When they arrived at the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Alan first went to the place where the division-faction wizards were held and brought out Mike, who had continuously fanned the flames during the hearing and later was the first to defect, which surprised Andre.
Upon regaining his freedom, Mike immediately came to Alan's side and chuckled obsequiously, "How was it, my lord? Was my acting good enough?"
"You did well. Your skill at fanning the flames truly doesn't disappoint," Alan replied with a smile, then pulled out a potion and threw it to him.
"Alan, what are you doing?" Andre looked at the two in front of him, puzzled. He then saw Mike suddenly transform after drinking the potion, instantly changing from the rough man he was into Shalltear's appearance.
"So that's it! You had Shalltear take Polyjuice Potion early on and disguise herself as Mike to infiltrate those wizards?" Andre suddenly realized. "I wondered why Mike suddenly became so impulsive, and then defected so quickly in the subsequent battle."
"Hehe, it's all because of my superb acting skills. If I hadn't been fanning the flames like crazy in their ranks, things wouldn't have gone so smoothly," Shalltear said, her cunning expression returning, a triumphant look on her face.
Andre shook his head helplessly. Their advantage was already so obvious, yet Alan had still planted an undercover agent. However, as Shalltear said, with her coordinating from within, it not only disrupted the rhythm of the hearing but also made it much easier for Andre to persuade those wizards. However, Andre immediately looked at Alan, puzzled. "Then where is the real Mike?"
"I've hidden him in a safe place. I'll hand him over to you in a bit." After a brief reply, Alan immediately leaned his head close to Shalltear's ear and whispered, "Go back immediately and find Hog. Tell him to pay attention to Golden Knight's movements and the situation at the Silver Spears headquarters. As soon as he discovers that Golden Knight might still be alive, notify me immediately."
*Golden Knight is still alive? Isn't he Minister Peter?* Shalltear raised an eyebrow in surprise upon hearing this, but she knew Alan wouldn't speak without reason. She nodded in agreement and then immediately turned and left.
For the rest of the day, Alan stayed in the Ministry of Magic, helping Andre deal with these mundane affairs. Soon, with the cooperation of Andre and Edmund, all the individuals who had experienced the incident firsthand agreed to secrecy arrangements. After all, they all understood the seriousness of the matter and didn't want to see the world descend into chaos.
During the negotiations, most of the Wizengamot members praised Andre's sense of responsibility, and under Edmund's leadership, many councilors jointly proposed that Andre temporarily take over as Minister of Magic. After all, it was an extraordinary time. Former Minister of Magic Peter had openly rebelled in front of everyone, and many in the Ministry of Magic were still unaware of the situation. Someone had to step forward to lead the Ministry of Magic and take control of the overall situation. Otherwise, when the Ministry of Magic employees learned that their department heads had been arrested, who knew what they would think? It was not impossible for the entire department to be paralyzed instantly if not handled carefully.
Andre, for his part, did not hesitate. He immediately instructed several familiar Wizengamot councilors to visit the various departments and meet with their middle management. Such a major event definitely had to be communicated gradually from top to bottom. Currently, among the various departments of the Ministry of Magic, the Department of Magical Law Enforcement could guarantee absolute stability, and the head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports, who had stood with Andre for many years, could also ensure that there would be no chaos within his department.
In addition, Kuhler, who was in charge of the International Magical Cooperation Department, was indeed, as Alan had guessed, an old fox with an extremely keen political sense. Upon seeing Andre gain power, he immediately pledged his loyalty and guaranteed that the International Magical Cooperation Department would absolutely not cause any trouble.
The real trouble lay with the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, and the Department of Magical Transportation. These departments had been under the division-faction for a long time, and many of their employees were loyal followers of Minister Peter, or had been complicit with them to some extent. For example, many of the individuals in the files Alan obtained from Phoenix were of this type.
Therefore, they had to be handled carefully. Andre first followed Alan's advice and met with Bayer, the former head of the Department of Magical Transportation. As a director who had always followed Minister Peter, although he ultimately betrayed him in a self-destructive manner, it was certainly impossible to let him off the hook and forget the past. However, considering that Bayer had rendered a great service in exposing Minister Peter's identity, and had been very cooperative afterward, Andre offered him a reduced sentence as a condition for him to temporarily cooperate in appeasing the employees of the Department of Magical Transportation.
