The Day of the Draw at Hogwarts

Jim Harker, the newly appointed Secretary of State for Administrative Affairs, has been in a bit of trouble lately. One commentator published a bureaucracy-bashing article in which Harker was mentioned—not a good thing to be in, of course—by saying that Harker had failed to deliver on his political promise to streamline the administration. A fatal blow to a politician. "Huck should be fired, at least one person's salary can be saved." This sentence frightened Huck, so he determined to launch a "thrift movement."

As a newbie in politics, Huck still retains a certain degree of kindness. He is really willing to do something, so he is really ready to implement his promise, which naturally encounters crazy resistance from the civil service system.

Therefore, after the "thrift movement" began, Huck's life suffered a lot of inconveniences. His driver was transferred, the "tea lady" was gone, secretary Bernard had no subordinates, and many things had to be done. I have to do everything personally, and the whole person is as busy as a clock. As the night cleaners were also laid off, cleaning hours were changed to daytime hours, and the administrative affairs department was filled with noise.

The more fatal thing happened later. By "an unexpected combination of circumstances", the document that Huck was supposed to discuss with others about layoffs was sent to the union representative. This was a layoff! How could the union representatives endure it? They directly organized people to "rush" Huck.

The house leaked and it rained all night. Tonight, Huck had a banquet organized by the French ambassador to attend. As a result, on the way to the French Embassy, ​​it rained heavily and Huck's car stalled! It was raining heavily in the sky, which really fulfilled the saying: the heaven and the earth work together to transport the hero away, but he is not free. Huck's wife Anne couldn't bear it anymore and turned back home. Huck heads to the embassy in the rain—he dare not miss the party. The French have narrower minds than horses. If Huck breaks the promise this time, it will be an extremely bad diplomatic incident.

How small-minded are the French? As small as the defense of foreign students, if you dare to use English to defend, you will face endless questions that will make you doubt life and feel like a waste. Finally, the teacher will add a question: Why do you use English for your defense?

"You should study French well!" Professors from all subjects like to say this.

If the defense is in French, the world line will change. No matter how heavy your accent is, the professors will maintain a pleasant mood, and finally say very kindly - wow, your report was really good~, I still have a few small questions...

Not a difficult one.

When Huck arrived at the French embassy, ​​he looked like a homeless man. At first, the French didn't believe it: Didn't you bring the British ministers with a bus?

When the ambassador came out, he was shocked to find that this guy was really a minister of the British Empire! Everyone was shocked.

After Huck drunkenly walked out of the embassy after having had enough food and wine, changed into clean clothes, and drunkenly, the rain had stopped. The French very considerately provided Huck with a Renault car, but the "careless" staff forgot to assign a driver to Mr. Huck.

He walked to the borrowed car, but the key fell into the sewer. He could only lie on the ground and try to fish out the key. At this time, he was in a miserable state, and what was even worse was that his appearance was photographed by two reporters!

This is what Huck goes through when Tom meets him.

Huck was almost broken.

Seeing how drunk he was, Tom walked up to him and pointed toward the sewer, causing Huck's car keys to fly up.

"Sir, your car keys." Tom handed him the keys.

"Ah, thank you, hiccup -" Huck burped. After taking the key, he opened the car door with trembling hands, sat down on the passenger seat, and then made a gesture of holding the steering wheel.

"Why didn't the steering wheel respond when I turned it up today? Where's my accelerator? Yeah? The brake is gone too!"

Tom covered his face: This guy is so drunk! If he were to drive in such a state, wouldn't it mean he was going to die? I'm afraid it would be very troublesome if caught by the police, right?

At this time, Tom still didn't know Huck's identity - for political figures, he only knew the appearance of the Prime Minister. In addition, he didn't know any other big figures such as the Speaker and the Leader of the Opposition. After all, these days, the media of information are still newspapers and television, and ministers like Huck are not highly exposed.

