Kael first took a turn around the entrance hall, showed his face a bit, and only used Apparition after he was sure no one was following him.
And after walking out of the phone booth, Kael didn't hurry back either, but wandered around outside for a while.
It was close to dusk, and there were many people on the street, but they were all in a rush, looking anxious to get home. No one spared Kael a second glance.
It wasn't until twenty minutes later that Kael finally confirmed that no one really was following him.
Looked like Voldemort had really let him go.
How to put it… he was definitely happy, but at the same time Kael was a bit puzzled.
Seventy Death Eaters could basically be said to have died because of Kael, and among them was even Voldemort's diehard fan, Bellatrix Lestrange.
And that's just it? That really didn't sound like his style.
As for whether Bellatrix might not be dead… Kael never even considered that. Taking a Basilisk bite head‑on— even if it were Voldemort himself, he'd have to be boiled again afterwards.
Kael stood there for a while and then stopped thinking about it.
Anyway, not being tailed was a good thing no matter how you looked at it. This discovery put Kael in a great mood; he even ate half a bowl more at dinner.
And it wasn't just him.
Recently, the amount eaten at dinner had gone up quite a bit compared to usual, mainly because the three kids from the Weasley family had suddenly bigger appetites, especially Ron. Every time he came back he wolfed down his food like he was cramming three meals into dinner.
At the same time, the way he looked at Kael was getting fiercer and fiercer, like he might pounce over and bite him at any moment.
Fortunately, today Cedric helped share some of the fire, because most of the files Kael had sorted were ones Cedric had delivered.
Ron racked his brains but still couldn't figure out how Cedric managed to do so much every day— from recovering Magic experiment items, to catching Fantastic Beasts wandering around on Muggle Streets, to moonlighting in other departments helping erase Muggle memories.
It seemed like he was everywhere.
It was just that all these things ended up being written up as reports… which Ron had to write.
After all, everyone else was busy out in the field and had no time; only he was stuck in the office.
Ron felt that all the words he'd written in his six years of schooling added together still weren't as many as what he'd written in the past half month.
It was precisely because of this that he found Cedric more and more of an eyesore, but with Mrs. Weasley around, he didn't dare do anything too out of line.
Cedric's room had been arranged on the third floor, not far from Kael's. The next day, before anyone else had gotten up, the two of them had already finished breakfast and headed for the Ministry of Magic.
Mainly because Kael wanted to hurry up and get this done and collect his payment.
It was 1,800 Galleons— what if Bones went back on her word? Better to have it in hand to feel at ease.
...
From dawn to sunset, without realizing it, the two of them had been busy for another whole day, but at least all the Communication Coins were finished.
"Why do I feel like helping you is even more exhausting than my usual work?" Cedric leaned back in his chair, rubbing his forehead with his fingers.
After two straight days of concentrating on drawing Magic Text Talismans, his hands weren't just sore; his head felt like it was about to burst. He was dizzy all over and just wanted a good sleep.
Ever since graduating, it had been a long time since he'd felt like this… no, strictly speaking, even back at Hogwarts he'd rarely felt this way.
Even so, Cedric still looked at another lump of metal. "So what's this one for, made to look like a Knut?"
"No." Kael shook his head. "This has another use. You go back and rest first; I can handle it on my own."
"You don't need my help?"
"No, this part's simple." Kael took out a bottle of blue Magic Potion and took a swig, then handed another bottle to Cedric.
This bit, of course, was the stuff needed to make the badges.
It wasn't that he didn't trust Cedric— mainly, Bones had written in the Magic Contract that the matter of the special badges could only be known to her and Kael; they couldn't tell a third person.
But there was one thing Kael wasn't wrong about: this thing really was very simple. It only needed three pieces of Magic Text, and he could draw them on as he finished transforming the shape.
So Kael took a deep breath and spent more than another three hours, finally, before nightfall, producing a batch of badges that matched the number of Communication Coins.
Only the special badges, though.
Kael certainly wasn't going to take on the entire Ministry of Magic's needs… that would be a different price.