Easter Holiday
A few days later, on April 9th, the Easter holiday began. (Reading...)
On the first day of the holiday, Skylar and Dumbledore entered the fireplace in the Headmaster's Office and traveled to the Ministry of Magic via the Floo Network.
Today is the day Skylar was awarded the Order of Merlin, Second Class.
The awarding ceremony was no different from the last one. There was a long social session beforehand for the social elites who made up Wizengamot to socialize, chat, and build relationships. The only difference was that more people approached Skylar to befriend him than last time, and their attitudes were much more enthusiastic.
Then came a rather unproductive speech by Minister for Magic Fudge, and finally, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot Dumbledore, went on stage to present the award.
Amidst the flashing lights of numerous reporters, Skylar walked to the platform, received the Order of Merlin from Dumbledore, and pinned it to his chest. It was a gold medal with a purple ribbon, a rank higher than the white ribbon medal Skylar had previously possessed.
After the awards ceremony, everyone did not leave immediately, but instead moved to the Wizengamot Administration Services of the Department of Department of Magical Law Enforcement, where several Wizengamot veterans, such as Gershilda Marchbanks and Tiberius Ogden, could help Skylar familiarize himself with Wizengamot's administrative procedures, document records, and storage.
The reason is that, at the same time Skylar was awarded the knighthood, Fudge also took the opportunity to announce to the guests and media present that Skylar would Wizengamot the Wiesengamo reserve team as the "Wizengamot Youth Representative".
With this status, Skylar, in a sense, already a semi-civil servant, and he was now entitled to freely enter and leave the Ministry of Magic (in the original books, Harry went to the trial as a "guest"). Therefore, it was also necessary to take him to familiarize himself with several key places related to his official duties.
Wizengamot is actually a general term.
Its true significance lies in the checks and balances between the judicial body of the Britain wizarding world and the legislative and executive bodies represented by the Ministry of Magic.
Within the "general term" of Wizengamot, there is the "Wizengamot Administration Services" responsible for recording and storing case files of all kinds of cases that have been heard, the "Council of Magical Law" responsible for hearing individual cases, and finally, the "Wizengamot" as the Supreme Court to adjudicate cases that are highly controversial and have a great and far-reaching impact on wizarding society.
(Wizengamot is Wizengamot; Wizengamot Administration Services is Wizengamot Administration Services; Council of Magical Law is Council of Magical Law)
In the original book, both Sirius Black, who was framed and imprisoned, and the Lestrange, who deserved their fate, were actually sentenced to prison by the Council of Magical Law. This shows that even the involvement in extremely horrific murder cases failed to alarm the Wizengamot.
The only time the Wizengamot Supreme Court was summoned in the original books was when Harry was threatened by Dementor and forced to cast the Patronus Charm in front of his cousin, violating the "underage wizard's violation of the International Statute of Secrecy" rule. This level of crime clearly didn't warrant a summons to Wizengamot, and it was obviously a way for Fudge and Umbridge to undermine Dumbledore's authority.
The group then went to the trial chamber. Not all trial chambers are as gloomy and terrifying as the Tenth Trial Chamber in the original books, because those are used to judge the most heinous criminals, probably only people like Grindelwald and Voldemort are qualified to do so. Harry was just unlucky enough to run into the line of fire.
The other trial chambers, such as the Third and Seventh Trial Chambers, are quite interesting. They contain many novel and strange magical instruments, such as the wizarding world's lie detector, which is a mirror that can reflect whether a person's outward appearance and inner thoughts are not genuine; the confession device for reforming minor criminals, which is a tattered hat somewhat like the Sorting Hat that can rewrite a small part of a person's memories and personality; and cabinets storing magical potions such as Veritaserum and Despair Potion, which I won't list here.
In short, Skylar had gained the ability to move freely in and out of these places.
[Order of Merlin, Second Class awarded!]
[The title "Winner of the Title" for Wizengamot Youth Representative!]
[Access to the Ministry of Magic has been granted!]
Compared to previous years' Easter holidays, there's more homework this year.
Harry and Ron are constantly torn between their endless homework and their love-hate relationship with it. He has to admit, it's quite remarkable that Hermione has to do just as much homework as they do, while also trying to figure out how Rita Skeeter overheard Harry and Hagrid's conversations.
Harry was overwhelmed with homework, but he still made sure to send Sirius Black was in the cave, a package of food regularly. He also wrote to Sirius Black to let him know that nothing was wrong and they were still waiting for Percy's reply.
