69. JUST BUSINESS

2 days later, Magnus arrived at the Ministry with Dumbledore. He really hated the fact that he couldn't go anywhere without a guardian and Dumbledore had claimed to be one.

He could have asked Slughorn as he was the head of the Slytherin house too but the man didn't have as many connections as Dumbledore. He was also not the serious kind and it was not good to take him along.

They arrived at Level 1, Minister for Magic and Support Staff.

"This is the minister's office. Are you sure you don't want me to come with you?" Dumbledore asked him.

Magnus rolled his eyes, "She's not going to eat me. And it should be her, who should be afraid of me, not the other way."

Ignoring him, he knocked on the door and entered. The Minister was waiting for him already as she sat on the visitor's sofa.

"Welcome, Mr Pendragon..." She stood up and greeted him with a smile of a politician.

Magnus looked around at the office, it was very big and had lots of portraits. But, surprisingly, none of them were moving portraits, most likely to keep privacy. The tone of the room was greyish... a bit depressing to be honest.

He took a seat and looked at her. Although he was tall for his age, he was still not taller than adults. But, he did not get intimidated by anyone.

"Good afternoon, Minister. Pleasure seeing you. Last I saw you, you were there to witness my Inheritance test... Now, I'm meeting here to stop you from taking my inheritance away... Things change so fast *Sigh*." Magnus said, making the minister feel awkward.

"I... I had no power to stop it. Wizengamot decided on it with a majority vote. Even if I had objected, things would not have changed. Also, as the minister, to maintain support I need to support the majority," she argued.

"Well, I did not get to vote. Where is my seat at Wizengamot? As the last remaining descendant of Merlin? You don't believe me? Look at this document. The is the declaration of formation. If anything, the Wizengamot committed a crime by coming after my property." Magnus scornfully said.

Eugenia looked at the old looking paper. It had English written in a very old style but she could still read it easily.

*Sigh*

She sighed, internally accepting that the whole mess was caused by them. If they had not gone after his money, then maybe Abraxas Malfoy would've not died.

"What can we do to correct the mistakes?" She asked.

Magnus straightened his back. He was waiting for this moment from the start.

"There are a few things that you can do. 1st, sign these documents. All members of Wizengamot will have to do the same." He handed a paper.

Eugenia read it slowly. The more she read, the higher her brows rose. The paper said that after getting their Vaults back, they will not try to move them or empty them. They will use it as they were. The Gringotts will be getting a lease of 100 years so Magnus will have no power over it, which was obviously false, he was graciously given such power on the necks of so many dark wizards, how can he just let it go. Gringotts will never make their lease agreement public, and that is where the true magic was.

"Why... this absurd a condition?" She exclaimed.

"Because I know most pure-blood families are scared of me now and they will try to move their vaults to somewhere else. Gringotts can't go out of business now, right?" He explained.

"Fine, what other conditions do you have?" She inquired, just wanting to know more before accepting it all.

"The Ministry must declare Voldemort a terrorist. Then start a bounty program, anybody who brings in a recognised Death Eater will get a reward of 50,000 Galleons. I'll pay for it." He demanded.

This demand was much crazier than the last one. Eugenia shook her head, "As much as I want it to happen, they won't let me. Maybe I can get Voldemort to be recognised as a terrorist but the bounty... It's impossible to happen."

"Then I guess I will just take whatever is in those tens of vaults. Wizengamot is so weak that it cannot even condemn a dark lord and his terrorists? Merlin would not have made it if he had known this would happen someday." Magnus indirectly threatened. He was just trying to strong-arm them in the name of Merlin at this point. Although he hated being compared to him, it was also true that Merlin's name had more pull even now than any pureblood or even Dumbledore.

"FINE! ...I will try it. Is this it?" She asked.

"Of course not... Now, I want my seat at Wizengamot and 1 million Galleons as compensation." Magnus demanded.

"WHAT? This is not possible, Mr Pendragon. This is the money of the people." She argued.

