When Kael came out of the Department of Mysteries, it was just the start of office hours at the Ministry of Magic, but Diana wasn't in a hurry to have Chris take Kael away.
"Give me your wand," she said.
Though Kael was a bit confused, he still took his wand from his pocket and handed it over.
Diana took it, pressing her index finger to the tip of the wand. Immediately, several red sparks flickered at the tip.
No one knew exactly what Diana did, but she looked pretty uncomfortable—something easily seen from how Chris kept inching further away.
Finally, Diana couldn't hold back; she raised her hand and knocked Kael on the head.
"Try to use the Fiendfyre Curse less," she said. "That charm is hard to control, and if you get caught, the punishment is almost as bad as for the Unforgivable Curses."
Though it didn't really hurt, Kael still moaned and held his head, quickly defending himself:
"They're all Death Eaters. If I didn't use Fiendfyre, they would've definitely used it."
"That's true…" Diana said, "But until they're fully exposed, officially their identities aren't Death Eaters. You, however, really did cast Fiendfyre, and it's easy to prove."
"Priori Incantatem," Kael muttered. He had a feeling this questioning wasn't as simple as it looked.
"Looks like you figured it out." Diana handed the wand back to Kael and meaningfully added, "You should have your suitcase—stay alert."
...
After that, Diana headed back to the Department of Mysteries while Chris took Kael up via the lift to the floor of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.
As they walked through the crowded corridor, Chris said, "There's still some time before the appointment; let's pick up a couple things first."
This place was totally different from the Department of Mysteries. The corridor was piled high with boxes and junk, making it crowded beyond belief.
"Sorry, coming through." Someone rushed past them from behind, holding a box in his hands.
"Bob?" Chris called out. "Weren't you and Amos in Cornwall?"
"Oh, Chris, I was just looking for you," the staffer named Bob said. "We found this over there."
He pushed the box forward,
"Amos and I thought it was just an ordinary farm chicken, but turns out it shoots fire."
As he spoke, a small spurt of flame shot out of the box, quickly burning a hole in the cardboard.
Luckily, it was only a small flame.
"Aguamenti!"
A stream of water splashed onto the box, swiftly extinguishing the fire.
Chris opened the box for a look, then checked it with his wand.
"Obvious trace of Magic Text… Go find someone from Law Enforcement Department. This sort of thing is a serious violation of the Animal Breeding Prohibition Act. Have a Beater bring the culprit in."
"Alright, I'll go now." Bob hurried off, but before long, he returned again.
"What should I do with this?" he asked, raising the box.
"Send it to the forest. No way we can leave it outside like this."
Bob ran to the end of the corridor, pushed open a door, and went inside.
"That's the room for storing experiment animals," Chris explained, seeing Kael's curious look. "There's a genuine forest in there, used to raise all the confiscated Fantastic Beasts."
"Oh…" Kael nodded. "Does this sort of thing happen a lot?"
"It's not rare," Chris sighed. "Sometimes a wizard gets a sudden inspiration and ends up causing us all sorts of headaches."
Seeing Chris look so exasperated, Kael instinctively thought of Hagrid.
He seemed to belong to that 'sudden inspiration' club too—like those Blast-Ended Skrewts last term, though Chris seemed unaware of that mess.
Afterward, Kael followed Chris to his office—the Deputy Minister's office.
After serving as Acting Minister for a year, Chris apparently got his old job back.
"Who's the Minister now?" Kael asked.
"Not sure, still undecided," Chris said, shaking his head. "But there were rumors a few days ago that Senior Deputy Minister Umbridge might temporarily take over."
Chris spoke calmly, showing not a hint of dissatisfaction about his 'demotion'.
"Alright, sit for a bit," he said. "I need to find the papers I prepared yesterday."
Kael grabbed a random sofa and looked around the office.
The place was stacked with files, some spiked wooden sticks tossed in the corners, and piles of parchment nearly touching the ceiling.
"Ah, found it!"
Chris pulled a few sheets of parchment from his desk drawer.
Kael leaned over for a look and saw it was content he'd copied from the Restraint Law.
"Better to be well-prepared," Chris said.
Then they left the office, took the lift, and arrived at the atrium of the Ministry of Magic.
Kael was here to meet Professor McGonagall. Dumbledore had said she'd wait here, but after several loops around the place with Chris, they saw no sign of her.
"Maybe she's already gone to Law Enforcement Department." Chris checked the time. "Ten minutes left—we should get moving."
"Alright," Kael said. He didn't bother looking further for Professor McGonagall and, together with Chris, went up to the second floor, where Law Enforcement Department was located.
But that's where things changed.
Originally, they were supposed to meet in Amelia Bones's office, but the staff guiding them led him to a different room.
Seeing nearly thirty people lined up before him, Kael realized his feeling had been dead on.
If it were just about the Restraint Law, there'd never be so many people—even Head of Auror Office Scrimgeour was here.
"Theodore Nott is dead."
Scrimgeour didn't bother with small talk. As soon as Kael entered, he ordered the door shut, stared blankly, and asked, "Any thoughts on that?"
"Sorry, I don't know who that is," Kael said. "Plus, I came to the Ministry of Magic to explain the magic I used at the Leaky Cauldron, but what you're asking has nothing to do with that."
"That's right, Scrimgeour." Chris stepped forward, standing in front of Kael, scowling as he demanded:
"What are you playing at? The notice we got was about misuse of magic, not helping you investigate this Nott incident."
"It's the Minister's order, Chris." Next to Scrimgeour, a witch suddenly spoke out. "Someone says they personally saw Theodore Nott die at this kid's hands—and he used Fiendfyre, so we have to fully investigate."
"Who?" Chris demanded.
Amelia Bones reflexively glanced behind her.
At the same moment, three people stood up from the back row.
"Walden Macnair…Igor Karkaroff, Lucius Malfoy…"
Chris read their names one by one, his face turning darker.
"They're the witnesses," Amelia Bones said. "Given Mr. Karkaroff's identity, we can't ignore this, Chris. I hope you understand."