Chapter 434: The Art of Slacking Off
Chapter 434: The Art of Slacking Off
Upon his return from Hogsmeade, Albert had been assisting his three roommates in completing their homework more efficiently.
Fred and George had been grumbling for quite some time about Wood, complaining that he had turned into a complete training fanatic.
"Stop complaining. Once you finish your homework, I'll tell you some good news," Albert urged them as he flipped through a book.
"What good news?" Lee Jordan asked curiously, popping a Chocolate Frog into his mouth.
"Just finish your homework first." Albert pointed to their parchments, reminding them, "The sooner you finish, the sooner you'll be free, right?"
"He must have sold the formula," Fred said, having already guessed what Albert's good news was about.
From the start, he hadn't expected Albert's attempt to sell the formula for the Swelling Solution to fail. After all, Albert rarely did things without confidence, so successfully selling the formula was well within expectations.
"Yep, it's been sold." Albert nodded in confirmation. "For five hundred Galleons."
"That's our Albert," George sighed in admiration.
"Alright, focus on your work now, and I'll tell you another piece of good news later," Albert said with a smile, turning his attention back to his book.
The three continued with their homework, except for Ron, who was sitting beside them, playing a game of Wizard's Chess with his roommate. He seemed a little distracted, as if muttering something under his breath.
An hour later, the three couldn't contain their curiosity any longer and asked Albert to share the good news he had promised. With a smile, Albert led them back to their dormitory and showed them the results of his efforts that day.
George grabbed a large handful of Galleons, letting the coins slip through his fingers into a pile, the clinking sound filling the room. "I can't believe we just made five hundred Galleons so easily. It still feels a bit surreal," he marveled.
"But there aren't five hundred Galleons in this bag, are there?" Fred asked, "There are only about a hundred or so in this bag."
"No, there aren't." Albert looked at his three roommates with a half-smile, half-smirk. "There are indeed only a hundred Galleons in this bag, which is for you guys."
As he spoke, Albert handed the bag of Galleons to George. "I've prepared a hundred Galleons for each of you."
The three boys froze, unable to believe what they had just heard.
George suddenly broke into a silly grin. After a long while, he stuttered, "A-are you saying you want me to keep this bag of Galleons?"
"To be precise, it's for you to keep safe. This is our startup fund for our future business," Albert clarified with a mischievous smile as he pushed the money bags into Fred and Lee Jordan's hands. "There's not much difference between keeping it with me or with you, is there?"
The three boys couldn't help but smile goofily at the money bags in their hands.
After what felt like an eternity, Fred snapped out of his daze and asked, "Aren't you worried that we'll spend the Galleons?"
"Would you spend the hope for our future business?" Albert countered.
Fred and George shook their heads in unison. They were well aware that their family's situation wouldn't be able to support their dream of opening a joke shop in the future. As Albert had put it, this money represented their hope for that dream, and if they squandered it, where would they get the funds to start their business?
The two would definitely keep the bags safe and sound, never spending the hope for their future.
"Thanks, but I think it's better if you keep the Galleons for now." Fred returned the bag of Galleons to Albert. "We don't need them yet."
"You need to learn how to keep accounts and manage your Galleons," Albert said with a smile. "These are things we'll need to do when we open our shop, and you should learn them too."
George shook his head. He just couldn't bring himself to take Albert's money, even though it was being offered to him. This pile of Galleons belonged to Albert, and even though Albert said it was for them to keep safe, their trust and gratitude were overwhelming. However, no matter what, the three of them wouldn't keep the money, even though it was the largest sum they had ever seen.
After some back and forth, Albert finally convinced them and gave each of them fifty Galleons. Fred and George needed the funds to purchase ingredients for their joke item research, while Lee Jordan was tasked with organizing the next Wizarding Card competition and preparing prizes. Albert also used the excuse of teaching them how to keep accounts for their future business to instruct them on basic accounting, insisting that they record every Knut they spent.
Albert's delegation of tasks excited his three roommates, as they could now envision the beginnings of a company taking shape.
Although it might seem like a game to them, Albert knew that they would take their responsibilities seriously.
In their excited state, Fred, George, and Lee Jordan failed to realize Albert's ulterior motive—he was grooming them to be future managers so that he could slack off and let them do the work.
By fostering their skills, wasn't he just setting them up to help him manage the company later on, allowing him to be a lazy boss?
All in the name of giving them an opportunity to develop themselves, of course.
Yes, no one was more reliable than him, right?
Moreover, this small group, bound by friendship and mutual benefit, would be very stable in the future, as wizards didn't have as many scheming thoughts as Muggles.
...
That evening, in the Gryffindor common room, Harry, who was working on his homework, suddenly heard Ron mention something that had happened that afternoon.
"You're saying Albert sold a potion formula and made five hundred Galleons?" Harry had little concept of Galleons, so he didn't react much to Ron's statement.
"He sold a formula for five hundred Galleons?" Hermione was surprised as well, even though she didn't have a strong grasp of the wizarding currency either. She knew that it was a substantial amount.
"What formula did he sell?"
"I don't know," Ron said, wishing he were the one who had sold the formula. Sometimes he even dreamed about using the Philosopher's Stone to turn things into gold and buying a Quidditch team.
"Stop daydreaming and have some candy!" Hermione shared the sweets from her pocket with Harry and Ron.
"This is nice. Where did you get it?" Harry asked after popping one into his mouth, thinking of buying some.
"Probably from Hogsmeade." Ron replied glumly, "Charlie used to send me and Ginny some sweets every year as a Christmas gift when he was still in school."
"I met him in the library this afternoon, and he gave these to me as a thank-you gift for the Christmas present." Hermione explained, "He said it was a return gift."
"In the afternoon? Albert was in the common room all afternoon, reading and helping Fred and George with their homework. I was right there with him," Ron said, raising an eyebrow.
Hermione furrowed her brows slightly, as she had indeed met Albert in the library, and the sweets were proof of that encounter. Ron didn't seem to be lying, so how was that possible...? Could there be two Alberts?
But how could that be?
(End of Chapter)
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