Quite a lot had happened over the last two weeks, at least on the business side of things. I was in constant contact with Ranrok. We exchanged messages every day, as these were important business dealings.
After shopping and paying for everything necessary, including fees, I had approximately 745,000 Galleons left in my vault. It was a massive sum, at least by my previous standards. I was practically wealthy even by Muggle standards, and that was after Gringotts deducted a 25% fee from the total amount for laundering the illegal money.
According to Ranrok's regular and remarkably cooperative updates, I was clearly a high-value client for the bank. Since he managed not only the family estate but also my personal finances, he was clearly exceedingly pleased with how things were progressing.
The restaurant? Ready. The staff? Ready. Marketing? Ready. Front page of the Daily Prophet? Also secured. Simply put, everything was ready, and now it was just a matter of training. The purchased house-elves were young and clever, but teaching them the recipes, proper etiquette, and getting the whole team to work together smoothly required some time.
Furthermore, the Squibs were bound by an oath so they couldn't reveal any secrets of the restaurant's internal operations, but they didn't mind at all. First of all, they were paid exceptionally well, even compared to wizards, and secondly, they were grateful for any opportunity to work. So, I was satisfied too.
They were surprised, of course, to find out that I was their boss and not Vespera, but at least it was fun to watch their reactions. The marketing photos were also finished. Vespera was, naturally, with me during the shoot, and the whole thing went by relatively quickly. An athletic, tall guy in a toga with flames shooting from his hands and hair like a lion's mane? Honestly, it looked exactly as absurdly epic as I had imagined. Throughout the shoot, I could feel Vespera's gaze on me. Whenever I caught her eye, she seemed quite proud of me.
Ranrok and I agreed to open the restaurant in September to ensure there was enough time to fine-tune everything. We were still ironing out some details, after all. At the same time, Vespera practically became the company's vice president, since I couldn't afford to regularly leave Hogwarts. The restaurant manager was still learning the ropes, with Vespera stepping in only for serious issues or major decisions.
Otherwise, I spent my days in the usual fashion. Hard physical training. Hard magical training. Reading various magical books. And at the end of the day, draining my magic almost to the limit of my magical core, followed by Occlumency and sleep.
"Ready?" Vespera's voice snapped me out of my thoughts.
"Yes, though I really don't want to go," I replied with a frown, looking at myself in the mirror. "I could have spent this time training, studying, or doing literally anything else."
"Oh, come on. You can't be that much of a loner... You didn't even go see your friends, and Narcissa has been asking questions, too."
"I'd play Quidditch with Draco before crawling to that fucking Ministry... Does Narcissa still not know I'm her nephew?"
"No," Vespera shook her head with a smirk, "but she's starting to suspect that something isn't right. I told her to ask you directly, after all."
I turned away from the mirror and looked at Vespera. She was wearing a matte black dress with a modest neckline that perfectly accentuated her athletic figure.
"You look great, Aunt Vespi," I complimented her, but immediately added with a teasing smile, "Though I still wonder how you can have such an athletic figure when you can't even make it up a hill."
"You're lucky we don't have time for a duel... otherwise, I'd show you who can't make it up a hill, nephew," she smirked at me, amused. "But thank you. Ready to go?"
"Let's go," I nodded, following her to the Floo network, albeit very reluctantly.
The only silver lining I expected from today was seeing the others—except for Agnes, who was still in Austria with her father. I also counted on meeting Madam Bones there, so I could ask about the Lockhart situation.
Vespera stepped into the fireplace first: "Ministry of Magic, London!"
With a heavy sigh, I followed her.
I wasn't expecting much, since my travel to Czechoslovakia through the Department of International Magical Transport had left me completely unimpressed. However, I had to admit that the Atrium we stepped into looked simply enchanting. It was teeming with people, and a loud chatter echoed through the entire hall. Once Vespera made sure I was following her, we pushed straight ahead. All it took was one cold glare from her, and we passed through security without a single stop.
The floor beneath our feet was cold and so highly polished that it reflected our every step and the light from the ceiling. The ceiling itself was dark blue and dotted with moving golden symbols, creating the impression of a magical night sky. It gave the entire hall a wonderful wizarding atmosphere, so I was pleasantly surprised so far.
We walked quickly past the golden Fountain of Magical Brethren, where magical creatures looked up adoringly at a wizard and a witch. I had expected it to evoke some unpleasant feeling in me, similar to when I read about it in the books years ago, but this time, I couldn't care less.
