Chapter 24 The Huge Muggle Market
Conflicts between boys come and go quickly.
Especially Basil has the kingly demeanor of the king of British legends.
A little boy like Ron can't control himself at all.
So, unlike the conflict with Harry yesterday, which was forgotten by Basil questioning Professor McGonagall.
This little conflict today.
Ron was defeated as soon as Basil glared at him.
"My fault, if Fanta really wanted to eat Scabbers, he would have done it long ago."
"Well," Ron touched his stomach, walked to the head of the bed, and picked up a half-opened, but not very active chocolate frog from the cabinet, "Do you want to eat it? It's left over from the train yesterday."
"No." Basil was a little disgusted.
Although he used a cleaning spell to clean the Scabbers sauce on it, he still couldn't accept it psychologically.
"Let's go see Harry. I asked where the school hospital was yesterday."
This is a lie!
In fact, he just found the school hospital on the second floor of Hogwarts in his mind.
"Yeah." Ron swallowed the chocolate frog in one gulp and nodded.
Have you ever seen the Gryffindor common room at 6am?
Percy often sees it.
The sun in the Scottish Highlands, which rises earlier than other places, shines through the round windows onto the scarlet tapestry.
The witch who always has her back to them, wearing a long scarlet robe, holding her hat behind her, looking down at a black cat sitting at her feet, will also reveal her true face at this time.
Young Professor McGonagall.
He sees these scenes almost every day.
As a supervisor of Gryffindor, he has to get up early every day to update the bulletin board next to the round hole.
Post school notices, various advertisements and posters on it.
Not to mention that today is the first class of the first year students.
He needs to send the class schedule in his hand to each freshman.
While thinking this, he used the sticking spell to stick the notice of "Prohibited Items in the Castle" on the wooden board.
As soon as Ron and Basil came to the common room, they saw this scene.
Percy yawned, sat on his back, and waved his wand.
Ron's expression was complicated, as if he had seen something that made him ashamed.
However, he was ashamed of himself.
He only saw the glory of being a supervisor, but did not pay attention to the hardships behind it.
Percy also saw them.
He quickly sat up straight and tidied his appearance.
"You got up so early?"
Bajir: "We are going to see Harry, he didn't come back last night. He is still in the school hospital."
At this time, Ron spoke up, "This is the first time I see you so tired."
"Is it so hard to be a supervisor?"
"Is the so-called power so important?"
Percy was stunned.
He didn't expect Ron to ask such a profound question.
Then, he nodded without hesitation, "It's important. And it's not hard work. It's the principal and teachers who value me."
"The fruit of this power is not bitter. On the contrary, it is extremely sweet."
"When I think that someone values me, this resume will add points when I look for a job after graduation, I am extremely excited and happy!"
He looked at Bajir, "Your ambition can be seen from your picture."
"The best job in the world is in the Ministry of Magic."
"It controls the food, clothing, housing and transportation of all British wizards, everything they have!
"Money, honor, respect."
"Everything you can think of can be found in it."
His expression became gloomy, "As long as you don't learn from our father. Be content with being ordinary and sacrifice your future for the so-called dream."
"Be willing to work hard in the undignified, disrespected and non-high-paid position of the director of the Office for the Prohibition of Abuse of Muggle Items."
He looked at Ron solemnly, "Ronnie, do you know? Have you seen your father's working environment? "
"On the second floor of the Ministry of Magic, at the end of the corridor, opposite the broom closet, the area is smaller than the broom closet. As the director, he has only one subordinate. Their two desks squeezed in, occupying the entire space. It is a bit difficult to stand up and move the body."
"A row of filing cabinets are lined up along the wall around the desk, and the files in them are almost overflowing. There are also bundles of shaky files piled on top of the filing cabinets."
"Personal space is pitifully small. The little usable space on the wall of the office is covered with some of my father's favorite things: a few car advertisements, one of which shows a disassembled engine; two mailbox illustrations cut from Muggle children's books; and a diagram of how to install a socket. Next to the already full in-basket on the desk is a family photo of our family. "
Percy's voice was low. Even after many years, he still remembered the entire layout of the office.
Ron lowered his head, his face red as a monkey's ass.
Bajir was full of doubts.
Their family was very familiar with the job structure of the Ministry of Magic.
Before awakening his memory, he was picking mushrooms all day and was also exposed to it.
"Your father's position is the director, right? And the Office of the Prohibition of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts is an independent department. It belongs to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement of the Ministry of Magic."
Percy nodded, "Is there anything wrong?"
Bajir asked tentatively, "Where do you know about the Ministry of Magic from?"
Percy calmed down.
He was not Ron, and he was keenly aware of Bajir's implication.
Is his father's job really great?
"My father, and your picture. I don't know the details of the others, but I've been working hard to learn. I'm also a supervisor while taking 12 courses."
Bajir took a deep breath.
"Okay, I'm going to tell you something subversive. Don't be surprised."
"The Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement is not comparable to the directors of other departments. Not to mention that your father is an independent department."
"To a certain extent, as long as your father doesn't want to, the Minister of Magic and the Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement can't order him."
"From the name of the department, it is estimated that your father can compile the laws on Muggle supplies."
"Even if your father wants to, he can take the lead and compile the laws related to Muggles."
Percy was still a little confused, "No one can control it, it's really good. But Muggles? What's the benefit of this?"
"A job related to Muggles. Although it is politically incorrect to discriminate against Muggles, no wizard will look down on it."
Bajir was extremely depressed, "Are you crazy? Do you know the global population statistics in 1991? That is, how many Muggles there are? 5.383 billion people!"
"There are 57.4249 million Muggles in the UK!"
"And our British wizards add up to only 4,000 people!"
"Don't you understand? What a huge market the Muggle world is!"
"And the laws in this area are compiled and led by your father."
"Especially now that there are protection laws, but in fact every aspect of the Muggle world has invaded the wizarding world . "
"For example, Ron's sneakers, and the suits that Fudge and other high-ranking officials in the Ministry of Magic like to wear!"
"Even our wizard robes, the kind we usually wear, can be customized in batches by finding factories in the Muggle world. Or you can buy fabric and make them yourself!"
"And magic cameras, except for the spells and developing potions, are actually no different from Muggle ones. You can buy them in the Muggle world and then process them. You don't have to buy finished products that cost 100 Galleons at Wizeacre Magic Supplies."
"Let me do the math for you. According to the current exchange rate, 5 pounds is equal to 1 Galleon."
"The cameras in the Muggle world are much more advanced than those in the wizarding world. It only costs about 300 pounds, which is only 60 Galleons. The developing potion costs 1 silver Sickle per bottle. The spell for the magic camera is not difficult and can be learned by yourself. "
"Only 60 Galleons, 1 Sickle, and you can get a magic camera."
"And my exchange rate is official from Gringotts. There is a limit to the Galleons that normal Muggle families can exchange. In the black market, let alone 5 pounds per Galleon, even 40 pounds per Galleon is willing to exchange."
Ron: "50 pounds, is there anyone willing to exchange?"
He has already started to daydream, exchanging the few silver Sickles in his hand for pounds, and then going to the Muggle world to buy cloth, stationery and other things, and selling them back to the wizarding world.
Bajir: "Twenty gold Galleons are about one-tenth of a kilogram, and the price of gold is about 10,000 pounds per kilogram, so the value of a gold Galleon is about fifty pounds."
"If it is really 50, or even higher, won't people exchange it for gold and go to Gringotts to exchange it?"