Chapter 55: Need Extra Pay
After the second floor was built, there were many tables and chairs in the tavern to move upstairs. Professor Flitwick used the Levitation Charm to transport these table and chair furniture pieces. The house-elves were moving oak wine barrels, and there was also a new solid wood bar counter to put up.
Hagrid saw others moving things and felt that he was there to help too, so he eagerly wanted to join in. He looked down at his pink little umbrella tucked into his waistband, and a hesitant expression appeared on his face.
After careful thought, Hagrid finally chose to use his strength. He greeted Madam Rosmerta and excitedly ran over to move the heaviest bar counter.
Dumbledore sat nearby watching.
The heavy hardwood bar counter was originally something that could only be moved with the Levitation Charm, but this half-giant picked it up directly with his hands, reaching under the cabinet to hold it, sinking his waist and shoulders, taking a breath and letting out a muffled grunt.
“Hah!”
He actually lifted it up. One end of the long bar counter pressed against his belly, the other end lifted directly, all the weight gathered on his hands and belly, it shook unsteadily twice, then made a cracking sound.
Several house-elves hurried over to protect it. They had originally felt aggrieved because Hagrid had taken their work, but now seeing him damage the wooden cabinet, they didn’t dare blame the tavern’s guest and could only blame themselves, shedding tears over the wooden cabinet, wishing they could bash their heads against it and die.
“……”
In the end, Professor Flitwick, who had finished his tasks, repaired the wooden cabinet. The house-elves no longer wanted this half-giant to participate in the work. Every time Hagrid approached, they glared at him with wide eyes, making him feel uneasy inside.
Hagrid stood awkwardly beside them, forcing an embarrassed smile. Melvin couldn’t help but tease him a few times, and Madam Rosmerta and Professor Flitwick burst out laughing.
Dumbledore stood nearby, also showing a smile.
Then this half-giant ran off to watch Wright set up the Undetectable Extension Charm, staring at him chanting the spell, staring at him arranging the space, eyes wide open. It was different from the house-elves’ gaze, but it similarly made Wright feel uneasy, making his spellcasting a bit awkward.
Hagrid’s desire to apply the Undetectable Extension Charm to his wooden house was written all over his face. Melvin and Flitwick saw it, Dumbledore saw it, Wright saw it too. He sighed helplessly and casually mentioned some beginner spellcasting techniques.
Hagrid was greatly grateful, slapping his shoulder with his fan-like palm and shouting that he wanted to buy him a drink.
Having learned only a superficial understanding of the Undetectable Extension Charm, by then the third floor was already built. Hagrid heard that Madam Rosmerta was giving the third floor to Melvin, so he pulled him to go take a look, nearly stepping through the newly assembled wooden staircase.
“What do you plan to use this floor for?”
“You’ll find out later.”
“……”
Hagrid’s massive face furrowed slightly. This way of speaking was very much like Dumbledore’s, the kind he didn’t like.
The renovation progressed quickly. In about three hours, the main work was nearly complete. Seeing lunchtime arrive, the house-elves who had been busy for half a day immediately squeezed into the kitchen in the back room.
A group of wizards gathered around a round table for the meal. The dishes were the tavern’s classic fare: beer-battered cod with french fries, shepherd’s pie made with lamb mince and vegetables, boiled eggs wrapped in sausage meat and fried as scotch eggs. The alcohol and drinks were plentiful. Hagrid drank cup after cup, laughing so hard his mouth wouldn’t close.
Melvin and Professor Flitwick had a bit of craft beer, just for show.
Dumbledore smiled cheerfully, not choosing sweet eggnog or honey mead, but ordering a glass of whiskey.
Madam Rosmerta consulted about some decoration and layout issues at the dining table, mainly answered by Melvin, who occasionally threw in some Muggle concepts. The tavern owner listened very attentively, as did a certain repair shop owner.
The afternoon’s detailed work actually took more time. After finishing everything, they bid farewell to the tavern owner.
“Have dinner at the tavern before you go back.” Madam Rosmerta warmly tried to keep them.
“We’re heading to a tavern, but it’s the one at the edge of the village, the Hog’s Head Inn!” Hagrid put his arm around Wright’s shoulders, completely disregarding the tavern owner’s feelings, and laughed roughly: “I want to buy them a drink!”
“……”
Melvin and the others gave helpless smiles.
At six in the evening, the sky darkened.
The lights of the Hog’s Head Inn came on. The shabby old wooden signboard depicted a severed pig’s head with bright red blood on its neck, its eyes strange, as if mocking passersby on the road. Standing in this cozy street in Hogsmeade, compared to the other candy stores and pink couple teahouses, this bar inexplicably felt out of place.
