Harry Potter: Transmigrated Detective Link

"Link..." Professor McGonagall lowered her voice and called out to Link.

She felt that Link was being a bit too bold, no matter how easygoing Dumbledore usually was, he still had a temper in the end.

However, Link completely ignored her and continued to confront Dumbledore head-on.

After a long while, Dumbledore suddenly laughed. He looked at Link with amusement and said, "Do you know, Link, just now your expression reminded me of Severus. You two really are so alike!"

Link said nothing, simply continued to silently look at him.

This made Dumbledore sigh. Then he sat back behind the claw-footed table and said, "Then let's hear it, Link. Let me see what reason you possibly have that would make me do this."

Upon hearing this, the corners of Link's mouth curled into a meaningful smile as he said, "At present, my godmother is in contact with 12 Hogwarts Board of Governors members, including the Shafiq family, and is attempting through peaceful negotiations to replace one or more of the governors."

As soon as Link finished speaking, the expressions on Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall's faces turned serious.

Especially Professor McGonagall, she tightly pressed her lips together, so hard that the color drained from her once-rosy lips.

Such a strong reaction wasn't actually her fault. Because Hogwarts actually only had two sources of financial support. One was policy support from the Ministry of Magic.

For example, students could buy magic wands at extremely low prices. Or for example, Muggle-born students could exchange Muggle currency at Gringotts within a limited quota every term.

These were all part of special financial aid policies formulated by the Ministry of Magic.

Otherwise, what would wizards want pounds for? Wouldn't they just happily use a Gemino Curse to duplicate gold instead?

But although the Ministry of Magic could provide assistance in these areas, it was a different matter when it came to areas needing real gold and silver.

This was when the Board of Governors came into play.

The Hogwarts Board of Governors consisted of 12 members. Each year, these governors contributed enormous sums of money to maintain expenses such as professors' salaries, material losses for Potions and Alchemy classes, the daily repair and upkeep of the Hogwarts castle, and financial aid for a very small number of underprivileged students.

And because they held the purse strings of Hogwarts, the governors had an unparalleled level of control over the school.

Not only did their children have the right to ride in the exclusive governors' carriage on the Hogwarts Express, they themselves also had the authority to dismiss any Hogwarts staff member, including the Headmaster.

As for whether the Flamel family could participate in Board of Governors decisions, Professor McGonagall had no doubt about that.

Because under heavy pressure from the Ministry and successive headmasters, Hogwarts had never developed any institutions capable of generating economic profits, such as "on-campus shops" or "paid canteens."

This meant that investing in Hogwarts was a completely losing proposition for the governors.

No, calling it a business would be too generous. This was pure charity.

The only thing the governors could gain from this was the social status and positive public image that came with being a Hogwarts governor.

The current 12 governors were all people who had escaped judgment during Voldemort's purge era by various means.

And the reason they became Hogwarts governors was simply to use that layer of prestige to whitewash their dark pasts.

But now, it had been more than ten years since Voldemort's fall. Those who could be washed clean had mostly been washed. The rest were probably beyond help no matter how much you washed.

For example, the Malfoy family.

Besides, the amount of money governors had to contribute to Hogwarts every year was truly a huge sum. So Professor McGonagall figured that if the Flamel family truly wanted to take over a governor's seat, the original governors would probably be so happy they'd jump for joy.

And once the Flamel family became Hogwarts governors, then using the Board's power to pressure Dumbledore into investigating Draco Malfoy would be perfectly justified.

For a moment, Professor McGonagall had the urge to throw Link out the window. In her opinion, using political and monetary pressure in this way was utterly despicable.

But Dumbledore didn't think the same. Based on what he knew of Link, he didn't believe Link could do something so low-level.

Sure enough, after pausing briefly, Link smiled again and said, "Ah, Professor Dumbledore, you wouldn't believe how enthusiastic those governors were. As soon as they heard that the Flamel family intended to replace them, they immediately expressed full support for pushing the matter forward."

"In fact… they even couldn't wait to hand over all the past years' account ledgers between Hogwarts and the Board of Governors to my godmother. And from them, I discovered some very egregious behavior."

At this point, Link looked at Dumbledore, who had straightened slightly, a blue light flashing in his eyes.

Then he pulled out a piece of parchment from his robes and read aloud, "For example, in this report from last year, it shows that Professor of Divination Sybill Trelawney spent a total of 1,034 Galleons and 12 Sickles on purchasing Chinese tea and Scottish Firewhisky."

"I'm very puzzled, Professor Dumbledore. Although tea leaf divination is indeed a part of Divination class, what's the deal with Firewhisky? I don't recall hearing about alcohol divination?"

"Furthermore, according to data, most students believe Divination is an unnecessary subject, because they simply cannot predict the future as Professor Trelawney claims. After graduation, they can't even find jobs that use any divination knowledge. So I seriously question whether this subject needs to continue at all."

"Also, regarding the procurement price of powdered valerian root in Potions class, I don't understand why something that sells for 2 Galleons in Diagon Alley is listed here at 20 Galleons per unit."

"Some professors' salaries haven't increased in many years, but the Board's annual budget for professors' salaries keeps going up."

"And then there's—"

"Enough." Dumbledore's voice was cold as he interrupted Link.

And Link obediently shut his mouth.

"The investigation into whether Draco Malfoy is the heir will officially begin tomorrow."

"I'm sorry for forcing you this way, but please believe me, Professor Dumbledore, I won't let you down."

Link placed the parchment on Dumbledore's desk and said sincerely, "In addition, next year Hogwarts' funding will not be reduced in any way. On the contrary, my godmother considers your act of sheltering Mr. Filch and other Squibs extremely noble. She will further increase her investment in Hogwarts."

With that, Link called out to Harry and walked toward the office doors.

Just as they were about to walk out of the office, Dumbledore's slightly hoarse voice sounded again behind Link.

"Link, I take back what I said earlier about you being like Severus."

Link stopped and turned his head. He saw Dumbledore smiling at him and saying, "You're much better than Severus."

"Thank you for your praise." Link bowed deeply.

═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═

patreon.com/AmbitiousTranslator

🥳Joining Patreon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 20 advance chapter through Patreon.

https://discord.gg/bYAfGyp98y