Chapter 382: Confession under torture

. Mike didn't get Penelope's response until dawn, but just as he was playing with coins out of boredom, the door of Umbridge's office was knocked again.

"Come in."

With a crisp sound from Kaz, the door was opened, and the striker who had been entrusted with the wand by Mike before came in.

However, the striker's mental state did not look optimistic.

He had swollen bags under his eyes and a circle of deep dark circles around his eyes, and he looked very tired.

What's more exaggerated is that at this moment, he was still holding Mike's blackthorn wand in his hands. Seeing his hands raised in respect, Mike felt a little embarrassed.

"Sir, Minister Umbridge asked me to take you to the principal's office."

The striker said half dead.

Mike's face instantly smiled when he heard it.

Since Dumbledore was away, the principal's office at Hogwarts has been closed. And now that Umbridge actually asked him to go to the principal's office, the truth of the matter is already very clear.

Dumbledore is back!

"Okay, let's go!"

Mike left the room first and walked towards the principal's office, while the older striker continued to hold his wand and followed slowly behind.

Mike didn't listen until he reached the door of the principal's office. After a long while, the striker came to Mike with a heavy breath and said breathlessly to the monster statue at the door of the room:

"Milk...cream mousse!"

The monster statue jumped aside when he heard the words, and the wall behind it cracked, revealing the moving stone stairs inside.

Mike stepped forward and went up the stairs.

Not long after, a door knocker with a griffin appeared in front of him.

Mike gently pressed the door knocker, and only after hearing Dumbledore's familiar voice from inside did Mike push the door open and walk in.

As soon as he entered the door, a wave of heat hit him.

There were more than a dozen people standing in the spacious headmaster's office. Dumbledore, a bald black wizard, and a strong man who was obviously an Auror were standing behind the eagle-legged table and talking about something.

Not far from them, the chubby Minister Fudge was shaking his legs by the fireplace.

He seemed to be very hot and kept wiping his bald forehead with a handkerchief, but he didn't want to leave the fireplace at all.

Mike guessed that he must be very nervous and wanted to use the high temperature of the fireplace to cover up the fact that he was so nervous that he was sweating.

Beside him, Percy Weasley, who had freckles and glasses, was walking around excitedly in the corner, holding a feather pen and a thick roll of parchment in his hands, obviously ready to record at any time.

The remaining few people gathered not far from the inner door. They were Professor Snape, Professor Umbridge, Professor McGonagall, Ron, Neville, and several Slytherin students who were responsible for escorting them.

Not only that, the portraits of the former headmasters on the wall who used to pretend to sleep every time Mike came did not continue to pretend to sleep this time, but instead looked at everyone in the office seriously.

At this time, with Mike's arrival, everyone's eyes in the office fell on him.

"Hello everyone!" Mike greeted calmly, and then looked at Dumbledore, "Principal Dumbledore, why are you back?"

"Obviously, the evidence the Ministry of Magic has is not enough. Although they can lock me up and slowly collect or fabricate evidence, there are still many people who think that my old bones are still useful, and think that I should not be locked up when such accidents happen frequently, but should be released to make use of my remaining heat."

Dumbledore winked at Mike mischievously, and then looked at Fudge by the fireplace with an inquiring look.

"So, after the discussion of the Wizengamot Council and Sir Merlin, I was released again! Am I right, Fudge?"

Fudge did not speak, but just glared at Dumbledore fiercely, while Percy beside him was writing diligently.

"Ahem!"

At this time, a cough attracted everyone's attention. Umbridge raised her head slightly and said arrogantly to Mike with her nose:

"Mike, do you know what you did wrong?"

Mike glanced over and pretended to be thinking hard for a while before slowly saying in an uncertain tone:

"Is it because I called you a toad?"

As soon as these words came out, Snape and Dumbledore, who had been serious, raised their mouths. The portraits on the wall laughed unscrupulously, and Umbridge stared at Mike with wide eyes.

Her lips trembled, as if she wanted to continue to say something, but Fudge on the side spoke first.

"Mike, we are already old acquaintances, there is no need to do these empty words. To be honest, the mistakes you made this time are very serious. You set up an illegal organization in Hogwarts, attacked professors, and rebelled against the Ministry of Magic... Any one of these is enough for us to expel you from Hogwarts or even put you in Azkaban. So, tell me the truth. As long as you tell me everything you know, I promise to give you a lenient sentence for our previous friendship."

After saying that, Fudge crossed his arms and looked at Mike, looking very confident.

However, the answer waiting for him was...

"I think you may be wrong. I don't think I have violated any regulations of the Ministry of Magic. Oh! If Umbridge is like a toad and is also breaking the law, then I am indeed guilty."

"What did you say?" Fudge looked at Mike in disbelief. "At this point, do you still think it's useful to quibble?"

Mike shrugged helplessly, which made Fudge even more angry.

"Minister, I don't think we need to waste time with him." Umbridge walked forward with a grin, "We have other witnesses, and he has told us everything."

"Really? That's great!"

Fudge clapped his hands, and then looked at Dumbledore maliciously, while the latter shrugged like Mike did before.

Umbridge walked quickly to Ron, who had been lowering his head since Mike entered the office, and slowly placed both hands on his shoulders.

Mike noticed that Ron shuddered violently the moment Umbridge's hand touched Ron's shoulder.

"Ron Weasley, we found him and Neville Longbottom near the eighth floor. After some persuasion, Ron told us everything about the illegal assembly last night. I have to say that he is one of the few good kids in Hogwarts. He was very cooperative during the entire inquiry process, and sometimes even took the initiative to confess some interesting things." Umbridge said slowly in her delicate and disgusting voice, "Oh! By the way! I almost forgot! His brother Percy Weasley is your assistant, the one over there!" As soon as

these words came out, everyone in the office looked at Ron, even the portraits on the wall were no exception.

