69novels Chapter 51 The Young Employee of the Ministry of Magic
Chapter 51 The Young Employee of the Ministry of Magic
Christmas at the Granger family's house, while not as grand and elaborate as at Hogwarts, is still warm and meaningful enough.
On the day before Christmas, Qin Yu and Hermione helped the Grangers decorate their house, including a small Christmas tree decorated with stars, snowflakes, ribbons, and other ornaments, which looked quite nice.
Then, the two of them took a nap, and the next day, Christmas Day, they woke up early to find a gift on each of their beds.
Qin Yu received a red and yellow scarf, which looked very warm, while Hermione's gift was a set of paintbrushes with a full range of colors, which surprised her greatly. She insisted that Qin Yu be her model so she could paint a picture of him.
This morning, Mrs. Granger started preparing for the Christmas dinner very early.
Since it's Christmas, roast turkey is indispensable. — Thanks to the advocacy of King Henry VIII and the promotion by King Edward VII, turkey, a delicacy from the New World, has become an essential main dish for Christmas in Britain.
A ten-pound turkey is today's main ingredient.
With nothing else to do, Qin Yu helped Mrs. Granger with her work.
It seems that every family in Britain has a secret recipe for roasting turkey passed down from their mother or grandmother. Mrs. Granger is no exception. It is said that her recipe has been passed down for four generations. Of course, Qin Yu thinks that is somewhat exaggerated.
After cleaning the turkey, Mrs. Granger skillfully separated the skin from the meat with her hands. Then she spread butter mixed with spices such as thyme, sage, and sea salt in the middle and spread a layer of this secret butter evenly on the outside of the turkey. Then she loosely stuffed the turkey's cavity with chopped carrots, onions, celery and other stuffing.
Finally, the processed turkey is placed in the oven to roast. During this process, Mrs. Granger opens the oven every thirty minutes to carefully brush the dripping broth over the turkey to prevent the skin from drying out and cracking.
Three hours later, the fragrant turkey was placed on the table, along with other delicacies, and a sumptuous Christmas dinner began around 2 p.m.
With the festival approaching and delicious food in front of us, we should definitely eat to our hearts' content.
In short, the Grangers, Qin Yu, and Hermione all ate their fill.
After dinner, a serving of Christmas pudding would be perfect!
……
During Christmas, in addition to having a big meal at home, the Grangers also took Qin Yu and Hermione around to see the Christmas streetlights, browse the Christmas market, and go to the Christmas carnival held in a nearby park.
Qin Yu and Hermione had a blast for two days.
Three days after Christmas, a man dressed in a black uniform and wearing a black top hat appeared in front of Granger's house.
The man looked to be in his early twenties and appeared to be very polite.
“Mr. Qin, Miss Granger, hello. I am an employee of the Juvenile Wizard Registry under the Department of Magical Education of the Ministry of Magic. My name is Wade Brook.” The man introduced himself.
"The Underage Wizard Registry?" Qin Yu had never heard of this department before.
However, Hermione knew this, and upon hearing this, the little girl frowned and asked curiously, "Didn't Mei always come before? Why didn't she come today?"
“May went to the International Department of Magical Cooperation and got promoted. Now I’m in charge of registering underage wizards,” Wade Brooke explained with a smile.
“Oh, I see,” Hermione said, nodding.
“Mr. Qin, your previous registration was submitted directly by Professor Dumbledore, so it’s normal that you don’t know about the Underage Wizard Registry. Our department is mainly responsible for the management of underage wizards, and I’m here today to further verify your information and remind you and Miss Granger of some precautions to take outside of school,” Wade Brook explained his purpose.
After listening, Qin Yu roughly understood what was going on. His previous identity issues had all been handled by Old Deng, so he naturally didn't know anything about this department. Hermione, on the other hand, had a dedicated contact person for identity registration, and judging from Hermione's tone, she wasn't unfamiliar with the Ministry of Magic employee named "May."
It was probably Mei who introduced Hermione to many things about the wizarding world, which is how she gained some understanding of it before enrolling. Qin Yu secretly guessed.
After checking Wade's Ministry of Magic badge and confirming his identity, Qin Yu and Hermione let him into their home.
At that moment, Mr. Granger was sitting on the sofa in the living room reading a copy of The Times, while Mrs. Granger was tidying up the cupboards and refrigerator in the kitchen.
They were all somewhat surprised when they saw this "guest".
Fortunately, as guardians of the young wizards, they were somewhat prepared, so they let the man who claimed to be a Ministry of Magic employee go to Qin Yu's room for a talk, with Hermione accompanying him.
“Well, Mr. Qin, Professor Dumbledore only registered your current home address and guardian information, and very little else. Could you please tell me more about your situation?” Wade asked directly after sitting down in a chair in the room.
Beside him, a paper form floated, with an automatic quill pen resting on it, ready to record something at any time.
Hermione, standing to the side, widened her eyes in surprise when she saw the automatic recording quill.
Mei didn't bring anything this amazing when she came before.
Qin Yu was quite used to such magical items and wasn't too surprised.
After listening to Wade's words, he pondered for a moment and then slowly said, "I actually lost my previous memories for some reason... I only remember that I was taken in here by Mr. and Mrs. Granger... Later, I experienced a magical breakdown, which was discovered by Professor Dumbledore, who then admitted me to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry... That's the situation."
Qin Yu was basically being truthful, stating everything he could.
After he finished speaking, Wade frowned slightly and said, "You don't remember anything about what happened before?"
"It's not that I can't remember anything at all, but I can only recall certain specific things, such as the knowledge I've learned and some life skills," Qin Yu said cautiously but calmly.
