Chapter 430 Fudge's end?
·
Yun Yin Shen
Chapter 430 Fudge's end?
"This is?"
Black looked at the unusually familiar map in Ron's hand, and immediately realized what it was.
"The Marauder's Map?"
McGuffin stretched out his hand, and the map in Ron's hand and the Thestral tail feather wand on the other side of the cabinet flew back into his hand.
Dumbledore raised an eyebrow when he saw this scene.
"I solemnly swear that I have done no good!" McGuffin picked up his wand, and tapped the folded Marauder's Map.
The map slowly unfolds.
He showed the names on it and said to Fudge and everyone present, "Look at the function of this map. Not long ago, I saw the name of Peter Pettigrew staying with Ron on it... From then on, I confirmed that the mouse is undoubtedly Peter Pettigrew."
"Where the hell is Peter?"
Snape asked impatiently while listening to the little wizard's mental journey and looking at the map.
"It's in my pocket...I put him petrified in..."
McGuffin dug into his pocket—
A cold sweat.
"Stop playing tricks, Albert!"
"I've already looked for the things in your pockets. Your messy things, including those Death Eaters, have all been taken away... there is no trace of a mouse hair!"
Snape growled.
--Snapped!
Fudge rolled under the bed again, and he collapsed on the ground.
Listening to McGuffin's words, although it is outrageous, at least the logic is very smooth. Fudge, who was in trouble, hoped to grab this life-saving straw to save himself.
Can--
Without the living evidence of Peter Pettigrew, how can Sirius be proved innocent in front of the world.
——Or admitting that he was tricked by a Death Eater... let the photo of himself and him be published in the newspaper.
--no no!
This will make you appear incompetent.
Besides, if Harry and the others really believed the story and told it to the "Daily Prophet", then - great fun!
Fudge's mind was spinning wildly, trying to find a 'road to self-help'.
"how is this possible!?"
Listening to Snape's explanation, McGuffin immediately rummaged through his pockets, and then carefully checked the [Marauder's Map]—there was no trace of Peter Pettigrew's name on it.
Shir!
——Pit!
Could it be... during [Honey Dukes], or some other time... that old mouse, Scabbers, slipped away again.
Harry listened to the MacGuffin's story, looked at the pot-bellied Blake in front of him, and his mind was in a mess.
He really doesn't know what to believe now.
"How to do how to do!"
"Why don't you tell Dumbledore everything..."
In the infirmary, right now...the most desperate person was actually Cornelius Fudge, yelling and blaming McGuffin.
Hearing this, McGuffin looked up at Dumbledore... At the same time, Old Bee was looking at him, and the two smiled at each other with a mild (embarrassed) smile.
——Obviously, neither of them can trust the other, and they both know it well.
Otherwise, the old man Ollivander would not have kept the matter of the twin wands a secret from him.
From this point, McGuffin could see that Dumbledore had actually been careful to guard against himself.
At least not as trusting as Ron or Harry.
"I've got to... I've got to get to the editorial office of the Daily Prophet in Diagon Alley... I've got to stop this story from being published..."
Fudge murmured to himself, as if he had been hit by the [Imperius Curse], he was out of his mind... stumbling out of the bed, and stumbled towards the door, his back was extremely desolate.
And at this moment, there was an ear-piercing roar.
A gray-silver owl with an envelope in its mouth quickly...like a bolt of lightning, it came in through the small ventilation window on the other side of the medical room.
"Fast Owl Delivery!"
"Express delivery!"
"A quick delivery from Rita Skeeter... belonging to Gringotts Three's magical newspaper factory in England!"
"Please Cornelius Fudge - the Honorable Minister of Magic to sign for it!"
There was a black ring on the owl's footsteps, and that was where the piercing screech came from.
After hearing these words, Fudge almost fell directly to the ground.
"I... I'm Fudge..." His voice was as weak as a mosquito.
The owl threw the envelope at Fudge's feet, then flapped its wings and stopped in front of him.
After Fudge signed his name on the black ring with his wand, the gray-silver owl rushed out of the small airy window into the night sky in the blink of an eye and disappeared.
Fudge was left with trembling hands, unable to tear open the letter for a long time.
"Shall I come?" Dumbledore asked kindly.
"No—maybe—Rita Skeeter has figured it out automatically! She's here to ask me for my opinion!" Fudge said with a wry smile.
He didn't believe it himself, and even if Rita Skeeter found out, she wouldn't be so kind.
