abnabooks Chapter 382: Surrender into a move
Chapter 382: Surrender into a move
Chapter 382: Surrender into a move
Until dawn, Mike did not get a response from Penelope, but just as he was playing with coins out of boredom, the door of Umbridge's office was knocked again.
"Please come in."
With a crisp sound from Kaz, the door opened, and the person who came in was the striker to whom Mike had entrusted the magic wand.
However, the batter's mental state does not look optimistic.
His eye bags were puffy and there were deep dark circles around them. He looked extremely tired.
What's even more exaggerated is that at this moment he was still holding Mike's blackthorn wand in his hands. Seeing him holding his hands high in respect, Mike felt a little embarrassed.
"Sir, Minister Umbridge asked me to take you to the Headmaster's office."
The striker said half dead.
Hearing this, a smile instantly appeared on Mike's face.
Since Dumbledore was away, the headmaster's office at Hogwarts had been closed. Now that Umbridge had asked her to go to the headmaster's office, the truth of the matter was clear.
Dumbledore is back!
"Okay, let's go!"
Mike left the room first and walked towards the principal's office, while the older striker continued to hold his wand, shaking and following slowly behind.
Mike didn't listen until he reached the door of the principal's office. After a long while, the striker came to Mike, panting heavily, and said breathlessly to the monster statue at the door of the room:
"Milky...cream mousse!"
The monster statue suddenly jumped aside upon hearing this, and the wall behind it cracked, revealing a moving stone staircase inside.
Mike stepped forward and wound his way up the stairs.
Not long after, a door knocker with a griffin appeared in front of him.
Mike knocked on the door gently, and only after hearing Dumbledore's familiar voice from inside did he push the door open and walk in.
As soon as I entered the door, a wave of heat hit me in the face.
There were more than a dozen people standing in twos and threes in the spacious headmaster's office. Among them, Dumbledore, a bald black wizard, and a strong man who was obviously an Auror were standing behind an eagle-legged desk and talking about something.
Not far from them, plump Minister Fudge was shaking his legs by the fireplace.
He seemed to be very hot and kept wiping his bald head with a handkerchief, but he did not show any intention of leaving the fireplace.
Mike guessed that he must be very nervous and wanted to use the high temperature of the fireplace to cover up the fact that he was sweating from nervousness.
Beside him, Percy Weasley, a freckled and bespectacled man, was walking back and forth excitedly in the corner, holding a quill and a thick roll of parchment in his hands, obviously ready to take notes at any time.
The remaining few people gathered not far from the main gate. They were Professor Snape, Professor Umbridge, Professor McGonagall, Ron, Neville, and several Slytherin students who were responsible for escorting them.
Not only that, the portraits of past principals on the wall who used to pretend to sleep every time Mike came did not continue pretending to sleep this time. Instead, they stared at everyone in the office seriously.
At this moment, with Mike's arrival, everyone's eyes in the office fell on him.
"Hello everyone!" Mike greeted calmly, then looked at Dumbledore, "Principal Dumbledore, why are you back?"
"Obviously, the evidence the Ministry of Magic has is not enough. Although they can lock me up and slowly collect or fabricate evidence, there are still many people who think that this old man of mine is still useful. They think that when accidents like this happen frequently, I should not be locked up, but should be released to make use of my remaining energy."
Dumbledore winked at Mike playfully, then looked at Fudge by the fireplace with a questioning look.
"So, after discussions with the Wizengamot and Merlin's Order, I'm set free again! Am I right, Fudge?"
Fudge didn't say anything, but just glared at Dumbledore fiercely, while Percy beside him was writing diligently.
"Cough cough!"
At this time, a cough attracted everyone's attention. Umbridge raised her head slightly and said arrogantly to Mike with her nose:
"Mike, do you know what you did wrong?"
Hearing this, Mike glanced away, pretending to be thinking hard for a while before slowly saying in an uncertain tone:
"Is it because I called you a toad?"
As soon as these words were spoken, the corners of Snape and Dumbledore's mouths, who had originally had serious faces, all curled up, the portraits on the wall laughed unscrupulously, and Umbridge glared at Mike with wide eyes.
Her lips trembled, as if she wanted to say something else, but Fudge beside her spoke first.
"Mike, we are already old acquaintances, there is no need to do these empty words. To be honest, the mistakes you made this time were very serious. You set up an illegal organization in Hogwarts, attacked professors, and rebelled against the Ministry of Magic... Any one of these is enough for us to expel you from Hogwarts or even put you in Azkaban. So, tell me the truth. As long as you tell me everything you know, then I promise to give you a lighter sentence for the sake of our previous friendship."
After saying that, Fudge crossed his arms and looked at Mike, looking extremely confident.
But the answer that awaited him was...
"I think you may be mistaken. I don't think I have violated any Ministry of Magic regulations. Oh! If Umbridge is a toad and is breaking the law then I am guilty."
"What did you say?" Fudge looked at Mike in disbelief. "At this point, do you still think it's useful to quibble?"
Mike shrugged helplessly, which made Fudge even angrier.
"Minister, I don't think we need to waste any more time with him." Umbridge walked forward with a sinister smile, "We have other witnesses, and he has told us everything."
"Really? That's great!"
Fudge clapped his hands, then looked at Dumbledore with ill intent, and the latter shrugged like Mike did before.
Umbridge walked quickly to Ron, who had been keeping his head down since Mike came into the office, and slowly placed her hands on his shoulders.
Mike noticed that Ron shuddered violently the moment Umbridge's hand touched Ron's shoulder.
"Ron Weasley, we found him and Neville Longbottom near the eighth floor. After some persuasion, Ron told us everything about the illegal assembly last night. I have to say that he is one of the few good kids in Hogwarts. He was extremely cooperative during the entire interrogation process, and sometimes even took the initiative to confess some interesting things." Umbridge said slowly in her disgusting and delicate voice, "Oh! By the way! I almost forgot! His brother Percy Weasley is your assistant, the one over there!"
