My School Life At Hogwarts Chapter 846: Making Money Together - Novel Cool

Chapter 846: Making Money Together

Chapter 846: Making Money Together

After watching the Quidditch World Cup for several days, Albert found that it wasn't as interesting as he had imagined. Especially after the initial excitement wore off, the novelty of it all began to fade, and even Nia's curiosity about the wizarding camp diminished greatly. She no longer wandered out in the evenings and instead took a keen interest in the beauty potions that Isabelle, Valeria, and Katherine were researching.

Women always paid attention to their appearance, just as men were drawn to beautiful women.

"It's about time," Albert glanced at his open pocket watch, put down the newspaper, and prepared to look for Black. Before leaving, he didn't forget to instruct the house-elf to keep an eye on Nia.

Sirius' tent was right next door, about a ten-minute walk away. This distance wasn't considered far at all, considering that the Quidditch World Cup stadium could accommodate a hundred thousand people. In other words, there would be at least ten thousand tents, and it was normal for them to be divided into several camping areas.

If not for the wizarding tents, Albert wondered if this piece of land could accommodate so many wizards without being noticed by Muggle satellites.

Compared to the night, the camp during the day was rather quiet, as many wizards were taking naps. Of course, there were also some wizards packing up their tents to leave. There were quite a few wizards who only came to watch one Quidditch match, as the tickets weren't cheap.

"Albert, over here, over here!"

As Albert made his way through the camp, he spotted his roommate, Lee Jordan, frantically waving at him. Standing next to Lee was a black male wizard who looked very similar to him, presumably his father, who had turned away from the man he had been talking to and was now following Lee's gaze.

"When did you get here? By the way, this is my father." Lee Jordan enthusiastically introduced his father to Albert.

"Oh, dear Ludo, let me think about the bet for a while. I'll come find you later, okay?" Mr. Jordan threw a apologetic look at Bagman before smiling and greeting Albert, "You must be Albert; I've often heard Lee mention you. I was thinking of inviting you over to watch the game."

Bagman, left hanging to one side, frowned but also curiously sized up the young man in front of him. He felt that Albert looked somehow familiar, and it was only after hearing someone mention Albert's name that he remembered who he was.

"Albert Anderson, the most talented wizard of this century?" Bagman said in an exaggerated tone.

"Hello, Mr. Bagman," Albert said with feigned surprise. "Didn't expect to see you here."

"You know each other?" Mr. Jordan asked curiously.

"Mr. Bagman is the commentator for the Quidditch World Cup," Albert explained.

"Mr. Anderson is quite the celebrity now, winning two international awards in a month. So, are you interested in placing a bet on the game? Ireland has a good chance of winning this year," Bagman said excitedly.

"All right, Ludo, don't corrupt the kids. We can discuss the bet later!" Mr. Jordan interrupted before Bagman could continue, then turned to Albert and said, "Come in and have a seat, Albert. Try some of this new tea I just got."

"See you later," Bagman said, frowning slightly as he turned and walked away.

"Dad says Bagman loves gambling and is always trying to get people to place bets," Lee Jordan said enthusiastically as he invited Albert into the tent and poured him a cup of hot tea from a silver teapot.

Albert glanced at the fresh mint in the cup and took a sip. The teapot contained green tea, and it tasted pretty good.

"Who doesn't like gambling if they can win money?" Albert set down his cup and said meaningfully, "But I've heard that Bagman has lost quite a bit of money."

"How much did you bet?" Lee Jordan asked straightforwardly.

"None," Albert said, noticing that Mr. Jordan was looking at him. "However, Mr. Bagman is right about Ireland having a good chance. They might even win the Quidditch World Cup this time."

"That's wonderful."

The three of them chatted about the game for a while before Albert took his leave.

Mr. Jordan looked at the bag of Galleons on the table and said to his son, "This friend of yours is quite extraordinary."

"Of course, he's an incredibly talented wizard who won two international awards in a month. The prize money he's earned is probably more than what many people earn in several years," Lee Jordan said with a laugh as he rubbed his hands together. "Dad, how much are you planning to bet? This is a surefire way to make money."