Instead, they will use this opportunity to make a big profit for themselves.
While tearing up the letter, Fudge gave Black a hard look. If there weren't so many people here... he would have given this guy to...
Cursing Black in his heart, he tremblingly pulled out the contents of the envelope.
- Not good!
Smells like fresh ink.
FK!
Fresh ass!
Pull out half of it... Fudge doesn't need to look carefully, the veins between his brows are about to burst.
- A magical picture of black and white activity!
Him, Crouch, Snape... and that chubby 'dog head'!
FFF - KKK!
Fudge's legs gave way,
- Boom!
He knelt straight down—
The envelope fell out of his hand and fell to the ground, and the report was thrown out.
A black and white picture of the event was published on the homepage:
——Four people (actually only Fudge and Crouch) stood together with smiles on their faces.
Then surrounding the picture is:
[The Ministry of Magic has won a big victory! 】
[Cornelly Fudge's iron-blooded wrist, tough arrest of Death Eaters]
【Dragon vs. Alien Dementors (Third Edition)】
[Harry Potter lives and dies! ! (Fourth Edition)]
[In times of crisis, heroes stand up (fifth edition)]
[Minister thanks the two heroes!Promise to apply for the Order of Merlin! 】
[Death Eaters are miserable, forced to become Wendigo (Death Eaters)! ! (Second Edition) [These are small characters, expressing that relevant news reports can be seen on that page]]
All kinds of front page headlines... Blackened, bolded, and large headlines are all over them.
"It's over!"
"It's over!"
Like a repeater, Fudge knelt on the ground, bowing his head and whispering.
"Maybe... maybe I can prove whether Sirius is really innocent!"
Dumbledore spoke at this moment.
'Really? '
Almost like teleportation,
——Bah, one sound.
Fudge jumped up, paddled, and returned to Dumbledore, holding his hands tightly, his face almost pressed into the silver-white beard.
"Ok!"
Dumbledore tried several times to shake Fudge away, but to no avail.
He could only use this awkward posture, wave his wand, and call out the silver-white phoenix.
"Go to Professor Trelawney!"
"—Sybil, come over to the infirmary, we need to talk about that!"
Soon, Professor Trelawney appeared outside the oak door of the infirmary, wearing a pointed wizard hat and pajamas with half a constellation map of the night sky printed on it.
She didn't wear the ridiculous outfit that looked like a large dragonfly as usual, and she wasn't wearing the shirtless 'cool' outfit this afternoon. Instead, she wore a big square black body eye, a serious expression, and even Professor McGonagall's demeanor.
But after she stuck out her head and saw many people in the infirmary except Dumbledore, she hesitated to come in.
"Ah! Sybil, you're here... Come here, come here!"
"Minister Connelly, I have something to trouble you! I know you have such abilities!"
"No matter what, I promise, as long as you help me solve this predicament." Fudge hurriedly 'promised'.
Dumbledore finally threw Fudge away, strode enthusiastically to the door, and pulled Professor Trelawney in.
"what's up?"
After Professor Dumbledore explained briefly, Trelawney looked reluctant and seemed ready to decline.
"Professor, I..."
And Snape, who had always had a prejudice against this divination professor, sneered even more.
"Why are you looking for her? We don't need a magical witch..."
Snape has always been very guilty of that prophecy more than ten years ago... which made him very angry with all the people and things related to that year.
Especially when he found out that Trelawney looked like a liar, this emotion became even bigger.
Trelawney didn't defend herself either, she acted as if she was deeply offended, and immediately turned around and left.
I don't know, Dumbledore pulled her and whispered something.
She stopped hesitantly, turned around and came back.
Afterwards, Dumbledore drew the reluctant Snape, Fudge, Black, and Professor Trelawney in a circle and drew a pentagram in the middle of the infirmary.
They lit green candles as thick as arms and floated in front of them.
Then on the ground along their position, ignite the magic figure of the five-pointed star, burning blazingly.
In the middle of this magical ceremony, there was also a copper plate with some blood-colored and purple plants on it; some green-glowing bugs; and a moth-like tortoise (the turtle shell of that thing was split in half, extending along the back, and there was still gray phosphorescent powder stuck on it)...
It's all very weird.
They set these things on fire.
--boom!
After a detonation, a thick grayish-yellow smoke column burned above the copper plate.
The smoke column is about the thickness of an adult's head, like a chimney, straight to the ceiling!
