Re: In Hogsmeade...
'Good, so now we are talking business. You may be more useful than I thought, when you first came to my door. You obviously need to let go of that polite ministerial surface first.' Rodolphus smiled, this time more kindly. The young man did indeed know how this game was played, almost as if it was inherent.
'No, Mr Pucey, I do not take anybody anywhere for free. That is not how I am. Nothing in this life is free; any interaction between sentient beings is some kind of trade. Courtesy for courtesy, service for service. Never free.' Rodolphus stood. He needed to walk around a bit, as if to make sure he was able to get out of the room.
'You ask what you can have in return? Well... that is where you are going to risk something. I have an agreement with the Minister, and if things go as I would like them to, society will indeed see me has the starving son, returning to feast on forgiveness and be grateful for it. I am going to help the Minister all I possibly can, and unless the Minister falls, I am going to be there, next to him, at some point. He has already promised me... a position of some standing for it. Your ambition is to become Head Auror? I suggest you hang on for the ride as I need people who knows how this works when I leave this pathetic little house to move up. And it will happen, Mr Pucey. I am not merely sitting here idly, watching the rest of my life - the life the Minister so generously offered me back - go by. I have money, the Minister has promised me power. You, if you chose to, will be the hand with wich I wield it.'
Rodolphus took a deep breath and knew he had said too much. Well, he could always Obliviate the man, but he vastly preferred to convince him that attaching himself to a former Death Eater would actually benefit him in various ways. 'It works the other way around too. I always pay for services rendered.'