The two corpses were carried ashore. Their limbs were twisted, their bodies were swollen, and their faces were bitten by fish and were already pitted.
Fudge felt his stomach churning with breakfast, but he forced himself to purse his lips, turned his head, and asked:
"Who can tell me how they died...by drowning?"
Scrimgeour knelt down next to the corpse and inspected his men. He said gloomily:
"Killing Curse!"
"Who could do it?" Fudge shouted in disgust, "Peter Pettigrew? Under that kind of restraint, he could still kill three Aurors?"
"If Peter could do it, he would no longer be Wormtail, but the Dark Lord." A lame man stared and said in a rough voice:
"Some Death Eaters must have rescued him!"
"Death Eaters?" Fudge gasped and quickly denied:
"No, Moody... the Death Eaters have entered Azkaban a long time ago. Under my management, the wizarding world has been safe and sound in the past few years. Where did the Death Eaters come from?"
"Isn't Peter Pettigrew a Death Eater?" Moody sneered:
"He has been on the run for eleven years and has not been caught. There may be many accomplices like him who are at large.
For example...Malfoy?"
"Don't talk nonsense." Fudge fiddled with his hat uneasily. He forced out a smile and said in a small voice:
"Lucius was controlled by the Imperius Curse back then, and he has long been proven innocent."
"Innocent?" Moody stared at Fudge, and he rolled his magic eyes in his eyes.
Fudge didn't like that eye. It reminded him of the way Moody killed the Death Eaters, but he continued on his own:
"Besides, Lucius has always been very supportive of the Ministry of Magic. The Quidditch World Cup will be held next year, and there is still a large gap in the construction of the stadium. Lucius generously donated a large amount of gold... He is a rare good man.
.”
"Good man?" Moody's mouth was already crooked, but it became even crooked now. He pretended to smile and said:
"If a person who donates a lot of gold is a good person, then Malfoy does meet the criteria. After all, he never begrudges galleons.
Mr. Minister, I would like to ask... I wonder how much gold I should donate to change your view of Malfoy?"
"Moody, do you think I'm a chameleon?" Fudge was furious.
"Of course, am I wrong?" Moody turned his magic eye again, and he suddenly looked surprised and said:
"Well, I did see it wrong. You are not a chameleon, you are a money-grubbing...Niff-Xiu."
Fudge was furious. He looked around and made sure that there were several Aurors standing around him to protect him, and then he shouted:
"Moody, watch your tone, I'm still your minister, so be respectful!"
"Not anymore," Moody growled gruffly at Fudge, "I'm retiring and you can't control me anymore."
Moody took a limping step, turned and left, and there was a sudden silence all around, except for the sound of waves washing against the rocks.
After Moody walked away, Fudge, with a gloomy expression on his face, cursed:
"This old guy, Mad-Eye... relies on his qualifications to rely on his old skills... Rufus, don't you care about your subordinates?"
"Connelly, Alastor is about to retire, how can I care about him?" Scrimgeour stood up and said:
"Besides, he usually treats me like this."
"You are the head of the Auror office!" Fudge shouted.
"But my qualifications are far inferior to Moody's." Scrimgeour said without mercy:
"He filled half of the cells in Azkaban, and he taught many young Aurors.
If Moody hadn't been unwilling, he would have been the Director of the Auror Office."
"..."
"I should have known I would have given Peter a kiss!" Fudge said angrily.
"That's what happens after catching him." Scrimgeour said solemnly: "Connelly, the top priority is to send Aurors to conduct a comprehensive search.
Peter."
"The Ministry of Magic will also hold a press conference to inform all wizards about this matter and ask them to be careful.
Peter is an illegal Animagus, and he may be trying his old tricks again, hiding in someone's house as a mouse."
Fudge said nothing.
If it was another prisoner who escaped, that would be fine, but it was Peter Pettigrew.
Catching Peter and redressing Black's injustice was Fudge's greatest political achievement in the three years since he took office.
He also used this incident to attack Crouch and suspended the political opponent for investigation.
In order to gain face for themselves, during this period, major newspapers, under Fudge's suggestion, reported on Peter every day, publicizing how terrible he was.
Under the propaganda of various "authoritative" figures and experts, Peter's image in the hearts of the people has almost become the second-in-command among the Death Eaters, second only to Voldemort.
But now there is a two-level reversal and losing Peter will inevitably cause a huge panic.
He couldn't stop telling everyone that Peter was not dangerous at all and was just a minor player among the Death Eaters?
What you will encounter is not just a backlash from public opinion, but at least a label of incompetence will definitely be slapped on you.
It's really like shooting yourself in the foot.
Umbridge glanced at Fudge and knew what the minister was thinking. She smiled at Scrimgeour and said:
"Mr. Scrimgeour, in good conscience, I can really relate to your sense of urgency, and we all know that Peter's escape was a terrible and terrible thing, a disaster.
But those of us in government must prioritize the well-being of all wizards in everything we do."
"How?" Scrimgeour raised his eyebrows.
"Rushly announcing Peter's escape now will cause unnecessary panic among the people and affect their normal lives.
Next year is the Quidditch World Cup. At this critical moment, the scandal of Peter's escape will inevitably affect the hosting of the World Cup. We must focus on the overall situation!"
Scrimgeour sneered: "So let's just forget about it and pretend that Peter Pettigrew has been imprisoned in Azkaban?"
"No, I mean don't publicize it first, suppress this matter." Umbridge said with a smile:
"It's best if Peter shows up by himself. We can immediately determine his location. If he doesn't show up, we will send Aurors to search slowly."
Scrimgeour held back his anger and said, "Mr. Minister, do you think so too?"
"What Dolores said makes sense, I'm just thinking about it." Fudge responded vaguely.
Scrimgeour snorted, turned around and walked away, his fur cloak billowing behind him.
After he was gone, Fudge and Umbridge exchanged a brief glance.
"These guys...have no respect for me as the minister!" Fudge became angry and said to Umbridge:
"Secret this matter first and don't allow anyone to leak it."
A beetle crawled up Fudge's collar. The sound of its wings vibrating made Fudge restless. He patted his clothes and said:
"You must not let Rita Skeeter know about this matter. If that woman finds out, she will definitely make a big deal about it."
"Yes, sir!" Umbridge said in a disgusted voice.
The driven beetle hovered in the air, then wandered back and stopped on Fudge.