Chapter 605: Chapter 605 Mr. Bagshot (2 in 1)
It was completely dark by the time Felix returned to Hogwarts Castle.
He strolled around the edge of the Forbidden Forest and casually pulled a pocket watch out of his pocket, and with a loud crisp "click" a Niffler Valen poked her head out and bounced out of it.
"Sorry to keep you in there, whatever Jim and Rebecca think you are, it will never be a living creature that should be in reality."
"Kee (that's okay.) ."
Valen, who had run ahead, waved her hand behind and wiggled her furry body as she darted to an upright log in front of Hagrid's hut, where the sturdy, burly Hagrid was busy in the clearing in front of the hut, "Yo, Valen?" He looked quite happy, leaning on a shovel that was beyond his specs, and looked around.
"Hey! Felix, Dumbledore's back and I know you're paying attention to this." He shouted, "He looks a bit tired though, all tangled up with those foreigners!"
"Got it, Hagrid." Felix waved his hand in the distance as he looked towards the small tower that jutted out high above the castle, the one with the lights on.
A few minutes later, Felix knocked on the door of the Headmaster's office.
Dumbledore was sitting on the chair, without even bothering to change his travelling cloak, looking all tired. He straightened up, "Felix? I have just wanted to see you about something, I just got back and my mouth is terribly dry ... tea? Coffee? Fruit juice? I also have some wine in my collection if you want to try something new."
Felix smiled, "I haven't had any from your wine cabinet collection, um - can I take a bottle to give as a gift?"
"Don't mention it, be my guest, I'm not able to find an occasion to enjoy them very much." Dumbledore said, then asked curiously, "Severus?"
"Caring for an old man in an empty house." Felix said with a sense of humour without a fail.
"Fantastic comment, perhaps I should make a note of it for a future use - oh, I'm afraid it won't work, it's hard to stumble upon someone who is older than me." Dumbledore pouted, but he didn't dwell on it for too long, and spoke in a light-hearted tone in turn, "Many of your ideas are out of tune with others, Felix, perhaps it was a childhood experience that prompted you to start thinking more individually at a very young age ... Oh, I'm sorry."
Felix shook his head slightly and took a bottle of wine out of the wine cabinet. The glass doors reflected the stars outside.
Dumbledore snapped his fingers and two empty goblets appeared out of thin air, the two men watched as the red mellow wine filled the goblets, and after that, both raised their goblets a little to take a small sip, Dumbledore smacked his lips contentedly, "Severus hasn't grown that much older though."
Felix raised an eyebrow, "But to be honest ... his life is very dull, probably more duller than mine."
At least he had made some room in his schedule for entertainment.
He placed his goblet to one side, his eyes fixed on the other man, as he said.
"Albus, my research has come to a standstill, Soul is a rare and forbidden field and there is too little information on it for us to take any chances. Come to think of it, Voldemort's brain being broken is not a big deal-"
Dumbledore stared at the goblet in his hand, without a reply. After a moment he said, "Wait for me." He walked around the desk and made his way straight through the magical barrier to the spiral staircase that led to the first level, and in a few moments he came down, carrying a bundle of parchments.
"What's this?"
"Some of my personal contemplation on the 'soul'." Dumbledore said with a slight nod.
Felix took it with a slight surprise and skimmed through two of its parchments, and simulating them in his thinking room, his eyes shone, and he couldn't help but carry a hint of exhilaration in his tone, "This data is very helpful, certain parts of it coincide with my research, but it is more comprehensive and more in-depth than mine ... "
As he said this, he stared at Dumbledore oddly, since when did Dumbledore start to explore the soul part?
Is it really true that the older you get, the more you dabble with the world?
"I got a report today that Grindelwald is missing." Dumbledore said in a hushed voice.
"Missing?" Felix repeated, his mind going over the piece of news as he raised his hand, "I wasn't involved and know nothing about it, if that's what you're getting at." He explained rather sheepishly, "At best, we've been talking through a few letters."
"I know." Dumbledore said briefly.
