The witch's attitude left Lewis rather surprised.
If her reaction at the beginning could still be explained as strictness, then failing to notice that she was deliberately targeting him now would mean his 23 points of raw Intelligence had gone to waste.
He didn't answer. Instead, he glanced at Jaina.
You're the Deputy Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and she's your subordinate. Why does she dare to be so disrespectful in front of you?
Jaina Proudmoore was naturally furious as well. She immediately began searching her memories for information regarding Mafalda Hopkirk.
Very quickly, she realized where the problem lay.
She gave Lewis a bitter smile and gestured that there was nothing she could do for the moment.
Lewis pursed his lips and decided to let his strength speak for itself.
Thus, under everyone's watchful eyes, he directly transformed into a Chimera possessing a lion's head, magical wings, a shaggy mane, sharp claws, and a serpentine tail.
The Chimera opened its enormous maw.
A thunderous lion's roar echoed throughout the office, nearly bursting everyone's eardrums, while the powerful beating of its wings sent the documents on Hopkirk's desk flying everywhere.
Then the Chimera vanished and transformed back into the figure of a young boy.
Hopkirk had clearly been frightened by Lewis. Still shaken, she flipped through his documents, then suddenly raised her eyebrows and continued questioning him.
"You're fourteen years old?"
"Yes."
Lewis didn't think his age was a problem.
"You learned to become an Animagus at school? Who taught you?"
"Yes. Professor Dumbledore, Professor Flitwick, Professor McGonagall... I learned a great deal from every professor."
Lewis answered calmly.
"What exactly are you suspicious of, Mafalda Hopkirk? This isn't how a normal examination is conducted, is it?"
Jaina finally lost her temper.
Her expression darkened as if water could drip from her face.
"Or are you still holding a grudge on behalf of Barty Crouch Sr., and using Lewis, who provided evidence against him, as an outlet for your anger?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
Having been struck where it hurt, Hopkirk instinctively panicked. She then immediately put on a stern expression and avoided looking at Jaina.
"It is indeed impressive that someone his age can become an Animagus... However, what we need to determine is whether his Animagus truly possesses magical properties or is merely an imitation in appearance."
"So you don't remember anything from the explanation earlier?"
Although Jaina was sitting in an armchair nearby, she held her head high, her chest proudly raised, her imposing aura making it difficult to meet her gaze.
Hopkirk awkwardly turned her head away and stubbornly explained,
"That paper is merely a paper. There is no superior directive requiring it to be adopted as a standard rule of the Ministry of Magic, so I am not required to follow it."
She was blatantly talking nonsense.
When it came to professional judgments within specialized fields, the Ministry of Magic had always followed the mainstream conclusions of the relevant academic community.
There was no such thing as refusing to implement something simply because it lacked explicit approval from a superior.
However, that was merely an unwritten practice within the Ministry. There was no formal regulation stating it outright.
Hopkirk stubbornly clung to that technicality, leaving Jaina temporarily unable to refute her.
The more Hopkirk spoke, the more righteous she became.
She believed she was making a perfectly reasonable argument. Since she had chosen to side with Barty Crouch, she naturally wanted to seize this opportunity to demonstrate herself.
She knew very well that Lewis Green standing before her was one of Jaina's people.
Now that he had fallen into her hands, it was the perfect opportunity to suppress Jaina's influence.
As for Jaina, she wasn't angry because of the examination itself.
Lewis's strength spoke for itself. No matter how he was tested, the result was obvious.
What truly infuriated her was Hopkirk's aggressive attitude.
Such an attitude had never appeared during previous Animagus registrations.
At least when Professor McGonagall registered, her experience had been completely different.
Back then, the Ministry had practically been begging for more registered Animagi.
Jaina narrowed her eyes, her expression becoming unreadable.
Now was not the time to act.
Since this was merely the aftermath of a political struggle, then political methods should be used to deal with it.
She had already figured out how she would handle this woman.
As for Lewis, he remained completely fearless.
He smoothly demonstrated his powerful resistance to magic and his regenerative abilities to the Ministry employees.
No matter how much Hopkirk increased the difficulty of the tests, she couldn't possibly stump Lewis.
During the breath test, Lewis even breathed out a stream of flames, setting fire to the documents on Hopkirk's desk.
In the end, Hopkirk had no choice but to obediently register Lewis and acknowledge him as the eighth publicly registered Animagus in nearly a century.
More importantly, Lewis was currently the only wizard in the world whose Animagus form was a magical creature—the Chimera.
Jaina smiled and gave Lewis a big hug.
Then, without even sparing Hopkirk a glance, she walked straight out of the room.
Outside, Jaina explained to Lewis,
"Hopkirk was once promoted by Barty Crouch Sr., which is why she's targeting you like this. But judging from how clumsy her methods are, she most likely acted on her own. Still, that also gives us an opportunity."
As she spoke, Jaina leaned closer to Lewis's ear and whispered,
"I'll have Tonks take you to the lounge to get something to eat first. There's a reporter interview that was arranged beforehand. During the interview, you can completely..."
Jaina didn't finish.
But Lewis understood exactly what she meant.
Everything was left unsaid.
After following Tonks to the lounge and having a hearty meal, Lewis was greeted by an unprecedentedly large group of reporters.
The sharp instincts and well-connected sources of journalists were truly astonishing.
Among all the media outlets present, only a few familiar ones, such as The Daily Prophet and The Quibbler, had been contacted by Jaina.
The reporters from the other newspapers and magazines had simply rushed over after hearing the news.
Jaina couldn't very well turn them away.
"Lewis Green, you're only fourteen and you've already become an Animagus. Is there some secret to it?"
