Chapter 256

"You have to understand, little girl, if it weren't for time being frozen," Johnny said somewhat dejectedly, "the TARDIS should have been the Ministry's highest secret. How could it be known to everyone?"

"And then once it's no longer a secret, you even run a seven-day column to boast about this great invention," Harry teased.

"Welcome to the Ministry of Magic, please state your name and the purpose of your visit," a female voice interrupted them.

"Johnny English, Auror Office," he paused, emphasizing with a triumphant tone, "Director."

"Accompanying Harry Potter and Eve Crowley, accepting the Minister's summons," he said into the receiver.

"Thank you, please pick up the badge and pin it to your chest." After a clattering sound, two round golden badges rolled out of the coin return slot. Harry took one, which read: Eve Crowley, Attendee.

"This is yours, this is mine, we have to pin it to our chests..." Harry suddenly realized that he was wearing casual clothes, and Eve was wearing a lady's dress. They forgot to change into robes before coming out.

"Visitors to the Ministry of Magic, you need to accept an inspection at the security desk..."

That voice was still ringing. Johnny pulled Eve's head back into the telephone booth and cast an Impediment Jinx on the hole.

Soon, Harry knew why he did this: after a tremor, the telephone booth began to sink into the ground, the sidewalk outside rose higher and higher, and finally they fell into darkness, with only the monotonous and harsh friction sound prompting: the sinking was not over yet.

After about a minute, a thin golden light shone on the bottom of the telephone booth, and then everything began to brighten up. The door of the telephone booth opened. Johnny walked out first, and Harry followed, curiously sizing up everything in the Ministry of Magic.

This was about the main hall, magnificent, with dark wooden floors polished to a shine, and golden symbols embedded in the ceiling, constantly moving and changing, like a huge bulletin board. The walls all around were dark and oily, embedded with rows of gilded fireplaces, from which people popped out from time to time, or lined up to prepare to leave.

In the center of the hall was a fountain, and a group of huge pure gold statues stood in the circular pool, the highest of which was a noble-looking male wizard, holding his wand high, pointing directly at the sky, surrounded by a beautiful witch and several representative magical animals.

"I think this statue is discriminating against women," Eve said bluntly, but as soon as she finished speaking, she couldn't help laughing.

"Do you know, there used to be an owl on the witch's shoulder, but in order to repair Azkaban, it had to be sold," Johnny pointed at the statue, "The centaur's hand should also have a bow and arrow."

"Was the bow and arrow used as the budget for the TARDIS?" Harry asked casually.

"Don't know, people all say it was embezzled by Scrimgeour."

Wizards came and went, each with a dead-looking expression on their faces. They neither cared about Harry and Eve's Muggle attire, nor were they willing to look at the beautiful statue more. Some were holding tattered briefcases, some were reading newspapers while walking, striding toward the other end of the hall.

"They must be worried about the increasingly severe situation," Johnny sighed. "Civil servants have been very busy recently."

"I guess they are all thinking about getting off work," Harry couldn't see what role the Ministry of Magic played at all, and couldn't even imagine what role they could play.

"Anyway, this way," Johnny shrugged, leading Harry to a table marked "Security Inspection."

The wizard in charge of the inspection picked up a golden stick and swept it over Harry twice. His expression was like he was about to die, and his lips, which he was reluctant to open, squeezed out a phrase vaguely: "Wand."

Harry handed over his wand, and he casually placed the wand on a machine on the side.

"Eleven inches, the core is phoenix feather, used..." he read the small slip of paper spit out by the machine, and suddenly widened his eyes, "years?"

Harry was also a bit surprised, but soon he guessed the problem, and hurriedly explained: "It must be because of the Chronos Moment. It might have absorbed the energy of the TARDIS explosion, causing this wand to be a bit strange."

"Speaking of which, I remember now, you are Harry Potter!" The wizard, in a manner of returning to the light, quickly cheered up.

"Be serious, Eric," Johnny said dissatisfiedly. "There's a little sister here."

"Oh oh, I mean, worthy of being Harry Potter, even the wand is different. I think your opening sea spell was really great. Was it because you used the Chronos Moment?" The wizard waved his hand and said, "Give them a little British shock, right?"

