Chapter 1030
Negligence
Chapter 1030 Negligence
Wade paused, then realized: "Could it be that Mr. Weasley was poisoned by... king cobra venom?"
He remembered that on the night Voldemort was resurrected, when he and Harry met baby Voldemort in the monastery, a black king cobra was coiled around his high-backed chair.
Later, when the chaos began, Vader, who was still a child at the time, was most concerned about saving his life and did not notice when the black snake disappeared.
As for Voldemort's original pet, Nagini...
Unfortunately, it had long been burned to ashes by Wade.
"Yes."
Dumbledore relaxed slightly, leaned back in his chair, and nodded, saying, "Arthur was discovered too late... If it weren't for the targeted antidote, even if he survived this time, he would probably suffer irreparable long-term damage."
Upon hearing this, Wade breathed a sigh of relief and felt very lucky.
Phoenix Tears is already the most powerful healing artifact in the magical world, but it is not omnipotent—it cannot heal the Longbottoms' broken spirits from the past, nor can it make Moody's lost eye grow back.
The king cobra can expel a large amount of venom at once, enough to kill twenty or thirty adults. Furthermore, the neurotoxins in this snake can completely paralyze the respiratory system of its prey in a short period of time, and the cardiac toxins can exacerbate circulatory collapse.
The longer the delay, the more severe the damage the toxins cause to the body. Even the tears of a phoenix cannot completely eliminate all the harm.
Therefore, there must be another contributor to Arthur Weasley's recovery that Dumbledore didn't mention, and that should be Severus Snape, who created the antidote.
In an instant, these thoughts flashed through Wade's mind, and he asked, "Professor, did you call me here because there's something you need me to do?"
Dumbledore took off his glasses and wiped them, as if something was troubling him. After a few seconds, he said:
“Actually, I’d wanted to talk to you about that memory of Lady Abigail for a while, Wade… But before I could send the letter, I suddenly received news of Arthur’s attack.”
“Voldemort is more patient than we thought, waiting so long after his resurrection.” Wade said with a slight frown, “But how come Mr. Weasley’s injury wasn’t discovered until he was on the verge of death? I remember you had made arrangements at the Ministry of Magic beforehand.”
After Voldemort's resurrection, Dumbledore and Wade speculated on several of the most likely scenarios.
Wade thought he would need to remind Dumbledore of certain things based on his understanding of the plot, but in fact, Dumbledore had considered everything.
In the headmaster's speculation, the most likely things Voldemort would do were nothing more than—breaking him out of prison, contacting werewolves and giants and other magical creatures, assassinating high-ranking officials of the Ministry of Magic, attacking the Department of Mysteries, or directly targeting Harry himself, etc.
Dumbledore made corresponding warnings and arrangements in these aspects. With the assistance of Vader's Book of Friends, the Communication Pea, and magical pets, his arrangements were even more comprehensive than those in the original story.
Logically speaking, even if Voldemort himself appeared, there should have been an alarm sent back in time, instead of it being discovered by chance when Arthur Weasley was on the verge of death.
Upon hearing this, Dumbledore sighed wearily.
“Wade, people are the most uncontrollable and unpredictable factor in the world. Even if we have prepared everything, we still cannot avoid mistakes by the people who actually carry it out.”
……
"What exactly is going on?"
At the end of the corridor in the Magic Damage Department, Sirius lowered his voice and said angrily:
"Where are our warning signs? Where is the partner we arranged for Arthur?"
He could see the view at the other end of the corridor just by looking up—
The atmosphere over there was so heavy it was almost palpable. The Weasley children were huddled outside a closed door, peering anxiously inside.
But in reality, the curtains inside were drawn tightly, so you couldn't see or hear anything at all.
“The treatment isn’t over yet,” Ginny said softly, her voice choked with emotion. “Daddy will be alright, right?”
“Of course,” George tried to make his voice sound light. “Dad’s got a strong body!”
Ron didn't speak, but stared at the door, his face pale, as if trying to pierce through it with his gaze. Harry paced back and forth in the doorway, while Fred sat with his mother on a bench in the corridor, whispering, "He'll be alright... Dumbledore said so."
Mrs. Weasley clasped her hands together, her face pale, her lips trembling: "Of course, he also said he was going to Diagon Alley to buy gifts tomorrow... He has so much to do, he won't... he won't just leave us like this."
A wave of pain washed over Fred's face. He abruptly turned his head away, blinking hard to keep the tears from falling.
Beside him, Mrs. Weasley murmured a few words, then finally couldn't hold on any longer and suddenly covered her face with her hands.
Suppressed, faint sobs leaked from between her fingers:
"He was perfectly fine when he left... It's only been a few hours... How could he have turned into this in just a few hours... Merlin, we almost never saw him again..."
Harry, who had been wandering around restlessly, immediately stepped forward and awkwardly supported her trembling shoulders, unsure of how to comfort her.
"Harry, darling, thank you for coming."
Mrs. Weasley reached out and hugged him, sobbing, "Arthur has always loved you so much. He'll be so happy to know you're here... Don't worry, child, I'm alright. I'm just... just so scared..."
From a distance, Lupin heard Sirius's annoyed question, and he sighed deeply, his voice so low that only the two of them could hear:
“Arthur’s original partner was Tonks, and she’s on duty today.”
"Where is she?"
“He’s been transferred.” Lupin explained helplessly, “Several officials from the Magical Congress of the United States came to visit, led by a woman. Minister Sinkness thought it necessary to send a female Auror to accompany them, so he transferred Tonks there.”
Sirius said incredulously, "Just for this? At this time?"
“Synthess doesn’t know that Tonks has a mission from the Order of the Phoenix.” Lupin said with a wry smile, “She can’t exactly tell the Minister of Magic, ‘Sorry, I can’t carry out the mission you gave me because I have to follow Dumbledore’s orders first.’”
Sirius frowned and said, "Then someone should take her place. Who should it be in order?"
Lupin lowered his voice even further: “It was Mundungus Fletcher. Tonks informed him, and he agreed. But last night… he was drunk and forgot about it.”
Sirius's eyes widened instantly, and a surge of anger flashed across his face: "That bastard! This isn't the first time he's done this, is it?"
"Yes, but nothing major had happened before..."
Lupin rubbed his temples wearily and said, "So when Arthur couldn't get in touch with Mundungus, he guessed that he was drunk in some bar again."
“Mundungus was reprimanded by Kingsley for being drunk last time, so Arthur probably…didn’t want Mundungus to be blamed for missing his duty, and also felt he could handle it, so after sending Mundungus a message, he went to the Ministry of Magic alone.”
"I never expected it to be this time..."
Sirius slammed his fist on the wall with a "bang" and roared, "Has that guy Mundungus been found? Did you guys beat him up?"
Faced with Sirius's anger, Lupin objectively said, "In this matter, it wasn't just Mundungus who made a mistake. Sirius... beating him up wouldn't change anything. We all know that's just his personality."
"and……"
His gaze shifted to the closed door, and he said, "We've all waited far too long before today."
"At first, everyone was able to follow Dumbledore's instructions, stay alert and do their duty to be vigilant. But days, weeks, months... nothing happened."
“It wasn’t just Mundungus; everyone’s vigilance had let down, which led to the current situation.”
(End of this chapter)