Hogwarts, Quirinus Quirrell's office.

Miss Peach looked at the strange adult wizards who had appeared in the school, mustered her courage, and said seriously.

"This is Hogwarts, you have no right—"

"I am the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic, a Ministry Investigator stationed at Hogwarts, and this is the Head of the Auror Office. Obviously, we have the right to go anywhere we want, whenever we deem it necessary, Miss Streep."

Umbridge smiled amiably as ever, her short, stubby finger pointing towards the door.

"Now, you can leave. We have some things to discuss privately with Professor Quirrell... well, perhaps Professor McGonagall as well."

"I'm sorry, Professor... I'm the Head Girl of Hogwarts."

Meryl Streep shook her head, stood up, and blocked Umbridge's path, saying calmly.

"According to the regulations of the Ministry of Magic, unless it's a case of intentional harm with Dark Magic, the Department of Magical Law Enforcement should first send out an owl summons. Only if the summoned person refuses to attend will it trigger Auror arrest and forced summons—Professor Quirrell has been with all of us for the past hour, and before that, he was teaching class. We can prove that Professor Quirrell has not engaged in any prohibited behavior."

The Head Boy and Head Girl are seventh-year students at Hogwarts who have the authority to manage prefects, appointed annually by the current Headmaster of Hogwarts.

These two students carry out their duties and assist the school according to instructions. They are responsible for leading the prefects and should serve as role models for the students. In some cases, they may even lead the entire student body—and this year, a new requirement has been added: guarding Hogwarts.

"Oh, I don't need you to remind me of the Ministry's bylaws, dear Miss Streep."

Umbridge said softly, her eyebrows raised, her smile gradually disappearing.

"The real world doesn't operate according to rigid regulations. As a senior official of the Ministry, I understand better than you, and I am more qualified to decide when something should be treated as an 'exception'. Besides, you don't understand at all. Some illegal activities don't require the waving of a wand..."

"Illegal activities? I'm sorry, I don't see that Quirinus has engaged in any illegal activities."

Professor McGonagall frowned deeply, interrupting Umbridge's words sharply. She looked around at the five Aurors in the room and said coldly.

"As the Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, I believe that it is not Quirinus, nor Miss Streep and the others, who should be leaving here. When did the Ministry of Magic start raiding people's homes and arresting them without trial or evidence?"

"Evidence? We don't have it yet, but we will soon..."

Umbridge smiled sweetly, waving the document in her hand triumphantly.

"This is an emergency search warrant just signed by the Ministry of Magic. We suspect Mr. Quirinus Quirrell of possessing Muggle weapons—to ensure the safety of Hogwarts students and staff, Minister Cornelius Fudge convened a meeting of ministers a few hours ago to approve this secret operation."

"As Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic, I now order all irrelevant personnel to leave here and not obstruct the Ministry from performing its duties!"

As she spoke, she winked at the Aurors beside her.

Except for Rufus Scrimgeour, all four other Aurors drew their wands.

"Possessing... Muggle weapons? Are you talking about this?"

At this moment, Quirinus Quirrell nodded in sudden realization.

He stood up and generously took the pistol from his waist and placed it on the table, introducing it as if counting his treasures.

"Makarov pistol, effective range of fifty meters, from the former Soviet Union's non-magical world craftsmanship, using a free recoil automatic action, simple structure and easy to carry. The overall length of the gun is 160 millimeters, the barrel length is 91 millimeters, the weight of the gun without the magazine is 663 grams, and the magazine capacity is 8 rounds."

"Wonderful, isn't it? Professor McGonagall, do you have anything else to say now?"

Umbridge said, a victorious smile blooming on her face, "Wonderful, I announce the immediate arrest of Quirinus Quirrell, on the grounds of illegally possessing a Muggle-produced 'mock Killing Curse weapon', intending to violate the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy, to be sent to the Ministry of Magic's interrogation room immediately to await further processing—"

"Well, I'm very sorry, Professor Umbridge. I still don't understand which law I have violated."

Quirinus Quirrell said calmly, looking at Umbridge with a strange expression, and took out a thick Muggle book from behind.

"According to the English Bill of Rights of 1689, based on resistance to the tyranny of the king, it explicitly states the 'right to bear arms' for civilians. And this law still seems to be in effect today. This is not a right, but an obligation of a British citizen—your reason for arrest may not be so sufficient."

"This is the magical world, not the Muggle world. As a wizard, you should abide by the laws formulated by the Ministry of Magic—"

Umbridge sneered, saying viciously, while drawing her wand.

"If you refuse to go to the Ministry of Magic, then we may have to initiate an arrest warrant... Professor Quirinus Quirrell."

"Looks like you're ready to conduct a forcible search and arrest?"

Professor McGonagall raised her eyebrows, drew her own wand, and replied with a sneer.

