As William explained the methods he planned to use, Ragnok’s initial disdain gradually transformed into shock.
“I like this method!” he exclaimed.
“You Muggles aren’t completely stupid, it seems!”
The muscles in William’s face twitched slightly.
“Thank you for the compliment.”
“Go ahead and do it with confidence.
Gringotts has plenty of those scraps on hand, a full three million seven hundred thousand pounds and nine hundred thousand US dollars!
I reckon that’s enough to turn your Muggle financial world upside down.
I’m willing to lend half of it to…
hey, what are you two laughing at?”
Seeing Lockhart and William struggling to suppress their laughter, Ragnok grew somewhat annoyed.
He felt he was being looked down upon.
And indeed, he was being looked down upon.
The goblin spoke of less than ten million dollars in cash as if it were a colossal, world-changing sum, and this was supposedly the bank’s entire capital.
But then again, it made sense.
Although Gringotts had been around for centuries, given the size of the wizarding world’s economy, this figure was probably higher than Lockhart had anticipated.
At the very least, it couldn’t be sustained solely by the currency exchanged by wizarding parents.
“Yes, indeed, upside down,” Lockhart said, suppressing his amusement.
“I hear the American speculative tycoon Soros has prepared a full fifteen billion US dollars to target the pound this time.
Gringotts’s contribution will surely play a pivotal role.”
Ragnok stared intently at the two men.
Finding no trace of jest on their faces, he sat back down, looking a bit sheepish.
His stature was not tall, however, so sitting down looked much the same as standing up.
“Our lives are gold, not those scraps of paper,” Ragnok muttered, quite displeased.
“I’m worried that a large-scale outflow of gold might attract your Muggles’ attention.”
“It shouldn’t,” William assured him.
“The British Royal Mint and the US Mint both handle such transactions.
At their peak, they sell tens of millions of dollars worth of gold coins daily.
If you’re cautious, your funds could be converted into gold and safely deposited in your vault within three days.”
Ragnok declined to comment further, as it would only make him look foolish.
Despite a somewhat tortuous process, the deal was successfully negotiated.
Gringotts would commission William as its trader to conduct binary options trading on pounds versus gold and dollars versus gold.
Upon expiry, William would pay Gringotts a guaranteed base amount of gold, with a commission of zero point five percent.
Any gold exceeding the guaranteed amount would yield a three percent commission.
Ragnok agreed so readily partly because he genuinely despised paper currency.
Indeed, anything other than gold and silver he held in contempt, so he wasn’t afraid of potential losses.
Another reason was that Lockhart himself had converted all his own Galleons and entrusted them to his brother-in-law for trading, aiming for a substantial profit.
This further bolstered Ragnok’s confidence.
Afterwards, Lockhart hosted, asking Rosmerta to bring out aged whiskey, filling his own glass and his brother-in-law’s, and ordering a glass of honeyed apple cider for Ragnok.
They toasted to the success of their investment and then parted on friendly terms.
On the drive back to London, Lockhart reclined in the driver’s seat, letting the car navigate itself to their destination.
“You’re quite well-informed.
Even I didn’t know the exact figure Soros had prepared.
But our national reserves probably couldn’t scrape together that fifteen billion dollars,” William remarked to Lockhart.
“Wizards have their own sources of information,” Lockhart replied vaguely.
“Anyway, I’m counting on you this time.”
“I’m paid to do a job.
It’s only right,” William said.
If all went smoothly, he estimated his commission would reach at least a hundred thousand pounds.
Enough to secure a decent house for his wife and child, and fulfill his promise to her – a trip to Vienna for a concert.
Lockhart shook his head.
“This is just the beginning.
After this deal closes, I plan to spread the word and attract investments from the pure-blood wizard families.
Their gold reserves are the real prize.
If this first venture succeeds, there’s plenty more profit to be made.”
William looked at his increasingly unfamiliar brother-in-law and gave a slight nod.
If Lockhart simply wanted to make money for himself, he could just invest directly.
Going to all this trouble to help Gringotts clearly meant he had other motives.
