Harry Potter and the Old Ones

After saying this, there was no movement from the Tarot cards.

Harry took his eyes away from his tarot cards with difficulty and glanced at the people who were stunned with fear.

"What are you waiting for?" Harry shouted, "Run!"

They all rushed to the exit at once, huddled together at the door, and then someone suddenly rushed out.

Harry heard them running down the corridor and hoped they were smart enough not to run all the way back to their dormitories.

The chances of that were too slim, the library and the owlery were much closer, and if they could just hide in—

"Harry, let's go!" Hermione screamed in the crowd who were struggling to squeeze out, and then quickly ran out.

Harry glanced to both sides. The others were running so fast that he could only catch a glimpse of flying heels before they disappeared at either end of the corridor.

He started to run to the right. There was a boys' bathroom in front of him. As long as he could run to it, he could pretend that he was always there——

"Oops!" Something caught his feet, and he fell suddenly, sliding six feet to the ground before he came to a stop.

Someone laughed behind him.

He turned over and saw Malfoy hiding in an alcove beneath an ugly dragon-shaped decorative vase.

"The leg tripping curse, Potter!" said Malfoy. "Hey, Professor—Professor! Professor! I caught one!"

Umbridge hurried around the far corner, panting but with a happy smile on her face.

"It's him!" she said happily when she saw Harry on the floor. "Great, Draco, great, ha, great - fifty points for Slytherin! I'll do it Take him away?? Get up, Potter!"

Harry stood up and glared at them both.

He had never seen Umbridge so happy. She gripped his arm in a vice-like grip and turned towards Malfoy with a smile on her face.

"Go and see if you can catch a few more, Draco," she said, "and ask the others to go to the library—to check if there's anyone out of breath—and to check the bathrooms. , Miss Romanoff can check the girls’ bathroom—you go ahead—and you—”

As Malfoy walked away, Umbridge added in her most gentle and frightening voice, "You come with me to the Great Hall, Potter."

Harry was almost half pulled and half dragged by Umbridge to the Great Hall. Along the way, Harry could also see other members of Dumbledore's Army being pulled or pulled by other members of the Disciplinary Inspection Team. Bound by a spell, they were escorted to the auditorium together.

When Harry arrived at the Great Hall, he found it crowded with people.

Dumbledore sat in the main seat of the classroom with a smile on his face, tapping his thin fingers on the table.

Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick stood upright in front of the teacher's chair, blocking Dumbledore, looking at the dark crowd in the auditorium with vigilance and hostility.

Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge stood at the back of the crowd, swaying back and forth excitedly, obviously very satisfied with the current situation.

And among the crowd that filled the auditorium, standing at the front was Kingsley Shacklebolt and another wizard who looked like a guard. The wizard looked strong and had short straight hair. Harry had never seen him before.

The other people in the auditorium seemed to be Aurors. Although their clothes were all kinds of strange, everyone's backs were straight and their expressionless faces gave people a solemn feeling. At first glance, they looked like they were... Coming out of the bloody storm.

Freckled and bespectacled Percy Weasley paced excitedly by the wall, holding a quill and a thick roll of parchment, obviously ready to take notes.

Following Harry were other members of Dumbledore's Army——

Neville, Hermione, Ron, Seamus, Dean, Qiu Zhang, Luna...

Most of them were escorted in by Hathaway Romanoff, and most of them had very obvious scars on their bodies.

After the door closed, Harry viciously shook off Umbridge who was holding him tightly.

Cornelius Fudge glared at him angrily, with an expression of schadenfreude on his face.

"Okay," he said, "Okay, okay, okay."

Harry summoned all his courage and gave Fudge a hard look. His heart was beating fast, but his mind was surprisingly calm and clear.

"He's on his way back to Gryffindor Tower," Umbridge said. There was a very inappropriate excitement in her tone.

"Really, really?" Fudge said approvingly, "I have to remember to tell Lucius. Now, Potter, I think you should know why you are here, right?"

Harry made up his mind and wanted to respond with a contemptuous "Yes", but when he caught a glimpse of Dumbledore's expression, he had already opened his mouth and said the word halfway.

Dumbledore just looked at him with a smile, leaning on his seat as calmly as usual, and shook his head gently, the movement so small that it was almost imperceptible.

Harry changed his tune mid-sentence.

"I don't know."

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Fudge said.

"I don't know," Harry said firmly.

"You don't know why you are here?" Fudge asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, I don't know," said Harry.

Fudge looked at Harry suspiciously, then at Professor Umbridge.

Harry took advantage of his momentary inattention and glanced at Dumbledore furtively. Dumbledore nodded with the slightest movement, winked slightly and made a face.

Harry felt suddenly at peace.

"Then you don't know," Fudge said with unabashed sarcasm, "Why did Professor Umbridge bring you to this office? Don't you realize that you have violated school rules?"

