At Fudge's words, Umbridge said excitedly:
"Thank you for your recognition, Minister. I'm so touched."
After speaking, she raised her chin and looked at Douglas haughtily.
Douglas turned to Dumbledore and winked at him, as if to say, weren't you going to say something to back him up?
Dumbledore, however, picked up a cup of tea and raised it toward Douglas, then a cup of tea was summoned to Douglas's side.
The sight set the two Ministry officials' teeth on edge again.
Douglas truly disliked talking to this woman. Thinking of what she would do in the future, if he did not leave this post, she would very likely move into Hogwarts under some title like High Inquisitor.
Douglas picked up the tea and slowly took a sip before saying unhurriedly:
"Setting everything else aside, this Minister just now..."
Hearing Douglas call her Minister, Umbridge's expression showed an almost imperceptible flash of delight before she quickly suppressed it and hurriedly interrupted:
"Ahem, Senior Undersecretary. The Ministry of Magic has only one Minister."
Douglas nodded earnestly and said with a smile:
"An undersecretary is still a secretary. After all, the 'under' can be removed at any time... but that's not important. What I want to ask is, since Madam Minister just said the Dementors have always been under the Ministry's control, does that mean you authorized over a hundred Dementors to invade Hogwarts this time?"
Although Douglas asked with a smile, Umbridge instinctively felt an icy chill.
But she quickly steadied herself, ignored the blatantly divisive words in Douglas's remarks, and said solemnly:
"I think you've misunderstood. The Dementors entered Hogwarts to conduct a search because they had discovered traces of the wanted criminal Black, but they were interrupted..."
Douglas snorted and said in displeasure:
"Do you believe that excuse yourselves?