"Yeah, I know it sounds stupid," Hermione sighed, "but my mother asked me to send at least two letters back every month, and it's hard for me to make up a proper reason. This is not your Divination homework-" "

How could I not know about this? You have never borrowed Harry's Hedwig or my piggy." Ron asked.

"Because I used the school's public owl-don't interrupt!" Hermione stopped at the door of the common room, "Well-you know, the fame of the two of us combined is not as good as Harry's little finger. I easily found the briefing that only mentioned Harry's name and sent it back home."

Harry's face suddenly became embarrassed.

Ron stared at her and said angrily: "Thanks for reminding me, your metaphor is great."

"The problem is, I don't know what to do now." Hermione said helplessly, "Maybe apply to Professor McGonagall to cancel-" "

Don't!" Harry said hurriedly, "You'd better be honest with them. I think they must not want to miss this important moment."

Ron also agreed with Harry's opinion. "Think about it. If they learn about this from the clerk at Flourish and Blotts next year, and that their daughter has participated in a dangerous event with a very high mortality rate... they will definitely hunt you down to the ends of the earth, or at least send you a Howler letter."

"Oh, they won't," Hermione said lightly. "At most, they will threaten me that they will never help me straighten my teeth in my lifetime."

In the portrait at the door, Violet, who came to visit, whispered to the Fat Lady, "Do Gryffindors always talk like this?"

"I'm just a portrait.

" The Fat Lady shrugged. "Banana fried dough." Hermione blushed slightly. "The password is banana fried dough."

"My favorite." The Fat Lady smiled and said. The portrait moved away in front of them. When they walked in, they could still hear the Fat Lady talking to her good friend, "Gryffindor students are pretty good, except that they are a little self-conscious..."

After they entered the common room, Ron said dissatisfiedly, "Is she talking about herself? You really should ask how she can sing the opera without being alone. Uh, it's better not to ask - she also wrote me into the opera."

Harry couldn't help laughing. Ron once sneaked into classroom seven to try to get an invitation card for the reserve warrior. The Fat Lady wrote about this in her new song.

Afterwards, Fred and George criticized the song. They agreed that the Fat Lady had the habit of exaggerating facts like a writer - if the protagonist was not their brother, they would have thought it was the adventures of King Arthur when he was young.

Sitting on the chair, Hermione took out the textbook, but she couldn't write a word. Before turning off the lights, she finally made a decision, "You are right, I will write a letter to my family tomorrow."

...

Felix flipped through the newspaper of the new day. Today's front-page headline is "Trouble! Minister of Magic in the whirlpool of public opinion."

"Since the current Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge was involved in a bribery scandal at the beginning of the month, he has been in the whirlpool of public opinion. It is an open secret that Fudge is dealing with multiple pure-blood families. He has boasted about his personal relationship with the ancient family more than once, using their intricate network of relationships and influence to consolidate his power.

Fudge has repeatedly reiterated that he did not abuse his power for personal gain.

"I did receive some generous donations, and they were used for good causes! I can show you the evidence. You have no idea how much energy I put into the Quidditch World Cup and the Tournament!"

But when the reporter asked what he had done, apart from the contributions of Barty Crouch, the former Director of International Magical Cooperation, and Mr. Ludo Bagman, the Director of the Department of Sports and Physical Education, Minister Fudge avoided the question.

Five months after the Dark Mark appeared, the Ministry of Magic did not produce much convincing evidence except for posting wanted posters of a dead person all over Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade. This made us wonder, is our Minister really suitable for that position? Is he half as capable as he boasted?

The reporter then interviewed several people, and their opinions seemed to represent a certain trend.

Xenophilius Lovegood, editor-in-chief of The Quibbler, claimed that our minister had a secret army composed entirely of black opas - they were said to be a kind of fire elves, huge monsters with flames all over their bodies, which could burn everything to ashes. This army would play an important role at a critical moment, and of course it was not ruled out that they could secretly eliminate competitors;

Professor Gesilda Marchbank, director of the Wizarding Examination Authority, said that Fudge was like Dumbledore's tail in the first few years after he took office, 'Of course, after his power was consolidated, he completely turned to the pure-blood family. '

Tiberus Ogden, the elder of the Wizengamot Cornelius Fudge was not highly regarded. He preferred to call him 'Lucky Fudge' because the person who was the most popular candidate to succeed the Minister of Magic at the time suddenly broke out that his family was Death Eaters. But if combined with Mr. Lovegood's testimony, perhaps Fudge had more than one secret army. In addition

, the imprisonment of the former Director of the Department of International Magical Cooperation also seemed extremely suspicious. Reporters found that he was initially sentenced to life imprisonment. No one knew whether this was a blow from political enemies, but a few days ago, the Wizengamot secretly interrogated Barty Crouch and changed his sentence to three years. The charge was exactly abuse of power for personal gain and abuse of public power. "

...

