"Merlin's beard! I knew it would be like this!"
Compared to Harry, Ron's attention was much more focused on the food.
Looking at the dining table in front of him that was almost completely empty, Ron wailed, "Now there's probably not even any dessert pudding left, right?"
After saying that, Ron turned his eyes toward Hermione.
Holding onto his last bit of hope, he said, "Hermione, you must have saved some food for us, right?"
Hermione ignored him and just kept reading the newspaper with full focus.
This was almost inevitable. All of Hermione's attention was on the newspaper right now. You could tell just by looking at the cup of coffee beside her, which had already gone completely cold.
Ron unwillingly called out to her two more times. In the end, he even stepped forward and gently poked Hermione's arm with his finger.
This action finally brought Hermione back to her senses.
She frowned and shot Ron a strict look that looked extremely similar to Professor McGonagall's. It scared Ron so much that he quickly pulled his hand back.
But in the very next moment, Ron became cheerful again.
Because Hermione tossed over two oil-paper packages that were already almost soaked with grease.
Ron cheered and lunged forward, grabbing the packages. While unwrapping them, he kept talking non-stop, "Starting today, I'm going to join a religion! The Granger Religion! Hermione Granger is my angel! Oh! Praise Hermione! Thank the angel for giving me food!"
Several students nearby, who were drinking coffee and reading newspapers like Hermione, almost choked when they heard Ron's ridiculous speech.
After finishing his words, Ron quickly glanced in Hermione's direction.
Normally, right after he said something like that, Hermione's slap would already be on its way.
But today, Hermione showed no reaction at all and continued reading the newspaper.
Seeing this, Harry felt a little curious. He had just woken up and didn't really have much of an appetite anyway, so he put down the oil-paper package Ron handed him and moved closer to Hermione.
"What are you reading?"
Hearing this, Hermione put down the newspaper and took a sip of the already cold coffee before saying, "Haven't you all been curious about how the Ministry of Magic handled the Department of Mysteries incident?"
Harry raised his eyebrows, and his whole body suddenly became excited.
Hermione's wording was really too mild.
It wasn't just them. Almost all the members of D.A. who took part in the action that night, as well as the entire student body of Hogwarts, and even the whole wizarding world of Britain were paying attention to this matter.
And people's attitude toward this issue could not be described as curiosity at all.
It was strong dissatisfaction.
Dissatisfaction with how the Ministry of Magic had still not given a clear response, and even earlier had suppressed many media outlets from reporting the matter.
Even though this could already be considered the Ministry's usual way of doing things.
But this time was different.
Voldemort had led people straight into the deepest part of the Ministry of Magic.
This meant Voldemort already had power equal to the Ministry.
For everyone, this was an enormous danger.
Driven by this fear, many people, including Hogwarts students, had already begun jointly proposing the removal of the current Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge, and demanding a new ministerial election.
Some people even copied the classic method used during the Second Wizarding War.
They directly packed up their whole families and ran away, immigrating to other countries.
"So… there's finally a result?"
Harry took a deep breath and only spoke after suppressing his overly excited emotions.
Hermione handed the Daily Prophet in her hand to Harry, signaling him to read it himself.
But after Harry took it with trembling hands, he didn't immediately start reading. Instead, he asked nervously again, "You have to tell me first. Is it good news or bad news?"
Hermione was amused by Harry's expression as if he were facing a great enemy. Covering her mouth, she laughed and said, "Don't worry. It's definitely good news. At least for you."
Harry let out a sigh of relief and finally lowered his head to look at the Daily Prophet.
But the moment he saw the page, he was startled.
Because this issue of the Daily Prophet could be described as extremely extravagant.
They had given up the advertisement content that usually brought them huge funding, as well as all sorts of other miscellaneous content.
A full four pages were entirely about the massive changes in the Ministry of Magic.
Not only that, they even used a whole page just to publish a magical photograph of Cornelius Fudge.
In the photo, Fudge was still dressed in that serious and dignified manner.
