Happy times were always fleeting. A figure Apparated onto the viaduct at Hogwarts Castle, looked around, then swung onto a Flying Broomstick and flew in Anton's direction.
The newcomer was Lupin. He looked rather hurried, and his wizard-robe-style coat was stained with some kind of sticky, sauce-green substance. He carried a suitcase and looked as though he'd just come a long way.
"Lupin, what brings you here? I heard from Minister Fudge that you went to an island in the Celtic Sea to deal with the Magical Creatures."
Faced with Anton's smile, Lupin, who had initially looked stern, couldn't help returning a warm smile.
He swung off the Flying Broomstick and jumped down. "Actually, I haven't finished dealing with it. Everything's gone terribly wrong. A factory at an alchemical workshop has been mistreating its Goblin Workers, and those Goblins are causing trouble. Nobody likes it when Goblins cause trouble..."
As he spoke, he shook his head and sighed.
"Heh... That depends on how long Pedro can put up with it." Anton raised an eyebrow. "Pedro asked me to promise to research Goblin Human Animagus transformations. I told him to arrange for a few Goblins to be studied, but he's the one who started hesitating."
"No wonder he's spent centuries getting nowhere. He never does anything, always thinking he can put everything off and off until it all somehow gets resolved in the end."
Lupin shrugged. "He has to think carefully about how the Wizards will react. In fact, he's done a lot. You just don't know about it."
Anton scoffed. "I thought he spent every day hiding in a corner and drinking. I heard the factory he set up to shelter the Goblins barely operates at all. He's just supporting those workers for nothing, and if that goes on, it'll