Harry Potter: Charlie's Candy Factory

Chapter 120 Letter to Dumbledore

Hogwarts, in Albus Dumbledore's headmaster's office.

The fresh white of the candy vending machine undoubtedly brought new life to this antique room that has not undergone any major changes in the past century.

Rarely, Albus Dumbledore did not sit behind his desk as before, maintaining his usual posture, but stood up, walked to the candy vending machine and bent down, like a new The child with the toy, has been fiddling with non-stop.

And it wasn't just him, even the principals on the wall couldn't help but cast their gazes, each of them widened their eyes curiously, looked at Dumbledore's behavior seriously, and asked questions from time to time.

"This is the what that blond-haired kid told you about. Candy vending machine?"

"He's a Black!" Phoenix, the ancestor of the Black family, hurriedly spoke and emphasized in a sharp voice.

"I don't care who he is, I just want to know what this machine can do!"

"It's a beautiful thing. It's a pity that when I was headmaster, no one ever came to bring me any interesting gadgets."

"Did I sleep too long? What blond child, when did this strange white square appear??"

Ignoring the noise above his head, Dumbledore studied each of its buttons intently, his eyes gleaming behind the thick glasses lenses.

In the moment of devotion, even if the door of the principal's office was knocked, he didn't pay too much attention to it.

He just casually said "Please come in." Then he continued to devote himself to it.

"Dumbledore!" The door opened with a creaking sound, and then McGonagall appeared. Looking at the headmaster squatting in the corner, she couldn't help frowning, and shouted out in a deep voice. The other party's name.

"Ah! It's you, Meg."

Hearing the voice behind him, Dumbledore reacted, hurriedly stood up, turned his head, and said softly to Mag with a smile
"Ha, I thought it was Hagrid, because you know, he always likes to come over to me at this time, and talk to me..."

However, before he finished speaking, the serious Mag interrupted his words and continued
"From the very beginning I thought it was a bad idea for Charlie to install this candy machine in the principal's office!"

While talking, she looked at the candy vending machine behind Dumbledore, paused and continued
"But I really didn't expect...you would buy all the candy in this machine in half a day."

As soon as these words came out, Dumbledore, who was about to think of something to say, couldn't help but hesitated for a moment.

Immediately, he felt a little guilty and didn't look into Mag's eyes. He shifted his gaze to the side and asked in a low voice, "Where did you hear that?"

In this regard, Mag did not hide it, and responded briefly.

"That elf in Charlie's factory said it. He posted a notice on the first floor of the castle without permission, but Filch tore it down. Filch happened to meet me when I was eating just now, so he sent the notice to me." me."

"What's written on it?"

Dumbledore stretched out his hand, pushed his glasses, then paced quietly from the candy vending machine, walked back to his seat, and sat back down again.

"It says on it that in order to celebrate that the fifteen candy vending machines were all emptied of products within half a day at the latest, he plans to re-apply for more candy from the factory."

Having said that, Mag couldn't help but sighed.The sigh is full of helplessness towards his own principal.

"Haha." Listening to Mag's words, Dumbledore couldn't help laughing a couple of times, said haha, and replied unhurriedly

"I just bought them all, and I didn't want to eat them all at once... Really, I won't lie to you."

As he spoke, Dumbledore couldn't help lowering his head and glanced at the candies that were almost overflowing in his half-open drawer.

After that, he quickly changed the subject, resumed his upright posture, and started a conversation with Mag.

"Okay, let's not talk about insignificant things. I don't think you came to me because of this little thing?"

"Yes..." Even though she knew that the other party was deliberately changing the subject, Mag chose to leave this behind and talked about other important things.

Anyway, Dumbledore's obsession with candy has reached an incurable point in his opinion.I have been talking to him for so long and it has never had any effect, and it is not bad for a while now.

"It's a letter addressed to you."

"Letter?" Dumbledore raised his snow-white eyebrows strangely, with some doubts in his words.

"Yes... from the Ministry of Magic."

While talking, Mag took out the letter.

"So, it's from Fudge?"

When mentioning the Ministry of Magic, Dumbledore easily thought of his "old friend" - Cornelius Fudge.

It's just that since a long time ago, he was no longer willing to communicate with himself.And the reason, Dumbledore himself naturally understood.Therefore, he has given a lot of humility and acquiescence to this, which can be regarded as giving the Minister of Magic the dignity and power he deserves.

"Yes, it was indeed from Fudge, but not in his name..."

McGonagall nodded first, then put the letter on Dumbledore's desk, and pushed it in front of the other party.

Looking down at the mark on the letter, Dumbledore finally understood, then bowed his head and read the name.

"The Wizengamot..."

.........

After the letter was delivered to Dumbledore, McGonagall left. Before leaving, she couldn't help saying a few words about candy.

Dumbledore also nodded and dealt with it, but whether he would really do that is another matter...

He opened the envelope and began to look at the contents carefully.

The letter was not written by Fudge himself, it was probably written by someone close to him.The handwriting is quite beautiful, and the content is also very formulaic. There is a long paragraph of words and phrases, all of which are complicated and cumbersome blunt politeness, without any other valuable things.

But Dumbledore still read it carefully word by word, like a kind of upbringing from the heart, which made him respect what everyone wrote to him.

While watching, he took out a piece of candy and put it in his mouth.

Feeling the sugar slowly melting in the mouth, the letter in front of me finally saw the end.

Although this letter is cumbersome, the meaning expressed can be summed up in just one sentence.

