43. The Interview

With a happy face, a bag full of gold coins and a cute little dragon sleeping in his pocket, he was on his way back. While on his way, he just made small talk with the head goblin.

"Open me a vault on the upper side. I will use it for daily use and storing some money. I can't come here all the time. Also, I will look for a faster way to enter this place." He requested.

The goblin nodded, "The path to the deep vaults is open for you to explore. It is very dangerous and I won't put Goblins there. As for the new vault, how big do you want it to be?"

"Umm, I just want to store money there. Make sure it is big enough to hold millions of galleons. I'm gonna be making some big money in the future." Magnus revealed, intentionally.

The head goblin licked his lips, hearing that there would be money involved. "Can we also... invest in this money-making venture of yours?"

"Sure, but let me finalise it first and make all the plans. I will tell you about it later." He said, not telling anything to keep the Goblin interested.

After spending 20 minutes, they finally reached the surface and arrived at the building. Dumbledore and the rest were still waiting for him there, along with a blonde young lady with pointy glasses. She was wearing a silky dress and looked above average in beauty.

As soon as Magnus arrived, she ran after him, Magnus avoided her by turning around and letting the head goblin take the lead. Seeing the annoyed face of the goblin, the woman stopped.

"I've checked the vaults. Only I can enter them. Let's go back now, I believe we are done here." Magnus said, and started walking away.

At the moment, all were contemplating how they should address him. The Minister for Magic had to absolutely address him as a king because she was an official, she was even happy that the King of Britain was going to be a Wizard, who is also related to Merlin and also a muggle at the same time. You can't get a better deal than this.

Dumbledore decided to speak, "Your Maje..."

"It's all right, professor. You're like my umm... great grand uncle or something... wait, how old are you? I saw that the earliest mention of you is in the late 1800s. Anyway, you can call me Magnus." He interrupted and corrected. In reality, he didn't really put much trust or faith in Dumbledore, but, seeing that he was somewhat related, he decided to keep the old man comfortable so that he doesn't stop him from conducting some activities in Hogwarts. He needed some special privileges after all.

Dumbledore appreciated it a lot, now, he would even get to clout with people because he's related to Merlin's descendant. "Magnus, she is a freelance journalist, Rita Skeeter, she will be conducting your interview. It is your wish if you want to do it."

Magnus turned to look at her. "Are you a truthful and honest journalist?"

Rita found the question weird but quickly answered, "Yes, I believe in righteous journalism."

Magnus nodded, "Okay, you can ask me some questions."

Hearing this, the Minister for Magic felt better. She needed Magnus to make an official statement ever since his identity was released for the people. But what she did not know was that Magnus was an old fox when it came to giving interviews. He had even prepared for all possible questions that could be answered.

Rita Skeeter took out a notebook and a pen to write the answers. She asked her first interview, "Thank you for allowing this... Magnu..."

"You can address me as Mr Pendragon or Your Majesty," he immediately corrected her. Friendship with journalists was never good.

"Yes, Mr Pendragon, thank you for the interview. How are your days going in Hogwarts?" She asked.

"It's is lovely. The castle is beautiful and the ghosts are an ever-present source of fun. I am sorted in Slytherin, the dungeon is a bit gloomy but its inhabitants are very active. I have made friends too and I am enjoying it." He answered.

She wrote everything on the paper. Then asked another question. "You mentioned that you are in Slytherin. Aren't both your parents Muggles?"

Magnus turned sad and sighed, "Yes, they are "Muggles". I had a talk with the portrait of Merlin the other day. He is very saddened by what our magical society has turned into. We use terms such as Muggles, which is a derogatory term for non-magical people in the eyes of some. Back in Merlin's days, non-magical humans were called Magbobs, which is a very friendly and affectionate term. Let's not forget the terms such as half-blood and the much worse, Mudblood. I myself have been called that but I won't name by whom."