Near the far end of the Atrium stood a small stage. It was built quite high so that everyone present could see it without any trouble. We had been briefed on the schedule beforehand—first the ceremony, followed by a banquet for select guests, meant for the pure-blood elite of the wizarding world, of course. As Vespera led me through the crowd, I looked around for familiar faces, but so far, I didn't see anyone. There was a massive number of witches and wizards, though. Significantly more than I had expected.
We only stopped in front of the stage, where Aurors stood guarding it. It seemed they, too, recognized my aunt, as they let us through without any fuss. I immediately noticed the short, portly Minister with a round face and a walrus mustache. It was surprising, because his mustache definitely wasn't thick, which didn't do much for his image.
Guess he'll only figure that out in two years, I thought with a smirk as I studied him.
Right next to him stood a woman in an elegant black robe with pink accessories. She was facing sideways from us, quietly whispering something into the Minister's ear. And to my surprise? She looked exactly like a toad.
She wasn't just some ordinary older woman like I remembered from the movies. She had flabby eyelids, a wide face, and almost a triple chin. Although she didn't seem outright obese, her pale skin had an unpleasant, almost sickly hue, which gave her a strangely repulsive appearance.
The worst part, though, was that she clearly put effort into her appearance. Her robes were perfectly tailored, and her overall look was almost excessively neat. She wore an expression on her face as if trying very hard to look amiable—which, combined with her actual features, looked even more unsettling.
Unfortunately, he noticed us very quickly, and with a broad smile, made his way straight toward us. He pulled a kind of emerald ribbon directly out of his robe's pocket.
"Good day, Mrs. Rosier, Mr. Rosier," he greeted with a bow, addressing Vespera first and foremost, while giving me barely a fraction of a second's glance.
"Minister," Vespera replied coldly, while I remained silent. It looked like he was waiting for her to offer her hand to be kissed, which Vespera completely ignored.
Thank goodness... if he had drooled on her hand, I probably would have lost it.
"Ready, young man? Big day for you today!" he turned to me with a stiff smile, and I caught a glimpse of his hands trembling slightly.
"Yes. Will this take long, Minister?" I asked bluntly, almost impatiently.
His stiff smile vanished completely for a split second, but like a seasoned politician, he almost instantly conjured up a new, fake smirk and giggled as if he were fifteen.
"Not very long at all, young man! Surely you're looking forward to the afterparty, aren't you?" he prompted with feigned enthusiasm, but his eyes remained cold. I could feel both anger and humiliation radiating from him.
He probably expected Vespera to throw herself around his neck... idiot, I thought, deliberately giving him an equally fake smile. I made sure, however, that he noticed it was blatantly put on.
He noticed. He faltered for a fraction of a second, but then nodded, this time without any smile at all: "Everything is prepared, we can get started."
Practically speaking, I had only cared about the money before, so I had planned to attend this event—something Vespera knew. However, two thousand Galleons definitely wasn't worth this circus... and certainly not now that I had hundreds of thousands sitting in my vault. If I had known back then what was waiting for me, not even God himself could have dragged me here.
"Follow me, please," he requested, no longer attempting any pretense, and headed up the steps toward the stage.
I felt Vespera's eyes on me from the side, so I whispered to her, making sure no one else could hear: "I can't fake it, and I don't want to. He disgusts me."
"Try to at least remain neutral," she requested, even though she herself didn't treat him any better. I decided to just nod.
What followed was an embarrassing and brief speech in which the Minister spoke mostly about himself and his future plans, only mentioning me and the capture of Pettigrew at the very end. Out of a ten-minute monologue, he spent maybe a minute on Peter. It was truly pathetic, but the witches and wizards below the stage clearly didn't mind at all—at least judging by the enthusiastic applause.
A few photos with the Minister followed, during which I got an exceptionally slimy feeling from him. Literally, Quirrellmort was more likable than Minister Fudge.
Along with the two thousand Galleons, they also packed that embarrassing emerald ribbon and returned the anti-Animagus cage to me. Fortunately, shrinking it with a Reducio spell wasn't an issue—Vespera took care of it, and I just slipped it into my robes.
In the crowd, I managed to spot Draco, Tobias, and Theodore. And no wonder, since Draco was waving frantically at me until I waved back at them. To my surprise, their parents weren't around them, although I saw Draco's father standing not far from the stage.
Luckily, my suffering lasted only about an hour after we arrived, and then came the afterparty. There, Fudge tried to be the king of the dance floor with Umbridge, though I wasn't the only one who noticed that he stepped on her toes several times. I had to admit, however, that he definitely danced better than I did, since I had absolutely no idea how to dance.
