Chapter 476: Simple Criteria for Selecting Friends
“Sirius Black, how have you been lately?” Fudge greeted Sirius with a smile.
He put on a familiar look, but in fact they had only met a few times, and none of them left any pleasant memories.
“Not bad. It’s better outside than in Azkaban.” Sirius said coldly.
“I’m relieved to see you now, and I’m sorry I didn’t help, and came to a conclusion without a fair trial, you know it was all advocated by that man,” Fudge said in a low voice. He glanced in the direction of the house elf Winky, where Barty Crouch was. “Your father and I were very good friends. What can I do for you? In fact, there’s always a vacancy in the Auror office. If you’re interested, you just need to ask! “
As a post-war tragedy hero, Sirius was now famous among ordinary people in the wizarding world.
It was in Fudge’s interest to woo Sirius to the Ministry of Magic to become an Auror.
Needless to say, the Black family, as the oldest family of pure-blood wizards, had a strong network and wealth.
“I’ll think about it!” said Sirius.
After receiving a satisfactory response, Fudge’s eyes turned to Evan: “Dear Evan, I am glad to see you here. I just saw the advertisement of your newspaper. It’s great!”
He shook Evan’s hand kindly in a fatherly fashion and asked him how he was.
It was only a few minutes later that Fudge returned to his place.
“He and your father were friends?” Evan asked, sitting down.
“It’s just a matter of money. Pure blood wizards like my parents are friends with almost all senior officials of the Ministry of Magic. They are used to donating large sums of Galleons to these politicians to help them pass laws that are in their favor.” Sirius said contemptuously, “One of my ancestors even tried to force the Ministry of Magic to pass a bill to legalize the hunting and killing of Muggles by wizards; that was the most absurd request!”
This was indeed absurd, but it was in line with the interests and traditions of the pure blood wizard families.
Old pure-blood families like the Blacks always try to hide behind the scenes, using wealth and family background as weapons, and skillfully manipulating people in front of the stage to safeguard their interests, and threaten other wizards to obey their orders.
This model had been running very well over the past few centuries.
It was not until Voldemort’s appearance that these pure blood wizard families discovered that they had screwed up.
In the early days of Voldemort’s rise, he was supported by many pure blood wizard families.
Among them were Sirius’s parents, they were proud of their son becoming a Death Eater. They agreed with Voldemort’s philosophy that the status of pure blood wizards was supreme.
But when Voldemort gradually revealed his nature and murdered people everywhere, these pure-blood wizard families began to fear him.
The relationship between the two sides changed from allies to master and servant, and the pure-blood wizard families became a tool for Voldemort’s expansion.
No one dared to oppose him, nor did anyone dare to quit halfway. Death Eaters were not an organization one could join and quit at any time.
The only end to going against the Dark Lord’s will was death.
There is no end to this road except destruction. That’s why, after Voldemort’s failure, many old pure-blood wizard families breathed a sigh of relief.
Although after the war, their power and control over the wizarding world were not as strong as before, this was much better than following Voldemort madly to their death.
Just then, another representative of the pure blood wizard families, the Malfoys, entered the box.
Lucius Malfoy, like the past, looked at everyone in the box squinting with a high and mighty attitude. His cold gray-blue eyes lingered on Evan and Sirius for a while. Then, he moved away quickly.
There was a sneer on his pale pointed face, which made him look very arrogant.
Behind him were Draco Malfoy and his mother Narcissa Malfoy.
“Ah, Fudge!” said Lucius, holding out his hand as he reached the Minister of Magic. “Hello, I don’t think you’ve met my wife, Narcissa? Or our son, Draco?”
“How do you do, how do you do?” said Fudge, smiling and bowing to Mrs. Malfoy. “Please allow me to introduce you to Mr. Oblansk, Mr. Obalonsk. He’s the Bulgarian Minister of Magic, and he can’t understand a word I’m saying anyway, so never mind. And let’s see who else… You know Sirius Black?”
“Of course!” Lucius turned to Sirius again with malicious eyes and said in a pretentious voice, “I was surprised that he was released.”
“Oh, Black is innocent, and we’ve proven it!” Fudge did not understand what he was talking about. “It was all done by that evil Peter Pettigrew. Who would have thought he was the culprit?!”
“That’s right!” Lucius whispered, “But I think that some people are dangerous, even if they don’t…”
“MALFOY, IF YOU WANT A FIGHT, I’LL TAKE YOU ON ANY TIME!” Shouted Sirius.
His voice was so loud that everyone in the box turned to his side.
“Lucius didn’t mean that, Sirius, I think you misunderstood, don’t mind!” Fudge said nervously, “Lucius has just given a very generous contribution to St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. He’s here as my guest of honor!”
It was Gold-Galleons again. Evan suddenly understood what Sirius had previously said.
It seemed that it was really simple to become a friend of Fudge, as long as you had a large amount of gold.
If he was to transform the Philosopher’s Stone to have the function of turning stone into gold, controlling the Ministry of magic wouldn’t be difficult.
Under Fudge’s gaze, Lucius Malfoy did not dare say anything out of line. He looked sarcastically at Sirius and everyone in that row of seats.
The feeling was like being stared at by a poisonous snake.
Then he continued down the line to his seats.
Draco Malfoy followed his father and shot Evan, Harry, Ron and Hermione one contemptuous look.
One after another, people approached the box, and when it was full, Ludo Bagman rushed in.
“Everyone ready?” he said, his round face gleaming like a great, excited Edam. “Minister… ready to go?”
“Ready when you are, Ludo.” said Fudge comfortably.
Ludo nodded and whipped out his wand, directed it at his own throat, and said “Sonorus!” and then spoke over the roar of sound that was now filling the packed stadium.
His voice echoed over them, booming into every corner of the stands.
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