"Dragon blood is getting more expensive, Floo Powder is getting more expensive, potion ingredients are getting more expensive—everything related to magic is getting more expensive. Oh, it feels like Galleons are losing value, but the Ministry's wages haven't budged!"
A middle-aged witch with silver-gray hair passed Lucius and angrily complained to her companion,
"I really wish our beloved Minister would do something to improve the situation!"
"You're dreaming, Lisa—"
The witch's companion yawned and said lazily. Then the two walked away from the fireplace and disappeared into the bustling reception hall.
Similar complaints drifted into his ears from time to time, but Lucius remained expressionless as he stepped forward and joined the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd.
The business climate across the European wizarding world was poor, and Lucius Malfoy knew exactly how it had come to this.
Ordinary wizarding folk were still struggling with the necessities of daily life; most Ministry of Magic departments were running themselves ragged dealing with the increasingly severe security situation in the wizarding world; the upper ranks were busy wrestling with Hogwarts; while quite a few families like the Malfoy family, which controlled the lifeblood of the wizarding world and ran industries closely tied to wizards' daily lives, were busy expanding territory for the Dark Lord.
Before the Dark Lord returned to the wizarding world, he and his wife Narcissa spent most of every year traveling between Malfoy family companies and workshops across Europe.
They were busy setting development goals for those companies and workshops, seeking ways to expand production capacity while cutting costs, finding more sincere suppliers of raw materials, and building relationships with politicians in various countries to open new markets. Families like the Malfoy family might have held the wizarding world in their grip, but they were also supporting it.
A long queue had