Chapter 58: When Power Loses Control

The Ministry of Magic was a bit different from usual today. Several hours had passed since the morning's events; it was now past noon, and lunch hour was nearly over.

However, in the Ministry's private cafeteria, aside from the chefs and staff preparing to serve, there wasn't a single person there to eat. This was the high-quality lunch provided for free by the Ministry; normally, at this time, it would already be packed to capacity.

As it stood, the dignified Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, was still in his office, overwhelmed by the task of approving various urgent documents sent from different departments. In fact, it wasn't just him; almost all active officials in the Ministry were in a state of frantic distress.

At this moment, Fudge had absolutely no time to rest, let alone go to the cafeteria for lunch.

After all, things had escalated so rapidly and become so thorny that if they weren't careful, every employee in the Ministry—including Fudge himself—would end up eating right at their desks. Go to the cafeteria? They'd be lucky if they didn't die of exhaustion first!

No one, including Richard, the secretary to the Director who had come to report earlier, had anticipated that in the mere single morning following the announcement of wandless magic, the Ministry's surveillance system for wizards would show signs of imminent loss of control and collapse.

When the extraordinary powers of the wizarding world lack effective regulation, in just one short morning, no one expected that some wizards' humanity would twist and degenerate to such an extent! Perhaps this was what was meant by "human nature is inherently evil"? As a certain philosopher once said: whether it be power or strength, once it lacks effective supervision, the first thing it reveals is always its hideous fangs.

Currently, the various small and large problems triggered by wandless magic had already left the Ministry struggling to cope, and incidents of wizarding lawbreaking were occurring incessantly! Everyone, including the Aurors, was working like a tightly wound spring, but even so, they could feel they were barely able to hold the line.

In Fudge's view, those masked wizards who took advantage of the chaos to rob Muggle banks were actually the "good" ones; after all, they were only after money, and besides stealing some hard-to-redeem British pounds, they hadn't caused any loss of life.

Anyway, all those masked wizards had stolen nothing more than paper banknotes. Once the Aurors obtained the serial numbers of the missing pounds, Fudge had ordered Gringotts Wizarding Bank to be on high alert and to station personnel to closely monitor all transactions involving the exchange of pounds for Galleons, waiting for those bastards to try and exchange them! He assumed this wouldn't affect the financial order of the wizarding world and could basically maintain stability.

As for the Muggle world? Fudge was so busy he was losing his mind; how could he care about that?

Besides, the Muggle world wasn't under his jurisdiction. Can't their banks just print more pounds? It's just paper, not gold; if they get robbed, can't they just print more?

There were many similar incidents, much like the documents Fudge had just approved. One report stated that a wizard had maliciously used wandless magic to alter the memories of a member of an extremely wealthy Muggle family, making them believe that the wizard was their long-lost brother. Naturally, those Muggles had desperately invited him into their home—he couldn't exactly refuse!

What followed was a reception of all sorts of fine food and drink, and before leaving, the man had made off with a significant amount of valuables. Just like that, in a single morning, that eccentric wizard had legally acquired a massive amount of wealth. It was truly... Fudge hadn't even known what to write in his approval; these people were something else! Don't they work properly during the day? Do they spend all their time plotting these crooked schemes?

The next few were even more ridiculous, and Fudge didn't even want to list them one by one!

For example: old witches hitting on young, handsome wizards to experience a "second spring"; beggars using spells to bewitch Muggles into giving large amounts of charity; people eating for free and then wiping the memories of others to avoid paying; and even people infiltrating the Muggle government to hold high office for a thrill... and so on!

These people were incredibly resourceful and their methods were so diverse they exceeded the limits of the Minister's imagination! A mere matter of wandless magic was being played with like a toy by these people.

Actually, in Fudge's view, the wizards mentioned above were still relatively "good"—at least they hadn't caused massive destruction or too much impact on the Muggle world, and they were still within the Ministry's tolerance.

