Chapter 1114 Fudge's Public Speech

It's a new week again, and public opinion on whether Voldemort has returned is polarized.

Traditional print media have been relentless in their efforts to discredit Dumbledore, defaming his character and discrediting his claims.

"What's the difference between an old man who claims his wand glows and a Muggle tramp holding a sign that says the end of the world is coming?"

The article was reviewed by Fudge himself and focused on Dumbledore's "weird" behavior in recent years.

Allowing dark wizards to become professors, hiring good-for-nothing liars, condoning werewolves, letting former Death Eaters go...

Even without naming names, it is not difficult to guess the true identities of these people.

On the dubidubi video platform, users spontaneously uploaded a large number of videos criticizing the Ministry of Magic.

The first two most easily guessed ones, Quirinus Quirrell and Gilderoy Lockhart, do have big problems, and Dumbledore was wrong in not being able to judge people, but in the final analysis it is the Ministry of Magic's responsibility.

Not only is he not brave enough to take responsibility, but he even actively shirks the responsibility. This is simply shameless to the extreme.

Public opinion continued to become more extreme, and conflicts among wizards were no longer limited to fights.

In just one week, there were 73 cases of wand fights, which exceeded last year's monthly average.

If I had to use one word to describe the current situation in the British wizarding world, it would be chaos.

The reason why this situation developed was that the wizards who believed and did not believe in Voldemort's return were evenly matched. The Ministry of Magic tried to suppress them by force many times but to no avail, and finally had to choose to put out fires everywhere.

After the second conflict between Sirius and Lucius, Fudge decided to give a public speech at 7 am on July 14 in order to completely undermine Dumbledore's image.

The location is the newly built Golden Hall on the first basement floor of the Ministry of Magic, which is a venue specifically used for external speeches.

The entire golden hall is very majestic. The walls are made of golden bricks. They do not look like they are gold-plated. It should be that a large amount of gold confiscated from the Fairy Guild was used.

At 10 a.m., Fudge, dressed in a dark suit, walked into the hall.

He took off his felt hat with a sad face in front of the live camera and said, "Welcome, journalists and friends. I am Cornelius Oswald Fudge, the current Minister of Magic of the United Kingdom."

The Golden Hall was filled with thunderous applause. The Ministry of Magic staff and specially invited reporters were all staring at Fudge on the stage.

"Today--" He choked, reached into his pocket, took out a handkerchief and wiped his red eyes.

After calming down, he suddenly clenched his fist and slammed it hard on the podium. "Today, I was forced to personally cut off the lofty beliefs in the hearts of countless wizards. This is more painful than being kissed by a Dementor!"

Fudge glanced at the golden chandelier on the ceiling that was brought from the Goblin Guildhall intactly. His shoulders trembled violently, as if he was trying to hold back sobs.

The beginning was so sensational that Vincent, who was watching the live broadcast at home with his parents, couldn't help but shudder.

"Albus Dumbledore was both my mentor and my friend. He taught me a lot when I was young, and these teachings played a crucial role in my campaign for the post of Minister of Magic."

Fudge sighed softly, his eyes full of sorrow focused on the live camera again, "Albus is my life guide. Without him, I wouldn't be where I am today. His noble personality charm and pragmatic style of doing things often move and inspire me. I silently take him as an example. Over the years, I have drawn strength from him to move forward."

With a "bang", he slammed his fist against the podium again, his face filled with deep disappointment. "But all the beauty is shattered. I can't believe that Albus' true face is so terrifying."

He screamed, "Albus Dumbledore! He is a hypocritical tyrant! He is a power-hungry devil! He is also a master of manipulating people's hearts!"

The entire golden hall fell silent in an instant, and the wizards who were watching the live broadcast were all stunned with fear.

Fudge ripped his bow tie excitedly. "I've been in and out of his office at Hogwarts many times. I can swear to Merlin that the silverware collection in his office is definitely more than the vault of the Ministry of Magic!"

Those weird little baubles? Even if a small portion of them were mixed with mithril, there was no way that it could be more than the Ministry of Magic's vault, right?

Oh, by the way, there is no silver in the Ministry of Magic's vault. The gold in there is either the gold Galleons donated by the pure-blood gentlemen or the gold confiscated from the Goblin Guild.

Fudge's shameless face made the Wayne family refresh their understanding of politicians.

It wasn't just their family, anyone who knew a little bit of the truth couldn't help but curse.

And this was just the beginning. Fudge, with an indignant look on his face, took out a piece of parchment from the inside pocket of his suit and held it high.

"This is Harry Potter's confession. He claims that he witnessed Voldemort's resurrection ceremony with his own eyes, the so-called resurrection ceremony that was not filmed or faked!"

The live broadcast focused on the parchment, and Harry's confession was made public in full.

Fudge slammed the parchment on the podium. "This is ridiculous! I have never heard of any ritual that can bring a person back to life. Albus Dumbledore actually let a child tell such a lie!"

The ritual of resurrection does not exist, but Voldemort is not dead at all. The ritual that night only restored his body. This is obviously a deliberate misleading, and even takes Harry's confession out of context.

"Poor savior, Harry is just a child. How could Dumbledore have the heart to use him?"

Harry, who was far away at the Dursleys' home at 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey, was dumbfounded.

He remembered that when he went to the Ministry of Magic to record his statement, he never said the word "resurrection" at all, and he only admitted that the live broadcast was carried out through his magic communicator, and did not admit that it was Dumbledore who taught him to say so.

There are many things in the confession that he did not say, and many key parts have been modified.

"Not only Harry, Albus Dumbledore also manipulated Vincent Wayne!"

Fudge wiped his red eyes in anguish. "Vincent is a model student at Hogwarts, but this hypocritical tyrant actually threatened him with his academic performance and forced him to do everything he could to restore the live broadcast that night!"

The Wayne family stared at each other in surprise.

With Vincent's temper, it would be impossible for Dumbledore, let alone Merlin, to threaten him easily.

And based on academic performance?

Even Draco, who disliked him extremely, thought he was talking nonsense.

Fred and George, who lived in the Burrow south of Ottery St. Catchpole, laughed till they cried.

Of course Fudge in the Golden Hall knew that this was ridiculous, so he reached behind the podium where the camera couldn't see him and hit his thigh hard.

"Ah——" He was in so much pain that tears burst out, "Harry and Vincent are still just children. Albus Dumbledore has no heart at all. He is not qualified to continue to be the headmaster of Hogwarts!"

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