Professors Arranged by the Ministry of Magic, Malfoy's Way Out

At the entrance to the First Courtroom, Aaron looked at Cornelius Fudge with a meaningful gaze. "I wonder what the Minister for Magic wants to discuss with me?"

Fudge grinned, then asked hesitantly, "Mr. Gaius, what do you think of Dumbledore?"

"Exceptionally talented, powerful, kind, gentle, wise, and possessing superb insight, however..."

With each word Aaron spoke, Fudge and Umbridge's expressions darkened, until a change occurred, and surprise appeared in their eyes.

"But what?" Fudge asked hastily.

"But I don't really like him," Aaron said, shrugging. "I know it sounds contradictory, but that's the truth."

Dumbledore's abilities, wisdom, and interpersonal skills are all worthy of my admiration and emulation. However, he is too shrewd; every time I interact with him, I feel he wants to get something out of me.

Smack! Smack! Smack!

Fudge clapped his hands excitedly, "As expected of the heir of the Gaius family, Aaron, your taste is truly impeccable."

I have that feeling too, especially lately, this feeling has become so strong that it scares me a little.

Hearing this, Aaron sneered inwardly.

That's really shameless of him. He's making his assessment based on facts, but Fudge is simply afraid that Dumbledore will take away the power in his hands.

"Mr. Gaius," Fudge pointed to Umbridge, "Let me introduce you. This is Dolores Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary of the Ministry of Magic. I intend to appoint her as the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor at Hogwarts."

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Gaius." Umbridge gave Aaron what he thought was a friendly smile, which disgusted Aaron so much that he almost threw up his breakfast.

Because this deputy minister was short and fat, and looked like a Toad.

If she were just ugly and went out to scare people, that would be one thing, but Aaron could read deep insincerity in her smile, so she was definitely not a good person.

"Excuse me, does Professor Dumbledore know about this?"

"Him?" Fudge chuckled and shook his head. "I don't know yet, but I don't think he'll refuse."

"Then I have no objection," Aaron said, raising an eyebrow.

He could tell that Fudge wanted to get involved in Hogwarts, but he wasn't worried because Umbridge was going to be the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor.

However, the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor at Hogwarts is cursed, and no one has ever survived a year.

Of the first four professors, one died, one was arrested, one was forced to resign, and one was imprisoned for a year. He was quite interested in the future fate of this deputy minister.

"That's great. I think you and Umbridge will work well together at Hogwarts."

"Forget about cooperation," Aaron said immediately. "I only have two simple requests."

"Please speak," Fudge said respectfully. As long as Aaron didn't disrupt his plans for Hogwarts, he wouldn't mind having two more requests, let alone two.

"First of all, I have free rein over the Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"No problem," Umbridge said immediately. "It's only right to give geniuses preferential treatment."

Aaron thought to himself that Umbridge was definitely not cut out to be a teacher.

When he made this request to Gilderoy Lockhart, he still knew to struggle and maintain his dignity as a professor. But Lockhart simply handed over his teaching authority without even a moment's hesitation.

"Secondly, I don't care what the Ministry of Magic does, but they can't control me."

"This..." Umbridge paused, then turned to look at Fudge. "Minister, what do you think?"

"Okay." Fudge nodded thoughtfully. He sent Umbridge over only to target Dumbledore. An uncontrollable student was no big deal.

Aaron and Fudge parted ways at the Ninth Floor Department of Mysteries and appeared to have no connection whatsoever.

"Young master, do you think Umbridge can't teach you?"

"Nonsense." Aaron rolled his eyes. "Don't tell me you can't tell what she's really like. She had one face in the trial room, but she immediately changed her face after coming out. Even Fudge can't match her face-changing skills."

"That's true. It's a miracle that she became the Deputy Minister of Ministry of Magic."

"This only proves that there's a problem with the leadership of the Ministry of Magic. Their disgusting faces make anyone want to vomit," Aaron sneered. "Fudge won't be Minister for Magic for much longer. He's been deceiving himself all this time, but Voldemort won't stay absent just because of his will."

