Mysterious Journey
Chapter 557: What If...
Cornelius Fudge paused slightly, then chuckled in relief.
"Looks like another unreliable rumor. If the Gringotts goblins were really short of money, they could just mint another batch of Galleons themselves. Why would they need to pilfer the Galleons wizards have deposited? Any fool could figure that out..."
"Speaking of which, I'm reminded of that incident half a year ago when the goblins claimed someone used Slytherin's land deed to defraud Gringotts of a huge loan. Seems these goblins have learned to pin all sorts of bad things on You-Know-Who and the Death Eaters, eh? These rumors might just be false news they're spreading themselves."
At this, everyone exchanged knowing glances.
The "Hogwarts mortgage incident" of last September had, after much investigation, become a cold case.
Morfin Gaunt, the last of the Gaunt family, who were descendants of Salazar Slytherin, had been imprisoned in Azkaban in the summer of 1943 for committing three notorious murders of Muggles and soon died there. All leads and investigations had come to a standstill.
Moreover, the Ministry officials had carefully examined the alleged mortgage and the subsequent situation.
The enormous sums involved were simply impossible for one person or even a few people to move. Even if the goblins had piled mountains of gold in front of the "mortgagor," it would be difficult to transfer the funds without attracting the attention of the Ministry of Magic, even with the combined spellcasting of a hundred wizards. Not even Dumbledore could manage it.
Therefore, the Ministry of Magic ultimately concluded that it was just a farce orchestrated by the Gringotts goblins themselves to increase their bargaining power. The so-called huge mortgage funds had never actually left the bank's vaults.
Furthermore, when discussing the "Chamber of Secrets" at Hogwarts, Dumbledore casually mentioned something about "sale does not break lease," which completely reassured Cornelius Fudge and the others.
Thus, Gringotts' theatrical performance naturally became a joke within the Ministry, albeit one that couldn't be publicly acknowledged.
Everyone smiled knowingly, once again mocking the goblins whose performance had been exposed.
After a moment, Amelia Bones, the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, pondered for a moment and asked softly.
"But, what if... I mean, what if all of this is true?"
"Hmm..."
Cornelius Fudge's eyes flickered, and the cheerful atmosphere in the room gradually became somewhat stagnant. Several Ministry officials looked at each other, their expressions changing, and they fell into deep thought.
After a brief silence, Cornelius Fudge tapped his fingers lightly on the table.
"Speaking of which, there's actually another possibility. Before *The Quibbler* was revamped into *The New Quibbler*, I remember seeing a rather absurd conjecture that it wasn't the goblins who were staging the whole thing, but Hogwarts itself. Besides the heir of Salazar Slytherin, Albus Dumbledore, as Headmaster of Hogwarts, seems to be able to mortgage the castle as well."
"If we start from this assumption, the vast wizarding organization that cannot be found can also be explained, because Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry has the most house-elves in the entire magical world. Hogwarts is fully capable of completing all fund reception in a very short period of time... Then Dumbledore's calm reaction, and the crises encountered by the goblins, these somewhat ambiguous rumors these days, also seem to be connected."
"After all, all the gold is in Hogwarts, and besides gold, if there are any non-magical currencies, that's the most deadly thing. Gringotts can't print banknotes. The goblins dare not and have no ability to rush into a school full of wizards to snatch back the gold. Perhaps the current economic stability is the result of their continuous minting of new coins."
Accompanied by Cornelius Fudge's assumptions, the faces of everyone present gradually became solemn.
Over the past six months, the vast shadow spanning behind the turbulent magical and non-magical worlds seemed to be gradually revealing its fangs in the darkness. Everyone was thinking about how to use the crisis to attack Dumbledore's credibility or trying to further strengthen their control over Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Faced with the threat of Gringotts goblins and the government intervention proposed by the Ministry of Magic time and time again, Dumbledore and Hogwarts responded in a very low-key, but just right way, without giving up any substantial benefits.
Half a year later, when Gringotts became involved in the economic vortex of the former Soviet Union and was suspected of experiencing a cash flow break, Hogwarts remained unshaken and aloof from all the struggles, and even had the spare capacity to recruit Muggle scholars from the former Soviet Union to participate in educational reforms within the school.
Amelia Bones, who had already unconsciously stood up, her eyes flickered, and she thoughtfully added softly.
"Looking at it this way... if that Ruble gamble were to be executed now, the mortgagor could make almost one-third of the profit even if they did nothing. And the money Gringotts lost to maintain the Ruble's value may be more than four or five times that, right? However, if it's really Dumbledore, what is he doing it for..."
"Of course, for gold... Galleons?" Umbridge blurted out subconsciously, then quickly shook her head.
As a friend of "Paracelsus," "Nicolas Flamel," and other great alchemists with the Philosopher's Stone, money meant nothing to Albus Dumbledore, and the power of the Ministry of Magic was even more boring to the old man. If he wanted to be Minister of Magic, he could become one immediately simply by saying a word in public.
Not to mention that Dumbledore, who had personally ended the ambition of the dark wizard Grindelwald, was himself a staunch guardian of the wizarding world and would never turn around and deeply participate in any Muggle world regime change.
Cornelius Fudge looked around at the officials who were in a state of bewilderment, walked to his desk, poured himself a small glass of champagne, raised the glass, shook it, took a sip to calm himself, and then took the initiative to ease the atmosphere by smiling and saying.
"Perhaps, for the sales of *The New Quibbler*? After all, Hogwarts invested in it."
————
————
Chapter Three! (Oh my God!!!)