Just as Felix pondered the meaning behind the word - did he 'know' that he was not involved in the old man Grindelwald's prison break; or did he 'know' about his correspondence with the Old Dark Lord through house-elf - Dumbledore continued, "I have contacted several of my old friends urgently, and they are still in contact with certain core acolytes and no further information has arrived yet."
"Even after all these years, there are people who are still loyal to Grindelwald?" Felix was quite amazed.
If that was true, why had these people sat by and watched Grindelwald being imprisoned for half a century?
"It's hard to put Grindelwald's influence into a sentence or two," Dumbledore shook his head slightly, his expression grew serious, "His influence was once extremely terrifying and when I was teaching at the school as a professor, he had already assembled an army of wizards strong enough to overthrow any Ministry of Magic in the world. It took me a lot of brainstorming to shake the foundations of his followers and drive him to the corner ..."
He changed the subject and said, "Even though Grindelwald made so many grave mistakes, in the minds of many he is still the one who is best qualified to lead them."
Real history is far less bland than words written on paper.
It is alive, living, and actually happened, and it is difficult to sum up all the qualities and charms of a man with just a few sentences in a history book.
It is particularly true for later researchers, as the words 'very talented and attractive' are likely to appear almost anywhere and be used to describe more than one person. But it must be acknowledged that every individual is different from one other.
"For the time being, there is nothing to worry about," Dumbledore stated lightly, "He is bound by powerful magic restrains, and I can guarantee that those restrictions still remain in place, and he will find it difficult to even use most common magic ... Whatever he wants to do, these restrictions objectively place limits on his magic ability.
What I am worried about is that the loss of power will prompt him to think, to hide and lurk in the shadows, to preach his philosophies, to gather an army, or to stir up disputes with another set of philosophies, and the danger that would bring is too great. I was even worried for a moment that he was going to bewitch you."
"Hmm." Felix mused, I don't think I am someone that can be bewitched by some philosophies and ideals.
Dumbledore said with a slight smile, "I only recently figured out that there are always a lot of characteristics shared by many brilliant people, the one difference is that you hate trouble and value simplicity, which keeps you from getting too involved in authority. Because authority is complicated, and the more authority you have the more complicated it will become."
"What kind of man was Grindelwald really? His nature, his looks-" Felix asked.
"No, Felix, you simply can't understand, these things hardly matter a bit; what really matters are his ideas, his thoughts! You cannot imagine how his thoughts attracted me, inspired me. Muggles will be compelled to submit by us, and we wizard will raise ourselves above every creature in this world and live more openly."
"I once desperately wanted to stand by his side and regarded him as something close to a spiritual leader for this revolution ... I was completely obsessed with it, full of brutal dreams, and I certainly thought about how much harm our dreams would do to the world, but in the end, I convinced myself with the empty reasoning that it was all for the greater good. If I could gain power, I could protect my family and keep them in the sun in open view, and I could shelter more people, but I was wrong, and my lust for power led me to go against my original intentions and made me neglect the people I should have valued above all else."
Pain surfaced on Dumbledore's face, his eyes gleamed with tears.
"I probably understand it somewhat," Felix said softly, "In a time when people are generally confused and dissatisfied with the status quo, ideals and philosophies can become a powerful weapon that can cause bloodshed and change."
They talked for a long time, Dumbledore did not avoid the fact that he and Grindelwald had once been very close friends, probably because of the sense of security brought on by the dark night, and he confessed that he had once been drawn toward Grindelwald's evil cause and contributed a lot of ideas and wisdom.
Felix poured him a goblet of wine and said comfortingly, "You do not need to blame yourself for that, Albus, you have never put those ideas in your mind into practice. Who doesn't have some dreams and ideals, noble or vile, when they are young? Talented and resourceful people tend to make bigger mistakes because ordinary little things hold no challenge for them - world domination and all that, I've thought about that too."
Dumbledore looked at him in shock.
Felix shrugged, "I did give it some serious thought and came to the conclusion that it isn't cost-effective. I need to pay too much time and effort to get too little return."
Dumbledore broke into a smile.