...The column of smoke bent in mid-air, detoured behind them and divided into several fences...covering the five of them together from above...like a birdcage.
As Professor Trelawney breathed, these plumes of smoke gradually penetrated into her nostrils and mouth, and then were exhaled... After that, the smoke gradually enveloped them all.
Madam Pomfrey stood watching at the door, and by the way watched the other young wizards in the ward, telling them not to act rashly.
After almost a quarter of an hour!
— Crackling, crackling!
Like the sound of a burst of firecrackers, these grayish-yellow smoke bubbled, tumbling, burst and disappeared,
The figures of several of them were revealed from it.
But in a short period of time... the green candle burned out all at once, leaving only the tip of a thumb.
Several people were sweating profusely, and the sweat kept slipping off their faces, dripping on the ground, and their collars were almost soaked.
Looking at Snape's face, he seemed to have eaten a big dung egg.
With a livid face, the guy shook off the hands of Dumbledore and Fudge, slowly swayed to the wall, and leaned there weakly.
Fudge simply sat slumped on the ground, staring at Trelawney with disbelief on his face.
"Professor Dumbledore, even if you use this method to convince me...and let me go back to more than ten years ago with my own eyes, I saw Peter Pettigrew destroying half of the street, turning into rats and flowing into the stinky ditch...it doesn't mean anything."
"Even if you convince me that Black was not the culprit back then, the Ministry of Magic has wronged him... But this thing cannot be used as evidence."
"You should know that!"
"And isn't what we're seeing really a hallucination? Or some modified memory? I still don't believe it—"
This made Trelawney a little angry,
"Didn't I explain it to you guys who don't have a third eye? Fortune tellers can see the future, and they can look back at the past, or it's easier to say this..."
"As long as there are the key elements from that year...a person, a certain memory, or a certain key item in the scene of that year, I can watch you the phantom left by the past... If you don't believe me, tomorrow,...no, after I rest for two or three days, I will take you personally...let you see with your own eyes how your parents made you."
I don't know what Dumbledore said to Trelawney before. From the very beginning, the old witch has no intention of hiding it. She will not continue her double-faced life, and she will start to speak unscrupulously.
Now Fudge was so angry that he almost swallowed his breath.
"Professor Trelawney, what are you talking about! There is also a little wizard here..."
Madam Pomfrey, who was going to support Professor Dumbledore, immediately widened her eyes, staring at the snarky Sybill Trelawney.
After that, she asked the answer Harry wanted to ask the most.
"So what do you mean?"
"That's right, Black is probably innocent!" Fudge announced the answer himself, he nodded at Black, fiddling with his cuff absently.
The twins exclaimed.
(George and Fred have always believed that they were the ones who caused the Froome couple to suffer such serious injuries, so they were very frustrated, and they did not have the usual playful and nonchalant attitude. ... So from the very beginning, they have been silent, ... and now because they heard the explosive news just now, they made a sound.)
Hearing their exclamation, Fu Jiji seemed to realize that all these little wizards were still here and awake.
He reluctantly stood up, "Although I have already understood, but..."
"You'd better keep your mouths shut and tell no one—"
"why?"
Harry asked.
"My God!" Fudge discriminated listlessly, "There is no evidence of our journey just now. Strictly speaking, this is just an illusion, not a magic commonly understood by wizards... so it will not be recognized in the Wilmerson court."
"And 13 years ago, there were about fifty eyewitnesses who showed—Blake was a murderer, a Death Eater—"
"This is irrefutable, unless you can capture Peter Pettigrew alive."
"It looks like I'm finished now! Don't you understand, Harry? I'm - finished!" Fudge growled.
"After that report comes out, this matter will be investigated endlessly... All kinds of messy wizard groups will jump out to attack and correct me... If I can step down without incident, that's not bad..."
Harry retorted, "You can tell the truth!"
"Ha! Kid..."
Fudge sighed,
"Merlin! If you tell the truth! People will think I'm crazy, and I'll be sent directly to the [St. Mungo's Hospital]... If you don't tell me, I'll be a laughing stock tomorrow, taking a photo with a wanted criminal... My God! It seems that the funniest one will be added to the joke collection of Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge..."
"—Minister of Magic taking a photo with the wanted man!"
"This is the first report to be released tomorrow afternoon!"
Perhaps because of the previous magical journey, Fudge was no longer so depressed, but it was not much better, he began to talk about himself in a self-defeating way.