Once Voldemort appears before the public, all his efforts, including Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter, will become a joke.

"It is truly gratifying that you, young master, have thought of this!"

"Hey!" Aaron pouted. "Stop treating me like a child, will you?"

"Before the young master got married and had children, you were just a child in my eyes."

"Hehe!"

The two took the elevator and, upon entering the main hall, saw Lucius Malfoy.

"Hmm... I think we can talk?"

Aaron:...

"Interesting, really interesting, I've been quite busy today."

First Dumbledore wanted to talk to me, then Fudge wanted to talk to me, and now Uncle Lucius wants to talk to me.

If I didn't know about your relationship, I would have suspected that you two had planned this all along.

Lucius's lips twitched slightly, and he chuckled awkwardly, "Doesn't this just prove your abilities?"

Aaron shrugged. "What does Uncle Lucius want to talk to me about?"

Lucius hesitated, then pursed his lips. "There are too many people around here; it would be best to find another place."

"Come to my house!" Aaron said. "Uncle Jeans, please."

"Wait, if anyone sees this, I'll leave with you..."

Lucius didn't finish his sentence, but they both understood what he meant.

There's a reason why the Malfoy family has been able to thrive; their cautious attitude even Aaron finds somewhat inferior.

"Uncle Lucius, if anyone informs Voldemort, tell him that you tried to persuade me to submit to him, but I did not agree."

"This..." Lucius for a moment, then nodded heavily.

Jeans helped Aaron into the fireplace, then grabbed Lucius's arm. "The Floo Network at Gaius Castle has certain limitations. Only authorized individuals can freely enter and exit through the Floo Network, and they cannot Apparition unless accompanied by an authorized person."

"I understand."

As the green flames rose, Jeans Apparition with Lucius's phantom.

The next moment, the three of them appeared together in the Great Hall of Gaius Castle.

"Please sit down, Uncle Jeans." Aaron gestured for Genes to sit, then snapped his fingers, and a cup of tea appeared automatically in front of Jeans.

"Thanks!"

"Don't be so formal," Aaron said with a smile. "We don't have Voldemort's eyes and ears in our house. You can speak freely and say whatever you want."

Lucius hesitated for a moment, then looked directly into Aaron's eyes. "The You-Know-Who has been resurrected, and I am Death Eater..."

"I know that."

"Yes, of course you know." Lucius sighed, then pulled up his sleeve, Dark Mark clearly visible on his arm. "Narcissa and I both have this mark on our arms. We followed Voldemort for the benefit of Pure-blood."

"But it turns out you were wrong."

"Yes." Lucius chuckled self-deprecatingly. "We gradually came to see his true colors. He's a madman, a madman who's frightening."

But even recognizing this is useless; if the Malfoy family were to leave the Death Eater, they would face certain death.

"I understand. Circumstances are beyond our control. If we want to survive, this is the only way, even if we know it's a one-way street."

"Voldemort trusts me fairly much for now, but I know that trust won't last long."

"So you want me to help Malfoy out?" Aaron said meaningfully.

"I hesitated for a long time before deciding to ask you for help."

"If I'm not mistaken, you've been thinking about the Malfoy family's future ever since you learned about Draco's relationship with me!"

Lucius nodded, without denying it.

After a moment of silence, he continued, "I am also familiar with the rules of the Gaius family. You cannot save a Warlock family for no reason."

But if anything happens to Narcissa or me, I hope you can Draco out.

Aaron sighed softly, "He is one of the few friends I have at Hogwarts, and I will help him if I can."

But I can't guarantee there won't be any unforeseen circumstances.

"That's enough." Lucius felt relieved. "We can make a deal. As long as Draco is alright, I can give half of the Malfoy family's wealth to Gaius. The other half is up to you and Draco to decide how to handle."

"No need for that," Aaron waved his hand. "That little bit of gold is just a drop in the ocean for our family."

Lucius was speechless for a moment. He didn't doubt Aaron's words, but it was disheartening that others hadn't taken his biggest bargaining chip seriously.

