John had not been impressed by the two magicals he had met in December 1990. The Minister for Magic had come across as a pompous moron wearing a lime-green bowler. The headmaster with the ridiculous beard had made John Major feel he should count all the silverware, as soon as the halfpenny Merlin left the building through the fireplace with suddenly-green fire. John had distrusted Dum-something despite the bearded man giving John a gift: a solid-gold cigarette lighter.