Chapter 323

“Percy, did you see that?”

“… saw it.”

In the corner of Diagon Alley, Percy and Penelope stared blankly at each other as Percy asked her, “Do you think Professor Hap is here as a guest?”

“Don’t say silly things,” Penelope clenched her fists excitedly, “We should have realized it a long time ago, the recruitment information reveals quite a lot-”

“You mean the ancient runes and revere for muggle items?” Percy snapped back. “It’s a good thing we came here again; the first few times we came over, it was an empty lot.”

Percy and Penelope dropped by here more than once and even went to the L.C.A building by following the job ad. The staff of the revitalized comic book company led them to a house-elf, the one dressed more elaborately than they were, and had a separate office. He didn’t give much information, except insisting that the interview location would remain the same and that they should be there on time. “You definitely won’t regret it.”

Percy will be joining the Ministry of Magic in a few days, and this will be their last time visiting here, they just happened to arrived in time to see this scene.

…

Felix and Snape walked into the Future World Building, Felix’s fingertips brushed against a copper Nat, “Dobby.” as he called out softly.

“Snort!”

With a slight thud, a house-elf in a sophisticated butler’s suit appeared and bowed deeply, “Mr. Hap, Dobby at your service.” He raised his head and looked around, “Is this our new company? It looks a little dark …”

“Of course it is, there’s still a lack of lighting.” Felix said, his finger poked ahead, runes converged, into a palm-sized milky white ball of light, it swirled upward, landed in the huge ice crystal-like chandelier at the very top of the building, then the whole building became bright.

“It will last for a while, and in a couple of days I’ll make a stable runic artefact.” He said thoughtfully, “This might possibly be the first product of the company.”

“A magic lamp?” Snape mulled it over, “Nice idea.”

Felix clapped his hands, “The interview is at nine o’clock, almost two hours from now, we can use this time to make some adjustments-”

He stopped talking as a young man and woman pushed the door open from outside, “Professor?” Penelope asked nervously.

Felix nodded at her, “You’re earlier than I thought, well … I’ve seen your grades, and it’s not really necessary, but let’s go through the process.”

He said to Dobby, “If anyone comes in early for an interview, please take them to that room on the second floor.” He pointed at a spacious room on the second floor with an enormous foliate wine-red chestnut door carved with an antique floral design.

“Okay, Mr. Hap.” Dobby said happily.

As the group walked up the spacious, large angular spiral staircase, Percy took the opportunity to survey the ceiling sculptures on the dome, which showed a patchwork of scenes, in addition to the wizard with a wand, there were some people dressed like muggles, some of them holding various glass tubes in their hands, some musing over complex mechanical structures, and some holding up a brass balance.

It is hard for him to understand why these people are grouped together, they seem to come from all walks of life, so Percy gazed at the images of the wizards, he identified several of them, they all have a common feature – known for discovering or inventing extremely meaningful spells.

For example, he saw Summerbee, who invented the Cheering Charm, Flavius Belby, who discovered a way to drive Lethifold away, and Glover Hipworth … who invented the Pepperup Potion. Percy surmised that those muggles he didn’t know should be similar characters? Discovered or invented something?

“Miss Clearwater, make a note that we should make the stairs move.” Felix, who is walking ahead, said.

“What? Oh, okay.” Penelope said, rummaging through her pockets as Percy thoughtfully handed her a small notebook and a quill, Percy said, ” This is something I prepared in advance …”

“Thanks, Percy.” She jotted it down quickly.

Felix made some more comments: “We need some decorations … This is not urgent, the employees can decorate according to their own preferences, but some tables & chairs, paper, quill & ink, greeneries and so on, still need to be prepared. Draw up a list, and you can discuss it with Dobby.”

He glanced at Penelope: ” Excuse me, there is a shortage of staff, so you are needed to do some miscellaneous tasks for the time being …”

“That’s okay, professor, I can quickly familiarize myself with the place this way.” Penelope said, while writing down the request, “Dobby should be that house-elf just now?”

“That’s right, and it’s important to note that, like you, he’s an employee of the company, not someone’s servant.”

“He’s a wild elf?” Penelope asked in surprise.

“He likes to call himself, Free Dobby.” Felix replied with a smile.

They came to the large room on the second floor, and if it weren’t for the lack of tables, chairs, carpets, and other decorations, it would be really hard to imagine that everything here had just appeared, and Percy stroked the delicate carving on the windowsill, which seemed to be a Niffler…

Felix morphed some very Hogwarts-style long table and chairs, he and Snape sat on one side of the table, Penelope and Percy sat on the other side, but soon, the interview turned into a discussion of the company’s business scope, management system, and daily operations so on.

Percy is quite a fan of the Ministry of Magic’s management methods, and he suggested copying them exactly, but this was strongly opposed by his girlfriend.

“Percy, the management style of the Ministry of Magic is too cold and rigid, and for a good while, we won’t have too many people …” She glanced at Felix for confirmation, and Felix nodded gently, and she turned her head and said. “You see, if there are only a dozen or a few dozen people, it is still more important to have a friendly atmosphere.”

“It is because of the small number of people that some rules should be established early, it is better for all.” Percy insisted.

“Rules are necessary, but they don’t have to be so rigid.” Penelope said patiently, “Future World is based on research and development, it is completely different from the Ministry of Magic …”

Felix and Snape sat quietly on the sidelines, watching them argue, both of them have a stubborn nature in their character, but again, they are rational people, willing to reason, after half an hour, Percy was convinced.

Only then did Felix say with a smile on his face, “It seems you have reached a consensus.”

“Let me say what I think, as Miss Clearwater said, the purpose of the future world is to provide convenience for all wizards and make their lives better, in other words, our ideas have to be ahead of the entire wizard community, we, the future.”

“A relaxed environment is a must, I won’t make too many constraints, however, some practices of the Ministry of Magic have merit, for example, Percy’s point about using paper planes to deliver messages, I was deeply intrigued when I first saw it.”

“Knock, knock!”

Dobby appeared with a knock on the door, “Mr. Hap, there’s an applicant, he says his name is Remus Lupin.”

Snape stood up in a flash, “I’ll go get him.” Without waiting for Felix’s response, he hurried out of the room.

Felix shook his head, rushed to follow, these two have fought before, the relationship is really complicated, but another fight is not a problem, but he must send away Percy and Penelope first.

He addressed the two, “You’re hired, Miss Clearwater. Go enjoy your time off and report to work tomorrow …”

———–

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