NABC Chapter 103 The Reason He Cannot Be Mentioned
Chapter 103 The Reason He Cannot Be Mentioned
With the magical support that Moran can provide now, Harry could use Apparition to take everyone away from this dangerous place at any time. However, in order to collect more useful information at the crime scene, he still cooperated with the Ministry of Magic's arrangements.
Around 7 a.m., the Daily Prophet released an urgent second edition detailing the "terrorist attack at the Quidditch World Cup".
—The Ministry of Magic is in a panic!
—The criminal who released the Dark Mark has not yet been caught!
— Security was lax at the World Cup final!
—This brings international shame to Britain!
One glaring headline after another made Percy and Arthur Weasley, who had just returned to their tent, both frown.
Who wrote this?
"Ah! It's her! Rita Skeeter! It's that woman again!"
Percy slapped his thigh angrily, stood up, and said:
"This woman is deliberately going against the Ministry of Magic! Last week she stirred things up by saying that we should be focusing all our efforts on eliminating the vampires who are affecting Muggle life, but the new recruits at the Ministry of Magic are nitpicking and wasting time on the thickness of the cauldron!"
"What she said makes a lot of sense in this matter."
Ginny muttered a complaint from the side.
"But that's not the responsibility of the International Magical Exchange and Cooperation Division. Even if she wanted to cause trouble, she should have gone after the Magical Creatures Management and Control Division."
"Alright, alright, Percy, stop worrying about it."
Mr. Weasley yawned and said he had been busy all night and desperately needed to find a bed to lie down and rest. However, just as he was about to lift his sleepy eyes from the newspaper, he saw a passage at the end of page two of the Daily Prophet that completely banished his sleepiness.
"They mentioned me here!"
Where?
All the Weasley children immediately surrounded him.
"I'm not naming names, but look at this... Muggles are being tortured, wizards are panicking and running around, everyone is hoping that the Ministry of Magic will step in to maintain order, but the final result is regrettable. According to an unknown source, the person who bravely fought the dark wizard and rescued the Muggles was not an Auror from the Ministry of Magic; and those Ministry officials seem to only dare to show their faces after things have calmed down."
"Where did this mention you, Dad? Ah! Could that unknown wizard be you?!"
Mr. Weasley pinched Ginny's cheek, then pointed to the words on the newspaper and read aloud:
"How could I say such a thing? You'll see what happens next... After the Dark Mark appeared, I had the opportunity to interview a high-ranking official in the Ministry of Magic with red hair. He claimed that no one was harmed, but refused to reveal any further details. Whether his testimony can cover up the fact that a body was found in the woods remains to be seen."
"A corpse?"
“It wasn’t a corpse, it was the Barty family’s elf who was unconscious. She was holding an unknown wand, so we had to find someone to escort her out of the woods.”
Mr. Weasley covered his forehead and explained:
"The scene was extremely chaotic. Amos believed that the fairy was responsible for everything, but the fairy's master was Barty Crouch. If he believed that the fairy had fired the Dark Mark, it would be tantamount to accusing Barty Crouch of being the mastermind behind it all."
Hermione, concerned for the rights of the elves, spotted the flaw in the story faster than anyone else, pointing it out:
"House-elves are forbidden from wielding wands due to the influence of ancient magic, unless ordered to do so by their masters. If you all think that Mr. Barty Crouch couldn't possibly have instructed Sparkle to do anything, then she must have been knocked unconscious and framed, right? Why isn't the Ministry of Magic investigating the real culprit, but instead focusing on a house-elf?"
The Weasleys usually couldn't agree on the topic of house-elves with Hermione, who came from a Muggle family. However, this time, she managed to win over everyone present with her logical and well-reasoned arguments.
“Dad, I think Hermione is right.”
Ginny was the first to express her support for Hermione, followed by Ron, Fred, and George, who all echoed her sentiments.
"Yes, Daddy, elves can't use magic wands."
"It would be absurd for the Ministry of Magic to find Mr. Crouch innocent, yet arrest his house-elf."
"Exactly! It's ridiculous!"
The enthusiastic cheers of the Weasleys brought Arthur a sense of comfort; he and his wife had always strived to raise their children to be upright and courageous.
"Don't worry, kids."
Mr. Weasley said:
“Glitter wasn’t caught; Mr. Claude cleared her name. However, according to the testimony, the little fairy escaped from the tent without permission, and Barty Crouch fired her afterward because she disobeyed her master’s orders.”
"Where is she now?"
Hermione asked nervously.
"do not know."
Arthur shook his head regretfully.
"Perhaps she went to work for another wizarding family... It is indeed quite strange, but since Mr. Crouch has already proven her innocence, the Ministry of Magic has not pursued the matter any further."
Hermione, who was about to say something more, suddenly felt her arm being grabbed. She turned around and saw Harry standing behind her, shaking his head slightly.
"All right......"
Hermione muttered something, seemingly swallowing back all the words that were about to come out.
Mr. Weasley was neither aware of nor understood Hermione's thoughts. After a busy night, he desperately needed a bed to lie down in.
