The Ministry's Astronomical Monopoly Fine
Although everyone wants to concoct Elixir of Life.
But most students felt helpless, staring blankly at their textbooks, completely lost.
It's not that the process of making the Elixir of Life is too complicated, but rather that it's too simple yet not simplistic.
Even if you call it concise, it still has a full five pages of content.
It's not exactly simple, but it's also highly agile, lacking many tedious intermediate steps.
It's like a proof problem that references various theorems throughout, but those theorems... you absolutely don't understand them.
But actually, I've been learning about the intermediate processing of those materials for the past six years.
Many people learn it and then forget it; how can they possibly remember it, let alone master it?
For some processes, the author took it even easier, simply writing them down on the side:
"I have a wonderful processing flow here, but the blank space is too small. Please refer to xx."
Flip through my sister's page!
So, while everyone else was still bewildered, only William had already started brewing.
He didn't even open the textbook; he had cooked it many times and memorized all the steps.
The last Philosopher's Stone was indeed almost completely devoid of magic.
William has also done a lot of preparation work, and will soon be making the first Philosopher's Stone this Christmas.
Therefore, he was naturally very skilled in the subsequent process of brewing the Elixir of Life.
When most students were at a loss, the whole class turned into William's personal show.
At first, some people wanted to write down the whole process or follow his steps.
But William's hand speed was too fast, so much so that many young wizards were wondering:
"I've been playing single-player games for seventeen years, practicing countless manual skills. Do you think my hand speed is slower than yours, who only plays online every day?"
That's really not as good!
William can cut even the Biting Cabbage into beautiful shapes; not only is he fast, but every single cabbage is exactly the same size.
It's just like slicing potatoes into thin strips.
After everything was placed in the crucible, William snapped his fingers, and the crucible began to stir automatically, releasing a mellow and pleasant aroma.
The crucible was also emitting a bright light.
If you didn't know better, you'd think it was the set of a live-action version of Cooking Master Boy ".
"It couldn't be better." Slughorn didn't hold back his praise.
"Even I probably couldn't do it that perfectly. Besides, I'm getting old, and my hand speed can't keep up. I'm definitely not as fast as you."
He didn't believe this was William's first time making Elixir of Life; it seemed he had assisted Nicolas quite a bit.
Slughorn's fifty years of life were all in William's hands.
William undoubtedly received a reward, so after class, Slughorn strolled over and handed him a small purple bottle.
As he gave the Future Water, he asked:
"William, are you free this week? I'm throwing a party, come join us. I can introduce you to lots of friends."
Compared to the hesitant "Are you there?", the old man's direct and straightforward approach was on a whole different level.
After William put the Potions in the Safety Watch, he looked just like a goddess who had received a gift, and he continued to keep his backup plan.
He hesitated for a moment, then made an excuse and politely declined:
"I doubt there's time, Professor. I need to organize the Ravenclaw House for Quidditch selections; I'm the captain."
Slughorn, of course, wasn't about to be stood up like that, so he continued to probe:
"I've thought about that, so the party's on the weekend, in the evening, I know that'll be available then."
"Yes, that's certainly possible..." William seemed about to agree.
But this is when your best friend should step in.
Sure enough, Qiu suddenly said seriously:
"William, you need to take the team to observe other teams, and you also need to discuss the training plan with us tonight."
Don't forget, our goal is a four-peat!
William gave Qiu a thumbs up.
It's like having your best friend call you during a blind date, saying you forgot to turn off the gas stove at home.
"Professor, you see, I may really not have the time," William refused again.
Slughorn was quite disappointed. "Oh, a four-peat, of course it's important."
"Will Hermione be able to come...?"
"Hermione doesn't have time either, you know, she's an assistant minister now and has to go to Minister Bones." William lowered his voice.
"The department has been quite busy lately... Haven't you heard?"
Slughorn's curiosity was piqued. "Is there something important?"
"I'll only tell you this once, and you mustn't tell anyone else," William said quietly, glancing around.
Slughorn quickly agreed to keep it a secret.
William cleared his throat and said, "It's like this, the ministry has decided to crack down on the black market that arbitrarily monopolizes supplies, inflates prices, and disrupts the market."
With the outbreak of war and the attacks by Death Eaters, prices soared.
Many Pure-blood families have stockpiled large quantities of goods, preparing to profit from the war.
The Ministry of Magic will certainly have to deal with this situation.
"Who is the target this time?" Slughorn asked curiously.
"It's the Flint family," William said softly. "They've stockpiled a lot of medicine, causing a shortage."
They even want to create a monopoly and then imitate Gringotts' lending practices.
"The Ministry of Magic will announce tonight its decision to fine their family 182,000 Galleon."
Slughorn was stunned; this was an astronomical fine.
Even established Pure-blood families couldn't possibly come up with that much money all at once.
Taking advantage of Slughorn's shock, William and Cho quickly left, successfully shaking him off.
On the way back, Qiu shook her head and said, "William, Professor Slughorn will invite you again; you can't avoid it."
William whistled and laughed, "We'll see. I'm sure I'll find an excuse."
William wasn't worried about Slughorn leaking such important information.
This was the news that was supposed to be released this afternoon.
In fact, just a few hours later, The Daily Prophet published the news.
The Ministry of Magic also provided numerous details, such as the Sterling family abusing their market dominance to maintain and enhance their market power, thereby gaining an unfair competitive advantage.
This incident naturally caused a great sensation.
Especially since this time it involved Pure-blood families.
The ordinary wizards had been waiting for the Ministry of Magic to start its slaughter.
However, before everyone could enjoy their happiness for long, another piece of news broke.
That was about the attack on the Hogwarts Express.
The Ministry of Magic kept it a secret for a week, but eventually announced it.
The Daily Prophet also described the whole incident in detail, emphasizing that William prevented the attack.
But the students' parents were filled with anxiety and panic.
If something like this can happen once, it's likely to happen again.
The very next morning, various letters arrived.
Most people are receiving more emails than usual. Worried parents are eager to know how their children are doing, and in turn, they tell their children that everything is fine at home.
William also received letters from Venice.
Lyanna entrusted him with taking good care of Anne and Hermione.
With the outbreak of this wave of letter writing, the shadow of war finally began to quietly appear in the school.
The parents of the twins, Patil, are going to take them home.
Before leaving, Patil's parents approached William, wanting to discuss business with him.
They knew that Akali's Mystery Shop had monopolized the market, and they also knew that prices had skyrocketed here due to the war.
They saw a golden opportunity to profit from the war and wanted to send the India Potions to the United Kingdom to sell.
It is said to cure all diseases and remove any curse...
William inquired about the recipe and, upon learning it contained cow urine and Ganges water, William to participate.
He also suggested that the other party could sell it to New York, where such a treasure is in great need during the post-disaster reconstruction.