Scrimgeour struggled to get up, gasping for breath: "Cornelly, Dumbledore should stay..."

He didn't finish his words.

Fudge shook his head and interrupted abruptly: "Rufus, I am the Minister."

Scrimgeour rolled his eyes and sat down aside.

"Albus." Fudge's attitude softened. He didn't dare look at the scene on the Slytherin table. He moved his body and walked in a direction where he couldn't see it. "I think you may have to come with me."

Dumbledore's face was serious: "Now that Hogwarts has happened..."

"If it were just me, I'd be happy for you to stay," Fudge interrupted him, "but this is not just my decision."

He waved his wand.

A roll of parchment flew out of his pocket and was spread out in front of Dumbledore: "This is also the decision of the Board of Directors."

"Many wizards in the Wizengamot agree with this as well."

Faced with all this red tape, the greatest white wizard remained silent.

Fudge's heart immediately rose to his throat, and he stumbled as he spoke: "Dumbledore, are you going to go against the advice of the Ministry of Magic and the Board of Directors and insist on doing it your own way?"

Tom's words were like a drumstick hammered with steel, hitting his heart, which was like a cymbal. With a clang and a tremor, the sound grew louder and louder in his mind, creating a huge wave and becoming more and more difficult to stop.

"Cornelly, you know me. I don't have any ideas." Dumbledore sighed, "If I had, something would have happened long ago."

But these words are as unreliable as the promises made by a romantic partner.

Fudge didn't believe it.

He and Dumbledore were not even lovers, so he had no reason to believe this.

"One day, only one day." Dumbledore sighed again.

Fudge relaxed slightly and nodded, "We'll get everything done within a day, Albus. You trust us, and we trust you."

Harry sneered and shook his head. "Professor, I'm afraid I need to apologize to you."

Dumbledore was stunned.

"You know, you have to see it with your own eyes to understand what a person with a head full of feces looks like." Harry shrugged.

Fudge's face darkened.

Dumbledore smiled. "Severus will certainly approve of you."

"You should stay." Harry glanced at the messy Slytherin table. "Tom is arrogant, but he just doesn't have time to bully you."

"He has shown his weakness. It will only take half a day to catch him."

Know how he hides himself.

Using a move a second time will be ineffective against a wizard.

"Yes, I am well aware of that." Dumbledore nodded.

Fudge's face became panic again, and he nervously pulled the handkerchief in his hand: "Albus..."

"I believe Severus, Minerva, and the other professors." Dumbledore said softly, "They will protect Hogwarts while I am away."

"Harry, you have to protect yourself too."

Harry nodded. "I plan to stay here."

Dumbledore was stunned.

"Tom's target is me. Maybe he will find a way to break into the common room." Harry sat down. If so, if he went back to the common room, other little wizards would be implicated.

Scrimgeour said firmly: "Don't worry, Mr. Potter, the Aurors will..."

"The Ministry of Magic will protect you." Fudge interrupted him and made a quick promise.

Scrimgeour snorted and tilted his head away.

"Mr. Dumbledore, we should go," Fudge urged. "Use the Floo network in your office? Or Lockhart's office?"

Dumbledore waved his wand, said nothing, and turned away.

Fudge trotted to keep up with him.

Harry and Scrimgeour were the only ones left in the empty hall.

Without Fudge's annoying colleague, the Head of the Auror Office turned around and looked at Harry carefully. His photo was published in the Daily Prophet.

That was in the first grade.

Compared to that time, Harry looked stronger and taller, and his leonine eyes were sharper.

"Mr. Potter, don't worry." Scrimgeour said, trying to comfort the second-year wizard, "I am here to protect you..."

Before he could finish his words, Harry handed him a bottle of potion.

Scrimgeour was stunned.

"It's a soothing potion. Drink it. You're very nervous now." Harry introduced it, shaking the potion in his hand and handing it to him with more obvious intention.

Scrimgeour took it dryly, hesitated, and swallowed the potion.

"Wait, if the basilisk or Tom appears, be careful." Harry continued, "Do you remember what kind of creature the basilisk is?"

"I remember." Scrimgeour felt a warm sensation in his lower abdomen, and his entire body became warm. The last bit of pain from the Cruciatus Curse disappeared. "Is it really a basilisk?"

Harry nodded. "Don't look into its eyes."

"The professor has set up some spell, maybe it's aimed at it."

Scrimgeour and Harry were chatting.

Wait a minute…

He suddenly realized something was wrong.

Didn't I speak up to comfort Harry?

How come he is comforting himself now?

Before he could adjust to the difference in status between the two, Snape rushed over and gritted his teeth, "Where's Dumbledore?"

"Gone," Harry replied simply.

Snape's tone was filled with uncontrollable anger: "How dare he? What was he thinking? Did he have a whole Black Lake in his head? He just left you like that?"

"It was Fudge." Harry shook his head. "The Minister of Magic."

Scrimgeour couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Snape looked over coldly.

Scrimgeour frowned: "Professor Snape, you should be in the Slytherin Common Room now. Protecting your students is the most important thing, isn't it?"

"I am here..."

He raised his wand as if to drive Snape away.

"And you're the one who's relying on him?" Snape interrupted him with a sneer. "While Potter is dealing with those things, he also has to protect you, a burden. When Dumbledore comes back, what will he do if he sees two corpses in the Great Hall?"

Scrimgeour was a little embarrassed.

What does it mean to be protected by Harry? After all, I am the head of the Auror Office and the most elite Auror.

"That's better than you. At least Mr. Potter and I are on the same side. There's no need to worry about someone suddenly casting a spell and attacking me from behind." Scrimgeour narrowed his eyes and refused to give in.

"This Mr. Scrimgeour won't be a burden to me," Harry said, breaking the tense atmosphere between the two of them.

Then he said to Scrimgeour: "As for Professor Snape, he is someone that Professor Dumbledore and I both trust."

Scrimgeour snorted coldly and said nothing.

Snape was about to continue cursing Dumbledore.

With a loud bang, a huge figure broke through the door of the auditorium.

"Shut your eyes!" Harry shouted, closing his eyes and crawling under the table.

The other two also used their own methods.

"Kill...kill..." The basilisk said the bloodiest words while hesitating.