"Are you coming with me to see Narcissa?" my aunt asked, but I shook my head resolutely.
"I'm going to find the guys," I replied, and with Vespera's nod of approval, we went our separate ways.
Naturally, the guys were by the food tables. Tobias was, in typical fashion, stuffing his face with croissants, to the point where his robes were messy with powdered sugar, while Draco and Theodore were seriously discussing something.
"...into the team without any trouble," Draco finished his sentence.
"Sure... the only thing Higgs can manage to catch is an enemy Bludger... and even that with his face," Theodore smirked at him.
"Hey, guys," I joined them with a smile. "Tobias, could you hand me a plate and a spoon?" I asked him.
"Hey, Patrik! You did great on stage," Draco smiled supportively.
"Hey," Theodore greeted.
Tobias wanted to reply too, but a piece of food almost fell out of his mouth, so he just nodded, waved hello, and handed me what I asked for. I immediately loaded a rum cake onto my plate. I needed to sweeten my day because Fudge's sliminess had almost driven me fucking crazy.
"Thanks. I almost fucking lost it standing near the Minister, he's such a slimy bastard," I told them as soon as I swallowed a bite of the delicious cake. "How've you been?"
"Mmmf ghmmf," Tobias tried to reply with his mouth full.
We all burst out laughing. Tobias definitely hadn't changed a bit over the month and a half of summer holidays.
"Good to know, Tobias," I smirked at him while he tried to swallow in a hurry. He had stuffed such a huge portion into his mouth that I managed to eat three bites while he was still just chewing. "What about you, Draco, Theo?"
"I'm a bit annoyed, because you haven't visited since your visit two weeks ago... even though you promised, Patrik," he looked at me pointedly and continued, "Otherwise, fine. But Father doesn't have much time for fencing practice... Also, old Weasley attacked him while the rest of his clan just watched them brawl."
"What?" I blurted out in surprise.
"Yeah," Draco nodded. "At the bookstore... We were just standing there, almost their entire clan showed up, and their father went absolutely mental. He attacked my father... Luckily, the Weasley twins pulled him off."
"Just like that? Wasn't your father making fun of them?" I asked curiously. "Was their sister there too?"
"No," Draco shook his head. "My father barely even had time to notice them before old Weasley went after him like a filthy Muggle... And yes, she was there. Why?"
"Did you perhaps fall in love, Patrik? She looks a bit like Agnes... if Agnes were significantly uglier," Theodore grinned provocatively.
"More like he'd fall in love with Agnes," Tobias joined the conversation. The entire chest of his black robes was dusted with sweet powdered sugar that smelled of vanilla. It smelled so intense that I could clearly perceive it as if it were on me.
"I think it's more likely that you're the one who has fallen in love with Agnes," I raised an eyebrow in true Rosier fashion and added with a smirk, "Considering how much you seem to think about her..."
He grinned coolly and shook his head: "Even if I did, I wouldn't stand a chance." He threw me a meaningful look—I was sure he'd learned that grimace from Draco—and pointed a finger at Tobias's chest: "Brush yourself off, please."
"And what were you two up to?" Tobias began brushing himself off, to which an amused Theo replied: "You'll just have to wait and see, mate! It's going to be a very unpleasant surprise for you, so get ready!"
"I bet five Galleons Agnes wrote you that exact same thing," Draco laughed.
"You'd win that bet. They're quite similar in their competitiveness," I grinned.
"I've been studying, relaxing, eating... and reading," Tobias answered with a smile. "Nothing exciting, but I think I've made quite some progress with healing spells. Though we won't get to test it until Hogwarts."
"That's good. Patrik will definitely be needing some healing," Theo winked at me with a broad grin.
"I can't wait, Theo," I agreed with a smile. "By the way, things aren't looking very promising, at least when it comes to the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."
"Why? Lockhart has quite a few achievements under his belt," Draco asked.
"Too many, considering how young he is... His books say he's encountered various magical beasts, but such creatures always leave a trail behind," Theo shook his head.
"Don't tell me you actually read those embarrassing books of his?" I grinned at Theo.
"Are you out of your mind? Only the back cover," he returned the smirk.
"I informed Madam Bones about my suspicions regarding Lockhart at the beginning of the summer. According to the Daily Prophet, those incidents with monsters did indeed happen, but the timeline makes absolutely no sense," I admitted to them. "In some cases, he would have had to be in up to three places at the exact same time."
