Harry Potter and the Candy Factory

"Are you kidding me?"

In the Gryffindor common room on the third floor of Hogwarts, George Weasley stopped the homework he was doing, and couldn't help but widen his eyes, looking at his youngest brother with an expression as if he was watching a joke.

"Fred! Come here, your brother's gone mad!"

Suddenly, he jumped up from his seat, put down the pen and paper in his hand, and rushed towards the dormitory he shared with Fred, taking two steps in three, while shouting.

With a muffled "bang", the dormitory door was closed, leaving Ron alone, standing in place, looking dumbfounded at the spot where George had left.

What's going on?

Ron's mind couldn't quite process it for a moment.

According to his idea, after hearing this news, George and Fred would only have two kinds of reactions.

One was deep jealousy of himself, and his words were filled with sour envy.

The other was to curry favor with him madly, flattering him while begging him to bring them something…

However, the naive Ron would never have imagined that his two brothers would scoff at his words and fail to achieve even the most basic trust.

And not long after the dormitory door closed, he clearly heard a burst of laughter coming from inside.

Accompanying the laughter were the noisy voices rising and falling.

Without even thinking, he knew that after George returned to the dormitory, he must have told everyone what he had said to him as a joke!

"I'm not crazy!!! I'm telling you guys seriously!"

Realizing this, Ron's face flushed red with anger, and he ran to the dormitory door, knocking on it while gnashing his teeth and shouting inside.

"I'm telling you! You two just don't believe it! When I really go there and get Charlie Black's autograph, you'll just cower in the room and cry.

Because, I won't help you get anything!!! Just wait and see!!!"

After saying that, probably feeling that it wasn't enough to vent his anger, Ron kicked the door twice before turning around and leaving, dejectedly searching for Harry and the others.

As Ron left, the Gryffindor common room outside the dormitory became quiet again at this moment.

"Creak…"

The wooden door opened, and Fred and George slowly poked their heads out.

Their faces were strange, they first glanced in the direction Ron had left, and then looked at each other.

"What do you say, Fred, I feel like Ron isn't making a silly joke this time."

George asked.

"Who knows…" Fred raised his eyebrows and shrugged indifferently.

After the two retracted their heads and returned to the room, they looked at the hanging picture on the wall with Charlie Black's figure printed on it, and fell into deep thought for a while.

"You know… if what Ron said is true, then we'll be at a big loss."

Pinching his chin, for some reason, a faint sixth sense made George fall into contemplation at this moment.

"After all, I really want Charlie Black's autograph! He is the only legendary wizard who has completely defeated Filch to this day… Compared to him, our behavior is like a petty game."

"Then what do you say we should do, George?"

Fred came to the bed, sat down skillfully, then bent down and pulled out a box from under the bed, which was full of candy.

And the Sniffing Violets, which almost all young wizards outside couldn't buy, were almost half a box full in their hands.

After a while of selection, he tore open a bag of fruit-flavored gummy bears, and then ate them while continuing to ask.

"Maybe we can give Ron a little benefit… You know what I mean? In the words of an old Chinese saying, it's better to believe it than not."

After thinking for a moment, George's eyes lit up and he gave his idea.

He shifted his gaze away from the charming smile on Charlie Black's hanging picture and looked at the box filled with candy.

"Or… should we send Ron some Violet candies? What do you think, Fred."

"Whatever, we still have a lot anyway." Fred shrugged and did not object.

He just nodded, then skillfully bent down, took out two bags from behind a pile of candy, and threw them to George.

"Ha… It seems our little brother has finally grown up."

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

Time passed quickly, especially in Charlie's factory.

With waves of Muggles or Squibs successfully entering here with job advertisements, the originally expanded production line has also completely begun to exert its original role and entered the right track.

Gradually, the little elves seemed to have become accustomed to the existence of these new employees, and no longer regarded their appearance as some kind of major event worthy of discussion.

Only when they saw the supervisor, Kobe, walking to another newly built factory building with the teaching plan under his arm, would they smile and casually joke with their companions next to them, "Ha, from now on, we have to call Kobe boss professor.", other than that, there was nothing else.

After all, the distance between the two factory buildings is very far, and according to regulations, although Muggle employees can work here, they cannot enter the living area to use basic facilities or interfere with their normal lives like other little elves.

Perhaps for Muggles, their life here is no different from life in the outside world, except that the money they receive has changed from pounds to more "advanced" Galleons.

Go to work on time every day, leave on time every day, and there are also double weekends on Saturdays and Sundays.

Taking advantage of the free time, such as after work, you can also go to the Leaky Cauldron in Diagon Alley with workmates who have a good relationship, and spend a few silver Sickles to have a refreshing and enjoyable "wizarding world specialty" beer.

Everything is perfect…

At least for Vernon Dursley, it is.

Although every time he returns home, he always has to put on a show in front of his wife.

Frowning, with a dim expression, he tried his best to put on an appearance of not liking it there, but still voluntarily sacrificed himself for Dudley's sake.

In order to show Jenny that he still hadn't "defected to the enemy"

But in fact, gradually, in his state of mind, not small changes have already taken place

Whether it is the easy work, the friendly environment, or a group of workmates who are easier to get along with than before, all make his heart unable to help but adapt and even be intoxicated.

