Britain in Turmoil

Before he knew it, Skylar had spent three days in Durmstrang, and July was drawing to a close. During these three days, he had explored Durmstrang Castle and even sailed on the Sleeping Dragon over the meadows, frozen lakes, valleys, and rivers outside the Durmstrang campus.

Unlike Hogwarts students who mostly spend their leisure time indoors playing chess and cards, Durmstrang's leisure activities lean more towards outdoor and physical activities, such as flying competitions, fishing, and hunting.

Skylar had tried fishing a few times, and had even successfully caught some Golden Salmon, but he had never seen Thunderbone Giant Eel or Kelpie. As for hunting and flying, he couldn't find the time to experience those yet.

After all, as mentioned earlier, he spent most of his time focusing on studying Dark Arts. As for fishing, he only did it to relax and experience it; he didn't actually love the activity.

Most of the time in the library, he would be engrossed in reading a book while simultaneously copying down all of Durmstrang's forbidden books with an alchemical quill. He also spent the rest of his time consulting with Professor Helmut, the master of Dark Arts Master Dark Arts, about related knowledge.

Skylar had actually read many books on Dark Arts, but because he had never systematically studied this subject and lacked opportunities for research and practice, he had many blind spots in his knowledge. As Karkaroff's confidant, Professor Helmut naturally provided Skylar with unreserved and dedicated guidance, helping him fill in the gaps in his knowledge and allowing Skylar's Dark Arts skills to advance rapidly in a short period of time.

Professor Helmut had naturally warned Skylar of the dangers of becoming overly obsessed with Dark Arts, but what he didn't know was that Skylar, having absorbed Gryffindor's "Heart of Valor," already possessed an extremely strong resistance to the erosion of Dark Arts's power, and there was no need to worry about the damage that practicing Dark Arts would cause to his soul.

It can be said that, apart from the fact that Nalida Vokanova's Chamber of Secrets remains unsolved, he has achieved all of his most basic objectives in coming to Durmstrang.

Conversely, in Great Britain, many significant events have also occurred in the wizarding world since late July.

Although Skylar was far away in the far north of Northern Europe, he still kept a close eye on the developments in Great Britain —mainly through reports in the Daily Prophet, and supplemented by Karkaroff's own intelligence network.

Yes, at Skylar's behest, Karkaroff has already connected with the intelligence personnel of the Reverse Scale, and the two sides are able to transmit and exchange intelligence in an efficient and seamless manner.

On the very same day that Skylar arrived in Durmstrang, the Daily Prophet published a major news story that shook the entire Britain wizarding community— Albus Dumbledore, "the greatest wizard of the century," was simultaneously stripped of his honorary membership in Wizengamot and his status as the Britain representative of the International Confederation of Wizards.

Losing his membership also meant losing his positions as chairman of the two major organizations, and completely losing his influence in international organizations and the Britain Ministry of Magic.

The position of president of the International Confederation of Wizards was publicly announced a few days ago to be taken over by Babajide Akinbade from Africa.

The position of President of Wizengamot has remained vacant—not because Fudge had any good intentions, but because Wizengamot has always existed independently of the Ministry of Magic's administrative structure, and therefore, high-ranking officials of the Ministry of Magic have never been allowed to become President of Wizengamot.

While the chairmanship of Wizengamot is still undecided, its power will be temporarily exercised by the Minister for Magic, so Fudge is actually the biggest winner.

According to the information relayed by Nymphadora, Dumbledore appeared indifferent to the matter, even stating bluntly in an internal meeting of the Order of the Phoenix that as long as he wasn't removed from the Chocolate Frog celebrity card collection, it would be fine.

In fact, he was already making arrangements for the great war to come—he had met with his brother Aberforth Dumbledore and begun secretly building Secret Passage between the Hog's Head Inn and the Room of Requirement.

In the event that Hogwarts is engulfed in war, not only can the Order of the Order of the Phoenix quickly enter the castle through the Secret Passage, but students who lack combat skills will also have an additional escape Secret Passage. In this respect, it must be said that although Dumbledore is never afraid to sacrifice anyone in his plans, he still fulfills his responsibilities as headmaster.

Another major event is--

Arthur Weasley, head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office, was reported for illegally modifying Muggle items and abusing his power to distort the law for personal gain. After an investigation by the newly established Magical Criminal Trials Department of the Ministry of Magic, the evidence presented by witnesses and physical evidence proved conclusive, and he was ultimately found guilty.

The punishment was a fine of 10,000 Galleon, official suspension from the Ministry of Magic, and being blacklisted for life.

It is said that Arthur Weasley was stunned when he learned of this; he immediately knelt down in the Ministry of Magic, nearly fainting.

As is well known, although the Weasley are one of the 28 holy Pure-blood families, they have always lived in rather difficult circumstances. While they are not starving or freezing, they are not exactly wealthy either.

