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Chapter 280: Hogsmeade
Chapter 280: Hogsmeade
Perhaps influenced by Harris, Kyle decided to spend the first weekend of the new school year in Hogsmeade with his friends.
While Kyle was no stranger to the village, his previous visits had always been through secret passages without permission.
Now, as a third-year student, he could finally go there legitimately... Before the last Herbology class of the week, he had already submitted the permission form to Professor Sprout.
Filch, the caretaker, stood in the entrance hall, checking a long list to ensure that no one who wasn't supposed to leave the castle sneaked out.
But Kyle and his friends obviously didn't have to worry about that; they strolled out nonchalantly.
...
Unlike Hogsmeade's counterpart, Ottery St. Catchpole village, Hogsmeade was a genuine wizarding village, inhabited exclusively by wizards.
However, the property prices here were not cheap either... According to Kyle's inquiries, even if you wanted to build a house in the most remote corner, it would cost 20,000 galleons... and that was the current price.
Due to the presence of the Three Broomsticks Inn, Hogsmeade always attracted some wizards of unknown origin, and these unstable factors seriously lowered the tone of the village.
It also led to a significant drop in property prices.
If it weren't for the inn, and going back a few decades, even 50,000 galleons might not have been enough to live here.
It would have been a premium wizarding neighborhood.
While the inn was a concern, it was one that Kyle and his friends didn't need to worry about.
After all, they were accompanied by Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick, and no one dared to cause trouble at a time like this...
It was no exaggeration to say that this was also the most harmonious time in Hogsmeade... Those wizards of uncertain background would even think twice before casually throwing away their garbage, considering whether such an act would have a negative impact on the young students.
If they didn't consider it... the accompanying professors would make them consider it.
At least that was the case outside the Three Broomsticks Inn.
As the most popular wizarding village, Hogsmeade was naturally a very interesting place... From the moment you entered the village, you could see shops with various signs on either side of the road.
First was Zonko's Joke Shop.
This was also Fred and George's favorite shop, and they spent almost all their pocket money here.
Right behind Zonko's Joke Shop was the Owl Post and Honeydukes...
"Even though we can come here every day... the visiting day is always special," Fred said with a smile.
"Yeah," George sighed. "It would be great if we could come here every week."
After learning that today was a "visiting day," they had deliberately eaten Skiving Snackboxes to make themselves vomit and thus skipped Quidditch practice.
"The professors don't have that much time."
Cedric, who was counting the galleons in his money bag, looked up and said, "Now's not bad. Don't forget, the first visiting day last year was in late October."
"Yeah, those days were tough," Fred said with a laugh. "Kyle, you guys are lucky."
"We're going to Zonko's... What about you guys?"
"Then we'll join you," Kyle said after a moment's thought.
The others had no objections.
It was a visiting day, so they didn't have to rush back to school. They had plenty of time to stroll around, so it didn't matter where they went.
The group walked into Zonko's.
Fred and George acted as if they were returning home, greeting the clerk behind the counter, who wore round glasses, with familiarity.
"That sounds great..." Fred stroked his chin, "We can get a pair for that idiot, Marcus. Maybe then he'll throw the Quaffle into his own goal post."
"Good idea." George laughed. "But these glasses are a bit too flashy. Even though Marcus' brain is like that of a troll's cousin, he probably wouldn't wear these."
"Don't worry, we've definitely thought of that..."
The clerk tapped the temple of the glasses, and the round glasses instantly transformed into a pair of ordinary rectangular frames.
With another tap, serpentine patterns appeared on the frames, followed by lions, badgers, and eagles... round, rimless, monocles...
"We've designed a total of thirty-nine styles." The clerk pushed up his glasses, "There's definitely a suitable pair."
"We'll take them!" Fred and George said in unison.
"How much?"
"Five Galleons and ten Sickles."
"That's expensive."
"It's a new product; they're all priced like this." The clerk said, "But I can give you a discount."
"Ten Sickles?"
"No, five Galleons and nine Sickles!"
"..."
Fred and George bought the Maze Glasses, and also restocked their fireworks supply.
Unlike them, the others were mostly browsing.
Kona and Qiu were whispering and giggling at a pile of biting hairpins, while Cedric stood in front of a flying broomstick.
Of course, the broomstick was a fake. If someone rode it, it would spray glue onto their legs and make a series of loud 'poof' sounds.
Cedric seemed quite tempted to buy it, but the price of twenty Galleons made him hesitate.
Too expensive, not worth it.
When they finally left Zonko's, apart from Fred and George, only Kyle bought a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans.
Zonko's version of the beans was definitely different from those sold in the sweet shop... There wasn't a single sweet one in the box; they were all horrible flavors, and it was almost impossible to tell the difference from the packaging.
Kyle planned to give them as a Christmas present to some lucky person.
The group then went to Honeydukes, and here, their Galleons started to deplete.
The shelves were filled with all sorts of delicious-looking candies—large blocks of creamy almond toffee, shiny pink coconut jelly balls, golden butterscotch, countless varieties of chocolate, and a big tub of normal Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans...
On the other side of the shop were the "special effect" candies.
Super Blowing Bubble Gum (which filled the room with bubbles that wouldn't pop for days)
Tiny and black Pepper Imps (which let you breathe fire)
There were also the Jumping Toad Mint Ice-creams that jumped around in your stomach, the genuinely explosive Exploding Bonbons, and the Acid Pops that could burn a hole in your tongue.
Kyle also spotted Dumbledore's favorite, Cockroach Clusters, tucked away in a corner jar.
There were many students in Honeydukes, and it was crowded everywhere except for that corner.
Well, who would buy that stuff anyway!
...
(End of Chapter)
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