Harry Potter and the Candy Factory

Hogwarts, in Albus Dumbledore's headmaster's office.

The vibrant splash of white from the candy vending machine undoubtedly brought new life to this antique room, which had remained largely unchanged for over a century.

Albus Dumbledore, uncharacteristically, wasn't seated behind his desk in his usual pose. Instead, he stood up and walked over to the candy vending machine, bending down like a child who had received a new toy, constantly fiddling with it.

Moreover, it wasn't just him; even the portraits of former headmasters on the walls couldn't help but cast their gazes, each widening their eyes with curiosity, carefully observing Dumbledore's actions, occasionally interjecting with questions.

"Is that the candy vending machine that golden-haired child was talking to you about back then?"

"He's a Black!" Phineas Nigellus Black, the ancestor of the Black family, quickly interjected in a sharp voice, emphasizing the point.

"I don't care who he is, I just want to know what this machine can do!"

"This thing is really beautiful. It's a pity, when I was headmaster, no one ever sent me any fun little gadgets."

"Have I been sleeping for too long? What golden-haired child? And when did this strange white cube appear???"

Ignoring the constant noise above his head, Dumbledore focused intently on studying every button on it, his eyes gleaming behind the thick lenses of his spectacles.

So engrossed was he that even the sound of a knock on the headmaster's office door didn't particularly register.

He simply said, "Come in," without looking up, continuing to immerse himself in the machine.

"Dumbledore!" The door opened with a creaking sound, and Minerva McGonagall's figure appeared. She frowned as she looked at the headmaster squatting in the corner, calling out his name in a deep voice.

"Ah! It's you, Minerva."

Hearing the voice behind him, Dumbledore finally reacted, quickly standing up and turning around, offering a slightly embarrassed, soft smile to McGonagall.

"Ha, I thought it was Hagrid coming, because you know, he always likes to come to me at this time and tell me some..."

However, before he could finish speaking, a serious-looking McGonagall interrupted him, continuing, "From the beginning, I didn't think it was a good idea for Charlie to install this candy vending machine in the headmaster's office!"

As she spoke, her gaze shifted to the candy vending machine behind Dumbledore. After a pause, she continued, "But I really didn't expect... that you would buy all the candy in this machine within half a day."

Upon hearing this, Dumbledore, who was about to come up with some excuse, couldn't help but pause for a moment.

Then, feeling somewhat guilty, he avoided looking McGonagall in the eye, shifting his gaze to the side and quietly asking, "Where did you hear that from?"

To this, McGonagall didn't hide anything, directly responding briefly.

"The house-elf from Charlie's factory told me. He posted a notice on the first floor of the castle without permission, and Filch tore it down. Filch happened to run into me during dinner and gave me the notice."

"What did it say?"

Dumbledore reached out and pushed up his glasses, then imperceptibly walked away from the candy vending machine, returning to his seat and sitting back down.

"It said that in order to celebrate the fact that fifteen candy vending machines were completely emptied of their products in less than half a day, he was preparing to apply for more candy from the factory."

Speaking to this point, McGonagall couldn't help but sigh. The sigh was filled with helplessness towards her headmaster.

"Haha," Dumbledore chuckled twice upon hearing McGonagall's words, answering unhurriedly.

"I just bought them all, it's not like I'm going to eat them all in one go... Really, I'm not lying to you."

As he spoke, Dumbledore couldn't help but lower his head, glancing at the candies almost overflowing from his half-open drawer.

Afterward, he quickly changed the subject, resuming his upright posture and starting a conversation with McGonagall.

"Alright, let's not talk about unimportant things. I think you came to me certainly not because of this small matter, right?"

"Yes..." Even though she knew that the other party was deliberately changing the subject, McGonagall still chose to put the matter aside for now and talk about other important things.

Anyway, Dumbledore's obsession with candy had, in her opinion, reached an incurable point. She had been talking to him for so long without any effect, so it wouldn't make a difference if it was now.

"It's a letter addressed to you."

"A letter?" Dumbledore raised his snow-white eyebrows somewhat strangely, his words carrying a hint of doubt.

"Yes... It was sent from the Ministry of Magic."

As she spoke, McGonagall took out the letter.

"So, was it sent by Fudge?"

As soon as the Ministry of Magic was mentioned, Dumbledore easily thought of his "old friend"—Cornelius Fudge.

However, he had stopped wanting to communicate with him a long time ago. And Dumbledore naturally understood the reason. Therefore, he largely gave way and defaulted, which was giving the Minister of Magic the respect and power he deserved.

"Yes, it was indeed sent by Fudge, but not in his name..."

McGonagall nodded first, then placed the letter on Dumbledore's desk, pushing it in front of him.

Looking down at the markings on the letter, Dumbledore finally understood, and then he lowered his head and read out that name.

"Wizengamot..."

… … …

After delivering the letter into Dumbledore's hands, McGonagall left, and before leaving, she couldn't help but mutter a few more words about the candy issue.

Dumbledore nodded and responded with "uh-huhs", but whether he would actually do so was another matter…

He opened the envelope and began to carefully read the contents.

The letter was not written by Fudge himself, probably by someone around him. The handwriting was quite beautiful, and the content was very formulaic, a long paragraph of wording and phrasing, all complex, cumbersome, and stiffly polite, without any other valuable content.

But Dumbledore still read it seriously, word by word, as if it was an inherent upbringing from the heart, making him respect everything that everyone wrote to him.

While reading, he also took out a piece of candy and put it in his mouth.

Feeling the candy slowly melting in his mouth, he finally reached the end of the letter in front of him.