But his expression looked worse than crying.
No, to be exact, he had probably already cried.
Because his eyes were swollen and red, almost like a rabbit's.
In the photo, he was twisting his body uneasily. His mouth kept opening slightly and then quickly closing again.
It was as if countless people outside the photo were throwing the sharpest questions at him.
And above the photo, written in huge bold letters that looked terrifying, were the words...
[Massive Change – Voldemort Revived! Cornelius Fudge Resigns! The Ministry of Magic Declares a State of War!]
Harry sucked in a cold breath.
Just this headline alone contained an unbelievable amount of information.
He quickly calmed himself and continued reading carefully.
And the more he read, the more excited he became.
The Ministry of Magic restructuring to form a Tripartite Committee, Link Flamel entering the Ministry as the Hogwarts representative and serving as a decision-making committee member, the British wizarding world entering a state of war, the Third Wizarding War about to begin, the Ministry starting large-scale recruitment…
One piece of news after another stimulated Harry until his face turned red and his body trembled.
And now he finally understood why Fudge in the photograph had that expression.
Because the punishment for Fudge was far more than the simple "resignation" mentioned in the headline.
According to the detailed report about Cornelius Fudge that followed, the newly established Tripartite Committee believed that during Fudge's time as Minister for Magic, he had deliberately concealed the truth about Voldemort in order to maintain his own position.
This behavior was a serious dereliction of duty, so a full investigation would be launched.
If the investigation proved the accusations true, Cornelius Fudge might become the first person in the British wizarding world in nearly ten years to receive the death penalty.
This proposal was put forward by Committee Member Link Flamel and was unanimously approved by the Tripartite Committee.
"This… this is… this is really great!", Harry murmured happily.
He had disliked Fudge, that smiling hypocrite, for a long time.
The reason Voldemort had been able to develop so quickly to this point, and why so many terrible things had happened at Hogwarts over the past year, was basically all because of Fudge.
For a person like that, even if he was sentenced to death, Harry felt it was simply what he deserved.
In addition, Link had entered the Ministry of Magic as the Hogwarts representative.
And he had become a member of the Ministry's Tripartite Committee.
For all of them, this was absolutely extremely good news.
What made him even happier was that this issue of the Daily Prophet also gave a detailed report about the battle in the Department of Mysteries and the rich results of the battle.
As someone who had personally experienced the battle, Harry felt very proud.
Of course, this kind of feeling could not be shared with outsiders.
After all, even though they had won the battle, many people had sacrificed their lives.
If he, the person who could be said to have been the fuse of the war, went around bragging about it, it would be truly shameless.
Harry read the Daily Prophet in his hand three times in a row before finally putting it down reluctantly.
Even now, his hands were still trembling slightly from excitement.
By this time, Ron had already finished his lunch.
Earlier, while eating, he had also read quite a bit over Harry's shoulder.
Now he was cheering and celebrating with the others nearby.
But in this extremely joyful atmosphere, Harry noticed that Hermione was quietly drinking her completely cold coffee alone.
Her brows were slightly furrowed, and she looked somewhat gloomy.
Harry walked over in confusion and said, "Hermione, what's wrong with you? Everything that happened today is clearly good news."
Hermione glanced at Harry. With a somewhat complicated expression, she said, "You could say most of it is good news. But there are also some things… sigh, Link's actions were a bit extreme."
"Are you talking about the possibility that Fudge might be sentenced to death?", Harry asked.
He knew Hermione's overly compassionate personality very well.
Someone who had created the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare to fight for house-elves' wages would naturally oppose a cruel punishment like the death penalty.
But Hermione firmly shook her head.
"Of course not. Fudge did something wrong, so he should receive legal punishment. There's nothing wrong with that. What I mean is…"
As she spoke, Hermione moved the Daily Prophet over and pointed to a section on it.
"What I mean is how Link and the others handled the Wizengamot."
Harry already knew the contents of this issue of the Daily Prophet almost by heart. As soon as Hermione pointed, he immediately understood.