"You're the first Magical Animagus in history. How do you feel about that?"
"I understand that you're also the first person to kill a Chimera. Did that experience have any influence on your Animagus form?"
The reporters fired their questions rapidly, and their topics were all over the place.
Lewis answered every question at a steady pace, maintaining a faint smile throughout.
His composure and demeanor won the goodwill of the reporters present.
"What do you think about your experience registering as an Animagus at the Office for the Misuse of Magic?"
Finally, Lewis heard the key question.
His spirits lifted, and he answered it directly.
"I'm curious whether they treat all applicants as disrespectfully as they treated me. If that's truly the case, then perhaps I can understand why there are so few registered Animagi, while the number of illegal Animagi is so high."
Lewis wore a faint smile, but the implications behind his words were sharp enough to sting.
The reporters below immediately became excited.
Their professional instincts told them that the second major story of the day had just arrived.
"What happened? Can you explain in detail?"
"Do you believe the Ministry of Magic's officials need to improve their professionalism?"
"Were you deliberately targeted during today's examination?"
"The Ministry's review procedures should indeed be strict, but could the attitude of the examiner be improved? The Ministry of Magic is supposed to be an organization that serves ordinary wizards."
In front of the reporters, Lewis fully activated his psychic abilities and amplified his own charisma, constantly guiding the reporters toward sympathy for him and dissatisfaction with the Ministry of Magic.
His remarks immediately aroused enormous interest among the reporters.
One after another, they became extremely excited, outraged on Lewis's behalf.
Especially Rita Skeeter.
Lewis could see her green Quick-Quotes Quill frantically moving across her notebook, recording everything.
He didn't even need to look to know that she would undoubtedly exaggerate the story as much as possible.
But this time, her exaggeration would be useful to him.
To further win the reporters' favor, Lewis subsequently demonstrated his Animagus form.
The Chimera, which combined the symbols of all four Hogwarts houses, received unanimous admiration.
The reporters all felt that it represented the finest qualities of Hogwarts.
And if Lewis himself represented the finest qualities of Hogwarts, then it went without saying what kind of existence those standing against him represented.
That same day, after completing his registration, Lewis returned to Hogwarts.
Aside from Shirella, Hermione, the other four girls, and Lewis's Head of House, Professor Flitwick, nobody knew that Lewis had quietly become Britain's eighth publicly registered Animagus of the century.
It wasn't until the following morning, when owls fluttered into the Great Hall carrying various newspapers, that the young wizards and witches learned the astonishing news.
Although the students had long since become numb to Lewis accomplishing one incredible feat after another, they still couldn't help craning their necks and discussing it excitedly.
After all, Lewis had once again achieved something worthy of being recorded in the history of magic.
Since enrolling, Lewis's remarkable achievements had been countless.
He had ranked first in his year, killed a Chimera, defeated a Basilisk, rescued Sirius Black, and accomplished countless other feats.
His achievements had always been a favorite topic of discussion.
And now, he was the only wizard in the world capable of transforming into a Chimera.
Lewis had anticipated this situation long ago.
He calmly walked to his seat and leisurely enjoyed his breakfast.
Zhang Qiu sat beside him, proudly reading out every report that mentioned him.
Sure enough, almost every newspaper had a front-page image of Lewis Green in his Chimera form, along with photographs of him answering the reporters' questions.
Reports proclaiming him the first wizard in history to possess a magical creature as his Animagus form could be found everywhere, occupying the front pages of newspaper after newspaper.
Many newspapers went to extraordinary lengths to praise him, portraying him as a symbol of Hogwarts' virtues and an example for every young wizard and witch to follow.
When Zhang Qiu read this part aloud, even the young wizards and witches who had joined the Society of Knowledge proudly puffed out their chests.
They believed Lewis truly deserved such praise.
Lewis paid little attention to that.
His attention was focused entirely on the reports concerning the director of the Office for the Misuse of Magic and the disrespectful treatment of Animagus applicants.
Almost every newspaper had covered the incident.
And among them, the Daily Prophet was by far the most forceful in its criticism of the Ministry of Magic.
"Genius Animagus Faces Harassment from the Ministry of Magic—Systemic Error or Personal Retaliation?"
The world's one-of-a-kind genius young wizard, Lewis Green, has become famous for possessing a magical creature as his Animagus form. Yet during his registration with the Ministry of Magic, he encountered obstacles and a cold reception.
A knowledgeable official who was present at the scene revealed: "The standards used to evaluate Lewis Green appeared to exceed normal procedures, while the examiner's attitude toward him was unusually stern and cold..."
This incident inevitably reminds us of past miscarriages of justice—the tragedy of Sirius Black.
Peter Pettigrew was able to hide within a wizarding household for many years precisely because he was an illegal Animagus. Likewise, although Sirius Black was unjustly imprisoned, he eventually escaped from the heavily guarded Azkaban by successfully using his Animagus transformation.
The principal official responsible for handling Sirius Black's case at the time was Barty Crouch Sr.
Lewis Green played a crucial role in the Sirius Black incident, successfully clearing his name.
A relevant official revealed: "The person responsible for testing Lewis, Mafalda Hopkirk, was personally promoted by Barty Crouch Sr."
We cannot help but wonder whether Barty Crouch Sr., seeking revenge against Lewis Green for exposing his negligence, instructed his subordinate to take such action.
This incident once again proves that the Ministry of Magic must pay greater attention to Animagus administration, improve its service attitude, raise the professional standards of its officials, and reform its working practices.
We will continue to follow developments in this matter and await the Ministry's response.
— Rita Skeeter, Chief Reporter
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