Cornelius Fudge stood there with his mouth open, unable to keep spinning lies.
Since things had come to this, he might as well go all out and say everything he wanted to say.
"Enough! Lovegood!" he shrieked, deliberately raising his voice. His cracked voice made him sound ridiculous.
"Who do you think you are? The department I was in charge of was the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes! Every day, idiots blew themselves up—was I supposed to be responsible for every single idiot?"
"So what if I didn't remember the name? It was something I said casually so many years ago. Why should you remember it so clearly? Is something wrong with your brain?"
"I was running for Minister for Magic back then! So what if I forgot a few things? So what if I forgot an insignificant name?"
"Why are you the only one making such a fuss? Why are you the only one carrying such deep resentment? Plenty of people suffered accidents like that back then—why didn't any of them come looking for me?"
Hearing Cornelius Fudge say that, Xenophilius Lovegood was not provoked again. Instead, he asked with absolute calm, "Is that so? Did they really never come looking for you?"
"Or was it that... after you became Minister for Magic, you sent all those people... to Azkaban by various means, tortured them for a few days, and made sure they could no longer speak?"
"How do you think those goblin rumors came about? Do you think things like the 'Rotfang Conspiracy' and 'using the Department of Mysteries to develop poison' were all figments of my imagination?"
"Do you remember what I said? I know you too well... Cornelius Fudge! I know quite clearly what you have done!"
Cornelius Fudge sucked in a sharp breath, as