"Nonsense!" Fudge said angrily in his office. He read out the names on it with gritted teeth: "Lovegood, Marchbank, and Ogden, very good..."

"Minister," Umbridge squinted her baggy eyes and said in a disgusting tone, "these clowns' words can't shake your position at all. They don't have any evidence!" She said with a smile, "On the contrary, you can hold them accountable."

"What can I do? Their mouths are on their bodies--" Fudge hesitated.

"Isn't it easy to find fault, especially with Marchbank and Ogden, who both work at the Ministry of Magic? As long as we are a little bit——" Umbridge suddenly shut up, her broad, toad-like face turned to the door, and said in a soft voice: "Yaxley? You seem to be a different person after your vacation. You should have knocked on the door first."

"Sorry, Minister." Yaxley said, without any apology on his face. "I'm in a hurry to deliver a document. It's the list of guards for the third project of the Tournament. Scrimgeour and Ms. Bones have signed, and you are the only one left." He walked forward slowly, put the document in his hand on the table, and looked at the silent two people with the corner of his eyes.

He slowly withdrew his arm, stood up and said: "You know, I just happened to hear your conversation."

Fudge's eyes widened.

"I'm yours, Minister." Yaxley said immediately to comfort him.

"You are mys?" Fudge repeated, staring at the opposite side with an inquiring look, while taking out a quill and signing the document without even looking at it. "Dolores has a point. You seem like a different person. You wouldn't normally say things like this."

Yaxley shrugged. "The situation is different now, Minister. I was neutral before, but... I thought a lot during the two days of vacation, and I think it's time to make a choice."

"You are doing this because of Felix Hep--"

"More than that, Minister," said Yaxley, "more than just because of him. This is not a personal grudge, but a confrontation between two different camps - pure-blood and non-pure-blood. I smell the atmosphere before the decisive battle. Hep is acting as a fierce pawn. If we do nothing, perhaps we will all disappear in a few decades." He became particularly talkative today. "As one of the twenty-eight pure-blood families, although the Yaxley family has declined, the foundation of pure-blood has never been wealth, but inherited from an ancient magical contract... To this day, the Yaxley family receives a dividend every year. Although the amount is not large, I can walk into the door of any pure-blood family with this contract."

"Wait! Gringotts should be counted as one?" Fudge said slowly, "I've read some information. When we were fighting the goblins the most fiercely, both sides suffered heavy losses. Some families facilitated peace talks, and the goblins also gained a special status."

Yaxley smiled and said nothing.

"Which families are behind you?" Fudge said. He was suddenly interested because of the previous revelations that one-third of the families with whom he had close ties had left him. Without the support of these people, his insecurity reached its peak.

"It's not important." Yaxley said mysteriously, but this time Fudge didn't dare to underestimate him. The names of the families flashed through Fudge's mind, especially those who were the most aggressive towards Muggles. Although they suffered heavy losses in the last war, they were a powerful force when united.

"Who are your targets?" Fudge asked.

Yaxley looked a little surprised. "Come on," Fudge said impatiently, "don't say you don't have the conditions."

Yaxley smiled.

"Respected Minister Fudge, have you ever played wizard chess?" he said softly, "The most annoying piece on the chessboard is the pawn that touches the opponent's bottom line. It will be upgraded to a knight, a bishop, a castle, and even... a queen who rushes forward."

"No!" Fudge shouted, "You don't know how aggressive he is, and Dumbledore will definitely protect him--"

"Then use the most legitimate reason," said Yaxley, looking at Fudge, "Minister, don't forget that you represent the order of the British wizarding world. As long as the reason is sufficient, even Dumbledore will be used by you."

"Legal reason." Fudge thought for a while and handed him the signed document.

...

"We still have to find a sufficient reason to drive Fudge out of office." Felix sighed and put away the newspaper. He knew very well that the previous approach could only disgust Fudge at best and make his public evaluation lower, and at the same time, the "Future World" company could also take the opportunity to get rid of trouble.

But if you want to bring Fudge down in a short time, Voldemort will have a party at the entrance of the Ministry of Magic. Or he will kill him.

If this were to happen, Dumbledore would definitely be the first to disagree. If the matter got out of hand, everything he had now would be gone, including his professorship, the Order of Merlin, his membership in the Wizengamot, the Future World Company, and all the people he knew...

