the Gambler

Harry lowered his head to read "Physical Transfiguration for Beginners" that he had just borrowed from the library, poking potatoes in the bowl with the fork in his right hand indifferently.Animagus has always been his field of interest. If it can be turned into an animal that can easily escape surveillance, it will be of great convenience in war, just like Pettigrew Peter, even though he hates to affirm the other party.

"Hey bro, you're about to become a second Hermione," Ron said sarcastically.Harry and Hermione rolled their eyes at the same time.

"Perhaps Ronald Weasley, you should be the one who needs to understand the meaning of 'knowledge is power'," said Hermione angrily, pushing her dinner plate aside and holding a quill at ten Scrawled on the foot-long metamorphosis paper, "I won't help you with potions, I hope that's the result you expected."

"But Hermione—"

"No but, Ron, you can't always rely on us. Can you, Harry?" Hermione didn't even lift her head, the quill twitched wildly, and soon the red circle on it disappeared.The witch let out a long sigh of relief, rolled up her homework and stuffed it into her schoolbag, raised her eyebrows at Harry, "Have you finished the thesis assigned by Professor McGonagall?"

Harry raised the book in his hand to face Hermione, and answered vaguely.

"Human body deformation is an advanced field, maybe you should seek the help of Professor McGonagall."

"No need, I—" Harry's words were interrupted by a sudden flap of wings, and a fierce-looking Andean vulture landed in front of his desk, with a cylindrical bundle of parchment tied to its outstretched claws.He frowned, and the hawk gave an impatient cry and brought its talons under Harry's nose.As soon as the boy unwrapped the letter, it flapped its wings and quickly rushed out of the window and disappeared.Harry nuzzled his mouth and found that the eyes of the entire auditorium were focused on him.He threw the things into the schoolbag casually and continued to read the book.

"You don't want to know what it is? Maybe it's something very important." Ron poked his head to inquire, and he glanced at the faculty table, where many people showed obvious interest.Ron heard the way the Andean vulture stared at him just now, and frowned, "Seriously, who would choose this kind of raptor as an owl? I doubt he would peck off my finger."

"Maybe Voldemort can't tell," Harry said casually.

Ron said with a smile: "He does seem like a guy with this special hobby. The more perverted, the more in line with his personality."

"I'm not joking, Ron."

This time, Harry was finally satisfied to see his friend's pale face, and even the people around him looked at him strangely.Harry shrugged, closed the textbook indifferently, pulled out the parchment again and spread it out. It was an unpublished "Daily Prophet" still smelling of ink. On the huge photo on the front page, a handsome man Holding Lucius' hand, he had a smile on his face that could confuse all witches and some wizards.

Voldemort.Why is he not surprised at all.

Harry's chuckle made both Ron and Hermione's eyes widen in surprise, as if he had grown two heads.Harry glanced over at Tom, who narrowed his eyes suspiciously.Some kind of intuition told Harry that the already fragile alliance between Voldemort and Tom had officially announced its disintegration. He raised his glass to salute Dumbledore, and the old man smiled kindly.Harry waved his wand and cast a silencing spell to his friends who were waiting for his explanation before he explained: "Voldemort and Tom jointly planned the attack on the Hogwarts Express. I haven't figured out why yet, but I will always know. , Headmaster Dumbledore advised me to wait patiently—” He pointed to the photo of Voldemort smiling charmingly at him and continued, “It seems that Voldemort wants to hide his true identity and switch to politics. This is very interesting, the name he uses is Thomas Gunter, that is, intends to deliberately present a false relationship with Marvolo to the public."

"His lineage will be exposed because of this. Another descendant of Slytherin, which will greatly help his status in the Ministry of Magic." Hermione nodded, "And two years ago, Principal Dumbledore announced that Ma Volo is his distant relative."

"What does that mean?" Ron frowned, he didn't like to analyze such intricate things.

"To a certain extent, his actions restrained Dumbledore and Tom at the same time," Harry took over the topic, "None of the three could reveal the truth about Voldemort, and exposure would be a devastating blow to either party."

"Damn it!" Ron couldn't help cursing, he could picture in his mind the expressions of his family members when they saw the news.Mother must be anxious like an ant on a hot pot, and maybe she will also consider asking father to give up his job at the Ministry of Magic and stay away from the Dark Lord.Bill and Charlie probably weren't much different.Percy, being Percy, he was the only one who didn't know the truth. Since the DA incident, he had moved out of the Burrow, God knows where he rented it, and he might be buried in the parchment to study the quality of the crucible.The twins might be researching something that could directly blow up the Dark Lord, and maybe the entire Ministry of Magic is on their attack list.

And Ginny, Ron looked up, his sister was eyeing them suspiciously, Ron swallowed, he needed to tell each other earlier, a private place.If Ginny accidentally screamed, the whole situation would go very badly.Ron turned his body to block Ginny's view. Harry and Hermione were still having a heated discussion, but he was in no mood to continue listening. Just the thought of the Dark Lord turning into a politician gave him the urge to faint.

