Chapter 264: The Lower Limits of Ministry Aurors
The invention of Wolfsbane Potion allowed werewolf wizards to maintain their will when transformed into werewolves, which was originally a good thing. However, werewolves like Fenrir turned Wolfsbane Potion into an accomplice for their rampant evil deeds after transforming into werewolves. Werewolves who retained their evil will were far more dangerous than those who lost their will.
Now Sean's new Wolfsbane Potion would certainly benefit the vast majority of werewolf wizards, but it would equally benefit those evil werewolves. While this couldn't negate Sean's contribution or the significance of the new Wolfsbane Potion, they also couldn't casually allow evil werewolf wizards to obtain these superior new Wolfsbane Potions.
When the thesis on the new Wolfsbane Potion spread throughout the magical world with the publication of the new issue of The Golden Cauldron, people from the Ministry of Magic also came to Hogwarts, preparing to discuss issues regarding the new Wolfsbane Potion with Sean.
Those who came to Hogwarts included two Aurors and some wizards from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement's Auror Office. They temporarily borrowed a Hogwarts classroom and set it up like an interrogation scene. In the centre of the classroom was a chair. That belonged to Sean. Across from the chair was a long table with five people sitting in sequence.
In the centre was an Auror named Dawlish, with an Auror named Williamson on his left and a clerk from the Ministry's Department of Magical Law Enforcement on the far left. On Dawlish's right were two Hogwarts professors. Sean's Head of House, Slytherin's Head Severus Snape, and Gryffindor's Head Minerva McGonagall.
Entering the classroom, Sean looked at this interrogation room-like setup and frowned slightly. However, he didn't say much, directly walking over to sit in the chair and looking at Dawlish across from him.
Dawlish looked at Sean as he sat down, flipped through the materials in his hands, and asked directly, like he was conducting an interrogation: "Sean Bulstrode, correct?"
Sean looked at the other party. He was very clear that this matter, to put it bluntly, was the Ministry seeking cooperation. The Ministry's werewolf response department had previously failed so miserably that it was still criticised from time to time even today, so they urgently needed to achieve some results in dealing with werewolves.
They hadn't successfully cooperated with Master Damocles's original Wolfsbane Potion before. Now encountering an improved, cheaper, and easier-to-make new Wolfsbane Potion, the Ministry very much wanted to cooperate with Sean.
This point was very clear to Sean.
It was precisely because of this that he felt somewhat puzzled. With so many Aurors in the Ministry, how did they happen to send such a thing to disgust him?
Was there an enemy within the Ministry?
Dawlish looked at Sean, confident in his heart that he could handle this third-year kid. Once he handles this matter well and gains some political foundation with Minister Fudge, he might be able to climb higher.
So, if possible, Dawlish felt he should try to drive down the price as much as possible and lower the Ministry's cooperation conditions. With just a third-year child, as long as he intimidated the other party, the matter would be mostly settled. He just needed to be careful of the Hogwarts professors sitting nearby intervening.
There were many self-important mediocrities in this world, and Dawlish was such a person.
When he was at Hogwarts, his exam scores were quite excellent. Excellent enough to directly become an Auror. But when he actually started working, his mediocre nature was revealed. Excellent exam results, but when it came to actual action, he was like a weakling.
In the original history, Dawlish was even knocked down by Neville's grandmother. While this might be partly due to Neville's grandmother being truly fierce, Dawlish's abilities were indeed poor to a certain degree.
Of course, this "poor" was relative to other Aurors. Compared to ordinary wizards, Dawlish's abilities could barely be considered outstanding.
Sean wasn't one of those hot-headed children. Although Dawlish's attitude was poor, as long as the Ministry offered sufficient benefits, he was willing to cooperate with the Ministry. After all, Sean also wanted to maintain good relations with the Ministry and even enter the Ministry in the future to further grasp power. There was no need to make things too tense. What could be endured might as well be endured a bit.
"That's right, I am Sean Bulstrode."
"Very good. Then you should also know why we came here today. These are the cooperation terms. Just sign them after looking them over. We Aurors are also very busy."
Frowning almost imperceptibly, Sean looked at the parchment with cooperation terms that the other party handed over. A premonition suddenly arose in his heart that these terms would definitely cause problems.
Before cooperation, the Wizengamot had Gavin convey their willingness to cooperate, and both parties had preliminarily settled on the exchange of benefits. Otherwise, how could Sean possibly take out the obviously profitable new Wolfsbane Potion to share with the Ministry?
Regarding Dawlish's attitude, Snape and McGonagall, sitting at the long table, also clearly sensed something was wrong. If it were any other Hogwarts student sitting across from them, the two might have already started intervening. But sitting across from them was Sean, and as Sean's teachers, they naturally knew Sean's personality and style of action. Before Sean asked for their help, neither Snape nor McGonagall would interfere with his choices.
However, the silence of Snape and McGonagall appeared to Dawlish as an attitude of unwillingness to offend the Ministry and himself, making him feel even more that his decision was correct.
That's right!
Hogwarts was just a school. How could professors in the school be willing to offend the Ministry and Ministry Aurors for the sake of one student!
Dawlish's smile curved into an arc. He could almost see his future of being praised and valued by Fudge, then rising through the ranks.
Just as Dawlish was imagining his future, Sean directly threw the parchment with the conditions written on it to the ground. Then he slowly stood up, looked at Dawlish, whose face had darkened, and said: "Is this how the Ministry conducts business? Sending people to cooperate, they actually sent an overly clever, self-important fool?"
"Sean Bulstrode! Watch yourself. You're talking to a Ministry Auror!"
Looking at Dawlish, who had slammed the table and stood up, Sean shook his head and laughed: "Do you think that for this level of cooperation, the entire British Ministry of Magic would entrust full authority to you to handle? Do you think the Ministry would entrust you with recovering their reputation lost over werewolves? Didn't the Ministry give you relevant documents and cooperation methods before you came? Self-important fool. I'd like to see how they handle you when you return to the Ministry!"