"My wand!" Eve said dissatisfiedly.

"About this long, with a core," he casually poked the second small slip of paper onto a nail, "And Cedric, he flew so well, do you know the England team offered him an annual salary of ten thousand Galleons? I dare say if he hadn't toyed with those dragons..."

"Let's talk another day," Johnny decisively grabbed their shoulders, led Harry and Eve away from the table, and walked toward the elevator.

With a clattering sound, an elevator landed in front of them. Johnny led them to the very back. At this moment, a familiar figure squeezed in, it was Percy.

"Oh, Harry, why are you here too?" he said. "And it's Mr. English bringing you. Could it be that you used magic outside school and were brought here for trial?"

"Shh, our mission is top secret," Johnny said. "But you don't have to worry, Harry didn't make a mistake."

"Even if he made a mistake, I believe everyone will turn a blind eye, right," another wizard on the side said. "We must respect the rising star of our Britain."

"Very good, Claster," Johnny praised. "You have already grasped the most important guideline for Auror work."

Eve poked Harry happily, but Harry couldn't laugh much. He felt that this kind of thinking might not be right.

The fence door went up layer by layer, and the wizards in the elevator also left in waves. Percy left at the floor of the Department of Magical Transportation. Until the broadcast of the second basement level sounded, the whole elevator was left with only Harry and the other two.

"Are we not going down?" Harry heard that this floor was the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. He thought the will would be read here.

"No, we are going to the Minister's office," Johnny said. "Deng Buliduo's specifications are very high, and only the current Minister for Magic is qualified to read his will."

After the elevator door opened, Harry noticed that this floor was called the Minister's office, but it seemed there was no Minister's office. There were several small doors and one large door here. The Minister's dozen secretaries occupied all the offices, and the Minister could only work at the long table in the conference room.

When Johnny pushed open the large door for them, Harry saw a person buried in a pile of files at first glance, and secondly, Luo En and Neville sitting opposite him.

"You go, I'll be outside," Johnny said, closing the door gently.

Harry and Eve looked at each other, then walked forward and sat next to Luo En, smiling at each other as a greeting.

"Oh, the children are all here, let's start," Jim Hacker raised his head from the pile of files, folded his glasses gently and put them aside. "I'm very sorry, we should have handed these legacies to you in the first place, but changing the Minister delayed some time. You know Deng Buliduo's specifications are very high, so high that only the current Minister for Magic is qualified to read his will."

The Minister took a huge file box from under the table, which contained a few small items and a thin piece of parchment.

"Speaking of which, are you very close to Deng Buliduo?" he said. "He specifically left things for you; and you, Harry, did you have some disagreement with him, so that the worst thing he left for you?"

"What?" Harry revealed a puzzled expression.

"He left almost all his property to Hogwarts, and then here, for..." he read, "I leave my 'The Tales of Beedle the Bard' to Ronald Bilius Weasley, hoping he can gain something from it."

Luo En took the book. The cover was spotted and looked dilapidated. He revealed a look of "better than nothing," after all, he had known the several stories on it by heart long ago.

"I leave the self-made beetle pin to Neville Augusta Longbottom, as a souvenir between us," the Minister took a golden beetle pin from the file box. "And, I authorize Longbottom to use the Sword of Gryffindor until he leaves Hogwarts school."

Neville nodded slightly when he heard the sword, then took the pin and carefully pinned it to his chest.

"This is not an ordinary pin," the Minister suddenly said. "The Ministry of Magic discovered during routine inspections that it was transformed from a broken Time-Turner."

"But now the Time-Turner has no meaning," he shrugged again and picked up the parchment again.

"I leave the Deluminator to Izolonova Razumovskaya Romanov, hoping she will think of me when using it."

"I am not called that name," Eve said stiffly. "My full name is Ivanie Reginald Crowley."

"Perhaps this is Deng Buliduo's meaning," the Minister placed the Deluminator in front of Eve. "He hopes you are willing to choose Britain for him."

"First of all, I am not that unlucky Romanov," Eve said a bit angrily. "Secondly, I am really not familiar with this crazy old man."

In the slightly awkward atmosphere, Harry opened his mouth to break the silence: "Then, Minister, what did Professor Deng Buliduo leave for me?"