"Fudge intends to award Charlie Black the Order of Merlin Third Class in recognition of his important contribution to the British magic community. I hope that Albus Dumbledore, the chief wizard of the Wizengamot, will be able to attend the ceremony."

"Charlie" put down the letter, and Dumbledore couldn't help muttering to himself.

After thinking for a long time, Dumbledore took out the letter paper and wrote a reply to Fudge.

The content of the reply letter was extremely simple compared to the other party's lengthy speech.

He picked up a pen and lightly wrote the word "good" on the letter paper.

....................................

"Good afternoon, Headmaster Dumbledore..."

Not long after, Hagrid knocked on the door of his office just after Dumbledore had finished processing his letter to Fudge.

He stepped into it as usual, and at the same time stretched out his hand to greet Dumbledore, while in the crook of the other arm, there was a brown and gray fluffy feather ball.

"Good afternoon, Hagrid..."

Dumbledore nodded, and greeted Hagrid in response.Then I squinted my eyes half-closed for a long time, and finally determined that it was not a feather duster or the like, but an owl.

Looking at this owl, although its head has not been exposed, Dumbledore already has a vague sense of familiarity just based on the color of its feathers.

"Isn't that ... Charlie's fat owl, Vivien?"

Finally, Dumbledore remembered, and it corresponded with the little guy in his memory who often flew to his office.It's just that I haven't noticed that this little guy can shrink so round...

"Why is he here with you?"

"Uh... just now I was setting up a pot outside my hut to cook food for Yaya. As a result, the freshly baked rock cakes in the room were ready, so I put down the spoon and went into the house to get the rock cakes."

While talking, Hagrid pondered for a while, and gently teased the owl in his bosom, which was obviously lifeless, with his thick fingers.

"As a result, when I came out to see, this little guy had already jumped into the pot... Fortunately, the food was almost boiled at that time, so I turned off the fire, otherwise this little glutton would have suffered."

"By the way, Headmaster Dumbledore..."

Before Hagrid could finish his sentence, he continued, and immediately took out a crumpled letter with some oil stains from his robe pocket.

"The little guy probably came with a letter for you. After I fished him out of the pot, I found this letter beside it—it's from Charlie."

Hearing Hagrid's words, Dumbledore showed a clear expression.

"I see... Thank you, Hagrid. You sit down first, and I'll take a look at what Charlie wrote for me."

After taking the letter in Hagrid's hand, Dumbledore pushed his glasses and said casually
"seriously--"

After getting Dumbledore's permission, Hagrid skillfully found a place to sit and sat down, and then took out a bag of transparently wrapped candy from his wide pocket.

It was Charlie who gave Hogwarts the wind-smelling violets in the candy machine.

The package is small, about a dozen or so in each bag, the price is medium, not very cheap, but not too expensive, anyway, it is not a problem for Hagrid.

Anyway, he usually spends most of the salary that Hogwarts pays him to buy wine. Now that he has candy as a substitute, not only does he look a little better in spirit, he even saves a lot of money.

Hagrid tore open the packaging bag, and then skillfully picked one out of the transparent plastic bag with two fingers.

Although compared with his body size, it is not very proportional, but for this kind of delicious food, Hagrid rarely changed from the usual wholeness, but chose another more delicate eating method to slowly savor the candy the taste of.

As the candy entered his mouth, he flipped his tongue, letting the sweet taste fill his mouth immediately.

After taking a deep breath of the violet-scented air, Hagrid finally spoke sincerely.
"Seriously...Charlie is a genius, not just this candy, but that candy machine. My God, what the hell is going on in his head!"

"Creativity, ideas, and a world that no one else can understand."

Dumbledore nodded with a smile, and the wrinkles in the corners of his eyes could show some agreement with Hagrid's words.

While answering the question, he stretched out his hand and opened the letter from Charlie.

"My dear principal, to make a long story short... After a while, I will recall Dada and send a new employee to Hogwarts to manage the fifteen vending machines."

"His name is Dab, he is a young child, and he is also a child with extraordinary potential and ideas. So, I hope you can..."

"... Originally, I wanted him to come over earlier, and let you take a look at this child by the way, but, coincidentally, our factory will also produce new products recently, I plan to ask him to bring you some past, you You can be the second wizard besides me to eat this candy. I think you will like it very much, because it tastes like lemon sherbet..."

"That's all I want to say. Finally, may your teeth be as white as ever and free from moths—your student: Charlie Black."

Hagrid didn't bother Dumbledore, and was enjoying his candy by himself.

After seeing Dumbledore put down the letter in his hand, he slowly exhaled a breath filled with the smell of violets, and asked carefully
"What did Charlie tell you?"

Dumbledore looked at the letter in his hand, with a kind smile on his face, like an old man looking at his younger generation.

From this moment alone, the images of him and his younger brother Aberforth Dumbledore faintly overlapped.

"He introduced his younger generation to me...he is a child in their factory. He hoped that I could take care of him after he arrives at Hogwarts. Then he said that a new product has been made in the factory. When the time comes He'll ask the kid to bring me a little..."

"New product!?"

Hagrid didn't seem to notice what was said before, until Dumbledore mentioned the new product of Charlie's Candy, which made him refreshed.

"Can you give me some to taste then?"

Hagrid's eyes were bright, he subconsciously sat up a little bit, and licked his lips under the bushy beard.

"Of course." Dumbledore readily agreed. He raised his head again, looked at Hagrid, kept his hands in his hands, folded the letter carefully, put it in the drawer, and said jokingly
"At that time, you can be the third wizard to eat it."

(End of this chapter)