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Chapter 1144: The Minister's Office
🕑 Added 2024-06-20 16:47:27 +0000 UTCThe lift slowly went up. There was only Evan inside, standing in the corner, wearing the Invisibility Cloak.
"Level one, Minister for Magic and Support Staff."
The golden slid apart again. In front of Evan was a spacious corridor connected to the oval building not far away.
The corridor was quiet, no one was there, and the floor was covered with thick carpets. Through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows on both sides, one could see the Atrium of the Ministry of Magic and the flow of people. Dozens of escalators were changing positions, which was very spectacular.
Evan looked down for a while, but didn't see Riddle. He didn't know where this guy had gone!
Since Delphi wouldn't be able to come out from Percy for a while, he decided to go to Hermione's office himself to get the Time-Turner.
Evan continued to move forward along the corridor, and after passing through the huge window, many gleaming wooden doors began to appear on both sides of the corridor.
Each door bore a small plaque with the owner’s name and occupation upon it, arranged in a neat row.
Evan thought he had entered the oval-shaped building. He began to pay attention to the names on the doors, searching for Hermione's office.
After turning a corner and walking for a while, the corridor led to a wide, open space.
About forty witches and wizards sat in rows at partitioned small desks. The desks were piled with documents. Many of them were busy reading documents or writing reports. Evan even saw three quills moving in front of a wizard at the same time.
He stopped to look at an unoccupied desk. These wizards were all assistants to the Minister, responsible for drafting various documents.
Fudge only had Percy as his assistant, but Hermione needed nearly fifty people. The workload was unimaginable.
"Finally finished this report," Evan heard a witch in the adjacent cubicle say. "I heard that the Muggle Affairs Management and Control Division is using those things called computers made by Muggles to write reports. They can automatically complete the needed tasks, while we still have to write by hand. It's absurd!"
"Many wizards think those things are unsafe and could explode at any time," responded a wizard next to her in a low voice. "In fact, it's necessary to maintain proper caution. I'm not too comfortable with things that run on electricity either, but there's no way to start a computer with magic. Those Muggle items are quite complex...."
"The conservative wizard's thinking, the Muggles are developing faster and faster, but you people turn a blind eye and are still immersed in the past. I don't see the difference between using electricity and using magic. As long as it can help us get rid of these tedious tasks, it's fine. My house is full of electrical appliances, and I haven't seen any of them explode!" The witch replied, stretching lazily. "Speaking of which, I hope that the Minister's reform bill passes this time."
"There shouldn't be any problem. There are many wizards supporting her."
"By then, the Minister should schedule a vacation for herself. She spends too much time on work!"
"I don't think that's possible. She hasn't had a vacation for five consecutive years!" said the wizard. "You should really listen to what the people in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement say about her. During her tenure as Head, they passed more laws and amendments than in the entire previous century, and working overtime overnight has almost become the norm."
"The Minister is good at everything, but she's just too dedicated to her work!"
"The current Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement is not so strong. I heard..."
This really sounded like Hermione, spending most of her time on work.
Evan had planned to continue listening, but he saw Hermione walking in from the end of the corridor.
The previously relaxed office atmosphere immediately became tense. He carefully passed through the partitioned desks and followed Hermione.
This person was obviously Delphi, because she looked very nervous. When others greeted her, her body was shaking slightly, very unnatural. It was unclear how she managed to deal with Percy. The two of them came to the polished mahogany door at the end of the hall. The sign on it clearly read:
Hermione Mason
Minister of Magic
Delphi knocked on the door with her wand, and the door opened in response.
Evan followed her into Hermione's office and closed the door behind him.
"Evan, are you there?" Delphi asked in a trembling voice.
"Yeah," Evan removed the Invisibility Cloak.
"Thank goodness! I thought you hadn't followed me. Just now, Percy Weasley, the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, called me over. He was asking my opinion on the upcoming amendments. I didn't dare to say too much, fearing he'd become suspicious. I told him I was feeling unwell and hurriedly ran up here," said Delphi, still shaken. "Alright, Evan, where do you think the Time-Turner might be hidden? We must find it quickly and leave before the Polyjuice Potion loses its effect."
"There’s something strange about the magic here," Evan said, taking out his wand. "Accio Time-Turner!"
As expected, there was no reaction. Hermione was very proficient in protective spells.
He took two steps forward and looked at the room.
Hermione's office was large and simply decorated. The rows of bookshelves around it were the most eye-catching.
There were thousands of magic books on them, making Evan feel like he was back in the Hogwarts library.
In the center was a large desk, also piled with documents.
Evan also saw a photo of him and Hermione, with three children on it.
There was a boy and two girls, about eight or nine years old, all smiling brightly.
This photo, along with some of Hermione's unique habits evident in the room, gave Evan a strange sense of familiarity.
Did he and Hermione have three children here?
Evan's current position felt a bit odd—sneaking into his future wife's office to steal something...
"This place is really big. It could be hidden anywhere," said Delphi. "Finding it within an hour is practically impossible."
"Have you noticed the books on these shelves?" Evan walked around the desk and came to the big bookshelf at the back.
He could feel the traces of magic on it. Obviously, Hermione had carefully arranged this place.
She knew that Evan would come and left enough traces to attract his attention, but she didn't intend to hand over the Time-Turner directly to him.
"Hmm, solving puzzles?"
The bookshelf held a vast number of books, including ordinary magic books, deep and complex history and politics volumes that only Hermione would read for leisure, and many forbidden and cursed magic books, many of which Evan had never seen before.