As soon as these words came out, everyone in the office looked at Ron, even the portraits on the wall. Professor McGonagall and everyone else had disbelief written all over their faces, especially Neville, whose chubby, tear-stained face was almost wrinkled into a ball.
Seeing this, Ron lowered his head even lower, and crystal tears kept falling to the ground like pearls from a broken string.
"Aha! This is really great!" Fudge excitedly patted Percy who was recording nearby, causing the latter to stagger. "Percy, you two brothers are really outstanding!"
"No, no, my brother Ron has always been very outstanding. By the way, he is also the head of Gryffindor. He told me that you are his greatest idol, Minister. He works so hard because he hopes to follow you one day."
Fudge was quite strong, and Percy rubbed his arm while bowing to Fudge and Umbridge with a wry smile.
"Really? Hahaha! That's great!" Fudge laughed, "What an interesting young man! Let me put it this way, I will give him a job opportunity when he graduates. Well! You can write this down, Weasley, and you can remind me if I forget it! Hahaha!"
"Hey! Thank you, Minister!"
Percy and Fudge were chatting and laughing beside the fireplace. Ron, who had been lowering his head, suddenly raised his head and looked at Fudge and Percy with hatred.
And the moment he looked up, Mike also saw his face clearly.
On his face, a series of densely packed purple pustules had crawled over his nose and cheeks, forming the word "snitch", which made Ron's already low appearance even worse!
"Merlin's beard..."
Fudge and Percy were both startled by this and both took a step back.
"Ahem! Okay, none of this matters!" Umbridge coughed lightly and pressed Ron's raised head back down heavily. "The important thing is Ron's testimony!"
Umbridge opened a manual.
"According to Ron, soon after the school started, Mike gathered a large group of people in the name of the 'Defense Against the Dark Arts Team' to hold a meeting in the Hog's Head Pub in Hogsmeade Village. Later, he held illegal meetings periodically in the Room of Requirement. According to Ron, these meetings have been going on for almost a whole year!"
"Ha! Mike! What else do you have to say now!"
Fudge jumped back excitedly and hit the fireplace behind him, and then a burning smell came out.
Percy, who was standing nearby, hurried forward to help Fudge put out the flames on his robe.
Mike didn't reply, but looked at Ron.
He really didn't understand what Ron was doing and why he leaked such important information.
Coincidentally, Ron, whose eyes were red and his face was covered with herpes, also looked at Mike at this moment.
The two men's eyes met in mid-air, Ron's face was full of shame, but Mike didn't even have the desire to look at him and quickly looked away.
Seeing this, Ron's expression became even uglier, and tears kept flowing from his red eyes.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Mike! I'm sorry!" Ron wailed, "I don't want to say it, but...but they tortured me like crazy, wuwuwu!"
As he spoke, Ron rolled up his sleeves, revealing several irregular whip marks on his fair arms.
The whip marks were very light, and it could be seen that Umbridge had given Ron medicine before bringing him here. Unfortunately, Umbridge obviously did not have the medical skills of Madam Pomfrey, and was unable to completely eliminate Ron's scars.
The whole office was shocked, and everyone stared at Umbridge and Ron's arms in amazement.
The portraits on the wall were the first to react. An elderly witch cursed at Umbridge, and then more curses came from the mouths of other portraits.
"How dare you do this to a Hogwarts student!"
"You evil woman, you should be torn into pieces and fed to the dragon!"
"Mike is absolutely right, you are a toad, a poisonous one at that!"
……
Listening to the scolding coming from all around, Umbridge's expression was extremely ugly, but she still had to keep smiling at this moment, because Fudge was also looking at her with shock.
"Minister, please listen to my explanation..."
Umbridge was only halfway through her words when Professor McGonagall interrupted her:
"What else do you have to explain? Look at yourself! Is this what you do? Torturing students and forcing them to say what you want them to say?"
At some point, Professor McGonagall had taken off Ron's coat, revealing that his thin body was covered with numerous faint scars.
Neville's clothes were also taken off. Like Ron, he also had a lot of scars on his body, and the color of his scars was darker than Ron's.
This means that the torture he endured was even more painful than Ron!
Percy on the side was already confused. He looked at his bruised brother with his mouth wide open, his eyes turning red.
At the same time, he stretched out his hand tremblingly, as if he wanted to touch Ron's wound, but the latter dodged it.
Looking at Ron's disgusted eyes, Percy silently lowered his head, retreated to the corner, and silently picked up the quill and parchment.
"It looks like there are some bad guys in your team, Fudge." Dumbledore frowned and looked at Fudge seriously, "Abusing students, forcing them to confess, framing them, and fabricating evidence. I think these charges are enough to put her in Azkaban!"
After saying this, he looked at Umbridge again, his eyes filled with anger, which was rare.
"I have never seen anyone with a heart as dirty as yours, Umbridge. I promise you will pay the price. I mean what I say!"
Umbridge's expression became extremely terrified. She waved her arms in panic, trying to cover Neville and Ron's upper bodies again, but Professor McGonagall slapped her arms away!
Then she turned her pleading eyes to Fudge, but the latter turned his head away silently.
"No, no, no! You can't do this!" Umbridge hissed. "There are two more important things I haven't said yet."
Fudge slowly turned his head back, and Umbridge saw this as if she had grasped the last straw and shouted:
"According to Ron, they should have a list. This list records the name of every member who participated in this illegal assembly. If we have this list, we can find everyone. In addition, the organization founded by Mike is... its name is the DA Army, which is... that is, Dumbledore's Army."
(End of this chapter)