Professor McGonagall and the others were all full of disbelief, especially Neville, whose chubby, tear-stained face was almost wrinkled into a ball.

Seeing this, Ron lowered his head even lower, and crystal tears kept falling to the ground like pearls that had broken off the string.

"Aha! That's really great!" Fudge excitedly patted Percy who was taking notes, making the latter stumble. "Percy, you two brothers are really outstanding!"

"No, no, my brother Ron has always been very outstanding. By the way, he is also the head of Gryffindor. He told me that he admires you the most, Minister. It is because he hopes to follow you one day that he works so hard."

Fudge was very strong. Percy rubbed his arm and bowed to Fudge and Umbridge with a smirk.

"Really? Hahaha! That's really great!" Fudge laughed, "What an interesting young man! Let's put it this way, I will give him a job opportunity when he graduates. Well! You can write this down, Weasley, and you can remind me if I forget it! Hahaha!" "Hehe! Thank you, Minister

!"

Percy and Fudge were chatting and laughing by the fireplace. Hearing this, Ron, who had been lowering his head, suddenly raised his head and looked at Fudge and Percy with hatred.

At the moment he looked up, Mike also saw his face clearly.

On his face, a series of dense purple pustules had crawled over his nose and cheeks, forming the word "snitch", which made Ron's already low appearance even worse!

"Merlin's beard..."

Fudge and Percy were both shocked by this, and they both took a step back.

"Ahem! Okay, none of this matters!" Umbridge coughed lightly and pressed Ron's raised head down heavily, "The key is Ron's testimony!"

Umbridge flipped open a manual,

"According to Ron, shortly after the start of school, Mike convened a large number of people in the name of the "Defense Against the Dark Arts Team" to hold a meeting in the Hog's Head Pub in Hogsmeade Village, and then held illegal meetings periodically in the Room of Requirement. According to Ron, this kind of meeting has been going on for almost a whole year!"

"Ha! Mike! What else do you have to say now!"

Fudge jumped back excitedly and rubbed against the fireplace behind him, and then a burning smell came out.

Percy hurried forward to help Fudge extinguish the flames on his robe.

Mike did not reply, but looked at Ron.

He really did not understand what Ron was doing and why he leaked such important information.

Coincidentally, Ron, with red eyes and herpes all over his face, also looked at Mike at this moment.

Their eyes met in mid-air, and Ron's face was full of shame, but Mike did not even want to look at him, and quickly looked away.

Seeing this, Ron's expression became even uglier, and tears kept flowing from his red eyes.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Mike! I'm sorry!" Ron cried, "I don't want to say it, but...but they tortured me madly, wuwuwu!"

As he spoke, Ron rolled up his sleeves, and saw that there were several irregular whip marks on his white arm.

The whip marks were very light, and it could be seen that Umbridge had already used medicine on Ron before bringing him here. Unfortunately, Umbridge obviously did not have the medical skills of Madam Pomfrey, and could not completely make Ron's scars disappear.

The whole office was shocked, and everyone stared at Umbridge and Ron's arm in amazement.

The portraits on the wall were the first to react. An old witch cursed at Umbridge, and then more curses came from the mouths of other portraits.

"How dare you do this to a Hogwarts student!"

"You vicious woman, you should be torn into pieces and fed to the dragon!"

"Mike is right, you are a toad, and a poisonous one!"

...

Listening to the curses coming from all around, Umbridge's expression was extremely ugly, but she still had to keep smiling at this moment, because Fudge was also looking at her with shocked eyes.

"Minister, listen to my explanation..."

Professor McGonagall interrupted Umbridge halfway through her words:

"What else do you have to explain? Look at it yourself! Is this what you did? Torturing students and forcing them to say what you want them to say?"

At some point, Professor McGonagall had already taken off Ron's coat, and saw that his thin body was covered with a lot of light scars.

Neville's clothes were also taken off. He had a lot of scars on his body like Ron, and the color of his scars was darker than Ron's.

This meant that the torture he suffered was more painful than Ron's!

Percy on the side was already confused. He opened his mouth and looked at his scarred brother, and his eyes became a little red.

At the same time, he trembled and stretched out his hand, as if he wanted to touch Ron's wound, but the latter dodged it.

Looking at Ron's disgusted eyes, Percy silently lowered his head, retreated to the corner, and silently picked up the quill and parchment.

"It looks like there are some scum in your team, Fudge." Dumbledore frowned and looked at Fudge seriously, "Abusing students, forcing confessions under torture, framing and fabricating evidence, I think these charges are enough to put her in Azkaban!"

He looked at Umbridge again, with a rare anger in his eyes,

"I have never seen anyone with a heart as dirty as yours, Umbridge, I promise to make you pay the price, I mean what I say!"

Umbridge's expression became extremely terrified. She waved her arms in panic and tried to cover Neville and Ron's upper bodies again, but Professor McGonagall slapped them away!

Then she cast a pleading look at Fudge, but the latter turned his head silently.

"No, no, no! You can't do this!" Umbridge roared, "There are two more important things I haven't said yet."

Fudge slowly turned his head back. Seeing this, Umbridge seemed to have grasped the last straw and shouted: "

According to Ron, they should have another list. This list records the name of every member who participated in this illegal assembly. If we have this list, we can find everyone. In addition, the organization founded by Mike is... its name is the DA Army, which is... that is, Dumbledore's Army."