It has to be admitted that the Ministry of Magic's actions have been quite swift.
After receiving information from Rita Skeeter, Scrimgeour sent Kingsley and two other Aurors to the United States that afternoon, and Cornelius Fudge simultaneously sent a request for assistance in handling the case to the Magical Congress of the United States through the contact channel between the Ministers of Magic of various countries.
No one can perfectly revise history, especially in a world where magic exists, and proving something from the result is a very easy path.
It turned out that Gilderoy Lockhart's experiences in the book "Wanderings with Werewolves" were all "stolen."
The old American wizard, apart from being grumpy and slightly unsightly, matched the real historical events perfectly in terms of motivation, magical strength, surrounding life traces, witness statements... After verifying what Rita said, Cornelius Fudge wrote the manuscript that night, preparing to convene a ministerial meeting the next day and directly issue an arrest warrant for Lockhart.
In order to prevent Dumbledore from countering, he emphasized the importance of confidentiality countless times.
Even Rita Skeeter, as the "informant," was temporarily staying in London—the Ministry of Magic booked a room at the Leaky Cauldron and sent Nymphadora Tonks to "protect" her, in case this journalist deliberately leaked the news to attract attention.
However, all of Fudge's preparations and ideas were ultimately ruined by the front-page news of the Daily Prophet the next morning.
"...I admit that I was a bit vain when I was young."
Gilderoy Lockhart was very frank in front of reporters and did not deliberately avoid his dark side.
"Therefore, as an author, an ordinary person who wanted to be a hero, I tried to persuade Mr. Robert, and after paying him a certain amount of Galleons as compensation, I unscrupulously 'became' the magical hero who truly defeated the werewolf. As 'Wanderings with Werewolves' became a bestseller, I began to worry about the lies being exposed, and reached an agreement with Mr. Robert to permanently transfer the story using a Memory Charm."
"However, after teaching at Hogwarts for a while, I deeply realized my inferiority."
"Every time I taught, looking at the innocent, adoring eyes of the students under the podium, I felt that I was not qualified to teach knowledge as a teacher before facing these disgraceful histories correctly, so I took the initiative to remove the Memory Charm and accepted this interview."
Below the text of the Daily Prophet's reporter interview, there was also a static photo of the "Story Authorization Agreement" provided by Lockhart.
This undoubtedly successfully ignited public opinion in the magical world and directly locked in the top spot of today's gossip events.
In this case, all of the Ministry of Magic's "shocking evidence" became "Monday morning quarterbacking."
Cornelius Fudge didn't want to be a laughingstock in the eyes of the magical public; the Ministry of Magic had to use other evidence to speak first.
Even from what they knew, Gilderoy Lockhart had illegally cast Memory Charms, but when the other party gave an explanation first, this matter would inevitably turn from an open-and-shut case into a joke that could not be cleared up, which would be terrible.
"Sigh...time, just a little bit short..."
Cornelius Fudge took a deep breath, but the situation was still okay.
At least Dumbledore shouldn't have noticed the Ministry of Magic's actions, and he also believed that Lockhart couldn't possibly destroy and smooth out all his evidence in just a few days. Using the information provided by Rita Skeeter, the Ministry of Magic could take the lead.
There may be flaws in the procedure, but as long as the final result is not controversial, then neither arrests nor statements need to be so restrained.
After pondering for a few seconds, Cornelius Fudge stood up and walked straight out of the Minister's office.
He planned to bypass the cumbersome procedures and directly convene a ministerial meeting based on the information provided by Rita Skeeter as evidence, arrest Gilderoy Lockhart, and there was no need to cancel the planned press conference; they just needed to be flexible.
As for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
Cornelius Fudge tapped his fingers on his desk, glanced at the "letter of request" from Umbridge.
A High Inquisitor? This did help him relieve some pressure.
Now the Ministry of Magic didn't have the energy to manage "Inter-House Unity Day compliance," "imbalance of student cadre power"...these tedious and ordinary Hogwarts campus activities; someone had to hold back Albus Dumbledore and try to dig something out of the Hogwarts faculty.
Of course, Gilderoy Lockhart's "early surrender" disrupted the Ministry of Magic's plan, but it also gave Cornelius Fudge the inspiration to sign Educational Decree Number Twenty-five—he could justifiably give the "High Inquisitor" some more privileges.
