#88 - Section 88

Chapter 117: Arriving at the Ministry of Magic

After continuously creating Portkeys for two days.

On the third day, Ethan was informed by Amos, who had Apparated, that he was to go to the Ministry of Magic to prepare for the investiture ceremony.

He was also given a silver badge, which outsiders must wear to enter the Ministry of Magic.

The Fidelius Charm had already been set up by Ethan. Without the Secret-Keeper revealing the specific location, no one could possibly arrive.

However, the Secret-Keeper Ethan set was himself, and he told the Worey couple on the evening of the setup, and even went to crash dinner with Cassandra.

The Secret-Keeper of the Fidelius Charm is extremely important, and being able to set himself as the Secret-Keeper meant he naturally chose himself.

Although Ethan didn't have anything worth being coveted.

In the original work, James Potter, for some reason, didn't set himself as the Secret-Keeper.

Given the situation at the time, as long as he was the Secret-Keeper and stayed inside the house, it would have been impossible for Voldemort to find him.

Bill Weasley did a good job on this point; his Shell Cottage's Secret-Keeper was himself, and there were no problems during the time after Voldemort's resurrection.

"Remember, the location is Ministry of Magic, 008."

In front of the Worey family's fireplace, Amos Worey instructed Ethan.

There are several ways to get to the Ministry of Magic, but he usually uses fireplace transportation.

The Ministry of Magic's fireplaces can go anywhere connected to the Floo Network, but to go to the Ministry of Magic's fireplace, you can only use those specially certified fireplaces.

Ethan nodded knowingly.

He remembered that Harry went to the Ministry of Magic using a red Muggle phone booth, and had to insert Muggle coins to make a call before passing through the phone booth. Ethan was planning to experience it, but he didn't expect it to still be the fireplace.

In a flash of green fire, Ethan walked out of a gilded fireplace.

Amos Worey, who had arrived one step ahead of Ethan, was in front.

The two stood in the magnificent hall. The floor was dark wood, polished to a shine, and the peacock blue ceiling was inlaid with sparkling golden symbols that were constantly moving and changing.

The walls on both sides were also inlaid with dark, shiny wood panels, with rows of gilded fireplaces embedded in the wood panels.

On the left, where Ethan had just arrived, a wizard popped out every few seconds with a soft 'poof'.

On the right, several people were queuing in front of each fireplace, waiting to leave.

There are really a lot of staff in the Ministry of Magic.

Does a mini-society need so many staff to work?

"Follow me!"

After greeting an acquaintance, Amos turned to Ethan and said, leading the way.

Soon, they arrived at the central location, which was a fountain. In the middle of the circular pool stood a group of statues, made of either pure gold or gilded.

The tallest of them was a wizard, holding his wand high, pointing towards the sky.

Surrounding him were a beautiful witch, a centaur, a goblin, and a house-elf.

The centaur, goblin, and house-elf all looked at the two wizards with adoring eyes.

Ethan knew the Ministry of Magic's intention when he saw this, to show off the wealth and status of wizards, but goblins were the ones in charge of finance.

Walking into the crowd, Ministry of Magic staff greeted Amos from time to time, and some looked at Ethan with curiosity and scrutiny.

They naturally knew that Ethan was today's protagonist, here to receive the Order of Merlin, Second Class badge.

"Eric, thank you for your trouble!"

Amos Worey led Ethan to a table with a security check sign hanging on it, where a wizard with a peacock blue robe and an unshaven beard was sitting.

"Okay, Amos, leave it to me!"

Hearing the voice, Eric looked up and greeted Amos, then put down the "Daily Prophet" in his hand and picked up a slender but resilient golden rod, walking towards Ethan.

Fortunately, he had left the Swooping Evil and the Foe Glass at home, and hadn't brought any alchemy tools, otherwise it would have been really troublesome.

"No problem, now we need to check the wand!"

After putting down the golden rod, Eric extended his right hand to Ethan.

Ethan handed the wand to him. Eric placed it on a strange-looking brass machine that looked like a single-pan balance.

After the wand was placed on it, the machine began to vibrate, and a narrow strip of parchment was ejected from a slit at the bottom.

"Fifteen inches, core is Thestral tail hair, yew wood, used for a year and a half, right?"

Eric looked down at the parchment and said to Ethan.

A strange wand core, he had never seen anything like this in his more than ten years of work.

"That's right!"

"That's fine, go ahead!"

After returning the wand to Ethan, Eric hung the parchment on a small brass nail.

After passing the security check, Amos once again led Ethan back into the crowd, arriving at a side hall with at least twenty elevators.

Amos and Ethan came to an elevator with a gold nameplate. There were only Ethan and Amos inside, while the other elevators were packed.

As the elevator door slowly opened, Amos led Ethan into the second basement floor of the Ministry of Magic. Unlike the luxuriously decorated hall, this place seemed more formal and solemn.

Suddenly, several light purple paper airplanes flew past Ethan, stamped with the Ministry of Magic's seal.

"These are the paper notes used to transmit messages in the Ministry of Magic. They should be retired in two days."

Amos pointed to the paper airplanes and said to Ethan.

The first purchase, and the largest, was for the Ministry of Magic. With the Wizarding Mailbox, which could communicate in real-time, these paper airplanes, which were not fast and even had to take the elevator, were naturally eliminated.

Just like when paper airplanes replaced owls as the Ministry of Magic's internal communication tool before, the owls flying around in the Ministry of Magic at that time were really a rain of dung from the sky.

At this moment, a middle-aged witch with a wide figure, a square chin, short gray hair, wearing a monocle, and a purple-red robe with a delicate silver W emblem embroidered on her left chest walked over.

