Chapter 77: Defending against Dumbledore alone and deducing the brain-blocking technique!
At this time, King's Cross Station was in chaos.
A large number of young wizards and their parents were forced to stay there under the strange looks of Muggles because they could not enter Platform Nine and Three Quarters.
There were also several wizards who didn't believe that there would be any problems with the platform. Despite the repeated dissuasion from the Ministry of Magic staff, they still ran headfirst into the platform and were eventually taken to St. Mungo's Hospital for treatment.
The station was a scene of disaster.
Countless young wizards and their parents were complaining there, especially the parents of Muggle-born young wizards, whose impression of Hogwarts and the wizarding world had hit a new low.
"My God, Platform 9 3/4 is such a stupid design."
"What's even more stupid is that we're actually going to rush in at full speed."
"Now the stupidest thing is, it can fail. You can never be sure if you're going to make it in or just get a big bump on your head."
"Is this a wizard? To be honest, I already regret agreeing to let my child learn magic. Is it too late for him to drop out of school now?"
Some wizards were unfortunate enough to experience similar events twice in a row.
For example, Hermione Granger's family, the three of them were looking at Platform Nine and Three Quarters in silence, feeling this familiar feeling.
Why do you say familiar?
Because the previous time they went to Diagon Alley to buy something, a similar situation occurred in the passage. They waited there for several hours until the Ministry of Magic staff repaired the entrance.
It came again this time when I was about to catch the train?
Hermione gritted her teeth and stamped her feet in anger.
She had seen Charles in the crowd before and was thinking about going up to him and talking to him.
As a result, not long after Ciel entered, the passage broke down, just like the time in Diagon Alley, so Hermione missed the opportunity to talk to Ciel.
Hermione felt depressed.
"I also want to compete with Ciel to see who has mastered more magic."
"Although all previous competitions ended with Ciel crushing me, this may not be the case in magic."
Hermione is quite optimistic. She has been practicing spells ever since she came into contact with magic.
Ciel's magical talent may not necessarily be stronger than hers.
Unfortunately, I originally had the opportunity to compete with Charles while riding the train, but now this damn passage is broken, all these ideas have been ruined.
Thinking of this, Hermione became more and more dissatisfied with the Ministry of Magic.
"Similar situations have occurred twice in a row. What does this mean?"
"It shows that the Ministry of Magic is overstaffed and has not made proper preparations. I don't know where the taxpayers' money has been spent."
"The Ministry of Magic is just a makeshift team. When I graduate, I will also run for Minister of Magic!"
At the same time, in the Minister of Magic's office, Fudge's face was already livid with anger.
The situation at King's Cross Station was undoubtedly another blow to the current administration of the Ministry of Magic.
This blow may even be worse than the attack by dark wizards.
After all, not everyone will face attacks by dark wizards, but on that day, there were actually thousands of young wizards and their parents facing the problem of channel failure.
In just this short period of time, complaints have been pouring in to the Ministry of Magic, most of which accuse the Ministry of Magic of only collecting taxes and doing nothing else.
Fudge's hands were shaking with anger, and he paced back and forth in the office, questioning his staff.
"Have the funds for the renovation of Platform Nine and Three-Quarters been disbursed?"
The aide stammered.
"Sent."
Fudge looked grim.
“Has it been paid in full?”
"You didn't take it?"
The staff who realized there was a risk of being blamed became anxious.
"Of course I took it. Everyone who works in this field has to take something."
"But Minister, we already overreported the budget a lot when we submitted it. Now that it's been deducted from each level, it will offset the difference. The remaining Galleons are still enough to maintain the platform. We calculated it clearly when we submitted the budget!"
Fudge stared at his staff.
"So, now that the money has been paid, why is the channel still inoperative?"
The aide was so anxious that he was sweating, and then he spoke quickly as if he had thought of something.
"Oh, Minister, the money has arrived, but because the Hogwarts Express is an asset of Hogwarts, the money for repairing the platform is actually given to Hogwarts in the form of a subsidy."
"The specific repairs were done by someone hired by Hogwarts. If this happened, it is not the responsibility of our Ministry of Magic."
"It must be that Hogwarts didn't use the Galleons properly!"
