Chapter 501: Chaos in the Ministry of Magic

On the last night, Percy returned to the Burrow unusually early. He looked tired, but extraordinarily energetic.

"It's been an absolute riot," Percy told them importantly. "I've been putting out fires for a week. People keep sending out howlers, and of course, if you don't open a howler right away, it explodes. I have scorch marks all over my desk and my best pen reduced to ashes."

"Why are they all sending howlers?" asked Ginny, who was patching her copy of "A Thousand Magical Herbs and Mushrooms" with duct tape on the rug in front of the living room fire.

"Complaining about security at the World Cup, of course. " Percy said, "They want compensation for their ruined property.... Mundungus Fletcher's submitted a 500 galleon medical expense claim list, and he also said his tent was destroyed and asked us to compensate him for a twelve-room tent with a Jacuzzi. But I know all about him. He wasn't hurt at all, and actually spent the night under a cloak propped up on poles."

That night, as the vampires launched an attack on the stadium, the camp was also attacked.

Many people suffered, especially the tents near Crouch, which was the hardest hit area.

The vampires probably thought Barty Crouch Jr. was hiding in the tent, so they attacked the area. Of course, they found nothing, but they caused a lot of losses to the wizards.

In fact, to appear in the World Cup, the wizards put a lot of good stuff in their tents.

Mrs. Weasley brought them all several drinks and looked at her grandfather's watch in the corner.

It was a magic clock. It was completely useless if you wanted to tell the time, but otherwise very informative.

It had nine golden hands, and each one was engraved with the Weasley family name.

There were no numbers around the face, but descriptions of where each family member might be. "Home," "school," and "work" were there, as well as "traveling," "lost," "hospital," "prison," and so on.

In the position where the number twelve would be on a normal clock, there was "mortal danger."

Although this clock looked too good, it was a very rare magical item of the highest caliber.

It was passed down through the Weasley family. No matter how decadent it was, the Pureblood Wizarding family had some treasures in the bottom of the case.

This magical watch was something like that. It could be used as long as a pointer representing a member of the family was attached.

Like the Marauder's Map, its working principle involved the magic of names.

This was a very unpopular and profound branch of magic, and only powerful and knowledgeable wizards could dabble in it.

For example, Voldemort placed a taboo curse on his name that allowed his Death Eaters to instantly locate anyone who spoke it aloud in the open, and destroy simple surrounding defensive magic. Death Eaters would rush in immediately. Therefore, everyone was very fearful, afraid to say his name and was called You-Know-Who.

This was another extreme use of name science magic, and probably only a really powerful dark wizard would pull it off.

All in all, this look was too rare, and there wasn't much Ivan could get from the magic books.

Every time he saw this clock, he had the urge to open it and take a look at its internal structure.

Eight of the clock's hands pointed to the "home" position, but Mr. Weasley's, which was the longest, still pointed to "work. "

Mrs. Weasley sighed and said sadly, "Your father hasn't had to go to the office on weekends since the days of You-Know-Who.... They're working him too hard. His dinner will be ruined if he doesn't come home soon."

"Well, father feels he has to make up for his mistake at the match, doesn't he?" said Percy: " To tell you the truth, it was a bit rash to make a public statement without clearing it with his Department Head first..."

"Don't you dare blame your father for what that wretched woman Skeeter wrote," said Mrs. Weasley, immediately flared up.

"If Dad hadn't said anything, old Rita would have said it was a disgrace that no one from the Ministry had commented..." said Bill, who was playing chess with Ron, "Rita Skeeter never makes anyone look good. Remember she once interviewed all the Charm Breakers at Gringotts, and called me 'a long-haired idiot'?"

"Well, it is a bit long, dear," said Mrs. Weasley gently. "If you'd let me... "

"No, Mom!"

Rain lashed the living room window, and Ivan sat down in front of the fire to study the ancient magical writing.

Not far from him, Hermione was immersed in the Standard Book of Spells, Grade 4.

Charlie was darning a fireproof balaclava, Harry was polishing his fire arrow, and the broom maintenance kit Hermione had given him for his thirteenth birthday lay open at his feet.

Fred and George were sitting in a far corner, feathers out, talking in whispers; their heads bent over a piece of parchment.

"What are you two doing?" said Mrs. Weasley said sharply, her eyes on the twins.

"Homework," Fred said vaguely.

"Don't be ridiculous, you're still on vacation," Mrs. Weasley said.

"Yeah, we just want a head start," said George.

"You wouldn't by any chance be thinking of restarting Weasley's Wizard Wheezes?" said Mrs. Weasley slyly.

"Now, Mum!" said Fred, looking at her, a pained look on his face. "If the Hogwarts Express crashed tomorrow and George and I died... How would you feel if you knew that the last we heard from you was an unfounded accusation?"

Everyone laughed, even Mrs. Weasley.

"Oh, your father's coming!" she said suddenly, glancing at the clock again.

Mr. Weasley's hand had gone from "work" to "travel."

A second later, he had stopped at "home" with the others and they heard him calling from the kitchen.

"Coming, Arthur!" called Mrs. Weasley, hurrying out of the room.

A few moments later, Mr. Weasley entered the warm living room with his dinner on a tray.

He looked completely exhausted.

"Well, the fat's on the fire now," he said to Mrs. Weasley and sat down in an armchair near the fireplace and played half-heartedly with his somewhat wilted cauliflower. "Rita Skeeter's been sniffing around all week, looking for more Ministry messes to report.... And now she's found out about poor Bertha's disappearance, so that will be the headline in tomorrow's Daily Prophet. I told Bagman he should have sent someone out to look for her long ago."

A few days ago, the editor-in-chief of the daily the prophet sent a letter to Ivan.

The letter said that Rita Skeeter wanted to interview him, but Ivan didn't give her the opportunity and refused outright.

He didn't want her to describe him as a young monster with bad habits, or as the youngest dark wizard in existence or anything like that.

This woman had a habit of making rumors to attract public attention. It was better for Ivan to stay away from her.

Of course, if Rita Skeeter provoked him, Ivan would not be polite. He knew what she was doing.....