8 8. Visiting the Minister of Magic

After dinner, Alexander followed Dumbledore to his office.

"So, my friend, where were you all these years? I tried to find you after the war but you were nowhere to be found" Dumbledore asked.

"I was traveling the world and learning new magic," he politely replied.

Just then, Alexander felt something trying to enter his head. He knew that Dumbledore considered himself very good at Legilimency but what he didn't know was that he was a demi-god, a superior being and forcefully entering a superior being's mind was nearly impossible and if somehow someone did enter, then they would go crazy.

"You can stop doing that, Albus. I am at a stronger level than you. You are an Arch magi and I have reached Grand Arch magi. Merlin was probably a Grand Arch magi too. There is another level beyond this, which is called the Supreme Magi, but reaching that is close to impossible. There has never been a Supreme magi." Alexander said, making Albus realize how insignificant his power was in front of him.

Merlin was considered the strongest wizard to have ever existed and Alexander aimed to go higher than that.

"Forgive me, some things have made me change so much that I do this without even thinking," Dumbledore said apologetically.

"I know, your student turned into a dark wizard, right? and you think that he is still alive?" Alexander asked.

*Sigh* Albus took a long breath and ate a lemon drop.

"Yes, I think that he is still alive and I fear that I have grown weaker due to my age. So, I try to be extremely careful, I don't want another Dark lord to gain power." He said with a worried face.

"I can help you deal with Voldemort permanently but I will need your help in some small things. Removing the Dark lord doesn't mean that all the dark wizards will vanish. They will go back into hiding until a new dark lord appears. I want to deal with all of them. But that is a subject for later discussion." Alexander said. He wanted Albus to feel indebted to him before he proceeds.

"Thank you my friend, with you fighting beside me, I can be at ease but I think we will not have to fight him. A prophecy has been made and the one who will kill him is already chosen." Dumbledore confidently said.

"Prophecy should never be trusted Albus, never. Because it only shows you the vague solutions of a problem but not the whole road. What if the road is filled with death and blood of good people? Britain's wizarding community has already lost so many good and strong wizards in past wars. I don't want us to become even more weaker... You should think about my words." Alexander said, provoking Dumbledore to rethink his choices.

"By the way, I came here to ask if you had any empty post for a teacher. I just returned and have nothing to do. I would like to teach here at Hogwarts and explore the school. Something that I never got to do," he humbly requested.

"Haha... of course, we have a position, Hogwarts would be honoured to have you here. We have a vacant position for Defence against the dark arts teacher. It was supposed to be taught by professor Quirinus Quirrell, but he has been on vacation since last year and has not notified us. You can teach that from the next session." Dumbledore said and took out a contract paper.

It was a contract for guest teachers. It said that he'd have to teach D.A.D.A for at least one complete school year. His salary would be 11,900 galleons, meaning 991 galleons per month. After signing the contract, they talked for a while before he returned to Weasley's house.

The next Hogwarts session would start from 1st September, 1991. It was currently 1st January 1991 and he had 8 free months.

In those months he decided to increase his influence on magical Britain. The first target was the Daily prophet. It was the most circulated and read newspaper in Britain and sadly it was a false propaganda machine of the Ministry of Magic. It was used to spread lies to the people in the name of keeping the peace.

...

The next morning, at the breakfast table.

"Hey Arthur, who owns the Daily Prophet?" he asked.

"Ummm... no one, well it's a bit complicated. It has no owner, since the last one died. It is secretly operated by the ministry of magic." Arthur answers.

"So, if I want to buy it, I need to negotiate with the ministry?" he asked.

Arthur's jaw dropped hearing that. How crazy was the idea of buying the biggest newspaper in magical Britain?

"Umm, yes, I guess, no one has ever tried doing this so I am not very sure," Arthur confusingly said.

Alexander understood that if he wanted to buy it then he'd have to enter the vulture's nest. The next day he purposely released the news that he was the richest wizard in Britain, along with his simple past deeds.

The day after that, his handsome face was on the first page of the daily prophet with all the known info about him. The title was, 'The Legend Returns'.

Wizards and witches all around Britain were shocked by the amount of money he had. People who didn't know about him started searching for his name in history books.

One of those people was Cornelius Fudge. He was sitting in his office and reading the newspaper. His senior undersecretary Dolores Jane Umbridge was also sitting there.

"Hah... we should build good relations with him. He has more money than even the ministry," she exclaimed in her iconic, irritating voice.

Fudge put down the newspaper and looked at Umbridge's face.

"Yes, yes... he could help us in times. He must also be very strong so his support can mean a lot, we are already facing so much pressure from so many big families, maybe he can help us" he said after thinking for a while.

[Knock Knock]

Suddenly an Auror knocked on his office door.

"Come in," Fudge shouted.

A thin guy in Auror robes entered the room.

"Sir, someone by the name of Alexander Maxim Universe is asking to see you."

Fudge's pupils widened in shock.

"Bring him in, he is a very important guy... wait I'll go to greet him myself" Fudge hurriedly stood up and went out to greet Alexander.

Alexander was sitting in the waiting area when suddenly he heard a commotion. He looked in its direction and saw Fudge coming towards him with an ugly smile.

"Hello Mr. Universe, I am the minister of magic Cornelius Fudge. I welcome you to the ministry of magic." Fudge introduced himself.

Alexander smiled and shook hands with him.

"It's a pleasure to meet you minister Fudge, I've heard so much about you. I also came here to talk about a business proposition," he said, piquing his interest.

"Oh, sure, sure... let's talk about it in my office" Fudge lead him to his office.

...

Fudge's office was quite big. The walls had paintings of ex-ministers of magic. For now, it was just him and Fudge in the office.

"So, Mr. Universe, how can I be of service," Fudge said, trying to flatter him.

"Mr. Fudge, I am very sad about the current condition of the British magical community. We lost so many powerful wizards and witches in the last war. Due to that, we have grown weaker in comparison to other countries. I want to better the Image of the British magic community by starting an International newspaper. But then I realized that no one owned Daily Prophet so I decided to buy it and turn it into an international paper. So, here I am, asking you to allow Daily prophet to be sold to me." Alexander stopped speaking and looked at Fudge's face.

Fudge had a contemplating face. Voldemort hadn't returned so the ministry had not realized the potential use of Daily prophet yet, so it was easier for him to decide to sell it.

"What is the price Mr. Universe has in mind?" he asked.

"1 Million Galleons"

when he said that, Fudge's face fell and he started thinking.

"5 million gallons" he increased the price, but also started leaking some magical powers from his body. Fudge instantly started to feel inferior to Alexander. But, he still stayed silent. To Alexander, money didn't matter much all he wanted was to jist get over with it.

"7 Million and 1 Million as a personal gift to you," he said and also increased pressure. The air started turning cold.

Fudge felt like he was an ant standing in front of a dragon. Even in the cold air, he started to sweat.

"Yes, that's a good price. I'll tell them to bring the papers." Just as Fudge said that, the pressure disappeared. He felt like a heavyweight was taken off of his shoulder.

15 minutes later, someone brought the written contract. Alexander checked it for any hidden words or enchantments. After confirming that it was the real deal, he and Fudge signed it. The signature of the last owner was already on the papers. From that, he knew that the Ministry was behind the death of the previous owner.

"Here you go. In this bottomless pouch, there are 8 million galleons. It was nice doing business with you Minister Fudge. See you around" Alexander gave the money and left. His next stop was the headquarters of Daily prophet in Diagon Alley.

He used the floo network in the Ministry to directly go to Diagon ally.