Chapter 57: The First Practical Application of Wandless Casting

Like most British government agencies, the headquarters of the British Ministry of Magic is located in the heart of central London, though its actual location is deep underground. However, protected by massive magical arrays, wizards need not worry about being discovered by the Muggle world. Even if Muggles were to dig a subway line near the Ministry, a Muggle-Repelling Charm would ensure they obediently revise their blueprints and reroute the tracks.

Despite being underground, the Ministry of Magic does not feel claustrophobic.

This is because they have many magical windows that can display various types of weather. The choice of weather is primarily the responsibility of the Department of Magical Maintenance; regardless, everything from clear skies to hurricanes is available! Furthermore, the weather is incredibly realistic; if you dare to open a window during a rainstorm, the cold wind and rain will absolutely splash right into your face!

It is said that once, a member of the Department of Magical Maintenance, driven mad by a desire for a raise, took it upon himself to change the weather to a hurricane as a form of protest! That hurricane caught everyone off guard, causing significant chaos and damage to the Ministry. While the perpetrator's wish for a raise was ultimately denied, he never had to worry about money for food again!

Did that fool think the dignity of the Ministry could be trampled upon so easily? Couldn't he have chosen a slightly more moderate method of protest?

Besides, his behavior—unorganized, undisciplined, contemptuous of authority, and acting on whim rather than following proper procedures to demand a raise—was dangerous. If the Ministry had actually given him a raise, what would happen when employees from other departments wanted raises too? Would they all come to make a scene? If that continued, the Ministry wouldn't be able to function at all; everyone would stop working and spend their days bickering over how much of a raise they should get!

Thus, the fool's fate was predictable. Following the principle of "killing the chicken to warn the monkey" and ensuring that precedents were not set lightly, the Minister for Magic at the time hardened his heart and wrote a disciplinary note: *Handle severely; no leniency!*

Consequently, the charge of disrupting the order of a government department was pinned on the fool. Not only did he fail to get his raise, but he was also sentenced to over a decade in prison! It is said that he is still playing hide-and-seek with Dementors in Azkaban, and it will likely be a long time before he is released.

Today, in the corridors of the Ministry, many employees noticed Richard Lee, the Minister's secretary, rushing into the building with a newspaper and a hurried expression. When several of his familiar colleagues waved to greet him, he ignored them completely, not even offering a response! It seemed something bad must have happened.

"Minister! It's bad, it's bad! Something terrible has happened! This time, I'm afraid we are in big trouble!" Without even bothering to knock, the secretary pushed open the doors to the Minister's office.

The next morning, just as the Minister for Magic arrived at work, he was standing by the window holding a cup of coffee. It seemed Fudge was in a very good mood today; he had specifically ordered the Department of Magical Maintenance to set the weather to bright, sunny skies.

The recent Gringotts incident had essentially concluded perfectly. Aside from losing a bit of face and feeling somewhat embarrassed at the start, he had ultimately gained unimaginable, massive benefits! For Fudge, this was what truly mattered.

Because he had followed his secretary's advice and taken the opportunity to launch a series of attacks against the Gringotts goblins, he had achieved incredible success. Not only did the Ministry reclaim a large portion of the management rights of Gringotts Wizarding Bank from the goblins, but they also received unanimous praise from across the wizarding world! Fudge's prestige had been at an all-time high recently! This had left him feeling exceptionally high-spirited and quite smug.

After this victory, no one considered Fudge an incompetent Minister for Magic anymore. The newspapers were almost entirely filled with praise for him!

People were sending in articles and letters of commendation, unanimously agreeing that his move to reclaim the management of Gringotts was a great deed that would benefit both the present and the future!

The great aristocratic families who pulled the strings behind the scenes and reaped real benefits from the Ministry also sent him letters of thanks and encouragement.

After all, Gringotts was a massive cake, large enough for them to divide for quite some time. It was foreseeable that, in his upcoming re-election campaign, Fudge would be the undisputed choice!

"Making such a racket so early in the morning? Where is your discipline?" Fudge had originally planned to drink a cup of coffee, rest for a while, and perhaps take a nap before considering work.

But he hadn't expected his secretary to burst in at this moment, instantly ruining his excellent mood. Fudge couldn't help but glare at him! However, in the end, out of respect for the man's service, he did not reprimand him too harshly.

"Speak. What happened this time? Did that little girl blow up Hogwarts?"

If that were the case, Fudge might actually have been happy.

He had long been dissatisfied with Dumbledore! That old man was always meddling in his work, frequently using his prestige and seniority to interfere in Ministry affairs. There were probably plenty of that old man's people embedded within the Auror Department, too. Did Fudge think he was a fool who couldn't see something so obvious?

It wasn't just the Auror Department; many other departments had his people in them!

For instance, Arthur Weasley in the Improper Use of Muggle Artifacts Office, and several others in different departments—Fudge didn't even want to list them all. That old man had placed a significant number of people within the Ministry; in the past, Fudge had almost been sidelined. Thinking back to when he had first become Minister, many policies could not be implemented unless he consulted that old man first.

Come to think of it, Fudge was, after all, the Minister for Magic. According to Muggle terms, he was the head of state—if the wizarding world could be considered a country.

And Dumbledore was merely a Headmaster, which was equivalent to a Minister of Education. For an old man in charge of education to stretch his hands into the heart of the state was simply outrageous! Regarding this, Fudge declared that he had long had enough! If that little girl really had blown up Hogwarts, Fudge would certainly have had a few drinks to celebrate.

