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In the current underground dark wizarding world, a bunch of dark creatures want to join him, so the position of Minister of Magic is not particularly important to Voldemort.

In short, in most people's eyes, both Britain and France were hurt in this incident.

France lost money but had a good time, while Britain was utterly humiliated; British wizards will surely be laughed at from now on.

That's normal, and that's indeed the case.

However, the current Minister of Magic of France is not French at all.

That guy was German.

Grindelwald, a powerful wizard who was not much less formidable than Voldemort.

In a one-on-one fight, Grindelwald would definitely be no match for Voldemort, but if he were just guarding the Ministry of Magic, Voldemort would have some difficulty breaking in.

If we can stall for time and allow Grindelwald to establish himself here, Voldemort will have an even greater chance of breaking in.

This land has been defended.

France wants to have fun, doesn't want to lose money, and also wants to take a jab at Britain.

A win-win-win situation.

Witt is currently unaware that Crouch is seeking a French alliance. If he did, Grindelwald would have another win in this run.

They won so badly they were completely stunned.

However, it didn't matter to Witt who won. If Voldemort won, he had a pact with Voldemort and could take it from him.

Grindelwald has won, so let Dumbledore talk to him. I'm sure Mr. Grindelwald will be willing to generously share his Ministry of Magic.

As for the face of a British wizard, Witt never considered himself British, so he didn't care about it at all.

If anyone dares to laugh at him, Viterbi's Cruciatus Curse is not something he learned for nothing; it will surely make the other person instantly become very polite.

Depression under war

A week has passed since Voldemort left, and both wizards and Muggles have been unusually busy these past few days.

Even the International Federation of Wizards found the situation extremely difficult to handle with such a massive leak.

Fortunately, British wizards had connections with the British upper class, and after contributing a small number of Muggle officials and some unfortunate organizations, the matter was eventually suppressed.

As things came to a close, the tense atmosphere gradually eased.

On the new day, Witt received two withdrawal notices; someone wanted to leave the combat training club he had created.

Witt didn't pay much attention at first, until he saw the signatures on the two letters.

George Weasley and Fred Weasley.

Instinctively, Witt sat up straight instantly.

George and Fred want to quit. They were fine yesterday, so why are they suddenly quitting today?

Forget about ordinary people, these two are among the best performers in the training program and are the core members of the Witt Future Plan.

No, I have to go ask.

Witt should ask them for the reason; he needs to know what happened.

Hogwarts Great Hall, Gryffindor Dormitories, Playground, Black Lake...

Witt searched high and low but still couldn't find anyone.

That shouldn't be the case. Could those two have gone to Hogsmeade?

Just as Witt was hesitating about whether to go out, he saw Ron near Hagrid's cabin.

While others might not know about the Weasley twins, Ron certainly does.

Boom boom boom!

"Who's there!" Hagrid's alert voice came from inside the door.

“I am Witt.”

With a creak, the wooden door was pulled open a crack, and Hagrid peered through the gap into the room.

Only after confirming it was Victor did he open the door.

"Come in quickly, it's not safe outside."

Hagrid's words made Witt frown, and he asked in a low voice, "Is there anything unsafe inside Hogwarts?"

“A werewolf wizard community has appeared outside Hogwarts,” Hagrid warned sternly. “You don’t want to get bitten by them, especially since it’s a full moon tonight.”

A werewolf wizard! It seems Lupin acted quite quickly.

Victor didn't ask any further questions, but instead turned to Ron and Harry: "Did you know that George and Fred withdrew?"

Ron's expression wasn't good; he seemed reluctant to bring it up, only muttering, "I know."

“Where are they?” Witt noticed Ron’s expression and decided to ask George and Fred directly.

"I...I dropped out of school."

"What! Dropping out of school?" Witt felt like there was something wrong with his ears.

How could George and Fred possibly drop out of school? Others drop out out of fear of Voldemort and the Death Eaters’ retaliation, but these two are eager to join the Order of the Phoenix and fight against the Death Eaters. They would never drop out.

“My father lost his job.” Ron’s tone was weak, even a little confused.

Clearly, his father's unemployment had a huge impact on him.

Molly is basically a full-time housewife at home. With so many children in the Weasley family, someone has to take care of them.

Therefore, the entire family's financial support rested on Arthur Weasley's shoulders; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call him the pillar of the family.

Now, that pillar has fallen.

"How could Mr. Weasley be unemployed?" Witt asked instinctively. In the original story, Arthur didn't lose his job even after Voldemort took over the Ministry of Magic, so how could he possibly be unemployed now?

And isn't the Ministry of Magic short-staffed?

