Chapter 166: A Minor Incident
Chapter 166: A Minor Incident
Mafalda Hopkirk, a Hogwarts graduate, had been working for the Ministry of Magic as an assistant to the director of the Misuse of Magic Office. Her job entailed sending out warning letters to lawbreakers on behalf of the director, explaining the legislation they had violated, and if the situation was severe, notifying the emergency response team to take action.
However, today, Hopkirk encountered something that left her utterly frustrated. Someone had replied to her letter, stating that the Ministry of Magic had made a mistake.
The sender, Albert Anderson, was a student at Hogwarts. In his letter, Anderson clearly pointed out that he had not carried his wand with him when he left the country for a vacation in France, and he certainly hadn't used the Accio spell. He believed the Ministry had erred and hoped they could resolve the misunderstanding and respond to his letter.
In fact, Hopkirk didn't think Anderson was lying, as the most compelling evidence was that Anderson simply didn't know how to cast the Accio spell; he had just finished his first year at Hogwarts.
It was unlikely that a first-year student would be able to perform the Accio charm. Even Hopkirk herself found that hard to believe.
Without the ability to cast the spell, it was obvious that the Misuse of Magic Office had made a mistake. This wasn't the first time such an incident had occurred, so Hopkirk wasn't too surprised.
But... why should she care?
Hopkirk was only responsible for sending out the letters and notifications; she wasn't tasked with handling such issues and didn't have the authority to do so.
Well, actually, this matter did concern her a little.
Hopkirk had the discretion to decide whether to forward the letter to the current director of the Misuse of Magic Office or to simply toss it into a rubbish bin.
Knowing her superior as she did, she was certain he wouldn't care about such a trivial matter.
After all, it was clearly a minor issue that didn't warrant further investigation.
Mafalda Hopkirk intended to handle it privately.
By "privately," she meant destroying the letter or throwing it away, as she was just an assistant, after all.
While she had some knowledge of the laws governing the reasonable restraint of underage wizards, her role was ultimately that of an assistant, responsible for menial tasks like writing warning letters.
As Hopkirk prepared to toss the letter into the bin, she suddenly recalled an incident from the previous year—a blunder caused by a stray thread that had blown out of proportion. It had even made its way into the pages of the Daily Prophet, causing quite a stir.
In the end, the wizard responsible for handling the situation, Natalie, had landed herself in hot water and nearly got transferred to the Centaur Liaison Office.
"Maybe I shouldn't throw it away," Hopkirk hesitated, ultimately deciding that it was her duty to pass it on to her superior, regardless of how he chose to handle it afterward.
Of course, Hopkirk could guess what would become of the letter.
Just as she expected, her boss didn't even spare the letter a glance, casually tossing it aside onto his desk.
The next time Hopkirk saw the letter, it had already been thrown into the rubbish bin.
However, what Hopkirk didn't know was that this outcome was exactly what Albert had anticipated.
Moreover, she was unaware that they had unknowingly stumbled upon a pitfall, and someone was waiting to kick them into it.
...
Upon returning to Britain, Albert began writing replies to the people he had contacted.
The Weasley brothers were, of course, on his list, and he included a gift for the twins—a rubber duck.
To be fair, the yellow rubber duck was a gift Albert had bought from a grocery store near his home. He was well aware that Fred and George wouldn't appreciate such a present, as it was intended for Mr. Weasley.
Albert wanted the twins to ask their father for advice on how to handle a situation like his.
In their reply, Fred and George expressed their sympathy (mixed with schadenfreude) for Albert's predicament and wrote:
"...Dad thinks it's a minor issue, so don't worry about it."
Albert suggested that you should write a letter to the director of the Misuse of Magic Office, explaining the situation to him..."
At the end of the letter, they also wrote, "By the way, Dad asked me to ask you, what is the purpose of a rubber duck in the Muggle world?"
"A minor incident?" Albert muttered, "True, for those who are not involved, it is indeed a trivial matter."
Albert set the twins' letter aside and moved on to the next one.
Professor Broad's reply was somewhat unexpected, as he also considered it a minor issue and told Albert not to worry about it.
In his letter, Professor Broad shared some intelligence about the Extraordinary Potioneers Association, expressing his appreciation for Albert's gift, and finally, he briefly mentioned McDougal's new book.
"A trivial matter?" Albert set the letter aside and picked up the gold card, muttering, "Now, let's see how Hector Dagworth-Granger reacts. I wonder if he also considers losing his gold card a minor incident?"
From Professor Broad's letter, Albert could easily deduce the value of the gold card in his possession.
He believed that Hector Dagworth-Granger would not let it go unnoticed.
...
...
There were several letters, and it was impossible to reply to them all at once.
The last letter was from Rowena Smith, who, aside from chatting about their shared interests, mentioned that she would be giving Albert an unexpected surprise soon.
As for what this surprise could be, Albert had a good idea: Rowena Smith was preparing to take up the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts.
After reading through all the letters, Albert put them away and stretched his lazy body, drinking the now-cold milk tea. He patted Tom, who was lying on the soft cushion next to the desk, and refocused his attention on the remaining holiday homework.
This was the homework Albert had before he went on vacation to France, as he didn't have a habit of doing homework while on vacation.
For his trip to France, Albert had only brought along the books on ancient runes that McDougal had given him.
As long as he carefully studied these books, his experience in runes would increase at a pleasing rate.
Now, he was one step closer to achieving a Level 3 in Runes.
Not that Albert disliked using experience to level up directly, but he preferred the feeling of researching magic.
Each small breakthrough in runes gave Albert a sense of accomplishment, and this was what he truly sought.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, and Nia stuck her head in, telling Albert, who was sitting at the desk, "Dad wants me to tell you to sleep early tonight. We're going to Diagon Alley tomorrow."
"Okay," Albert knew why Nia was so excited; she would be joining him on the trip to Diagon Alley in London.
"Tom, it's time to sleep!" Nia reached out to pick up Tom, who was lying on the soft cushion, and placed him on the floor. "Go on, you're getting so heavy I can't carry you anymore."
"That's why I said Tom needs to go on a diet," Albert said with a laugh. "Get some rest."
"Come on, Tom, or your rations will be halved tomorrow," Nia's threat was quite effective, and Tom obediently crawled up and followed her out.
Albert watched as the door closed again and turned his attention back to his homework.
These holiday assignments weren't particularly challenging; they just required time to write out the answers on parchment.
He considered whether to stay up all night and finish the holiday homework in one go, but eventually, he remembered Nia's anticipation for their trip to Diagon Alley the next day and decided against it.
Half an hour later, Albert capped the ink bottle, put the quill back in its holder, and stretched lazily, yawning.
Sheera had just returned from hunting, and after Albert had told her not to bring home any more dead mice, she hadn't brought any more.
"Good night!" Albert said to his owl, then turned to look out the window at the night sky and yawned again before lying back down to rest.
(End of Chapter)
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