Chapter 29: You guys are not taking kickbacks, are you? Transfiguration deduction!
Fudge stared at his staff in a daze, the numbers they reported still lingering in his ears, feeling unbelievable.
He once suspected that his staff had seen it wrong, or that he had heard it wrong.
More than six thousand Galleons?!
How did a little wizard spend so much?!
But after repeatedly confirming with his staff, Fudge still got this number as an answer.
He staggered for a moment, then snatched the stack of bills from his aide's hands.
"I want to see what Charles bought that cost more than 6,000 Galleons!"
As the bills came into view, Fudge's expression began to change.
"Eighty servings of the Leaky Cauldron's deluxe menu..."
"???"
"Wait a minute, eighty servings a day?"
"Moon knot?!"
"Damn it, do you think I've never been to the Leaky Cauldron? That portion would kill me. Does Charles eat eighty portions a day?"
"Even if he was feeding trolls or even dragons in the room of the Leaky Cauldron, it wouldn't cost that much!"
But this bill was just a small fraction of the total, as more and more exaggerated bills came into view.
"Honeydukes candy mail order, 100 copies of all styles..."
"Hiss, isn't he afraid of losing his teeth due to the sweetness?"
"Didn't anyone teach him that children shouldn't eat too much sweets?"
"Fuck, I've said it before, Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts, always likes to eat some weird candies. He's a bad guy, and the children who haven't even started school have been corrupted by him!"
These bills were barely within Fudge's acceptable range.
Then, the bills from Ollivander's Wand Shop, Flourish and Blotts, and many shops selling magic props in Diagon Alley made Fudge's face turn pale and his defense was completely broken.
"What the hell is going on here? Why is the bill for the wands so high? There are a full twenty wands to be reimbursed."
"There are so many magic props, and there is even a book bill of nearly three thousand Galleons at Flourish and Blotts?"
"Damn it, the agreement we reached with Ciel only covers food expenses, not other expenses. How come the bill was still sent to me?"
"At this rate, it won't be long before all our political donations are spent by him!"
Fudge stared at the staff member who was previously responsible for drawing up the magical agreement, his eyes full of suspicion.
"Did you leave a backdoor when drafting the agreement so that you could get a kickback?!"
The staff was in tears.
"No, I really don't!"
Fudge looked gloomy.
“You didn’t take kickbacks?”
"Believe it or not, I'll bring the truth serum over to ask you."
The aide choked and said quickly.
"As for kickbacks, you also know this, Minister. There are very few people in our Ministry of Magic who don't take kickbacks."
"But the agreement with the Shire was so hasty, not to mention that Dumbledore was also present. I was only focused on doing my job, so how could I dare to do it!"
"There really is nothing wrong with his magic protocol. Every time he submits an expense report, his true intention of purchasing the items will be checked. Even if he purchased food, as long as he is not thinking about eating it himself but sharing it with his friends when submitting the expense report, the bill will not be approved."
Fudge demanded, frowning.
"Then what's going on now?"
"I won't count the Leaky Cauldron meal or Honeydukes candy."
"How can a wand be billed through expense reimbursement? Twenty wands, and you're telling me he ate them like chips with salt and pepper and ketchup?"
"There are also various props in the magic shop. He bought a hundred speed writing quills alone, enough for an entire Hogwarts school. Did he buy them to eat like lollipops?"
"Not to mention the books in Flourish and Blotts. They cost more than 3,000 Galleons. How many pieces of parchment would that require? Could Ciel eat them all?"
"So how did this reimbursement get through?"
The staff was sweating profusely.
"Perhaps he is truly a genius and has found some kind of loophole in the magic protocol?"
"Check, must check!"
"We can't let him use our magic agreement as a means to get free stuff. We must regulate his usage and make sure he actually eats everything he buys, instead of charging all his expenses to our account!"
Fudge nodded, a thoughtful look in his eyes.
"Of course we have to investigate. Otherwise, how could our family have enough money to afford to reimburse Charles like this?"
"But I just used this matter to promote it, and it received unanimous praise from the wizarding world. This is not common after I took office."
"If we investigate this with great fanfare at this time, won't everything be in vain?"
"Besides, Dumbledore was present when the agreement was signed. He would definitely protect the Charles. We also have to consider Dumbledore's opinion. Who to send to investigate is also a problem..."
After pondering for a moment, Fudge's eyes lit up and he thought of someone.
"I remember that among the graduates of Hogwarts this year, there is a disguised Animagus who is currently training as a trainee Auror, right?" the staff member said hurriedly.
"Yes, it's a girl named Tonks."
"She was born with the ability to disguise herself as an Animagus. She can change her appearance. She is a natural at hiding and disguising herself."
Fudge clapped his hands.