As soon as these words were spoken, Fudge and the other staff members on the scene suddenly realized what was going on, and they uttered a name in unison with gritted teeth.
"Dumbledore!" "It's him again!"
Fudge waved his hand.
"Go, add one more charge to the one we are going to use to try Dumbledore. He enriched himself and was blinded by greed, causing congestion at King's Cross Station and seriously affecting the travel of the wizarding community."
"Also, Dumbledore must have done this at this critical moment to lower our support rate. What a vicious old bee!"
Fudge clenched his fists, his eyes burning with anger.
"Dumbledore, I'm not done with you!"
Immediately, he turned to his staff.
"Continue to add budget to the Ciel reimbursement agreement. I want Dumbledore to reveal more clues as soon as possible!"
……
At this time, in the principal's office at Hogwarts, Dumbledore was also stunned when he heard the news that King's Cross Station was extremely congested.
Nothing like this has ever happened in all these years.
In this way, his plan to arrange for Ciel, Harry Potter and others to meet by chance at the station would fail.
But Dumbledore remained calm.
"It's okay. Although it was a bit unexpected, the backup plan still works."
"Those who get on the train first will be assigned seats by the conductor, and then they will be reminded that the remaining wizards are in an empty carriage and will be taken there. This way, they can still be put together."
At this time, with the temporary repairs by the Ministry of Magic Commissioner and Hogwarts professors, Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, which had been out of service due to lack of magic power, was finally repaired.
After a two-hour delay, the little wizard and his parents finally entered the platform smoothly and performed a farewell scene.
In the crowded crowd boarding the Hogwarts Express, Harry, Hermione and Ron were gathered together by chance, looking for a vacant carriage.
Just then, the attendant guided them to the outside of Charles' carriage.
"There's only one person in this carriage, so you can just fill up another carriage."
Immediately, the door of the carriage opened.
Hermione immediately spotted Charles, who was chewing on a shorthand quill out of boredom in the carriage.
She couldn't help but let out a cry of surprise.
"Charles Evans?!"
But the next moment, Hermione looked at the full seats in Charles' carriage and a look of hesitation appeared in her eyes.
The remaining seats were occupied by girls. They seemed to have been waiting for a long time. They had covered their faces with hats and fell asleep.
Ciel said softly with a hint of apology.
"I'm sorry, the carriage is full and they are all asleep. Could you please close the door?"
Hermione looked at Charles who was surrounded by the girls and gritted her teeth, but she didn't know what to say. She could only close the door and go find another carriage with Harry and Ron.
The flight attendant led them and looked back every few steps, his face full of confusion.
She clearly remembered that Charles's box was empty, so when did it become full of people?
Could it be that he was too busy just now and became confused?
Forget it, there was nothing we could do. The attendant apologetically directed Harry, Ron and Hermione to the new carriage.
After they left, an inexplicable look appeared on Charles's lips.
“I really found it.”
"The three saviors found my carriage exactly. I don't believe that this was not arranged by Dumbledore."
"Dumbledore is old and likes children. He likes to play house with them. I don't like that."
"No one really wants to be in a carriage with three eleven-year-olds on a green train, right? Come on, this is exactly what I hated in my previous life. Fortunately, I'm smart enough!"
"Dumbledore, right, old man? Even if you are as cunning as a devil, you can still be defended by me alone, right?"
Immediately, Charles waved his wand, and the three girls sitting next to him turned back into dolls.
Charles naturally locked the door of the carriage and posted a notice outside saying "Do not disturb someone sleeping", then cast a silencing spell to block out the noise and screams coming from outside, and then he breathed a sigh of relief.
“It’s nice that the world is quiet now.”
Then, Charles' eyes became deep.
"It seems that old fellow Dumbledore is still the same as in the original book. He likes to arrange things for others and use them as pawns."
"This time we are going to Hogwarts, on Dumbledore's territory, so safety is the priority. We have to use Occlumency."
"I don't ask for a very impressive deduction, nor do I ask for myself to be crazy enough to enter R'lyeh as I imagined before, but at least I have to be able to deal with Dumbledore's usual temptations and the Sorting Hat."
The next moment, Ciel whispered in his mind.
"Deep Blue, deduce Occlumency for me!"
(End of this chapter)
