"So... it really is you! Peter Pettigrew!"
"Damn goblins, I knew they were up to no good..."
"Sigh, I told you so many times, this investment thing is problematic, problematic! Why didn't you listen to me? Why did you have to take all the money out of the bank and throw it into the hands of this damned swindler..."
"Are you blaming me now? You didn't say that back then..."
"Peter Pettigrew! Where's our money?! Where is it?!"
"I noticed it a few days ago. Those goblins must have touched the money in our vault, I knew it..."
"Finally found you, you thought you could escape?!"
"Grab him, interrogate him harshly! Make him return the money! This damned swindler!"
"That's right, make him spit out all the money!"
"Return the money! Return the money! Return the money..."
"Return the money! Return the money..."
Accompanied by Peter Pettigrew's monotonous, wooden voice, the entire Hogwarts Quidditch stadium first fell into an extremely abrupt silence for a second or two, then exploded like a splash of water into a boiling pot of oil. Most of the adult wizards nearly detonated instantly.
People cursed loudly, blamed each other, prayed, and countless chaotic noises gradually converged together, eventually leaving only a uniform accusation, like a tide washing over and over again.
Listening to the surrounding conversations, the Hogwarts students looked at each other blankly, stunned in place.
The students, enclosed in the castle, knew nothing about the reason for the adults' anger.
But at this juncture, the students didn't dare to ask anything. Even those children from wizarding families, sitting with their parents, were mostly afraid of their suddenly out-of-control parents and didn't dare to interrupt.
And under this sudden surge of anger, the few bewildered adult wizards now looked particularly conspicuous.
Mrs. Weasley nudged her husband with her elbow and asked softly.
"Arthur, do you know what's happening?"
"I think it must be that Knockturn Alley investment company. It's said that the founder ran away this morning... Don't you remember, we received a letter from a distant cousin a few days ago, wanting to pull a few of our children into investing..."
"So that's it? Luckily, our family doesn't have much money in the vault, so you kept being unable to get a place in the queue to withdraw money from Gringotts Wizarding Bank. Otherwise, our family might have been cheated too. How could it be so terrible..."
"Cough, cough, cough... Actually, I didn't go to the bank to withdraw money at all..."
Arthur Weasley coughed slightly awkwardly, carefully looked at the emotionally excited crowd around him, leaned close to his wife's ear, and quietly explained, with a hint of smug relief on his face.
"Some time ago, on Professor Dumbledore's recommendation, I participated in a very large international magical project. I'm so busy with work every day that I don't have time to go to Diagon Alley for any investment..."
"Come on, you, an international large-scale project? Checking whether the toilet seats of foreign toilets will play pranks?"
Molly Weasley raised her eyebrows and glanced at Mr. Weasley with suspicion.
During this time, although she had indeed noticed that her husband's working hours were longer than usual, and he was more tired than usual when he came home every night, and even his 'homework' was a bit perfunctory, sleeping like a pig.
But other than that, Arthur Weasley hadn't stayed out all night for long periods of time, or been away on business trips. And Mrs. Weasley hadn't seen any large-scale international projects opening on the newspapers or radio. In her opinion, it was mostly because the economy was bad, and there were more wizards using magic to trick Muggles, so Arthur's workload had become greater.
"I can't tell you that."
Arthur Weasley's eyes lit up, not at all affected by his wife's words, and said mysteriously.
"This is absolutely top secret, about the entire magical world, non-magical world, and Hogwarts, Professor Dumbledore trusts me and is willing to let me participate in such a rare large-scale cooperation project, which is already my greatest luck - the only thing I can reveal is that I am not the peripheral guard you imagine, I am the technical director of the entire project."
"Oh? Is that so." Mrs. Weasley raised an eyebrow noncommittally, "Then you have to do a good job."
Although Arthur Weasley wasn't very reliable and shrewd in some places, Molly Weasley knew very well that her husband wasn't the kind of person who was good at lying, and even less likely to joke about Albus Dumbledore. Since he said so, he must have received some amazing magical cooperation project from Dumbledore.
With years of tacit understanding between husband and wife, and the experience of the Order of the Phoenix, Mrs. Weasley understood how to control her curiosity.
Of course, if Arthur Weasley really told her the content that Dumbledore asked him to keep secret in a careless manner, Mrs. Weasley would instead think that her husband had been hit by the Imperius Curse, or that there were signs of corruption in his character.
Mrs. Weasley ignored her husband and turned to look at the children around her who were looking at her eagerly, put her hands on her hips, raised her eyebrows, and preemptively said before Percy, Fred, and others could speak.
"Okay, I know what you want to ask - unfortunately, our family doesn't have that much money to invest, so we neither made money nor lost money... The savings that we finally saved up are your fees for the articles, that's the first money of your life, only you can decide what to do with it..."
"Really, Mom? All those fees are still there?"
"So, we can buy whatever we want later?"
The Fred and George twins' eyes lit up, and they asked quickly, one sentence after another.
And Percy Weasley, standing behind the two, although he didn't speak, also showed a hint of excitement on his face. Since entering the upper grades, he found that there were more and more places where he needed to spend money, the most important of which were of course chasing girlfriends, learning materials, chasing girlfriends and chasing girlfriends.
However, due to the family's economic situation, Percy had never taken the initiative to speak up.
After all, this year, in order to celebrate his becoming a Gryffindor prefect, his parents had gritted their teeth and bought him a new owl. Even Charlie didn't have such treatment back then. Fortunately, with the articles that they brothers submitted to *The Quibbler*, the family's economy was much better than before... At least Ginny doesn't have to wear other people's old robes next year.
"If it's those dangerous things, then don't even think about it. No matter how much you buy, I'll throw it out. I don't want your dad to come and seal our own house one day, and then arrest his own two sons."