Although this letter was cumbersome, the meaning it expressed could be summarized in one sentence.

"Fudge intends to award Charlie Black the Order of Merlin, Third Class, in recognition of his significant contributions to the British wizarding world. He hopes that Albus Dumbledore, as Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, will be able to attend the ceremony."

"Charlie, eh?" Dumbledore murmured to himself, setting the letter down.

After pondering for a long while, Dumbledore took out a piece of parchment and wrote a reply to Fudge.

The content of the reply was extremely simple compared to the other's lengthy discourse.

He picked up his pen and lightly wrote a single word on the parchment: "Good."

… … … … … … … … … … … …

"Good afternoon, Headmaster Dumbledore… …"

Not long after Dumbledore finished dealing with his reply to Fudge, Hagrid knocked on the door of his office.

He strode in as usual, extending a hand to greet Dumbledore, while nestled in the crook of his other arm was a fluffy, brown-grey feathered ball.

"Good afternoon, Hagrid… …"

Dumbledore nodded, returning Hagrid's greeting. Then, squinting, he tried to discern for a long time before finally determining that it was not a feather duster or similar object, but an owl.

Looking at this owl, although its head was not yet visible, Dumbledore already had a faint sense of inexplicable familiarity based solely on the color of its feathers.

"Isn't this… Charlie's little chubby owl, Fifi?"

Finally, Dumbledore remembered, matching it with the little fellow who often flew into his office in his memory. It was just that he hadn't noticed before that this little guy could shrink down to be so round… … …

"How did he get here?"

"Er… I was just outside my hut, setting up the pot to cook Fang's food. Then the rock cakes that were baking inside were ready, so I put down the spoon and went inside to get them."

Hagrid said, pausing for a moment, gently teasing the owl in his arms, which clearly lacked energy, with his large fingers.

"When I came out, this little guy had already jumped into the pot… Luckily, the food was almost done cooking at that point, so I put out the fire, or this little glutton would have been in trouble."

"Oh, by the way, Headmaster Dumbledore… …"

Hagrid hadn't finished speaking when he continued, then immediately pulled a crumpled letter with a few greasy smudges from his pocket.

"This little guy probably came to deliver a letter to you. After I fished him out of the pot, I found this letter next to him—it's from Charlie to you."

Hearing Hagrid's words, Dumbledore finally revealed a knowing expression.

"I see… Thank you, Hagrid. Have a seat, I'll take a look at what Charlie wrote to me."

Dumbledore said casually, taking the letter from Hagrid's hand and pushing up his glasses.

"Honestly—"

Having received Dumbledore's permission, Hagrid skillfully found a place to sit and settled down, then casually took a bag of transparently packaged candy from his large pocket.

It was the Sniffer's Violet, a special supply for Hogwarts from Charlie's candy vending machine.

The packaging was small, with about a dozen candies in each bag, and the price was moderate, not very cheap, but not too expensive either. Anyway, for Hagrid, it wasn't a problem.

Anyway, he usually used most of the salary Hogwarts paid him to buy alcohol. Now that he had candy as a substitute, not only did he look more energetic, but he even saved a lot of money.

Hagrid tore open the packaging bag, then skillfully used two fingers to pick out a piece from the transparent plastic bag.

Although it was not very proportional compared to his size, Hagrid rarely abandoned his usual haste for such delicious things, but instead chose another more meticulous way to slowly savor the taste of the candy.

The candy entered his mouth, and his tongue fluttered, instantly filling his mouth with sweetness.

After taking a deep breath of air that still carried the scent of violets, Hagrid finally opened his mouth and said sincerely:

"Honestly… Charlie is a genius, not just this candy, but also that candy vending machine. My God, what on earth is in his head!"

"Creativity, ideas, and a world that others cannot understand."

Dumbledore nodded with a smile, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes showing some agreement with Hagrid's words.

He answered the question while reaching out to open the letter Charlie sent.

"My dear Headmaster, long story short… In a while, I will recall Dada and send a new employee to Hogwarts to manage those fifteen vending machines."

"His name is Dabu, a young kid, and also a kid with extraordinary potential and ideas. So, I hope you can… … …"

"…Originally, I wanted him to go over earlier, so you could take a look at this kid, but, coincidentally, our factory's new products are about to be produced recently, and I plan to have him bring you some over, so you can be the second wizard to eat this candy besides me. I think you should like it, because it tastes like lemon sherbet…"

"That's all I have to say. Finally, may your teeth always be as white as new and free from cavities—Your student: Charlie Black."

Hagrid didn't disturb Dumbledore, and was happily eating his candy.

Seeing Dumbledore put down the letter in his hand, he slowly exhaled a breath filled with the scent of violets and carefully asked:

"What did Charlie say to you?"

Dumbledore looked at the letter in his hand, his face full of kindness, like an old man looking at his younger generation.

From this moment alone, he and his brother Aberforth Dumbledore's images vaguely overlapped.

"He introduced me to his protégé… a kid from their factory, hoping that I can take care of him after he arrives at Hogwarts. And he also said that the factory has made new products, and he will have that kid bring me some when the time comes…"

"New products! ?"

Hagrid seemed to have not noticed the previous words at all, until Dumbledore mentioned the new products of Charlie brand candy, which made him perk up.

"Can you give me some to try when the time comes?"

Hagrid's eyes lit up, he subconsciously sat up a bit straighter, and licked his lips under his thick beard.

"Of course." Dumbledore readily agreed. He raised his head again, looked at Hagrid, and, without stopping his hands, carefully folded the letter and put it in the drawer, then said jokingly:

"When the time comes, you can be the third wizard to eat it."