In the future, he could also serve as an example and speak in various departments, making public the actions of Minister Peter and his group—of course, after the facts had been packaged. If Bayer indeed performed well, Andre wouldn't mind giving him a chance to retire peacefully, just like Clement.
Finally, what remained were the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes and the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. For these two departments, Andre planned to take personal charge and directly appoint two new directors.
The Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, as Minister Peter's earliest base, and being the Ministry of Magic's second-largest law enforcement department, had to be treated with caution. Therefore, Andre planned to promote a high-ranking member of the Schmidt family as the new director. As the family head and a Wizengamot councilor, Edmund, by custom, could not hold an important position in the Ministry of Magic. Thus, Andre chose Edmund's younger brother, Allan, to serve as director, which was also a way of reciprocating the Schmidt family.
As for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, Andre originally wanted Alan to temporarily manage it, but Alan was still preoccupied with the Silver Spears headquarters and didn't have time to be delayed by these trivial matters, so he had to decline. Andre could only ask another influential wizard in the German wizarding world to step in and help for a while.
After the director candidates were confirmed, the next step was the middle management. In these three major departments, almost all supervisory level personnel were Minister Peter's pawns, so without them, these departments would basically fall into temporary paralysis. To address this, Andre first used the files obtained from Phoenix to identify a portion of individuals who were not deeply involved and interviewed them one by one, giving them a chance to atone for their sins and return to their positions temporarily to maintain the normal operation of each department. Naturally, these people were more than willing. They had originally thought that imprisonment awaited them, but now they had a chance to be reinstated, so how could they have any objections?
As for the remaining positions, for now, he could only draw some trusted cadres from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement to fill them. At this point, Andre finally understood how correct Alan's initial suggestion had been. If they had truly rounded up all those involved, the Ministry of Magic might have fallen into an unworkable predicament.
However, in addition to these arrangements, Andre also specifically extended an olive branch to Jason and Bob, inviting them to join the Ministry of Magic. This was partly because these two were indirectly the heroes who saved hundreds of people (of course, this was on the surface; they didn't know that all of this was a plot secretly arranged by Alan and others), and their joining would help enhance the Ministry of Magic's reputation. On the other hand, the character of these two was relatively guaranteed; they were tested talents, and their ability to master wandless magic in a short time during a crisis also represented their potential.
Jason and Bob were naturally very grateful for this arrangement. At the same time, through their recommendations, Andre screened some reliable park wizards and internally recruited them, placing them into these three major departments. This could further dilute the proportion of personnel in these departments, and these people all hated the Silver Spears from the bottom of their hearts and regarded Andre as their savior. Their presence could also indirectly influence office opinion within these departments.
At the same time, this was also preparation for the future. Although these people were relatively unfamiliar with Ministry of Magic affairs and currently could not take on important responsibilities, after giving them a year or two to familiarize themselves with the operational work of various departments, Andre would be able to clean out the corrupt elements in the three major departments without worrying about affecting departmental operations. Of course, these were all suggestions given to him by Alan. Andre was quite straightforward; he truly didn't hesitate when it came to people he trusted. Whatever Alan said, he would do.
As a result, the internal operations of the Ministry of Magic had basically returned to normal, but this day had left both Andre and Alan utterly exhausted. After all, for many Ministry of Magic employees, it was like a sudden change in regime. In the morning, Minister Peter was still in charge, but by noon, not only was the former Minister dead, but even their direct superior had become a prisoner. Anyone would be suspicious.
Fortunately, at this time, both the Wizengamot councilors and the reporters were very supportive, unhesitatingly stepping forward as witnesses to explain, coupled with the original employees who atoned for their sins by speaking out, which basically stabilized the situation within the Ministry.
Just as Alan finished his work and was about to leave, he was blocked by a group of reporters. These reporters, after signing confidentiality agreements, had actually not left. On one hand, they stayed to help, and on the other, they were waiting to interview Alan.
After all, the strength and wealth he had displayed in the courtroom earlier had impressed them, and they knew they couldn't miss out on the protagonist of such a big news story. There would be plenty of opportunities to interview a wizard of Andre's high status and power in the local area, but Alan was different. He wasn't German at all, and if he got away today, there was no telling if they would ever meet him again.
Alan did not directly refuse the reporters' interview requests. Although he wasn't a person who particularly liked to show off, an opportunity to advertise his business for free was too good to pass up. So, he could only drag his tired body and deal with these reporters for another hour.