Chapter 402 July Begins

A lot happened in the first week of July.

As soon as the semester ended, Hagrid, Fleur and Maxime set out to search for the giant according to the clues given by Dumbledore.

Their mission this time was to give gifts to the giants and make friends with them. This was because the giants had been excluded by wizards for many years and were eventually driven to uninhabited mountainous areas to fend for themselves, so the giants' impression of wizards was definitely not friendly.

As long as Voldemort takes advantage of this and gives them the opportunity to take revenge on wizards, they are likely to join the Death Eaters' camp.

The mission of Hagrid and his crew is to prevent the above situation from happening. Even if they cannot get the support of the giants, they hope that the giants can at least not intervene in the war between wizards.

The giants were in the Ural Mountains in western Russia, so Hagrid and his crew packed up and headed east. Unfortunately, their journey was not smooth, as the Ministry of Magic had already begun to monitor the people around Dumbledore. Hagrid and his crew were targeted by the Ministry of Magic as soon as they left Hogwarts.

Therefore, they had no choice but to go to France first, pretending to visit Beauxbatons first, and then travel around the rural areas of France. With great difficulty, they finally got rid of their observers in Dijon and officially embarked on the journey to the Ural Mountains.

Before leaving France, Fleur used special means to convey a message to her family. Not only Hagrid, but even the usually shrewd Maxim didn't notice it at all.

The Delacour family also listed this matter as the top priority of the family and quickly sent various important information to Sherin through the elf.

……

Today, Schelling's intelligence network has expanded to an astonishing extent.

Xie Ling received countless pieces of information every day.

This also includes information about the Order of the Phoenix.

Within the first week after the holiday, according to Dumbledore's suggestion, the Weasley family moved into the ancestral Black house at 12 Grimmauld Place, the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix in London.

The reason Dumbledore gave was that the Weasley family consisted of both large and small children, and it was difficult to take care of the safety of the children when Mr. Wesley was not at home. It was also no secret that Mr. Wesley had a close relationship with Dumbledore.

For the safety of the whole family, it is best to move away from the Burrow, which is an easy target of attack. In the Black ancestral house, not only are they protected by the Fidelius Charm, but at least they are taken care of by other members of the Order of the Phoenix.

However, not everyone appreciates this good intention.

For example, the third son of the Wesley family, Percy Wesley.

Percy originally thought that he would never get the job in the Ministry of Magic that he had always dreamed of because of his dereliction of duty in the case of Mr. Crouch's disappearance.

Unexpectedly, just at the beginning of July, the Ministry of Magic announced the end of its investigation into his dereliction of duty. Not only was there no punishment, but he was also given the opportunity to become the Minister of Magic's personal assistant, which was a great opportunity to rise to fame overnight.

The ambitious Percy naturally seized this opportunity.

Unexpectedly, Mr. Wesley not only did not have any words of praise for his promotion, but strongly opposed it. He believed that this was a conspiracy by Fudge to use Percy to monitor him.

Just like that, Percy had a big fight with his family, moved out to London alone, and completely cut off contact with his family.

In this way, Mrs. Wesley lost one son, but gained the return of another.

Her eldest son Bill Weasley also joined the Order of the Phoenix. He applied for a clerical job at Gringotts in London and moved into the ancestral Black House to reunite with his family.

Originally, her second son, Charles Weasley, who worked at a dragon farm in Romania, also planned to resign and return to Great Britain, but Dumbledore believed that Charlie could stay in Romania to recruit foreign wizards into the Order of the Phoenix and absorb new blood for the Order, which was somewhat lacking in young talents.

This was exactly what Schelling wanted. There were many of Schelling's spies planted in the dragon farm in Romania. No matter who Charlie came into contact with, they could not escape Schelling's intelligence network.

In addition to the Weasleys, the Black family also welcomed a guest. For Hermione's safety, Dumbledore personally wrote to Hermione's parents to ask for their consent to let Hermione spend the entire summer vacation at the Black family home.

The Black ancestral house is equipped with many powerful shielding and defensive magic. Although Schelling's intelligence network cannot find out what happened inside the Black ancestral house, Schelling, who is familiar with the original book, knows that Hermione and others have been busy cleaning the ancestral house.

Of course, this is not just an inference made by Schelling from his memory of the original plot. The information that Mrs. Weasley frequently went in and out of Diagon Alley to buy vixen remover also confirmed this.

……

Next is the information about the Ministry of Magic.

These days, Dumbledore's reputation within the Ministry of Magic is in disrepute.

Fudge made it clear that anyone who had anything to do with Dumbledore could no longer stay in the Ministry of Magic. Under the influence and pressure of the Ministry of Magic, the Daily Prophet portrayed Dumbledore as an old fool, and also described Harry Potter as a person who stirs up trouble everywhere and tries every means to attract attention, pretending to be a tragic hero for the sake of fame.

Under a lot of smears and propaganda, many ignorant people began to lose trust in Dumbledore and no longer believed anything Harry Potter said.

At the same time, the competition for the position of Director of the International Cooperation Department has entered a white-hot stage. Fudge tried to support a little-known young wizard, Gross Misted, to become the new Director, but encountered strong opposition from his two major political enemies, Amelia Bones and Rufus Scrimgeour, making the situation stalemate.

It seems that it is urgent to let old Batty return.

……

The International Confederation of Wizards also has two pieces of information. The first piece of information is that Samuel Colehaug, director of the International Confederation of Wizards' Prison Department, revealed in the media that there is news about the whereabouts of the previous generation of Dark Lord Grindelwald. According to reliable intelligence, the Dark Lord should have sneaked into Great Britain. The International Confederation of Wizards' Prison Department is about to send an international Auror force to Great Britain to work hand in hand with the British Ministry of Magic to bring Grindelwald to justice.

