บท 449: Chapter 449 Scrimgeour

Satisfied, Felix emerged from the Potions office and gazed through the window into the distance. It is now late March, the weather has become much warmer, and the forbidden forest and the mountain range are finally no longer looked empty when you look at them from afar.

"It's a shame not to go for a stroll in the Forbidden Forest on such a nice day." Felix muttered to himself, then he cast a Disillusionment Charm on himself, and his body rushed up to the sky with a silver cloak draped on.

Felix landed at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, the silver cloak behind him disappeared into a speck of lights, then he couldn't help but wonder, "Maybe in the future, one of my bios will be 'working with Dumbledore and developed twelve uses of the Patronus Charm'?"

He laughed at the thought and strolled through the Forbidden Forest. It was only when he got closer that he noticed that although it is still cold, there are already many plants breaking out of the cold soil and revealing their buds.

He also saw a bush of Muscadine orchids.

Felix wandered around several locations in the Forbidden Forest, including the Unicorn herd, the Hippogriff herd, the Thestrals, and of course the nest of the Acromantula. Gork's rule is still solid, especially with the presence of Felix as an "accomplice", any individual Acromantula that shows their brutal nature will not end up well.

In the evening, Felix cast a spell on the stake he found and turned it into a dog toy for Hagrid's hound, Fang.

Back at the castle, he ran into Professor Flitwick in the entrance hall, "Oh, Felix? Minerva was looking for you just now!" He said in a shrill voice.

"Is there something wrong?"

"Not sure ... but she told me to tell you to go to Dumbledore's office first, the password is: honey jelly." Flitwick told the information he knew, "It was almost an hour or so ago."

"Okay." Felix shrugged and made his way to the small detached tower where the Headmaster's office stood in a hunkered down manner. After saying the password, the giant Gargoyle moved away, revealing an empty revolving staircase behind it.

Felix knocked on the door and the gleaming oak door opened automatically, he stepped into the office and there are two people sitting in the circular room, Dumbledore behind a desk and a ...

Felix narrowed his eyes, he seemed to see an old lion striding toward him, tea-brown mane-like hair and thick eyebrows fluttering wildly, with a pair of yellow sharp eyes, even the wisps of gray strands in the hair and not very flexible legs did not diminish his aura of authority.

A name came to his mind - Rufus Scrimgeour, Head of Auror Office, the right-hand man of the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. He has never personally met Scrimgeour, at least privately.

So he turned and looked at Dumbledore at the side, "Headmaster Dumbledore? You asked me to come -"

"Oh," Dumbledore looked back from his spectator state, with his long fingers crossed in front of him, as he said with a smile, "According to the Ministry of Magic's appointment, Felix, you will receive three groups of visitors today ... " He glanced at the memo on the table, running his nails over it while he reached his index finger to flick open a piece of coloured candy paper.

"The first is Professor Marchbanks from the Wizarding Examinations Authority, she arrived an hour and a half ago, accompanied by Mr. Vera, Vice President of the Ancient Rune Society, they are currently walking around the school in the company of Minerva."

" It is a pity you did not run into them." He smiled, "But there's no need to rush, Marchbanks informed me that she intended to stay at Hogwarts for a while, and I agreed."

Felix and Scrimgeour simultaneously looked at him, and Scrimgeour said impatiently, "Dumbledore! You know I am busy with work and I just need an answer ... Perhaps I should send an assistant over, but this is a matter of great importance and I must confirm it myself."

"Well," Dumbledore said with slight regret, "the second one is Mr. Rufus Scrimgeour who's right in front of you, you should have heard of him. He read the thesis of Mr. Diggory and others from the newspaper and was greatly shocked by the phenomenon in which ancient runes could increase the spell potency, and it just so happened that he had a reserve Auror ... under him."

He looked at Scrimgeour, Scrimgeour remained silent for two seconds and said in a low voice, "Abbott Balk."

Felix thought for a moment, "I seem to have some recollection of that name, Balk used to act as an aid in the dueling club, but as far as I know, his ancient rune was not considered that good."