"What if I say Quirrell can't go anywhere today? At least not until Professor Dumbledore arrives—"

And along with Professor McGonagall's actions, Meryl Streep, George Weasley, and others also quickly drew their wands, stood next to Professor Quirrell's desk, and looked nervously at the adult wizards holding up their wands at the door.

After so many large-scale spell wars last year, they almost subconsciously formed a defensive formation when facing this kind of multi-person pressure.

"Professor McGonagall, please don't make things difficult for me—"

At the same time, Scrimgeour, who had been silent all along, finally drew his wand, saying in a hoarse voice.

"This is an emergency operation specially approved by the Minister's order of the Ministry of Magic. We must take Quirinus Quirrell away today."

"...Wait until Professor Dumbledore appears."

Professor McGonagall said firmly, looking around the room.

"Miss Streep, please take everyone out of the office first—as the Head Girl, your primary responsibility is to protect the other students from harm. This is not an occasion that you should participate in. The follow-up matters will be handled by me..."

Before she could finish speaking, a large group of people suddenly poured in through the door.

A pile of flashes went off wildly, and the sound of camera shutters instantly drowned out Professor McGonagall's voice.

And at the end of the crowd, Gilderoy Lockhart, who had failed to "block" the reporters, leaned against the stairway with his arms folded, asking curiously.

"Oh, aren't you going to take a picture? This will definitely be on the front page tomorrow."

"I warned everyone about these things in The Quibbler years ago: the ambition of the Ministry of Magic is too obvious."

Xenophilius Lovegood snorted lightly, saying disdainfully.

If it weren't for the "Miss Fool" mission, he wouldn't even bother to follow these short-sighted, ignorant reporters over.

After pausing for a moment, he looked around at the crowd, making sure he didn't see a certain troublesome little white-haired witch, then quickly stuffed the magic camera in his hand into Lockhart's hands, patted Lockhart's shoulder hard, and said solemnly in a low voice.

"Well then, Mr. Lockhart, please take some pictures for me—I will add a special section for your novels as agreed."

"Yeah, no problem. Just a reminder, remember to avoid those few places..."

"Thank you so much! I'll go around the corridor stairs next to the Charms classroom later."

Xenophilius Lovegood glanced gratefully at Lockhart and hurried off towards the Hogwarts Library.

If nothing unexpected happened, his little moon should still be studying in the library.

Time was precious, and Mr. Lovegood did not intend to waste his energy and time on watching the Ministry of Magic make a fool of themselves. Even accompanying his daughter to read books, tutor her in her homework, or even bring her water and books in the library was ten thousand times more meaningful than the farce at hand.

…………

"What crime has Professor Quirrell committed?"

"Madam Undersecretary, is this truly a secret arrest?"

"Is the scope of the Ministry of Magic's authority too broad?"

"Muggle Killing Curse?"

"Why are Aurors and school staff drawing their wands at each other?"

"Was the arrest warrant and search warrant issued together?"

"..."

At the same time, outside the Muggle Studies professor's office.

Countless questions and quills overwhelmed Umbridge and McGonagall.

Compared to Professor McGonagall's calmness, Dolores Umbridge's face turned ashen in an instant.

As a senior official of the Ministry of Magic, she was well aware of the series of problems that might arise after this scene was published in the newspapers. If there were only one or two newspapers, she could use the power of the Ministry of Magic to suppress them, but now there were crammed in front of her...

Fifteen, sixteen... nineteen...

Just roughly counting, there were at least twenty or thirty magic journals of various sizes.

Perhaps she could interfere with mainstream media like the Daily Prophet, but she was powerless against those marginal third-rate newspapers.

As for snatching the reporters' magic cameras, magic quills, and magic recording devices and destroying them on the spot?

You should know that the number of wizarding journalists present was five times the number of Aurors!

These were not ordinary, clumsy wizards with no power to restrain a chicken. Any wizard who could serve as a frontline reporter or editor in a magic newspaper was at least in the upper-middle level of magic skills in the magic world—after all, compared to other industries, they might encounter more risks during interviews.

Of course, in terms of income, the salaries of frontline editors and reporters were also higher than those of Aurors in the Ministry of Magic.

In short, the hot headline for tomorrow morning was completely locked down.

"...So what should we do now, Minister Umbridge? Abandon the original plan?"

Looking around at the dense crowd, a young Auror asked in a low voice, he had never seen such a scene.

In front of so many reporters, the so-called secret arrest had obviously become a bubble.

If they continued to insist on arresting Quirrell, he was worried that it would trigger Professor McGonagall's fierce backlash, leading to the complete loss of control of the scene—no wizard could single-handedly confront more than five elite Aurors, which was the basic combat power simulation recognized by the Auror Office.

"Give up? Absolutely not—"

Umbridge said in exasperation, repeating viciously, "Never!"

