As the saying went, money easily went to a person's head.
That was exactly how Lin Ze was now.
The first thing he did after getting his fifty Galleons was head straight to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions in Diagon Alley to buy himself a new outfit.
Two shirts to alternate between, a dark gray wool-blend coat, and a pair of dragon hide boots.
Swipe the card-er, no, pay up.
The crisp, pleasing clink of Galleons hitting the counter made even Madam Malkin's usually stern face bloom into a smile.
"You've got a bright future, young man. Not many young people can still spend so freely these days," Madam Malkin chattered as she took his measurements.
"You flatter me. This is what they call revenge spending after being poor for too long." Lin Ze looked himself over in the mirror and nodded in satisfaction.
There really was truth to the saying that clothes made the man.
In this outfit, he looked more than a notch sharper.
His old, worn uniform was still wearable, but it always gave off the impression of a young man fresh out of school who hadn't found a job yet.
Now, though-
"Looking the part." Lin Ze grinned at his reflection.
That afternoon, he strode into the Auror Office in his newly purchased dragon hide boots, his footsteps ringing out smartly, brimming with confidence and walking with a spring in his step.
Frick looked up at him and froze for a full three seconds.
"Merlin's underpants, that outfit... have you given up saving?"
"Do you even know how to talk to people?" Lin Ze plopped down at his desk and crossed his legs, deliberately showing off his dragon hide boots.
"This is called reasonable spending, got it?"
"You haven't blown all fifty Galleons, have you?"
"Not quite. I've still got a little left." Lin Ze waved a hand.
"Anyway, anything interesting happen in the few hours I was gone?"
"Anything interesting?" Frick thought for a moment.
"Oh, a woman came to the Ministry looking for you this morning. She left when she found you weren't here."
Lin Ze's crossed leg went still.
"A woman? What did she look like?"
"I didn't get a good look." Frick scratched his head. "Only saw her from behind. Blonde, quite tall and slim, wearing a dark green cloak."
"What did she want with me?"
"I heard she asked about your patrol schedule, then left."
"Hm?"
Blonde.
Tall and slim.
Dark green cloak.
Lin Ze quickly pulled up fragments of the original owner's memories.
Then his whole body went rigid.
"Um... did she say when she'd be back?" Lin Ze's voice became a little unnatural.
"No."
Frick leaned closer curiously. "What's wrong? Who is she to you?"
Before Lin Ze could answer, the office door swung open.
More precisely, a gust of wind blew it open.
A rush of air carrying a faint floral scent swept into the office, followed by a blonde witch striding inside.
She was tall, taller than most witches Lin Ze had seen, with long golden hair tied into a high ponytail that swayed gently with her steps.
Her features were so exquisite they seemed to have been painstakingly sculpted by some great wizard. Her skin was almost translucently pale, her lips naturally light pink, and the bridge of her nose high and straight.
What made it hardest to look away was her eyes.
They were lake-green, as though they held all of spring within them.
She wore a well-tailored dark green robe, a thin silver chain around her waist, and black dragon hide ankle boots.
Standing in the office doorway, she looked as though she had stepped straight off the cover of a fashion magazine.
The entire Auror Office fell silent in an instant.
The wizards who had been bent over their reports all looked up at once, their gazes glued to the figure in the doorway.
Frick didn't even notice the Chocolate Frog in his hand fall onto his desk.
The blonde witch swept her gaze across the office as though searching for someone.
Then her eyes locked onto Lin Ze.
The next second, she strode toward him, a flame burning in her lake-green eyes.
"Lin! Ze!"
Her voice wasn't particularly loud, but every word seemed squeezed out through clenched teeth.
Lin Ze instinctively shrank back.
He had already recognized her from the original owner's memories.
Olivia Delatour.
A Beauxbatons exchange student at Hogwarts, and Lin Ze's girlfriend.
Oh, right. The one with a quarter Veela blood who had utterly bewitched the original owner and ultimately pushed him into the fire pit that was the Auror Office.
"Uh, hi? What a coincidence? What brings you here?" Lin Ze greeted her with an awkward laugh, sounding so unconvincing that even he couldn't bear to hear it.
"A coincidence?"
Olivia planted both hands on Lin Ze's desk and leaned forward, bringing her impossibly exquisite face almost against the tip of his nose.
"I've written you four letters in a row! Four! And you haven't answered a single one. Are you asking for a beating, or do you have a death wish?"
A synchronized gasp swept through the office at her words.
Frick looked at Lin Ze as though he were a martyr, muttering, "Brother... this is your girlfriend, right? You actually dared not answer letters from a girlfriend on this level... I'm starting to wonder if you're under the Imperius Curse..."
Olivia whipped her head around, her lake-green eyes sweeping toward Frick.
Frick immediately shut his mouth and pretended to be a potted plant.
Olivia turned back and continued staring at Lin Ze, her eyes reddening slightly.
"What is going on with you? We agreed you'd write me at least twice a week. I've only been in France for a little over a month, and you've already forgotten all about me?"
"Do you know how worried I've been? Mum said things are a mess in Britain right now, with Death Eaters killing people everywhere. I even heard three people died in the Auror Office in a single month... Do you know I've been reading the Daily Prophet every day, terrified I'd see your name in the obituaries..."
"If I'd known... if I'd known, I never would have let you become an Auror..."
As she spoke, her voice began to tremble, and a thin sheen of tears gathered at the corners of her eyes.
Her barrage left Lin Ze a little dazed.
But he quickly came to his senses, something stirring faintly in a corner of his heart.
This fierce-looking girlfriend in front of me was worried about me?
Come to think of it, the original owner's decision to join the Auror Office really had been encouraged by Olivia.
But it hadn't been out of vanity, anything like "I'll look good if you become an Auror." It was because Lin Ze's marks in Defence Against Dark Magic had been so good at school that Olivia felt his talent shouldn't go to waste. Someone like him belonged in the Auror Office.
The original owner hadn't been particularly strong-minded. After some persuasion from his girlfriend, he had signed up before he quite knew what he was doing.
Now, Lin Ze had arrived.
Olivia, however, had returned to France after her exchange period ended, leaving the two of them apart.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I was wrong." Lin Ze raised both hands in surrender, making his tone as gentle as he could.
"I've really been too busy lately. I only just started, and I've been patrolling every day. Last week, I even ran into three Death Eaters on patrol... Of course, everything's fine now. I promise I'll answer every letter from now on, all right?"
He pointed at his new clothes, trying to change the subject. "Look, I just bought some new clothes today. I was about to take a photo later and send it to you."
Olivia stared at him, then did something that made every wizard present's heart stop.
She opened her arms and hugged Lin Ze.