"Is there any way to solve this problem once and for all?" Felix pondered. He and Fudge had the same idea, and they were both afraid that they would fail to defeat the enemy and suffer from it.

At this moment, there was a knock on the door. "Come in," Felix said, and the door opened, and a furry head poked out from outside.

"Hi, professor," Hermione flashed in.

"Do you want to borrow Mr. Nick Flamel's information on the time converter?" After hearing Hermione's explanation, Felix asked with great interest, "Why?"

"Oh, uh--" Hermione looked at him hesitantly.

Felix smiled and let several plates of preserved fruits fly out from the cabinet in the distance and land on the small table. "Have you made up a reason?"

Hermione sat on the sofa in a very disappointed mood.

"It's like this. The broken time-turner that Valen gave me as a Christmas gift may... probably... have a chance to be repaired. I want to give it a try."

Felix looked at her in surprise.

"So, you found the time energy?"

"Time energy? What is that?" Hermione's eyes widened, and she was very excited. Sure enough, every time she came to the professor, she would gain something new. She heard a new word.

"I named it myself," Felix said, "Well, to be precise, it was inspired by Mr. Nick Flamel's notes." He recited:

"The time-turner contains a unique energy, hidden in every grain of sand in the hourglass. They are the most sophisticated containers. This is the conclusion I came to after repeatedly disassembling and trying to repair it. Unfortunately, I have no way to verify it. Maybe the answer to the question will be in the Department of Mysteries of the British Ministry of Magic..."

"Wait! The Department of Magical Affairs?" Hermione said in surprise, "I have heard of this name. In... in the camp of the Quidditch World Cup, Mr. Weasley mentioned the Unspeakables who worked there."

Felix nodded approvingly.

"So the time energy is hidden in the Department of Mysteries?" Hermione asked.

"I'm not sure, Miss Granger." Felix said, "The Department of Mysteries is the most mysterious department in the entire Ministry of Magic. Mr. Nick Flamel has spent a lot of time - perhaps longer than a normal person's lifetime - exploring the secret of time. But he lacks the most crucial thing, which is time itself."

Hermione felt herself surrounded by a solemn atmosphere, and her voice softened involuntarily, "I have tried time travel many times in my third year."

"The longest time to go back without causing serious damage to the traveler and time itself is five hours, and a spell called the 'Hour Reversal Spell' is required - this is the information obtained by Mr. Nick Flamel, but both he and I have serious doubts about this statement, because it means a stable technology for manufacturing time converters. And a large number of facts have proved that the total number of time converters is getting smaller and smaller..."

"Then why do they still -"

"Distribute it to students?" Felix asked with a smile.

Hermione nodded slightly.

"I guess it may not be of much use, and they also need students to use the data of the time converter to conduct minimum research." He stood up and walked into the inner room, and came out after a while. Felix held a magic notebook in his hand. "These are some cases that Nick has collected. Trying to change time will backfire. Once the energy that protects you disappears, the results are often not good."

"In her time, Eloise Mintab used a time-turner to go back five centuries, but something went terribly wrong. She was not ejected from time until the energy in the time-turner was exhausted. Her body was severely damaged, and she died in St. Mungo's not long after. This was not the first experiment conducted by the Ministry of Magic, but it was the last, and all related experiments have been terminated since then."

"Is she from the Ministry of Magic?" Hermione asked sharply.

"The Unspeakable, I guess." Felix said, "In addition to the impact on herself, the disorder of time also spread to the outside world. She seriously changed the life trajectories of some people, turning them into people who had never been born. And - in the next few days after she was ejected, the first Tuesday lasted two and a half days, and Thursday was only four hours... The Ministry of Magic had to deceive the world with an asteroid that had never existed in history, and paid a huge price for it."

Hermione's expression was extremely surprised. "I read in a book that a rare celestial phenomenon occurred at the end of the 19th century. It not only caused the polar day and the subsequent heavy rain, but also caused a large number of people to have a temporary sense of time confusion and instrument failure..."

Felix shrugged, "Fortunately, technology was not very advanced at that time, and it was rainy and cloudy... I suspect that the rain was also caused by the Ministry of Magic."

Hermione felt that some of her concepts were overturned.

"So, why do you think you have the possibility of repairing the time converter?"

"Harry has an hourglass obtained from Valen, from the altar of the despicable Herbozang Horcrux..."

"Valen?"

At this time, Valen came out of the bedroom and heard someone calling him. He couldn't help but look up in confusion, "Chi?"