"Apparition?" Draco suggested, while Tobias and Theo waited curiously for my reply.
"You know yourselves how you feel after magic training in a room," I shook my head in disagreement. "It's the same with magical beasts. It requires power... and that clown definitely doesn't have as much strength as Dumbledore. So I don't believe for a second that he defeated a werewolf, a vampire, and a troll all in one day. And on top of that, having to track them down first before defeating them."
"So if those incidents actually happened and he practically couldn't have resolved three cases at once, how would he have claimed them as his own?" Draco asked. Theo was thinking hard, while Tobias reached for another croissant.
"There are plenty of spells that could help him with that," I answered generally, though I knew exactly what the truth was.
"Confundus, Obliviate, Imperio..." Theo muttered, making me blink in surprise. "For example... What are you looking at me like that for?" he asked with a smirk.
"Nothing, nothing," I raised my hands defensively with a smile. "It's possible, and it's a great theory."
"In that case, be my guest," Theo gestured with his hand over my shoulder. "Try to work on making sure we don't end up with a teacher who writes about his favorite flower."
I looked behind me and my eyes immediately landed on Madam Bones in grey robes, currently talking to Kingsley Shacklebolt. I turned back to my friends, because that last sentence of his simply nagged at me.
"Seriously, you didn't read his books?" I grinned at Theo. "Because that sentence about his favorite flower is extremely suspicious."
Draco started laughing along with me, Tobias began choking on his croissant again, and Theo's cheeks flushed slightly—it was probably the first time I had ever seen him blush like that.
With a broad smile and in high spirits, I finally made my way over to Madam Bones.
It's good to have friends, I thought.
She noticed me very quickly; she must have felt my intense gaze. Before I could even reach her, Kingsley left and Madam Bones looked me straight in the eye. Sternly and without a smile.
"Good day, Madam Bones," I greeted politely.
"Good day, Mr. Rosier," she nodded to me and waited for my next words.
"I hope this isn't inappropriate, but I'm curious about the tip I gave you regarding Lockhart," I informed her. When she only gave another terse nod, I continued, "I never received any reply. Is anyone looking into it, or...?"
"Your tip was received, and an investigation is underway," she informed me. As I inhaled to ask another question, she stopped me with a raised hand: "I cannot tell you anything more than that. Internal regulations, Mr. Rosier."
"I have a really bad feeling about him, Madam," I tried with a charming smile. "I'd love to have a quality teacher this year."
"I completely understand that, but as I said, I cannot disclose anything to you," she refused. However, I managed to catch a split-second smile before it vanished once more beneath her stern mask, so I pressed her a little further.
"Just a tiny detail?" I suggested. "I only want to know if I should be worried about Lockhart teaching us in our second year."
She sighed deeply, gave me a genuine, albeit small smile, and spoke: "You have an excellent instinct, Mr. Rosier. Lockhart will definitely not be teaching you, that I can promise."
With that, she turned on her heel and left me standing there. Obviously to prevent me from probing any further.
I watched her disappear into the crowd of people for a moment with an amused smile, before heading back to my friends.
Too bad Agnes isn't here with us, occurred to me on the way.
Theo definitely wouldn't have been so provocative around her. It seemed to me that he had significantly more respect for her than he did for me.
***
Author's note:
Patrik's first restaurant will be opening soon, and his earnings from Jonathan were absolutely gorgeous. Gringotts really is such a wonderfully grey institution... they're more than happy to make dirty money look respectable—for the right price, of course. That's absolutely perfect for our MC. Our starting capital is already massive, and we're still waiting for Borgin to sell that dagger!
It was great having our MC surrounded by his friends again, and I couldn't help but laugh picturing Tobias covered in vanilla powdered sugar after devouring one croissant too many. And of course, no Lockhart for their second year!
Who do you guys think will be the new DADA teacher?
Want to read ahead? The next chapter is already out for free on my official website! Grab the direct link on our Discord community: tgdTNZYVKt
***
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Upcoming Chapters – Already Written(15):
89. The Path to Invincibility
90. AD: Piña Coladas and Rainbow Thongs
91. Blood Traitors
92. Before the Storm
93. Arania Exumai
94. Favors and Frustrations
95. Power and Glory
96. Morning Drills and Slytherin Deals
97. Thrill of the Fight
98. Calculated Risk
99. Flight and Fortune
100. Calculated Arrogance
101. GW: A Cunning Kind of Courage
102. GW2: My Best Friend
103. Pride Before the Haircut
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