Chapter 318 Phoenix falls to the altar

Chapter 318 Phoenix falls to the altar
Hogwarts Castle, eighth floor, principal's office.

Dumbledore sat quietly in his seat, his hands clasped against his chin, his eyes flickering behind his half-moon lenses, obviously deep in thought.

The principal's office was quiet, and in front of him was Professor McGonagall, the vice-principal of Hogwarts.

Just last night, he had assigned all the main tasks of the Order of the Phoenix, and only Mag was left by his side. McGonagall appears here because just last night, she officially declared her allegiance to Dumbledore and chose to join the Order of the Phoenix.

During the First Wizarding War, Professor McGonagall chose the side of the Ministry of Magic instead of joining the Order of the Phoenix due to some personal reasons. She originally planned to do the same this time, but Fudge's performance last night disappointed her deeply——

Although what Fudge said is not unreasonable, Bertha Jorkins has been missing for so long, and Barty Crouch's disappearance is even more bizarre. Instead of taking any meaningful action to find out the truth, the Ministry of Magic has To throw the blame on a young man who has just graduated shows that the Ministry of Magic has become bureaucratic and even corrupted after Fudge took over.

Although apart from Harry's testimony, there is no direct evidence to prove that Voldemort has been resurrected and returned, it is an indisputable fact that Grindelwald escaped from prison! How can the Ministry of Magic still pretend that nothing happened and whitewash the situation?
It was precisely because of the inaction attitude and corrupt system of the Ministry of Magic that McGonagall made up her mind to join the Order of the Phoenix.

In this way, Fudge has done a good thing and added Mag as a fierce general to the Order of the Phoenix.

Among Hogwarts, apart from Dumbledore himself, the four deans have the most powerful magic power. In terms of magic power alone, they are even half stronger than Scrimgeour.

Of course, Schelling has proven with countless examples in the past that magic power does not mean combat power - compared to the Aurors who capture dark wizards and carry out dangerous missions every day, the combat experience of McGonagall and Sprout is obviously inferior. The former.

Snape and Flitwick are exceptions. One of them was a former Death Eater and specialized in black magic. The other was a dueling competition champion and specialized in various dueling techniques.

At this time, McGonagall spoke: "Albus, there are only two of us here now, can you tell us what your plan is?"

The relationship between McGonagall and Dumbledore has long gone beyond a simple master-disciple relationship. When McGonagall lost her husband and family, it was Dumbledore who gave her support and guidance in life. McGonagall was also the first to know Dumbledore's family. , one of the people with emotional problems.

Although Dumbledore loved playing the Riddler, he still revealed many of his secrets to McGonagall.

Dumbledore pondered again and again, then said cautiously: "Minerva, you know me, everything I do is to maintain the stability of the magical world... What happened back then... made me know clearly that I am not a Suitable candidates for contact with powerful circles..."

McGonagall pursed her lips. She didn't know what the meaning of Dumbledore's irrelevant words was, but she chose to continue listening.

"It is undeniable that... because of my inaction... many things are still the same as they were... no different from 10, no, even 20, 30 years ago..." Dumbledore was a little bit He sighed tiredly and said: "Actually, you and I both know that many concepts, regulations, and measures in the magical world are outdated today... It can even be said to be decadent..."

"What the wizarding world needs..." Dumbledore closed his eyes, as if he was too ashamed to face what he wanted to say next, "is a reform..."

McGonagall vaguely grasped a certain key in her heart, but she still couldn't figure out Dumbledore's true meaning. She slowly said: "What you mean is... whether it's Grindelwald or the mysterious man, this is about to happen." The dark moment that descends on the wizarding world is a crisis, but it is also an opportunity for... change? "

Dumbledore opened his eyes. He did not answer McGonagall's question, but asked another question. He stared into McGonagall's eyes and said, "What do you think of the student Sherlyn Malfoy?"

"Thank you, Xie Lin?" McGonagall was stunned for a moment, obviously not expecting that Dumbledore would ask this question. "He is an excellent child - he has good academic performance, pays attention to etiquette, is polite, and is willing to help his classmates. Possess leadership skills..."

"Although he comes from the Malfoy family, there is absolutely no trace of the arrogance and arrogance of the pure-blood family in him..." McGonagall paused. She should have stopped there, but she couldn't help but add, "Honestly. Said, his attainments in transfiguration have long surpassed mine, and I think his talent is not inferior to yours at all, Albus..."

Dumbledore shook his head gently. It could be said that he was not surprised at all by McGonagall's answer.

Xie Lin's external performance was exactly what McGonagall described, a good student with excellent academic performance and good manners.

Dumbledore had always been very confident in his IQ and vision, but even so, he still had a vague feeling in his heart - he had made mistakes in the past three years, and he had underestimated Sherrin too much.

Until what Schelling said in front of Fudge last night, which directly gave the final word to Fudge's ridiculous speculation - Scrimgeour, who had always been meticulous, directly recognized it, and even McGonagall and Flitwick, who had known him for many years, They were all said to be shaken in their hearts.

At that moment, he finally tasted it.

Schelling and I have never been the same person.

In the past few years when he was in charge of Hogwarts, Wizengamot, and the International Federation of Wizards, although he deliberately stayed away from the center of power, his reputation was there, and neither Fudge nor anyone else could ignore his existence.

