Chapter 914 The Divided Ministry of Magic

In the evening, after finishing his classes, Snape did not choose to live in the school as usual, but returned to his home in Spinner's End.

"You are finally back, Severus..." Narcissa Malfoy sat on a sofa in tears, and Lucius was also beside him, looking pale.

After seeing Snape, they immediately got up and walked over.

Since the news of Dumbledore's death spread throughout the wizarding world, the Death Eaters responsible for surveillance disappeared. They once again won the trust of the Dark Lord and could go anywhere freely.

Voldemort even came in person and praised Draco's bravery and wisdom.

But Lucius and Narcissa only felt cold all over. They all knew that being praised by the Dark Lord was not a good thing.

But now they couldn't take care of this, they had more important things to do.

"How is it, Severus." Lucius looked nervous, "Is there any news about Draco?"

"You suddenly came back at this time, it must be successful... right?" Narcissa also looked at Snape hopefully.

"Something went wrong..." Snape hesitated, but seeing the two people's increasingly dim eyes, he still sighed.

"Okay, listen to me, Draco is right there with me."

Narcissa grabbed her chest and groaned with joy. She suddenly relaxed and fell to the ground.

Lucius on the side did not help his wife, because his current situation was similar. The only thing better than Narcissa was that he could still stand.

"Thank Merlin." Lucius Malfoy smiled for the only time in a few months.

"Thank you... Severus, thank you."

"Don't thank me." Snape shook his head, "Like I said just now, something went wrong."

"What do you mean?" Lucius became nervous again, "What happened to Draco."

"He's fine, it has nothing to do with this." Snape thought about it, as if considering what to say next.

"In fact, I did have the idea of ​​saving Draco, but it was just an idea..."

"You should know that if Dumbledore was killed in public in school, neither Hogwarts nor the Ministry of Magic would let him go. Saving him was almost impossible."

"But you did it, Severus." Narcissa's tone was full of gratitude, "The best decision we made was to make you Draco's godfather."

"That wasn't me." Snape shook his head, "Or I didn't have time to do anything. Draco appeared in my office by himself."

"What?" Lucius was stunned for a moment, "You mean, Draco escaped by himself?"

"Lucius, did the Dark Lord's Cruciatus Curse make you insane?"

Snape walked to the table and sat down, "After Draco's wand was confiscated, he not only easily defeated Flitwick, who was in charge of guarding him, but also perfectly avoided the portraits everywhere in the castle and came to my office.

"Do you think this is possible?"

"Absolutely impossible. "Lucius said without hesitation.

Let alone Draco, he couldn't do it.

Just to defeat Professor Flitwick without making any noise, there are not many wizards in the entire wizarding world who can do it.

The duel champion is not a title bought with Galleons. Even if facing the Dark Lord, the goblin professor can fight him a few moves.

Could it be that the Dark Lord took action...

Impossible!

As soon as this idea came out, it was extinguished by Lucius. Would the Dark Lord help Draco? This is even more unbelievable than his own escape. It is simply impossible.

"Who helped Draco then?"

"If I knew, I wouldn't say so much nonsense to you." Snape glanced at Lucius.

"This..." Lucius was a little embarrassed.

"Don't worry about him, Severus." Narcissa had recovered some strength and stood up from the ground, "Can you tell us what happened?"

"When I was attending the funeral, I suddenly realized that the magic set in the private storage room was triggered by someone, so I hurried over. ”

Snape recalled what happened a few days ago and said, "When I opened the door of the storage room, I saw Draco lying on the table, but there was no one around except him.

"Even the magic I set up was intact, as if someone deliberately touched it to attract my attention."

Snape's face was gloomy. Such uncontrollable things happened one after another, making him feel very uncomfortable.

"Does Draco know anything?" Narcissa asked, "Maybe he saw it."

"He doesn't know anything." Snape shook his head and said, "When he woke up, he didn't even realize that he had changed his position."

"Could there be someone else in Hogwarts..." Narcissa hesitated for a moment, but still didn't say the rest.

She wanted to say that there might be a second Death Eater undercover in Hogwarts, but if she thought about it carefully, if it was so easy to enter that school, the Dark Lord would not pay so much attention to Snape.

And with their personalities, they would not take risks to help another Death Eater.

But apart from this explanation, she couldn't think of anyone else who would help Draco.

Ever since Draco killed Dumbledore, almost all wizards wanted to kill him, and only people like them would help.

"I have been investigating this matter for the past few days, but I have not found any clues."

Snape ignored Narcissa's changing expression and continued, "I came here just to tell you that Draco is still alive, don't worry too much."

"Just focus on your work after that, your current situation is not much better than Draco's."

"I know..." Narcissa said softly, "Severus, can you bring Draco..."