10,000 Galleon was an astronomical sum for them; the entire Weasley family simply couldn't afford that much money. To prevent Arthur from going to jail, Molly Weasley bravely stepped forward and made the decision, bringing out the precious collection passed down through generations of the Weasley family, which was appraised by a professional appraiser and then used to offset the cost.

What's despicable is that the person who came to sign for the collateral was none other than Arthur's third son, Percy Weasley. It was only then that everyone realized that he was the one who had reported Mr. Weasley.

Percy successfully earned the utmost hatred from his entire family, even his most loving Mrs. Weasley was completely disillusioned with him.

Unbeknownst to everyone, under the cover of Amelia and Runcorn, all the Weasley family collections that Percy confiscated were eventually handed over to Sarf at Ella Cottage, effectively becoming Skylar's Skylar, awaiting his return home to take possession. Among these items were Mr. Weasley's private magical research notes, which Percy had painstakingly collected.

That wasn't the end of it; the events following Weasley's dismissal from the Ministry of Magic also triggered subsequent reforms within the Ministry of Magic.

In an interview with the Daily Prophet, Amelia Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, stated that the Ministry of Magic's structure had become so bloated that it was inefficient, and that the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office, which Mr. Weasley oversaw, was simply unnecessary as a separate administrative unit.

Therefore, after careful discussions with the various directors within the Department of Magical Law Enforcement Division, she decided to undertake sweeping reforms for the department.

From then on, the investigation and arrest of all suspects in the field of magical crimes were handed over to the Law Enforcement Patrol.

Previously, Arthur had to personally handle such investigations and pursuits of suspects modifying Muggle items. As both a police officer and administrator, Arthur overlapping duties with the detective team created opportunities for him to abuse his power, which, as it turned out, is exactly what Arthur did.

He deliberately left loopholes in the laws to his advantage and abused his power to resolve legal troubles for his friends. At least two examples have been uncovered: one is the trash can of Old Moody's family in the Order of the Phoenix, and the other is the lawnmower of Ludo Bagman's brother. As a result, he received an expensive ticket to the Quidditch World Cup First Camp.

The determination of whether confiscated magically modified items used as evidence are illegal is handled by the newly established Forbidden Magical Products Identification Department. This new department does not only deal with illegally modified Muggle items—its responsibilities also cover Dark Arts items that threaten public safety, counterfeit goods that pose potential risks to users, and maliciously modified Muggle items.

This department will be concurrently managed by the newly appointed captain of the Magical Criminal Trials Squad, Albert Runcorn. In this way, Mr. Runcorn will become the first line of defense in the judicial system—all evidence used to prosecute suspects, including witness testimonies and forensic reports of confiscated physical evidence, will be submitted to the Council of Magical Law or the higher-level Wizengamot through his hands.

Not a single mistake, not a single poem, not a single post, not a single piece of content, all in one look!

On the surface, Runcorn is the biggest winner of this round of Ministry of Magic reforms.

However, there are still many forces that can restrain him. For example, although he can manage various pieces of evidence, he does not have the power to amend or establish new laws like Arthur.

The real winner, of course, was Skylar, who was hiding behind Runcorn —all the confiscated Dark Arts items were ultimately outsourced by Runcorn for destruction, and the person responsible for receiving these "stolen goods" was none other than Skylar.

It is foreseeable that Skylar will be able to acquire more and more Dark Arts items in the future.

Besides the major events of Dumbledore and the Weasley's downfall, the Daily Prophet also published some other minor news items, but none of them caused as much of a social reaction as the previous two.

For example, in the past two weeks, Willie Wedsing committed three more toilet backflow incidents. Before this, he was already a repeat offender with a long history of offenses, and Arthur Weasley, who was in charge of his case, had arrested him countless times.

The problem is that, with Mr. Weasley being dismissed by the Ministry of Magic a few days earlier, and without the threat that had been keeping a close eye on him, Wesley's behavior has become even more outrageous.

Finally, a day earlier, his spell malfunctioned during its casting, and the toilet exploded. After the incident, he was found unconscious in the ruins. Because he was already seriously injured when he was arrested, he was first sent to St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries Treatment.

In an interview, the captain of the Magical Criminal Trials Squad publicly announced to the media that Widshin's actions had seriously violated wizarding laws, and that after his recovery, he would be sentenced to six months in Azkaban.

Another criminal reported by the media was Willie Wagstaff, who was active in the Knockturn Alley black market.

He ignored repeated warnings from the Ministry of Magic's Magical Equipment Control Bureau and continued to sell smuggled wands that had not undergone safety testing. Finally, a few days ago, one of the wands he was selling accidentally went off, seriously injuring the unfortunate buyer who had tried to buy it at a bargain price, and he was sent to St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.

He was eventually arrested by the investigation team and charged with "illegal business operations" and "intentional assault." Like Willie Widsin mentioned above, he was sentenced to six months in prison in Azkaban.

When Skylar saw the two news items, he didn't feel much. He only vaguely remembered that this was the plot of the original work, and that Widsin and Wagstaff were two insignificant supporting characters in the original work. So he didn't think much about it and put the two pieces of information aside.