This was what Scrimgeour was most proud of.

My limbs are still intact!

"If you want to cut off a hand to gain more recognition from Thicknesse, I can help you." Harry said softly, sitting down next to him. "Don't worry, it won't hurt too much. It can be done with one sword."

Scrimgeour shook his head quickly: "No, no, no, Harry, please don't. I have enough now."

He looked at Harry's profile and could vaguely sense that what he just said seemed to be a joke. He breathed a sigh of relief and continued, "Thickness is actually not having an easy time in the Ministry of Magic, especially recently. Many of his orders have not been approved by many people, but he is the Minister and he has just taken office."

"Like being so radical about Hogwarts..."

"Although they all want to further restrain Dumbledore, they are afraid of Dumbledore if they push him too hard. Hmm... will the desperate dog jump over the wall?"

"And I, the clever Scrimgeour, firmly stood on his side and naturally became his confidant."

“He and I became closer, and it finally made me realize something.”

Scrimgeour dug out the photo he had carefully kept from his chest, the place closest to his body.

The photo was of a letter.

There was nothing remarkable about the content of the letter, just a summary of some ordinary daily work.

"Minister of Magic, are you sending your work to others?" Scrimgeour took a deep breath and turned to the third photo. "Not only that, look at these."

"It's some envelopes of replies from before."

"The address is the same. Malfoy Manor."

"Although this letter has not been sent yet, there is no doubt about it, right? This letter will also be sent to Malfoy Manor."

At this point, Scrimgeour paused for a moment and put the photo back. "I didn't know Thicknesse and Mrs. Malfoy were so close."

"That can only mean one thing."

"The Death Eaters, and their master, are at Malfoy Manor."

"Even Thicknesse is one of theirs now."

He spoke with certainty and confidence, patted his chest, and pasted the photo.

Harry looked at him and nodded. "Mr. Scrimgeour, you are amazing."

Scrimgeour smiled shyly.

"You can investigate these things by yourself." Harry continued calmly, "Yes, your investigation is correct. Thicknesse is indeed a Death Eater, and Voldemort and his servants are indeed in Malfoy Manor now."

Scrimgeour was startled, and tilted his head back, looking down at Harry's face, and said in a shocked tone: "Harry, you already knew..."

Harry nodded.

"How long before I tell you?" Scrimgeour took a deep breath.

Harry answered him, "If you mean about Thicknesse being a Death Eater, I didn't know that until New Year's Day."

"But if it's true that the Death Eaters live in Malfoy Manor."

"I found out shortly after Voldemort's resurrection."

Scrimgeour raised his hands and clutched his chest, feeling a little painful. The information that he had obtained at such a great risk and with such humiliation was actually known to others long ago. Moreover, it was second-hand, third-hand or even countless-handed information that was known so early. This feeling was extremely complicated.

He paused for a moment, frowning: "Harry, since we already know where they are, then just..."

Harry shook his head: "Now is not the time."

Not the time yet?

This answer was beyond Scrimgeour's expectations. He looked at it in surprise, a little puzzled: "Why?"

Harry looked at him. "Do you want to know?"

Scrimgeour hesitated, then nodded and said, "I've heard about him from Mr. Dumbledore. I can join the Order of the Phoenix."

As he spoke, he stretched out his wrist: "What kind of mark do you want to make on your body?"

"That's what Voldemort did." Harry shook his head and smiled slightly. "The Order of the Phoenix doesn't need that. We only choose those who are trustworthy and capable as companions."

Scrimgeour withdrew his hand with pleasure. "It makes me so happy to hear such words from you."

Harry calmly told Scrimgeour about the Horcrux and Barty Crouch Jr.'s words.

certainly……

He didn't tell anyone that he was a Horcrux, nor did he tell anyone about anything related to Snape.

"Horcruxes? Seven?" Scrimgeour's eyes widened in disbelief. "How dare he?"

As an Auror, he still has some understanding of these things.

Harry spread his hands: "So the question now is not whether we can defeat Voldemort, but how to kill him completely."

“Instead of destroying it all at once, it’s better to control it like this.”

"At least we know where he is, what he's going to do, and his background."

"It won't be too late to kill him after all the Horcruxes are found and destroyed."

So that's why. No wonder you said it was not the right time.

“And what about Thicknesse?” Scrimgeour frowned and tapped his knee. “Just leave him alone?”

"I caught him, took his Dark Mark..."

"It's no use, he doesn't have the Dark Mark." Harry shook his head.

Scrimgeour was startled.

