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Chapter 776: Educational Decree Number Twenty-Two
Chapter 776: Educational Decree Number Twenty-Two
"Fudge... Umbridge..." Ivan sneered, holding the Daily Prophet.
With Voldemort's threat looming closer, the Ministry of Magic, as an official institution of the Wizarding World, continued to create trouble for him.
This behavior had crossed Ivan's bottom line!
He wasn't Dumbledore, who cared about rules and procedures, spending time and effort arguing with a bunch of fools he could crush with a snap of his fingers.
If the Ministry of Magic's actions did not align with his wishes, he wouldn't hesitate to correct them himself.
As for how to deal with Fudge, Ivan had been thinking about it for days and had even drafted a preliminary plan!
If everything went smoothly, he could cleanse the Ministry of Magic as a Savior, replacing most of the incompetent officials with his own people, while also outmaneuvering Voldemort and pinning all the blame on him.
Of course, the plan was far from perfect, with many challenges to overcome, the most critical being the creation of the Philosopher's Stone to make up for his own strength deficiencies!
Despite his considerable power and influence, which would allow him to easily crush the Ministry of Magic, doing so would bring him out of the shadows and expose him to attacks from both the righteous and the Death Eaters!
After all, the Ministry of Magic was an official institution, highly regarded by the general public. Even someone as ruthless as Voldemort dared not directly replace it, choosing instead to control the Minister of Magic with the Imperius Curse.
So, besides overwhelming power, he needed a reason to "liberate" the Ministry of Magic without causing public outrage...
While Ivan was deep in thought, Harry and Ron, who were reading the newspaper, were furious.
"It seems you were right, Hermione. The Ministry of Magic is interfering with Hogwarts. What should we do now?" Harry asked, sounding very worried.
Having Umbridge as the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor was bad enough, but now that she had been appointed High Inquisitor with the power to inspect other professors, Harry couldn't imagine how much worse things would get.
"What can we do? We can't do anything..." Hermione sighed.
"Don't worry so much. Just wait and see. The professors won't be so easy to handle. If she tries to inspect Snape, he'll probably hex her!" Ron said confidently, not at all panicked.
Harry imagined Snape and Umbridge clashing, and his mood improved.
Hermione rolled her eyes at their conversation. Besides Snape, there were other professors in the school. What about them?
While the three of them were thinking, Ivan continued to read the newspaper. Apart from the front-page headline, the other content was also interesting.
For example, one report mentioned that the Ministry of Magic had held three meetings over the past two months to discuss reforms at Hogwarts, but Dumbledore had not attended any of them, much to the dissatisfaction of many members of the Wizengamot.
The swift passage of Educational Decree Number Twenty-Two was largely due to Dumbledore's prolonged absence.
"Where has Dumbledore gone?" Ivan muttered, stroking his chin.
It had been over a month since the start of the school year, but Dumbledore had only appeared briefly to welcome the first-years, and he hadn't been seen since, not even for Ministry meetings. This was indeed peculiar.
Could it be that Dumbledore's formidable presence that night was all an act, intended to intimidate those who were stirring up trouble, and that he's actually not in such good shape now?
Ivan thought it was highly likely; otherwise, he couldn't explain this bizarre situation.
However, such intimidation wouldn't last long. As long as Umbridge continued her probing, the truth would eventually come to light.
The group ate breakfast with heavy hearts and then headed together to the Charms classroom.
Before long, Ivan saw Flitwick walk in with a dark expression, accompanied by Umbridge!
The new Inquisitor was holding a clipboard and, upon entering, took a seat in the corner of the classroom. She occasionally wrote or drew on the clipboard, looking highly focused.
Having read the newspaper, Ivan knew that Umbridge was evaluating Flitwick's class to determine if it met the Ministry of Magic's standards.
The sudden presence of an additional person in the classroom made Flitwick somewhat uncomfortable, but he did his best to ignore Umbridge and conducted the class as usual.
The only difference was that the practical exercises were omitted, making the class somewhat dull.
Flitwick was quite helpless about this, as Umbridge had already discussed it with him. The Ministry of Magic only allowed Hogwarts students to learn safe and harmless magic.
Any spells with offensive capabilities were to be taught in theory classes, with the rationale being to avoid any unfortunate magical accidents.
The Charms class ended quickly. After Flitwick left the classroom, Umbridge put down her pen and stopped a few students who were about to leave, asking for their feedback on the class.
Ivan didn't linger in the classroom. After class, he headed straight to the library to search for materials related to magic, hoping to solve the Bronze Eagle's problem as soon as possible.
...
A week passed in the blink of an eye. Apart from his regular classes, Ivan spent most of his time researching.
Occasionally, he would take some time to visit Ravenclaw Tower at midnight to chat with the Lady Ghost about life.
He wasn't like Tom, who would abandon someone after getting what he wanted.
As a responsible male wizard, if he were to truly disappear from her life, Ivan would provide a perfect reason to avoid causing trouble for the next handsome students.
However, Ivan was somewhat disappointed to find that, over the past thousand years, no wizards had seriously explored the essence of magic. In most literature, magic was described as a natural part of a wizard's being, as normal as arms and legs.
During this time, Umbridge was quite active, frequently entering various classrooms to criticize the professors.
Ivan keenly observed that the attitudes of Hogwarts professors and most students toward Umbridge were becoming increasingly negative.
Clearly, her arrogant, domineering, and condescending demeanor was deeply unpopular.
This situation was precisely what Ivan wanted to see. Despite her current authority, the High Inquisitor had lost the most important thing.
To the uninformed, it seemed as if she had been sent by the Ministry of Magic to tarnish its reputation.
Ivan believed that with just a bit more fuel and a push, the Ministry of Magic's standing in this school would plummet to rock bottom...
(End of Chapter)
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