Then he looked down at the goblet in his hand and said with a sigh, "But what if your ideals can only be achieved through power? All those obsessive, beautiful visions, when you earnestly strive to get there, hoping it will become a reality ... the kind of extreme obsession which can only be awoken by much more colder reality later on, but what's the point? Everything will be too late."
What you dream and value may be completely different from the rest, or even diametrically opposed by the majority of people.
Felix understood this, so he did not mention the 'so-called ideal' of his own, because he knew that the ideal that Dumbledore spoke of was not at all the same kind of concept as his; he personally hoped that the wizarding world and the outside world would merge, but it is merely a 'hope', and he could wait and be happy to leave it in the hands of someone else. In the unlikely event that it could not be accomplished, he would simply withdraw all his tentacles without delay and bide his time in peace.
It must have cost Dumbledore a great deal when he was able to wake up back then. So great that the thought of his former ideals pained him to the core, filling him with disgust and regret.
Felix thought about the things that Dumbledore had not mentioned too much in front of others, Dumbledore's 'family'.
"Don't worry Albus, I had told him in my letter that the time has changed and his ideas are outdated, and I would only be willing to talk to him about it when ... it is updated. I have only one question, if he suffers a terrible failure, would he kill the innocent indiscriminately? Like Voldemort?"
"Take pleasure in torturing muggles? That would not be the case; he would always have his eyes only on his own goals, he is an idealist and aims so far ahead that the sacrifices along the way would appear like a price that must be paid in his eyes."
Dumbledore took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose, "I wish he had changed. I heard he showed remorse when he was locked up in Nurmengard alone, and regretted what he had done. I hope that's true. Otherwise-"
"He's capable of causing far more damage than Voldemort."
...
A week passed in the blink of an eye and Felix finished digesting the manuscript Dumbledore had given him.
During this time, the wizarding world was safe and sound, no one country's Ministry of Magic had been attacked; no one had come forward and announced the reorganization of the Acolyte Force, everything was normal. Everyone went about their business, and since that night, Dumbledore had gone back to tussling with the representatives of various countries, adding the subject of how to deal with the threat of Grindelwald in addition to discussing the damage caused by Voldemort.
That morning, he had gone to Spinner's End Street and accidentally bumped into the Malfoys at Snape's house, which had thwarted Felix's intentions, as he knew that there was no way Severus would ever speak his mind in front of so many people.
But it wasn't all for naught; during the conversation that was full of wit, Felix was able to grasp the general purpose of Lucius' visit - and his relationship with Snape, who was also a spy - Felix could even surmise that Lucius had definitely visited more than one family, such as that Selwyn and those Purebloods who had been on edge recently.
With a simple move of his lips, Felix could gain the allegiance of these people and become their nominal leader.
They would stay in line with Felix as long as he didn't touch their bottom line. This is an attractive offer - with Voldemort as a bad example, the purebloods' bottom line is pushed extraordinarily low.
But Felix had to give something too, and there was only one thing at stake in summary - his name, and he had to allow those purebloods to use his name.
This implied a minimum level of protection.
Felix didn't refuse, because this is the time when someone like him needs to step in and take the representative role. It is impossible for Ms. Bones to carry on being imposing all the time, much less throwing even the innocent into prison, so as to give these people a piece of mind and prevent them from escaping en masse to foreign countries this is necessary ...
If Felix can tolerate the Shafiq family, Ms. Bones has to tolerate the purebloods who are not a threat in any way.
"You haven't moved out of the safe house?" Felix asked with interest.
"Not yet, it is quite comfortable to stay there." Lucius vaguely said.
Felix chuckled in his mind, Lucius could have meant what he said, but he could also have had another purpose - to wait and see for a while, Lucius knew Voldemort isn't dead.
"Well, you guys can stay in that house for a while, it's empty anyway."
Lucius talked smoothly about the subject. He spoke about their life in that 'little house' with the same amount of lamentation as if they were experiencing life in some poor backwater village where conditions are particularly harsh.