Harry emphasized again: "He doesn't have the Dark Mark. Voldemort still has some brains now. He didn't leave such an obvious omission."

Scrimgeour frowned.

"Pay attention to the Ministry of Magic's recent movements." Harry reminded him, "Perhaps Thicknesse will make some more moves."

He nodded in agreement.

Harry stood up: "If there's nothing else..."

"Harry, wait a minute," Scrimgeour tried to stop him.

Harry looked back.

Scrimgeour said hesitantly: "Ms. Umbridge..."

"Don't ask about this, okay?" Harry interrupted him. "We've just had a fairly pleasant conversation, let's not end it with something unpleasant like this, okay?"

Scrimgeour stopped talking, raised his hand, and watched Harry push open the side door and re-enter the Great Hall.

He sighed and looked up at the bright moon in the sky.

A wave of the new era is blowing in my face. Why didn’t I meet such outstanding peers when I was young, who could lead me to become such a huge river of youth?

After sitting in the courtyard for a long time, he slowly stood up, took a long detour from the other side, and returned to the Ministry of Magic with the Aurors.

The Ministry's reaction was peculiar.

The Daily Prophet did not report this.

There were hardly any discussions among them. Mr. Diggory had been worried for a long time. His son was one of the leaders, and he was afraid that he would be affected. He would always go to the Department of International Magical Cooperation to chat with Percy before working for half an hour. As one of the few normal people in the Ministry of Magic who was willing to work diligently, he hated this old guy who wanted to fish in troubled waters and try to trick him into doing so.

After suffering a lot in the morning, Percy immediately hung a robe on the door of his office, saying "No Entry", and concentrated on his work alone.

Mr. Diggory had no choice but to go to Mr. Weasley.

Mr. Weasley didn't like him very much either. Arthur liked to slack off, but he could only do it secretly and without being seen by others.

When someone comes, he can't touch it.

However, Mr. Diggory's worries did not come true. Neither he nor the Weasley family were affected. There was no punishment, nor was there any suggestion that they should restrain their children when they returned. Instead... they were treated preferentially?

Mr. Diggory had been complaining about the need to replace the coffee machine, which was replaced at noon. However, he kept complaining that the one that suited him best was extremely expensive, and he could not find any excuse to put such a high-end product in the office area for employees to use.

Yet, there it is.

Percy didn't have many needs, or rather, his needs were difficult to be met for the time being. The new Director of the Department of International Magical Cooperation had a friendly dinner with him and asked Percy seriously about his future life plans. Was the Department of International Magical Cooperation really the department he wanted to work in? Should he go to some departments with more promising prospects, such as the Department of Magical Transportation or the Department of Magical Law Enforcement?

Arthur remained calm and made no demands.

But the next day he was moved to an office that was three times larger than his previous one, his salary was increased, and he even had a reimbursement allowance of one thousand pounds per month.

Even the Weasley Joke Shop was exempted from taxes for half a year. Not only that, the entry and exit procedures and taxes were also visible to the naked eye, and it received many preferential treatments.

Mr. Diggory was puzzled.

Arthur and Percy knew exactly why.

This was the Ministry of Magic expressing its stance - they felt that the fact that the matter had escalated to the point where the entire Hogwarts had united proved that Potter was very angry and that the situation had developed to the point they were most worried about.

The only problem is...

Potter was an orphan and his parents were not around, so they could not flatter the Potters. They had to allocate a sum of 3,000 Galleons from the Ministry of Magic to the Black family, allowing them to renovate the old house, although the Black family had never made such an application.

Miss Granger's parents were both Muggles.

They couldn't even take the initiative to appear in front of the Grangers and offer any help, so they could only sigh and regret.

Why is it so difficult to get close to Mr. Porter?

Wait for the prophet to publish the report.

It's already a new week.

Professor Black, who was loved by the students, finally returned to Hogwarts, and Defense Against the Dark Arts returned to normal.

Of course, the “big classes” every Monday and Friday have not stopped!

These students have all paid, it can't be that on average each of them has to pay several silver Sickles, or even one Galleon for tutoring fees, only to get three or four classes?

Neville and Hermione went beyond the textbooks and taught these little wizards how to fight.

Think about this from the perspective of a little wizard.

Occasionally Harry would give them a lesson, so they were reluctant to throw away such a good opportunity.

Sirius was very enthusiastic about the big classes, even more enthusiastic than his own classes.

dissolve.

After the Black Lake thawed and became less cold, large classes were moved from the auditorium to the edge of the lake.

It was also at this time that Dumbledore finally returned.