A Professor of Magic at Hogwarts-Chapter 608: Welcome - (1)
Chapter 608: Welcome - (1)
Chapter 608: Welcome
After parting ways with Harry, Felix and Winnie stood at the intersection, waiting for a taxi.
"Is the wand still working well?" Winnie asked.
"It's doing fine," Winnie nodded, "though there are various restrictions. When I registered, the Ministry of Magic people at the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office bombarded me with a bunch of rules. I had to fill in my home address, was warned not to engage in illegal activities, and told that the trace on the wand would last for a while..."
"But overall," she took a deep breath, her toes dancing with excitement, "it feels great."
"Those people aren't specifically targeting you," Felix comforted casually, "although you did increase their workload objectively. Complaining is inevitable...," he joked, "but to be fair, you newcomers to the magical world are like the first-year wizards, needing necessary attention and guidance. Once you get familiar, all these restrictions will disappear."
He waved his hand, and a taxi approached from a distance.
"Oh, by the way, I seem to have seen it before. Is this the symbol of a band?" Felix glanced at Winnie, noticing a black and white badge in the shape of a piano key on her chest.
"You mean this?" Winnie excitedly pinched the badge, showing it to him.
She said with a proud tone, "It's a souvenir from a concert, François Crutoy. Have you heard of this name? He's quite famous among Muggles! Regarded as the pianist poet after Chopin, his music is delicate and beautiful, melancholic but not sorrowful, rich in imagination. His most legendary experience was the injury on his hand, which was originally incurable, but miraculously healed overnight..."
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Felix stood still.
"...Although this incident is widely talked about, François Crutoy has never responded directly. Many people speculate that the injury on his hand may be related to mental stress, and once he figured it out, it naturally healed. After going through a low period, his inspiration exploded, and he created 'Angelic Melancholy' and 'Goddess of Magic' and other pieces. He has a concert soon, at the Corvent Garden Royal Opera House, and my friends and I have bought tickets."
"Sounds nice," Felix said thoughtfully, "Maybe I can find some time to attend..."
In his mind, there emerged a chilly courtyard. As the only audience, Felix enjoyed a unique piano performance. He hadn't expected that the seemingly absent-minded young man would have such fame. Felix hoped that when they met again, the mesmerizing purity in his music hadn't changed.
After sending Winnie off in the taxi, Felix spent some time at the Sword Fortress.
As the Weasley twins graduated from school, they retrieved their earnings from the past few years and the ownership of all products related to communication mirrors and anti-curse series. They eagerly began implementing their own business plans. From Penelope, Felix learned that the two had already opened three branches. However, due to manpower limitations, they didn't completely split from 'Future World,' and the two companies maintained cooperation in various projects.
"What do you mean by cooperation?" Felix asked.
"In addition to upgrading existing product features, there's also... um... outsourcing. Relying solely on them, they can't produce two thousand sets of Dark Wizard Scare Boxes within a week." Penelope complained and bragged at the same time. "In the entire magical world, only we can do it!"
"Oh, oh," Felix exclaimed in admiration. "After listening to what you said, I realized I seemed to have overlooked some details. Can you give me a hint, Miss Crivat, should I give Dobby a raise?"
Penelope gave him a strange look.
"I can't find any excuses, sir. He's doing an outstanding job— in fact, the number of house-elves in the company has exceeded those in the Hogwarts kitchen. Mr. Lupin was quite troubled about how to accommodate them, you know, their work enthusiasm is frighteningly high."
Felix imagined the scene of Kreacher scratching his head and chuckled, "So, how did you solve it? Oh, outsourcing—"
"That's only part of it. We held several meetings specifically to discuss how to accommodate them. Mr. Lupin thought of the assembly line concept you mentioned to him before. So, all our employees spent two days breaking down the production steps of existing products, handing over those simple enchantments to the house-elves." ŗἈΝȯВΕ𝘴
Felix was quite satisfied with this. He spun around in his chair.
"What about their treatment?"
"Strictly following the Ministry of Magic's 'Guidelines for House-Elf Rights.'”
