, A Bite of Hogwarts

*The Daily Prophet* magazine office.

The office was filled with the rather acrid smoke of cigars.

Amidst the hazy smoke, Editor-in-Chief Barnabas gradually ceased his drumming on the table.

"How credible is this news, and can we publish those informants' interviews?"

"Scrimgeour said he can speak out—"

"Scrimgeour? That's not strong enough. He was just dismissed. People will think he's deliberately smearing Cornelius Fudge."

"Ludo Bagman is also willing to be interviewed, but he's demanding an interview fee and the right to proofread the final draft."

The young wizard standing in front of Barnabas's desk said, cautiously glancing at the editor, weighing his words, and adding an extra sentence.

"However..."

"According to sources in the Ministry of Magic, Barty Crouch Sr. does seem a bit strange."

"It's said that his son, Barty Crouch Jr., didn't die and even joined the Death Eaters. That's why Barty Sr. was secretly imprisoned—"

"So, did Barty Crouch confess?"

Barnabas interrupted him, frowning and asking in a deep voice.

"Uh, no, he hasn't. He hasn't said a word, no defense or anything—"

"Does the Ministry of Magic have Barty Jr. in custody, and is there concrete evidence?"

"No, it's said a Muggle… he saw and heard it himself—"

"A Muggle? Ha."

Barnabas glanced strangely at the newbie he had just hired less than half a year ago and exhaled a smoke ring.

"See, that's why the Ministry of Magic bypassed the procedures—the Wizengamot court won't accept Muggle testimony."

"Imprisoning a high-ranking official in secret without trial is a very taboo thing. Cornelius Fudge is in big trouble this time."

Barnabas tapped the blank front page of the newspaper on the desk several times with the cigar in his fingers.

"Tomorrow's front page—I want to see a huge photo and headline here, make it eye-catching!"

"But we haven't figured out the truth yet, and Minister Fudge—"

"People don't care about the truth. We at *The Daily Prophet* aren't responsible for digging up any truth... You fool."

Barnabas waved his hand impatiently and said bluntly, "As for Fudge—from the moment his impeachment process started, he's no longer the Minister for Magic. We must always align ourselves with public sentiment and the Ministry of Magic, and publish what people want to see. That's how we can successfully sell newspapers."

"Dumbledore has disappeared, and Cornelius Fudge has no backing to rely on. We must cut off this connection as soon as possible."

"Alright, hurry up and have them typeset and print—I don't want to keep picking up scraps behind Lovegood's butt this time."

Barnabas picked up scissors, snuffed out the cigar in his hand, and pondered for a few seconds.

"As for the title, let's call it…"

…………

"Cornelius Fudge—Dictator? The Tyranny Behind Servility?"

The next day, in the Hogwarts Great Hall, Hermione unfolded the newspaper and read the headline on the front page in a low voice.

Hermione turned her head and raised her eyebrows at Erina, "That's a good title. Did you suggest it?"

"I'm not a god capable of being in thousands of places at once—"

Erina rolled her eyes at Hermione, spreading jam, and sighed helplessly.

"For these things, you just need to give them a hint, and the media will rack their brains to latch onto it."

"In terms of sensationalism and creating hype, *The Daily Prophet* is much more professional than I am, not to mention that this is the truth anyway."

"The truth… is it?"

Hermione said doubtfully, drawing out her voice.

As "justice-in-training" Miss, she has the right to access top secrets.

Whether it's Barty Jr. or Barty Sr., the mastermind behind these events seems to be the little dumpling in front of her.

"Cornelius Fudge is too fixated on his Minister position, so he can't make the right decisions."

Just then, Luna's voice floated from the side, "Even without anyone fueling the flames, he would gradually lose himself."

Luna was looking at the latest issue of *The Quibbler* upside down, with no desire to glance at *The Daily Prophet*.

"Oh, I thought you would say…" Hermione glanced at Luna curiously.

"Confoundable Imps? That's not the metaphor you imagine—"

Luna rolled her eyes, casually fiddled with the carrot earrings on her ears, and muttered unhappily.

"Now too many people like to overthink things. People would rather believe the strange meanings they fabricate than believe in the existence of those dangerous magical creatures."