Mrs. Weasley snorted and looked at her twin sons with excitement, and said unceremoniously.
"Sigh, when will you learn more from Percy?"
"Hehe, Mom, you don't know, Percy is still learning from George now... George's side is almost successful, but Percy's side hasn't made any progress at all, relying on Head Girl Meriel to help... mm, mmm!"
Fred Weasley curled his lips and said with a wicked smile.
However, before Fred could finish speaking, George Weasley and Percy Weasley's faces changed, and they simultaneously covered his mouth, wrapped their arms around his neck, and forcibly dragged him away from Mrs. Weasley, leaving Ron alone to face Mrs. Weasley's interrogation.
"Ron, stop... What succeeded? Who is Meriel?"
Mrs. Weasley narrowed her eyes, stretched out her hand, quickly grabbed Ron Weasley's ear, who was about to slip away, and asked with an unkind expression, exchanging a look with her husband beside her, her eyes flashing with a strong curiosity and strange look.
"These stinky boys, are they in school..."
"Hey, Ron, point out to Dad, where are those girls sitting?"
However, situations similar to the Weasley family's calm and harmonious situation were still in the minority.
Apart from a few isolated hermit families, or wizarding families that had received some advance news and care, most of the adult wizards appearing in this stand were now almost completely red-eyed.
As Cornelius Fudge pressed Peter Pettigrew step by step, Peter Pettigrew spoke frankly about the details of the entire "Eldritch Scheme", which could almost be regarded as an extremely comprehensive and professional magical world "anti-financial fraud knowledge lecture."
Frankly speaking, this was originally a financial bubble that would burst at the slightest touch. After Peter Pettigrew's statement and this public trial facing the entire magical world, the financial baton that was originally passed on in the hands of wizards had completely fallen into the depths of hell, and no next sucker could be found to eat all of this.
This also meant that everyone present had become food for this scam from this moment on.
The most critical thing was that as the emotions of the wizards in the entire Quidditch stadium began to lose control, a large number of wizards began to use the Sonorus spell to question Peter Pettigrew about the whereabouts of the funds. Countless questions exploded around Peter Pettigrew.
However, unexpectedly...
Facing the overwhelming questions and scolding, Peter Pettigrew showed a strange smile on his face. Apart from repeating one sentence, he had no other answers, just like a program stuck in a dead loop.
[All wealth will belong to the supreme Dark Lord, no one has the right to touch it]
The success of the public trial before this was like a false bubble, turning into a pool of despair.
The members of the Wizengamot began to rack their brains to think about how to ask questions, find those important clues hidden in Peter Pettigrew's memory, and the Aurors of the Ministry of Magic, Dumbledore, Otto Apocalypse, and others had already surrounded Peter Pettigrew to ensure that this important witness would not be harmed by accidents.
The whole scene gradually began to fall into a difficult and chaotic stalemate.
However, on the other side...
Just before the chaos had just begun to emerge, before Cornelius Fudge's questioning ignited the emotions of the wizards in the entire stadium.
Taking advantage of the noisy crowd of wizards who attended, when no one had the energy to pay attention to others, Eileena quietly left the stands and followed the magic stairs to the exit of the Quidditch stadium, away from the sight of others.
And at the door, a group of wizards wearing black turtlenecks and trench coats had been waiting respectfully there.
"Miss, Gilderoy Lockhart, a senior employee of Destiny Group, is at your service."
Seeing Eileena appear in his sight, the blond man wearing a snow-white shirt and a black bow tie standing at the front of the crowd walked forward quickly, one hand in front and the other behind, bowing slightly, with a look of respect and restraint on his face.
"The hall of Gringotts Wizarding Bank has been completely sealed off and cleared. Apart from the goblins, they are all senior official members of Destiny Group. The Hyperspace Jump System is on standby and ready to listen to your instructions at any time."
As one of the witnesses and implementers of the entire plan, Gilderoy Lockhart can be said to have been almost completely tied to the camp of Eileena and Grindelwald. Now, apart from going all the way to the end, he has no other choice.
However, from another aspect, with the understanding of the forces involved by Eileena, Dumbledore, and Apocalypse, Gilderoy Lockhart is increasingly satisfied and grateful for his original choice - silently playing with the magic world's finances in the palm of his hand, possessing the power to subvert the world at any time, and now is about to enter Gringotts Wizarding Bank.
If he hadn't chosen to join Destiny Group in the first place, but had naively tried to betray the organization, perhaps there would have been one more con artist writer named Gilderoy Lockhart sitting in the interrogation chair inside.
Oh no... If there are no accidents, he will probably have a few more, even titles that he himself cannot imagine.
"Mr. Lockhart, you seem... very afraid of me?"
"Eh?" Lockhart's face froze.
"I can understand. In your heart, I may already be a cruel and dangerous demon king."
Eileena said softly with a smile. Gilderoy Lockhart swallowed nervously. As a "recruited person" who had just joined Destiny not long ago, he didn't know how to comment on this topic for the time being.
As if she hadn't expected Lockhart's answer, the girl shook her head self-deprecatingly and didn't continue to pursue the question.
After a while, the group of people under the Disillusionment Charm were already standing on the bridge in front of the Hogwarts castle gate. Eileena turned around and glanced at the castle, and the Quidditch stadium in the distance with its cheering crowd, and whispered to herself.
"Actually, I also hate becoming a demon king, whether it's making people fear or making people revere me. I also want to be a little angel that everyone likes, but before that, I must be stronger than other demon kings to be qualified to change the world."
"Let's go! We're going to Gringotts. The time to show our cards... has arrived."
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Large chapter with two combined! There's only one chapter today!
The reason is as shown in the picture: (image.jpg)