Hogwarts: Harry Returns from Azeroth

Chapter 216, Section 215: Lupin and Sirius's New Jobs

"Believe me, when the war between wizards and goblins begins again, those money-grubbing types won't care about being called Muggles or any secrecy laws."

“I understand what you mean, Sirius,” Harry nodded. “At first, goblins were only restricted in their use of wands, but after the war more than a hundred years ago, they lost even their wand rights. They can’t even make anything freely. If they want to light a fire, they have to apply to the Ministry of Magic in advance.”

Sirius opened his mouth, but upon hearing Harry's words, he was momentarily speechless.

"Well, it seems you do know quite a bit about fairies, Harry."

“After all, they are an intelligent race,” Harry shook his head slightly and said, “In short, in order to prevent goblins from rebelling against the wizards’ rule, the wizards prohibited the goblin race from using weapons and armor. At the same time, in order to appease them, they entrusted them with the management of money, which is the goblin’s favorite thing. For more than a hundred years, they have lived in peace.”

“If you want things to stay peaceful, then you can’t grant the goblin’s request,” Lupin added. “As far as I know, shamanic spells don’t really require wands, and elemental magic is incredibly powerful, not to mention… soul magic—I can’t even imagine what a goblin would do if she had that kind of powerful magic.”

“That makes a lot of sense, Remus,” Harry said seriously. “But I regret to inform you that it is inevitable that shamans will appear among the goblins—or rather, any intelligent race, even those that are not very intelligent, will have shamans in the future, even if the elemental magic they can use is very simple and shallow.”

"What do you mean?" Lupin's eyes widened immediately.

“As my teaching assistant, even though it’s been a short time, you should have seen my textbooks by now, right?” Harry said. “Elemental magic, elements—if there are exceptionally talented individuals or those favored by the elements among the goblins, then they will naturally have their own shamans.”

"Just like the centaur tribe in the Forbidden Forest, I recently discovered that the merfolk... I mean, the mermaid tribe at the bottom of the Black Lake also has shamans, but they currently only control the power of water."

"This... does sound quite difficult," Sirius said dryly, smacking his lips. "Can't you make the elements not choose fairies? Just pretend you didn't hear anything."

“Of course that’s impossible,” Harry couldn’t help but laugh. “You have to understand that elements are actually a broad category. In the eyes of the elements, we, whether human or fairy, are all pretty much the same. There are indeed elements that are more inclined towards humans, but there are also elements that are more inclined towards other intelligent races. And coordinating the contradictions between these elements is one of the shaman’s responsibilities.”

Generally speaking, the result of coordination is that some elements are eliminated, which is very simple and straightforward.

Races like gnolls, kobolds, and harpies, which threaten the survival of all races in the Alliance and Horde, still have their own shamans, and those who should be eliminated are still eliminated... even the elementals must die.

That's how Azeroth is; things like persuasion and purification are only used on your own people or against enemies you can't or won't defeat.

“So when the goblins sent people to me, although I thought about it for a long time, I finally decided to accept their request,” Harry said seriously. “It’s essentially the same reason I took the centaurs as my apprentices. It’s the same idea that since it’s unavoidable, it’s better to guide them properly and prevent them from going astray than to let them grow wildly and explore.”

"Can it really be guided?" Lupin couldn't help but complain. "Cyclops and mermaids are easy to deal with, after all, they are races that haven't had conflicts with humans for many years, but fairies—they have never been well-behaved."

“Yeah, even now, those goblins still keep saying that Gryffindor’s sword actually belongs to them, that Gryffindor stole their king’s treasure… and they believe that,” Sirius shrugged.

“The fairies have a different concept from us. In their eyes, even if the materials are provided by the wizards and they have paid for the crafting, anything they create still belongs to them. The wizards are just borrowing it,” Lupin said, shaking his head.

"Who cares about them!" Sirius Black scoffed dismissively, "Which goblin dares to come up to me and claim that what's mine is actually his? My wand doesn't discriminate."

To be fair, if a wizard accidentally kills a goblin, it's really not a big deal. He doesn't even have to go to Azkaban. At most, he just won't be able to go to Gringotts anymore... At most, he'll have to worry about the goblin's bounty, but that can only be kept in the shadows. The Ministry of Magic won't allow goblins to put bounties on wizards' heads.

“Indeed, no foolish goblin would dare to go to the Black family to ask for something.” Lupin had been pretending to be serious, but then he burst into laughter. “Who in the wizarding world doesn’t know the Black family’s style?”

The Black family's style—simply put, any goblin who dares to come to their door will be beheaded on the spot and hung on the wall, and the Ministry of Magic will pretend not to see it when they come.

This is the historically renowned pure-blood family of dark magic.

“Hey, Moonface,” Sirius said speechlessly, “you’re getting less and less cute.”

“Thanks, but a werewolf is hardly cute,” Lupin shrugged and then said to Harry, “Anyway, goblins are not like your apprentices, Harry. The rules and prohibitions you always warn your apprentices about are unlikely to be taken seriously by them—you should know that, right? They come to you to learn divination and then go find gold mines or something. They don’t care about any of that responsibility or balance you talk about; they just want money.”

“Yes, I know,” Harry sighed heavily.

Anything—and I mean anything—that involves goblins is a red flag for your wallet.

This is one of the most profound lessons Harry has learned over the years.

Often, it's not just about being careful with your money; you also have to be careful that these money-grubbing goblins don't sell you or your information to others at exorbitant prices.