"School rules?" Harry said, "No."

"What about the Ministry of Magic's decree?" Fudge asked angrily, changing his angle.

"At least it doesn't violate any laws I know about," Harry said calmly.

His heart was still beating rapidly.

It was worth telling these lies just to see Fudge's blood pressure rise, but he couldn't see how he could escape their punishment. If someone had already leaked the D.A.'s situation to Umbridge, then he The leader may have to pack up and leave immediately.

"So, this is the first time you've heard," Fudge said, his tone now filled with anger, "that an illegal student organization has been discovered in this school?"

"Yeah, that's right," Harry said, with a look of disbelief on his face, like he didn't know anything and was very surprised.

"Minister, I think," Umbridge said softly next to Harry, "if I bring the whistleblower, maybe our progress will be faster."

"Yes, yes, go ahead." Fudge nodded and said. After Umbridge left the room, he glanced at Dumbledore maliciously. "Nothing can make a good witness, right, Dumbledore?" Bullido?”

"That's right, Cornelius." Dumbledore nodded and said in a low voice.

Everyone waited for a few minutes, no one looking at anyone, and then Harry heard the door open behind him.

Umbridge walked past him into the room, clutching the shoulder of Cho Chang's curly friend, Marietta.

"Don't panic, dear, don't be afraid." Professor Umbridge patted her back gently and said softly, "It's okay now. You did it right. The minister is very satisfied with you. He will tell you Mom, you are a good girl."

"Minister, Marietta's mother." She looked up at Fudge and added, "It's Mrs. Acmore from the Floo Network Office of the Department of Magical Transportation. As you know, she is helping us monitor Hogwarts." fire."

"Great, great!" Fudge said enthusiastically, "Like mother, like daughter, eh? Well, tell me, come on, dear, raise your head, don't be shy, let us listen Your statement."

"Yes, it's like this..." Marietta didn't dare to look at Harry and the others, and could only stare at Cornelius Fudge intently, "Last semester...around December...Hermione suddenly summoned us... ...said Harry was going to teach us Defense Against the Dark Arts...and we went to the party...and...and...and then we found out that the person teaching us was-"

"I'll do the rest." Umbridge said with a sweet smile, "That's right, Minister, tonight, this Miss Acmore came to my office shortly after dinner and told me that she had some She wanted to tell me something. She said I would find something good for me if I entered a secret room on the eighth floor, which is said to be sometimes called the Room of Requirement. When I questioned her further, she admitted that there was someone there. He held a party and said he would take us there."

"Oh, that's right." Fudge said, staring at Marietta with what he thought was a kind and kind expression. "You went and informed Professor Umbridge, dear, that was very brave of you. Your behavior was absolutely correct. Now, would you like to tell me what happened at the party? What was the purpose of the party? Who was there?"

"I have seized their notes here." As she spoke, Umbridge waved her wand, and several thick notebooks flew out from nowhere and landed lightly in front of Cornelius Fudge.

"Minister, take a look," Umbridge said, "Look at these notebooks. They use arithmetic formulas instead of Latin and ancient runes to learn spells and ritual magic. This is the behavior of a demon wizard! And these notes, What kind of revolution, what kind of reform, what kind of distribution of production means, what kind of feudal landlords, these are all some cancerous ideas! Dumbledore is poisoning these little wizards both magically and ideologically!"

"You may remember, Minister, that I reported to you in October that Potter had met many of his classmates at the Hog's Head in Hogsmeade—"

"Do you have any evidence for this?" Professor McGonagall interjected.

"I have Willy Widdershin's testimony, Minerva, that he happened to be in the bar at the time. He did have a lot of gauze wrapped around him, but his hearing was not damaged at all." Umbridge said proudly, "He heard everything Potter said and hurried directly to the school to report to me——"

"Oh, it turns out that it was because of this incident that he was exempted from prosecution for the toilet sewage backflow incident he caused!" Professor McGonagall raised her eyebrows and said, "Our judicial system is really eye-opening!"

"Potter met these students," Professor Umbridge continued, "to persuade them to join an illegal group. The goal of this group is to learn some spells, curses and connections to summon demons, and to spread cancerous ideas. Intent on subverting the Ministry of Magic!"

"I think you will find that you are mistaken about this, Dolores," Dumbledore said softly, half-moon glasses drooping on the bridge of his nose, and he was staring at Umbridge over them .

Harry looked at Dumbledore. He couldn't think of what Dumbledore could say to save him, and if Willy Widdershin had indeed heard everything he said in the Hog's Head, there would be no way out for him.

"Aha!" Fudge said, jumping up and down on tiptoes again, like a clown, "Okay, in order to save Potter, he made up a new weird story, please let us listen. OK! Then go on, Dumbledore, go on - was Willy Widdershin lying? Or was it Potter's identical twin brother in the Hog's Head that day? Or just the usual simple Explain, what time is reversed, a dead man is resurrected, and there are two invisible dementors?"