“The Ministry of Magic… is out of money.” Ron didn’t know what to say, so he whispered, “Those Frenchmen are unwilling to spend extra money to hire British wizards, so most of the Ministry of Magic’s staff have been laid off.”

Witt slapped his forehead. How could he have forgotten this? A week ago, when the International Confederation of Wizards came, Voldemort refused to fight to the death, took all the Ministry of Magic's assets, and ran away.

France took over a blank Ministry of Magic, which also had a lot of outstanding foreign debt.

They've already taken on a huge debt by being willing to take on foreign debt, so how could they possibly be willing to spend money to support a large number of employees who just sit around doing nothing?

The original British Ministry of Magic must have had a lot of people who were just slacking off and not really doing their jobs, and Grindelwald couldn't tell in a short time, but the wages they were supposed to receive were real Galleons.

So they simply took a one-size-fits-all approach, dismissing everyone except for those in very important positions.

Arthur was among those dismissed.

The Weasleys were already struggling financially, and this year Ginny's schooling added another huge expense. As their only daughter, they definitely had to raise her as well as possible.

With five children in school and the only breadwinner in the family now laid off, the pressure is enough to make anyone despair.

Even so... did George and Fred drop out of school without telling their families?

Witt felt that Arthur and Molly weren't the type to let their children drop out of school to relieve stress. Even the eldest, Percy, hadn't dropped out, so it shouldn't be George and Fred's turn. He strongly suspected that George and Fred had made the decision on their own.

“How did you know?” Ron looked up in surprise. “Dad wrote letters asking for every job he could find, but no place wanted anyone.”

The Ministry of Magic was breached just a week ago. Voldemort only retreated, he didn't die. In this day and age, who dares to expand enrollment? We'll have to wait at least six months to see how things go.

The Weasleys couldn't afford to wait six months.

"Why not apply for a student loan?" Witt didn't answer Ron's question, but instead asked with some confusion, "I remember that at Hogwarts, regardless of year, you can apply for a student loan."

Hagrid whispered to Vitter, "Hogwarts is preparing to cut the salaries of all professors and staff by twenty percent starting next month."

“Everyone’s having a tough time.” Hagrid placed a hot rock cake in front of Witt. “When I went to Diagon Alley a few days ago, I found that more than half of the shops there were closed. Everyone is afraid of that dark devil.”

Witt stopped asking questions. Although he felt that McGonagall would still approve the loan if George and the others applied for it, he could understand George's decision not to apply for a loan.

"Did George and Fred say what they plan to do after they resigned?" Witt took a bite of the rock cake. The freshly baked rock cake tasted surprisingly good, with a firm texture but not too hard.

Considering Hagrid's physical condition, the cooled rock biscuits might only be chewy enough for him, and given Hagrid's size, these solid biscuits would be more likely to fill his stomach and provide energy.

Watching Victor devour the rock-skin cake, Ron and Harry inexplicably felt a toothache. Ron picked up his teacup, took a sip to cover his embarrassment, and whispered, "I've heard a bit about it. They seem to have set up a mobile stall and are planning to set up a stall in Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade to sell candy and their prank props."

Leaving school again

"Set up a stall?"

Witt swallowed the rock-skin pancake in his mouth: "Going out to set up a stall at this hour, they're courting death. Do your parents know about this?"

“All they know is that Percy dropped out of school,” Ron whispered. “Even though George begged us not to tell Mom and Dad, Percy still told us.”

“They even had a fight back then, so George and the others kept the stall thing a secret from Percy, and his parents probably didn’t know either.”

It's hard for Witt to say who's right and who's wrong. Percy did nothing wrong in this matter, but to George and Fred, Percy was a traitor.

"How about," Witt whispered, "we go out and take a look?"

"Get out!" Hagrid stood up abruptly and shouted, "Absolutely not! You can't go out. It's too dangerous outside. People are dying in the wizarding world every day."

"Please sit down."

Witt used his magic to forcefully suppress Hagrid and said confidently, "Danger is for ordinary wizards. For me now, there is no place in the entire wizarding world that can be called dangerous."

"Even in Voldemort's presence, I will not change my mind."

"It's just going out for a stroll, nothing will happen."

"On the contrary, those two guys, George and Fred, who dropped out of school behind their families' backs and secretly went out to set up stalls, are the ones in danger now."

If it were anyone else, after being suppressed by Vitter's magic, they would basically just let it go, but Hagrid is different; he's stubborn and insists on his principles.

"No matter what, you can't go out unless you get Professor McGonagall's permission."

"Yes, I have to tell Professor McGonagall."

Hagrid stood up abruptly and headed outside.

"I collapsed to the ground, completely forgetting everything."

As Harry and Ron stared in disbelief, Witt calmly put away his wand: "Why are you looking at me like that? Do you want McGonagall to yell at you?"