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"Mr. Corlett, what do I need to do?"
After a long pause, Minister Fudge finally made up his mind. No matter how he looked at it, this plan was the most beneficial path for him.
"First, remove the Dementors from the perimeter of Hogwarts."
"But—"
"No 'buts,' Minister. With so many Dementors guarding the place, do you think Sirius Black would dare to enter Hogwarts? If he can't get in, how am I supposed to catch him?"
"Huh? Catch him? Didn't you say he was innocent?"
"Yes, but he still broke the law. Escaping prison is wrong. He should have respected the legal process and cleared his name properly, not taken matters into his own hands. So, I will still catch him to ensure he doesn't cause chaos inside the school."
"Right, right! Well said, Mr. Corlett!"
"Second, you need to prepare a speech. The truth of the matter isn't important. What is important is your tone. You must adopt the tone of a tragic hero, apologizing for the mistakes of the previous administration. Then, with absolute sincerity, promise that under your watch, such a miscarriage of justice will never happen again."
Fudge froze again. "I... I have to apologize?"
"Of course. You need to demonstrate a level of responsibility that no previous Minister has ever shown. Trust me, people respect a leader who can admit mistakes and correct them. By doing this, you ensure no innocent people are wrongly convicted. No one will want to remove a Minister like that. No one."
It seemed... that made sense!
"Alright, I'll prepare it. So, what's the third point?"
"Third, raise the salaries of Ministry employees."
The smile that had just appeared on Fudge's face wrinkled back into a frown. "Mr. Corlett, you don't know this, but the Ministry actually doesn't have much money..."
"No, Minister. In my opinion, this is the easiest step. You only need to issue a notice, and the money will be delivered right to your doorstep."
"A notice? What kind of notice?"
"A notice endorsing the pure-blood families who claimed they were controlled by the Imperius Curse to become Death Eaters. You simply need to reaffirm in this notice that they were poor victims controlled against their will, and call upon the British wizarding community to treat them with correctness and compassion..."
Owen smiled.
"And in their gratitude, they will send a little token of appreciation to the Ministry. This way, you not only gain the support of these wealthy families but also the support of the entire rank-and-file staff of the Ministry. It's a win-win. You win twice."
Fudge was overwhelmed with excitement. He stood up, walked around his desk, and grabbed Owen's hand. "Mr. Corlett, you absolutely must come work for the Ministry. Be my Senior Assistant!"
Owen smiled and gently withdrew his hand. "Minister Fudge, I believe I can be of greater assistance to you by staying at Hogwarts, don't you think?"
"Right, you're absolutely right!"
His intelligence finally returning, Fudge beamed. "This position will always be reserved for you. As long as I am in office for even one day, you will always be my Senior Assistant!"
Owen gave a noncommittal smile, turned, and stepped into the fireplace, returning directly to the Headmaster's office via the Floo Network. Dumbledore wasn't there, but Fawkes was. The phoenix flew onto the young wizard, squishing Owen's cheeks with affection for a good while before returning to his perch to sleep.
The temperature at Hogwarts finally returned to normal. The Dementors at the perimeter were gone. Owen took a look around, then went to find Harry.
Harry was a bit nervous—because this person never sought him out unless something was up. "Mr... Corlett? Is something wrong?"
"Yes. Fred tells me you have the Marauder's Map."
"Y-yes..."
"May I borrow it?"
"Of course!"
Harry let out a huge sigh of relief. He quickly pulled out the Marauder's Map and prepared to hand it over. Owen raised a hand to stop him, so Harry placed the map on the dining table. Without using a wand, Owen simply tapped the parchment with his finger. The map slowly unfolded, revealing... nothing.
Just blank parchment.
Sirius Black still hasn't sneaked in? Seriously? Did all his years here go to waste? Did he forget where the secret passages are?
"Mr. Potter, you're a third year now. Have you applied for permission to visit Hogsmeade?"
"Y-yes... this Saturday..."
"Excellent. Have a good time."
Owen patted him gently on the shoulder, then turned and headed toward the Hufflepuff table. Today was his rotation to eat there.
He wanted to resolve unstable factors as quickly as possible. Owen hated unpredictability; he preferred a calm, peaceful environment. Occasional laughter while reading was acceptable, but sudden explosions made his heart race, which caused fluctuations in his magical core, leading to emotional disturbances.
Dumbledore was getting old, and he was hiding something very important. If Hermione hadn't come asking about Horcruxes, Owen might have almost forgotten about that diary!
Rearrange the letters of Tom Marvolo Riddle, and you get I Am Lord Voldemort.
It took Owen only a few minutes to solve such a simple anagram. So, that diary was definitely one of Voldemort's Horcruxes—and likely an early one.
If you combined that with the method of creating a Horcrux, Myrtle's cause of death made perfect sense.
But there couldn't be just one Horcrux. Dumbledore was hiding this from him. What was the old man planning? It was the same old routine—trying to shoulder everything alone!
And there was that phrase he often quoted: "To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure." Dumbledore claimed Nicolas Flamel said it, but Master Nicolas had told Owen that Dumbledore had said it first.
From this, one could deduce that the old wizard intended to trade his life for Voldemort's, to bring peace back to the wizarding world!
A wizard who had lived over a hundred years and felt he had lived enough, trading his life to take down an ambitious Dark Lord—he probably felt he was getting a bargain.
Absolutely not!
The old wizard could retire from being Headmaster, but he couldn't just die. In Owen's plan, Dumbledore was the number one candidate for babysitting duties. There was no substitute.
That was why, starting this semester—or rather, ever since he guessed what the old wizard was up to—Owen had begun to show his assertive side.
Contacting Fudge, the Minister of Magic, was just the beginning. After thinking it over, Fudge was actually quite "simple." He just wanted to hold onto his little bit of power. His thinking and methods were so naive it was almost worrying. A man like that didn't need the Imperius Curse to control; he was easily manipulated.
If Fudge were driven out of office, who knew what kind of character the next Minister would be? So, until Owen had fully grown into his power, Fudge needed to sit securely in that chair, providing Owen with implicit protection.
That part was easy. The real difficulty lay with Voldemort.
Voldemort wasn't immortal. The most annoying thing about him wasn't that he couldn't be killed, but that he was incredibly hard to kill!
The guy was like a rat hiding in a dark sewer who had mastered the art of cloning. Kill one, and there's another. And you never know where he's hiding next.
So, to solve the problem permanently, all the Horcruxes had to be found first!
That night, for once, Owen didn't enter his meditative cultivation state. Instead, he sat on the sofa, hands clasped under his chin, eyes flickering as he stared at a piece of parchment floating in mid-air.
Deduction. He needed to deduce the locations based on Voldemort's behavior, history, and experiences.
Before creating Horcruxes, Voldemort might have been hard to predict. But the current Voldemort? Seeing through him was all too easy!
First, he would strive for resurrection, then seek revenge on Harry Potter, the Savior...
Excluding the Philosopher's Stone, there was only one viable option for resurrection left: the Ritual Magic involving "Bone of the father, unknowingly given; Flesh of the servant, willingly sacrificed; Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken."
Keeping a close watch on Harry Potter would fundamentally delay Voldemort's resurrection. But if the first component—the father's bone—could be completely removed, the timeline would be pushed back even further.
Presumably, the old wizard's frequent trips away from the castle recently were to handle exactly this matter, right?
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