Harry shook his head and smiled mockingly.
"Sorry, Mr. Fudge, but this is not something you can decide. It is not something I can decide either. It will be decided by the final result of the hearing.
"So now, Dumbledore will serve as the judge and determine whether Fudge can continue serving as Minister for Magic."
Dumbledore nodded and walked to the judge's seat. Soon, familiar words rang out.
"The disciplinary hearing of August twelfth is now formally convened to examine the disciplinary case of Cornelius Oswald Fudge. Interrogator, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore.
"Defendant Cornelius Oswald Fudge, you are charged with concealing the fact that Voldemort has already returned during your tenure as Minister for Magic, and with privately releasing large numbers of Dementors into the Muggle world, which has already caused the deaths of dozens of Muggles!
"These actions have seriously violated the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy, the Anti-Dark Magic Act, the Wizengamot Charter, and the Regulations for the Handling of Magical Accidents and Disasters.
"Do you admit to the charges?"
"No! I didn't!" Fudge sprang up from his chair, his fingers white from the force of his grip, his voice shrill like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. "Voldemort hasn't returned at all. That is a scam spread by you and Harry Potter!"
Dumbledore was not surprised by Fudge's response in the slightest. He gently waved his wand, and a witness walked into the courtroom from outside.
The witness was an elderly wizard. He secretly glanced at Dumbledore, then looked at Fudge with some fear before finally lowering his head and saying in a muffled voice, "I saw Voldemort. He really has returned. He is in the suburbs outside London, Britain, right now."
Fudge had not expected someone to testify that Voldemort had truly returned. His eyes widened with rage as he threatened, "Think carefully before you answer. Lying in court does not end well."
Clearly, before coming in, the people from the Order of the Phoenix had carefully instructed this elderly wizard.
Although Fudge threatened him, the old wizard still stood firm by his accusation. "I saw what I saw. I won't be threatened by you."
"You!" Fudge pointed at the old wizard, his index finger trembling nonstop, but he quickly calmed down again and then glared at Dumbledore.
"Concealing it? I did that for stability! To keep the wizarding world from falling into chaos! You people don't understand anything. Once we admit that dark wizard is back, how many people will flee in panic, how many shops will close? The entire magical economy will collapse!"
Fudge should not have admitted to that charge so easily, but Harry was secretly casting magic on him, affecting his mind, which was why things had developed this way.
Dumbledore glanced at Harry and knew it was his doing, but he said nothing. This had been the result of their previous discussion.
Dumbledore's tone remained calm. "So you admit to this charge?"
Fudge said almost madly, "So what if I admit it? This one charge alone is not enough to remove me from office."
Dumbledore shook his head and continued, "Then let us begin hearing the second charge, that you privately released Dementors into the Muggle world.
"What is your defense regarding this charge?"
Fudge's expression became extremely ugly. If it was the first charge, then he really had done it, but as for the second charge, he had never heard of it at all.
This second charge was slander!
Fudge breathed heavily, his eyes sweeping over the judge's bench as if searching for supporters, only to see nothing but cold silence.
That made the ominous feeling in his heart reach its peak. It seemed these damned people had already united before the hearing, all for the purpose of forcing him out of office.
Suddenly, Fudge pointed at Dumbledore, his voice carrying a hysterical defense.
"The Dementors were not privately released by me! They… they smelled the scent of darkness and lost control!
"I only… I only failed to recall them in time. They are no longer under my control either.
"And those Muggles… they should never have run into magical creatures in the first place. That should be blamed on inadequate secrecy work. How can all of it be blamed on me?
"I do not admit it. These accusations are all slander. You are trying to push the blame onto me!"
What Fudge said was indeed correct. This was slander, and most of the people present knew it was slander.
But no one cared. From the moment this hearing began, everyone already knew that Fudge was bound to step down today.
Dumbledore fell silent for a moment, his expression still calm, then asked, "Regarding this charge, do you have anything else to say?"
Fudge suddenly thought of a flaw and quickly questioned, "You say I privately released Dementors into the Muggle world, but what evidence do you have to prove it?"
Harry took out a set of documents and controlled them to float onto Dumbledore's desk.