Magnus sneered at this remark of her. "Don't try to fool me. I know how much tax you get from the magical community. All the tax you get is from non-pureblood families, which is not even enough to pay the salaries of the employees of the ministry.

"The real money you make is from the rent from Ministry owned shops in Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley and the protection money you take from other shops. SERIOUSLY? Protection money? Is this the ministry or a gang of goons?

"Then, the rest of the money comes from the donations given by the pureblood families, who, use the ministry later because of their donations to do bad deeds or to get away from something bad they did, while in reality, their donations should have been taxes in the first place."

Eugenia gritted her teeth after hearing this. All of it was true, but, how could she change things just like that? This had been going on for hundreds of years, it was a part of their tradition.

"So what do you propose? If you have so much contempt for the system, you must have answers too." She asked mockingly.

"Sure, I do have a solution. But, I'm just an 11-year-old kid. I can't tell the ministry what to do. Just agree to my condition and I'll be on my way back." He said shruggingly.

Eugenia's eyes twitched. After he had said so much, now he realises he's a kid.

"Fine, the next Wizengamot will be held soon. Your seat is nearly guaranteed. However, I can't say anything about your other conditions. You must convince them on your own." She informed him.

Magnus nodded and got up to go back. But he paused midway and looked back.

"Minister, don't think I have any animosity with you. I know you are trying your best but you can't fight an enemy who's already in your house and is stronger than you.

"I too want a peaceful world. Nobody likes to have an assassination attempt on oneself in the middle of the day in a market. Nobody likes when someone tries to steal what is rightfully theirs.

"I just want to be left alone, I just want to study, graduate, and go back to my lovely family. I don't care about any of you. But, if they try to come after me, I can't just present myself on a golden platter. So, I hope you will understand. Take care."

He left after saying that much. But, guilt appeared in Eugenia's mind. She herself had a son. Not as young but still.

She remembered that Magnus, although talks like a grown-up, is still a kid, who just faced an attack on his life. If it was anybody else, they would've run away from Hogwarts, back to their parents' comfort, but Magnus was still trying to hold on and he was doing it very masterfully.

~What have I become? Seriously, letting people bully a child? And not just any child but Merlin's descendant, the heir to the British throne? If anything, the ministry should protect him like the greatest treasure. But the ministry itself is the transgressor. I can just wish him luck.~

"Stay safe, kid." She muttered at Magnus leaving her office.

...

Magnus came out of the office, Dumbledore was waiting for him.

"How was it?" Dumbledore asked.

"Can't you guess?" Magic replied.

Dumbledore stroked his beard, "Hm, from my personal experience of years... It must have gone neither pleasing nor displeasing."

"Wonderful, you just guessed the obvious." Magnus sarcastically said and then continued.

"I will be present in the next Wizengamot meeting though."

Dumbledore nodded, "You do deserve a seat but they will object for a child to be there."

"They should have objected to themselves when they decided to take control of my vaults on my own property." Magnus snarled back.

"True, I voted against it back then but was outvoted... Let's go back now. I have a lot of work at Hogwarts." Dumbledore said.

Magnus looked at him in a questioning gaze, "What do you even do? You don't even teach so what keeps you busy?"

"Managing a thousand-year-old castle is not easy, Magnus." Dumbledore defended his work with enthusiasm.

"But magic runs the castle, not you. We don't even have cleaners or cooks, due to unpaid slave elves we have." Magnus countered.

"House-elves refuse to get paid... they are not slaves," Dumbledore reminded him.

"Yes yes... whatever lets you sleep at night and of course they will refuse. They've been bred for generations to be submissive. If you want to change it, you'll need generations of work too. But at least, in Hogwarts, they don't get beaten up. Oh... by the way, professor... Do you want to invest in the Muggle business? I've got the perfect opportunity for you to make millions." Magnus offers.

Dumbledore stopped and looked at his serious face which looked like one belonging to an old capitalist fox, "Why would you do that?"

Magnus shrugged his shoulders and replied in a serious tone, "THIS IS JUST BUSINESS..."

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