"Hermione is already good enough," Amanda said without hesitation. Compared to Fudge, even the current Hermione scored higher than Fudge in terms of courage, as well as her grasp of the big picture and people's hearts.
Most importantly, the rating of her supporters was significantly higher than that of Fudge and all his potential competitors and successors.
Based on this point alone, there was no one in the British Wizarding World who could compete with Hermione once Fudge stepped down.
The black car finally came to a steady stop below The Burrow. The The young female driver got out first, still quickly observing left and right and checking high ground. Only after confirming there were no problems did she step forward to open the rear doors for Amanda and Hermione.
"Thank you."
Amanda and Hermione stepped out of the black car together. Hermione also gave the The young female driver a polite nod.
The The young female driver gave a slight nod in response, then quickly walked back to the driver's seat without a word and drove away swiftly.
"She's so quiet," Hermione remarked, though she didn't think much of it. She took Amanda's hand and walked up the stairs to the front door of The Burrow.
Knock, knock, knock...
Three soft knocks sounded, and Amanda and Hermione stood politely at the door, waiting.
A few minutes later, the door to The Burrow slowly opened, and Mrs. Weasley's kind face appeared before them.
"Amanda, Hermione, welcome!"
As she spoke, she hugged the two girls and kissed each of them on the forehead.
"Thank you, Mrs. Weasley," Amanda and Hermione thanked her politely together.
"So polite! And you've both grown quite a bit. Just like Ron and the others, you're at the age for growth spurts."
"Come on in."
Mrs. Weasley smilingly ushered Amanda and Hermione into the house. After changing into slippers, they walked into the living room.
In the living room, Harry, Ron, The Twins, Ginny, and Sirius Black were all present. Seeing the two walk in, they all stood up and greeted them warmly.
Sirius even bowed deeply toward Amanda. "Thank you. If it weren't for you, I might still be a wanted man."
Faced with Sirius's bow, Amanda was stunned for a moment and waved her hand. "You're welcome. Vindicating the innocent is what I should do."
"This is normal; there's no need to thank me."
Sirius straightened up and shook his head with a smile. "Of course I should thank you."
He had heard some things about Amanda from Harry, such as how the girl hadn't yet developed many emotions of her own.
However, as for why the girl needed to develop emotions or why she didn't have innate ones, Harry hadn't told him anything at all.
Therefore, Sirius wouldn't take the initiative to ask about it.
Clearly, this was not something everyone was meant to know.
But that didn't stop him from repaying Amanda and Hermione. Besides the Quidditch World Cup tickets, he was also having someone prepare a set of jewelry for each of them from a jewelry store in the French Wizarding World, which he could give to them this Christmas.
"Mrs. Weasley, this is a gift my mother brought for you. It's just some biscuits."
Hermione smilingly handed the basket to Mrs. Weasley, who took it and gave Hermione's bushy hair a affectionate ruffle.
"Mrs. Granger is far too kind. You two sit down and have a good chat with Harry and the others. I'll go make lunch."
Mrs. Weasley headed for the kitchen. Hearing the words 'make lunch,' Amanda instinctively moved to follow. "I'll help, Mrs. Weasley."
"Of course not, dear girl."
Mrs. Weasley turned back and smilingly pressed her back onto the sofa. "As long as I'm here, children don't need to come into the kitchen to cook. Just sit here and wait patiently."
"Of course, once I'm done with lunch, you can help bring things out."
With that, she walked quickly back to the kitchen; her Onion Soup was still in the middle of cooking.
"How are your holiday assignments coming along?"
As soon as Amanda and Hermione sat down, Hermione looked at Harry and Ron.
The two boys' bodies visibly stiffened for a moment, then Harry was the first to answer with some confidence.
"I'm almost there. I can basically finish it in a day."
"That's good," Hermione nodded with satisfaction, then narrowed her eyes at the silent Ron beside her. "What about you, Ron? You'd better not tell me you still have a lot left."
