6kv Chapter 114 Raven Spreads Its Wings
Chapter 114 Raven Spreads Its Wings
Chapter 114 Raven Spreads Its Wings
Looking at the faint starlight flickering in the stone basin, Lin Qi let out a long breath. His breath condensed into a cloud of white mist in the cold alchemy chamber before slowly dissipating.
What followed was a long wait.
This wait lasted for seven days.
During this time, Reggie delivered secret information about the Ministry of Magic.
Thanks to the crucial intelligence Reggie sent him, Mr. Crouch turned the tables spectacularly.
At the formal meeting at the Ministry of Magic where he discussed accountability for the incident with the African wizards, he presented evidence proving that the wizards were of dubious origin, denied the authenticity of their identities, and characterized the entire incident as a daring attempted international fraud.
With Reggie and Lucius's under-the-table maneuvering and encouragement, the Daily Prophet devoted three full pages to the astonishing deeds of these African wizards, exaggerating this shocking hoax that "almost brought shame to the British Ministry of Magic."
Crouch, the head of the Department of Law Enforcement who spearheaded the uncovering of the truth, was overnight transformed into a sharp-eyed hero who defended the Ministry of Magic's honor.
Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic who initially received these "envoys" with the highest honors and strongly advocated for cooperation, inevitably became the comical supporting character in the story—incompetent and nearly letting the wolf into the house.
Despite the Minister of Magic's power, the Daily Prophet did not elaborate further on him, but everyone who read the paper reached the same conclusion.
Some wizards even wrote to the Ministry of Magic, expressing deep concern and distrust of its administration, given that they had a minister who was completely deceived by such lies.
Fudge was so angry he was almost going crazy.
But he had no way to improve the situation and could only silently endure it.
Those pure-blood families were on his side, but all they could do was contact the Daily Prophet to suppress the report. Fudge could do that himself.
Barty Crouch has been the Chief of the Enforcement Division for a long time, and his power in the division is so entrenched that no outsider can interfere.
They originally thought this was a golden opportunity to shake his prestige and then erode his control over his subordinates.
However, his haste and failure to investigate the origins of those wizards backfired, making him a laughingstock.
Whenever Fudge thought of this, he wished he could send those swindlers locked in the cell to Azkaban, never to be released again.
Unfortunately, the United Magic Association of Africa filed an extradition request, demanding that these individuals be brought back to their home country for trial.
In order not to offend the entire African wizarding community, Fudge had no choice but to reluctantly agree to send them back to Africa.
Since those African sorcerers have been proven to be frauds, their accusations have naturally become baseless.
Lynch was exonerated, and Barty Crouch received orders from the Ministry of Magic to recall the two Aurors who had been guarding Lynch's door.
Meanwhile, due to news of Voldemort's return, Crouch, who was temporarily all-powerful in the Ministry of Magic, seemed to be plotting something.
The information coming from inside suggests it concerns the pure-blood families who escaped trial after Voldemort's downfall.
On his first day of apparent freedom, Lynch arrived at the Hogwarts year-end party.
So he sat at the teachers' table and witnessed Dumbledore's almost blatant "performance"—the headmaster, through a last-minute, frantic bonus, handed the House Cup, which was practically in Slytherin's grasp, to Gryffindor.
The entire Slytherin House watched in disbelief as the green ribbons hanging in the Great Hall turned crimson, the silver ribbons turned gold, and the Slytherin Serpent transformed into the Gryffindor Lion.
So everyone from Snape to every little snake turned greener than their robes.
Lynch chuckled softly as he watched Snape force a smile and shake hands with Professor McGonagall.
Aside from Lily, it's quite rare to see Snape eating like that.
He raised his glass and gestured towards Harry in the center of the crowd to offer his congratulations.
Harry saw Lynch's action and smiled, nodding in response to his newly recognized Uncle Lynch.
At the center of the teachers' table, Dumbledore's deep blue eyes quietly took in this scene.
His fingers slowly ran through his long beard, a fleeting, almost imperceptible thought crossing his eyes as he pondered when the relationship between the two had become so close.
On the morning the students announced their results, Lynch arrived at his alchemy room.
He waited quietly, watching the starlight on the surface of the Styx Sand in the stone basin dim to the point of near extinction.
Finally, the starlight on the surface of the Styx Sands completely died out.
The next instant, a pure white smoke rose from the dark sand surface without warning, swirling around the nitrogen box and carrying a chilling aura.
Lin Qi clearly felt that some kind of vague and ethereal connection, which existed in the dark, suddenly became incredibly solid and clear, binding him tightly to something deep within the stone basin.
It was no longer an invisible rope, but a resonance and bond originating from the depths of the soul.
Without any physical contact, he could sense the life existing beneath the sand as clearly as he could sense his own arm.
His mind stirred slightly.
A small bump immediately appeared on the smooth sandy surface.
As the sand slid down, the protrusion rapidly expanded and extended. Finally, a raven, entirely black with full plumage, suddenly stood up from the sands of the River Styx, shook off non-existent dust from its wings, and opened its dark eyes.
It felt like just yesterday that a school year at Hogwarts had ended.
After the exam results were distributed, all the students' luggage was packed and loaded into the carriages.
Harry sat in the bumpy carriage, his gaze drawn to a strange creature in front of him.
They have huge bat-like wings, and black fur clings tightly to their scaly skeletons, making them look like moving skeletons pulling a cart.
What puzzled him even more was that, apart from himself, Ron and Hermione seemed completely unable to see the presence of these magical creatures.
Just as Harry was still wondering, the carriage procession slowly drove toward the gates of Hogwarts.
As the carriage passed the edge of the forbidden forest, he couldn't help but look out.
The entire Forbidden Forest was shrouded in a thick and mysterious gray mist, which flowed slowly as if it were alive.
Suddenly, a familiar figure slowly emerged from the misty fog—it was Uncle Lin Qi.
He was still wearing that sharp suit, his figure appearing somewhat hazy in the fog.
A dark shadow hovered above his head; it was probably the crow that usually perched on his shoulder.
Harry squinted, surprised to find that the raven seemed to have grown much larger.
The raven flying in the air seemed to sense the gaze and suddenly turned its head, its dark and sharp eyes accurately targeting the direction of the carriage.
Then, with a powerful flap of its wings, it easily leaped over the towering walls of Hogwarts, turning into a small black dot in the sky and quickly disappearing into the distant heavens.