And he clearly stands on the side of civilians, the masses, and disadvantaged groups, which can be regarded as indirectly shaking the power, interests, and status of the pure-blood family.

He knows very well that the British wizarding world has long been corrupted - blood discrimination, brain drain, class solidification, abuse of public power... and there are countless minor problems... A thorough reform is inevitable, but He resisted from the bottom of his heart to become the leader. He was afraid that once he gained power, he would make the same mistakes as when he was young again...

Even so, as the only wizard school principal in the British wizarding world, the ideas he preaches are always influencing the young wizards who graduate from Hogwarts. He is very sure that one day, there will be a young and promising person who is popular among the public. The little wizard raised his arms and led this reform... And after this reform... it is hard to say what kind of impact the pure-blood family will be affected...

If you speculate along this line of thinking, it seems that all the unanswered questions you have encountered over the years can be explained...

If anyone wants to prevent the decline of the pure-blood family, then he is a hurdle that cannot be bypassed——

He still remembered the incident when Hagrid's hippogriff attacked Blaise Chabini. The ferocity of the public opinion was unexpected, and the final result was that the school board, which was originally firmly in his hands, was abruptly removed. A breach was created, and then the Teacher Recruitment Committee was established, which successfully restricted his power as principal to hire teachers.

After that, many unexplainable coincidences happened...

For example, inexplicably, Kingsley, who was highly valued by him, died in a werewolf crusade mission. An elite Auror accidentally killed a lone werewolf while hunting. What kind of divine development is this? This matter has always made Dumbledore worried. No matter how he thought about it, he felt that there were too many unreasonable things and there were doubts everywhere.

Kingsley's death was a major blow to both the Order of the Phoenix and Dumbledore.

For the Order of the Phoenix, Kingsley's death caused the Order to lose a warrior with elite Auror strength, and also caused the Order to lose a pair of eyes among the Aurors. For Dumbledore himself, before Harry, Ron, and Hermione were trained, Kingsley was Dumbledore's most promising candidate for the next Minister of Magic.

This is not Dumbledore's arrogance. Although he is not directly involved in the operation of the Ministry of Magic, he can still invisibly influence the election of the Minister of Magic based on his popularity alone. For example, Fudge's victory in the fierce election was inseparable from the supportive attitude he showed.

After Kingsley's death in the line of duty, four students disappeared. Four pure-blood families who lost their children jointly came to trouble him. Although they could not do anything to him in the end, it did affect his prestige to a certain extent. ——The student disappeared within the scope of the school and under his own supervision. As the highest responsible person, the principal must be in the wrong.

This is not over yet. Following the four students, Barty Crouch, a senior official of the Ministry of Magic, disappeared under his nose.

Dumbledore didn't say anything, but he felt aggrieved.

Under his control for decades, the defenses of Hogwarts have long been built like iron barrels - not to mention the large amount of protective magic he personally cast in Hogwarts Castle, there are also a large number of portraits, ghosts, armor, The statue serves as an eyeliner. In this way, disappearance cases could happen one after another, and there would be no traces afterwards, leaving him unable to trace them. He really didn't know what to say.

This is no coincidence!

The successive negative news undoubtedly began to damage Dumbledore's wise and resourceful image. People began to question whether Dumbledore was old and no longer the wise man who would never make mistakes or make any mistakes.

This was verified at the awards ceremony last night.

He, Albus Dumbledore, who was once known as the greatest wizard at the end of this century and the greatest headmaster in the history of Hogwarts, was defeated by the young wizards when he decided to award the championship to Harry Potter. Denied!
Slytherin's boos are justified, after all, Schelling's foundation is there - but those silent Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws are also unwilling to cheer for Harry, and their attitudes have changed. Self-explanatory.

My prestige in the hearts of the young wizards has actually declined to this extent, and before last night, I didn't know anything about it!
Compared with his own declining momentum, Schelling's momentum is growing rapidly, which is in sharp contrast.

Although Schelling had never bullied or discriminated against Muggle wizards in public like his father and brother did, this still could not deny the fact that he was a pure-blood wizard with a well-established background.

If Schelling really wants to prevent the decline of the pure-blood family and avoid the changes he expected, then this series of measures to undermine his reputation can perfectly explain his motives.

And - he also has that strength!

In the eyes of others, they usually only see Xie Lin’s amazing talent, including Mag. Only you can see the extremely terrifying mind and strategy from the depths of Xie Lin’s eyes. , scheming and... ambition.

With his mind and strategy, as well as the powerful resources provided by the Malfoy family, it is not impossible for Sherrin to do the above.

Schelling's words in front of Fudge last night had already made his attitude clear.

Dumbledore would never believe that Schelling could not see that what Harry said was all true; Dumbledore would not believe that Schelling could not see that the one who had been resurrected was Voldemort; and Dumbledore would never believe that Schelling had really tried his best to barely escape with his life as he described.

He chose to help Fudge cover up the fact that Voldemort had returned instead of telling the truth. This can only mean one thing -

He has his own plan!

Thinking of this, Dumbledore felt a shadow cast over his heart.

In his opinion, Schelling is much more difficult to deal with than Voldemort and Grindelwald!