"Impossible." Snape interrupted her directly.

"We want to see him."

"Then I advise you not to think so."

Snape said bluntly, "Aurors and Hogwarts professors have never given up looking for Malfoy. I am taking a big risk this time. I have been checked at least three times. "

"And given the current situation, Draco is safest with me."

"This...Okay then."

"Thank you, Severus. "

Narcissa and Lucius looked at each other.

It's not that they didn't doubt the truth of Snape's words. Before seeing Draco in person, all the words could be false.

But they had no other choice. Whether it was out of trust or self-consolation, they could only choose to believe Snape.

"What should we do now?" Lucius asked.

"Of course, continue to work for the Dark Lord." Snape glanced at him coldly, "Do I need to teach you this?

"Lucius, the Dark Lord has been tolerant enough for you. If Draco hadn't helped you get an opportunity this time, you would have suffered more than just the Cruciatus Curse."

"Of course, we know." The little blood color that had just recovered on Lucius's face disappeared in an instant.

He looked a little struggling, as if he had a lot to say, but all of them turned into a sigh.

"I know. I will cooperate with Rodolphus. When we take over Hogwarts, we should be able to see Draco."

"Of course." Snape raised his head and glanced at him quickly. "As long as those damn Aurors withdraw from Hogwarts, I can also find a way to send Draco out."

Lucius' eyes suddenly lit up.

"Why, do you have a way?" Snape looked at him with interest.

"I, of course, don't." Lucius said, "But if it's the Aurors, I think they will soon be in no mood to protect any school."

"Oh, what do you mean?"

"The Dark Lord is already impatient with Bones and is ready to replace him with a more obedient minister."

Narcissa helped explain: "Once the Ministry of Magic is taken down, the entire British wizarding world will basically be controlled by the Dark Lord, and we will have a lot of time to target Hogwarts."

She looked a lot more relaxed, and even a little excited. "By then, Draco won't need to hide, he will become a hero."

"I hope so." Snape said.

Late at night, after Lucius and Narcissa left, he was the only one left in the room.

People who are obsessed with potions don't like too bright environments, and Snape is no exception. There is only a dim oil lamp in his house.

Snape sat there, not knowing what he was thinking. The light of the oil lamp illuminated half of his face, and the other half was hidden in the darkness.

In order not to arouse the suspicion of the Aurors, Snape returned to Hogwarts before breakfast the next morning, and brought a lot of Cornish elves.

After all, the reason for his leaving school was to find teaching aids, so he naturally couldn't go back empty-handed. These were all bought by him on the way.

The school was still the same, the atmosphere was low, and the professors were teaching and correcting homework as usual, but there were fewer and fewer students.

During breakfast, Snape quietly hid some food and prepared to take it back to Draco Malfoy.

The other party was really in his storage room, and he didn't lie to Lucius and Narcissa about this.

But the calmness of Hogwarts does not mean that it is the same outside the school.

Since Dumbledore's death, the Death Eaters have been awakening from the dark corners like a fox in spring and taking to the streets.

The war was put on the surface, just like the carnival after the Quidditch World Cup.

In the following period, the Ministry of Magic was attacked twice in succession. Although Amelia Bones and Scrimgeour led the Aurors to resist them, it did not mean that everything was fine.

After the second attack, the Director of the Disaster Department of the Ministry of Magic publicly announced his support for Voldemort to control the Ministry of Magic.

The angry Scrimgeour wanted to kill him as a traitor, but what was unexpected was that the Department of Magical Games and Sports and the Department of Law Enforcement also jumped out one after another.

What was even more surprising was that they still had a large number of supporters.

Amelia Bones' face was extremely gloomy. She remembered that since Dumbledore's funeral, there had been frequent personnel transfers in the Ministry of Magic.

But she didn't care. Dumbledore was dead, and many people moved abroad for fear of the Dark Lord. She couldn't ask everyone to stay here, and she couldn't manage it.

So her focus has always been on Auror and Striker, and she didn't pay too much attention to other positions.

Unexpectedly...

"Minister, you don't want to dismiss us, oh, and Scrimgeour... do you want to kill us?"

Bartok, the director of the Disaster Department, stood opposite Amelia, and seemed to be a representative, but what was strange was that his expression looked a little dull.

"You have to think clearly, the Death Eaters are not far away."

"Damn it, you threatened me..." Scrimgeour said sternly.

"It's not a threat." Bartok said dully: "It's just a different concept. After all, we didn't sneak attack you when the Death Eaters attacked, and we are still members of the Ministry of Magic."

"Is there any difference?" Scrimgeour's face turned an ugly purple.

"Of course there is." Bartok said, "The difference is who attacks his colleagues first."