"Ron's been playing Quidditch with Fred and George all summer. He hasn't done much of his homework at all."
Seeing that Ron wasn't answering, Ginny quickly exposed her brother from the side.
"Ginny!"
Ron shouted softly, giving Ginny a glare that lacked any real threat. "I'm your brother!"
"Senior Granger is doing it for your own good." Ginny stuck her tongue out. So what if he was her brother? She was more on Senior Granger's side.
Sighing helplessly, Hermione glared at Ron. "You'd better start catching up on your homework as soon as the Quidditch World Cup Final is over. There's no way Amanda, Harry, or I will let you copy ours."
She then gave Harry a threatening look. Harry immediately nodded in agreement. In this situation... forgive him, he couldn't help his brother.
As for Amanda, Hermione didn't even need to look; she had already nodded in agreement the moment Hermione spoke.
With a heavy sigh, Ron tried to steer the conversation away from his homework.
"Let Ginny take you to see the rooms. You two might have to share a room with her."
Amanda looked at Ginny. The little girl, whom Amanda had once saved, gave her a shy smile.
Returning a gentle smile, Amanda stood up mechanically and followed Hermione and Ginny upstairs.
"Ron is just changing the subject," Ginny said, looking back at Hermione as they walked.
"I know."
Hermione nodded in amusement. Having known them for three years, how could she not understand her two best friends?
"My room isn't big. I hope you won't find it too cramped staying with me."
Ginny's face flushed slightly as she spoke with a bit of embarrassment.
"Of course not."
"How could we, Ginny? Amanda and I are both very happy to stay with you."
Amanda and Hermione spoke at the same time, and the blush on Ginny's face faded slightly.
As Ginny opened the bedroom door, what met Amanda's eyes was a room with a very girly atmosphere.
Plush dolls, stickers of Quidditch teams, and various small handmade crafts—it was clear that Ginny had decorated her room well within her means.
And Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had also given her the necessary help within their means.
"There's only this one bed in my room," Ginny sat on her bed and patted it gently. "So tonight, we might have to sleep... a bit closely together."
Seeing Ginny's embarrassed look, Amanda blinked and pointed a finger at Ginny's bed.
A flash of magical light passed, and the surface of Ginny's bed didn't seem to change at all.
But Ginny, sitting on the bed,'saw' very clearly that her bed had doubled in size. it was perfectly capable of accommodating all three girls and letting them sleep comfortably.
"Wow, that's amazing!"
She turned her head, her eyes shining as she looked at Amanda.
"A very special Undetectable Extension Charm?" Hermione also raised an eyebrow at Amanda.
"Yes," Amanda nodded in confirmation.
"That's a very high-level magic," Ginny praised, the look of admiration in her eyes instantly deepening.
"As long as you master the principles, it's not that difficult."
Amanda shrugged calmly. As long as one could master the principles and thoroughly understand the spell, any magic could be said to be easy.
Except for the Patronus Charm... "Girls, boys, lunch is ready!"
Mrs. Weasley's shout came from downstairs. The three girls responded loudly and then ran downstairs quickly.
"Molly, your cooking is truly wonderful."
Sirius, holding a plate of stew, complimented Mrs. Weasley with a smile. "Arthur is truly lucky."
Mrs. Weasley giggled happily and waved him off. "Don't praise me like that in front of the children. Hurry up and take the things out."
Everyone enjoyed lunch immensely. Mrs. Weasley's cooking was excellent, making Amanda subconsciously slow down her already normal eating speed to savor the flavors more carefully.
When Mr. Weasley returned in the evening, they all shared a dinner even more sumptuous than lunch.
Even Percy, who had been cooped up in his bedroom, came out to eat instead of eating in his room like he did at noon.
Charlie and Bill, who had just rushed home, glanced at each other, both intending to tease their younger brother.
"Percy, I heard you've been investigating Cauldron bottoms lately. How's the investigation going?"