Hedwig didn't return until almost the end of Easter. Percy's reply was enclosed in a packet of Easter eggs, sent by Mrs. Weasley.
Harry and Ron received eggs the size of Fire Dragon eggs, filled with homemade toffee. Hermione's egg, however, was smaller than a chicken egg. Her face fell the moment she saw it.
"Your mother doesn't happen to read Witch Weekly, does she, Ron?" she asked softly.
"That's right," Ron said, his mouth full of toffee, "She wants to look at the recipes in the newspaper."
Hermione didn't say it, but she felt bitter inside. In the past three years, influenced by Skylar, she was no longer the naive student who buried herself in her books and ignored everything else in the original story. She deeply understood how unpopular it was for a wizard like her, born into Muggle family, to be able to crush her peers in academics.
Although the Weasley are known for their kindness towards Muggle and their love of Muggle things, even earning them the reputation of "Pure-blood traitors," a closer look reveals that the Weasley have a very ancient lineage, roughly comparable to the Gaunt family. There's a long-standing rumor among Pure-blood families that the Gaunt are descendants of Slytherin, and the Weasley are descendants of Gryffindor. The strongest evidence is that historically, every member of the Weasley family inherited fiery red hair, the same color as Gryffindor themselves, and coincidentally, every member of the Weasley family attended Gryffindor House.
Moreover, the fact that this family is listed alongside the "Sacred Twenty-Eight" indicates that it is not a simple family. There are only two conditions for being listed as one of the "Sacred Twenty-Eight": first, the family history must be long and ancient enough; second, the family must strictly adhere to the tradition of Pure-blood marriage and refuse to marry Muggle.
The Weasley family undoubtedly meets both conditions. This also proves that the family is still xenophobic at its core.
The Weasley may say they treat Muggle well, but they would never allow their bloodline to be contaminated by Muggle-born wizard. Looking at the Weasley family genealogy, from nearly a thousand years ago to the present, there has never been a single instance of marriage between the family and Muggle-born wizard!
Even Arthur himself, who is most fond of Muggle, has a wife named Molly who comes from another ancient and sacred Pure-blood Prewett family.
In the original book, when Bill Weasley wanted to marry Phoebe, Molly clearly and strongly opposed it.
Hermione forced down her displeasure, pressing her lips tightly together. Take the * Witch Weekly * incident, for example. The whole thing was clearly the female reporter spreading rumors. Even if she had believed what she read, Hermione was still the victim in the article. She and Parvati were the ones who were played and abandoned by the "scumbag." But Molly's actions undoubtedly showed that she firmly stood on Harry and Ron's side.
At that moment, she really, really wanted to find someone to confide in.
But Harry and Ron, those two blockheads, are clearly not good candidates.
She turned her head slightly, pretending to look at the professors' table, but actually glancing sideways at the Slytherin table.
With Skylar's current level of mental strength, Divine Insight of Amaterasu has become a passive skill with almost no cost, and he can sense someone watching him the instant they begin to do so.
His sharp gaze followed the source of her gaze—ah, it was Hermione, but why did her eyes look so sorrowful?
Without a second thought, Skylar gave Hermione an encouraging look and silently mouthed something.
The clever Hermione quickly deciphered the meaning of the lip movements. "Go for it!" Just that simple, nothing more. But those two simple words suddenly warmed Hermione's heart, and all her grievances and unhappiness miraculously melted away in an instant.
She suddenly stopped feeling sad.
She flashed a bright smile, as if her bright eyes were smiling too. She nodded to Skylar, then returned to discussing Percy's letter with Harry and Ron with a beaming smile.
Percy's letter was short and his tone was very impatient.
"As I've been telling the Daily Prophet, Mr. Crouch is overworked and is currently taking a break. He regularly sends instructions via owl. No, I haven't seen him in person, but I think you should trust me that I would never mistake my boss's handwriting. I'm already incredibly busy, and now I have to quell these pointless rumors. Please don't bother me anymore unless it's urgent. Happy Easter."
"Aha," Hermione said, "Percy didn't see Crouch in person."
"Hmm," Harry said softly, "So, the person who sneaked into Snape's office on the Marauder's Marauder's Map that day really was Crouch... We must notify 'Snuffles' as soon as possible." ("Snuffles" was the code Harry and his friends had given to Sirius Black.)
"Let's go, after we eat we'll go to the Owlery."