Unlike Grindelwald's side, which was teeming with talent, Dumbledore's Order of the Phoenix had been in a state of semi-disbandment ever since the fall of Lord Voldemort.
Unless Voldemort was resurrected, the Order of the Phoenix would likely never reform.
Currently, the only person Dumbledore could call upon was Alastor Moody, a retired former Auror.
Everyone else was busy.
People like Arthur Weasley, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Professor McGonagall, and Professor Lupin.
The first two were diligently slaving away as corporate drones at the Ministry of Magic, while the latter two were serving as professors at Hogwarts. No one had the time to handle the old headmaster's private errands.
More importantly, who knew if Peter Pettigrew had already crossed the English Channel and fled to mainland Europe.
Therefore, Dumbledore hadn't sent anyone to search the world for Peter Pettigrew before. But looking at things now, he had no choice but to find him.
Sirius's name had to be cleared; dragging it out indefinitely like this was out of the question.
Even though he was just staying quietly in the tower, such immense trouble had actively found its way to his doorstep.
If things dragged on any longer, God only knew what other catastrophic events might occur.
Thus, finding Peter Pettigrew had become absolutely necessary.
However, asking a former Auror—whose body was already completely worn out and broken from fighting countless Dark wizards—to travel the world searching for Peter Pettigrew...
No matter how manipulative the old bee usually was, even he felt deeply embarrassed.
Therefore, he could only turn to his own son.
"Sure," Kyle agreed without a second thought. "I'll go make the arrangements right away."
Compared to the paltry handful of members left in the semi-disbanded Order of the Phoenix, having the Acolytes take action was undoubtedly the better choice.
More importantly, Kyle already treated Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as a training ground for future Akatsuki recruits. How could he possibly allow the Ministry of Magic and the Dementors to run amok on his turf?
Even if old Dumbledore hadn't brought it up, he would have arranged for someone to take out Fudge...
Pfft, no—to find Peter Pettigrew.
He had accidentally exposed his true thoughts.
After parting ways with Hermione at the Great Hall's entrance, Kyle didn't head down the basement corridor leading to the Hufflepuff common room. Instead, he walked out of the castle.
Standing in the center of the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch, Kyle pulled the Deathly Hallows pendant out from inside his collar.
He channeled a bit of magic into the pendant, causing the silver piece to glow faintly.
Kyle held the pendant high in his hand.
Just like the Bat-Signal summoning Batman in Gotham City, an illusory silhouette of the Deathly Hallows was projected onto the clouds in the sky.
Soon, dots of starlight began to light up all around Hogwarts. Each speck of light represented an Acolyte.
Kyle looked at the numerous points of light with lines of sweat running down his face. Was it really necessary for his old man, Gellert, to deploy so many men around Hogwarts?
In moments, over twenty figures materialized from the darkness.
The leading Acolyte stepped up to Kyle.
For some reason, Kyle found this middle-aged man—with his wild, unkempt hairstyle and a distinct mustache—somewhat familiar.
The mustachioed man bowed elegantly to Kyle. "Johnny Depp, at your service."
Kyle merely gave a slight nod.
"I have a task I need you to handle."
He drew his wand and gave it a gentle flick. A large amount of shimmering silver dust sprayed from the tip.
The dust coalesced in the air, forming Peter Pettigrew's utterly wretched face, which looked no different from a human-shaped rat.
"Peter Pettigrew. I need you to capture him for me. Bring him in alive," Kyle said succinctly.
After a brief thought, Kyle waved his wand once more, and a hairless rat missing a toe appeared before the assembled Acolytes.
He added, "This man is an Animagus. This rat is his Animagus form."
As for any other information on Peter Pettigrew, Kyle really didn't know much, so he couldn't provide them with further help.
Staring intently at the images in the air, Johnny Depp deeply memorized both of Peter Pettigrew's forms.
"Understood. Do you have any other orders, Lord Grindelwald?"
Kyle shook his head slightly. "No more."
Bowing slightly to Kyle once more, Johnny Depp departed with the large crowd of people.
Watching the group vanish into the dark night, Kyle wasn't curious about how they would track down Peter Pettigrew.
Tracking spells were abundant in the wizarding world; Newt Scamander was a master of the craft.
There was certainly no shortage of Acolytes who mastered such magic. Even if Johnny Depp's immediate group didn't know any, other Acolytes were bound to know it.
Therefore, finding Peter Pettigrew was solely a matter of time.
With Halloween over, the students of Hogwarts transitioned into a new week of classes.
The Dementor attack on the night of the Halloween feast hadn't caused much of a stir inside the castle.
The area where the Dementors had caused trouble was the tower where Sirius was temporarily staying, which was two-thirds of the castle away from the Great Hall where most of the students were.
The students hadn't even caught a glimpse of a Dementor; they had only heard the commotion from Sirius casting spells.
Only that pair of lovebirds who had sneakily slipped out for a romantic tryst in the grounds were out of luck.
Aside from that passionately in-love young couple, the Ministry of Magic all the way in London was also hit with misfortune————the very next morning, the Ministry was completely inundated with Howlers from furious parents.
Originally, Cornelius had planned to go to Hogwarts Castle to demand accountability.
He couldn't handle Dumbledore, but surely he could reprimand a mere Filius Flitwick, couldn't he?
However, right after he received the report from his subordinates that the Dementors had yet again been utterly wiped out, and before he could even leave the Ministry, he was swallowed whole by the parents' Howlers.
Cornelius Fudge was left completely overwhelmed and frantic by the situation.
For among these parents, there was no shortage of pure-blood nobility hailing from Slytherin.
If the Dementors dared to attack those two Gryffindor students this time, they would dare to attack Slytherin students next time.
In the eyes of Dementors, wizards weren't divided by blood purity.
The blood-purist ideology revered by those pure-blood wizards meant absolutely nothing to these low-intelligence creatures who knew only how to feed.
To the Dementors, wizards—or humans, rather—fell into only two categories.
Those they couldn't handle—such as the Second Dark Lord, Voldemort, or Kyle, who could manifest a Susanoo—were the entities they had to grovel before.
As for those who couldn't handle them, they were simply food.
Thus, whether they were parents of Gryffindor students or Slytherin students, they formed a united front at this very moment.
Fudge's ability to sit securely in the Minister's seat relied heavily on the support of these pure-bloods.
Even if most of these pure-blood families had already fallen into decline, Cornelius didn't dare to just toss the Howlers they sent straight into the fire to burn.
Because of this, he could only find someone to take this massive, perfectly round blame for him.
Consequently, Umbridge—the pink toad whom he had originally relegated to a cold desk in the Bureau for Centaur Liaison—was reassigned back to the Minister's Office.
Umbridge's sole daily duty now was to receive and open these Howlers from the students' parents on Fudge's behalf.
Quite a few of these letters had been laced with vicious curses; the moment they were opened, undiluted Bubotuber pus would squirt out, splattering right onto Umbridge's face.
This thick, yellowish-green pus, which gave off a pungent odor like petrol, would cause unusual damage to the skin.
The Bubotuber pus packed into just a single letter left Umbridge's head covered in painful boils.
This made her face look even more like the bumpy warts on a toad's back.
Combined with the gaudy pink clothes she wore, it had to be said that the title of "Pink Toad" was well and truly deserved.
————
Supporting me on Pa-treon to gain early access to advanced chapters and enjoy expedited updates. Your support is greatly appreciated.
pat-reon .c-om/Dragonhair
(Just remove the hyphen - and space, to access Pa-treon normally.)