He even gradually forgot his original intention when he first came to work here, which was actually to remove that vicious curse for his dear son Dudley…

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

In these past few months, if you were to ask what the busiest job in the entire British magical world was, the Floo Network Authority under the Department of Magical Transportation would dare to say they were second to none…

Under normal circumstances, the Floo Network Authority, whose primary responsibility was to monitor and build fireplace networks, should be considered one of the most leisurely positions.

After all, the British magical world was only so big, and the foundation of the Floo Network was already in place; even after more than a decade, problems rarely arose.

In a year, besides adding a few new wizard fireplaces to the management scope of the Floo Network, they would also deal with some idiots who tried to imitate Floo Powder and ended up blowing themselves up.

Even a child who hadn't graduated could easily handle that.

It could be said that, apart from the Centaur Liaison Office under the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, they were probably the most laid-back… (Because no centaur would ever accept their so-called services. Therefore, if a Ministry of Magic employee was transferred to the Centaur Liaison Office, it meant they were not far from being fired.)

However, ever since Fudge, the Minister for Magic, waved his hand and agreed to Charlie Black's recruitment plan, their original leisurely life and paid slacking off completely disappeared…

Because most of the Muggles who came to apply were very far away from the location of the factory, if they were really required to commute in the usual Muggle way, some of them wouldn't be able to get there from home even if they spent half a day.

So, without a doubt, Charlie found the Department of Magical Transportation and hoped they could open up the Floo Network service, which was originally only available to wizards, to his employees.

In the beginning, George Parkin, the head of the Department of Magical Transportation, was unwilling to agree.

Because Charlie Black's job posting had nearly a thousand openings. And the number of employees who actually came to apply was at least a hundred… You should know that the number of fireplaces built by the Floo Network Authority in the past five years didn't even come close to that number. What's more, he also demanded that it all be resolved within these few months…

Basically, every time a new batch of employees was hired, the Floo Network Authority had to connect all of these Muggles' fireplaces to the Floo Network within a week.

In George Parkin's opinion, Charlie's idea was undoubtedly ridiculous and absurd, and could be described as fanciful.

But, not long after, when Charlie walked back into his office and lightly placed a task document signed by Minister for Magic Fudge on his desk,

George Parkin felt… that it couldn't be said that it was impossible.

After all, people's potential is forced out. If you don't push them, how would you know that the Floo Network Authority couldn't fill more than thirty fireplaces into the Floo Network within a week?

Anyway, he wasn't doing it himself, so it had to be done, whether it was possible or not!

And so, after a long period of around-the-clock, non-stop effort like beasts, the civil servants of the Floo Network Authority finally barely kept up with the hiring speed of the Charlie's Chocolate Factory.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

"Alright… just one last step."

In an ordinary, unremarkable house located in Inverness, Cowley Moseley slowly straightened up in front of an old fireplace.

He let out a long breath of stale air and said weakly.

At this moment, Cowley's beige trench coat was stained with soot, and his hands and face were also dirty and messy.

However, when he turned his head and looked at the other two colleagues who had come here with him, there was no trace of displeasure or annoyance on his face.

In those eyes, covered with fatigue and numbness, there was actually a faint glimmer of life.

And upon hearing Cowley's words, the other two were instantly moved.

Their mouths twitched slightly, but they couldn't say a word, and excited tears welled up in their eyes, almost falling down on the spot and smearing the soot on their faces.

After a long while, one of them trembled and asked,

"Is this the last one?"

"Yes!"

Cowley couldn't hold back and nodded heavily.

"Come on… once we finish this last step, we'll be free."

Another colleague took a deep breath, and his expression began to clear up.

He reached into his pocket and skillfully took out a small silver box. Its appearance looked somewhat like the snow cream from China in the last century.

The colleague slowly opened it, revealing the Floo Powder inside. Then, he placed it in his palm and raised his eyes to solemnly nod to Cowley, who was standing at the front.

"Yeah…"

Cowley naturally responded, then also put his hand into his pocket and pinched out a medicine spoon.

He stretched out the hand holding the spoon, steadily scooped out a full spoonful, then turned his head and threw it towards the fireplace.

At the same time, the three people who had been waiting for this scene shouted in unison,

"Ministry of Magic!!!!!"

With a "Bang!" sound, a muffled sound like an explosion came from the originally desolate and empty fireplace.

In the next second, a beam of eerie green flames rose out of thin air, frantically spitting out tongues of fire, spreading rapidly towards the inside of the fireplace and in other directions. And it drove the surrounding light to change, briefly shining the green fire on their faces, and then disappearing without a trace in the next second.

Although the flames disappeared quickly and were not as intense as those used on weekdays due to the amount of powder used.

However, that was enough; it represented that this fireplace had entered the Floo Network and had become one of the thousands of connection points.

At the same time, it also represented that the mission of Cowley and the other two had come to an end… … …

"Drip…"

Tears uncontrollably streamed down his face, falling on the floor of the house, and smearing the coal ash on his face.

"Finally…"

Cowley closed his eyes, opened his arms, and faced the fireplace, as if piously facing an unknowable god.

"It's finally over."

This would be a perfect end to their work over the past few months.

Because this was the last Muggle recruited by Charlie's Chocolate Factory, and also the last fireplace they had to add to the Floo Network.

.