Chapter 402 July Begins
A lot happened in the first week of July.
As soon as the semester ended, Hagrid, Fleur and Maxime set out to search for the giants according to the clues given by Dumbledore.
Their mission this time was to give gifts to the giants and make friends with them. This is because the giants have been excluded by wizards for many years and were eventually expelled to uninhabited mountains to fend for themselves, so the giants' impression of wizards is definitely not friendly.
As long as Voldemort takes advantage of this and gives them the opportunity to retaliate against wizards, they are likely to join the Death Eaters.
The mission of Hagrid and his team is to avoid the above situation. Even if they cannot get the support of the giants, they hope that the giants can at least not intervene in the war between wizards.
The place where the giants are located is the Ural Mountains in eastern Russia, so Hagrid and his team packed up and set off to the east. Unfortunately, their journey was not smooth. The Ministry of Magic had already started monitoring the people around Dumbledore. Hagrid and his team were targeted by the Ministry of Magic as soon as they left Hogwarts.
Therefore, they had to go to France first, pretending to visit Beauxbatons first, and then travel around the countryside of France. It was not until they finally got rid of their monitors in Dijon and officially set out on the journey to the Ural Mountains.
Before leaving France, Fleur used special means to pass information to her family. Not to mention Hagrid, even the always shrewd Maxim didn't notice it at all.
The Delacour family also listed this matter as the family's top priority and quickly sent all kinds of important information to Schelling through the elves.
...
Today, Schelling's intelligence network has expanded to an extremely amazing extent.
Schelling receives countless intelligence at the same time every day.
Among them is the intelligence of the Order of the Phoenix.
In the first week after the holiday, according to Dumbledore's suggestion, the Weasley family moved into the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix in London, the Black ancestral home at 12 Grimmauld Place.
The reason given by Dumbledore was that the Weasley family had both big and small children, and it was difficult to take care of the children's safety when Mr. Wesley was not at home. It was also no secret that Mr. Wesley had a close relationship with Dumbledore.
For the safety of the whole family, it was best to move away from the Burrow, which was easily attacked. In the Black ancestral house, there was not only the protection of the Fidelius Charm, but at least other members of the Order of the Phoenix would take care of them.
However, not everyone appreciated this kindness.
For example, the third son of the Weasley family, Percy Wesley.
Percy originally thought that he would miss the job in the Ministry of Magic that he had been dreaming of because of his dereliction of duty in the case of Mr. Crouch's disappearance.
Unexpectedly, just at the beginning of July, the Ministry of Magic announced the end of the investigation into his dereliction of duty. Not only did they not impose any punishment, but they also gave him the opportunity to become a permanent employee and a personal assistant to the Minister of Magic, which was a great opportunity to rise to the top in one step.
Ambitious Percy naturally seized this opportunity.
Unexpectedly, Mr. Wesley not only did not have any words of praise for his promotion, but strongly opposed it. He believed that this was a conspiracy by Fudge to use Percy to monitor him.
In this way, Percy had a big quarrel with his family, moved out of London alone, and completely cut off contact with his family.
In this way, Mrs. Wesley lost one son, but gained the return of another son.
Her eldest son Bill Wesley also joined the Order of the Phoenix. He applied for a clerical job at Gringotts in London and moved into the Black ancestral home to reunite with his family.
Originally, her second son, Charlie Wesley, who worked at the dragon farm in Romania, also planned to resign and return to Great Britain, but Dumbledore believed that Charlie's stay in Romania could recruit foreign wizards to join the Order of the Phoenix and absorb new blood for the Order of the Phoenix, which was somewhat short of successors.
This was exactly what Schelling wanted. There were many of Schelling's spies in the Romanian dragon farm. No matter who Charlie had contacted, he could not escape Schelling's intelligence network.
In addition to the Weasleys, the Black family also welcomed a guest. For Hermione's safety, Dumbledore also wrote to Hermione's parents and asked for their consent to let Hermione spend the entire summer vacation at the Black family home.
The Black family home is equipped with many powerful shielding and defense magic. Although Schelling's intelligence network cannot know what happened in the Black family home, Schelling, who is familiar with the original book, knows that Hermione and others have been busy cleaning the family home.
Of course, this is not just Schelling's inference from the original plot in his memory. The information that Mrs. Weasley frequently goes in and out of Diagon Alley to buy the Vixen Eliminator also confirms this.
...
Next is the information about the Ministry of Magic.
These days, Dumbledore has lost his reputation in the Ministry of Magic.
Fudge clearly pointed out that anyone who has any connection with Dumbledore can no longer stay in the Ministry of Magic. Under the influence and pressure of the Ministry of Magic, the Daily Prophet portrayed Dumbledore as an old fool, and also described Harry Potter as a person who stirs up trouble everywhere and tries every means to attract attention, pretending to be a tragic hero for the sake of fame.
Under a lot of smears and propaganda, many ignorant people began to lose trust in Dumbledore and no longer believed anything Harry Potter said.
At the same time, the competition for the position of Director of the International Cooperation Department has also entered a white-hot stage. Fudge tried to support an unknown young wizard, Gross Misted, to become the new director, but encountered strong opposition from his two major political enemies, Amelia Bones and Rufus Scrimgeour, which made the situation stalemate.
It seems that it is urgent to let old Barty return.
…
The International Confederation of Wizards also has two pieces of intelligence.
The first piece of news is that Samuel Cohag, director of the International Confederation of Wizards' Prison Department, revealed in the media that there is news about the whereabouts of the previous generation of Dark Lord Grindelwald, who should have sneaked into the territory of Great Britain. The International Confederation of Wizards' Prison Department will soon send the International Auror Force to Great Britain to work hand in hand with the British Ministry of Magic to bring Grindelwald to justice.