"There's so much stuff we have. Even after Narcissa and I put a portion of our stuff in the Gringotts, there's still plenty left over ... These days we're working on the Undetectable Extension Charm to make the house as big as possible while keeping it aesthetically pleasing ... Draco, tell your professor about it ..."
Draco put down his fork and said dryly, "We blew up the floor-"
"Cough cough cough!" Lucius coughed heavily, glaring at his son, and explained, "Neither Narcissa nor I am very good at this charm because - because -"
"Never had any use for it." Felix added helpfully.
"Uh, yeah." Lucius said sardonically.
After exiting Snape's house, Felix looked around, the faint stench of dirty rivers and hills of rubbish drifted over from the distance, the weeds overgrown and barren surroundings, and the eerie and unsettling abandoned buildings which were casting dark shadows.
It all made it hard for him to feel sympathy for Malfoy's hard life.
Probably Severus felt the same way, and his face grimaced the whole time when Lucius complained.
Felix even regretted a little taking out the bottle of Dumbledore's hidden wine collection.
After he explained that it was Dumbledore's collection, Snape just barely drank half of the glass, while Lucius drank it with gusto.
In the afternoon, Felix wandered around the property he owned on the busy streets of London - with Winnie Valentine - and they ended up accidentally running into Harry, who had someone else with him, not Sirius, but an unfamiliar face.
"Professor Hap." Harry greeted meekly, he tried to pretend he didn't see him coming, but the person next to him suddenly spoke loudly, and before he could react, he sensed Professor Hap's eyes darted over him.
Felix nodded at Harry, "Come to buy your books?"
"Oh no, I'm accompanying Mr. Bagshot to buy a walking stick. He's only recently moved in, lives alone, and it isn't that convenient to walk alone at his age." Harry said. In fact, there is more than that, the old man must be very lonely and out of touch as he doesn't really know much about modern products, and recently he has been filling up the gaps.
Plus he has a bit of an eccentric personality ...
But Harry was relieved when he found out about his identity, Harry knew that the Squibs are more or less suffering some psychological problems.
"Bagshot." Felix mulled over the surname in his mind.
He felt a faint hint of magic in him, is he a wizard? Would Dumbledore know him? He held out his hand without moving, "Hello, Mr. Bagshot, I'm Felix Hap."
"I've heard a lot about you, Mr. Hap." Grindelwald extended his hand and the two shook hands together, Felix felt a magic like a pool of dead water in him and his mind drifted off.
A Squib. ...
Grindelwald revealed his exclusive wand hidden within his shirt and said courteously, "I have to say a word of thanks, because of you, people like me are able to re-enter the stage of history."
Winnie Valentine, who was accompanying him, looked at the old man with sympathy.
She felt secretly grateful that she was lucky enough to have stumbled upon the invention of the exclusive wand at such a young age; if she had been like this old gentleman, forget about how much of the exclusive wand's power she would have been able to use at that time, it would have been very painful simply to be cut off from magic for so many years just because there was no such a thing invented in her young age.
"Yes, we are all grateful to Mr. Hap from the bottom of our hearts." She said emotionally.
They stood at the intersection chatting casually for a few moments, and Felix learned from this Mr. Bagshot that he had used a great deal of courage in order to attend an interview for a magic related job this afternoon.
"Good luck." Felix said.
"Thanks, I've been very lucky lately." Grindelwald grinned.
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CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Crazy_DarkSide_Cat
Crazy_DarkSide_Cat Thanks for all your love and support.
Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.
Happy Reading!!!
Chapter 606: Chapter 606 Welcome (2 in 1)
After parting from Harry, Felix and Winnie stood at the junction waiting for a taxi.
"Is that wand working well?"
"Quite all right," Winnie nodded, "although there are all sorts of restrictions - when I went to register, the man at the Improper Use of Magic Office told me a whole lot, and made me fill in my home address, and warned me not to break any laws, and and that the trace on the wand would last for a while ..."
"But all in all," she breathed softly, and leaped up on her toes, "it feels good."