William saw this clearly, but he said nothing.
It was precisely this discretion that his other clients appreciated most about him.
…
That afternoon, during the best part of the day, Lockhart took gifts and visited an elder stateswoman of the magical world – Griselda Marchbanks.
Although Dumbledore was a great man, he wasn’t the oldest figure in magical society.
Aside from the centuries-old Nicolas Flamel, there was Marchbanks herself.
She had examined Dumbledore for his N.E.W.T.s back in eighteen ninety-nine – which made her at least a hundred and forty years old.
And her work now was the same as it was a century ago – overseeing the O.W.L.
exams for fifth-years and the N.E.W.T.
exams for seventh-years at Hogwarts.
Lockhart’s purpose in visiting her was simple: to fish for the exam syllabus.
He had largely planned out the curriculum for years one through four and year six.
But for years five and seven, no matter how creative he got, the focus would inevitably be on revision and exam preparation.
Given the unreliability of Defence Against the Dark Arts professors at Hogwarts in recent years, the fifth and seventh-years had probably been teaching themselves for quite some time.
No matter how brilliant Lockhart thought his lessons were, if his students all failed their exams, he would lose face, even if no one said anything.
For a politician, face was crucial.
The elderly lady was delighted to have a visitor, the wrinkles on her face seeming to smooth out a little.
But when she heard the purpose of Lockhart’s visit, her expression showed slight disapproval.
Being senior enough, Professor Marchbanks didn’t mince words in criticizing Lockhart.
“Teaching them to cut corners like this, are you?
Gilderoy, as I recall, you were much the same in your school days, always relying on clever tricks.
In the end, you couldn’t even perform a proper Vanishing Spell.
I sometimes wonder how you managed all those feats you write about in your books.”
Lockhart carefully maintained a placating smile, trying desperately to defend his actions.
“Not cutting corners, just helping them understand what the key points are, what will be useful in the future.”
“I’m not a Seer,” Madam Marchbanks yawned.
Seeing her play the elder card, Lockhart was completely powerless.
Given his current public image was still respectable, even if she threw him out, he couldn’t say a word in protest.
Professor Marchbanks wasn’t just ancient; she was also well-connected and highly esteemed.
Not only was she a friend of Mrs.
Longbottom, even the pure-blood Malfoy family treated her with utmost respect and dared not utter a single disrespectful word in her presence.
To put it bluntly, having someone like her willing to criticize you was doing you a favour.
Unable to speak harshly, Lockhart could only continue his tactful persuasion.
“I hope these children will be equipped for more than just dealing with Grindylows and such.
I want them to have the courage to face the Dark Arts directly.
I know you must have heard the prophecy concerning He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and Harry Potter.”
Marchbanks glanced at Lockhart and readily admitted, “Indeed, I have heard of it.”
Though many were unaware of the prophecy regarding Harry Potter and Voldemort, it was no secret among certain high-level wizards.
“So, besides the Disarming Charm and the Shield Charm, I’d like to know which other spells are most universally applicable when confronting dark witches or wizards,” Lockhart said respectfully.
“Ha!
Surely you have plenty of experience with that yourself.”
“But I never lived through the first war, Granny Marchbanks.
I was still in my sixth year then,
helpless, hiding and trembling in the Ravenclaw tower.”
“Such a stubborn young man.
Very well, if you insist…”
As she spoke, Marchbanks summoned a book with a Summoning Charm.
Lockhart could see clearly.
It wasn’t an exam syllabus, but a book titled Practical Defensive Magic and Its Use Against the Dark Arts.
“This page, this page, and this one…” Marchbanks opened the book and rapidly pointed out a dozen or so pages of spells, marking them.
“None of these will be on the exam.”
Lockhart, who had been preparing to take notes, froze.
“Not on the exam?”
“That’s right.
Everything else is the key point.” Madam Marchbanks wore a sly expression.
“Gilderoy, good luck!”
“You…
oh dear.” Lockhart didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Only now did he truly begin to feel like he was back in school.