While there are no goblins in this world, the fairy race, if we disregard appearance and talent, is essentially not much different from goblins. Most importantly, this race has a deep historical hatred with humans, which can even be considered a racial hatred, only the fairies were defeated... In short, it's quite troublesome.

Even more troublesome than goblins.

And if such a race, a race restricted in the use of magic, were to suddenly acquire a kind of magic that didn't require a wand and could perfectly circumvent the vows made when they were defeated in the past—even a fool could guess what would happen next.

The fairies' last rebellion was just over a hundred years ago, incredibly recent. Most of the wizards from that time are still alive; not even a generation has passed.

In conflicts of racial interest, only war can bring about a final resolution. Therefore, considering all possible future developments, and to prevent things from escalating to the point where goblins attack Hogwarts, Harry had to prepare early—but how to guide the situation was indeed a problem.

After all, fairies... or rather goblins do have a different thought process than other races.

“I have a friend,” Harry said after a moment’s thought. “He works at Gringotts, but he’s not a high-ranking goblin. I’d like to start with him—are you interested, Remus?”

“Of course,” Lupin took a deep breath, sat up straight, and said seriously, “I will try my best. No, I won’t let you down, Harry.”

Lupin would never forget how shocked he was when he saw the dead body of the basilisk, the marks of the flames, the flesh torn apart by lava... He had a clear understanding of the destruction that elemental magic could cause, and that was why he felt uneasy when he learned that there would inevitably be shamans among the fairies.

“For the sake of peace in the wizarding world,” Sirius Black added from the side. “I will help you, Remus.”

"Thank you," Lu Ping said, putting his arm around his good friend's shoulder. He was a little excited.

For the first time in many years, he felt truly dedicated to his career.

A sense of mission.

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

Harry hadn't actually been in contact with the copper ring for a long time—the goblin that Hagrid took him to Diagon Alley to buy things before he enrolled last year.

So much has happened in the past year, and many of these events were completely unexpected by Harry last year. As a result, many of his plans at the time are no longer useful or need to be changed.

"Long time no see," Harry said to the goblin across from him, sitting at a table in a secluded corner of the pub with Sirius and Lupin. "You look almost exactly the same as last year?"

“Yes, there’s no difference—bronze ring?! Take this over! Brass ring?! Take this guest to the vault—it’s always the same, always the same.” Leaning back in his chair, Brass Ring weakly mimicked being ordered around.

"But you, Harry Potter, are more famous than you have been in the last decade or so—many goblins think you'll be Minister for Magic someday, and they're even discussing whether they should try to build a good relationship with you now."

"And then? What was the result of the discussion?" Lupin asked with great interest.

“That’s a huge loss,” Copper Ring said without hesitation. “They think you’re only worth a thousand Galleons now. After all, who knows what the future holds? Maybe you won’t become Minister of Magic, but the Dark Lord instead.”

This fairy speaks without any restraint, haha.

“Harry would never be the Dark Lord,” Sirius Black disagreed. “If Harry were to be one, he’d be the White Lord. What’s the point of being someone everyone wants to kill?”

"Whatever, Sirius," Copper Ring said listlessly. "By the way, does the Black family have any plans to invest their gold coins? Gringotts' business in Egypt has been doing quite well lately; they've unearthed a few new graves."

"Thank you, but I think that money is enough for me," Sirius said politely, which was unusual for him.

“Oh, you can’t just sit around and do nothing. Gold coins won’t magically appear in your pocket,” Copper Ring muttered. “Damn it, why do I have to do this kind of sales work when I’m here?”

"Yes, why?" Sirius laughed heartily, mimicking Copper Ring's initial words, "Copper Ring?! Go become a shaman!"

"Yeah, I'll become a shaman." He sighed deeply. After a year apart, Copper Ring looked even more casual. The whole person... the whole fairy had lost all composure. "So tiring."

“That’s strange. You find even jobs that make money tiring,” Harry said with a smile, knowing the nature of the goblin race well. “Time is money, my friend.”

“Ahem, time is indeed money, Harry,” he coughed, his brass ring perking up a little earlier, but only a little. “But big money isn’t something I can earn. Even if I could foresee the direction of the Muggle economy, or discover undiscovered gold or magical mines, what would that have to do with a little goblin like me?”

“You want to make a lot of money,” Harry said confidently.

“Yes, making big money is what matters. Small money is meaningless—you seem to handle a lot of money every month, but it’s not your money, so what’s the point?” Copper Ring said quietly. “So that my boss can buy a new carriage at the end of the year?”

“You know what? Bro,” Sirius couldn’t help but complain, “you don’t sound like you’re here to negotiate with us at all. You’re more like someone sent by Gringotts’ rivals. Didn’t you want to send someone to learn from Harry?”

"Of course I want to learn, but are you willing to teach me? And would the Ministry of Magic be willing?" Completely disregarding the feelings of the wizards opposite him, Copper Ring sneered, "No one can see the business opportunities in new things better than goblins. Harry, Gringotts already had a meeting to analyze your situation when it first appeared in the newspaper."

"Those old guys up there have really lost their minds. Wizards won't even let us hold wands, so how could they possibly let us master magic that can kill even basilisks?" Copper Ring said bluntly. "Besides, shaman, well, Harry, your rules aren't exactly a secret. What about respecting the elements, balancing the elements, and protecting the world—which goblin can actually do that?"

"If there's a mineral vein at the foot of a mountain, or if some earth elemental family lives there, then the fairy will just blast open the mountain and mine it, without caring about elemental balance or anything like that. Can someone be a shaman like that?"

(End of this chapter)