The fifty-Galleon bounty was delivered to Lin Ze's desk early the next morning.
The person delivering the money was a small witch wearing glasses thicker than bottle bottoms. She had Lin Ze sign a parchment receipt, then handed him a heavy cloth bag.
The whole process took less than three minutes.
But in those three short minutes, the atmosphere throughout the Auror Office changed.
Lin Ze could feel at least a dozen gazes coming from different directions, fixed on the cloth bag in his hand.
Some were envious, some jealous, and some simply disapproving.
Ben Frick was the first to come over, the freckles on his face standing out all the more from his excessive excitement.
"Merlin's beard, mate, fifty Galleons! You found a box and earned more than a month's wages for us?"
"Good luck." Lin Ze tucked the cloth bag inside his robes as naturally as if he were putting away a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans.
"Isn't that a bit too much good luck?" Frick plopped himself down on the corner of Lin Ze's desk, paying no attention to the cup of coffee he nearly knocked over.
"Last week you caught three Death Eaters, and this week you found Crouch's box. Have you been secretly drinking Felix Felicis?"
"If I could afford Felix Felicis, I wouldn't be slaving away here for this miserable pittance..." Lin Ze said with a straight face.
Frick froze for a moment, then burst out laughing, loudly enough for the whole office to hear.
But not everyone was laughing.
Bodo Crabbe sat at his desk, gripping his quill so tightly that it had bent out of shape.
He stared in Lin Ze's direction, his gaze as venomous as an old cat whose territory had been stolen.
Fifty Galleons.
To Crabbe, fifty Galleons was not a large sum.
His family might not rank among the wealthiest, but they were hardly short of that little bit of gold.
What really bothered him was that the brat was in the limelight again.
First he had caught Death Eaters, and now he had helped Crouch recover his box.
Scrimgeour was full of praise for him, and Crouch regarded him with newfound respect as well.
At this rate, it would not be long before the brat became the hottest new recruit in the Auror Office.
And when that happened, where would that leave Bodo Crabbe?
"Is that cousin of yours reliable?" Crabbe asked Goyle beside him in a low voice.
Goyle was stuffing a piece of pumpkin pasty into his mouth and nearly choked at the question.
"Which cousin?"
"The one in the Logistics Office! Who else?"
"Oh, Malcolm." Goyle swallowed the pasty with difficulty. "He's all right, I suppose. Why?"
Crabbe leaned closer, lowering his voice to barely a whisper.
"Have him look into that brat's background for me."
"Family background, graduation results, social connections-dig up everything he can find. I refuse to believe there isn't something I can use against him."
Goyle's eyes widened. "You're going after him?"
"Obviously! If we don't deal with him now, he'll be lording it over us in a couple of months!"
Goyle scratched his head, seemingly struggling to follow the logic, then nodded slowly. "All right, I'll tell Malcolm."
"Go now."
"Now? I haven't finished my pasty..."
"Now!"
Goyle reluctantly put down his pasty and trudged off toward the Logistics Office.
Crabbe leaned back in his chair, a cold sneer curling his lips.
Just you wait.
He refused to believe this newcomer had no weaknesses to be found.
Lin Ze, of course, had no idea Crabbe was investigating him behind his back.
Even if he had known, he would not have cared much.
That cousin of Crabbe's who worked as a clerk in the Logistics Office had long been one of his designated "information sources."
At that moment, Lin Ze was sitting at his desk, leafing through a borrowed copy of the Auror Law Enforcement Procedure Guide.
Borrowed, supposedly-in fact, Harper had brought it over of his own accord.
Ever since Lin Ze had "saved his life," this employee of the Records Management Office had become Lin Ze's most attentive "friend" at the Ministry.
Lin Ze had not even needed to take the step of threatening him with his memories, because Harper was so terrified of him that no additional pressure was necessary.
Every morning, a steaming cup of pumpkin juice appeared punctually on Lin Ze's desk, accompanied by a little handwritten note from Harper.
Frick was utterly astonished by this. "When did you get so friendly with Harper from the Records Office? He's famously timid and afraid of trouble. He usually goes out of his way to avoid Aurors, so why's he being so attentive to you?"
"Maybe I have a friendly face." Lin Ze took a sip of pumpkin juice and spoke with a straight face.
Frick rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on. Should I believe you, or believe I'm Merlin?"
Lin Ze did not answer and continued leafing through the procedure guide.
He read very quickly, practically skimming ten lines at a glance, but remembered every word clearly.
Ever since transmigrating, he had discovered that this body had an extraordinarily good memory.
He could essentially remember anything he read after seeing it once.
For what he intended to do next, this was an extremely useful skill.
When he reached section three of chapter four, his fingers suddenly stopped.
That passage discussed the limits of an Auror's authority during law enforcement.
Specifically, it concerned whether Aurors had the right to access the internal records of other Ministry of Magic departments while carrying out official duties.
The answer was yes, under certain circumstances.
All one needed was written authorization from the head of that department, or the signature of the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
Lin Ze's eyes narrowed slightly.
Authority.
This was a more useful card to play than the memories in the glass bottles.
The documents hidden deep in the filing cabinets of the various departments recorded far more than mere "travel information."
Funding approvals, personnel transfers, disciplinary actions, internal investigation records...
Every one of them could be used as a bargaining chip.
Of course, he could not simply march into other departments with this clause in hand and demand their files.
That would be too stupid.
He needed a more discreet method.
For instance, he could have Harper retrieve them from the Records Management Office under the pretext of a "joint investigation."
Of course, he could also ask Harper for them directly. Though Harper's position was not high, his reach was considerable.
"Frick," Lin Ze said suddenly.
"Hmm?"
"Do you know which departments in the Ministry regularly destroy outdated records?"
Frick was opening a packet containing a Chocolate Frog. At the question, he looked up in puzzlement. "Why are you asking?"
"I've been writing a report on records management lately," Lin Ze lied with a straight face.
Frick did not suspect anything. Tearing open the wrapper, he said, "Records disposal should be centrally managed by the Department of Administrative Affairs, I think. But each department decides exactly when to destroy things and which ones to destroy. Why, have you taken an interest in records management?"
"Just asking."
Lin Ze closed the book and leaned back in his chair, tapping his fingers lightly on the desk.
Regular destruction of records.
In other words, many departments' sensitive documents would spend some time in the Records Management Office before being destroyed.