After rounding the wall with the portrait, he walked farther down the passage. A vast, brightly lit square opened up before him.
Like the Ministry of Magic headquarters, the place gave the illusion that it was underground and yet might stretch high into the sky aboveground. The sunlight and clouds seemed close enough to touch.
Contrary to Anton's guess, they weren't using any Fantastic Beasts or Dark Magic Creatures. The process relied on a method somewhere between Potions and Alchemy.
The ingredients were stirred into a brown liquid, left to dry in the sunlight, and allowed to settle until they solidified into silver but brittle stones. Finally, the stones were ground into powder.
"The most complicated part is getting the proportions right for over a hundred ingredients and judging how long to leave them out to dry. It's not as simple as people outside imagine."
The witch, Hurst, took a red helmet off the wall and put it on, explaining as she went.
"A lot of the ingredients are expensive, but the cost of a spoonful of Floo Powder is pretty negligible—around thirteen copper Knuts, or half a Silver Sickle. It sells for two Silver Sickles a spoonful. After all the deductions and fees, we end up with about twenty copper Knuts per Silver Sickle."
(1 Gold Galleon = 17 Silver Sickles, 1 Silver Sickle = 39 copper Knuts)
"But little by little, the profits add up to a considerable sum. And once they're trained, the workers can make it with ease. Six months of production at one factory is enough to supply an entire country for a year, with plenty left over to fill a warehouse. That's why it's never been in short supply."
Anton raised an eyebrow, unconvinced. Squinting toward the workers in red helmets and the Giant