"I don't care." Scrimgeour said, "Do you Death Eaters still care about your reputation?"

"After all, we are going to take over the Ministry of Magic in the future, and it's not good to have a bad reputation." Bartok forced a stiff smile.

It's not that he didn't think so.

In fact, when Scrimgeour led the Aurors to fight the Death Eaters just now, he was ready to turn against them.

But before he could do it, he was discovered.

While they were discussing when to start, Chris, the director of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, suddenly appeared and just happened to break their plan.

And the other party ran very fast, leaving him no time to kill and silence him.

Because of this, Bartok... or the Death Eater who controlled Bartok could only choose the backup plan and took the initiative to jump out.

"Don't dream!" Amelia Bones stood up and glanced at everyone on the opposite side, "With me here, you will never succeed."

After a long period of recruiting troops, the Ministry of Magic has now expanded its combat power to a considerable scale.

Amelia Bones glanced at the director of the Law Enforcement Department on the opposite side, secretly glad that she had transferred the command of the striker from the Enforcement Department to the Minister's Office a long time ago in order to make it easier to fight against the Death Eaters.

At that time, the new director should not have been controlled by the Death Eaters. Although he was not very willing, he did not insist on it, and the transfer was completed smoothly.

Now think about it, if the command of the striker was in the hands of the Death Eaters, I am afraid they would have been wiped out inexplicably.

"Bones, I advise you to surrender to the Dark Lord." Bartok continued to persuade: "Then you can continue to be the Minister of Magic without any impact. Isn't that good?"

"You are like a leech that has been stepped on and exploded. It's disgusting." Bones stared at him without any politeness. "Don't you dare to come out of the gutter and say this to me in person!"

"What a pity, Bones." Bartok stopped talking, just stood there, staring at Bones.

The huge Ministry of Magic was divided into two camps in an instant.

The Department of Magical Accidents and Disasters, the Department of Law Enforcement, and the Department of Magical Sports and Games became the Death Eaters (most of them may be controlled by the Imperius Curse).

The corresponding departments are the Department of International Magical Cooperation, the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, and the Department of Magical Transportation.

It's exactly half and half.

It is worth mentioning that Barty Crouch, who was pushed out as a stepping stone by Fudge after the reversal of the Sirius incident, is still there.

Or he has always been there.

Since he was transferred to the Department of Magical Transportation, there has been no news for a long time. He was not dissatisfied with Fudge's behavior, nor did he have the idea of ​​making a comeback. He just went to get off work on time every day and was so low-key that everyone almost forgot about him.

This time, he stood opposite the Death Eaters again.

On the surface, with the two additional existences of the Minister and the Director of the Auror Office, the Ministry of Magic has an advantage,

but since the Ministry of Magic began to split, it means that they have already lost.

Scrimgeour was furious and kept stroking the wand in his hand. He wanted to get rid of all these people, but was stopped by the Minister.

Bones didn't dare to gamble. She didn't know if the Death Eaters would take the opportunity to make a comeback if the two sides really fought.

It's not difficult to kill them, but what if Voldemort is so angry that he shows up in person.

At least now the Aurors and the strikers are still in her hands. This situation is more favorable to them, and this may also give them some breathing time.

Two consecutive attacks are also a big cost for the strikers and Aurors.

Of course, these people must be cleared out, but not now.

If they only competed in means, Bones didn't think he would lose to a few Death Eaters, and the Ministry of Magic would get back on track sooner or later.

...

The two sides stared at each other in the hallway, neither giving in. Chris stood in the middle with a solemn look.

He was very glad that he had done some small tricks to guard against undercover agents in advance, so he discovered Bartok and others at the critical moment.

And he also thought of a team of Death Eaters who appeared in St. Catchpole Village two days ago. If it weren't for his quick reaction and the help of some friends, he might have been controlled by the Imperius Curse and stood on the opposite side.

No, if he was controlled, and there was no one else in the Ministry of Magic who could discover Bartok's conspiracy in time, there might not be a need for this negotiation.

He rubbed his forehead in annoyance.

In addition to him, there were also Arthur, Molly, Kingsley, Charlie and other members of the Order of the Phoenix, who had all been attacked. They have now moved back to No. 12 Grimmauld Place.

Because Arthur found that the protective magic around the house still existed, Dumbledore seemed to have changed the identity of the secret keeper in advance.

After they moved in, they also discussed who the new secret keeper would be.

Charlie thought it was Kyle.

The reason was that Kyle was very close to Dumbledore and was the first person to rush over after he got into trouble. If Dumbledore acted quickly enough, he could have transferred the identity of the secret keeper.

However, Molly and Arthur preferred Minerva McGonagall. They thought the headmaster was calm and more reliable.

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