"These are the unified testimonies of the Aurors working at Azkaban. Their testimonies all state that it was the Minister who ordered them to release some of the Dementors. I believe these testimonies are enough to serve as key evidence."
Immediately afterward, Harry copied the testimonies and made them float in front of the jury and Fudge.
After reading the testimonies, Fudge's expression twisted savagely. At this moment, he finally confirmed that he had been framed.
He roared furiously, "You are framing me! You are framing the Minister for Magic! I understand now. You all joined forces long ago. You are all in this together!"
Looking at Fudge as he sank into madness, some members of the jury looked at him with pity. These jury members were in the know.
But there were also some jury members who looked at the scene in confusion. They were somewhat lost and did not know what exactly had happened.
However, no matter what, the final result had already been decided. Dumbledore ignored Fudge and said directly, "Now, those in favor of conviction, please raise your hands!"
All the people in the know, as well as most of the people who were not, raised their hands in a rustling wave. Only a very small number did not raise their hands.
Among them were Fudge's supporters, including Senior Undersecretary Dolores Umbridge, a middle-aged and elderly woman.
Her expression was ugly, but she said nothing. The current situation was no longer something she could control.
Dumbledore nodded and struck the gavel hard.
"In that case, the charges are upheld. From this moment onward, Fudge is removed from his duties as Minister."
When that voice rang out, Fudge's face turned ashen. No matter what, he had never imagined that today, which was supposed to be the day he made things difficult for Harry and Dumbledore, would instead become the day of his complete defeat.
In the blink of an eye, the day for school to begin arrived.
On September first, King's Cross station was still filled with the mixed smell of coal smoke and baked pies. The Hogwarts Express lay coiled on the tracks like a crimson python, countless excited faces peering out from the windows. The laughter of wizards and the hooting of owls collided with one another, startling the pigeons beneath the eaves into flight.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione arrived very early this time and easily found an empty compartment. The three walked in, and there was no sleeping professor inside.
After saying goodbye to the Weasleys, the train slowly started moving toward Hogwarts.
Just then, the compartment door was pushed open with a bang. Malfoy leaned against the doorframe, his blond hair gleaming coldly under the carriage lights, with Crabbe and Goyle standing behind him like two bulky shadows.
His gaze was like a scalpel dipped in ice as it scraped across Harry's face, and the corner of his mouth curled into his usual sneer.
"Well, well, if it isn't the Boy Who Lived," he drawled, his voice wrapped in venom. "How was your summer? Didn't expect the fruits of all your hard work to end up being harvested by me, did you?"
Harry did not answer. He merely waved his wand lightly, and Malfoy, along with his two lackeys behind him, immediately flew out.
Ron frowned and scratched his messy red hair, swallowed the pumpkin juice in his mouth, and glanced irritably at the tightly shut compartment door.
"What the hell was that? Why does this feel so damn familiar?"
He nudged Harry with his elbow, his voice full of disgust.
"Wasn't it exactly like this in first year? Every time Malfoy saw you, he acted like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. Aside from Savior and Mudblood, he doesn't have any other words."
As he spoke, Ron leaned back against his seat and rolled his eyes.
"I bet his next line was going to be 'my father will hear about this.' Can't he come up with something new?
"Oh, right, he does have something new now. After all, his father became Minister for Magic, so now he's acting even more arrogant.
"After Harry taught him a lesson a few times before, he didn't dare bother us anymore. Great. Looks like we're going to have trouble again this term."
Unlike Ron, Hermione had observed things more carefully.
Her fingertips gently tapped the open page of her book. Her gaze returned from the direction Malfoy had left, and she thoughtfully pushed up her glasses.
"Didn't you notice? Malfoy's hand was trembling the whole time just now.
"Although he still sounded as spiteful as ever when he spoke, his steps were clearly a little weak."
Ron clicked his tongue. "He was scared? Scared of Harry? Then why did he come over to mock us? Does he have something wrong with his brain?"
"It felt more like he had no choice but to do it," Hermione said with a slight frown. "Like… someone was forcing him."
She paused and looked at Harry. "Maybe he didn't want to come and provoke us at all, but had to put on this act according to someone else's wishes."