The second piece of news is that the International Confederation of Wizards Education Department, which is an organization that specializes in selecting the world's best magic schools (currently only 11 magic schools can be included in the list), issued the latest announcement:
In view of the outstanding performance of Hogwarts Warrior Shaylin Malfoy in winning the Triwizard Tournament, after review by the Education Department, in this year's "European Magic Education Assessment", Hogwarts successfully defeated Durmstrang and Beauxbatons and became the first.
...
The next is the news in the sports world.
The first big news is that the International Confederation of Wizards Quidditch Committee (ICWQC) proposed a motion to limit the size and type of mascots, which was rejected.
There have been many precedents of mascots getting into trouble in large Quidditch events. This time, ICWQC finally couldn't help but limit the mascots to "herbivores, creatures smaller than cows, and creatures that cannot breathe fire". Unexpectedly, it aroused strong opposition from Quidditch fans around the world. Fans believe that mascots are the tradition and characteristics of Quidditch events and should not be interfered with.
When seeing this news, Schelling laughed it off. In short, this incident did not have much impact on Schelling's life. Schelling just regarded it as a piece of sports and entertainment news.
The second big news was the launch of the Eleven Stars, a broom made of Spanish oak, coated with anti-curse varnish, and with built-in vibration control. Its speed can increase from zero to seventy miles per hour in ten seconds.
The performance of this flying broom is naturally not as good as the expensive Firebolt, but it has become the leader in performance indicators among affordable brooms. It was very popular as soon as it was launched on the market, beating the Comet 260 in sales.
Well, Schelling vaguely remembered that when Ron became a prefect, Mrs. Weasley bought him this broom as a reward. Later, Ron was able to suddenly break out and defeat Slytherin in the Quidditch final. I think this flying broom also played an important role.
However, this is the responsibility of Draco, the Quidditch captain, and Schelling does not intend to intervene. As the future head of the Malfoy family, Draco must rely on himself to grow, and leading the Quidditch team is the beginning of his adaptation to power and leadership.
No mistakes, one post, one content, one 6, one 9, one book, one bar!
The third big news really surprised Sherin. Since the start of the Quidditch Anglo-Irish League this season, the team that has dominated the top spot is not the favorite Holyhead Harpies, nor the old powerhouse Puddlemere United, which came from behind because of Sherin's investment last year, but the always low-key dark horse Tutshill Tornado!
It must be said that the Tutshill Tornado performed very bravely at the beginning of the season, creating several miraculous reversals in succession. It is not an exaggeration to call it a blockbuster. Now it has become the favorite to win the championship, attracting many fans to start paying attention to them, and causing a trend of following the trend throughout Great Britain.
Sherin's mouth corners slightly raised. Isn't this the team mentioned in the original book that Zhang Qiu has supported since he was six years old?
Well, this can be planned well. Anyway, Xie Ling has plenty of money on hand now, and it seems to be a good idea to acquire another team.
...
Wiltshire, Malfoy Manor.
As a dazzling golden light flashed, the house scene in front of him began to change without warning, just like a movie special effect.
The powerful magic spread out, and Malfoy Manor seemed to be cast under a shrinking spell, and it seemed to be squeezed by the gardens on both sides, becoming narrower and narrower.
The protruding balcony and window sills on the wall, as well as the downward stairs in front of the door, were slowly retracted until they disappeared, and the two gardens that squeezed in were also pressed together with a light "bang".
This is the effect of the Fidelius Charm.
Its essence is not to protect a certain place, but to hide the secret in a person's soul, so as to achieve an effect similar to the guardian magic.
From now on, the location of Malfoy Manor is only known to the secret keeper, and no one else can enter, which also means that the Malfoy family officially withdraws from the world.
This was also the most reliable solution that Xie Ling felt. After all, he and his father had definitely offended Voldemort this time.
He was not afraid of Voldemort, but he had to worry that Voldemort would turn to deal with his family.
…
Xie Ling also personally visited the Greengrass family.
The atmosphere of Green Manor at this moment was completely different from that of last year. From a distance, one could feel the tranquility and solemnity. Many magic props for detecting intruders were added to the manor, such as magic mirrors and high-end peepholes, and many defensive magic circles could be seen everywhere.
In addition, Mr. Greengrass also spent a lot of money during this period to add a lot of guards to the manor. He not only hired 4 retired elite Aurors, but also arranged olfactory and strictly trained swallowtails in the front and back yards, and even secretly raised a three-headed dog.
Not to mention, Daphne's overall combat power is not inferior to any elite Auror. With such a level of defense, it is indeed enough to make Sherin feel at ease.
As for Murray's parents, the McDougals went to France under Sherin's arrangement.
Luna's father heard the news of the appearance of the Scimitar Snorlax and had already set off to Sweden to inquire. He would not come back for one or two years.
If Sherin guessed correctly, this wizard war would probably be confined to the land of Great Britain as described in the original book.
From another perspective, if the Sleeping Dragon Society was really defeated and wiped out, it would not make much difference where the McDougals and Mr. Lovegood hid.
Xie Lin is not the naive Hermione in the original book, who thought that he could hide his parents in Australia without worrying. In fact, if Harry had not defeated Voldemort in the end, Voldemort's ultimate goal would definitely be to conquer the world and make the entire wizarding world crawl at his feet. In the flames of war, there is no place in the world that is a pure land.
As for Murray and Luna herself, they also moved into the Greengrass family's Green Manor.
In addition to ensuring the safety of the two women, the combat power of the two women themselves cannot be ignored. From another perspective, their move in can also add new guards to the Green Manor.
Zhang Qiu and Susan do not have much intersection with Xie Lin on the surface, and it is unlikely that they will become the target of the enemy, so Xie Lin does not need to worry too much. (End of this chapter)