He said:
"Alright kids, I reckon in a few hours the department will give us our house keys. Until then, I need to sleep for a bit. Bill, Charlie, you take your younger siblings out to cook something to eat. They're still growing, they can't just eat snacks to fill their stomachs."
"Okay, Dad."
......
About three hours later, the Ministry of Magic gave the Weasleys a broken tire key to go home. Mrs. Weasley, who had been living in fear for most of the day, couldn't help but burst into tears when she saw her children all home safe and sound.
"Oh! You're all alive... and none of you are missing any limbs!"
"Ouch, Mom, you're going to strangle us!"
Not wanting to disturb the tender moment between his wife and children, Mr. Weasley walked over to his wife, kissed her, and went straight into the house.
"Do you really have to go, Arthur?"
The unspoken understanding cultivated over decades of marriage allowed Molly to instantly perceive her husband's intentions. She sadly advised him:
"This matter has nothing to do with your office. Your department could handle it without you."
"I have to go."
Mr. Weasley changed into his formal wizarding robes, which always hung on the coat rack by the door, and said:
"The article in the Daily Prophet was written based on an interview with me by Rita Skeeter, and I have to go and correct those false rumors."
"I'll go with you, Dad!"
Hearing his parents talking, Percy quickly broke free from Mrs. Weasley's embrace, straightened his clothes, and walked without hesitation toward the fireplace containing Floo Powder.
For the next week, Mr. Weasley and Percy rarely came home. Sometimes, they would even arrive home bleary-eyed while their families were having breakfast.
Harry had originally planned to find another opportunity to go out with Hermione before the start of the school year, but as the Dark Mark continued to escalate in Europe, he finally understood why Peter Pettigrew had chosen to stay with the Weasleys.
This is indeed a primary source of information from within the Ministry of Magic.
"It's too chaotic; not a single department is idle."
Having finally found a chance to rush home for dinner, Percy said with great seriousness:
“For a whole week, I felt like a firefighter or some kind of search and rescue worker. Howling letters from all thirty-four counties were sent to our Department of International Magical Exchange and Cooperation. You know, if you don’t open the howling letters immediately, they explode. My desk, my chair, and the carpet under my feet are now covered in burn marks, even the quill pen that Penelope Crivart gave me last year is charred.”
"A roaring letter? Weren't there no casualties? Why send a roaring letter?"
"Because many people want to scam compensation, Ginny."
Percy angrily stuffed a large piece of meat pie into his mouth and said:
“These people I’m dealing with aren’t students from the school. They’re far more cunning than any Slytherin kid. Take Mundungus-Fletcher, for example. He’s demanding the Ministry compensate him with a travel tent with 12 bedrooms and 8 bathrooms.”
Ginny, who was repairing secondhand textbooks by the fireplace in the living room, burst out laughing. She remembered seeing Fletcher sleeping there when she and Hermione were wandering around the campsite—in a tattered animal skin cloak propped up by sticks.
Mrs. Weasley wasn't amused by Percy's words; in fact, she hadn't laughed much all week. She glanced at the magical clock in the house that showed where everyone was and what they were doing, and asked Percy:
"Percy, why didn't your dad come back with you? His department has nothing to do with this event."
“My father has been busy making amends for his mistake of speaking out of turn to the female reporter these past few days. Speaking in public without consulting his superiors was a very unwise thing to do.”
Mo Ran was somewhat shocked by Percy's seemingly innate "civil servant physique" statement. In the original story, he hadn't paid much attention to this supporting character, only remembering that as a member of the Weasley family, he was one of the few who went astray but ultimately pulled back from the brink.
But Mrs. Weasley was different.
On the one hand, she felt very sorry for her overworked husband; but on the other hand, she couldn't believe that the son she had raised would say such ungrateful things.
“That’s all nonsense that Skeeter made up. How dare you blame your father for it? Besides, even if your father didn’t say anything, she would definitely write that the Ministry of Magic officials were meek and silent and dared not take responsibility!”
Bill, who was playing chess with Ron, agreed with his mother's statement.
He said:
“Dad is willing to work for the Ministry of Magic because he has always had a very strong sense of responsibility, but that doesn’t mean he did anything wrong, Percy. Also, Rita Skeeter never writes anything good about anyone. She once went to Gringotts for an interview and came back with a nickname for each of us.”
What's your nickname?
Ginny asked.
"The long-haired devil."
Percy said helplessly.
call!
The flames in the fireplace rose high, and Mr. Weasley suddenly jumped from "Going to work" to "On the way" on the Magic Clock, and then quickly jumped to "Home".
"Arthur!"
Mrs. Weasley called out and hurried into the kitchen.
Mr. Weasley, his face etched with exhaustion, forced a smile as he accepted the dinner Molly handed him. He and his wife exchanged a quick kiss on the cheek and sat down at the table to grumble:
“Well… things are really getting out of control. Rita Skeeter got her kicks after publishing her last article, and now she’s running around the Ministry of Magic whenever she gets the chance, searching for clues that she can use to commit all sorts of illegal acts. Just the other day she discovered Bertha’s disappearance, and now the Daily Prophet has practically turned all its attention to Bagman.”