"Let her investigate and secretly collect evidence to see if Ciel's purchase of so many things was caused by a problem with the magic agreement, and whether he ate them all."
"As long as the evidence is collected, we won't be afraid even if Dumbledore speaks."
"Besides, Tonks just graduated from Hogwarts. She's more like a senior of the Ciel than an Auror from the Ministry of Magic."
"With such an identity, it won't be too sensitive if others find out."
The more Fudge thought about it, the more he felt that this was another stroke of genius.
"Let Dumbledore's people investigate Dumbledore's people. Am I, Fudge, really a political genius?!"
The staff on the side also praised it highly, but still raised a doubt.
"But Minister, it may take some time for Tonks to come up with the results of her investigation. What should we do if Ciel still uses this reimbursement method during this period?"
Fudge shrugged.
"Then there's nothing we can do. Let Ciel report it before we gather the evidence."
"But we need to urge the Malfoys to donate politically."
A sneer appeared on his face.
"Who gave them such a big handle? The slush fund is short of money, who else can we exploit if not them?"
"Go and urge them to do it. Give them some hardship, and I'll take the blame."
……
Just when Fudge and his staff were planning to investigate the affairs of Charles.
Inside the Leaky Cauldron, Charles was holding a dozen quill pens in his mouth, sucking the ink from them like lollipops.
When the frequency of the deduction point prompts in his mind decreased, he bit the feather pen in half, and converted the entire pen into deduction points. Then he casually took out some other magic props from the big box next to him and chewed on them.
At the same time, Charles was also reading the bulky book "Transfiguration: From Beginners to Die".
It integrates all the Transfiguration content that students need to learn from the first to the seventh grade at Hogwarts, and covers all branches of Transfiguration - disappearance, reappearance, human body transformation, Animagus transformation, and summoning.
In short, it is equivalent to a Transfiguration reference book that is more complex, comprehensive, and in-depth than the textbook.
If you read this book thoroughly, you will get excellent grades in all Transfiguration examinations during your seven years at Hogwarts, even the NEWT courses.
Charles had originally considered reading books on potions or alchemy first. After all, preparing potions and making alchemical items by himself could greatly increase his progress in obtaining deduction points.
But considering that Quirrell will break into Gringotts soon, this opportunity to get rich quickly is not to be missed.
In addition, potion preparation and alchemical item production are practical subjects. The principles will be explained in books, but the real essence is often passed down by word of mouth or even from hand to hand.
Not to mention the need to purchase various precious materials for the purpose of preparing potions, which cannot be reimbursed by passing the Ministry of Magic protocol inspection.
Therefore, Ciel planned to conduct in-depth research in these two areas after he went to Hogwarts. For now, his priority was to improve his combat effectiveness.
The field of transfiguration has a huge impact on the overall strength of wizards.
An excellent master of Transfiguration may not necessarily have particularly strong combat capabilities, but he will never be weak.
If one wants to become a top-level wizard, Transfiguration is an indispensable part.
There is a very important reason for this, that is, many applications of Transfiguration do not require spells, and sometimes even a wand is not required.
For example, Sirius Black used the Animagus Transfiguration to escape from Azkaban even though his wand was confiscated.
In the original book, in the battle between Dumbledore and Voldemort, both sides also had very exciting Transfiguration attacks and defenses.
During this Transfiguration duel, neither side chanted any spells and the pace changed extremely quickly.
If an ordinary wizard were to take part in this battle, he would not even have the chance to fight back, as he would be defeated on the spot by the fast, flexible Transfiguration that does not require any spells!
Professor McGonagall, who has always been modest and cautious, has also made such remarks in the field of Transfiguration.
She considered Transfiguration to be more elegant and superior to the rest of magic.
Professor McGonagall has never been an arrogant person. The fact that she could say such words also shows that the field of Transfiguration is indeed profound and has a significant impact on the strength of wizards.
Therefore, Ciel first opened the Transfiguration book to obtain materials.
At this moment, even if he was turning the pages mechanically and quickly scanning every line of text to provide material for Shenlan, Ciel had already been flipping for more than five hours.
Ciel finally turned the last page of the book "Transfiguration: From Beginner to Die".
In his mind, the reminder sound of the deep blue machine rang out.
"The host has obtained a large amount of Transfiguration materials. The points consumed for the first Transfiguration deduction have been greatly reduced."
"Do you want to spend 5,000 points to perform the initial deduction of Transfiguration?"
When this reminder sounded, a fiery look appeared in Charles' eyes.
You know, the first time the metamorphosis technique was deduced, it consumed a full 50,000 points, and now it has dropped too much.
Although obtaining more materials can further reduce the cost of the initial deduction, the impact is not that great.
Start early and enjoy early!
Ciel took a deep breath.
"Deep Blue, deduce for me!"
(End of this chapter)