Rita was writing ferociously as if she had found a gold mine of content. ~Haha... this is it... my final push...~

"So, do you want the ministry to adopt the word Magbob?" She questioned.

"Not really, it's not the word that makes it different, it's the way it is spoken. I can curse at you with a sweet voice and also angrily, the meaning behind the words does not change. Just like that, as "Muggle" is a term for humans, used by all wizards, we just need to make sure that it is not seen as a term to degrade. Besides this, I think Halfblood and Mudblood words should be seen as lawfully offensive words. Because, as long as a human has magic in them, they are a wizard, whether you like it or not. Dividing ourselves won't give us any more benefits." He said at length.

The Minister for Magic, Eugenia Jenkins, was smiling wryly, ~This kid has more brain than all the blood purists combined.~

"I heard that you were attacked by Lucius Malfoy in the schools' dorms? Is it true?" She inquired about the juicy topic.

Magnus smiled, this was what he was waiting for. "Oh no no, that was a friendly match of arm wrestling, I mistakenly ended up using too much strength and broke his arm."

Dumbledore and Moody, a distance away, smirked hearing that. Magnus had just taken care of all their troubles by saying this. Now, if Abraxus Malfoy still tried to stir trouble then he would be ashamed. After all, their son lost to an 11-year-old and even broke his own arm. The man would try to make the news die down as soon as possible.

After that, she asked some more pointless questions about his personal life.

"Yeah, I love pancakes, they are the best. My mom actually makes the best pancakes. But Hogwarts doesn't have them at breakfast." Magnus said. Of course, he was making Dumbledore add pancakes to breakfast by doing this.

"What is your view on the ministry?" She suddenly asked. This made the Minister frown a bit.

Magnus thought for a second and purposefully made his voice sound cuter, "Umm, I don't know too much about them as I just got involved with the magical world. But, I read in the newspaper that some bad wizards are killing innocents. I don't understand why the Ministry can not catch them. Don't we have a Wizard Police? Also, I am very sad about what they did with the Order of Merlin. It used to be a real order of Witches and Wizards who were kind, compassionate and wanted to do good for the magical society. Now, it's just a medal."

His first half of words hurt the Minister like a spear into her heart. The recent deaths were her soft spot and even she was trying to get the perpetrators, but, what could she do when the bad people belonged to some of the most powerful and influential families?

"How do you feel about being the descendant of Merlin?" She asked the final question.

Magnus, this time decided to answer in one word. It was a word he had just learned. He cleaned his throat by coughing and with emphasis, said it, "ECSTATIC"

Saying that, he got up, deciding on leaving. Rita was left standing there, guessing that Magnus would say something more but was proven wrong.

They went out of the building, onto the crowded streets. There were still a lot of people, but now it was raining and the dark clouds had made it look as if it was already night. It was a gloomy day.

"Are we going back? I want to buy something before that." Magnus voiced.

Dumbledore was not going to deny such a simple thing. "Sure, we will go in an hour. I need to talk to the Minister till then. But you have to take Auror Moody with you. You must understand, you are not just a simple 11 years old now, you have a special status."

Magnus agreed. He did not know yet how powerful he was as compared to adult wizards. That was why he was not going to be overconfident, something taught to him by his mummy from a small age.

He remembered that when he was small and learning multiplication tables, he started to guess answers instead of memorising them. He got many correct too. But Grace found out and tricked him to make wrong guesses. He was so overconfident that he refused to accept his guesses were wrong.

So, with the grumpy mad-eyed wizard, he left.

"Okay, where to? I'm your babysitter today." Moody walked alongside him.

"No, you are my bodyguard," Magnus replied.

"Heh, wrong, I am paid by the ministry, not you. So, I'm your babysitter. But I won't be changing your diapers if you let yourself lose." Moody said. He was surely taking revenge for their last meeting where Magnus called him names.

Magnus chuckled, "We're going to a book store and I will read you the most boring book there."

They kept on bickering their whole way.

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