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Chapter 1148: Return
🕑 Added 2024-06-20 16:48:00 +0000 UTCEvan waved his wand hastily, and Dumbledore also cast his magic.
Blue and white lights flashed, and they and Voldemort disappeared, leaving Bellatrix lying on the ground.
Voldemort ruthlessly abandoned her and only cared about his own life.
"MASTER!" Bellatrix screamed, and Dumbledore's magic controlled her.
Everyone in the Atrium stared in shock at Bellatrix and the spot where Voldemort had disappeared.
Fudge gasped for breath, and he looked like he was about to suffocate.
"Merlin’s beard, that was..."
"What on earth is going on? Who is this woman?"
"She is Bellatrix Lestrange, the Death Eater who escaped from Azkaban not long ago, but..."
"I saw him, Mr. Fudge, I swear I saw You-Know-Who, he Disapparated!"
"I know, Williamson, I know, I saw him too!" gibbered Fudge. He looked at the place where Voldemort had disappeared in disbelief, and turned his head quickly to look at Dumbledore, “Merlin’s beard — here — here! — in the Ministry of Magic! — great heavens above — it doesn’t seem possible — my word — how can this be?"
“If you proceed downstairs into the Department of Mysteries, Cornelius," said Dumbledore softly. After confirming that Harry was fine, he stood up. He was not so angry and was obviously very satisfied with the current situation, "you will find dozens of Death Eaters, bound by an Anti-Disapparition Jinx and awaiting your decision as to what to do with them."
"Dumbledore!" Fudge seemed unsure of what to say, the recent events had frightened him, whether it was Dumbledore's roar or Voldemort's subsequent appearance. He hesitated for a long time before saying slowly, "Those wizards who escaped from prison are in cahoots with you."
"Just a few minutes ago you saw proof, with your own eyes, that I have been telling you the truth for a year. Lord Voldemort has returned! And in the past twelve months, you have been wasting time, giving wrong orders, doing foolish things, squandering precious time," said Dumbledore. "These people are all Death Eaters. If you still refuse to believe me, you can interrogate them and you will know everything you want to know. Now is the time, you should learn to use your brain!"
“I — don’t — well —” blustered Fudge, looking around as though hoping somebody was going to tell him what to do. When nobody did, he reluctantly said, “Very well — Dawlish! Williamson! Go down to the Department of Mysteries and see … Percival, keep an eye on this woman! Alright, Dumbledore, alright, I need to talk to you, you will need to tell me what on earth is going on? Why are you in the Ministry of Magic tonight?"
“We can discuss that after I have sent Evan and Harry back to Hogwarts," said Dumbledore.
"Evan Mason, Harry Potter, and Sirius Black!" Fudge spun around and stared at the three of them, as if this would clarify everything, "Yes, they are here too, why? Damn — what’s all this about?"
"I shall explain everything," repeated Dumbledore, "when Evan and Harry are back at school."
He walked to a broken statue fragment, pointed his wand at it and muttered, "Portus!"
The fragment glowed blue and trembled noisily against the wooden floor for a few seconds, then became still once more.
“Now see here, Dumbledore!" said Fudge immediately, as if he finally understood what was going on. “You haven’t got authorization for that Portkey! You can’t do things like that right in front of the Minister of Magic, you — you —”
His voice faltered as Dumbledore surveyed him magisterially over his half-moon spectacles.
“You will give the order to remove Dolores Umbridge from Hogwarts,” said Dumbledore. "You are to withdraw the arrest warrants for myself, Evan, Hermione and Elaine. In addition, you will tell your Aurors to stop searching for my Care of Magical Creatures teacher, Sirius Black and the Slytherin clan vampires, and immediately stop the conflict with the Centaurs. It is meaningless. Also, end the censorship of Hogwarts Magic News."
"What, do you even know what you are talking about? Dolores is still missing..."
"I will help you find her," said Dumbledore. He pulled a watch with twelve hands from his pocket and glanced at it. "When you have done these things, I will give you half an hour of my time tonight, in which I think we shall be more than able to cover the important points of what has happened here. After that, I shall need to return to my school. If you need more help from me you are, of course, more than welcome to contact me at Hogwarts. Letters addressed to the headmaster will find me."
“I — you — you —" Fudge goggled worse than ever. His mouth was open and his round face grew pinker under his rumpled gray hair.
Dumbledore turned his back on him without answering him and came to Evan and Harry.
"Evan, Harry, you two go back to school first. I shall see you in half an hour," he continued. "Sirius, I need you to go to the vampire castle and take Hermione and Elaine back to school."
"All right!" said Sirius.
Evan and Harry placed their fingers on the Portkey and Dumbledore counted softly to three. They felt the sensation of a hook being jerked behind their navel. The polished wooden floor was gone from beneath their feet; the Atrium, Fudge, Dumbledore and Sirius disappeared, and the two of them were flying forward in a whirlwind of color and sound.
Evan was back in Hogwarts, his feet hit solid ground, and Harry was beside him.
The Portkey fell with a resounding clunk to the floor.
"Where are we?"
"Dumbledore's office," said Evan, collapsing into a chair. There had been too much happening tonight.
The office was quiet, everything still.
Everything seemed to have repaired itself during the headmaster’s absence.
The delicate silver instruments stood again upon the spindle-legged tables, puffing and whirring serenely.
The portraits of the headmasters and headmistresses were snoozing in their frames, heads lolling back in armchairs or against the edge of their pictures.
Outside the window, there was a cool line of pale green along the horizon: Dawn was approaching.
Evan was sure that these portraits had been awake before they came, and were still peeking at them.
"Evan, why did you fall from the sky just now?" Harry asked, a little uncomfortable with the silence here.
"Oh, that's a long story. I took a trip to the future."
