Chapter 31

After the preliminary interviews were concluded, the interviewers got a break of half an hour until the next part would start.

Draco had planned ahead, he had Kreacher bring a sumptuous little feast from the Three Broomsticks for his mother, his aunt and his uncle as a thank-you for their help.

While they enjoyed the food, Draco went up to the tower's top floor to the heart of the Magical Mirror Network.

He wanted to check what the applicants, who had passed the preliminaries, were doing with the magic mirrors that were handed out.

Draco conjured a comfortable armchair and let Kreacher bring him a big turkey sandwich to snack on, his young body needed sufficient nutrients.

Then he let Dragon show him the applicants.

Unsurprisingly, the goblins had holed up somewhere and were trying to crack the mirrors' enchantments.

Draco wasn't worried.

They could analyze the rune work on the mirror as much as they wanted.

The core enchantment was the giant rune circle situated in the Black Malfoy Tower, enchanted with highly advanced wand magic, including obscure blood magic and spirit magic; there was not much for them to find on the mirrors.

The only discovery of worth they made was the Bismuth Crystal's advanced ability to take enchantments and conduct magic, but that wasn't something Draco could keep to himself anyway, especially since he was buying all his bismuth through Gringotts.

The goblins stayed in Hogsmeade the whole time and didn't touch the Tracking Charm, so Draco assumed they were planning to come back for the second part of the interview.

In case they didn't, Draco would take care of it...

Draco instructed Dragon to switch to the next one.

The middle-aged squip met a wizard he paid to remove the Tracking Charm.

Unexpectedly, the man didn't leave Hogsmeade afterwards.

He hid the magic mirror in the room he had rented in the Three Broomsticks and then leisurely went down to the common room to enjoy a meal.

Draco was curious to see what the guy wanted to do; Draco only had to wait.

He switched to the next, and the next, and the next... always taking a short look at what their mirrors had reflected until now.

Only one of the magic mirrors Draco had handed out was directly sold for cash.

One of the werewolves, an older man who, even though he had looked pretty destitute, had made a positive and steadfast impression during the interview, got his mirror stolen by a fellow werewolf.

The thief was actually his little brother by birth, who hadn't managed to pass his own interview.

While the other werewolves were enjoying their free meals, the thief just grabbed his brother's mirror from the table and immediately used the fireplace in the Hogshead to run away.

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He flooed to Knockturn Alley and directly went to Borgin and Burkes.

After some haggling, the werewolf only got five Galleons for the mirror, in the end.

A total rip-off...

But that was Borgin and Burkes business model...

Rip off the poor and sell expensive to the rich.

Even though five Galleons were actually the price Draco planned to sell the handheld magic mirror versions for, he could also sell them for ten times that and more without any problems if he wanted to.

The only reason Draco planned to sell so 'cheap' was so that many wizards would be able to buy one and join the Magical Mirror Network.

It was still almost as much as a wand at Ollivander's, but considering the wand prices were controlled, too, to make them affordable for every wizard, it made sense.

But both, seller and buyer, didn't know about Draco's intention for the price, and getting the product so early, even before it went on sale, should have pushed the price much, much higher, even if this mirror came with some complications.

Selling it for five Galleons, now, that was just sad and reeked of desperation.

The werewolf had also expected to get considerably more, but the experienced Borgin easily disabused him of his notion.

"This mirror is just too hot. It has the heat of Fiendfyre. Considering who this mirror belongs to and that there is a Tracking Charm on it, you should consider yourself lucky that I'm even offering some money instead of detaining you to hand you over to the Malfoys."

Hearing that, the werewolf caved immediately and quickly sold the mirror at this price.

After inquiring if Borgin had Cheering Potions in stock, 'the good kind', which he didn't because Borgin and Burkes was a shop with a reputation and a considerable clientele with certain standards that didn't cater to junkies, the werewolf hurriedly left with his meager five Galleons.

With the werewolf gone, Borgin let out a satisfied chuckle and smiled.

He placed the mirror inside the heavily enchanted glass counter, right in the center position, without removing the Tracking Charm.

Borgin wasn't stupid, he was experienced and sly.

If he sold this mirror behind the Malfoys' backs, there would be hefty trouble.

That's why he planned to wait until someone followed the Tracking Charm and sell it back to the Malfoys as a favor.

If some other customers visited in the meantime who noticed the mirror and drove up the price with their interest, now that was just smart business.

Not only that, Borgin had also put a Tracking Charm on the unsuspecting werewolf on his way out so that Borgin could report his location to the Malfoys and earn even more, be it favor or money...

Draco listened to Dragon's recording of their voices with interest (the video showed mostly the ceiling).

"Interesting. Let's move on to the next one." Draco told Dragon.

The other applicants all kept their mirrors with them, and they more or less explored their functions.

A pair of werewolves in their twenties pushed the handle of the mirror into the earth so they didn't have to hold the mirror up the whole time while watching Shrek and could lie down in the grass.

It didn't take too long until they lost focus on the movie and started to focus on each other.

They rolled through the grass together, right in front of the mirror.

Draco quickly changed the view to the next mirror before his hormones couldn't be controlled anymore.

Of course, the next one in the picture had to be the exquisite face of Petia, who was laughing beautifully while the dragon flirted with the donkey.

She was almost at the end of the movie, the donkey and Shrek already had had their big fight over the swamp ownership.

Petia was spellbound by the movie, and Draco was spellbound by her pretty face.

When he finally managed to snap out of it, Draco quickly changed the view again.

Watching Lupin and Dumbledore, fortunately posed no challenge for Draco's hormone-addled teenage brain.

Draco had to admit, even he was surprised at how little time it had taken Lupin to visit Dumbledore and tell him everything.

Draco had thought Lupin would at least wait till the evening.

Lupin went about his spying business very openly.

Draco could appreciate that about an opponent.

Draco also saw Dumbledore's reaction to his magic mirror.

It was in the nature of the man to worry and stick his nose into things that were not under his control.

And Draco could see Dumbledore was worried.

It encouraged Draco to hire Lupin even more, lest Dumbledore got antsy and unpredictable because he thought the Malfoy Black business was wholly out of his control.

Draco wanted to delay as long as he could until Dumbledore directed all the power he wielded in the Wizengamot and in the International Confederation of Wizards against Draco.

If Draco played it smart and managed to make Dumbledore believe that he, Dumbledore, was still in control and had the longer lever, maybe it wouldn't even have to come to this.

Dumbledore was a great wizard that could be very useful for the whole wizarding world, as long as someone took care that he didn't damage it with his fears and ideals.