Just as the night approached, it drizzled slightly in the evening, but suddenly became fierce again in the second half of last night. Thunder struck at the undulating black lake, and this startled the giant squid sleeping in the lake. The giant creature made a fuss in the storm, and once it caused the water to overflow onto the highland of grass in the courtyard.
Fierch, who discovered this scene while patrolling at night, was at a loss and had no choice but to risk waking up his immediate superior.
In order not to let the young wizards who would wake up early tomorrow morning discover that the Hogwarts Castle has been relocated to the water, Amos had no choice but to engage in a "friendly" negotiation with the giant squid amidst the pouring rain. Later, he spent some time repairing the collapsed bank, which left him little sleep in total.
This restless night directly caused Amos' original plan to arrive at the Ministry of Magic before 8:00 AM the next morning to fail.
The entire month of March and April may have been a disaster that the ordinary employees of the Ministry of Magic would never want to look back upon.
First, Amosata Breon eradicated the most evil werewolf gang in the United Kingdom. Then, Littlewoof Black, who had escaped from Azkaban prison, was arrested. Lastly, even Peter, who had been awarded the Merlin-level Order of the Phoenix, was found to be a traitorous murderer and was put on trial by Wizengamot.
Any of these events on their own would have been enough to dominate discussion for a whole year. Now, given the magnitude of these events that have affected the entire European magical community in just a few months, it is not difficult to imagine how much unnecessary trouble these have caused for the officials of the British Ministry of Magic.
Now that these matters have finally come to an end, of course, Rufus Scrimgeour and his subordinates are still busy investigating who tampered with the door key to Azkaban in the Department of Mysteries, leading to Peter's assassination. However, this matter is not directly related to most of the officials.
Now, they can return to their daily, comfortable and busy work.
London's sewage system seemed to have failed the test of last night's heavy rain, as exhausted-looking Amosata Breon emerged from the telephone booth in the narrow alleyway leading to the Ministry of Magic. He was surprised to find that the muddy water filling the quiet alley had risen over his ankles.
"Oh, no!" Amosata frowned at the flooded area, "But I hope the Ministry of Magic hasn't been submerged."
The entrance telephone booth, though in poor condition, was still reliable enough for Amosata to successfully enter the entrance hall of the Ministry of Magic.
Even on ordinary days, the Ministry of Magic was always bustling, with everyone who appeared there looking anxious and moving with purpose.
It seems that the heavy rain did bring some impact to the Ministry of Magic. When Amosata walked out of the fireplace, he saw that many fireplaces on both sides and above were idle, and a group of people were frantically trying to prevent the rain from seeping into the magnificent hall.
At that moment, a middle-aged wizard with a pale complexion emerged from the working fireplace opposite Amosata. The wizard had two huge dark circles under his eyes, his hair was messy, and he seemed to have just waded through the mud. His black shoes were covered in mud.
"Can't you give me a break, Dek!"
Commanding officer Tercroes looked at the clear footprints left on the ground by Klessa, filled with anger.
"All morning, I've been dealing with things that have nothing to do with me. First, the Minister's office was flooded, then the Deputy Minister's office. Problems everywhere are occurring, and I've had enough!"
"Let me tell you what it means to have problems, Wiki!"
As Klessa was taking a breath, she suddenly perked up, gasping for air. She glared at Tercroes, accusing him.
"We've worked hard for two weeks and a heavy rain destroyed all our efforts. The forest turned into a swamp, more than ten men who worked overtime to build the stands were sent to St. Mungo's Hospital, I spent all night in the rain checking if the remaining places would collapse either. I went through this trouble just so that you would have somewhere to sit during the Quidditch World Cup in the summer, Wiki. This was not my job, but now you're shouting at me because of a little mud stain!"
"Oh—"
Tercroes's vigor waned,
"Thank you for your selfless contribution, Dek. I just, um—"
Then, Tercroes saw Amosata standing on the side watching the scene. He couldn't recognize who it was at first, so he flipped his nose with a disdainful look.
