A Certain Magical Hogwarts

Chapter 546 Opportunities came raining down!

Minister Fouché's suggestive attempt to solicit a bribe... undoubtedly failed.

The minister's meaning was simple: since William was willing to pay a sky-high price of 70,000 Galleons to buy this GG position, he could use 30,000 Galleons for bidding... but secretly he would collect 50,000.

William offered a lower price, and Fudge made a net profit of 20,000... The only one who got fleeced was the Ministry of Magic.

It's not really about taking advantage of others; no one had ever considered that area as a GG spot before. William was the first wizard to come up with this idea.

If you don't sell, you won't earn a single nut; if you do sell, you'll definitely earn extra, it's just a matter of how much.

This is a win-win-win situation.

However, William pretended to be oblivious, feigning that he didn't understand Fudge's hints.

To put it bluntly, the Blake and Peter incident made William see through this minister:

They weren't on their side, and secretly they were even more wary of Dumbledore.

But with Peter's help, Voldemort might be resurrected at any time.

If they start fighting amongst themselves at this point, aren't they just giving Voldemort a chance to grow stronger in secret?

William had already instructed Rita to gather evidence of Fudge's crimes, waiting for the crucial moment to eliminate the minister and replace him with one of his own.

Given that, William had no reason to give him a bribe again, leaving him with leverage.

Unlike smuggling in Buckbeak, a bribe of tens of thousands of gallons would leave behind a wealth of evidence... and could very well implicate you in the end.

This is similar to William's refusal to cooperate with Ludo; the man is unreliable. William also doesn't care about those small Galleons.

Let alone a 30/70 split, even a 20/80 split... so what?

If William wanted to, he could rake in millions of Galleons from this World Cup. And once the Philosopher's Stone was created, how much gold wouldn't he have?

What William needs is not Galonnais, but influence, and indirect control of the wizarding world.

He wants to turn Akali's Mysterious Shop into a monopoly, an international conglomerate, and control the economic lifeline of wizards.

He wanted the wizard to be inseparable from a mysterious witch, Akali, from birth to death!

That was William's true purpose.

So the 30-second performance is very important, and he must get it right.

This is the best opportunity to promote Akali's Secret Shop.

William had no intention of saving Galleons. Besides, the Galleons he was spending now weren't his; they were all from betting, so he didn't care at all.

Fudge, seeing that William didn't seem to understand, also sighed.

Can he really say outright... "Give me 20,000 Galleons and I'll sell it to you"?

Fudge didn't want to offend the boy. Besides, wasn't an income of 60,000 to 70,000 Galleons already a profit?

Even if it went through the official accounts, Fudge could still find a way to pocket the money, it would just be more troublesome and easier for people to find out.

The entire process went fairly smoothly, so William bought a few more GG slots.

"Minister, I would like to request permission for house-elves to sell items at the camp," William said.

The camp now houses 100,000 wizards. That's more than all of England combined.

This place is now a huge market, so we have to temporarily move Akali's Secret Shop here.

"That's against the rules, but..." Fudge chuckled, "Owls can deliver things, so house-elves are the same as owls, they can too."

The minister readily agreed, then took William's hand and earnestly said:

"William, tonight it's Norway vs. USA, who are you betting on?"

"Minister, I really just placed a random bet last time, and you followed my bet. What if we make a mistake this time?"

"So what if you're wrong? Nobody can win all the time."

William shrugged. "You said it."

"Then I'll have to trouble you, brother!"

Fudge patted William on the shoulder, "Whoever you bet on, I'll bet on."

"..." Who the hell is your brother!

Fudge stood up, ready to bet everything he had on the team William favored.

After Fudge left, Ludo didn't return either. William picked up a copy of the Daily Prophet from the table and began to read it casually.

Eye-catching title:

10:390

Written by: Rita Skeeter.

Below is a photo of the Scottish captain being forcibly kissed by the former coach of the Transylvania team.

"In last night's match, the England national team undoubtedly made a respectable new history."

If I could tell my past self from 24 hours ago one thing, it would definitely be the financial ruin and pressure on... Transvaal team.