Christmas the next day, Boxing Day night.
Ordinary wizards were still at home reuniting with family and friends. There were few people on the street. With no customers, there was no business. Other shops were mostly closed, only the Hog’s Head Inn with its door half-open, revealing a handful of patrons inside.
However, many patrons were concealing their faces. Some wizards wore cloaks with hoods, some had half-face masks or bandages wrapped around their faces. A few witches were wrapped in thick black scarves, and some wizards had very unnatural expressions, looking like they were wearing someone else’s face.
They sat in twos and threes, speaking in low voices. The many whispers mixed together, not noisy but eerily quiet.
Hagrid felt nothing unusual about this. He reached out and patted Wright staggering, then patted Melvin’s shoulder, looking at Dumbledore and Flitwick: “Come on, you have to try the flame whiskey here. It’s on me!”
Professor Flitwick declined: “Yesterday and today, I’ve already drunk enough.”
Dumbledore shook his head too, his expression a bit complex: “You go ahead. If I go in, I might get kicked out by the owner.”
The others thought he was joking and didn’t take it seriously, nor did they press further.
Wright was no stranger to the Hog’s Head Inn and chuckled twice. Seeing Melvin about to shake his head, he quickly tugged his sleeve: “Then the three of us will have a drink. Hagrid’s treating, and I’ll thank you for Melvin.”
Melvin turned to look at him: “?”
……
The Hog’s Head Inn was very small, even smaller than the Three Broomsticks before expansion. The main room was cramped. Aside from a row of seats right by the bar counter, it could only fit a few small round tables, accommodating at most twenty or thirty guests at once.
Walking into the bar, a strong smell of goat musk hit them. Melvin frowned slightly, feeling a bit uncomfortable.
Wright seemed to sense his disgust through the mask and chuckled: “You’ll get used to it in a few minutes. Actually, it’s not all bad smell. Smell carefully—isn’t there a faint aroma of alcohol?”
Melvin took a light breath and did detect other scents, but not alcohol—it was the musty rot of wood.
“……”
Melvin’s half face was hidden under the mask, showing no expression and impossible to read.
To match the other patrons’ habits at the Hog’s Head Inn, he and Wright both wore masks. Hagrid didn’t wear one—there was no difference for him unless the mask could hide his nearly ten-foot height.
Actually, with the dim lights in the bar, the masks were somewhat unnecessary.
Like the Leaky Cauldron, the Hog’s Head Inn ran a bar on the first floor and a tavern on the second. Its target customers were clearly not ordinary wizards. If there were a survey, Melvin believed this bar’s clientele overlapped greatly with Knockturn Alley’s.
However, the environment here was even worse than Knockturn Alley. The doors, windows, tables, and chairs were covered in years of grime and grease; a finger rub would pick up black sticky crumbs. The floor felt special underfoot—at first glance it seemed like packed dirt, but it was stone flooring piled with centuries of filth. Since rainwater couldn’t reach inside the building, in a way, it was even dirtier than Knockturn Alley’s open ground.
The half-giant entering the bar drew the attention of many patrons, but he didn’t care. The first thing he did was order drinks.
Hagrid was experienced with this. He led the two toward the bar counter. The bar owner stood behind the wooden cabinet, with thick gray hair and beard, his face unclear, only visible as a tall, thin old man. From his sharp eyes, he seemed ill-tempered.
The man before them was the headmaster’s own brother……
Melvin sized up this Hog’s Head Inn owner. Tall and thin, wearing a dirty apron. Most of his face was hidden behind tangled beard and hair. The thick facial hair was completely untended, almost like his built-in mask, with only a pair of bluish-gray, somewhat cloudy eyes visible below his eyebrows.
If not knowing his identity, it would be nearly impossible to associate this slovenly bar owner with the Hogwarts headmaster.
“Three bottles of Ogden’s flame whiskey,” Hagrid said.
The bar owner glanced at them, bent down to pull out three dusty bottles of whiskey from under the counter, and said in a muffled voice: “Thirty sickles.”
Hagrid pulled a galleon from his pocket, then counted out 13 silver sickles, weighed them in his palm twice, and handed them over. The money drawer of the cash register slid open automatically and swallowed the fourteen coins.
“Stop looking. No cups.”
Wright pulled Melvin toward an empty round table in the corner: “At the Hog’s Head Inn, you drink straight from the bottle or bring your own cup.”
