Umbridge? How had she gotten mixed up in this?
Puzzled, Zhang Xiao read on.
Officers from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement had found bags upon bags of Galleons in her home, along with "letters" exchanged with Lockhart.
In the letters, Lockhart addressed Umbridge as his dear little sweetheart and openly mentioned his desire to become headmaster of Hogwarts, then work with Umbridge to secure the position of Minister for Magic.
The readers' interest instantly shifted to the letters between Umbridge and Lockhart. They were particularly interested in the explicit descriptions inside.
With everyone's attention successfully diverted, the latest newspaper featured Fudge offering a sincere apology, claiming that both he and the Ministry of Magic had been deceived by Umbridge.
Zhang Xiao sneered. To him, this tactic was crude, not to mention stale.
But stale meant effective. Umbridge had undoubtedly become the scapegoat, shouldering all the blame.
It was a bit of a shame. He had been planning to find an opportunity to teach that disgusting Pink Toad a proper lesson.
Now she could only spend the rest of her life in Azkaban. Fudge and the pure-bloods really were ruthless.
And so the whole Chamber of Secrets incident had more or less died down.
Dumbledore had returned to school, all the petrified students had been restored, and Voldemort's plan had failed once again. Zhang Xiao had obtained the Diary as he had hoped, gained fame, and even expanded his Golden Light to three inches.
He could certainly call it a rich haul. Achievement unlocked: only Fudge got hurt.
So... it was time to put the next plans on the agenda...
Zhang Xiao set down the newspaper and lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling as he sank into thought.
First, he would definitely be returning to Dragon-Tiger Mountain over