Committee Member Link Flamel had issued an order through the Tripartite Committee.
All current members of the Wizengamot were to be dismissed, all authority of the Wizengamot would be canceled, Wizengamot trials would be abolished, and from now on the Wizengamot department of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement would no longer exist.
"What's wrong with that? Those old guys should have been kicked out a long time ago!", Harry said angrily.
He also had no good feelings toward the Wizengamot.
The Wizengamot trial he had experienced earlier had almost become a psychological shadow for him.
So much so that now, every time he saw those purple-red robes, his heart would twitch.
Hermione shook her head and said, "I'm not defending those Wizengamot members. I'm worried about Link."
"The Wizengamot has a long history. You could even say the current British Ministry of Magic was created by the Wizengamot."
"Their influence inside the Ministry is unmatched. They have produced many outstanding and great wizards. Dismissing the entire Wizengamot could bring serious consequences."
As soon as she said that, Harry also realized how serious the problem was.
Even someone as inexperienced as him could think of many specific examples of the "serious consequences" Hermione mentioned.
For example, officials inside the Ministry who belonged to the Wizengamot faction launching a counterattack, leading to large-scale internal fighting within the Ministry.
Or the public being stirred up into protests and attacking the Ministry.
These would undoubtedly bring enormous negative effects to Link and the entire British Ministry of Magic.
Harry said nervously, "No, we have to warn Link! The Wizengamot people will retaliate against him!"
Hermione looked at Harry with a strange expression.
In the end, she sighed and took out several other newspapers from small press agencies from the small book bag she carried with her.
She spread them one by one in front of Harry and said, "You don't have to worry about that. Link handled this matter very thoroughly. The Wizengamot no longer has the ability to retaliate."
While Hermione was speaking, Harry had already lowered his head and looked at those newspapers.
Then his face gradually turned pale.
Because what was reported in these newspapers were all news about important Wizengamot members disappearing, as well as their families being attacked and destroyed by Death Eaters.
Looking at these reports individually might not seem like much. Some people might even clap their hands in satisfaction.
After all, those famous big families did not have very good reputations to begin with. People often saw a lot of negative news about them.
But now that Hermione had collected them all together and placed them side by side, it became quite interesting.
"Y… you mean… all of these things were done by Link?", Harry said in disbelief.
But just after he said that, it seemed like he realized something. He quickly looked around. After confirming that no one nearby was paying much attention to them, he immediately tore all the newspapers in front of him into pieces.
"We can't let this information get out!"
Harry lowered his voice and said to Hermione.
Seeing Harry's serious expression, Hermione said in surprise, "Your first reaction is actually this? Where did your kindness go? That's nearly a hundred lives!"
"I never threw away my kindness. But kindness also depends on who it's for!" Harry continued.
"You don't really think those Wizengamot members deserve sympathy, do you? Come on, they're all scum!"
"You could already tell from the time I was taken to the Ministry for the Wizengamot trial."
"The Wizengamot had already become a puppet of power and interests!"
"If Dumbledore and Link hadn't stepped in back then, do you think I would still be able to stay here studying and discussing whether the Wizengamot deserves sympathy with you?"
"And don't think their families are pitiful."
"Do you know what I found in my parents' vault?"
"Oh! A mountain of gold Galleons, and also a stack of patent certificates for various magical cleaning agents and magical hair-smoothing potions."
"All of those things were invented by the ancestors of the Potter family!"
"But then something strange appeared."
"I didn't see any authorization documents. Yet those cleaning agents and hair products are selling like crazy on the market!"
"Later I asked Sirius to investigate it. Do you know what the result was?"
"Ha! Those patents were all taken by the families of those Wizengamot members!"
"Right in the second month after my parents died!"
"They used their authority to directly take those patents and made a fortune from them!"
Hermione was left speechless, looking helpless.
Seeing that, Harry's anger finally calmed down a bit. He adjusted his breathing and said, "Anyway, don't mention these things to anyone else again. Someone might retaliate."