(End of this chapter)
"This is?"
Black looked at the unusually familiar map in Ron's hand, and immediately realized what it was.
"The Marauder's Map?"
McGuffin stretched out his hand, and the map in Ron's hand and the Thestral tail feather wand on the other side of the cabinet flew back into his hand.
Dumbledore raised an eyebrow when he saw this scene.
"I solemnly swear that I have done no good!" McGuffin picked up his wand, and tapped the folded Marauder's Map.
The map slowly unfolds.
He showed the names on it and said to Fudge and everyone present, "Look at the function of this map. Not long ago, I saw the name of Peter Pettigrew staying with Ron on it... From then on, I confirmed that the mouse is undoubtedly Peter Pettigrew."
"Where the hell is Peter?"
Snape asked impatiently while listening to the little wizard's mental journey and looking at the map.
"It's in my pocket...I put him petrified in..."
McGuffin dug into his pocket—
A cold sweat.
"Stop playing tricks, Albert!"
"I've already looked for the things in your pockets. Your messy things, including those Death Eaters, have all been taken away... there is no trace of a mouse hair!"
Snape growled.
--Snapped!
Fudge rolled under the bed again, and he collapsed on the ground.
Listening to McGuffin's words, although it is outrageous, at least the logic is very smooth. Fudge, who was in trouble, hoped to grab this life-saving straw to save himself.
Can--
Without the living evidence of Peter Pettigrew, how can Sirius be proved innocent in front of the world.
——Or admitting that he was tricked by a Death Eater... let the photo of himself and him be published in the newspaper.
--no no!
This will make you appear incompetent.
Besides, if Harry and the others really believed the story and told it to the "Daily Prophet", then - great fun!
Fudge's mind was spinning wildly, trying to find a 'road to self-help'.
"how is this possible!?"
Listening to Snape's explanation, McGuffin immediately rummaged through his pockets, and then carefully checked the [Marauder's Map]—there was no trace of Peter Pettigrew's name on it.
Shir!
——Pit!
Could it be... during [Honey Dukes], or some other time... that old mouse, Scabbers, slipped away again.
Harry listened to the MacGuffin's story, looked at the pot-bellied Blake in front of him, and his mind was in a mess.
He really doesn't know what to believe now.
"How to do how to do!"
"Why don't you tell Dumbledore everything..."
In the infirmary, right now...the most desperate person was actually Cornelius Fudge, yelling and blaming McGuffin.
Hearing this, McGuffin looked up at Dumbledore... At the same time, Old Bee was looking at him, and the two smiled at each other with a mild (embarrassed) smile.
——Obviously, neither of them can trust the other, and they both know it well.
Otherwise, the old man Ollivander would not have kept the matter of the twin wands a secret from him.
From this point, McGuffin could see that Dumbledore had actually been careful to guard against himself.
At least not as trusting as Ron or Harry.
"I've got to... I've got to get to the editorial office of the Daily Prophet in Diagon Alley... I've got to stop this story from being published..."
Fudge murmured to himself, as if he had been hit by the [Imperius Curse], he was out of his mind... stumbling out of the bed, and stumbled towards the door, his back was extremely desolate.
And at this moment, there was an ear-piercing roar.
A gray-silver owl with an envelope in its mouth quickly...like a bolt of lightning, it came in through the small ventilation window on the other side of the medical room.
"Fast Owl Delivery!"
"Express delivery!"
"A quick delivery from Rita Skeeter... belonging to Gringotts Three's magical newspaper factory in England!"
"Please Cornelius Fudge - the Honorable Minister of Magic to sign for it!"
There was a black ring on the owl's footsteps, and that was where the piercing screech came from.
After hearing these words, Fudge almost fell directly to the ground.
"I... I'm Fudge..." His voice was as weak as a mosquito.
The owl threw the envelope at Fudge's feet, then flapped its wings and stopped in front of him.
After Fudge signed his name on the black ring with his wand, the gray-silver owl rushed out of the small airy window into the night sky in the blink of an eye and disappeared.
Fudge was left with trembling hands, unable to tear open the letter for a long time.
"Shall I come?" Dumbledore asked kindly.
"No—maybe—Rita Skeeter has figured it out automatically! She's here to ask me for my opinion!" Fudge said with a wry smile.
He didn't believe it himself, and even if Rita Skeeter found out, she wouldn't be so kind.