Through the news revealed by the reporters chattering just now, she roughly understood the reason why these guys appeared here:

Professor McGonagall had made a major academic breakthrough in the field of Transfiguration, and these magazines were invited to the school to participate in the academic presentation report, which happened to coincide with the secret arrest of Quirinus Quirrell—and the informer was the eldest son of the Weasley family, Bill Weasley.

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As for the possibility of deliberately targeting her, it was unlikely, not to mention that the probability of a major academic breakthrough was ridiculously low.

The most important thing was that based on the speed of owl mail delivery, inviting so many magazines across the country to arrive at Hogwarts at once would require sending out letters at least a day in advance, but Umbridge had only made the decision to urgently arrest Quirrell temporarily this afternoon.

Minerva McGonagall, Bill Weasley...

Umbridge silently wrote down these two damned names in her heart, preparing to repay them well later.

However, as things had come to this, she had to first deal with this annoying sudden situation properly.

Obviously, giving up the arrest was definitely impossible!

If she walked away in disgrace like this, it would inevitably make the Ministry of Magic a laughingstock, and her political career would be stained with irremovable blemishes.

The only way to break the situation now was to arrest Quirrell as soon as possible and keep him under the control of the Ministry of Magic, and to find a way to control the trial process—as long as Quirinus Quirrell's crime was confirmed, it would be best to put him in Azkaban, so that the current unfavorable situation could be easily reversed.

"Ahem, ahem—"

Umbridge glanced over the reporters in front of her, cleared her throat, and said coldly with her pale, toad-like face.

"Quirinus Quirrell is suspected of seriously violating the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy. According to the emergency regulations of the Statute of Secrecy, the Ministry of Magic has the right to temporarily skip some procedures and conduct a surprise arrest interrogation when it deems the situation dangerous. Any act of obstructing the arrest will be uniformly regarded as endangering the stability of the wizarding world.

"Mr. Rufus Scrimgeour, please carry out the arrest immediately! I authorize you to regard any resisters as accomplices of the suspect."

"Now, I clearly order you in my capacity as Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic—get out of the way!"

Umbridge raised her wand high, looking at the surroundings with a threatening gaze.

The Aurors behind her looked at each other, nodded with serious expressions, and also raised their wands.

"You—"

"Professor, please don't be impulsive. I don't want to cast a spell on you."

Rufus Scrimgeour held his wand firmly pointed at McGonagall, saying in a hoarse voice.

"Accio Wand—"

Umbridge pointed lightly towards the office, her short, stubby hand grasping Quirrell's wand.

Then, with another wave of her wand, thick metal cuffs appeared on Quirinus Quirrell's wrist—magic warning cuffs.

"From now on, any of your casting intentions will be monitored. If you show any signs of escaping during the escort, then don't blame us for casting spells on you, Professor Quirinus Quirrell—it's time to set off, the Ministry of Magic's courtroom should be ready."

Umbridge pointed towards the door, glancing at Professor McGonagall with a winner's attitude, and walked out with her head held high.

The Aurors followed closely, and there was another series of frequent shutter sounds around them.

Rufus Scrimgeour was the last to walk to the door, he hesitated for half a second or so, looked at Professor McGonagall and said softly.

"I will keep watching Quirrell to ensure the fairness of the interrogation and detention process—as for more things, it may still depend on Professor Dumbledore's discussion with the Minister. I'm very sorry, Professor. But the authority of the Ministry of Magic, and the safety of the magical society must be maintained—"

"Mr. Scrimgeour?"

Umbridge's sweet, disgusting voice rang out outside the door.

A trace of disgust flashed across Rufus Scrimgeour's face, he nodded towards Professor McGonagall, and left quickly.

…………

With Umbridge and the others leaving, it seemed to signal the end of this confrontation.

Some magazine reporters chose to follow, trying to take more pictures from different angles, while more reporters and editors turned their attention to the four little wizards still in the office, hoping to learn more different information from George, Meryl, and others.

About half a minute later, a huge roar suddenly rang out outside.

Immediately afterwards, people heard Umbridge's screams mixed with anger, fear, and some more complex emotions.

A few seconds later, there was another huge roar.

The commotion became more and more obvious, and dense footsteps could be heard in the stairs and corridors.

The reporters and editors from various magazines were stunned for half a second, seeing an expression of excitement in each other's eyes—

They're fighting!

They're definitely fighting!

Great! This is big news!

Hogwarts Entrance Hall.

A section of the blue stone slab corridor had been overturned, with rubble and soil mixed in the pit.

Next to the broken stone slab corridor, Umbridge and others raised their wands, looking ahead as if facing a formidable enemy.

And behind them, Quirinus Quirrell's expression suddenly became particularly strange—that curse was indeed true, Hogwarts' Defense Against the Dark Arts professor was a rather dangerous position, and each Defense Against the Dark Arts professor seemed to have to face the test of the Dark Lord.

Not far away, Grindelwald was playing with his wand casually, blocking the only way to the castle gate.

"I'm very sorry, you can't leave Hogwarts for the time being—"

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Yay!