Harry Potter and the Candy Factory

After the two of them left, everything inside the Azkaban prison returned to its original state.

Silence, coldness, a depressing atmosphere devoid of any color.

Those Dementors who had been scared away by Charlie also returned to their original posts with trepidation.

After confirming that the terrifying fellow had disappeared, a sense of relief, never felt before, finally emerged from their chaotic and erratic thoughts…

Still curled up in the corner of the prison cell, Sirius Black silently leaned against the moss-covered wall behind him, his eyes staring blankly at the bag of candy that Charlie had placed on the ground, lost in thought…

After a long while, he staggered to his feet, his steps faltering after being motionless for so long, inching little by little towards the iron bars, reaching out his hand, and slowly picking it up.

Stroking the brilliant colors that he hadn't seen for who knows how long, a sense of clarity arose in Sirius's heart, allowing him to feel a bit of joy and comfort as he closed his eyes.

“Charlie's Candy Factory Manufacturing… Address located at…”

Sitting back down on the spot, he caressed the raised marks on the packaging, and in the faint light of Azkaban, he murmured, while the strength in his hand involuntarily tightened a bit.

… … … … … … … … … … … …

After completing the prison visit, Charlie and Scrimgeour exchanged polite farewells and parted ways.

In the Minister for Magic's office, Cornelius Fudge sat behind his desk, stirring his tea while listening to Scrimgeour's report with a kind expression…

It wasn't until Scrimgeour had finished recounting everything that had happened in Azkaban in great detail that he put down his teacup and said with a smile,

“So Charlie Black just gave you a bag of candy… and then left without saying anything else?”

“Yes, just like I said.”

Scrimgeour nodded, held the bag of candy in his hand, examined it carefully for a moment, and then slowly continued,

“It's just that I didn't expect him to give me a bag of candy… Do you think there's any deeper meaning to this?”

However, facing the other party's doubts, Fudge laughed even more heartily, casually shrugged his shoulders, shook his head, and said with an indifferent attitude,

“How could there be any deeper meaning… Good heavens, Scrimgeour, not that I'm saying, I feel like you're thinking too much. Charlie is a good person…”

Speaking to here, Fudge paused for a moment, then the corners of his mouth turned up a bit, as if he had thought of something pleasant,

“…a good, rich man. He might just want to make a friend with you, that's all.”

“That's true.”

Listening to Fudge's words, Scrimgeour didn't refute, lowered his head to look at the candy in his hand for a few moments, and seemed to agree with this statement, nodding slightly, and responding noncommittally.

Having said that, he raised his head, put the candy back into the pocket of his trench coat, and then asked,

“Then, Minister Fudge, are there any other matters? If not, I'll head back first.”

“Of course, thank you, Scrimgeour, you may return.”

Fudge didn't refuse, nodded happily, agreed to the other party's words, and waved his hand casually, as if saying goodbye.

However, just as Scrimgeour turned his head and walked to the door, opening it and preparing to leave, suddenly, his voice rang out from behind, stopping him again.

“Wait… Scrimgeour…”

Silently letting out a sigh, a hint of impatience appeared on Scrimgeour's face. He didn't shy away from showing that expression, and then looked again at the fat fellow behind the desk, and asked,

“What is it?”

“I suggest you better finish the toffees and violet drops inside as soon as possible. Because eating them earlier will taste better than leaving them overnight.”

“… … … …”

Scrimgeour's thick mustache twitched twice beneath his nose, he didn't speak, just nodded symbolically, and left without looking back.

With a “bang,” the door to the Minister's office was closed, Fudge closed his eyes and leaned back leisurely in his chair, swaying back and forth while muttering to himself.

“Truly wonderful, Charlie Black's candy… so delicious, it's unforgettable, it's truly magical.”

As he spoke, he licked his somewhat dry lips, opened his narrowed eyes, and glanced at a square box placed on a shelf not far away—those were some of Charlie's best-selling candies that he had given him, not of any particularly precious value, just a small gift to consolidate their friendship in private.

At first, Fudge didn't really take it seriously. After politely accepting it, he had left it there and hadn't looked at it again.

Until one time, while working, he was bored and suddenly thought of it, then casually took one and put it in his mouth… But he never expected that from then on, he couldn't stop, so that Cornelius Fudge, who originally didn't like eating candy very much, began to be fascinated by this unique and magical taste.

Now, the box, which was originally full, had been eaten to only a small portion left. If it weren't for the doctor at St. Mungo's Hospital telling him that if he wanted to live longer, he should eat less sweets, then those candies that Charlie had sent would probably have disappeared long ago.

“Eat one more… it shouldn't be a problem, right?”

Fudge tapped the armrest of the chair, muttering in a somewhat hesitant voice, but in his mind, he couldn't help but recall the scent of the violet drops he had eaten yesterday…

“Okay, one, just one.”

His thoughts strengthened a bit, as if he had made up his mind, he slowly stood up from the chair and, with rather eager steps, quickly came to the wooden high rack placed against the wall, extending his thick palm towards the box…

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

“Officer Scrimgeour.”

“Good afternoon, Director Scrimgeour.”

… … … … …

Walking on the second floor of the Ministry of Magic, on the corridor leading to the offices, this area was divided into many small cubicles, where each Auror had a place to work.

They plastered the walls of the small cubicles with things, from wanted Dark Wizard portraits to photos of their families, to posters of their favorite Quidditch teams, and articles clipped from the Daily Prophet, a wide variety of things, encompassing everything.

When they saw Scrimgeour passing by, every Auror respectfully offered greetings, expressing their admiration and respect for this Auror legend.

Facing the greetings of his subordinates, Scrimgeour's expression remained unchanged, he looked ahead, just symbolically nodded his head lightly, and then had no other expression.