Charlie propped up his chin, looking at Percy with a smile, the very image of a kind older brother concerned for his sibling.
"Not very well," Percy's face was full of seriousness. "The bottoms of many Cauldrons on the market are too thin; they're substandard products."
"However, things have improved recently. The products being manufactured are all up to standard again. It's just that there were too many substandard ones produced before."
Amanda, who was eating ice cream, paused upon hearing this, then continued eating as if nothing had happened.
The Cauldron issue—she knew about it, of course. The original Cauldron manufacturing business was also monopolized by Pure-blood families.
Because they demanded too much of a cut, the Wizards producing the Cauldrons had to lower the quality to make any money for themselves.
While she couldn't agree with such behavior, Amanda couldn't say she completely misunderstood it either.
After all, everyone had to make a living. The Pure-blood families of the Wizarding World had truly bled the Wizarding World dry before.
But what use was it for the Ministry of Magic, which was in league with the Pure-blood families, to conduct these investigations?
They couldn't control it anyway. Were they just deceiving themselves and their own people?
Taking another bite of ice cream with an expressionless face, Amanda soon heard Percy intentionally raise his voice.
"We've been so busy lately because of a major event about to happen at Hogwarts. It's a confidential matter, you know, Dad."
As the smooth, cool ice cream slid down her throat, Amanda's brain quickly deduced what Percy's so-called confidential matter was.
It should be the resumption of the Triwizard Tournament at Hogwarts.
Because the Triwizard Tournament required the introduction of foreign Dragons and many other magical creatures,
it inevitably involved many merchants. As the'supreme superior' of these merchants, Amanda was naturally fully aware of the matter.
The reason this matter was still in the confidential stage was partly to give the Young Wizards at Hogwarts a little surprise,
and partly to avoid making them nervous too early. After all, the Triwizard Tournament of the past really did result in deaths, and quite a few of them.
"I'm so fed up," Ron poked gloomily at the ice cream in his bowl as if it were Percy's head. "He's been talking about that confidential matter since the start of the summer, but he's dying before he'll say what it actually is."
"I think he just wants us to keep trying to ask him for the answer over and over again."
Ron whispered to Harry. Harry couldn't help but chuckle. Well, he had that feeling too; that was probably Percy's intention.
Hermione, sitting next to Amanda, was clearly also interested in this confidential matter, since it was going to happen at Hogwarts after all.
However, she clearly knew exactly whom to ask about such things.
"Amanda, do you know what this confidential matter is? What's going to happen at Hogwarts?"
Hermione asked, and Amanda answered immediately without any hesitation, her voice still without a trace of fluctuation, like an automated machine.
"It's the Triwizard Tournament. It's about to be resumed at Hogwarts."
"What?!"
Hermione's eyes widened in surprise. Except for her, no one else around had heard Amanda's quiet answer.
She lowered her voice again. "The Triwizard Tournament? How could that competition be resumed? It's killed so many people."
Amanda turned to look at Hermione, her expression still flat and calm. "Headmaster Dumbledore, the other two headmasters, and the Ministry of Magic have put in efforts to ensure the safety of the Champions in this competition."
After saying this mechanically, Amanda gave a slightly more animated shrug. "That's what they're saying to the public."
"And based on the magical creatures they're importing, except for a few specific ones, the danger level of the other magical creatures used isn't actually that high."
After organizing the danger levels of magical creatures like the Sphinx and Dragons in her mind, Amanda finally reached a conclusion.
The Triwizard Tournament required adult Young Wizards to participate. For adult Wizards, as long as it wasn't a direct confrontation,
those magical creatures could be dealt with if clever methods were used.
That was why Amanda gave the assessment that the danger wasn't high.
"Alright then."
Since Amanda had said so, Hermione nodded convincingly. Anyway, with Headmaster Dumbledore there, he probably wouldn't let the Champions participating in the competition come to harm, right?
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