" It wasn't that those people were targeting you," Felix said casually and reassuringly, "Well, you did objectively increase their workload though, so complaints are inevitable ..." he said in a joking manner. "But to be fair, you are still new to the wizarding world, almost as new as the young wizards who are starting out, so you will receive the necessary attention and guidance. When you are familiar with it, all these restrictions will disappear."
He waved and a taxi came towards them from a distance with its turn signals on.
"Oh yeah, I seem to have seen that last time, is that some kind of band logo?" Felix glanced over at Winnie, who had a badge in the shape of a black and white piano key pinned to her chest area.
"You mean this?" Winnie gave the badge a quick squeeze with perkiness and showed it to him.
She said in a bragging tone, "It's a souvenir of François Crutoy's recital, have you heard of his name? He's famous among Muggles! Known as the next best pianist after Chopin, his music is delicate and graceful, mournful but not sad, highly imaginative, and his most legendary experience was the bizarre overnight healing of an originally incurable injury in his hand ..."
Felix was stunned in place.
"... Although this incident was much talked about, François never responded positively, and many speculated that the injury on his hand might be related to mental stress, and when he figured things out, he naturally got better. And after his low point, he was inspired to write tracks such as 'Angel of Sorrow' and 'Goddess of Magic' in quick succession. He will be performing a concert in the near future, at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, for which my friend and I have bought tickets."
"Sounds good." Felix said thoughtfully, "Maybe I can spare some time to attend ..."
His mind wandered back to the somewhat desolated chilly alley where, as the only audience present, Felix had enjoyed a chic piano performance, though he hadn't realized that the nerdy young man had such a reputation ... Felix hoped that the stunning purity of his piano tone wouldn't change when they met again.
After seeing Winnie off in a taxi, Felix took some time to spend at the Sword Castle.
As the Weasley twins graduated from school, they took back their dividends for the past few years and partial ownership of the Communicating Mirror and Anti-Spell product series, and were immediately eager to begin the implementation of their own business venture; from Penelope's mouth, Felix learned that the two had opened three branches. But limited by manpower, they hadn't completely separated cleanly from 'Future World', and the two companies still retained a partnership in more than one project.
"What do you mean by partnership?"
"Apart from functional upgrades for those two current lines of products, there's also - well - OEM (original equipment manufacturer), the two of them alone can't produce two thousand units of the Dark Lord Scare Box set in a week." Penelope said, half grumbling, half proud, "We're the only ones in the entire wizarding world who can do it!"
"Oh, oh," Felix made an admiring sound, "after hearing what you said, I find myself seemingly overlooking some details. Can you give a hint, Miss Clearwater, whether it's time for me to give Dobby a pay rise?"
Penelope showed an odd expression.
"I can't find any excuse for holding it off, sir. He has done a splendid job - in fact, there are more house elves in the company than their kind in the Hogwarts kitchens, and Mr. Lupin had a major headache at one point about how to handle them, as you know, they are frighteningly motivated to work."
Felix imagined the scene of Remus scratching his head and grinned impishly, "And how did you manage to work it out? Oh, the OEM-"
"That's only part of it. We had a couple of meetings devoted to how to position them, and Mr. Lupin came up with the assembly line concept you had mentioned to him, so our entire staff spent two days breaking down the production steps of our existing products and handed over the simple spell-casting enchantments to the house elves to complete."
Felix was quite pleased with this and sat back in his chair and spun around.
"What about their treatment?"
"Strictly in accordance with the Guidelines on house-elf welfare as prescribed by the Ministry of Magic."
"Er - is that some type of law, I don't think I've heard of it at all?"
Penelope sighed, "The Ministry of Magic has had a set of rules regarding the treatment of House Elves very early on, they've been in existence for many years, it's just that they've never been strictly enforced ..."
So it was just a decoration.
Felix understood the situation clearly. Many wizarding families, such as the Malfoys and the Black family prior to Sirius, were known to mistreat their house elves. Due to the absolutely obedient nature of house elves, the Ministry of Magic couldn't possibly investigate anything, and - it was doubtful whether they ever investigated.
