Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 333 Black Magic Detector: This High-Level Game

For Hufflepuff, a payment plan was preferable to paying in full upfront, as she felt there was little difference between 10,000 Galleons and 100,000 Galleons. How could she possibly buy something in gold that even she and her friends couldn't obtain?

Truly top-tier treasures cannot be bought with money.

But this money was very meaningful to Hogwarts. She would eventually leave the school, and she hoped to leave a substantial legacy for future generations before she did.

The monthly deposits of Galleons into the account, along with the subsequent maintenance and upkeep of the automated combat dolls, are the best legacy, making it as easy as a hen laying golden eggs.

One was willing to accept installment payments, and the other was happy to use installment payments to buy things; the two hit it off immediately.

"How about a 10% prepayment, with the remainder to be paid off over fifty years? This is a very good deal," Helga offered very generous terms.

If the Ministry of Magic intends to purchase 100,000 Galleons worth of dolls, they only need to pay 10,000 Galleons upfront, and then pay 150 Galleons per month thereafter—equivalent to increasing the number of staff by only three junior employees while enjoying the combat power boost of more than ten Aurors.

In fact, Helga's offer was far more generous than she had imagined, because she had no idea about the concept of "devaluation".

Like currencies in the non-magical world, the Galleon, the currency of the magical world, is actually depreciating slowly. The Galleon appeared in the mid-13th century, when one Galleon had roughly the purchasing power of six thousand Galleons today—the magical world's currency is depreciating at a rate of 1.2% per year.

In other words, fifty years later, the Ministry of Magic was still paying Hogwarts 150 Galleons a month for the purchase of dolls, but 150 Galleons at that time was only equivalent to 82 Galleons today—meaning Helga unknowingly gave the Ministry of Magic a 50% discount.

But we can't blame her entirely. Expecting a medieval witch to have any knowledge of economics is asking too much. Let alone Hufflepuffs, very few modern wizards possess this kind of knowledge.

The same goes for Burns. Although she knew nothing about economics, she did have basic arithmetic skills.

After a quick calculation, her eyes lit up when she discovered that she only needed to spend 150 gallons per month.

"Can I pay in installments for the whole thing?" she asked, then, feeling a little embarrassed, she said she was willing to accept a price increase on the doll's price.

Helga didn't have any objections. She didn't expect to make too much money from the Ministry of Magic; making money depended on orders from the major magical families.

When Professor White agreed, Burns was overjoyed: this way she could purchase a lot of advanced equipment with very low initial capital, and such a high budget would seem insignificant over several decades.

As the most powerful director in the Ministry of Magic, Burns naturally coveted the position of Minister for Magic, and the Dementors incident completely ignited her ambition.

After observing Fudge's ordeal at the gates of Hogwarts with a critical eye, Burns felt the time was ripe.

Many in the wizarding world are dissatisfied with Fudge, and she can secretly contact them and then launch an impeachment against him, removing him from power. Once in power, she can purchase a batch of Professor White's dolls with zero down payment. If those dolls are indeed as excellent as Professor White claims, they will become her achievement.

This is all part of the plan.

After privately reaching an agreement with Professor White, Burns left the office with a sense of satisfaction. Next, she needed to meet with the heads of the pure-blood families to discuss how they would support her.

From the day the Dementors stormed into Hogwarts, the wizarding world was like the calm sea before a storm—seemingly calm on the surface, but everyone knew that a storm was brewing in the shadows…

Time flew by and it was almost the end of October. The students gradually forgot about the stormy competition and the "Parents' Open Day" the following day. Instead, the hot topic was the upcoming Principal's Open Day.

Students in their third year or above at Hogwarts can travel to Hogsmeade Village with parental permission—this was not originally the rule, and students could enter and leave the school and travel to Hogsmeade at any time without time or age restrictions.

However, as Hogsmeade Village developed, it became increasingly diverse and chaotic, and many unsuitable goods for young students began to appear. To strengthen management, Hogwarts eventually implemented controls on students' access to and from Hogsmeade Village.

Of course, Rice found it hard to understand the predicament of later headmasters. In his view, the children were merely getting drunk in places like the Three Brooms area; was it really necessary to be so strict? Wasn't it making a mountain out of a molehill?

However, despite the doubts, the rules still had to be followed. Rice's way of going to Hogsmeade was completely in accordance with the school's rules; he had his "guardian," Rupert, sign the application form.

Thus, he was able to walk out of the gates of Hogwarts and head to Hogsmeade openly at the end of October.

After being surrounded by parents once, Fudge rescinded the order to station Dementors around Hogwarts and instead sent Aurors and Strikers to be stationed outside the school to ensure its safety.

In his view, without the help of the Dementors, it was wishful thinking for a few wizards to capture Sirius Black. However, failing to capture Sirius Black would only affect his position in the future, and if he continued to send Dementors, he would have to step down now. Therefore, Fudge made a compromise.

But only Fudge was unhappy; everyone else was happy about the disappearance of the Dementors.

A female Auror with brightly colored hair examined Rice's application form. Although the surname of the person on the form, Lupert, was clearly not the same as that of Rice, she didn't pry. She simply took out a thin metal rod, intending to let Rice and his companion through after completing the security check.

The metal rod used to detect dark magic emitted a sharp crack when it swept across Rice, and the entire rod became extremely hot.

Rice: ?

Tonks: ? ? ?

"What's going on? Is it broken?" Tonks moved the stick aside, shook it, and made it quiet again.

Rice looked thoughtfully at the metal rod.

"Sorry, the department hasn't updated its equipment in a while—but this is really rare." Tonks smiled apologetically at Rice, realizing he must have scared the poor kid.

Sure enough, when the probe swept across the child's body again, it did not make any unusual noises.

"Okay, have fun~" Tonks turned to the side and let Rice and the others out of the campus.

"What's wrong? I think I just heard an alarm?" Kingsley walked over from a short distance away.

"There's a problem with the supplies issued by the ministry."

Kingsley sighed. "I'll talk to Sterlinger later and see if we can upgrade a batch of equipment."

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Here's the second update! I'll get back to writing, so everyone can read it when you wake up in the morning!

(End of this chapter)