"He only verified the authenticity of the information for a part," Scrimgeour said, with no trace of a smile on his face, he seemed to have lost even the ability to smile after years of dealing with dark wizards, "I later saw the tangible effect from another young man, who spent less than half an hour to recreate the point presented in the newspaper paper ..."

"Which one was it?" Felix asked, interrupting him.

"'Flame' Rune and the Fire-Making Spell," Scrimgeour said stiffly, " as well as the ''Flow of Water' Rune and the Water-Making Spell. "

Felix revealed a smile, "I guess the young man's last name is Weasley."

"Percy Weasley, he's currently a senior assistant in the Department of International Magical Co-operation, answering to Ludo Bagman and the Minister." Scrimgeour revealed a piece of information that he was unaware of.

Barty Crouch's position is currently unoccupied, leaving that job to Fudge on a temporary part-time basis, with Bagman helping out.

Percy Weasley must like that arrangement. Felix thought to himself.

"Let's get to the point, Mr. Hap." Scrimgeour said, "I for one have great admiration for your magical attainments, and I would like to express my gratitude for calming the riots at the Quidditch World Cup ... Given the current situation, we must plan ahead ... I would like to invite you to join the Ministry of Magic."

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch that?"

Felix was genuinely surprised. At best, he thought that this Head of Auror would want him to help train a group of Aurors or Hit Wizards, but he didn't expect that they would want to poach him as a package.

"The situation is not optimistic, the matter of Barty let the Ministry-" Scrimgeour suddenly stopped talking, and turned to look at Dumbledore, exchanging a look with Dumbledore, "Well." He muttered, "Since you know a lot, I might as well say more, but this is all classified information ..."

He limped over to the window and looked out over the black lake in the distance, but Felix felt him watching himself in the afterglow, so Felix turned his body slightly sideways and made an expression that said he is listening.

" The Ministry of Magic employees became restless for a while," Scrimgeour said, "I mean the smart ones, or the ones who are good at reading between lines ... they were frightened by Barty Crouch's appearance that morning, it was during the rush hour ... people were coming and going ..."

Felix imagined in his mind that the normally meticulously dressed high official of the Ministry of Magic suddenly ran to the Ministry of Magic dressed in rags and with messy hair to surrender himself, anyone who saw it would be astonished.

"... He looked as if he had been horribly tortured, Fudge panicked, and, as always, visibly shaken in the face of an unexpected situation, it was Ms. Bones who calmed the crowd and brought Barty Crouch to the small conference room ... A few of us, me, Fudge, Ms. Bones, and a few others ... listened to Barty Crouch's testimony ... you can imagine how shocked we were!"

Felix did not reply, he knew almost all of this and even knew that there was someone else in the office at the time - Lucius Malfoy. Yes, Lucius has a position in the Ministry of Magic personally, although it is only a nominal adviser, without any concrete duties, but with this title alone he can intervene in many things, especially since Fudge is in power, and Lucius has donated a large sum of money, which makes him an official guest of the Minister of Magic.

"Fortunately, the news was blocked, in order to avoid causing public panic ..." Scrimgeour continued after explaining the situation, "but only Fudge is still feigning that Crouch is still not free from the effects of the spell, accusing him of speaking gibberish, but both me and Bones recognized the seriousness of the problem ..."

"Mr. Scrimgeour, you're moving further and further off the subject." Felix reminded him kindly.

Scrimgeour glared at him as if chiding him for interrupting the speech, and he flicked his hair, which looked as fluffy as a mane, " Almost there ... No one would be foolish enough to ignore the testimony of a high-ranking official, especially when we also examined his wife's grave afterward, and it was, shockingly, empty ..."

"Empty?" Felix asked quickly.

"According to Barty, his wife pleaded with him before she died to trade her son back ... a life for a life, using Polyjuice Potion, very clever move! A normal person and a dying person walk into Azkaban and walk out afterward, and no one knows for sure that people got swapped just like that." For the first time, a complex expression appeared on Scrimgeour's face, he was one of those who supported Barty Crouch more than ten years ago.