"By the way, there's one more thing!" Penelope suddenly said, "The house elves have been hoping to pledge their allegiance to you-"
"What do you mean?" Felix stood up.
"The kind of allegiance that a servant pledges to his master." Penelope shot him a sneaky look, "There are many house elves who have been kicked out by their masters, or have nowhere to go due to the death of their previous master who has no other successor. In short, they have previously lived a very rough life. Dobby found them and preached to them about your generosity and kindness ... Those house elves are all looking forward to this day."
"Well."
Felix bowed his head and mused.
After a long while, he looked up, "Sign a contract with them - but not in my name, in the name of 'Future World' Company. Also, I need you to do one thing from now on -" Penelope listened with a serious expression and took out a small notebook to make notes. "- Recruit all sorts of humanoid creatures as employees, werewolves, vampires, centaurs, merpeople, veela, giants and goblins, you know what I mean, the ones with intelligence and the ability to communicate with people ... No need to do it all at once, one step at a time. First, we should try to recruit some mixed bloods for a start."
"You're doing this for ...?" Penelope asked, holding her breath.
"Don't you think it would be fun to get them all together?"
Felix grinned, but Penelope didn't appreciate the humour at all as she sighed and muttered: Oh, poor Percy ... They won't be talking about work all the time when they get together, will they?
"Well, I do have a good reason - as the company grows in size, we need to explore new channels for selling our products, and these mixed bloods, especially the ones who are mixed with wizards, can be our guides."
His real purpose is much more than that, such as laying the groundwork for a Pan-Magic Alliance in advance ... From the present-day perspective doing so would have little impact and even be somewhat unproductive, but if the magical world is ever forced to go public, Felix wants the entire magical world to have one and only one voice.
He didn't elaborate; the reasons above were enough to convince Penelope, and she nodded.
"This is going to be tricky to manage, quite a few of them have a grudge against each other, and worse, most of them don't have much of a fondness for wizards either, so there's no point in rushing it now, treat it as a long term task ... I'll talk to Ms. Bones about it, and ideally we can borrow a few a people from the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures to come over and teach us the do's and don'ts."
Felix said as he tried to rationalize his thoughts. With the fall of Voldemort, it would be time for the Ministry of Magic to find the opportunity to take over the responsibilities that rightfully belonged to them.
What is the responsibility of the Ministry of Magic?
To make laws and govern the entire local wizarding community, with the highest priority on keeping the wizarding world hidden from the muggle world. But if exposure is unavoidable, it is their responsibility to work on the advance plans and study the risks involved to make adequate preparations.
As the capture of the dark wizard came to an end, the next move of the Ministry of Magic would be trial, ordination, and then after that? If there is no Felix, peace will naturally be restored and everyone will shut up and live their little lives.
From this perspective, the entire wizarding community seems rather lazy, with very little sense of crisis.
There is no need to be surprised.
Shackled by numerical restrictions and the great convenience of magic, wizards are unable to set up a large and elaborate political, economic, cultural, and legal system as they do in the muggle world - it would require a huge amount of manpower to keep the system running.
The pace of life in the wizarding world has always been slow, so slow that many rules and customs are not easily changed even after centuries of being passed down. In essence, the wizarding world is a world where progress is made only because of some individuals - the visionary and exceptional wizards who stepped up to drive society forward.
If one looks at this from a higher level.
Every decade or so, a few outstanding wizards are born who are so bright and prominent in their field of study that they can easily drive some aspect of wizarding society forward on their own, not just in terms of the rules, but also in terms of potions, spells, new theories ...
The Chocolate Frog character cards are a perfect illustration of this phenomenon.
"Come on, let's go check out my army of house elves." Felix said with a laugh.
They arrived on the third floor, where nearly one-third of the place was occupied by house elves, and upon opening a slightly smaller door, the sight of heated labour inside hit them. Over a hundred house elves sat around a huge, low worktable that looked like a raised platform, or a rectangular arena.
They are sitting in little chairs, with various semifinished materials neatly laid out in front of them.