“There is indeed a bit little information, but it’s not too surprising that a young wizard would encounter all sorts of unexpected events—okay, I’ll write it down first,” Wade nodded and said.
The quill pen swiftly wrote down every word Qin Yu had said on the registration form in mid-air.
After finishing recording, Wade waved his hand, and the registration form automatically rolled up and was put into his pocket. The automatic quill pen was also put into a pen case.
After doing all this, Wade turned to the two children in the room and said seriously:
"Next, I need to remind you about your activities outside of school. According to Section 3 of the Act on the Reasonable Restraint of Minor Wizards, wizards under the age of 17 are prohibited from intentionally or knowingly using magic in Muggle-populated areas in front of Muggles outside of school. Violations will result in a warning letter from the Ministry of Magic. In serious cases, the Office for the Prohibition of the Abuse of Magic will send officials to investigate. In extremely serious cases, the Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement will conduct an interrogation, or even the entire Wizengamot will participate in the interrogation. Of course, the last case is rare."
Seeing the two children's expressions turn somewhat serious, Wade smiled again and said, "Actually, you don't need to be nervous. This is just a reminder. As long as you are careful not to use magic carelessly in your daily lives, there won't be any problems."
"Then... what if we encounter danger?" Qin Yu didn't know much about this so-called law on the restraint of minors.
Hermione also looked concerned. She hadn't thought about this before, after all, her life was quite peaceful and there was no danger involved.
“According to Article 7 of the Binding Law, a wizard may use magic appropriately when the life of himself, or other wizards or Muggles present, is threatened, even in the presence of Muggles,” Wade explained.
"That's good."
“Well then, thank you, Mr. Qin. Miss Granger, for your cooperation today. Today’s follow-up visit is complete,” Wade Brooke said as he stood up.
"You're welcome, Mr. Brooke!" "Thank you for your hard work!"
Qin Yu and Hermione also got up.
Then, he saw the young Ministry of Magic employee off from Granger's house.
After seeing everyone off, Qin Yu asked Hermione about her past interactions with that May.
Just as he had predicted, May not only came to tell Hermione her identity as a wizard, but also enthusiastically explained things about the magical world and gave Hermione some books.
"It seems she's a very nice person," Qin Yu commented.
“Yes, Mei is really nice,” Hermione added.
……
What Qin Yu and Hermione didn't know was that the Ministry of Magic employee named Wade Brook, after leaving the Granger family, did not return to the underground of Whitehall in London. Instead, he suddenly disappeared at a certain moment and soon appeared in an old and luxurious manor in Wiltshire.
Soon, he was led into the manor owner's study by the house-elves.
"Wade, how's the investigation going?" asked the blond middle-aged man sitting behind the desk.
“Mr. Malfoy, after checking the Muggle world archives, this Qin did indeed appear in that Muggle community this spring, but there are no records before that. I also met with the child in person today on behalf of the Department of Magical Education, and what he said is basically consistent with my investigation results. This is my record.” Wade said, handing over the registration form.
The blond middle-aged man, Lucius Malfoy, the owner of the manor, quickly glanced through the page after receiving it.
"So, everything is normal, right?" Malfoy said quietly after a moment of contemplation.
“That’s right,” Wade replied calmly.
"Hmph, everything's normal again. It seems our headmaster really wants everyone to think he's a normal kid," Malfoy said coldly.
Although he didn't find any evidence, he knew that if everything seemed normal, that would be the biggest abnormality.
“I think so,” Wade said casually.
"Thanks for your hard work, Wade," Malfoy said in a slightly gentler tone.
"It's all what I should do," Wade said with a slight bow.
……
……
Qin Yu's Christmas holiday lasted more than ten days, but adults don't have such long holidays.
After a few days of rest, Mr. and Mrs. Granger resumed their work.
They left the two children at home to fend for themselves.
After answering Hermione's questions about learning magic, the two were somewhat at a loss. After all, following the reminder from the Ministry of Magic employee named Wade Brook, Qin Yu didn't dare let Hermione touch her wand. Casting simple spells might not be a big problem, but if they made a big commotion, he didn't want the two of them sitting together in the dock of Wizengamor—or perhaps the appeals dock.
So, that morning, Qin Yu suddenly thought of a place and said to Hermione with a mysterious look, "I'll take you to a fun place today, I guarantee you'll like it."
"Huh? Where to?" Hermione asked blankly.
"You'll find out when we get there," Qin Yu said, keeping everyone in suspense.
Then, the two left their home and took public transportation such as the subway and tram to a building that looked dilapidated and cramped.
On either side of the building is a large bookstore and a record store. Ordinary Muggles passing by simply ignore the building, as if it were blocked from their sight.
That's right, this is the Break the Cauldron!
"Let's go! Let's begin our Diagon Alley adventure today!"
As Qin Yu said this, he took Hermione's hand and walked inside.
The latter, on the other hand, already had an expression of excitement and anticipation on his face.
——Dimensional wall——
The update is a bit late; I spent some time yesterday sorting out the later plot.
Actually, the more mundane the plot seems, the more homework the author has to do; otherwise, it's difficult to create tension (whether this book has tension is hard to say). I was constantly careful to maintain immersion in the story, scrutinizing every word and phrase to see if it would affect the reading experience. This is probably the root of my pain while writing this book—being too meticulous despite my poor writing skills. Finally, if it's convenient, could you please click the "donate" button? That way, the author can earn a couple of cents, and every little bit helps, enough for me to have a decent meal. Please excuse my pretense of trying to make a living.