Struggling to survive at Hogwarts

Chapter 229 Well-Informed

Thea quickly received news of what had happened at the Ministry of Magic.

Although the letters were written by different people, the contents were all very similar. After reading them all, Thea threw them directly into the burning fireplace in front of her.

As Thea gazed at the roaring flames in the fireplace, her thoughts drifted away.

Crouch has now established himself as a hardliner at the Ministry of Magic, and it's likely that someone will contact him soon.

Perhaps their goal is not simply to resist Voldemort, but at least for now, they are definitely on the side of resistance.

This is enough.

Thea doesn't need their loyalty, she only needs them to do things in accordance with her wishes.

By sixth grade at the latest, the fact that Voldemort has been resurrected will definitely be made public.

By then, Crouch, who had established a tough image beforehand, would be more popular than the weak Fudge. Coupled with his subsequent dazzling "achievements," Crouch would be able to take control of the entire Ministry of Magic!

Thea wasn't worried about Crouch's ability to hold onto his position as Secretary. Someone who could remain Secretary even after his son became a Death Eater couldn't be a fool.

Thea has confidence in Crouch.

After reviewing the future situation within the Ministry of Magic, Thea began to think about the situation within Hogwarts.

Umbridge is an incompetent fool; anyone can see that.

But undeniably, she's a bit tricky.

She represented Minister Fudge, and had the backing of the Ministry of Magic. Even if Thea disliked her, she couldn't directly confront her. Dumbledore had also taken this into consideration.

Of course, if Dumbledore didn't still have Voldemort as an opponent, Umbridge wouldn't have lasted a single move against him.

Therefore, the pressure is now on the students.

Umbridge was clearly after Dumbledore and Potter.

And she was the knife that Umbridge pushed out.

She has connections, ability, and prestige; there is no one more suitable than her.

Umbridge appointed her as head of the investigation team with the intention of using students against students, hoping to find something wrong with Potter and then point the finger at Dumbledore...

What followed was a battle of public opinion. The Ministry of Magic had the moral high ground, and Dumbledore's resignation was a foregone conclusion.

Indeed, this plan was not ingenious; in fact, it was rather clumsy.

But its approach was correct, so it succeeded in the original storyline.

To be honest, Thea didn't intend to get involved in Dumbledore's resignation. It didn't matter whether the old man had the title of headmaster or not; he always let his abilities speak for themselves.

Thea didn't want to get involved, but she wanted to take advantage of the situation.

Umbridge allowed her to build her own team, and Dumbledore reluctantly gave her the tacit approval; Thea wouldn't let this opportunity slip by.

Besides, isn't Umbridge planning to target Porter?

This is a great opportunity to fish in troubled waters!

After sketching out the initial plan in her mind, Thea's smile widened.

The mantis catches the cicada, and the oriole is behind.

In this game, who will be the victor?

------

“Thea…”

"Thea?"

The familiar voice woke Thea from her sleep. She recognized the person in front of her in a slightly daze, and then subtly avoided the hand that was reaching out to help her.

"What time is it now?"

Theodore concealed his disappointment and withdrew his hand, his tone unchanged, "It's almost seven o'clock."

"Tonight's patrol..."

"I will participate."

Thea quickly recalled the patrol route for the evening and then responded.

"Is there any bread? I'm a little hungry."

“Yes,” Theodore led Thea to a small table where a simple dinner was already laid out: a small sandwich, a few cherry tomatoes, and a steaming cup of pumpkin juice.

It suited Thea's dinner taste perfectly.

Thea wasn't surprised and sat down to eat.

Theodore sat down as well and began to report the news he had received that afternoon.

"...Daphne just came to report that someone saw Rita and Potter meeting with Granger at the bar this afternoon..."

Thea paused in her movements.

Seeing this, Theodore also perked up and carefully added the follow-up to the message, "...They mentioned...the mysterious person...resurrection..."

"However, it's not certain. Granger is very vigilant, and our people won't have a chance to plant listening devices."

“It’s nothing,” Thea said after hearing the news, and continued eating. The importance of Potter’s contact with a reporter was not as important as the news of his contact with Dumbledore.

but……

"I remember Sangster's father was recently promoted?"

“…Yes,” Theodore immediately recalled Sangster’s family background in his mind, “His father was recently promoted to chief editor of the Daily Prophet, and the daily papers have to go through his hands.”

"Remind him to keep an eye on Rita lately; maybe he can get another promotion."

“Okay,” Theodore replied.

He didn't ask Thea how she could so easily order around an editor of the Daily Prophet; he simply needed to pass the message on to Sangster.

Thea could indeed have Rita block the information she received from Potter, but there was no need.

They're journalists; reporting the news is in their nature.

Thea isn't the kind of tyrant; as long as Rita remembers that she has something on Rita, that's fine.

So she made two plans: either Mr. Sangster would seize the opportunity for promotion and Rita would be sidelined; or Rita would prove her loyalty to Thea again and Mr. Sangster would lose the opportunity for promotion.

Anyway, Thea is the house, and the house can't lose.

And so, somehow, Rita's will to survive kicked in.

Three hours after the three of them talked, Rita's letter arrived.

Thea wasn't interested in reading the first half of the boasting; she went straight to the important stuff in the second half.

The letter mentioned that Potter did indeed inform Rita of Voldemort's resurrection and wanted her to publish the report in The Quibbler, but Rita was concerned about Thea's leverage, so she wrote to ask Thea for her opinion.

Thea didn't want to know how conflicted Rita was in making this decision. She calmly burned the letter, regretting the missed opportunity to curry favor, and then wrote to Rita to listen to Potter and the others' opinions and release the news.

Rita proved her loyalty, though not entirely pure, but she had no reason to stifle Rita's talent, and besides, the news wouldn't affect her much.

Perhaps some people will be awakened from their dreams by this report, but how can a report wake up those who are pretending to be asleep?