The house elves moved uniformly, reaching out with slender fingers to point at a piece of cropped wrapping paper, which folded up dazzlingly and became an elaborate gift box in seconds, and Felix swore he could never be mistaken, he saw a cartoon version of a bald, noseless wizard ...
"Mr. Hap!"
With an exaggerated squeal, a house elf jumped down from his spot, darting behind on two short legs, and appeared in front of Felix.
"Hello, Dobby." Felix said.
"Hello to you too, Mr. Hap." Dobby said excitedly, looking at Felix with his big, round eyes. Then all the elves stopped what they were doing and gathered around timidly, looking at Felix with the same watchful eyes as Dobby.
"Greetings, gents - er - elves."
"Sir, this is Buck." Dobby said cheerfully, pointing to the closest house elf. "Hello, Buck." Felix nodded. "This is Kiki, Baker, Holly, Button, Chichi," he introduced them one by one, before snapping to attention, "Oh, yes!" Dobby pulled a house elf from the crowd as if by magic, "And Winky."
Winky who is wearing a clean little dress, cowered behind the crowd.
"Winky?" Dobby looked at her beamingly.
"Mr. Ha, Hap-" Winky said formally.
"How is your stay here?" Felix asked.
"Very, very well ..." she whispered.
"Not good, Winky's not good!" Dobby exclaimed, "Winky still thinks about Winky's original master, Mr. Crouch, and Dobby told Winky that we have a new - well, employer, but Winky's not happy about it and refuses to accept any money for work!"
"Buck doesn't want an employer either, Buck wants a master!" The house elf who had been introduced at the beginning said eagerly, staring straight at Felix.
"So does Kiki. Kiki doesn't want to be an elf that no one wants!" A house elf with a slightly shrill voice called out. Her words drew a chaotic chorus of agreement, a group of tiny heads with bat ears nodding up and down.
"That's exactly what I'm here for." Felix said gently, "To be honest, I was shocked when I found out there were so many house elves in the company, and I personally don't need house elves for my services, so I came up with a great idea - you've heard of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, right? "
The house elves nodded apprehensively.
"In the Hogwarts kitchens, there are about the same number of house elves as you, and they don't belong to anyone but the ancient castle in name, but of course, if any house elf wishes to leave, I don't think Dumbledore would ever stop- "
"They won't leave, they're happy as one can be!" A house elf shouted, his tone vaguely envious and resigned.
"Chichi?" Felix asked, with a blink.
"Yes, Chichi, Mr. Hap." Chichi replied excitedly, seemingly honoured that Felix had remembered his name.
"... Now that you know, things have become much simpler, I'm going to use a similar model and create an ancient magic contract, I won't set a time limit, you can stay as long as you like, with specific terms focused on a non-disclosure agreement, if you want to leave, you can't give out information about the Products ... There are also some rules regarding your treatments, which Dobby and Miss Clearwater will talk you through."
"We don't need to be treated or paid for our work!" Another house elf shouted.
"Oh," Felix gave a difficult look, "but the Ministry of Magic has made rules, and this is what you deserve, and I don't want to be bothered by someone from the Ministry coming to my door ... and," his expression turned serious, " when you stay in the company, you will be exposed to more specialized and challenging tasks unlike serving a particular wizard family-" the house elves puffed out their little chests one by one. "-and it is necessary to have standardized rules for ease of management."
The house elves nodded cluelessly.
"As for Winky -" Felix thought for a moment, before crouching down to address her.
"Since you have nowhere else to go for the moment, you might as well stay here and save up some money - Listen to me first, don't you wish to buy a present for Mr. Crouch? Winky, there are no more Dementors in Azkaban, which means that Mr. Crouch will be out soon, three years would go by in a flash. If you want to go back to him, I won't stand in your way, but I think he'll be happy to see a gift from you."
When Felix finished, he extended his hand forward and displayed a gold galleon.
Winky kept blinking her huge brown eyes and her nose, which resembled a small tomato in shape and size, twitched, it was obvious that she was caught in a very torn state and her little brain seemed to be struggling to make sense of the whole complex situation.
