Chapter 166 Small Things
Mafalda Hopkirk has been working for the Ministry of Magic since graduating from Hogwarts, and is currently an assistant to the Director of the Office for the Suppression of the Misuse of Magic.
Hopkirk’s usual job is to mail a warning letter to the violator on behalf of the director after receiving illegal information, explaining the act that he or she has violated. If the situation is serious, the emergency team needs to be notified to take action.
However, just today, Hopkirk encountered something that made her extremely depressed.
Someone actually wrote back to her and told her: Your Ministry of Magic has made a mistake.
The sender's name is Albert Anderson, who is studying at Hogwarts.
In the letter, Anderson clearly pointed out that he and his family were on vacation in France at the time. He did not bring a wand with him when he left the country, and he did not know how to use the Flying Charm. The Ministry of Magic must have made a mistake. He hoped that the Ministry of Magic could resolve the misunderstanding between the two parties. And write him a reply.
In fact, Hopkirk did not think that Anderson was lying, because the most favorable evidence was that Anderson did not know how to use the Flying Curse at all, and the other party had just completed his first year at Hogwarts.
Will first-year students use the Flying Curse?
Even Hopkirk himself didn’t believe it.
If you don’t know how to use the Flying Curse, it will naturally be impossible to cast a spell.
So the Office for the Prohibition of Abuse of Magic undoubtedly made a mistake. This was not the first time this happened, and Hopkirk was not too surprised.
But...what does this matter have to do with myself?
Hopkirk is only responsible for sending letters and notifications. She is not responsible for dealing with this aspect of the matter and has no such right.
Oh, no, this matter really has something to do with her.
Hopkirk has the discretion to decide whether to hand the letter to the current head of the Office for the Misuse of Magic, or to throw it into a trash can somewhere.
Based on her understanding of her boss, most of the time he wouldn't care about this kind of thing!
After all, this is just a small matter no matter how you look at it, and there is no need to go into too much detail.
Mafalda Hopkirk was preparing to deal with it privately.
Well, the so-called private processing actually means destroying the letter or throwing it into a trash can. After all, she is just an assistant.
Although he has some understanding of the laws that impose reasonable restrictions on minor wizards, he is still just an assistant, and his duties are to help write warning letters and other tasks.
As Hopkirk was about to throw the letter into the trash can, she suddenly remembered something from last year. She still remembered the oolong incident caused by trace silk, which was quite a big deal at the time.
In the end, it was exposed by the Daily Prophet, and Nutley, who was responsible for handling the matter, got himself into trouble and was almost transferred to the Centaur Liaison Office.
"It doesn't seem good to throw it away. Let's leave it to the director!" Hopkirk hesitated, but still believed that this was her responsibility. As for how her boss would handle it, it was none of her business.
Of course, Hopkirk can also guess what will happen after this letter is sent.
As Hopkirk expected, his boss didn't even glance at the letter and threw it directly beside the desk.
By the time Hopkirk saw the letter again, it had been thrown into the trash can.
However, what Hopkirk didn’t know was that this result was also within Albert’s expectation.
However, Hopkirk didn't even know that they had already stood in front of the big hole dug by others. Behind them, someone was ready to kick them into the hole.
…
After returning to China, Albert began to write replies to the people who sent him letters.
The Weasley brothers naturally received Albert's mailing list, along with the gift Albert bought for the twins - a rubber duck.
Well, the yellow rubber duck was actually a gift that Albert bought at the grocery store near his home. Of course he knew that Fred and George wouldn't like this gift because it was for Mr. Weasley.
Fred and George expressed sympathy (gloating) about Albert's misfortune and wrote in their reply:
…Dad thinks it’s just a small thing, so you don’t have to worry about it. He suggests that you should write a letter to the Director of the Office for the Prohibition of the Misuse of Magic and explain the matter to him...
At the end of the letter, they also wrote: "By the way, Dad asked me to ask you what the rubber duck is used for in the Muggle world."
"A trivial matter?" Albert muttered, "Yes, it is indeed a trivial matter for those who have nothing to do with themselves."
Albert put the twins' letter aside and continued to open the second letter.
Professor Brod’s reply was a bit unexpected to Albert. He also thought that this was just a small matter and that Albert did not have to worry about this problem.
In Professor Brod’s reply, he told some information about the Association of Extraordinary Apothecaries. He also expressed that he liked the gift Albert gave him. At the end, he briefly mentioned McDougal’s new book.
"Little thing?" Albert put the letter aside, picked up the gold card and muttered, "Now let's see Huttok Dagworth's reaction. See if he also thinks that his gold card is lost, Is it also a small thing?"
From Professor Brod’s letter, it was not difficult for Albert to guess the value of the gold card in his hand.
He believed that Hertok Dagworth would not remain indifferent.
…
…
There were several letters, and it was impossible to reply immediately.
The last letter was written by Rowena Smith. In addition to talking about some common interests, Rowena Smith also mentioned in the letter that she would give Albert an unexpected surprise in a while.
Abbott can probably guess what the so-called unexpected surprise is: Rowena Smith is going to Hogwarts to serve as Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.
After reading all the letters, Albert put the letters into the box, stood up and stretched, drank the cold milk tea, touched Tom who was lying on the cushion next to the table, and focused his attention again. On the remaining summer homework.
This is the remaining homework before Albert goes to France for vacation. Because he is not in the habit of writing homework while on vacation, he temporarily puts aside his summer homework when he goes to France for vacation.
Going to France for vacation, Albert only brought a few books about ancient magic texts that McDoug gave him.
As long as you study these books carefully, your experience in magic writing skills will increase at a gratifying rate.
Now, we are a big step closer to level 3 magic text.
It’s not that Albert doesn’t like using experience to level up directly, but he prefers the feeling of studying magic.
Every time he makes a slight breakthrough in the magic text, Albert will feel an inexplicable sense of accomplishment, and this kind of achievement is what Albert wants.
Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Nia opened the door and stuck her head in. She said to Albert who was sitting at the table: "Dad asked me to tell you to go to bed early today. We are going to Diagon Alley tomorrow for shopping."
“Got it.” Albert knew why Nia was so excited, because she would also go to Diagon Alley in London.
“Tom, it’s time to sleep!” Nia reached out and picked up Tom, who was lying on the cushion, and put him on the floor. “Go by yourself, you have become so heavy, I can’t even hold you.”
"That's why I said Tom should lose weight." Albert said with a smile, "Go back and rest early."
“Leave Tom, otherwise tomorrow’s ration will be halved.” Nia’s threat was quite effective. Tom got up obediently and left after Nia.
Albert looked at the door that was closed again and focused on his homework.
These holiday assignments are actually not difficult, they just take time to write the answers on parchment.
He is considering whether to stay up late and finish all his holiday homework at once? Finally, thinking about Nia's expectation of going shopping in Diagon Alley tomorrow, she gave up.
Half an hour later, Albert capped the ink bottle, inserted the quill back into the pen holder, stood up and lazily covered a yawn.
Sheila has just returned from foraging. Since Albert last told her not to bring prey home, she has never brought a dead mouse home.
“Good night!” Albert looked at his owl, then looked at the night sky outside the window, covered a yawn, and lay back on the bed to rest.
(End of this chapter)