Felix's thoughts became clear, he almost understood how Crouch Jr. disappeared under the public eye and was confirmed "dead".

"If this is true, then what reason do we have to doubt the other things? Although Fudge still rejects that possibility, both Ms. Bones and Me were pretty much convinced ..." he looked into the deep blue sky, his thick eyebrows furrowed deeply: "A Death Eater and his master reunited, secretly plotting to restore their power, but since he sent the only Death Eater he trusts to Hogwarts, it means that there is something here that he desperately needs ..."

"Dumbledore, is it true that the philosopher's stone has been destroyed?" Scrimgeour suddenly asked a question.

So Felix, judged from this sentence, Scrimgeour isn't one of the Dumbledore's men. Dumbledore said softly: "Of course, that was the conclusion we reached after a joint discussion between me and Nicolas Flamel couple."

Felix also knew about this, and did not show much surprise, though Scrimgeour's next look of inquiry towards him left him puzzled, "So, you don't have it on your hands either?"

What don't? Felix blinked, suddenly realizing that this is what Scrimgeour was after, Nicolas Flamel's legacy - someone in the Ministry of Magic might have thought that the biggest reason why Hogwarts had caught Voldemort's eye three times is because of the possibility that there is something here that would restore his power.

For example, a philosopher's stone that was not destroyed as promised, or a philosopher's stone that has been inherited by someone else.

The former is related to Dumbledore, the latter naturally involves Felix.

"I did not inherit the philosopher's stone from Nicolas Flamel." Felix faintly yawned, as his attitude cooled down.

But Scrimgeour's biggest purpose of the trip was achieved, or rather, thought he had achieved it. He continued along with the pre-defined plan, "In summary, we realize that we must strengthen the Ministry of Magic, and the Department of Magical Law Enforcement decided to expand the number of recruits, especially for the Auror's office, and we urgently need more talents."

Felix politely declined Scrimgeour's recruitment. Despite his hint that Felix could take over his position in a few years.

But he didn't turn down the invitation to train both Aurors and the Hit Wizards, which is equally the result he wanted. "How about scheduling it during the Easter holidays?" Scrimgeour asked.

"No problem," Felix said, "I need some things before that, including the identities of those I'm training, their school grades, and the magic they specialize in."

"You should be aware that these are confidential, right?" Scrimgeour immediately stated sternly.

"I know, but I'll find out sooner or later ...," Felix said brightly, "I'm just trying not to waste both sides' time."

Scrimgeour stared at him for a moment with his deep yellow eyes, and just when Felix thought he was about to fall asleep, he said in a deep voice: "I'll send someone trustworthy to deliver a copy of the information, and you will need to destroy it after reading it on the spot - classified files included! "

"Then it's a deal." Felix held out his hand, and Scrimgeour limped over to him and shook his hand firmly with a large, and rough hand.

When the hard-headed head of the Auror left the office, Felix sat down nonchalantly on the couch, "He looks ambitious."

"Well," Dumbledore said slowly while fiddling with the silverware on the table with his long fingers, " this is obvious, in a way it's not a bad thing. He foresaw the impending war and saw it as an opportunity ... but there are in fact quite a few people standing in his way, Amelia Bones, Pius Thicknesse ... If Barty had not been imprisoned in Azkaban, he also counts as one; but now Scrimgeour thinks the war would cause the people to remember the iron-blooded head."

"You are saying he is over-ambitious?" Felix asked pointedly; Scrimgeour looked no less imposing, he is someone who does real work.

"I'm just afraid he underestimates the horrors of war," Dumbledore murmured: "Yes, he lived through the war over a decade ago, personally fought the Death Eaters to the death, but I don't know if it was luck or fate that he never met Voldemort head-on... ... They still haven't realized the crux of the problem: there is Voldemort before the Death Eaters, and once Voldemort is gone, the Death Eaters have nowhere to hide like a lost cub."

"Oh." Felix lowered his head and pondered. After a short while, he raised his head and asked a question he had always wanted to ask: "Albus, have you ever defeated Voldemort?"

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