But he had to remind Ms. Umbridge not to waste too much energy on students.
............
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Great Hall.
Just as Cornelius Fudge was raging, the breakfast table this day was also unusually lively.
As owl messengers delivered today's Daily Prophet, the young wizards also learned the reason for Professor Lockhart's absence.
Aileen, Hannah, and Luna ate breakfast while listening to Hermione read the news. Compared to those little guys who were so excited and shocked that they didn't even feel like eating breakfast, their reactions were obviously much calmer...they had heard about these things a few weeks ago.
"So, will the Ministry of Magic summon or try Professor Lockhart?" Hermione frowned, looking at Aileen.
"I think so, but not for this reason."
Aileen shrugged and said casually, "But it's not certain; it depends on the adults' appetite."
She wasn't an omniscient and omnipotent god; she just sprinkled enough sweet bait in some places.
As for whether the Ministry of Magic would take the bait or not, it depended on their desire for power. If they decisively stopped after seeing Lockhart's "confession" and chose the most stable follow-up trial, then the Ministry of Magic could at least extend its fate for a long time.
"But everyone has a Boggart in their heart, right?" Hannah asked Luna.
Luna nodded seriously. Among her best friends, she had the best relationship with Hannah.
Unlike Granger, who liked to argue, Hannah truly believed in her and the stories in The Quibbler.
Although this silly senior sometimes had misunderstandings, Luna didn't dislike her—as the "president and vice president" of Hogwarts Second Grade B class, Luna and Hannah had formed a very close "symbiotic" relationship in the past half year of campus life.
"Boggarts are never full," Luna said softly. "The Ministry of Magic may illegally arrest the professor."
"Impossible," Hermione said immediately.
"In this world, there is only the difference between once and countless times. Don't forget, just a few months ago, Dolores Umbridge even planned to arrest a full professor directly at Hogwarts. And at that time, there wasn't such strong evidence—Professor Lockhart took the initiative to admit his use of Memory Charms, which is quite subtle during a magical trial..."
Aileen mercilessly shattered Hermione's fantasy.
Unless Cornelius Fudge was under the Imperius Curse, with his attachment to power and his faint fear of Dumbledore, he would hardly refuse such an opportunity that was delivered to his door. Even Rufus Scrimgeour couldn't see the flaws in this real and reliable evidence.
"But..."
"Let's put it this way, the Ministry of Magic has to respond, but he can't accept being slower than the Daily Prophet."
Aileen shook the fork in her hand and glanced at the newspaper in Hermione's hand.
"Anyway, for a short time, Professor Lockhart should not be able to return to his teaching post at Hogwarts."
"But I'm more curious about what changes the High Inquisitor will bring... the temporary professor for Charms is now Nearly Headless Nick; she can't possibly audit a ghost, but the Ministry of Magic will definitely make her do something..."
Aileen's eyes moved across the teachers' table. Umbridge's face was predictably quite ugly.
However, she didn't care about how that toad was feeling now; Aileen wanted to know which professor Umbridge was going to attack.
The Hogwarts faculty already had many weaknesses that could be dug into. After all, no one was perfect, and if it weren't for Grindelwald's sake, Aileen even planned to sacrifice a wave of Dumbledore's dark history in her original plan.
On the other hand, she was also looking forward to Lockhart's self-redemption and transformation in this confrontation.
After all, compared to teaching at Hogwarts, this outgoing wizard was actually more suitable for those broader stages.
As for Umbridge, the Ministry of Magic would inevitably give her more power under pressure... and unrestrained power, coupled with lax rules, would inevitably breed those ugly thoughts in her heart—which was what Aileen wanted to see most.
Someone had to take the blame for this farce. With Umbridge's current authority alone, she couldn't bear all the blame yet.
............
However, the Ministry of Magic's reaction was obviously faster than Aileen expected.
Just as their Herbology class ended that morning, and they returned to the Great Hall from the greenhouses outside the castle, ready to start lunch.
The place where the "Inter-House Unity Day" message was originally posted had two-thirds of its area covered by a notice—in fact, it almost blocked most of the content on the bulletin board outside the Great Hall.
The new notice was printed in large bold letters, with what looked like a formal seal at the bottom and a fair italic signature next to it.
This time, Aileen didn't have to tiptoe to clearly see the title of the notice:
Educational Decree Number Twenty-five
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Yay!