Political Donations and Whistleblowing

"Minister Millicent, I'm delighted to see you're as radiant as ever."

The Ministry of Magic, the Minister's office—this was Murphy's first time here.

"Mr. Murphy Darkholme?" Millicent Bagnold looked at the young man before her. "I don't recall us ever having met."

If she had met such a handsome young man before, she ought to have remembered him.

"Ah, I once worked briefly at the Pest Advisory Office and saw you from afar a few times. But I was only a minor clerk back then, so naturally you wouldn't have noticed me."

Once she heard he had once worked at the Ministry of Magic, Millicent's attitude softened considerably. After all, he had once been one of their own, which made him far better than some stranger who had popped out of nowhere.

"I heard from Umbridge that you have an important matter requiring my approval? She came to plead with me several times in a row. Go on, what is it?"

It was not easy to meet the Minister of Magic directly, so Murphy had gone to the pink toad Umbridge. Through a sufficient offensive of money—roughly more than six hundred Galleons—he had persuaded her to introduce him to the Minister.

Naturally, Murphy would not waste a meeting opportunity bought for six hundred Galleons. He immediately brought up a topic that was absolutely certain to catch Millicent's interest. "In fact, I've learned that the Ministry's finances are rather tight at the moment. As it happens, I recently inherited a sum of money, and when I thought of the care and support I received from you and the various department heads back when I was at the Ministry, I felt it was my duty to share some of the Ministry's burden."

Sure enough, Millicent was instantly drawn in. "You mean..."

"Yes. I intend to provide the Ministry with a donation of fifty thousand Galleons to resolve its recent financial difficulties."

"Fifty thousand Galleons!"

Millicent was so excited she almost stood up.

Wonderful!

The Ministry's financial problems had been driving her frantic lately. On the one hand, after many members of several great pure-blood families had been arrested and sent to Azkaban, the support they and the families connected to them provided the Ministry had shrunk year by year. On the other hand, over the past two years, various magical disasters had been breaking out frequently in different places, causing expenses to climb nonstop.

Now, the Ministry was so poor that even wages had been in arrears for two or three months and could no longer be paid.

Millicent had been under immense pressure recently.

Especially considering that next year was an election year, the pressure went without saying.

After all, who would elect someone who could not even pay salaries as Minister?

Now, with these fifty thousand Galleons, it would be enough for her to deal with the complaints in the Ministry that were on the verge of boiling over.

"Thank you very much, Mr. Murphy! You truly are a generous gentleman!"

"It's what I ought to do, Minister," Murphy said modestly. "In fact, I also intend to provide the Ministry with a sum of funding every year from now on to support its work. The Ministry of Magic has always quietly given so much for all the wizards of Britain. If not for everyone's hard work, where would our happy, peaceful lives come from?"

"This, this is truly..."

Millicent was almost moved. What a good man!

She had heard who knew how much slander, claims that the Ministry of Magic abused its authority, that the Minister occupied her post while doing nothing—but look at this gentleman, how deeply he understood the greater good! Not only did he approve of their value, he even gave them real help!

If all the wizards in Britain knew gratitude like this gentleman, what could they not accomplish?

Why would the wizards of Great Britain ever fear they could not lead the world again?

"You truly are extraordinarily insightful!" Millicent praised him without cease. "All of us will remember your help to the Ministry of Magic!"

"There's no need for that. This is only the duty an ordinary citizen should fulfill," Murphy replied, still extremely modest, looking as if he claimed no credit at all.

"However, if I want to donate this money, there may still be one tiny little problem."

"What is it? Is there some issue?" Millicent asked.

This concerned fifty thousand Galleons, concerned long-term future donations, and more importantly, concerned her own reelection next year. Millicent had no choice but to take it seriously.

"As I mentioned just now, I recently came into an inheritance. In fact, not long ago, I was still only a poor boy. Though I saw the Ministry's predicament and cared deeply, I had more heart than strength and truly couldn't help much."

Murphy began his story.

"But about a month ago, after my mother's maternal grandfather—Sir Ansa, who had settled in France—passed away, he left all his property and a mine under his name to my mother and me."

"It was precisely because I had this money that I decided to put the thoughts I'd always had into action and prepare to do something for the Ministry."

"But because my great-grandfather deeply distrusted goblins during his lifetime, most of his assets were stored in the form of gold, which made my inheritance extremely troublesome as well. I had no choice but to open another account and exchange the gold into Galleons at an extremely unfair rate before I could legally possess those assets."

"Yet even so, the greedy goblins were unwilling to let me receive them smoothly. Not long ago, they sent me a notice, froze my account without authorization, and claimed that before I could prove the source of my funds, they would no longer provide me with service."

"In fact, they slandered me by saying my money was stolen from their vaults, or that it came from Muggles. Bogrod wants to swallow my money!"

"What? This..." Millicent looked at Murphy in surprise, weighing the truth of his words.

"Minister Millicent, I implore you to help me. If I can recover my assets, then aside from my donation to the Ministry, I am willing to take out an additional ten thousand Galleons as my personal thanks to you."

"This... wouldn't be very proper."

Ten thousand Galleons was not all that much, not even as much as her yearly salary. But it was not little either, enough to make her feel delighted.

"This is a small token of thanks to a friend. If you help me, am I not allowed to express my gratitude? What kind of sense would that make?!"

Murphy sounded righteous and utterly sincere, as though he were not offering a bribe, but embracing martyrdom.

"This..." Millicent was still somewhat hesitant. The goblins of Gringotts were not easy to deal with.

"Of course, if it's truly too difficult, I don't wish to trouble you either. It's just that in that case, I may have no choice but to move to France and settle there. Those donations would also have to be left to the French Ministry of Magic..."

What? Give the money to the French?!

No. Absolutely not!

"No, absolutely not. How could we let a gentleman like you be stranded in a foreign land! Don't worry about this matter. I'll issue a ministerial order to Gringotts and help explain the source of your funds. Within two days, I'll make sure you get your property!"

To hell with Gringotts!

If he did not help this generous gentleman, was he supposed to help those greedy goblins instead?

Gringotts had never donated money to the Ministry of Magic!

After they froze Murphy's vault, they would stuff every last gold coin into their own pockets and would never leave a single knut for the Ministry of Magic!

"But Bogrod..."

"That greedy goblin actually dared commit such a vile crime. I'll have the Auror Office arrest him!"

"Really? Thank you so much!" Murphy said, taking a bag from his pocket and handing it to Millicent. "Just a small gift, hardly worth mentioning. Please accept it."

After Murphy left the office, Millicent opened the undetectable extension bag and took a look.

Good heavens, there were a full thousand Galleons!

Millicent could not help feeling far more favorably toward Murphy.

"Murphy Darkholme truly is a kind gentleman!"

With the minister settled, over the next two days, Murphy visited several Ministry of Magic officials in succession, most of them permanent adjudicators of the Wizengamot, the sort who could influence a verdict.

After making the rounds, Murphy found Scrimgeour, the head of the Auror Office.

"Director Scrimgeour, I want to report Lucius Malfoy."

The old lion frowned, his face solemn. "Murphy? What do you want to report?"

"I want to report that Lucius Malfoy is a Death Eater! He's carrying out a plan to resurrect Voldemort!"