Melvin looked back. The owner was wiping a glass cup with a dirty rag—the rag was pitch black, looking like it had never been washed, making the cup dirtier the more he wiped.
“……”
Flame whiskey.
The liquid was clear amber. Before opening, a layer of blue flames clung to the surface like a thin film; touching through the bottle felt no heat. After opening, the flames quickly turned bright yellow, rippling like waves of flame foam on the surface with occasional sparks splashing and a faint sizzle.
It was said to be inspired by a brewing wizard visiting a fire dragon.
Hagrid skipped chit-chat and toasts, twisted off the cap, and took a swig. He exhaled comfortably, alcohol vapor surging from his nostrils in wisps of orange-red flames.
Wright drank more slowly but equally casually, flames coming from his nose as he asked Melvin:
“I heard you rented the memory projection mirror to Madam Rosmerta, letting her play Quidditch matches in the tavern, which brought in a lot of business. You get a share of the increased profits. How much is the mirror rental? Making good money?”
“The projection mirror is free. The match profits go to buying new broomsticks for the teams. I only take a commission.”
“Specifically, how much are you making?”
“Four hundred galleons……”
Melvin looked at him suspiciously, suspecting the repair shop owner wanted in on this business too, but he didn’t mind—after all, Melvin had invented the memory projection mirror: “Why are you asking? Does someone else want to buy a mirror? Just sell it directly.”
“No, you came up with the idea and provided the funding for me to develop it. I can’t claim the projection mirror for myself.”
“Does the Monkstanley family have such professional ethics?”
“Thank you for the praise.”
“Then why ask about the rental and profits?”
“This matter is a bit complicated……”
Wright took a sip of whiskey, waiting for the flames in his nose to subside. About to explain in detail, he saw the unopened bottle in front of him and couldn’t help asking: “Why aren’t you drinking?”
“Yeah, give it a try.” Hagrid immediately chimed in, his voice already sounding a bit drunk. He stood up and headed to the back of the bar: “You guys drink up. I need to use the toilet. I’ve had a lot today……”
Wright signaled him to go ahead, saying he’d take good care of Melvin.
The half-giant left the round table unsteadily, several gazes in the tavern following his back as he went.
“Uh……”
Melvin paused briefly. After all, they were school professors—even on holiday, they couldn’t tarnish Hogwarts’ image outside. So he reached into his clothes pocket, rummaged around, and pulled out a goblet.
He uncorked the bottle and poured a glass of wizard-brewed whiskey. Orange-red flames immediately rose in the glass goblet.
Wright was stunned, glanced at the glass cup, then at his now-flat pocket: “Undetectable Extension Charm?”
Melvin nodded silently, took a sip of the whiskey. The flames weren’t scorching, just a bit spicy.
Wright frowned, his expression suddenly serious: “Is that pocket of yours legal?”
Melvin looked at him puzzled: “I’m a foreign wizard. Why should I follow British Ministry of Magic laws?”
“Don’t fool me! The Woolworth Building also bans misuse of the Undetectable Extension Charm!”
“I’m in Scotland. Why should I follow American Ministry of Magic laws?”
“You…… This…… I……”
Wright was dumbfounded. The Monkstanley family had always been model law-abiding wizards. Even opening his repair shop had taken him years of agonizing struggle, and only recently had he grown bolder. He’d never met someone who danced on the edge of the law like this.
“Then why did you ask me last time at the tavern if the extension charm was legal?”
“You’re a local wizard. You should obey the law.”
Melvin waved it off, telling him not to worry about such details: “Forget the Undetectable Extension Charm. Let’s talk business.”
Wright gripped the bottle tightly, like clenching a fist, feeling a chest full of words he wanted to report this guy to the Ministry of Magic and Ministry of Magic by letter, but thinking of his own illegal shop, he held back:
“Old Tom at the Leaky Cauldron knows about the projection mirror too. He wants to buy one and cooperate like the Three Broomsticks model: you provide the mirror, he provides the tavern, and split the monthly profits directly.”
“You’re mistaken.” Melvin corrected, “The projection mirror was lent to Madam Rosmerta for free. It’s a school cooperation with the Three Broomsticks using Quidditch events. They split the profits, and I just take a commission.”
“Then Old Tom is willing to give the school a split too, letting you take a commission.”
“What I mean is, if the Leaky Cauldron wants a projection mirror, Old Tom has to pay.”
“?”
Wright wanted to press further, but Melvin suddenly turned to look toward the bar’s back door and asked softly:
“Hasn’t Hagrid been in the toilet a bit too long this time?”
