"That's him, that rule-breaking bastard."
One of the werewolf wizards pointed at Mundungus and shouted, "This guy uses our channels, but not only does he refuse to pay, he's got sticky fingers too."
"We got lucky today. I thought we'd come up empty, but he actually came back on his own," another werewolf wizard said.
This was a squad of werewolf wizards responsible for keeping order in Knockturn Alley. During the purge of the Wilders, they were also in charge of rounding up rule-breakers.
"Enough talking. Grab him first. Beat him up a little, then hand him over to the Aurors."
The werewolf wizards searched him first, then quickly tied up the bewildered Mundungus.
"Wait... let me go!"
Mundungus shouted and struggled, but no one paid him any attention.
"Boss, he doesn't have anything dangerous on him, but he does have a money pouch. He hid it really well," one of the werewolf wizards said to the squad captain.
"Put the money back. We have discipline. We can't let those idiots from Squad Two look down on us."
The captain waved a hand and stuffed the money pouch back onto Mundungus.
"Let's go. Take him back and question him first."
The werewolf squad took Mundungus away. Along the way, the werewolf wizards kept talking about how lucky they had been today.
Escorted along under guard, Mundungus felt his heart sink. He looked up and asked, "Why do you keep saying you're lucky?"
"What's it to you? Shut up." A young werewolf irritably smacked Mundungus on the back of the head.
"Hey, cut it out. Wait until we get there. Don't let outsiders see." An older werewolf stopped him, then glanced at Mundungus and said, "It's less that we're lucky and more that you're unlucky. We've been staking this place out for three days. We were about to leave today, and then you showed up."
My luck is bad? Mine?
Mundungus stared blankly for a moment, then suddenly jumped up and shouted, "Quick! Quick, take my money! Take it away!"
For the first time in his life, Mundungus realized he was truly terrified of his own money pouch. The little darlings he had always loved most now looked like death itself coming for him.
"Is this guy crazy?" the young werewolf muttered. "He's actually telling us to take all his money."
"You don't know shit. That's bribery in disguise. If you really took it, you'd be the one getting played," the older werewolf said. "And forget about getting a good evaluation later. Applying for that enhanced Wolfsbane Potion would get a lot harder too."
"He's that sneaky?" The moment he heard it could affect his application for the enhanced Wolfsbane Potion, the young werewolf flew into a rage. He glared viciously at Mundungus and knocked him out with one slap.
"Hey... why did you hit him again?"
"I can't stand looking at him. He's disgusting."
Mundungus heard none of that. Before he lost consciousness, all he felt was regret.
Why did I have to be so damn itchy-fingered and take that Galleon?
...
"You're saying this kind of Curse can make a person's luck worse?" In the botanical garden, Midgard was holding Claudia in her arms, resting in the shade beneath a giant Venomous Tentacula. On her hand, protected by a dragon-hide glove, was a gleaming golden Galleon.
This was not the one from Mundungus. It was another Galleon Leonard had made.
"Mm. This is the Curse You-Know-Who placed on the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts. It doesn't directly harm people. All it does is make their luck worse, raising the odds of all kinds of low-probability incidents."
Also wearing dragon-hide gloves, Leonard took the coin back from Midgard.
A Curse didn't distinguish between friend and foe. If he touched this Galleon himself, he would be cursed too.
"Does the curse transfer?" Midgard asked.
"It transfers along with the carrier. It's mainly attached to the vessel itself. As long as this coin is spent or thrown away, the effects of the curse end and the person's luck returns to normal."
Leonard turned the Galleon over in his fingers. "But on the Galleon I gave Mundungus, I added a spell similar to a love potion. Even if he realizes there's something wrong with it, he still won't be able to bear throwing it away."
Having nearly been set up by a girl with a love potion before, Leonard naturally had no intention of giving up his research into how love potions worked.
He found that by studying the flow of magic in a love potion and using it as a template to alter the magical flow within certain objects, he could make those objects give off an unparalleled allure.
The only requirement was close contact. Just seeing the object from a distance would not trigger the effect.
A Galleon was a coin made from magical metal, rich in magic and perfectly suited for this kind of modification, so he had chosen a Galleon as the vessel when he added the Curse.
A gold coin that lured in its holder and kept bringing them bad luck. That was cool as hell.
"Mundungus... I think I've seen that name before. He seems to be a rule-breaker, someone extremely sensitive to danger, very cunning, and impossible to catch." Midgard fell silent for a moment. "If what you said is true, and his luck is getting worse... then my wolf cubs will probably catch him."
"If they catch him, they catch him. He's not important anyway." Leonard had no attachment to such an insignificant test subject.
"What about that cursed coin? Aren't you going to recover it?" Midgard asked.
"Why recover it? Isn't it more interesting to let it circulate out in the world?" Leonard said with a smile.
Midgard frowned. "The impact could be serious."
"No, not really." Leonard shook his head. "First, the Curse only targets individuals. It won't affect an entire family. Second, the attraction magic derived from the love potion isn't that strong. Anyone with a firm enough will can shake it off easily."
"And besides..." Leonard rubbed his chin. "Money is only money when it circulates. As for those people who like stuffing Galleons into their vaults and leaving them there to rot... they deserve their bad luck."
Curled up in Midgard's arms, Claudia tilted her head and looked at Leonard.
Her instincts told her Leonard just wanted to enjoy the spectacle. He was definitely up to no good.
But she had no intention of saying so. She simply reached out to Leonard and said, "Leonard, hug."
Leonard smiled indulgently and took Claudia from Midgard's arms.
Leonard had shot up in height recently. At twelve, he was already 1.7 meters tall, and he would probably grow to 1.9 meters. Carrying Claudia, who was 1.5 meters tall, was effortless for him.
Claudia nestled contentedly in Leonard's arms, clinging to him like a koala.
Midgard watched the two of them with an aunt-like smile. Then she suddenly remembered something and said to Leonard, "Right, about that matter with the German werewolves last time..."