"I'll match his amount," Mr. Jordan replied. "I assume your friend has approached others for help as well, so we shouldn't take advantage of him alone."

If they really cleaned Bagman out, they might not be able to get their money back.

"Treasure your friendship with him. It's not easy to find good friends," Mr. Jordan said after Albert left a bag of Galleons. He no longer doubted Albert's judgment.

Indeed, Albert had asked several acquaintances who were willing to help place bets. As for doing it himself, that would be too conspicuous. Following the principle of making money together, many reliable acquaintances were happy to help, as mutual interests could be quite reliable.

After greeting several acquaintances along the way, Albert finally arrived outside Sirius' tent, where Hermione and Lupin were setting up a grill, with Harry and Ron acting as their assistants.

However, they were doing more harm than good.

"Harry, you and Ron go fetch some water," Sirius said as he handed the bucket to them.

"See you later," Harry said to Albert before leaving with the bucket.

"Let's go inside and chat about the magazine," Sirius said warmly, putting his arm around Albert's shoulder and leading him into the tent.

Hermione looked at them with a puzzled expression, feeling that they had something private to discuss, so she didn't want to disturb them.

Sirius' tent was luxurious but had a faint air of old money, as if it had been a while since it was last used.

As soon as Albert sat down, Sirius placed a bag of gold coins in front of him.

"You were right about Bagman being unreliable. He only gave me half the Galleons," Sirius said, crossing his arms. "I'll use the other half to place more bets, but this time, Bagman has wised up and isn't offering high odds."

Albert took the bag of coins and kindly reminded him, "You can look for other bookmakers to place bets with. Don't just rely on Bagman, or he might default on his debts if he owes too much."

"You're right, but I haven't found any other bookmakers yet," Sirius admitted, sharing Albert's concern about Bagman potentially skipping town if he owed too much.

"Many wizards like to gamble," Albert said without hesitation. "You'll definitely be able to find some."

"By the way, are you interested in investing in a magazine? We're planning to start a magazine on Dark Magic Defense, as you suggested. Remus will be the editor-in-chief, as you know, he used to be the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

"You shouldn't be short on money, should you?" Albert's expression turned odd, as if he couldn't quite grasp why Sirius was seeking his investment.

"To be honest, I'm starting this magazine mainly to find a job for Remus. As you know, it's difficult for him to find decent work in the wizarding world due to his werewolf identity." Sirius sighed. "Of course, we don't expect you to contribute much in terms of galleons. Occasionally offering suggestions would be more than enough, and you won't need to be involved in the day-to-day operations. I can even offer you a 30% stake in the magazine, and if we end up making a loss, I'll buy back your shares at the original price."

Albert felt that Sirius had made this decision on a whim, but the terms he offered were very generous! "I don't seem to have a reason to refuse." Albert pondered for a moment and then smiled. "If we don't make any mistakes, the Dark Magic Defense field will be a big seller in the next few years. As long as we establish ourselves during this period, we'll have no trouble making money."

Hearing Albert's agreement, Sirius heaved a sigh of relief. The conditions he offered were indeed quite favorable.

However, considering Albert's philosophy of making money together, and the fact that Albert had helped him win a substantial sum of galleons, Sirius felt he should be more generous.

Albert didn't need money at all; he had no idea how much Albert had won from this gamble.

Albert could have asked others to help with the bets, and no one would have known, but the reason Sirius decided to bring Albert on board was that Albert was the kind of friend worth cultivating. This was evident from how he treated his friends.

Of course, Albert had also helped him resolve his troubles, and Sirius saw in Albert's group a reflection of the Marauders back in their day, but they were much better than the Marauders had been. They didn't bully others like he and James had done in their youth.

Ever since Sirius learned that Albert had spent money to help his two friends realize their dreams, he had been feeling ashamed of his past self. He wanted to help Remus find a decent job so that he wouldn't have to live such a hard life.

