Riding in the flying carriage marked with the Ministry of Magic's letter M, Link and Emily traveled without any obstruction and stopped directly inside the Department of Magical Transportation at the Ministry of Magic.
Percy and old Barty had already been waiting there for a long time.
Besides them, a bit farther away, a large number of officials from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, the Department of Magical Transportation, and other departments were hiding in distant corners, curiously looking over this way.
These people had quietly followed old Barty here.
Right now was a sensitive time after the Department of Mysteries incident.
Almost all Ministry officials had been ordered to stay inside the Ministry by force.
So it was normal for Percy and old Barty, the leaders of the two factions, to appear at the Ministry.
But not sleeping in the middle of the night and instead coming to the Department of Magical Transportation to wait for a carriage was rather unusual.
And what happened next nearly made all of them drop their jaws.
Because as the carriage landed, Percy actually ran all the way to the carriage door and, like an attendant, humbly opened the door and welcomed the people inside out.
On the other side, old Barty had also already walked over.
His behavior was much more restrained than Percy's.
He looked somewhat calm and dignified.
But from the essence of the matter, the fact that he appeared here was actually no different from Percy.
Both were flattering.
A series of low gasps broke out among the officials watching from afar.
They could not understand what kind of person could make the current number one and number two figures of the Ministry stay up late at night just to flatter them.
Especially Percy.
Old Barty was deep and calculating. Sometimes even if he was dissatisfied with someone, he could still do the surface work well. As for revenge afterward, that was a matter for later.
But Percy was different.
This young man's personality already had a bit of the flavor of becoming arrogant after gaining power.
He believed more in the idea that a great man should either live gloriously or die gloriously.
On top of that, he had almost never suffered any setbacks and had risen at an almost bizarre speed to become the second most powerful figure in the Ministry.
This made it so he never restrained his emotions and acted arrogantly and domineeringly.
The Ministry officials present were seeing him act so humble for the first time.
Most importantly, the young man and woman being welcomed by Percy and old Barty were so young.
"Th… these two are who exactly?"
"Who knows? Maybe they're the children of some big foreign family?"
"That does seem possible. Otherwise how could Percy Weasley act like this?"
———
Inside the group of officials, people were discussing Link and Emily's identities nonstop.
The most outrageous guess was that Link and Emily were representatives sent by the Death Eaters to negotiate, and judging from old Barty and Percy's attitudes, the Ministry might soon be occupied by the Death Eaters.
Of course, the official who said this was almost immediately dragged away by the others nearby and handed over to the Auror Office.
Right now, the news that Voldemort had revived and fought fiercely with the Auror forces in the Department of Mysteries was no longer a secret inside the Ministry.
Related topics were absolutely a political red line.
And amid all this noise, Amos Diggory stared at the two figures gradually walking away under the escort of old Barty and Percy, and he stood frozen in place as if struck by a Petrification Spell.
"Amos, what's wrong? Not feeling well?"
A colleague who had come with him asked with a frown.
Only then did Amos come back to his senses. He stiffly turned his head and looked at his old partner beside him, speaking in a voice like sleep-talking.
"I… I know them…"
"Oh? Who are they?"
The colleague immediately became interested and asked curiously.
"Link Flamel, and Emily Victoria… oh no, I think she prefers to be called Emily Flamel, since the two of them are already engaged." Amos said somewhat incoherently.
"They're my son's classmates. I've seen them a few times…"
After saying this, Amos still could not quite believe it.
Because of Amos's big mouth, Cedric had never told him anything about the D.A. organization or about their relationship and power with Link.
This made it so that in Amos's impression, Link was still the foolish rich kid from a landlord family.
Even after hearing that Link had won the Triwizard Tournament, this view of his still had not changed.
After all, the Flamel family was simply too rich.
Bribing the judges and giving Link some glory was not impossible.
Otherwise how would the Flamel family have become Hogwarts school governors?
Hogwarts school governors were famous across Europe for being suckers.