Not to mention the 1990s, even thirty years later, when information circulated at the speed of light, ordinary people would probably only know the British Prime Minister, and perhaps the Speaker who liked to shout "order" among the top British officials.

If he knew Huck's identity, at least he wouldn't have to worry about him being picked up by the police. Ministers at Huck's level have something called a "Silver Traffic Badge", which is a privilege given to ministers by the Emperor, allowing them to drive into the cordon or park in a no-parking area - theoretically for drunk driving. Useless, but immunity is actually available.

The traffic police can only report it to the authorities, and the minister only needs to make a trip to the Ministry of Interior to ensure that he can cross the border safely without making any mistakes next time. If there is a honeymoon period with the Cabinet Secretariat, then there is no need to even go to the Home Ministry.

Tom looked at Huck who was trying to start the car on the passenger side and understood that this man was now unconscious. He always felt that just leaving him here seemed irresponsible to him and to the pedestrians. Out of a trace of compassion in his heart, Tom scratched his head and said to Ron behind him: "You should be able to drive an ordinary car, right?"

Ron put his head through the car window, glanced at the dashboard, and confidently expressed that he could definitely drive this car.

Thanks to the fact that there was not much car work in the 1990s, Ron could drive a Ford, and naturally he could also drive a Renault owned by the French Embassy.

"The water is as clear as a spring!" "Recover as before!"

A spring of water came out from the tip of Tom's stick, and the cold water hit Huck's face, and then a ray of light came over. Huck woke up the next moment, and his brain, which had been numbed by alcohol, resumed operation.

"Ah, I - oh, thank you!" He responded, murmuring his thanks, and at the same time tried to climb into the driver's seat with some embarrassment.

Tom looked at the completely dark night sky, and then at the deserted street - it was undoubtedly difficult to take a taxi at this point, so he stopped Huck, "Sir, you are so drunk, don't drive." Well, let’s take you back. But in return, can you lend us your car and we’ll drive it to Charing Cross Street.”

Huck hesitated for two seconds and then agreed. He was very confident. This was London. As a dignified cabinet minister, he would not have his car stolen. Those MI6 agents were not just for free. Maybe they were helpless against American and Soviet spies, but there was still no problem in catching the car thieves.

"Of course!" He agreed happily, then he gave up the driving seat and told Tom his home address.

After the car started, Tom asked Huck curiously: "Why did two reporters just take a picture of you?"

"Reporter? What reporter?" Huck, who was a little drunk after getting in the car, suddenly sobered up. He immediately realized the seriousness of the problem: he advocated the "frugal movement", but ended up lying drunk on the street. What does it look like? !

He could already think of the headlines in tomorrow's newspapers: "Master of Economy lying drunk in gutter after champagne party", "Huck exhausted and out of control after ambassador's reception", "Minister of Administrative Affairs over-excited like a fool".

He collapsed weakly on the seat, "I am Huck, just an unlucky guy..."

"Huck?" Tom suddenly turned to look at this man. Indeed, he was well-dressed and the probability was high. "That Huck?"

"Yes, that Huck, have you heard of me?" Huck raised his head.

"I heard that the driver mentioned you when we were in a taxi before. He thought you would be fired soon."

Huck covered his face.

Tom suddenly had a bold idea.

"Mr. Harker, it seems we can help you," he asked Ron to stop the car immediately. Now that the two reporters had not gone far, he saw that their clothes had just disappeared at the corner of the street.

Before the car stopped, he jumped out of the car and ran towards the two reporters. In fact, those two people were not reporters, they were just paparazzi who made a living by secretly taking private photos of celebrities and then selling them to newspapers.

When the two were excitedly discussing which newspaper they should sell the photos to, Tom ran towards them quickly. The paparazzi's intuition made them realize something was wrong, so they tried to run away.

"All forgotten!" Two white lights flashed, and the two people's expressions became confused. Tom also took the opportunity to take their cameras and cut out the film inside.

By the time they came to their senses, Tom was already gone.

Those two people had completely forgotten what happened tonight.

