Civilized Debt Collection

A new magazine office had appeared along the southern side of Diagon Alley. The office of the new magazine, "Defence Guide," was located there.

At that moment, the newly appointed editor-in-chief of "Defence Guide," Remus Lupin, was reviewing their recent development plans. He set down the parchment, picked up his tea, and slowly took a sip. His gaze fell on the shop across the street—the office of the Daily Prophet, beside which stood Whizz Hard Books.

Compared with those two well-established companies across the way, their newly opened magazine office seemed decidedly shabby. Many things were still in their infancy.

Across from Lupin, Sirius sat back in his chair with one leg crossed over the other, reading the latest issue of the Daily Prophet, utterly unconcerned by their magazine's current predicament.

"Defence Guide" had been running for nearly a month now. Although things had gone much better than Lupin had expected, they were still operating at a loss, and that situation might continue for a long time.

This troubled Lupin greatly. He knew Sirius had founded "Defence Guide" just to give him a job. The magazine losing money had become a hurdle Lupin simply could not get past.

Just then, an owl flew in through the reserved window, dropped an envelope into the letterbox, flapped its wings, and flew away.

"Albert's letter?" Sirius asked without looking up.

"No, it's from Mr. Jordan. He probably wants to discuss how to get Bagman to pay up." Lupin opened the letterbox, took out the newly arrived letter, glanced at the sender, and placed it on the desk before Sirius.

"That bloke still hasn't given up? Bagman must have really disgusted him." Sirius chuckled as he put down the newspaper, completely unconcerned about the several thousand Galleons Bagman owed him.

"This month, we sold