But some wizards were different. Those Dark wizards whose brains had never functioned normally—those damned scum! Some had actually gone as far as using Imperius Curses or Confundus Charms to control Muggle women into committing extremely evil acts. The nature of that was truly heinous!

Because just now! While an Auror was on a routine patrol, they accidentally discovered and apprehended those bastards, only to find that every young Muggle woman in that entire building had been victimized. How much time had even passed? For wizards lacking supervision to have moral decay of this level? To Fudge, this was nothing short of sensational and utterly unforgivable!

Therefore, when Fudge saw that report, he didn't even know what words to use to describe such atrocities. After staring blankly for a long time and thinking deeply, he could only write his harshest remark of the day in the approval: *Regarding these wizards, it is recommended that the Wizengamot hand them over to the Dementors for processing!*

Furthermore, just a moment ago, the British Prime Minister of the Muggle world had called him. After a round of official pleasantries, the Prime Minister cautiously asked Fudge: Has something gone wrong with the wizarding prisons? Have those evil wizard criminals all escaped collectively? Otherwise, why have there been so many wizarding crimes in a single morning? The Muggle Prime Minister stated that if this continued, even their special agencies would soon be unable to cover it up!

Damn Dumbledore! And those damn Dark wizards who spend all day finding ways to cause trouble! This has truly caused the Minister of Magic to lose face all the way into the Muggle world!

Fudge cursed incessantly in his heart. If that old man Dumbledore hadn't been meddling and insisting on recruiting that mysterious little girl to Hogwarts as a special professor, would she be teaching students this damn wandless magic? If it weren't for this damn wandless magic, would the Ministry not be facing such an awkward and passive situation?

It was all that old man's fault!

Regarding that mysterious little girl, Fudge didn't even dare to curse her in his mind.

Who knew if she was like You-Know-Who, possessing magic that allowed her to sense people badmouthing her? If that were the case, if he cursed her, would she come running to the Ministry to cause a scene? So, naturally, Fudge could only pin all the blame on that damn old man, Dumbledore.

When Fudge finished signing the last document and instructed his secretary to urge the technical department to upgrade the surveillance system immediately, he slumped into his chair, exhausted. He didn't even have the appetite for lunch. He never imagined that what should have been an ordinary morning would nearly cost him his life.

Fortunately, the wizarding world has never cared much about what happens in the Muggle world. Those damn journalists shouldn't be paying attention to these major crimes that just occurred in the Muggle world, right?

To be safe, Fudge had just issued a strict order that everyone in the Ministry must keep this confidential. He assumed there wouldn't be any major leaks this time. Otherwise, he wouldn't dare imagine what the state of the *Daily Prophet* would be like tomorrow.

While the Ministry was busy, it was also on high alert, trying its best to prevent the Muggle cases from spilling over into the wizarding world. Fudge was relatively confident about the wizarding side; those bastards shouldn't be using wandless magic to cause chaos in the wizarding world just yet, right? Given the current level of power of wandless magic, it might be enough to bully Muggles, but as long as they weren't insane, they wouldn't be stupid enough to try and use it against a wizard with a wand.

Some good news from the technical department just now allowed Fudge to breathe a slight sigh of relief. It was said that in another day or two, the technical department would complete the surveillance upgrade specifically for wizard wandless magic. This was likely the best news Fudge had heard all day.

As for the Muggle world, Fudge was too tired to even inquire. Since it couldn't be prevented anyway, let it be a little chaotic; at most, it would only be for a day or two, and it would pass if they just endured it. At most, he would just have the Aurors and the department responsible for memory modification work extra overtime.

Fortunately, this terrible, passive situation only required gritting one's teeth for a day or two. Otherwise, if every day were as busy as this morning, he wouldn't want to be Minister of Magic anymore. But if it was only for a day or two, it shouldn't be too bad.

Fudge decided that after lunch, he would instruct the Department of Magical Finance to ensure all employees received a generous special attendance bonus to boost morale. For the Aurors who were the busiest, he would add an even larger sum. That way, there shouldn't be too much resentment from those below him.