"Please leave quickly, sir. The hall is in a mess now. It's not a place for you to watch the show."
Amosata raised an eyebrow, ready to speak, when Klessa suddenly widened his eyes. The excitement vanished the fatigue and resentment on his face. He rushed over a few steps, gripping Amosata's hand.
"Oh my, if I haven't mistaken - oh, of course I wouldn't mistake!"
Klessa's face lit up with a smile, he shook Amosata's hand vigorously.
"Mr. Breon, the famous one, I'm a big fan of yours!"
"Oh, thank you--"
Amosata smiled modestly, wanting to take back his hand, but this guy named Dek was holding his hand very tightly and, without consulting him, dragged him into the elevator hall.
"Which floor are you going to, Mr. Breon?"
As they walked into the elevator, Klessa helped him press the button.
"Hmm—" Amosata hesitated for a moment, "Actually, I am going to the office of Mr. Crouch, we have an appointment."
"That must be the fifth floor!"
Klessa was excitedly introducing Amosata to the locations of various departments within the Ministry of Magic.
On the way, Amosata spoke little, but this guy named Dek Klessa introduced himself clearly.
"--I'm also from Slytherin,"
After arriving on the fifth floor, Klessa guided Amosata to the location of Mr. Crouch's office.
"But when I was at Hogwarts, this college's headmaster was still Professor Slughorn. We often wrote letters to discuss the situation. The last time we discussed Fenrir Greyback, he expressed his regrets to me—"
Noticing Amosata's look of surprise, Klessa quickly explained,
"It was for you, Mr. Breon, not for Greyback. Professor Slughorn believed that Greyback should have delayed his retirement, so he could have become your headmaster instead of giving the advantage to Severus Snape!"
"Haha, please convey my thanks for his kind consideration."
Amosata chuckled, stopping at the door of an office.
"I think I should be at my destination now."
"I'll knock for you!"
Klessa misunderstood Amosata's meaning and stepped forward, knocking on the door for him.
"You're late."
This was a depressing office. First, not to mention the decor that seemed like it was from the 18th century, just looking at the neatness of the files arranged on the shelves around would make anyone feel that the owner of this office was a man who was strict and almost had obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Barty Crouch was standing behind his desk, expressionless, but his gaze was strong as he stared at Klessa and Amosata as they entered the room.
"This isn't Mr. Breon's fault!"
Amosata hadn't gotten a chance to explain the situation, but Klessa shouted out. He spoke indignantly, "How dare you judge Mr. Breon for this! It was the heavy rain that caused the mess!"
"I'll say this fairly, Mr. Crouch, if the Ministry had been more generous and spent some money on maintaining our infrastructure, the hall wouldn't be a mess right now!" Klessa declared passionately.
"You know Barty's style, Dek. He tends to be straightforward."
Barty Crouch's office wasn't empty. Ludo Bagman, the director of the Department of Magical Sports, was also there. Additionally, there was another person who was squeezing into the guest area on the other side of the office with Ludo Bagman and whispering about something. This person was defending Barty Crouch and looking at his feet was a carry-on suitcase, indicating that he was about to leave.
"Oh, Crabbe?"
Klessa shouted out the name of this person.
"You're here, aren't you? You're not on vacation with the Minister, are you?" Klessa asked.
"I'm just going to hitch a ride!"
The pixie liaison chief, Klessa's boss, kicked the suitcase with his foot happily.
"I'm planning to take a stroll in Paris for a few days. Originally, I was going to use Muggle transportation, but Ludo told me they were also going to Paris, so I can use the transnational fireplace in Barty's office. Barty is very easy to talk to; he agreed immediately!"
From Barty Crouch's expression, Amosata could see that the biggest reason he agreed was - he didn't want to be pestered continuously.
(Chapter Complete)