This is ten times more generous than betting on the Lake Selma Monster attacking the World Cup; even if Minister Fouché is ousted next year, the black market bets would only be 1 to 7.

England has created the impossible. It's no less incredible than a mysterious figure suddenly rising from the dead and standing before us.

But was this just an accident?

Of course not.

One England national team player said: "The night before last, our whole team went to a club to drink. We drank until the next day, and our legs were so weak we could barely move."

...My legs are so weak, how can I possibly beat someone?

A Gringotts goblin revealed that the England national team bet on themselves to win before the match.

So it turns out they weren't throwing the game, they were just genuinely bad...

Rita, true to her reputation as a quick-draw writer, managed to produce a lengthy report overnight, even though she was in Venice.

She also drastically altered a lot of the content, but after reading it, it made people even more angry.

As expected of Rita.

The entire Daily Prophet was filled with reports of England's unexpected defeat, without mentioning the death of an American wizard.

It seems they've been overshadowed by Fudge and are using the England national team to draw attention away from the game.

Fudge is really good at making money and suppressing scandals.

Hermione returned quickly.

She brandished the keys and said smugly, "Got it, 220,000 Galleons."

William put down his quill, looked up, and laughed, "However, I'm going to lose 40,000 Galleons tonight."

William can't keep winning, otherwise everyone will follow his betting strategy. The result would be that the "fairy" (a derogatory term for a player who wins at the betting table) would stop betting on him and wouldn't include him in their betting.

So, William is prepared to lose tonight.

"If you bet on Norway, everyone will bet on it, and the fairies will definitely change the odds quickly."

Hermione sat down next to William, her bright eyes darting around, and whispered, "Should I secretly use the remaining Galon to bet on Team America?"

“That’s right.” William grinned. “But using multiple identities and betting 160,000 Galleons at once would attract too much attention.”

"I know," Hermione blinked. "I'll take Anne, Luna, and Ginny with me!"

William lowered his head again and continued writing the letter.

Hermione leaned closer and asked, "Who are you writing to?"

"Cedric, Cho, the twins, and Professor Lupin, bring them to the World Cup camp... Minister Fudge agreed that they can sell things here."

William said softly, "Akali's Mystery Shop World Cup branch...is open!"

……

Following England's humiliating defeat, a news item quickly made headlines in major newspapers:

Led by the renowned Stark, the three leaders of Hogwarts made a huge bet in one night and won over 400,000 Galleons!

All the fans went crazy; this kind of overnight riches story is the most captivating.

Many wizards followed Stark, betting on the underdog Norwegian team in an attempt to replicate their legend.

Unfortunately, the legend didn't continue...

Norway suffered a crushing defeat to the USA, and Stark lost 40,000 Galleons... a complete financial ruin!

Those who also suffered heavy losses included Minister Fudge, Director Ludo Bagman, and a series of other wizards who followed suit.

In the third game, everyone began to wait and see. Stark continued his high-stakes gamble, placing a bet of 60,000 Galleons on the defending champions, Canada.

As a result, the Canadian team suffered a crushing defeat, losing 60,000 Galleons in the process.

No one dared to follow Stark's lead anymore; instead, rumors began to circulate that the first two hundred thousand won was entirely due to the prophecy of Professor Trelawney, the fortune teller.

And then the next two games... she bet on them both correctly!!

In an instant, the title of the greatest prophet in history was bestowed upon Professor Trelawney.

Everyone was ready to follow Trelawney's lead.

The fourth match... Professor Trelawney bets on the Scottish national team.

As a result, Scotland was utterly defeated by Luxembourg.

Stark bet 80,000 Galleons on Luxembourg and made a staggering 500,000 Galleons in one night…

In the fifth game, Stark lost $100,000, while McGonagall made a net profit of $300,000.

All the wizards wanted to vomit blood... So you three, master and disciple, were taking turns?

The one who must be furious is Malfoy... He followed the wrong trend five times in a row.

Opportunities rained down on him, but he skillfully dodged them all.

……

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