"You would better watching to be sure that undesirables don't end up ruining my day," Rodolphus pointed out, because if the man was challenging him there were ways that that could be dealt with. Or, he amended with a bitter sort of smirk, that had been, when he wasn't so concerned about the Ministry plans.
When precisely he'd become a toady in a suit, he wasn't sure. He'd have liked to take enough offense at the man's insolence to make him bleed - skin him and hang him in the fountain as an example. He knew his Lord would frown on that now though, there were definite plans that were too precious for another show like that to interrupt. Even when the hold they had on the Prophet, he knew that would make news.
His wife, on the other hand, might have been all too glad to do so. He was disappointed, for a moment, that it wasn't she who'd misheard the watchwizard.