Chapter 367

When Harry returned to the dormitory, Ron was playing wizard chess with Neville, which was a novelty since Neville rarely played.

"Harry, you're back?" Ron greeted him.

"Uh, Ron, do you know about something?" Harry sat down beside him, "Or rather, have you received any news?"

"What is it?" Ron looked completely bewildered.

"Jim Hack is preparing to run for Muggle Prime Minister," Harry said seriously.

"Oh, Hack," Ron paused, "That's really something."

"You didn't know?"

"Why should I know?"

"Because," Harry swallowed, "if Hack becomes Prime Minister, who will be the Minister for Magic?"

"Huh?" Ron's eyes widened, "Oh! I almost forgot, yes, the most common scenario is for the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement to succeed as Minister for Magic..."

"But if you have absolutely no news here, it means either Hack has someone else in mind for a successor," Neville said, "or he never intended to be Prime Minister."

"If he really didn't intend to be Prime Minister, why run? Besides, the Ministry of Magic has immense influence, which would add significantly to his chances of winning." Harry felt that Hack would most likely win the election.

"Then that's it, he must want to promote Leslie," Ron said, "The Head of the Department of Mysteries often becomes Minister too, and Leslie seems to be his right-hand man."

"There's another possibility, I mean, I'm not ruling it out," Neville said with a smirk, "An exceptional promotion of Harry Potter to Minister for Magic."

"Whoa!" Harry and Ron exclaimed together.

"No, no, no, I think even if they had that idea, it would at least be for the next term," Harry said very seriously, "It's impossible, it's unrealistic! I'm not even of age."

"Then what was the point of them spending a whole year bragging about you in the newspapers?" Neville shrugged, "And didn't Arnold deliberately let you intern at the Minister's office?"

"I won't accept it. I still have a bunch of advanced classes to take next year. To be honest, in the Wizarding World, strength is what matters most; this Minister thing is completely, anyone can do it, in my opinion, even Professor Doudou could do it. Doing a bunch of meaningless things all day, just attending meetings everywhere, the cabinet just needs a politician who understands magic—" Harry suddenly remembered something, "Right, Hack himself understands magic now, he doesn't even need to go to meetings."

"Anyway, let's see, it's not something for us to worry about." Ron's eyes returned to the chessboard, and he made a move, "I also think that although Harry will eventually be Minister, it won't be this early. If it's not Harry, it's most likely that Pots."

"I don't hope for my dad to be Minister either; he's already busy enough just being a Department Head, Mom says he doesn't get home until eleven every night." After making his move, Ron's eyes drifted again, "Even if he becomes Minister, who will manage the Department of Magical Law Enforcement? We can't really count on Professor Doudou."

"Yeah, let's not think about that for now, I still have to prepare for the meeting on Sunday." Harry also temporarily pushed this matter out of his mind, "Oh right, maybe I can ask him when I go to the meeting on Sunday."

However, on Friday, Snape used the excuse of patrolling to check on Nagini's condition again. After ensuring there were no problems, he told Harry that he needed to participate in the election as Master Master Xuanjun on Sunday. In this way, it might not be convenient to ask Hack about the election and the successor as Master Master Xuanjun, so Harry could only suppress his curiosity and wait for news.

The reason for not letting Saruman appear was mainly because after being captured and released, Bella's state had become uncontrollable. Since there was no way to safely let her take Delphi to run, it was necessary to guard against her becoming desperate and hijacking Harry.

After everything was ready, Harry dressed up on Sunday morning, filled a small flask with Polyjuice Potion, and followed his godfather, who had meticulously styled his hair, from the Floo Network to the main hall of the Ministry of Magic.

The election was arranged in the large conference room next to the Minister's office, and the Ministry of Magic staff had already transported Nagini there in advance. When Harry walked into the conference room, he found that fewer people had come than he had imagined.

At the seats representing the Ministry of Magic, there were only three people: Minister Hack, Minister's Secretary Bernard, and Consultant Dorothy, who was in charge of Death Eaters. Apart from that, there were only empty seats one after another.

And at the seats belonging to the Death Eaters, besides Snape and Antonin who had already taken their seats in the front, Harry only saw one or two people dressed as aristocrats sitting on the benches further back.

Harry and Sirius also sat down in the front, and he noticed that Snape's expression was very flat, while Antonin was slightly excited and expectant.

Soon, the large Malfoy arrived with the large Crabbe and Goyle. They sat in the front row without saying a word, only Lucius nodded slightly to Snape, and Snape returned a cold smile.