"But Luna…" Hannah's cheeks were bulging, sounding somewhat unclear, "It's not that we don't believe you, but can you use duodecimal reversal architecture magic to turn into a Sting, a Confoundable Imp, a Crumple-Horned Snorkack… Besides Fire Crabs, you can't even draw the images of those other magical creatures—um um um—"

Hannah's subsequent voice completely turned into a muffled hum—Luna angrily picked up a piece of bread and shoved it directly into her mouth.

With Dumbledore's disappearance, not only Hermione, but Luna and Hannah also seemed to have suddenly unlocked some invisible shackles.

Gringotts Wizarding Bank's venture capital business around the world greatly satisfied Luna's desire to explore the world.

Tasks like "Finding Crumple-Horned Snorkacks" were posted, and bounty hunters and relic hunters everywhere were searching.

Under the high reward, a considerable part of Xenophilius Lovegood's "Loony ideas" were indeed confirmed.

People's fantasies cannot appear out of thin air; most of them originate from some legend.

In the magical world, the more ancient and mysterious legends are, the more likely they are to contain lost treasures.

More crucially, Luna's "Major Arcana Guardian" is Nearly Headless Nick, or more precisely, Thomas Cromwell, who single-handedly completely changed the British magical and non-magical world, successfully separating wizards and Muggles—he knows as many secrets as the Gringotts goblins.

After "Mr. World" taught her without reservation and answered her questions, Luna is no weaker than top wizards in the fields of ancient legends and the macro world.

On the other hand, Grindelwald's cultivation of Hannah is another method.

Grindelwald didn't teach Hannah anything about power struggles; he seemed to have become the most rigid and dogmatic old monk.

The Leaky Cauldron and various derived entertainment are all over the world, but Grindelwald only taught Hannah how to rigidly and pragmatically sort out each industry, how to pay attention to what the people she touched thought as much as possible, rather than the interests of those industries themselves, and taught her how to identify people's true needs.

This is also the most troubling thing for Erina, Luna and Hannah. Hannah is not easy to ask, but once she asks, it is very difficult.

Hannah, with her simple mind and stubborn personality, can often cut through all the fog and directly point to some of the problems that they find difficult to answer for a while.

As for Hermione…

Her goal has always been very pure—to pin Erina under her.

However, it seems that she still has a long way to go to reach this goal.

Hermione roughly flipped through the newspaper and glanced at Lockhart's campaign speech, suddenly feeling bored.

With the exposure of Cornelius Fudge's scandal, Lockhart's campaign, if not a sure thing, has at least become the number one candidate in the chaos.

And if someone pays attention to Hogwarts School, they may be surprised to find that the situation here is very similar to that of the Ministry of Magic—Umbridge is now also trapped in the werewolf incident's public opinion storm. With only one week left until the announcement of the "Hogwarts Acting Headmaster" result, Professor McGonagall can be said to be a sure winner.

The only thing that confused Hermione was that she thought Erina would take the opportunity to seize the power of Hogwarts, rather than giving it away directly like this.

Professor McGonagall has not joined any organization other than the Order of the Phoenix, and she doesn't even know about the existence of the Great Arcana Council.

After hesitating for a few seconds, Hermione put down the newspaper and turned to poke the dumpling sitting beside her.

"Erina, I still don't understand why you're letting Professor McGonagall…"

"What class do we have next?"

Just then, Erina put down her cutlery, wiped her mouth, and asked.

"Mrs. Weasley's Life Magic—all four of us together, this is a big class for the whole grade."

Hannah glanced at the timetable and quickly replied, "Today's class will be in the Great Hall. We can just wait here after breakfast—"

"Oh, Life Magic… Mrs. Weasley's big class for the whole grade…"

Erina nodded, and before Hermione could ask again, she suddenly turned her head and smiled mysteriously.

"I know what you want to ask, but—Umbridge's temporary withdrawal from the competition does not mean that Professor McGonagall is successfully elected."

"It's not… it's not the end yet—"

She idly stirred the food in her plate with the spoon in her hand, glancing at the staff table not far away.

"The Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, even if it's just an 'Acting' Headmaster…"

"That shouldn't be elected by the rules of the Ministry of Magic, should it?"

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Resurrection from the dead…

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