[194] The Glass Between Worlds

Russell was speechless for a moment. Shocked? Of course he was shocked.

"I thought you were looking for me about the Ministry of Magic…" Russell hesitated before speaking directly.

Hall raised an eyebrow. "Why would you think that?"

Russell's face stiffened.

Hall spread his hands. "You know the situation with the people you can use, and I know it too. Not to mention the Saints, just the Rosier family alone cannot shake the election for Minister for Magic." He spoke the truth. "If you could really do that, I'd have to question whether the Ministry of Magic even has any reason to exist."

Russell's face stiffened again. The truth was the truth, but spoken too bluntly, it was somewhat hurtful. According to his aunt's plan, all the Saints' families would mobilise to promote the candidate Hall had chosen. Who would've thought Hall hadn't even considered relying on them?

Russell felt embarrassed. In Hall's heart, the Saints and pure-blood families weren't as important as he'd imagined. But combined with what his aunt had said earlier, Russell was able to quickly adjust. He even felt Hall was more powerful than he'd imagined.

"Anyway, is there a problem with the magazine?" Hall steered the conversation back.

What Hall didn't directly tell Russell was that he didn't use the Saints' power simply because he didn't trust them enough. Relationships between people are bound by mutual interests. Once upon a time, the Saints' interests and Grindelwald's were aligned. Many years had passed, and they still believed in Grindelwald, but that didn't mean they'd transfer that belief to Hall. Hall could trust them to make money from the war — everyone wanted to make money. But he'd never rely on the Saints to develop his own network.

The magazine was about making money, so Hall didn't mind entrusting it to Russell.

Russell was unaware of Hall's complex thoughts. He simply felt this was Hall's trust in him. He couldn't betray that under any circumstances. Although Hall's ideas were truly outrageous...

"I will definitely do this well!" Russell said loudly, his eyes filled with determination.

Hall nodded. The boss speaks, the subordinates run themselves ragged. Should he reflect? No, no, no. Maintaining a good relationship with Russell was indirectly maintaining a good relationship with the Saints. Win-win-win.

The next day, the Weasley family packed their things and departed from London, boarding a plane to Romania.

Arthur was exceptionally excited from the moment they boarded. The flight had two seats per row — the Weasley family of eight occupied exactly two rows. Arthur excitedly squeezed into a window seat.

"Oh! This is absolutely amazing! An airplane? I think this should be called Muggle ingenuity!"

Arthur didn't care about the looks from others. This was a Muggle-made, Muggle-piloted giant iron bird that could fly in the sky. If it weren't inappropriate, he'd have liked to buy one and take it apart himself.

Molly glanced helplessly at her excited husband. "Your father paid for the plane tickets, so let's consider his feelings."

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The twins sat in the same row as the Weasleys so they could keep an eye on them. Ron sat with Hall. But then Ginny would have to sit with Percy, so Hall sat next to Ginny while Percy sat with Ron.

Ron's face was pale — he was terrified. Percy also looked pale, experiencing severe motion sickness the moment the plane took off.

"Motion sickness pills. Taking one now might not work, but there's a chance it'll help." Hall handed Percy a pill he'd prepared.

Percy didn't care about anything else at that moment. He took it and quickly swallowed it.

Ginny looked at Hall with a strange expression. "Brother seems to know everything. He's made so many preparations. When we were buying tickets, it was brother who reminded Dad to exchange Galleons for pounds."

Mr. Weasley, who knew nothing about the Muggle world, had almost tried to buy the plane tickets with Galleons. Fortunately, thanks to Hall's reminder, that didn't happen.

"Of course, it's because I've learned about the Muggle world," Hall said with a smile. "If I can't survive in the wizarding world, the Muggle world would be perfect for me."

Ginny looked apologetic. She'd almost forgotten — she'd mentioned Hall's most painful past.

Hall waved dismissively. "The Squib past doesn't mean anything to me anymore."

There were regrets. He'd finally managed to transmigrate to a magical world but couldn't learn magic... but that didn't affect his ambition to become the richest man. If the Squib couldn't become the richest man in the wizarding world, he'd conquer the Muggle world. Hall knew very well what was most profitable in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. He wouldn't succumb to self-pity.

As the plane landed, Arthur still wore a reluctant expression. "Two and a half hours was far too short! I think it could've easily been two and a half hours longer!"

He hadn't seen enough of the scenery yet.

"Two more hours, and your son would be gone!" Molly rolled her eyes, then turned to Percy with concern. "Percy, are you alright, dear?"

Percy's face was still pale. "I'm fine, Mum. After taking the medicine Hall gave me, I felt much better, but during the descent... Merlin's socks!"

As he spoke, Percy couldn't hold it in any longer and began to vomit violently.

Hall shrugged under Molly's loving gaze. "Not my doing."

People with severe airsickness vomited most during takeoff and landing. Percy was no exception.

Arthur wholeheartedly agreed. "Takeoff and landing are the most thrilling moments! Compared to that, the flight itself is so smooth! How do they do that? Are airplanes expensive? Can we buy one as a souvenir?"

Arthur's eyes sparkled.

"..."

Hall hadn't expected Arthur to be thinking about buying an airplane. "An airplane starts at least in the tens of millions. Converted to Galleons, that's roughly two million Galleons. Dad, do we have that much money?"

Arthur's lips moved, but he remained silent.

Molly rolled her eyes again. "Get rid of those unrealistic thoughts!"

Two million Galleons? Even if the entire Weasley family pooled their money, they couldn't scrape together that much.

The twins seemed interested too. "We can't buy one, but could we build one ourselves? Hall, you definitely know where to find a way!"

Hall wanted to roll his eyes. The twins really thought highly of him. But... Hall actually did know. "If you're curious, buy some Muggle books — mechanics, physics, mechanical engineering. Actually, you could wait until you graduate from Hogwarts and then apply to Muggle universities. You're the perfect age. You can learn almost everything you're interested in at university."

Fred and George shuddered. "Good heavens, George! I think I heard Hall say something terrifying!"

"Yeah, Fred! Is it really possible for someone to graduate from Hogwarts and go back to a place like that?"

They looked at each other and burst into laughter.

Hall rolled his eyes but said nothing. Actually, he was considering this question himself. A university diploma was certainly useless in the wizarding world, but quite useful in the Muggle world. His memories from his past life made him particularly concerned about university. Fortunately, he'd only be a third-year when school started. He had four years to decide.

"Hall... you're not going to make me take this university entrance exam too, are you?" Ron looked at him with a worried expression.

Hall gave Ron a look and remained silent.

Ron became even more anxious, practically circling around Hall.

The twins and Ginny couldn't help but laugh.