"Voldemort is such a genius, and he is the most proud of the current situation." Harry ended the conversation.

Neville's wink caught Harry's attention, and he turned his head to see Dumbledore standing behind him, a pleasant smile on his face.Harry noticed a particularly serious-looking wizard at arm's length from the old man.With dark brown hair and sharp yellow eyes hidden by a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, Harry could sense the majesty of a man above him.The wizard took a step forward, his left foot seemed to be a little lame, but he still couldn't hide the tough aura emanating from his body.

Harry waved off the Silencing Charm.

"Rufus Scrimgeour." Seeing some familiar wizards introduced, his broad palm stretched forward, with a taste of looking down on the world.That is the attitude of a leader who has been in a high position for a long time.

"Harry Potter," Harry replied, and the man's hands holding him were calloused, presumably from years of wand use.

Scrimgeour stood upright, his sharp eyes seemed to pierce Harry's head, and the boy met his scrutinizing eyes firmly.The two looked at each other for a moment, Scrimgeour nodded, then turned to look at Dumbledore: "I hope to have a private talk with Mr. Potter."

"Of course." Dumbledore said cheerfully, and the golden snitch on the fuchsia robe frantically vibrated its wings and flew around its arms to the front of the skirt.Scrimgeour's right eyelid twitched indistinctly.As if Dumbledore hadn't noticed, he strode Harry and Scrimgeour out of the Great Hall and back into the headmaster's office.There were a lot of parchments and books scattered on the desk, and the headmaster waved his wand, and those things all jumped into the cabinet one by one.The sound of the glass door closing woke Fox, who was squinting and taking a nap on the shelf, and the phoenix chirped sweetly towards Harry.Scrimgeour looked at Fox curiously.

Dumbledore cleared his throat: "I'm sure this conversation will be very pleasant." His gaze was directed at Scrimgeour, and Harry could read the threat from it. It seemed that the headmaster was not happy that Scrimgeour had come to see him.He recalled the reports before the start of the semester that Scrimgeour seemed to have disagreements with Dumbledore in many aspects. Of course, the headmaster had assured that the other party was a decisive and resolute person who could take on the important role of Minister of Magic at this stage.

"Naturally." Scrimgeour said indifferently, his crutches clicking against the floor. "A private conversation, Dumbledore."

Dumbledore smiled softly, gave Harry one last look, and left.

The atmosphere in the headmaster's room became tense in an instant. Scrimgeour motioned for Harry to sit down opposite him, but the latter didn't speak.After a while, Scrimgeour said: "I have wanted to see you for a long time, Mr. Potter, but Dumbledore has always refused my visit. He is very protective of you, which is understandable, especially what happened at the Ministry of Magic." Later. About your prophecy - the savior," he tried to sound light-hearted, but it was by no means a man's usual attitude, because it seemed to Harry that it was all blunt, "I don't mind if it's true, Dumbledore must have talked to you? Mind telling me what he's up to?"

"That's a secret between us, sir."

"Yes, even if you knew, you wouldn't tell me. It doesn't matter whether the name of the savior is true or not, the key is what the public thinks," Scrimgeour said. "I hope you will stand up and support the Ministry of Magic. Now with the The activities of Death Eaters have become more and more frequent, and everyone has gradually lost confidence in the Ministry of Magic. You are the hope of defeating the Dark Lord, of course, I am not asking you to face him alone," he gave a dry laugh, "otherwise the existence of Aurors There's no point. I thought you might consider visiting the Ministry of Magic, or rather the Auror Ministry, where I hear your future aspirations lie. Your participation will rekindle hope for everyone."

"I'm sorry to reject your suggestion. To be honest, I don't like the Ministry of Magic at all." Harry said dryly. Should it be on catching Death Eaters? The recent reports are not very good, sir. Is it a coincidence that the Aurors are always one step behind? In my opinion, it is more important to clear the eyeliner planted by Voldemort in the Ministry of Magic .”

"You suspect an insider." Scrimgeour became really serious this time, "but I can tell you that's impossible. We've checked all possible Ministry of Magic officials to make sure they don't have the Dark Mark on them. All proud Luo can swear on his life that they will never reveal their actions."

"So tell me, how did you get word of the Death Eaters?"

"That's not something you're supposed to know," said Scrimgeour coldly, having dropped any pretense of friendliness. "You just have to say something in support of the Ministry."

"I refuse again." Harry stood up, leaving the Minister of Magic behind, and the moment he stepped out of the headmaster's office, he turned his head to look at the man who was still staring at him, "If it was me, I would check to see if anyone has the Imperius Curse , Your Excellency. Also, the Dark Mark is not the only thing that bears witness to the Death Eaters."