The second piece of news is that the International Confederation of Wizards Education Department, which is the organization that specializes in selecting the best magic schools in the world (currently only 11 magic schools can be included in the list), issued a latest announcement:
In view of the outstanding performance of Hogwarts warrior Shailene Malfoy in winning the Triwizard Tournament, after review by the Education Department, Hogwarts successfully defeated Durmstrang and Beauxbatons and became the first in this year's "European Magical Education Assessment".

……

Next up is news from the sports world.

The first big news is that a motion by the International Confederation of Wizards Quidditch Committee (ICWQC) to restrict the size and type of mascots has been rejected.

There have been many precedents of mascots getting into trouble in large Quidditch events. This time, the ICWQC finally couldn't resist limiting mascots to the three conditions of "herbivores, creatures smaller than cows, and creatures that cannot breathe fire." Unexpectedly, this aroused strong opposition from Quidditch fans around the world. Fans believe that mascots are the tradition and feature of Quidditch events and should not be interfered with.

When Xie Ling saw the news, he just laughed it off. In short, this incident did not have much impact on Xie Ling's life. Xie Ling just regarded it as a piece of sports and entertainment news.

The second big news was the launch of the Eleven Stars, a broom made of Spanish oak, coated with an anti-jinx varnish, and with built-in vibration control. It could go from zero to seventy miles per hour in ten seconds.

The performance of this flying broom is naturally not as good as the expensive Firebolt, but it has become the leader in performance indicators among affordable brooms. It was very popular as soon as it was launched on the market, and defeated the Comet 260 in sales.

Well, Shaillin vaguely remembered that when Ron later became a prefect, Mrs. Weasley bought him this broom as a reward. In the next school year, Ron was able to suddenly burst out and defeat Slytherin in the Quidditch final. I think this flying broom played an important role in this.

However, this is the responsibility of Draco, the Quidditch captain, and Sherin does not intend to interfere. As the future head of the Malfoy family, Draco must rely on himself to grow, and leading the Quidditch team is the beginning of his adaptation to power and becoming a leader.

The third piece of news really surprised Sherin. Since the start of the British-Irish Quidditch League this season, the team that has topped the table is not the favorite Holyhead Harpies, nor the old powerhouse Puddlemere United, which came from behind because of Sherin's investment last year, but the always low-key dark horse Tattershill Tornado!
It has to be said that the Tutshill Tornadoes performed very bravely at the beginning of the season, creating several miraculous reversals in succession. It is no exaggeration to call it a blockbuster. Now it has become the favorite to win the championship, attracting many fans to start paying attention to them, causing a follow-up craze throughout Great Britain.

Xie Lin's mouth curled up slightly. Isn't this the team mentioned in the original book that Zhang Qiu has supported since he was six years old?

Well, this can be planned carefully. Anyway, Xie Ling has plenty of funds now, and it seems to be a good idea to acquire another team.

……

Wiltshire, Malfoy Manor.

As a dazzling golden light flashed, the house scene in front of him began to change without warning, just like a movie special effect.

Powerful magical power emanated, and Malfoy Manor seemed to be cast under a shrinking spell, and seemed to be squeezed by the gardens on both sides, becoming narrower and narrower.

The protruding balconies and window sills on the walls, as well as the downward stairs in front of the door, were slowly retracted until they disappeared, and the two gardens that squeezed in were pressed together with a slight "bang" sound.

This is exactly the effect of the Fidelius Charm.

Its essence is not to protect a certain place, but to hide the secret in a person's soul, thus achieving an effect similar to guardian magic.

From now on, only the secret keeper knows the location of Malfoy Manor, and no one else can enter. This also means that the Malfoy family has officially withdrawn from the world.

This is also what Schelling thinks is the safest solution. After all, both he and his father have definitely offended Voldemort this time.

He was not afraid of Voldemort, but he also had to worry that Voldemort would turn against his family.

……

Sherin also visited the Greengrass family in person.

The atmosphere of Green Manor at this moment is completely different from that of last year. From a distance, one can feel the tranquility and solemnity. Many magic props for detecting intruders have been added to the manor, such as magic mirrors and high-end spyglasses, and many defensive magic circles can be seen everywhere.

In addition, Mr. Greengrass also spent a lot of gold coins during this period to add a considerable guard force to the manor. He not only hired 4 retired elite Aurors, but also placed highly scented and strictly trained lapdogs in the front and back yards, and even secretly raised a three-headed dog.

Not to mention, Daphne's overall combat capability is not inferior to any elite Auror. Having such a level of defense is indeed enough to make Sherin feel at ease.

As for Murray's parents, the McDougals went to France under Schelling's arrangement.

Luna's father heard about the appearance of the Scimitar-Horned Snorkeller and has set off to Sweden to investigate. He will not be back for another year or two.

If Schelling guessed correctly, this wizard war would probably be confined to the land of Great Britain, just as described in the original book.

Looking at it from another perspective, if the Sleeping Dragon Society was really defeated and wiped out, it wouldn't matter where the McDougals and Mr. Lovegood hid.

Sherin is not the naive Hermione in the original book, who thought that she could hide her parents in Australia and no longer have to worry. In fact, if Harry had not defeated Voldemort in the end, Voldemort's ultimate goal would definitely be to conquer the world and make the entire wizarding world crawl at his feet. In the flames of war, there is no place in the world that is a pure land.

As for Murray and Luna herself, they also moved into the Greengrass family's Green Manor.

In addition to ensuring the safety of the two women, the combat effectiveness of the two women themselves cannot be ignored. From another perspective, their relocation can also add new guard forces to Green Manor.

Zhang Qiu and Susan do not have much contact with Xie Ling on the surface, so they are unlikely to become the enemy's target, so Xie Ling does not need to worry too much. (End of this chapter)