And now, the foolish classmate of his son from before had arrived at the Ministry in a Ministry carriage during this emergency lockdown, and was personally welcomed by Percy, the chief assistant of the Minister's Office, and old Barty, the Director of Magical Law Enforcement?
What exactly had happened to the world?
Looking at this scene, Amos felt that his worldview had shattered.
At this moment, the colleague beside him said excitedly, "Your son? Cedric's classmate? The only heir of the Flamel family?"
Amos stiffly nodded.
Seeing this, the colleague became so excited he nearly jumped up.
He quickly leaned close to Amos's ear and said in a suppressed voice, "Do you remember our earlier guess about why Percy Weasley got promoted so fast and also had a big group of Fudge faction officials supporting him?"
"Ah, of course I remember."
"A lot of people in the Ministry think he's actually just a puppet, that some mysterious big figure is supporting him from behind and wants to interfere with the Ministry through him, which is why he…"
Amos suddenly stopped mid-sentence. His eyes widened suddenly and he said in disbelief, "You mean… the Flamel family is the big figure controlling Percy from behind?"
"That's the only possibility, Amos!" the colleague continued.
"Look at Percy acting so humble. Doesn't he look like a trained dog? And also, I heard that after such a big incident recently, Minister Fudge is almost certain to step down."
"People from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement say the Ministry might be restructured and a big figure will be brought in to jointly manage the Ministry."
"If you ask me, that big figure must be this Flamel family heir right in front of us!"
"Amos, your son has a pretty good relationship with Lord Flamel, right?"
"Looks like you'll be getting promoted soon!"
"When the time comes, don't forget…"
Amos could no longer hear the colleague's flattering words.
The earlier analysis sounded like a bolt of lightning, splitting apart the dark clouds in his mind.
He suddenly understood everything.
It was all too reasonable.
The Flamel family already had considerable influence inside the Ministry.
During Minister Fudge's time in power, their relationship had been quite good.
Link Flamel himself also held the Order of Merlin.
A big family like theirs would naturally want to continue expanding their influence.
The Malfoy family's strategy was to deepen their ties with officials and the Minister.
The Flamel family was even more straightforward.
They directly sent a puppet into the Ministry.
And now, the situation had changed again.
The great upheaval in the Department of Mysteries and Fudge stepping down had given the Flamel family a perfect opportunity.
They were no longer pretending.
They had laid their cards on the table.
They were stepping from behind the scenes to the front and directly taking control of power.
'This is simply too… too wonderful!'
Amos could hardly stop himself from cheering.
His son Cedric and Link had been friends for many years.
How many benefits would this relationship bring to the Diggory family?
Amos could hardly imagine it.
At the same time, Link, who had already entered the magical elevator, looked through the gap at the officials not far away who had begun to stir, and quietly said, "This was also arranged by you on purpose?"
"Yes, Lord Flamel," old Barty said respectfully. "Percy and I both agreed that these people should see the Ministry's new leader."
Emily frowned and said, "Isn't this a bad idea? All kinds of messy rumors will spread everywhere."
"Please don't worry about that. These Ministry officials are indeed quite useless, but that only applies to handling official work...", Percy said fawningly.
"When it comes to guessing their superiors' intentions and office politics, they are absolutely professional."
"I guarantee that just this one appearance from the two of you will be enough for them to understand the message we want to send, and they will keep their mouths shut and never leak it outside the Ministry."
"After all… this concerns their personal interests."
Emily nodded expressionlessly.
Percy's description did match her impression of Ministry officials.
These people were actually not lacking in ability.
They just used it in the wrong places.
A faint smile also appeared at the corner of Link's mouth as he glanced at old Barty and said, "Then let's talk about the real matter. What trouble have you run into that required me to come personally?"
Percy and old Barty exchanged a glance, and then old Barty spoke, "It's the Wizengamot. Originally we were carrying out the tasks you assigned, and everything was going smoothly."