"Uncle Lucius, I will do everything I can to protect Draco, but only if he doesn't get too stuck. Otherwise, I won't be able to pull him out of this mess."

"You mean?"

"Make sure he has less contact with Death Eater."

"I see."

"Also, if you and Aunt Narcissa want to get out of this unscathed, try not to do anything that will anger both heaven and man, or you could consider becoming double agents."

Lucius hesitated for a moment. "This is too dangerous... Can we go?"

"Of course we can," Aaron said seriously. "You don't need to pass on any intelligence. You can follow Voldemort's orders, but the degree of thoroughness or whether to leave any loopholes is up to you."

My experience has taught me that small details can determine the outcome of a battle.

"I'll think about it," Lucius said in a deep voice.

"If Uncle Lucius doesn't want to take any risks, there's another way: he can take Aunt Narcissa and hide at my house."

Before he could finish speaking, Lucius jumped to his feet.

Happiness came too suddenly; even a dog wouldn't take the risk if it weren't forced into it.

But he calmed down the next moment. Malfoy knew better than anyone that there was no such thing as a free lunch. "What does Malfoy need to pay?"

"First, half of the Malfoy family's wealth," Aaron said calmly. "Don't misunderstand, Gaius has no interest in the Malfoy ' accumulation, but what he receives is often directly proportional to what he gains."

"For our friendship, I can help Draco, but I can't help his parents who are helping him for no reason."

"Anything else?"

"Until the end of the Warlock War, you can only stay in Gaius Castle."

After the war ends, I cannot guarantee your safety in any way.

Upon hearing this, Lucius fell silent.

He could grit his teeth and give up his wealth. Malfoy's wealth had been accumulated for almost ten centuries. Even if he threw away half of it, and even if his successors were all spendthrifts, the other half would not be squandered within five hundred years.

But Malfoy's safety was no longer guaranteed after the war, which he found hard to accept. He felt that the Death Eater, who had fled to Gaius Castle, were deserters.

Voldemort, as the Dark Lord, never lacked loyal followers.

Even if he were to die completely, these loyal followers, without a leader, would still pose a considerable threat to Malfoy.

"Phew!" Lucius took a deep breath and finally made his decision. "I'm leaving Draco in your care."

"Don't worry, I mean what I say."

"Thank you, Malfoy will never forget this kindness," Lucius said sincerely, and immediately got up to leave.

"Wait a moment." A purple glint flashed in Aaron's eyes, meeting Lucius's pupils.

Lucius looked flustered and staggered for a moment before standing still in a daze.

"Uncle Jeans, you know what I'm going to do, right?" Aaron asked meaningfully.

"I can guess that," Jeans said, looking somewhat uneasy. "And Ba is asking me to do it."

"Good to know."

Jeans shook his head helplessly, pointed his Wand at Lucius's temple, slowly drew out a few strands of silver light from it, and carefully sealed them in a glass bottle.

"Alright, this memory is only known to him and no one else."

In addition, I implanted a false memory, so even Voldemort's Mind Extraction couldn't detect any flaws.

A few seconds later, Lucius came to his senses.

He looked at the glass bottle in Jeans' hand and realized what had just happened. "If you had just told me, I would definitely have cooperated closely."

"The result is the same," Aaron said dismissively. "Take care of yourselves, Aunt Narcissa. Draco, you can come to me anytime if you run into any problems."

Lucius nodded immediately and then left via the Floo Network.

"The Malfoy family is quite interesting." Aaron lay lazily on the sofa. "No wonder they are the best-performing of the Sacred Twenty-Eight. Voldemort's preparations are not even finished and they are already thinking about finding a way out."

"Young Master, I must remind you of something," Jeans said hesitantly, "The Gaius family's ancestral precepts clearly stipulate that they cannot arbitrarily interfere in the disputes of the Magic World, so..."

"I know what you're trying to say, but this has nothing to do with the family."

I will abide by the rules, and I will only help within my capabilities.