Let's Do Business

Let's Do Business

By the time Charles returned to Hogwarts Castle, it was already Sunday evening. As soon as he arrived, he went to report to Professor McGonagall.

Professor McGonagall said nothing and simply took him to Dumbledore's office.

Professor Snape was in the office as well. Dumbledore was saying to him, "Nothing has happened up to today, so there shouldn't be any problems. Smith also said that his divination could be wrong. It isn't necessarily accurate every time."

Charles pursed his lips when he heard that. He had been busy teaching the centaurs how to charcoal-grill spider legs and hadn't even had time to complain to the Old Man.

"Oh, Smith is here." Dumbledore noticed them. "It seems your divination was wrong, Professor Snape. Your house didn't explode."

Charles scratched his head. "Wrong again? Then I'll try harder next time."

Everyone felt that something about those words sounded strange. One of the female headmasters in the portraits on the wall asked him, "Are you trying to make the professor's house explode?"

Everyone immediately looked at Charles, and Snape's hand instinctively moved toward his wand.

At that moment, Professor McGonagall changed the subject. She handed the Great Elder's letter to Dumbledore and said, "You should read this."

Dumbledore accepted the letter and read it carefully. Somewhat surprised, he asked Charles, "You really went with them to the centaur tribe?"

"Yes, I just got back." Charles answered honestly, "They found me under the Guidance of the Stars. We became friends, and I helped them with a few things."

Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, and all the headmasters in the portraits were astonished.

"Sit down and tell us about it." Dumbledore summoned chairs, tea, and candies such as Cockroach Clusters.

Snape wasn't interested in the matter. He didn't sit down and simply left.

Charles described everything that had happened in detail without lying. He only concealed the Old Man's box and the number of Acromantulas he had killed the next day. As for rescuing Twilight, he merely glossed over it by saying that he had done it on the way to the tribe.

During the account, he nearly finished all of Dumbledore's desserts.

Professor McGonagall asked curiously, "You can use the Levitation Charm?"

Charles nodded and took out his wand, making the small half-plate of Cockroach Clusters floating in front of him.

Somewhat embarrassed, he said to Professor McGonagall, "I thought it looked rather interesting."

Professor McGonagall assumed that he had found it interesting after reading about it in a textbook and taught himself. She therefore said very seriously, "Charles, learning Charms requires absolute concentration. You mustn't be careless in the slightest. Otherwise, even the Levitation Charm can be dangerous."

Charles nodded earnestly. If the Old Man hadn't found killing cattle troublesome, his family wouldn't have needed to spend any money on beef at all.

Professor McGonagall then began teaching the child bad habits. "You absolutely mustn't tell anyone about this, and don't demonstrate it in front of everyone. When this Charm is taught in Spell Class, use it right away. Professor Flitwick will be delighted and award Gryffindor even more points."

Charles looked at Professor McGonagall in confusion, thinking, She wouldn't happen to have a centipede tattoo somewhere on her body, would she?

At that moment, Professor McGonagall wore a dignified smile.

Charles turned to Dumbledore. The headmaster also gave a slight nod. He, too, had come from Gryffindor.

Charles was completely defeated.

By then, Dumbledore had already considered the matter of trading with the centaurs. He said to Charles, "I think it was precisely because of your bravery, justice... and Bag of Holding that the stars chose you."

Then he raised his brows and asked, "Charles, would you be interested in working for the Ministry of Magic?"

Charles looked utterly confused. What is going on?

Dumbledore explained, "The Ministry of Magic's Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures has a Centaur Liaison Office. Since its establishment, the centaurs have never used it. Being assigned to that office essentially means that one is about to be fired by the Ministry of Magic."

"I still have a little influence at the Ministry of Magic. I can have you listed as working in that office, which will make dealing with the centaurs much more convenient in the future."

He then smiled and said, "Perhaps I could even make you the director and give you a salary. If you have any friends, I can arrange for them to draw salaries from the office as well. No one will say anything."

Charles put on an extremely surprised expression while rapidly thinking.

He had no doubt that Dumbledore had enough influence to accomplish this. It was merely an office on the very fringes of the Ministry, after all. Minister Fudge would probably grant it as a favor.

However, Charles felt that Dumbledore's mention of arranging jobs for his friends was suspicious. Based on his experience in his previous life, he quickly figured it out and asked, "Headmaster, do you have a friend in mind?"

Magic was also a matter of human relationships. Who didn't have a few friends who needed help?

Charles quickly thought of someone Dumbledore did indeed need to help—Remus Lupin, an unlucky but exceptionally strong and justice-loving man.

Of course, if it was Gellert Grindelwald, Charles wouldn't have anything to say either.

Dumbledore was somewhat surprised. He hadn't expected this little fellow to understand so much.

However, he didn't pursue the matter. Nothing had even been decided yet.

After brushing the question aside, Dumbledore asked Charles again, "How do you plan to purchase the things the centaurs need?"

Charles took several bottles of Acromantula venom and a small handful of unicorn tail hairs from the Bag of Holding and placed them on the table. He said to Dumbledore, "These were given to me by the centaurs. I'd like to ask you to sell them and give the Galleons to my grandfather. He can exchange them for money, purchase the supplies, and find a way to have them delivered."

A bottle of Acromantula venom was worth approximately eighty-eight Galleons, while a single unicorn tail hair could be sold for ten Galleons. Together, they were worth around two thousand Galleons, which would normally exchange for only ten thousand pounds.

He had long wanted to exploit the financial loopholes in the wizarding world. Although the coins minted by the goblins were protected by magic and couldn't be melted down into gold bars, there was no problem using them to buy other gold products, right?

He had been thinking about this constantly over the past two days. If it worked, he could make several deals during the final months of the year, keep investing the profits into Dell's stock, and sell it in 1999 for returns of more than a hundred times his investment.

By then, he could return to his homeland and catch the next major opportunity. Meanwhile, Aragaki Yui would be eleven years old, and Kanna Hashimoto would have been born as well.

Dumbledore didn't know what he was thinking. He assumed Charles wanted Jack to go to Gringotts, exchange the Galleons for pounds, and use them to buy supplies, so he paid no attention.

"Charles." Dumbledore looked at the two items before him. "Both of these are extremely valuable magical materials. If you want to sell them quickly, selling only in Britain won't do. There aren't enough wizards who can afford to buy them."

Charles immediately replied, "Then I'll entrust Hogwarts with selling them. There should be other Magic Schools in the world, right? They must have their own channels as well. I can pay a ten-percent commission."

"If you sell them yourself, Headmaster, then the commission will be yours."

"By the way, it would be best if the payment could be made in ordinary gold without any magic."