"My bounty had actually surpassed Harry Potter's again."
As he flipped through the latest issue of the Daily Prophet, Albert stared at the bounty list on the front page for a long while before joking, "One hundred and fifty thousand Galleons. I had no idea I'd become so valuable. It almost made me want to go collect my own bounty."
Then he turned to the people beside him and asked, "What do you think? If I delivered myself to them, would they give me the reward?"
Albert had said similar things more than once.
He had brought it up again today because the association had been desperately short of money lately.
"If we could capture ourselves and collect the reward, we'd have done it ages ago." Fred and George both had bounties on their heads as well, though nowhere near as outrageous as Albert's.
"If the bounty is small, there's still a chance of collecting it. But someone like Albert is only listed for show. Even if you really captured Albert and claimed the reward, the Ministry of Magic would find all sorts of excuses to fob you off. It wouldn't be surprising if they dragged out the paperwork for years."
Having worked at the Ministry of Magic, Cedric knew only too well how ugly it could be—let alone now that it was controlled by Death Eaters.
Rather than give you that bounty, they would prefer to divide it among themselves.
"I remember we have someone more qualified to consult," Lee Jordan suddenly reminded them.
Everyone knew he meant Percy.
"That bastard might not be reliable either."
Fred and George still did not think much of Percy. They both knew exactly what kind of person he was.
"I reckon it'll be difficult, but we can give it a try." Albert