Percy Weasley burst out laughing.

"Oh, that's so well said, Minister, so well said!"

Harry wanted to kick him. But he was surprised to see that Dumbledore was also smiling gently, "Cornelly, I neither denied nor confirmed whether Harry was in the Pig's Head Bar that day or whether he wanted to recruit students to join the Defense Against the Dark Arts team. I just Just to point out that Dolores's insinuation that a group like that was illegal at the time made absolutely no sense. If you remember, it wasn't until two days after Harry's Hogsmeade party that the Ministry of Magic outlawed all student societies. It just came into effect, so he didn't break any rules when he was at the Hog's Head."

Percy looked like he'd been hit head-on with something very heavy, and Fudge was only halfway through his jump when he opened his mouth wide and stopped moving.

Umbridge was the first to come to her senses.

"These are all good, Principal." She said with a friendly smile, "But now we have implemented "Education Order No. 24" for nearly six months. Although the first gathering was not illegal, all the events since then have All gatherings must be illegal.”

"And we also seized a list!" Umbridge said angrily. To Harry's horror, she took out the list nailed to the wall of the Room of Requirement from her pocket and handed it to Fudge, "One When I saw Porter's name on that list, I knew who we were dealing with."

"That's great," Fudge said, smiling again. "That's great, Dolores, let me see, oh, my God!"

"Look what they named themselves?" Fudge said softly, "D.A... Dumbledore's Army! This is your army Dumbledore!"

"No! No!" Harry said anxiously, "No, this means-"

"I'm glad you defended me, Mr. Potter," Dumbledore said to Harry, "It's very noble, but this piece of paper clearly says Dumbledore's Army, not Potter's Army."

"You?" Cornelius Fudge shouted in surprise.

"That's right." Dumbledore said happily and nonchalantly.

Professor McGonagall and Flitwick looked at Dumbledore in surprise.

"Did you organize this?" Cornelius Fudge asked again ecstatically.

"I organized it," Dumbledore said.

"You recruit these students to join your army?"

"Of course, we have been training for a while." Dumbledore nodded and said, "And to be honest, these children are very smart, and the training has already had a certain effect."

"Then you are indeed plotting against me!" cried Cornelius Fudge, his chest heaving violently.

"That's right." Dumbledore said happily, "I've had enough of seeing mediocre people sitting in the position of Minister of Magic."

"No!" Harry shouted. Kingsley, who was standing at the front, gave him a quick warning look. Professor McGonagall opened her eyes wide and warned him, but Harry suddenly realized Dumbledore's intention. He couldn't let him do that.

"No—Professor Dumbledore—"

"Shh..." Dumbledore put a finger to his lips, "Shh..."

"Weasley, have you written down all of this? What he said, his confession, have you written down?"

"Yes, sir, I think so, sir!" said Percy eagerly. His nose was splattered with ink as he took notes so quickly.

"He wants to build an army against the Ministry of Magic. He wants to overthrow me. Is this recorded?"

"Yes, sir, I noted it, yes!" said Percy, looking happily through the records.

"Very well, then," said Fudge, now radiant with joy, "make a copy of your record, Weasley, and send a copy to the Daily Prophet immediately. If we send a fast owl, we can still Catch this morning’s edition!”

Percy ran out of the house quickly and closed the door behind him. Fudge turned towards Dumbledore and said, "You will now be escorted to the Ministry of Magic, where you will be formally charged and then sent to Azka." Ban awaits trial!”

"Ah," Dumbledore said softly, "yes. However, I think we may have encountered a slight difficulty."

"Difficulty?" said Fudge, his voice still shaking with joy. "I don't see any difficulty, Dumbledore!"

"Well - you seem to have the illusion that I will - what do you mean? Oh, yes, sit back and die. I'm afraid I won't sit back and die at all, Connelly. I don't want to be sent to Aziz at all. Caban. Of course, I can escape - but what a waste of time, and frankly, I remember that I still have a lot of things to do, and I would rather do those things." Dumbledore stood relaxed He stood up and waved his hands at the same time, seeming to signal Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick to step aside.

Out of trust in Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall moved aside, as did Professor Flitwick.

Umbridge's face turned redder and redder, and she looked as if she had been filled with boiling water.

Fudge stared at Dumbledore with a silly expression on his face, as if he had been suddenly blinded and couldn't believe that this had happened.

"Very well, Dolores Umbridge." Dumbledore smiled at Umbridge, "I see you have absorbed my advice and brought nearly two-thirds of the Aurors in the Ministry of Magic. It's New Year's Eve, which is nice...but if I remember correctly...I suggest you bring all the Aurors from the Ministry of Magic."

"That's enough!" Umbridge yelled viciously, "Arrest him!"