Instead, they will use this opportunity to make a big profit for themselves.
While tearing up the letter, Fudge gave Black a hard look. If there weren't so many people here... he would have given this guy to...
Cursing Black in his heart, he tremblingly pulled out the contents of the envelope.
- Not good!
Smells like fresh ink.
FK!
Fresh ass!
Pull out half of it... Fudge doesn't need to look carefully, the veins between his brows are about to burst.
- A magical picture of black and white activity!
Him, Crouch, Snape... and that chubby 'dog head'!
FFF - KKK!
Fudge's legs gave way,
- Boom!
He knelt straight down—
The envelope fell out of his hand and fell to the ground, and the report was thrown out.
A black and white picture of the event was published on the homepage:
——Four people (actually only Fudge and Crouch) stood together with smiles on their faces.
Then surrounding the picture is:
[The Ministry of Magic has won a big victory! 】
[Cornelly Fudge's iron-blooded wrist, tough arrest of Death Eaters]
【Dragon vs. Alien Dementors (Third Edition)】
[Harry Potter lives and dies! ! (Fourth Edition)]
[In times of crisis, heroes stand up (fifth edition)]
[Minister thanks the two heroes!Promise to apply for the Order of Merlin! 】
[Death Eaters are miserable, forced to become Wendigo (Death Eaters)! ! (Second Edition) [These are small characters, expressing that relevant news reports can be seen on that page]]
All kinds of front page headlines... Blackened, bolded, and large headlines are all over them.
"It's over!"
"It's over!"
Like a repeater, Fudge knelt on the ground, bowing his head and whispering.
"Maybe... maybe I can prove whether Sirius is really innocent!"
Dumbledore spoke at this moment.
'Really? '
Almost like teleportation,
——Bah, one sound.
Fudge jumped up, paddled, and returned to Dumbledore, holding his hands tightly, his face almost pressed into the silver-white beard.
"Ok!"
Dumbledore tried several times to shake Fudge away, but to no avail.
He could only use this awkward posture, wave his wand, and call out the silver-white phoenix.
"Go to Professor Trelawney!"
"—Sybil, come over to the infirmary, we need to talk about that!"
Soon, Professor Trelawney appeared outside the oak door of the infirmary, wearing a pointed wizard hat and pajamas with half a constellation map of the night sky printed on it.
She didn't wear the ridiculous outfit that looked like a large dragonfly as usual, and she wasn't wearing the shirtless 'cool' outfit this afternoon. Instead, she wore a big square black body eye, a serious expression, and even Professor McGonagall's demeanor.
But after she stuck out her head and saw many people in the infirmary except Dumbledore, she hesitated to come in.
"Ah! Sybil, you're here... Come here, come here!"
"Minister Connelly, I have something to trouble you! I know you have such abilities!"
"No matter what, I promise, as long as you help me solve this predicament." Fudge hurriedly 'promised'.
Dumbledore finally threw Fudge away, strode enthusiastically to the door, and pulled Professor Trelawney in.
"what's up?"
After Professor Dumbledore explained briefly, Trelawney looked reluctant and seemed ready to decline.
"Professor, I..."
And Snape, who had always had a prejudice against this divination professor, sneered even more.
"Why are you looking for her? We don't need a magical witch..."
Snape has always been very guilty of that prophecy more than ten years ago... which made him very angry with all the people and things related to that year.
Especially when he found out that Trelawney looked like a liar, this emotion became even bigger.
Trelawney didn't defend herself either, she acted as if she was deeply offended, and immediately turned around and left.
I don't know, Dumbledore pulled her and whispered something.
She stopped hesitantly, turned around and came back.
Afterwards, Dumbledore drew the reluctant Snape, Fudge, Black, and Professor Trelawney in a circle and drew a pentagram in the middle of the infirmary.
They lit green candles as thick as arms and floated in front of them.
Then on the ground along their position, ignite the magic figure of the five-pointed star, burning blazingly.
In the middle of this magical ceremony, there was also a copper plate with some blood-colored and purple plants on it; some green-glowing bugs; and a moth-like tortoise (the turtle shell of that thing was split in half, extending along the back, and there was still gray phosphorescent powder stuck on it)...
It's all very weird.
They set these things on fire.
--boom!
After a detonation, a thick grayish-yellow smoke column burned above the copper plate.
The smoke column is about the thickness of an adult's head, like a chimney, straight to the ceiling!
