed him against the wall like a physical force.
As the dragon's might dissipated, the Manipulator's powerful abilities barely managed to hypnotize Fudge, who was protected by the collective will of wizards.
"Explain clearly what you've done," Aiden inquired with cold authority.
"It's the pure-blood families. They want to seize the Black family fortune and unite to kill Sirius Black immediately. Many people in the Ministry responded to the call, then mobilized reporters to incite public opinion. According to them, this could form a prophecy to ensure Sirius Black's death in this incident with maximum certainty."
Two forces tugged in Fudge's mind, causing his vacant eyes to begin recovering from the hypnotic state.
"For the Black family fortune, huh," Aiden said, his frown deepening.
After a while, Fudge clutched his head and regained consciousness. "Uh, what happened to me?"
"You must be overworked from days of labor. I suggest you go back and rest first," Aiden casually brushed off Fudge, turned and left, abandoning the confused Minister.
Because of Fudge's political mess, Aiden could only seek out Dumbledore and went to the headmaster's office.
"Professor, what do we do now? Do we just let Black go?" Aiden asked.
"No, public opinion is already fermenting. If everyone's anger gets swept up into forming a prophecy, the consequences would be even more unpredictable," Dumbledore also frowned, his usual calm demeanor showing cracks.
"Perhaps we need someone with an alibi to do this, someone who can exist in two places at once," Dumbledore said with a meaningful wink at Aiden.
"Time..." Aiden was about to speak when Dumbledore interrupted him.
"Just knowing is enough."
Aiden ran to the hospital wing, where Ron, Hermione, and Harry were already inside, tending to various injuries.
"Hermione, Harry, come with me," Aiden said urgently.
Aiden led the two to face the reporters' cameras and crowds. Under everyone's watchful eyes, Sirius Black mysteriously disappeared from his heavily guarded cell.
Then he brought Harry and Hermione back to the hospital wing, where Ron looked at them in complete amazement.
"What are you doing? How did you get back so fast?" Ron asked, bewildered.
"Doing the right thing. Turn it four and a half times," Aiden instructed Harry and Hermione.
Dumbledore cooperatively closed the door for them, and the Time-Turner took the three back to the past.
Harry and Hermione went to free Buckbeak and save Sirius, while Aiden dealt with the catastrophic mess Fudge had created.
Since the Ministry of Magic still had some prestige, when they announced they had captured Sirius Black, intense thoughts stirred up waves in the sea of consciousness, and Aiden used all his strength to fight against the storm.
Aiden walked through the sea of consciousness, spreading a psychic plague about Sirius's innocence everywhere he could reach.
The storm in the sea of consciousness quickly overwhelmed the seeds Aiden had scattered. The hatred toward Sirius was too powerful, too deeply rooted.
"This won't work," Aiden muttered. As someone who often walked by the river, he finally got his shoes wet.
As a master manipulator of public opinion, he actually suffered a small loss in the realm of public opinion. Whether Fudge was too formidable or fate too mysterious was unclear.
Suddenly, Aiden discovered a newspaper in a wizard's mind.
The newspaper's name was clearly written: The Quibbler.
The front page boldly stated: "Sirius Black Captured: Ministry's Twelve-Year Deception, All for Black Family Fortune."
Well done, Xenophilius Lovegood, Aiden thanked him mentally.
Aiden immediately got to work. This time he didn't spread content that directly conflicted with the mainstream thoughts.
Using fusion methods, on every wizard's consciousness island he passed, he planted the simple idea "I should believe The Quibbler."
Thus, the psychic plague began to spread. Wizards who normally didn't even believe the Daily Prophet strangely began believing The Quibbler.
The wizard families manipulating from behind noticed something was wrong and quickly turned their guns around, directing the Daily Prophet to attack The Quibbler and begin debunking rumors.
But the British public typically had an interesting reaction: the more you debunk, the more they believe the rumors.
So in unseen locations outside the school, Aiden fought a battle across space with all the pure-bloods who upheld blood supremacy ideals.
Having won the battle in the realm of consciousness, Aiden dragged his exhausted body back to Hogwarts.
"The risk of prophecy has been neutralized. Now we just need to wait for Harry and the others to free Sirius, and everything will be over."
Outside the hospital wing, the exhausted Aiden was carried on Dumbledore's back, yawning like a tired child. The two looked like a grandfather carrying his weary grandson.
"Just freeing Sirius will be enough?" Dumbledore's tone contained genuine surprise.
"Of course. With such intense public opinion battles, Fudge naturally won't dare be negligent. Free Sirius, and they'll still need someone to calm public opinion. They'll have plenty of ways to make Peter confess then," Aiden explained.
Harry and Hermione, having completed everything, also ran to the hospital wing.
"Well?" Dumbledore looked at the two expectantly.
"He's free. We succeeded," Harry told Dumbledore with obvious relief.
"What did you do? I need to take Aiden back. He's too tired. Good night."
Dumbledore began acting like his usual riddling self, supporting Aiden on his back with one hand and waving to the two with the other.
With a satisfied smile on his face, he hummed a cheerful tune as he left the hospital wing behind.