"Mr. Adrian, welcome to the Ministry of Magic!"

This second basement floor of the Ministry of Magic was her territory.

"Good day, Ms. Bones!"

Ethan stepped forward to greet her, considering it an introduction.

Amelia Bones, born into the Sacred Twenty-Eight Bones family, and a powerful figure in the Ministry of Magic.

Aunt of Susan Bones, Ethan's classmate in Hufflepuff, and one of the few Ministry officials without prejudice against Muggle-borns, also a staunch anti-Voldemort partisan, but unfortunately, she didn't meet a good end after Voldemort's return.

"My niece has told me about you, a Ravenclaw genius with good relations with Hufflepuff."

"When do you have time to visit the Bones family as a guest?"

His niece really did mention Ethan to Amelia; she wasn't making it up...

"Amelia, I'm still here!"

Amos stepped forward to emphasize his presence.

Now, who in the entire Ministry of Magic doesn't know that Ethan Yeadrian is the son-in-law he has his eye on?

Don't think that the pure-blood families control the Ministry of Magic together; there's still plenty of infighting behind the scenes.

"Just joking, but since you're both young people, you can still interact more."

A young wizard whose future can already be foreseen, who wouldn't want to invest in that? Now Amelia Bones can only blame her own niece for not being competitive enough.

But building a good relationship is also fine.

"The Wizarding Mailbox you invented is very useful, especially for Aurors and Hit Wizards. If you're interested in working at the Ministry after graduation, you can talk to me about it."

When Amos applied for the Order of Merlin for Ethan, she also lent a hand.

Because this Wizarding Mailbox is really useful for the Auror Office under her; the timely communication of information makes it very convenient for both arrests and reinforcements, and it can also reduce their losses.

Just for this point, he deserves the Order of Merlin.

"Thank you for your recognition!"

"Alright, I won't disturb you any longer."

After Amelia Bones left, Amos continued to lead Ethan further inside, introducing him to many Ministry officials along the way.

Among them were various department heads and office directors of the Ministry of Magic, as well as members of the Wizengamot and recipients of the Order of Merlin.

Ethan's face was almost frozen from smiling all the way.

Before long, Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge also arrived, wearing a green sash with a golden badge on his chest, followed by a group of wizards.

The most eye-catching of them was the short, fat, ugly woman beside Fudge, wearing the same purple-red robes as Amelia.

The addition of these two instantly lowered the prestige of the Order of Merlin and the Wizengamot.

Because he was to be awarded the Order of Merlin, Second Class, Ethan had naturally researched this information.

5.7 The Order of Merlin was founded by Merlin in the Middle Ages. He believed that wizards and Muggles should coexist peacefully, and the Order of Merlin also served the British royal family.

It was only in the late fifteenth century, after the International Confederation of Wizards implemented the Statute of Secrecy, that the Order of Merlin's position became awkward.

Until now, it has lost its practical significance and is more like a wizard's honorary title.

The awarding of the Order of Merlin badge requires the approval of Wizengamot members.

But in the year Fudge took office as Minister of Magic, he directly gave himself a First Class Order of Merlin badge, citing his contributions to the wizarding society as Minister of Magic.

And Umbridge was even more awesome, purely relying on sucking up, rising from a small intern to her current position as Director, and also a member of the Wizengamot.

"Ethan, thank you very much for your outstanding contributions to the wizarding world!"

Fudge showed a very enthusiastic demeanor the moment he saw Ethan.

"Hello, Minister!"

Ethan put on a smiling face again and shook hands with Fudge.

Then he pulled Ethan and introduced him to the group of wizards behind him:

"Ethan Yeadrian, the youngest recipient of the Order of Merlin."

[Thank you to the boss陌 灬 雙秄 for the monthly ticket, thank you boss!].

Chapter 118: The Award Ceremony

After dealing with another group of Ministry of Magic members, Dumbledore also walked in with a few wizards wearing purple-red robes with a W emblem embroidered on the left chest.

As the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, Dumbledore was required to be present today.

Moreover, Dumbledore attracted everyone's attention as soon as he arrived, and Fudge was almost ignored.

Ethan, who was next to Fudge, could clearly see the change in his face for a moment.

Although he recovered quickly, he probably hated Dumbledore to death in his heart.

And smiled and stepped forward to greet Dumbledore.

As a politician, he still knew his limits. He was no match for Dumbledore in terms of connections, prestige, or strength.

Dumbledore could even support another person to seize his position as Minister if he wanted to.

He had to bow his head when necessary.

Soon, several elderly witches, the youngest of whom were probably over sixty, wearing Wizengamot robes or gorgeous dresses, pushed Fudge aside and surrounded Dumbledore in the middle, just like Lockhart's fans.

I didn't expect Dumbledore to still have these fans even at the age of one hundred and ten, although these fans are a bit older, they are still considered little fans relative to Dumbledore.

Fudge, who was squeezed aside, also walked away with a smile, not daring to care about the disrespect of these elderly witches.

These are mostly grandmother-level figures from pure-blood families, who must be treated with respect in their families. If they unite to launch an attack, he won't be able to get any benefit.

"Ethan, long time no see, how have you been lately?"

Lucius Malfoy, wearing a gorgeous robe, greeted Ethan as soon as he came in.

As the head of a pure-blood family, he could come even if he didn't hold a position in the Ministry of Magic.

"Not bad, thank you very much, Mr. Malfoy, for your Erumpent horn!"

Ethan originally only planned to get some Erumpent horn powder, but who knew Draco would directly bring the whole horn. Naturally, he was more enthusiastic towards such a big spender.