"Huh -" Tom exhaled and threw the film to Huck, "Here are the negatives, keep them. Don't worry, no one will remember what happened tonight."

Huck:!

"You won't..." He suddenly panicked. The man in front of him wouldn't silence those two paparazzi!

"Don't worry, no one was hurt." Tom could tell at a glance that Huck had misunderstood. "If you're worried, you can read the newspaper tomorrow. I promise you it will be as if nothing happened tonight."

Huck still looked suspicious and dubious. But when Ron drove the car to his home under his guidance, he relaxed a lot.

"Anyway, thank you for today." Huck and Tom shook hands one by one. "How about we go up and have a cup of hot tea before we go?" Huck glanced at his apartment and thought for a while. Out of courtesy, he extended an invitation to the three young men.

Tom was naturally more respectful than obeying orders, so five minutes later, they appeared in the living room of Huck's house, with black tea brewed by Mrs. Huck, Anne, in front of them.

"Your situation doesn't seem promising?"

When a few people got together, it was naturally impossible to just drink tea. They naturally chatted, and the topic turned to Huck's own situation.

Huck sighed, "The work of the Administrative Affairs Department is indeed not going well. As you all know, I took the initiative to launch a conservation action. As a result, I just found out that in order to implement my action, the department actually has to add 400 civil servants! Let them come Do thorough research and gather facts and figures…”

Huck looked unusually depressed.

"These measures all require manpower." Huck picked up his black tea. At this time, he had the urge to change the tea to whiskey so that he could get drunk. "If I still insist on implementing the Conquest Department Supervision Office, I will Four hundred more new positions! Damn it!”

Tom, Harry and Ron:…

They all saw something fishy. It was obvious that someone was dissatisfied with Huck's new policy and adopted this attitude of passive resistance.

When Huck talked about this topic, he only felt a huge headache and he didn't know what to do.

Tom thought for a while, "I have an idea, maybe I can help you."

"Oh?" Huck became slightly more energetic, but he didn't have much hope for this: What could an enthusiastic middle-aged man of unknown origin and two children come up with?

"You can pause the economy drive, stop building the Office of the Building Inspectorate, so you can say in the press release that you succeeded in eliminating eight hundred jobs."

Huck: Ah this...

"In fact, I believe that your cabinet secretary must have drafted such a proposal and is just waiting for your signature!"

Huck:!

His remaining conscience made him hesitate: "But no one has taken up these positions yet!"

"Then you can also count the eight hundred redundancy pay as performance." Tom didn't care about this. Huck needed a solution, so he proposed a solution-it didn't cause any bad effects anyway. Britain's problems cannot be solved by an austerity campaign. This country is like a broken car that's going downhill. You don't have to hit the brakes, but it's better not to hit the accelerator all over the place.

"You just took office, so you shouldn't reveal too many ambitions before you have a stable footing. In the future, after you get to know the department, you will naturally be able to allocate people to do what you want to do."

This sentence touched Huck.

Tom glanced at the wall clock and said, "At this point, your secretary should have fallen asleep. Why not give him a call and ask him to prepare this proposal."

Huck and Tom smiled at each other, thinking it would be fun to do this.

"Hampie~" Soon, Huck's energetic voice sounded in the living room.

"Yes, Minister!" The conversation ended with an old, weak and sleepy voice. After putting down the phone, Huck felt refreshed.

Anne frowned and thought for a moment, then said, "My dear, you seem to have forgotten to tell Humphrey to add the redundancy pay."

"Ha! Yes!" Huck reached for the phone, and Annie held him down. "Call back in fifteen minutes."

The two looked at each other and smiled.

After successfully waking up Sir Humphrey from his sleep twice, who had been causing trouble to Huck, the atmosphere in the living room became much happier. Huck and Tom also chatted more happily.

"To tell you the truth, I am actually a novelist and part-time cartoonist, and these two are my students." Tom opened his mouth with various identities, "A minister like you must have a lot of exciting materials, right?"

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