"Uh... is that some kind of law? I seem to have never heard of it?"
Penelope sighed, "The Ministry of Magic formulated a series of regulations on the treatment of house-elves a long time ago. They've been in existence for many years, but they've never been strictly enforced..."
So, it's just for show.
Felix understood. Many wizarding families, such as the Malfoys and the previous Black family before Sirius, would abuse their house-elves. Due to the house-elves' absolute obedience, the Ministry of Magic couldn't investigate much, or maybe— whether they investigated or not was doubtful.
"Oh, there's one more thing!" Penelope suddenly said, "The house-elves have always wanted to swear allegiance to you—"
"What did you say?" Felix stood up.
"It's the kind of allegiance servants swear to their masters." Penelope secretly observed him, "Many house-elves were kicked out by their masters, or they were kicked out from the previous generation. In any case, they were very miserable before. Dobby found them, preached about your generosity and kindness... those house-elves have been looking forward to this day."
"Hmm."
Felix pondered.
After a while, he looked up, "Make a contract with them— but not in my name, use the name of the 'Future World' company. Also, I need you to do something from now on—" Penelope listened attentively and took out a small notebook to record, "—recruit some magical beings as employees, werewolves, vampires, centaurs, merpeople, veela, giants, and fairies, you know what I mean, those with intelligence, those who can communicate with people... No need to do it all at once, we can start by recruiting some half-breeds first."
"Is this for...?" Penelope held her breath and asked.
"Don't you find it interesting to gather them together?" Felix smiled, but Penelope didn't catch the humor. He sighed, thinking, 'Oh, poor Percy... They won't just talk about work when they gather, right?'
"Well, I do have enough reasons— as the company expands, we need to explore new channels for product sales. These half-breeds, especially those mixed with wizards, can be guides."
His real purpose went far beyond this, such as laying the groundwork for the Pan-Magical Union... doing this now may not have a significant impact and might even be a bit unappreciated, but if one day the wizarding world is forced to go public, Felix hopes that there will be only one voice in the entire magical world.
He didn't elaborate. The reasons given were enough
to convince Penelope. She nodded.
"This thing will be troublesome to operate. Many of them have hatred towards each other, and worse, most of them don't have a good impression of wizards. So, no need to rush, consider it a long-term task... I'll discuss with Ms. Bones, it's best to borrow a few people from the Magical Creatures Management and Control Department."
Felix explained as he organized his thoughts. With the capture of dark wizards completed, the next move for the Ministry of Magic is trials, honors, and then what? If Felix weren't there, naturally, it would be about restoring peace, and everyone would close their doors to live their own lives.
From this perspective, the entire wizarding community is a group of lazy, complacent civilians, limited by numbers and the great convenience of magic, unable to establish a vast and intricate political, economic, cultural, and legal system like the real world— it requires a massive workforce to maintain the operation of such a system.
The rhythm of life in the wizarding world has always been slow, to the extent that many institutions and customs don't change easily even after centuries. Essentially, the wizarding world is shaped by individuals— wizards with vision and excellence who stand up to push society forward.
Looking at this issue from a higher perspective:
Every dozen or so years, there will be several outstanding wizards born. They shine brightly in their respective research fields, with a transcendent status, easily pushing forward a significant aspect of wizarding society, not limited to institutions but also in areas like potions, spells, and new theories...
Chocolate Frog cards are a concentrated representation of this phenomenon.
"Let's go, let's see the army of house-elves." Felix said cheerfully.
They went to the third floor, where almost a third of the area belonged to house-elves. After opening a slightly smaller door, a bustling scene of labor greeted them. More than a hundred house-elves sat around a huge and short workbench, which looked like a raised platform or a rectangular arena.
They sat on small chairs, and in front of them were neatly arranged various semi-finished materials.
The house-elves moved uniformly, extending their slender fingers to point at a pre-cut wrapping paper. The wrapping paper folded and unfolded in a dazzling manner, turning into an exquisite gift box in a matter of seconds. Felix swore he didn't see it wrong; he saw a cartoon version of a bald, noseless wizard...
"Mr. Harp!"
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