Hearing Hermione's analysis, Harry admired his little witch even more.
He had not expected Hermione's observational skills to become so sharp. Based only on those few seconds just now, she had actually discovered something strange about Malfoy.
Indeed, Malfoy had long since become his Lender. How could he possibly still dare come up and mock him?
The reason he had done so was nothing more than Harry's request.
After Fudge stepped down, under Harry and Dumbledore's secret manipulation, Lucius Malfoy successfully became Minister for Magic.
But because of various reasons, Lucius's relationship with Harry could not be exposed, which was why today's situation had happened.
As long as Draco Malfoy and Harry had a poor relationship, to a certain extent, it could show that Lucius Malfoy and Harry also had a poor relationship.
This would undoubtedly reassure many people, allowing Harry to manipulate the Death Eater remnants and have them secretly deal with the Ministry's stubborn elements.
After arriving at Hogwarts, Harry and the others stepped out of the carriage, preparing to take the Thestral-drawn carriages to Hogwarts Castle.
On the way, they suddenly noticed that two people in a carriage ahead were waving at them.
One of them was Cedric Diggory, who had faced Voldemort together with Harry the previous year, and the other witch was his girlfriend, Cho Chang.
After Harry and the others responded, they went to the nearest carriage and prepared to get in.
Because Harry had often taken Hermione and Ron into the Forbidden Forest for training, and they had killed many magical creatures, they could naturally see the Thestrals now.
Hermione and Ron were curious about what Thestral fur felt like, so they touched it.
After they got into the carriage, a witch holding a book and reading looked at them and asked curiously, "Can all three of you see Thestrals?"
Hermione nodded. "Yes, but I'd rather not be able to."
Hermione recalled her experiences in the Forbidden Forest and could not help shivering.
During the training in the Forbidden Forest, it had been one of the few times when she had somewhat disliked Harry. That was enough to show just how hard that period had been.
Luna clearly did not understand the meaning behind Hermione's words, so she misunderstood and thought Hermione had experienced something similar to herself.
Luna's mother had died in a magical experiment accident when Luna was nine years old. Luna had been present at the time and had personally witnessed the tragedy, and it was precisely that experience that allowed her to meet the condition for seeing Thestrals.
Although she did not know why Harry and the others could see Thestrals, she assumed it was probably something similar. Because of that, she immediately felt much closer to the three of them and kept chatting with them throughout the journey.
Time soon came to the Sorting Ceremony. The Sorting Ceremony proceeded as usual. The only thing worth noting was that the Sorting Hat sang a new song, which made the older students curious.
After the Sorting Ceremony ended, it was Dumbledore's turn to speak.
"Well, now that we are digesting another extremely rich and delicious feast, I ask everyone to be quiet for a little while and listen as I talk about the new term's reminders, as usual.
"First-year students should know that the Forbidden Forest on the grounds is off-limits to students.
"Caretaker Mr. Filch reminds you that magic is not allowed in the corridors between classes. There are also many other rules, all listed on that long sheet posted on the door of Mr. Filch's office.
"This year, there are two changes to our teaching staff.
"We are very pleased to welcome Professor Grubbly-Plank back. She will be teaching Care of Magical Creatures.
"We are equally pleased to introduce Professor Umbridge, our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."
A wave of polite, but not very enthusiastic, applause rang through the Great Hall.
Harry knew about both changes in the professor positions. The reason for the change in the Care of Magical Creatures professor was that Hagrid was ill.
This was not because he had a physical illness, but a mental one.
Because of his heartbreak in fourth year, he had sunk into a slump and had not recovered even now. He might still need some time.
As for the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, that was the result of Harry and Dumbledore discussing it together.
Umbridge herself was a Ministry official. Her coming to Hogwarts was undoubtedly partly for the purpose of monitoring Harry and Dumbledore.
Because of that, Harry and Dumbledore directly approved her application to become a professor.
After all, the Defense Against the Dark Arts position was cursed, and for now, they could not find a suitable candidate anyway. Their political enemy had thrown herself into the trap and helped them share their troubles. That was simply wonderful!
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