...The column of smoke bent in mid-air, detoured behind them and divided into several fences...covering the five of them together from above...like a birdcage.
As Professor Trelawney breathed, these plumes of smoke gradually penetrated into her nostrils and mouth, and then were exhaled... After that, the smoke gradually enveloped them all.
Madam Pomfrey stood watching at the door, and by the way watched the other young wizards in the ward, telling them not to act rashly.
After almost a quarter of an hour!
— Crackling, crackling!
Like the sound of a burst of firecrackers, these grayish-yellow smoke bubbled, tumbling, burst and disappeared,
The figures of several of them were revealed from it.
But in a short period of time... the green candle burned out all at once, leaving only the tip of a thumb.
Several people were sweating profusely, and the sweat kept slipping off their faces, dripping on the ground, and their collars were almost soaked.
Looking at Snape's face, he seemed to have eaten a big dung egg.
With a livid face, the guy shook off the hands of Dumbledore and Fudge, slowly swayed to the wall, and leaned there weakly.
Fudge simply sat slumped on the ground, staring at Trelawney with disbelief on his face.
"Professor Dumbledore, even if you use this method to convince me...and let me go back to more than ten years ago with my own eyes, I saw Peter Pettigrew destroying half of the street, turning into rats and flowing into the stinky ditch...it doesn't mean anything."
"Even if you convince me that Black was not the culprit back then, the Ministry of Magic has wronged him... But this thing cannot be used as evidence."
"You should know that!"
"And isn't what we're seeing really a hallucination? Or some modified memory? I still don't believe it—"
This made Trelawney a little angry,
"Didn't I explain it to you guys who don't have a third eye? Fortune tellers can see the future, and they can look back at the past, or it's easier to say this..."
"As long as there are the key elements from that year...a person, a certain memory, or a certain key item in the scene of that year, I can watch you the phantom left by the past... If you don't believe me, tomorrow,...no, after I rest for two or three days, I will take you personally...let you see with your own eyes how your parents made you."
I don't know what Dumbledore said to Trelawney before. From the very beginning, the old witch has no intention of hiding it. She will not continue her double-faced life, and she will start to speak unscrupulously.
Now Fudge was so angry that he almost swallowed his breath.
"Professor Trelawney, what are you talking about! There is also a little wizard here..."
Madam Pomfrey, who was going to support Professor Dumbledore, immediately widened her eyes, staring at the snarky Sybill Trelawney.
After that, she asked the answer Harry wanted to ask the most.
"So what do you mean?"
"That's right, Black is probably innocent!" Fudge announced the answer himself, he nodded at Black, fiddling with his cuff absently.
The twins exclaimed.
(George and Fred have always believed that they were the ones who caused the Froome couple to suffer such serious injuries, so they were very frustrated, and they did not have the usual playful and nonchalant attitude. ... So from the very beginning, they have been silent, ... and now because they heard the explosive news just now, they made a sound.)
Hearing their exclamation, Fu Jiji seemed to realize that all these little wizards were still here and awake.
He reluctantly stood up, "Although I have already understood, but..."
"You'd better keep your mouths shut and tell no one—"
"why?"
Harry asked.
"My God!" Fudge discriminated listlessly, "There is no evidence of our journey just now. Strictly speaking, this is just an illusion, not a magic commonly understood by wizards... so it will not be recognized in the Wilmerson court."
"And 13 years ago, there were about fifty eyewitnesses who showed—Blake was a murderer, a Death Eater—"
"This is irrefutable, unless you can capture Peter Pettigrew alive."
"It looks like I'm finished now! Don't you understand, Harry? I'm - finished!" Fudge growled.
"After that report comes out, this matter will be investigated endlessly... All kinds of messy wizard groups will jump out to attack and correct me... If I can step down without incident, that's not bad..."
Harry retorted, "You can tell the truth!"
"Ha! Kid..."
Fudge sighed,
"Merlin! If you tell the truth! People will think I'm crazy, and I'll be sent directly to the [St. Mungo's Hospital]... If you don't tell me, I'll be a laughing stock tomorrow, taking a photo with a wanted criminal... My God! It seems that the funniest one will be added to the joke collection of Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge..."
"—Minister of Magic taking a photo with the wanted man!"
"This is the first report to be released tomorrow afternoon!"
Perhaps because of the previous magical journey, Fudge was no longer so depressed, but it was not much better, he began to talk about himself in a self-defeating way.
(End of this chapter)
