A Firebolt? No Thanks! I Can Build My Own Broom Faster...

The venue erupted into an uproar once more.

Had Black gone mad?

He knew perfectly well that it was impossible!

Of course Black had not gone mad. On the contrary, he was perfectly clear-headed.

"Fine! Then give it a try!" Shafik said through gritted teeth.

He was going all in now, staking his entire fortune on this.

"Ah, of course I can. It's just... aren't we missing something?" Black said.

Shafik stared at him in astonishment. "Missing what?"

"Obviously... we're missing someone who's just been hit by Avada Kedavra!"

"But this is a little difficult... without a test subject, how am I supposed to prove that I can develop a countercurse?"

Black said it as if it were only natural.

Shafik paused, then said, "Can't you just bring out some utterly vile prisoner from Azkaban for the experiment?"

"An Azkaban prisoner? No, no, that won't do." Black shook his head repeatedly.

"A week ago, Sirius Black, tonight's recipient of the Order of Merlin Medal of Valor, was also an utterly vile Azkaban prisoner."

"If you just pick one at random, what if they turn out to be innocent too?"

Fudge's face darkened, and he coughed twice.

You little brat, really bringing up the one thing nobody wants mentioned, huh?

Could the Ministry of Magic really have wrongly imprisoned that many people? What did you take my Ministry for?

If Grindelwald didn't think so highly of you, I'd fucking...

Ahem... I'll endure it...

Shafik frowned. "Then just find an animal! A white dove or something."

"No, Mr. Shafik. How can our wager involve other people or other living creatures?"

"You want to experiment on a pigeon? Do you know that a bird's life is still a life?"

Black said righteously.

That completely left Shafik at a loss.

"Then what do you