"But… many members of the Wizengamot have expressed strong dissatisfaction with the committee system."
"They insist on keeping the original single-Minister system and holding a new Minister election."
Percy immediately added, "We originally just wanted to ask for your instructions, but we didn't expect you to come personally. This truly is… our honor."
Old Barty pursed his lips.
Percy's flattery was so excessive that even he felt disgusted.
Link clearly felt the same, glancing at Percy's smiling face and saying, "I came to the Ministry for other matters."
"Whether this happened or not, I would still have come. But since this has happened, I'll solve it along the way. It's not a big matter."
Just as Link finished speaking, the magical elevator finally stopped, and the golden doors slowly opened.
"Department of Magical Law Enforcement."
A cold female voice sounded quietly. Link led Emily out first, while old Barty and Percy followed closely behind them.
The Department of Magical Law Enforcement was recognized as the largest department in the Ministry.
It consisted of the Auror Office, the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office, the Improper Use of Magic Office, the Office for the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Items, and the Wizengamot administrative body.
It looked like many departments were established internally, but in reality, the ones that truly held power were only the Auror Office, the Improper Use of Magic Office, and the Wizengamot.
Among them, the Auror Office represented military power, while the Improper Use of Magic Office represented legal power.
Military power needed no explanation. Simple and direct violence.
Legal power, on the other hand, was even more formidable.
This could be seen from the name Improper Use of Magic Office.
Improper use of magic, the word "improper" was very abstract.
What exactly counted as improper?
There was no clear standard at all. Whether it was improper depended entirely on the judgment of the enforcement officers.
What they actually enforced were catch-all charges.
Just like how certain bureaus review films and games, they also had no clearly divided specific charges.
This kind of abstract crime category gave them ultimate power.
After all, nothing could be done perfectly. If someone looked carefully enough, they could always find fault.
As for the Wizengamot.
That was even more formidable.
They were a group of highly respected figures who formed a detached organization almost equal in rank to the Minister's Office.
They were responsible for court rulings in major cases, and… the election of the Minister of Magic.
"Lord Flamel, you've arrived!"
Link and the others had only just walked a few steps out of the elevator when Sand, wearing a slightly untidy Auror uniform with prematurely white hair, came forward and respectfully greeted Link with a bow.
Seeing this, old Barty and Percy exchanged looks, and matching mysterious smiles appeared at the corners of their mouths.
As one of the three giants of the Ministry newly established by Link, he should have been at the Department of Magical Transportation together with old Barty and Percy to welcome Link.
His absence earlier had actually been somewhat impolite.
After all, Link had just promoted him not long ago.
But judging from his respectful manner now, this probably was not his fault.
Instead… it was a trap set by the pair of foxes, old Barty and Percy.
In this regard, Sand was still far too inexperienced.
But arriving late did not matter, because Sand was not the only one who had come.
Behind Sand stood more than twenty fully armed Aurors.
Link did not say much to Sand. He only nodded slightly before walking into the Wizengamot council chamber under the escort of the Aurors and old Barty and the others.
The moment he stepped into the council chamber, Link frowned.
The decoration inside this council chamber, which covered nearly a hundred square meters, was even more magnificent than the Ministry atrium.
No, magnificent was not the right word.
Because unlike the Ministry atrium, which used flashy gold as the main decorative color, this council chamber used a more low-key silver.
But the problem was that the large amount of gold in the Ministry atrium was ordinary gold.
The silver inside the council chamber came from a precious supernatural alchemical material, mithril.
And the scale of mithril used inside the chamber far exceeded the scale of gold used in the Ministry atrium.
A mysterious and brilliant silver-white glow covered almost the entire chamber.
Most exaggerated of all, the entire ceiling above their heads was paved with mithril plates, and various magical gemstones were used as magical lights, forming a scene similar to a starry sky.
And beneath this mithril starry sky sat more than a dozen Wizengamot members on both sides of a huge long table.