It was only when Dobby urged her on for the twelfth time that Winky reached out with trembling hands and held up the gold galleon, as tears burst out of her eyes.
"Thank you, thank you, Mr. Hap."
She lifted her little dress and bowed deeply at Felix.
...
In the evening, after returning to school, Felix and Valen were both a little hungry. They made their way down the twisting spiral staircase and headed to the kitchen to find something to eat.
It is unclear who started it, but in any case, they began to play a game of stepping in each other's shadows. Valen nimbly moved her feet around Felix, running back and forth, yelling excitedly as she ran - she was counting the points.
Felix immediately felt he is at a disadvantage, with his shadow being much bigger.
"Kee!"
Valen suddenly shivered and ran over his shoulder in a flash, twittering at him, that man had such a scary look in his eyes!
Felix turned his head to see Professor McGonagall and Mr. Bagshot, whom he had seen during the day, approaching side by side. Professor McGonagall was talking rapidly about something, not noticing his and Valen's presence. In contrast, Mr. Bagshot fixed his gaze on Valen, his eyes narrowed and his face turned grim.
"Since Dumbledore has agreed ... I can't say anything, but, Mr. Bagshot, please do be mentally prepared for this, managing little wizards is a very hard job. I will explain to you everything I know, including the teaching materials, the teaching tasks, the rules of the school ... Oh, Felix?"
Professor McGonagall looked up in surprise at Felix and Valen who stood on his shoulder.
"Minerva," Felix nodded slightly, but his eyes remained fixed on Mr. Bagshot with an obvious measuring look, "this is-"
"Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts for the new academic year." Professor McGonagall said.
"Ah, of course ..."
Felix looked at Mr. Bagshot, and just as Professor McGonagall thought he would introduce himself - he had always been so polite - Felix's eyes suddenly glowed, and he looked straight at the school's new professor.
Mr. Bagshot displayed an agility that is completely at odds with his age, his exclusive wand instantly appearing in his hand as a fierce swirl of magic erupted, blocking Felix's view, but Felix's quick glance had given him the result he wanted.
Miscalculation ...
He normally wouldn't stare at a stranger with his magical perspective and peer at them, since it was too provocative, but it seemed someone had caught the loophole and disguised himself as a Squib. Not exactly, Felix remembered Dumbledore's words, he is no different from a Squib now.
But what magic had he used to remain free without being imprisoned even after meeting Dumbledore, and it looked like he had secured himself a teaching position?
Felix in no way believed that Dumbledore had perceived it incorrectly.
Just as he had offered shelter to the scattered Purebloods, Dumbledore had done the same thing.
"Felix ... Mr. Bagshot ... you guys ..."
Caught in the middle, Professor McGonagall could barely manage to breathe as she stared, with difficulty, at the two serious faces, wondering why they had suddenly started to clash, and amazed that a Squib is capable of erupting with such a burst of magic.
She wasn't sure whether to feel relieved that Dumbledore hadn't misjudged the new professor or that he wouldn't be bullied by his students.
"Mr. Bagshot?" Felix spoke in an almost whispering voice, the pressure that enveloped the area converging a little, "I've been a little puzzled since we parted ways during the day, the author of the History of Magic book, Bathilda Bagshot, is your-"
"... aunt." Grindelwald said in an equally light tone.
"She lives in the Godric's Hollow, it's such a nice, breezy place, Godric Gryffindor, who founded Hogwarts, was born there, as was Bowman Wright, who invented the Golden Snitch ... A little closer to our house, there is House Dumbledore and House Potter. "
Of course, Godric's Hollow has produced more famous people than that.
One name popped into both men's minds at the same time, Ignotus Peverell, owner of the third Deathly Hallow, the Cloak of Invisibility.
Felix and Grindelwald gazed at each other for a moment and smiled in unison. They extended their hands - one young and chiselled; the other old and wrinkled - and clasped their hands together with a firm grip.
"Welcome, Mr. Bagshot."
------------
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Thanks for all your love and support.
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