Taking large strides, he walked like the wind, dashingly leaving towards the direction of the office.

Back in his office, he took out the bag of candy again, placed it on the desk, and silently examined it for a moment before carefully tearing open a corner of the wrapper... …

“Whirr…”

As the packaging opened, the fully-packed candies seemed to find an outlet, immediately spilling out and scattering across the desk. They were crystal clear and of various colors, so beautiful that one almost couldn't bear to put them in their mouth.

Scrimgeour's eyebrows rose. As someone who didn't particularly like overly sweet flavors, he generally had a neutral attitude towards all kinds of candies. That was why he didn't consider the candy Charlie gave him a suitable gift, and instead, immediately wondered if it had some hidden meaning.

However, at this moment, seeing these wonderful candies, Scrimgeour had to admit that there was a reason why people liked Charlie's candies to such a crazy extent... … Sure enough, Charlie Black was a genius. When he came down from the battlefield and no longer pursued Death Eaters' heads, his genius could still have room to be displayed... …

After thinking about it, he plopped back into his office chair. Scrimgeour sighed, rubbed his slightly sore temples, then slowly reached out and picked up one of the most beautiful purple candies from the desk, throwing it into his mouth without a second thought.

… …

“Boom!!”

Outside the door, in the Auror's work area, a deafening bang from the office startled all the Aurors who were originally performing their duties.

These most well-trained wizards in the entire British magical world almost instinctively drew their wands, and then collectively rushed towards Scrimgeour's office door.

“Chief! What happened! Chief!?”

“Are you alright!?”

“Prepare to break down the door!”

With a soft “pop!”, one of the Aurors broke the lock. As the door slowly opened, under everyone's gazes, they saw Scrimgeour standing in front of his desk, holding his wand and maintaining a spellcasting motion towards the carpet not far away... …

His wand was still emitting wisps of white smoke. On the carpet, there was already a large patch of pitch-black scorch marks, as if it had experienced some terrifying disaster.

The serious expression on Scrimgeour's face turned to shock... … He stared intently at the mark, and after a long time, he finally reacted. His expression relaxed, and he let out a deep breath.

Then, he waved his hand at the subordinates crowding the doorway with tense faces, and replied:

“Don't worry, I'm fine. I just did a little experiment... …”

After speaking, he suddenly seemed to have thought of something. His brow furrowed, and his scrutinizing gaze swept over everyone.

“… … Who was it that blew open my office door just now?”

As soon as these words came out, the Aurors who had been clustered together instantly scattered and ran back to their seats, pretending not to know anything, and continued to complete their work with a serious face.

“Phew… … … … ”

Scrimgeour didn't bother to pay attention to them anymore. After closing the door again, his expression changed again and again, extremely complicated.

Looking at the remaining candies on the table, he didn't know how to react for a moment.

To be honest, the taste of the candy was indeed good, worthy of crazy praise, but for someone who was indifferent to sweets, it was just that, and couldn't give him any more reaction... … What truly shocked Scrimgeour was the wonderful power brought about by the candy after it entered his mouth.

That was definitely not an illusion!

As an Auror proficient in magic, his perception ability was much higher than that of ordinary wizards. Perhaps in the eyes of others, this candy only tasted a little cool, and there was no other feeling besides being delicious. Scrimgeour, however, truly felt the extraordinary magical meaning.

And this was also the reason why he had just eagerly wanted to pick up his wand and try it out on the carpet.

“Is this your deep meaning, Charlie… …” Scrimgeour muttered to himself, but he couldn't help but start to have all sorts of reveries in his heart.

If this kind of candy could bring him such a wonderful improvement... … Then what about the others?

Scrimgeour then picked up a licorice stick that had been broken into several pieces... … After looking at it for a while, he threw it directly into his mouth and began to feel the mysterious power within.

The result was naturally not as he imagined... … … It wasn't until Scrimgeour had eaten one of each type of candy in the bag that he finally confirmed that only the purple candy had that wonderful magic... …

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

“You're back, Mr. Black.”

When Charlie's car drove into the factory yard, the person who appeared in front of him was not Russell, but Dumbledore, who was leaning on a cane and had a kind smile on his face.

“Good afternoon, Grandpa Dumbledore.”

Charlie greeted him, then looked around, and asked strangely:

“Where's Russell? What's he up to again?”

Dumbledore stroked his beard, which was almost dragging on the ground, and said with a smile:

“He's leading the other house-elves in preparing for the Christmas candies, and he's swamped... … As for this old man, I can't help with such things, so I try to do what I can and come over to listen to your instructions and orders on his behalf.”

Hearing this, Charlie nodded knowingly, and didn't say anything else. He chatted with Dumbledore about what had happened in the factory in the past half day, and walked towards the factory building together.

As they were talking, suddenly, a figure in a cloak darted out from the side, heading straight for the two of them.

In the blink of an eye, almost as a subconscious reaction, Dumbledore's murderous aura soared, and he raised his elder wand, smashing it at the suddenly attacking fellow with a speed that almost didn't belong to his age.

The cane cut through the air, making a loud whistling sound. However, just as it was about to hit, the voice from the cloak made Dumbledore stop the cane in mid-air, only a few centimeters away from the other person's forehead.

“It's… … It's me, Mr. Black, Grandpa Dumbledore, I'm Peng Peng.”

Seemingly frightened by Dumbledore's fierce methods, Peng Peng's voice became stuttering.

Under the shadow of the hood, his eyelids trembled slightly as he looked at the cane head that had just been constantly enlarged in his vision, and couldn't help swallowing a mouthful of saliva... …

He knew that, almost, his skull would have shattered and his brains would have splattered out... …