If he and James had been like Albert back then, perhaps those terrible things wouldn't have happened.

While Sirius hated Peter, he also realized that they might have been the ones who caused the tragedy back then.

They had been so naive! He had thought back more than once—if only he and James hadn't invited Peter to join the Marauders, perhaps Peter wouldn't have been forced to join the Death Eaters.

But there was no use in dwelling on the past, and there were no 'what ifs'.

James and Lily were dead, and he had been imprisoned for over a decade. Peter had rejoined Voldemort, putting Harry in danger.

They were now enemies to the bitter end.

"Sirius, the barbecue is ready." Hermione's voice rang out from outside, snapping Sirius out of his reverie. He offered Albert an apologetic smile.

"In a couple of days, Remus and I will research other magazines, and we'll come up with a simple framework first. We can discuss it further then. By the way, the tentative name for the magazine is 'Defense Guide.' If you can think of a better name, let me know." Sirius invited Albert to join him for the barbecue.

"Oh, right, what's the magazine's slogan?" Albert asked suddenly.

"The magazine's slogan?" Sirius was taken aback, clearly not understanding the question.

"The slogan for 'Today's Transfiguration' is 'Change Your Life.' It directly conveys the magazine's focus." Albert reminded him.

"What do you think would be suitable?" Sirius felt that involving Albert in this venture was indeed the right decision. Neither he nor Lupin had a clear idea about starting a magazine, and this was one of the reasons Lupin thought they would make a loss.

"Stay Safe, Protect Yourself." Albert smiled. "Teach readers how to stay away from danger and how to use magic to protect themselves. You can start with curses, plants, and dark creatures, just like teaching students about Dark Magic Defense in class."

"You've convinced him?" Lupin looked at Albert in surprise.

"Are you really going to start a magazine?" Hermione was equally astonished.

"Hermione can help, too. She can publish some papers in the magazine, and we can even follow other publications' lead and invite submissions from all Hogwarts students. It will give them a chance to gain recognition. I think many people would be willing to publish papers on Dark Magic Defense."

"Really?" Hermione handed Albert a skewer of grilled meat.

"As long as the quality isn't too bad, it's actually possible." Albert had written several papers, so he knew this quite well. "'Today's Transfiguration,' 'Spell Innovation,' and 'Practical Potion Master' all do it."

"It doesn't seem as simple as you say." Harry swallowed his mouthful of food and murmured.

"Have you ever heard of 'The Quibbler'?" Albert asked suddenly.

"What's that?" Everyone looked at each other, clearly unaware of its existence.

"It's a wizarding newspaper published by Xenophilius Lovegood." Albert turned to Ron. "Maybe you know who Lovegood is."

"Lovegood lives near us." Ron nodded. "But we don't really interact with them."

"How's that newspaper?" Hermione asked curiously.

"It's hard to describe." Albert's expression was odd as he said, "You can take a look at it and discover that producing a wizarding publication isn't as difficult as you imagine. As long as the content is useful to wizards, people will be willing to buy it. And when it comes to Dark Magic Defense, the entire British wizarding world is a mess. Even foreign students know that Hogwarts' Dark Magic Defense education is notoriously poor. All thanks to that damn curse... by the way, does anyone know who the Dark Magic Defense professor will be next semester?"

"Alastor Moody, a retired Auror. He's an old friend of Dumbledore's." Lupin noticed everyone's gaze on him and quickly explained, "I heard about it from Dumbledore, and I've written to Moody about the situation with the Dark Magic Defense class."

"Dumbledore's old friend?" Albert's tone turned odd.

"Is there a problem?"

"That curse is no joke." Albert's expression grew even stranger. "Professor Dumbledore is really willing to let his old friend take such a risk? Professor Lupin, maybe you should write to Professor Moody and inform him about the curse and the early resignations. It might help him avoid a dangerous situation."

"Do you think the curse really exists?"

"It's been going on for fifty years. Do you think it's a coincidence?" Albert couldn't understand their line of thought.

Were they unwilling to believe, or were they truly that foolish?

(End of Chapter)

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