Some other Death Eaters from minor families, or minor aristocrats who claimed to be Death Eaters, began to enter one after another, sitting sparsely in separated positions. Among these people, Antonin stretched his neck to look, and look, finally he asked aloud: "Where are the Carrow siblings? Are they late?"

"They went out with William last week." Lucius said, half-explaining, half-probing, "And there's been no news since, I don't know what happened either."

"Perhaps they ran away." Snape said calmly.

"What about Bella?" Antonin was still asking questions.

"You should brush your teeth." Snape said coldly.

Antonin muttered a few times and turned his gaze toward the white door.

Finally, at the scheduled time, Bellatrix still did not appear. Harry felt a bit disappointed, but Bella not appearing did not mean the election could not proceed. On the contrary, if Bella did not appear, the election would only be more relaxed... and of course, more predictable.

"My fellow Death Eater friends." The Minister said naturally, "We are gathered here today to carry out the second Dark Lord election. Perhaps in the past, the Dark Lord did some things hostile to the Ministry of Magic, but as long as you all promise to abide by the law, the Ministry of Magic welcomes you all to participate in politics in the form of social groups. This is also the first time, under the witness of the Ministry of Magic, that key work within the Death Eaters is officially carried out."

"Oh, right." The Minister picked up a document, "According to the draft submitted jointly by several Death Eaters, I announce that the throne of the Dark Lord should be inherited by his eldest son, Saruman Riddle. Does anyone present have any objections?"

Antonin stood up with a start, his face full of disbelief.

However, he found that everyone else was sitting properly and did not seem surprised at all, so he sat down again.

"Mr. Antonin Dolohov, do you have any objections?" The Minister asked.

Perhaps encouraged by the Minister, Antonin boldly expressed his opinion: "Uh, I mean, shouldn't there also be Delphi? Did she give up her right of inheritance? And Bella didn't come either, shouldn't we wait for her?"

"Hmm... okay, we have recorded your opinion." Dorothy said, though she hadn't actually moved her pen at all.

"Inserting an urgent matter here." The Minister picked up a stack of papers on his left and pulled one out, "According to the emergency arrest warrant signed by the Auror Office, Antonin Dolohov is to be arrested immediately for murder."

The two Aurors who had already stood behind him quickly grabbed Antonin's two arms and then held their wands against his neck.

"This isn't right, we aren't—"

"Silencio." An Auror chanted.

After Antonin was carried out, the Minister put the stack of arrest warrants aside and picked up the previous manuscript again, "So, does anyone else have any objections?"

"Okay, if there are no objections, we have passed the first resolution of this meeting, appointing Saruman Riddle as the new Dark Lord. Next, given that Saruman is not yet of age, we will elect a Regent Minister for him."

"Next, I will explain the form of the election." The Minister picked up the manuscript and read in a flat tone, "We will adopt the animal election method, with Nagini, the animal most loved by the former Dark Lord during his lifetime, choosing the Regent Minister for the new Dark Lord for us. After Nagini makes a decision, if the candidates have objections to the election result, they can raise a challenge. If the challenge is approved by more than half of the members present, they can request Nagini to re-elect after stating their reasons. Each candidate can only challenge once."

"First is the first candidate, Mr. Lucius Malfoy, please sit in the middle seat."

Lucius stood up and sat in the chair in front of the glass box.

"Second candidate, Mr. Regulus Black..."

"Third candidate, Mr. Severus Snape..."

"Fourth candidate, Ms. Bellatrix Lestrange." The Minister paused, "Given that Ms. Lestrange failed to arrive, we can wait a little while. If she hasn't arrived within fifteen minutes, it will be judged as an automatic withdrawal."

"Please leave the fourth chair empty. Fifth candidate, Mr. Master Master Xuanjun, please sit in the fifth seat."

Harry took a breath. Letting Master Master Xuanjun be elected Regent Minister was an idea Snape proposed last night. In this way, Harry could control the affairs of the Death Eaters himself, and when he was too busy, Sirius could become Master Master Xuanjun to direct everything. And when Harry came of age and could take charge of the Death Eaters as "Saruman", the role of Master Master Xuanjun could "retire" and leave, without giving others a chance to sow discord.

When the glass box opened and Nagini, under Snape's control, slowly crawled to Master Master Xuanjun's side, everyone showed a knowing smile, and even Lucius didn't look like he was faking it.