Cornelius Fudge became the Minister for Magic after Millicent resigned.

However, almost everyone in the wizarding world knew that Cornelius Fudge's path to the ministerial position was paved with a lot of luck: if it hadn't been for Barty Crouch's son being accused of being a Death Eater and Albus Dumbledore's refusal to take the job, he would never have had the chance to sit in that chair.

Since the Ministry of Magic had assumed Crouch would take office, most people chose to abandon the competition for the next Minister for Magic in order to curry favor with the "new minister."

Therefore, after the Little Crouch incident, Fudge was the only remaining candidate for minister in the Ministry of Magic at the time.

In the beginning, Cornelius Fudge didn't have much confidence in his abilities and relied entirely on Dumbledore's help.

Even though many people secretly called him unpleasant nicknames like "Lucky Cornelius" or "Dumbledore's mouthpiece," in the beginning, Cornelius Fudge still insisted on consulting Dumbledore, striving not to be caught with any flaws that would get him kicked out.

However, as time went on, Cornelius Fudge's confidence gradually grew.

Voldemort had fallen years ago and showed no signs of returning, and nothing special was happening in the wizarding world.

He believed he was capable of being a good minister, and he became infatuated with the feeling of being Minister for Magic and everything that came with the position. He began to try to disregard Dumbledore and instead cultivate relationships with the so-called respected families—the pure-blood wizarding families.

However, the shifting winds of recent times had started to make Cornelius Fudge waver again.

He didn't want to give up any of them: pure-blood families, Dumbledore's support, or the authority of the Minister for Magic.

Cornelius Fudge couldn't improve his magical strength or family background at this point, and there were no political textbooks like *The Thick Black Theory* to study in the wizarding world, but he still found a way to improve himself—read more books and newspapers.

Unlike the wizards who went to bed early every night, Cornelius spent at least two hours every evening reading various newspapers and magazines.

In the beginning, his reading list only included *The Daily Prophet* and *The Wizarding World*.

After *The Quibbler* and its series of publications became wildly popular, all the publications credited to Xenophilius Lovegood were added to Cornelius Fudge's reading list. As a high-ranking official in the Ministry of Magic, what was worse than being mocked was being unaware when someone insulted him—he had never imagined that such a seemingly absurd magazine could hide so many vicious metaphors.

Fortunately, Mr. Lovegood didn't deliberately target anyone; everyone was equal in *The Quibbler*.

From Hogwarts to the Ministry of Magic, Lovegood had offended almost all the important figures, but this also served as the best proof of his neutrality.

Compared to those dull, ordinary newspapers, Cornelius Fudge gradually discovered the unique charm of *The Quibbler*—as long as his name didn't appear on it, it was a perfect bedtime read. Solving riddles was much more interesting than crossword puzzles.

"Cornelius, is there anything special happening today? Why don't you go to bed early?"

Late at night, in Cornelius Fudge's study, a middle-aged beauty opened the door and walked in.

Perhaps others saw her husband, the Minister for Magic, as having a lot of luck, but as his wife, Katherine Fudge knew very well how much effort Cornelius Fudge had put into being a good Minister for Magic. Since his "accidental" appointment as Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge had been reading newspapers and writing letters for several hours almost every day after coming home. She felt more like a live-in secretary than a wife.

Although a serious man was particularly charming, being charming without any intimacy became pure torture.

After much consideration, Katherine Fudge decided to take the initiative. After all, the Weasley family could now form an entire Quidditch team.

"Oh, nothing special, just another peaceful and serene day."

Cornelius Fudge took off his glasses, answering with some exhaustion but great relief.

Before he could turn around, a pair of soft hands wrapped around his shoulders, and the warm, elastic touch was clearly transmitted to his back even through his wizard robes. The wizard, gradually entering middle age, heard his wife's gentle, pleasant voice, tinged with a hint of anticipation.

"So, can you rest early tonight? Don't overwork yourself."

"Of course, anyway..."

Cornelius Fudge looked at the woman beside him, a rare tenderness flashing in his eyes.

Speaking of which, he had indeed neglected Katherine's feelings a bit in the past two years.

*Tap, tap, tap! Dung!*

But before he could finish speaking, a noisy banging sound suddenly rang out outside the window.

The two of them subconsciously turned their heads to look at the window on the right side of the study, where they saw a plump, large brown owl frantically hitting the window.

What was going on?

And…at this hour?

Cornelius Fudge frowned slightly, stood up, and opened the window, muttering to himself.

Although he lived in London, as the Minister for Magic, his residence was protected by magic. Apart from a very few wizards, no one could send him letters outside of working hours—this was set up with Dumbledore's help. In the beginning, owls from all over Britain had chased him with letters almost twenty-four hours a day, so Cornelius had to sleep in the office for two days before he could return home.

As he opened the window, the brown owl hurriedly flew in.

It clumsily crashed into the pile of magazines on the desk, knocking over ink bottles, books, and quills, as if something terrible was chasing it from behind. Before Cornelius Fudge could react, it flapped its wings, dropped a letter, and flew away without looking back.

"Oh, no—"

Katherine sighed with some disappointment.

"It's okay, I can open it tomorrow, I'm off work."

Cornelius Fudge hugged his wife, closed the window again, and comforted her with a smile.

"No—it looks like you're going to be working overtime tonight..." Katherine Fudge shook her head, picked up the letter from the desk, waved it in front of Cornelius Fudge, and said with a serious expression, "A letter from Dumbledore, and it's a Howler—something big must have happened."

"A Howler? Sent by Dumbledore?!"

Cornelius Fudge paused for half a second, his smile instantly fading, and he looked solemnly at the red envelope in his wife's hand.

"We'd better open it now, Cornelius," Katherine said with some concern. "No matter how bad the contents are, not opening it will only make it worse, and this is Albus Dumbledore's Howler—" She took a breath, "What on earth has happened?!"

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Yay!