"Uh, no, it's not that!" The secretary was startled by the Minister's peculiar thought. Blow up Hogwarts? How could he even think of such a thing!

"This... you should see for yourself." Having said that, the secretary respectfully handed over this morning's *Daily Prophet*.

"Hmph! I'll see what kind of mess it is this time," Fudge snorted, taking the newspaper with dissatisfaction.

On the front-page headline, in large letters, it read: *BREAKING NEWS! The Mysterious Little Girl from the Gringotts Incident Pulls Another Stunt! Could Wandless Magic Overturn the Wizarding World?*

Fudge froze for a moment upon seeing the headline. Before he had looked at the paper, he had guessed that the little girl had likely caused more trouble, but he hadn't expected this.

Wandless magic? That sounded quite good, didn't it? And "overturning the wizarding world"? That sounded like sensationalism. Those bastards who wrote for the *Daily Prophet* loved to make things up just to cause chaos; they were nothing but scum! Minister Fudge felt that it was perhaps time for the Ministry to introduce some laws to restrict speech; these people couldn't be allowed to run wild!

After reading the headline, Fudge patiently continued reading. Below it was a picture of the little girl, Annie, standing at a podium giving a lecture, likely taken secretly by some meddler.

Tsk! That must have earned them a lot of money. Below the picture was a detailed report on wandless magic, including interview transcripts from some practitioners, and finally, a personal demonstration and explanation by the author.

When Fudge carefully checked the author's name, sure enough, he knew it was that bitch, Rita Skeeter!

She was the person Fudge hated most right now! Last time, she had taken black money from someone to write reports targeting him, making things quite embarrassing for him for a while. If he hadn't countered her quickly and seized the opportunity to claim credit for taking over Gringotts, he might have actually lost his seat as Minister because of her reports.

"This? Wandless magic? Seems somewhat interesting." After reading through everything patiently, Fudge said to the secretary in confusion, "This looks like a good thing! How can I not see where the trouble lies? Lee, it seems you are overthinking it."

"Oh, my Minister! Wandless magic is a good thing for most wizards! But for the Ministry, it is a catastrophe!" The secretary couldn't help but feel frustrated by the Minister's intelligence.

"How is that so?"

Fudge turned his gaze back to the newspaper and skimmed through it again. He looked left and right, but still couldn't see what was wrong. Wandless magic—that was great. When he had time later, he wanted to try learning it using the methods described. There was nothing wrong with that, was there?

"Minister, because of this wandless magic, the Ministry's entire monitoring system is in chaos! We have no way of knowing who is casting spells! This is because we only number, register, and monitor wands, not the wizards themselves!!"

"True. Looking at it that way, it does seem a bit troublesome."

Having understood, Fudge nodded in agreement. He felt the matter was a bit tricky; it did seem like it could cause a little trouble for the Ministry, but only a little, right? How could it be called a "catastrophe"?

"And! You probably don't know yet! Just now, several masked wizards carried out a series of robberies on several Muggle banks, making off with countless pounds in cash! They had already slipped away before our Aurors arrived on the scene! And we have absolutely no idea who did it, because they didn't use wands at all!" the secretary said through gritted teeth.

Although the Aurors had arrived at the scene after receiving the alarm, they had no idea who was responsible.

Even using *Legilimency* to extract the memories of Muggle witnesses was useless, because those bastards were all masked! Secretary Richard Lee could already foresee how frantic the Ministry would be in the coming period.

"What! There's more?" Minister Fudge stood up in shock, gasping for air.

He finally realized the gravity of the situation. This was only the first morning of the first day, and wizards had already committed such a massive crime?

Masked wizards using wandless magic to rob Muggle banks? So wandless magic could be used for that? Masks prevented them from being identified, and wandless magic bypassed the monitoring. Tsk, tsk! Impressive. Fudge had never thought of that.

This was truly incredible. Wandless magic had only just been publicized, and they had already thought of a way to bypass the wand-monitoring system? How could they come up with such things! When did the wizarding world produce so many talents? If some more time passed, what would happen? It would surely throw the world into chaos!

No! These wicked trends must be struck down swiftly and severely; no leniency can be shown!

"Quick! Immediately call a meeting of all Department Heads. We must find a solution as soon as possible. All Aurors are to be dispersed to various locations for vigilance, providing 24-hour monitoring across the British Isles and implementing spell-casting controls to prevent similar incidents from happening again!" Fudge quickly proposed a standard solution; it was all he could do for now.

"Minister, I think it would be better to prioritize upgrading the Ministry's monitoring system. Without monitoring, these things cannot be prevented! After all, Britain is so large, and our Aurors simply don't have enough manpower," the secretary added quickly from the side.

"Yes, yes, yes! Upgrade the monitoring system first! Go now, gather the personnel, and get it done immediately!" Panicked, Fudge nodded in agreement with the secretary's suggestion.

While the Ministry was in a state of frantic chaos, the mastermind behind it all—Annie, who had taught her students wandless magic and caused it to spread—was currently fast asleep in a luxurious suite on the top floor of Hogwarts! Curled up on the soft down bed, Annie hugged her little bear and squeezed further into the quilt.

"Mama..." Annie murmured softly, smacking her lips. She had just dreamed that she had returned to the Voodoo lands, and the magical pies her mother, Amoline, made were truly delicious...

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Revision 1

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(End of Chapter)