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Chapter 857: Let's Open a Shop
Chapter 857: Let's Open a Shop
"Thank you for your generosity. If you happen to find more Ream Horns of this quality in the future, please consider us at Firebolt Company first," said a well-dressed foreign wizard with a broad smile as he escorted Kyle out of the shop.
"Of course, I'm very satisfied with this deal," Kyle replied with a smile.
An hour ago, he had left Grimmauld Place and headed to Diagon Alley to secure some funds for his upcoming activities.
The most valuable and easily tradable item he had was the Ream Horn, a rare commodity that was not banned from trade and was essential for making flying broomsticks. There was no question of it not selling.
So, Kyle walked straight into the Quidditch Boutique and presented a few Ream Horns, indicating his intention to sell them.
Not long after, a wizard who claimed to be in charge of the Firebolt Company rushed over.
He was not from the United Kingdom; due to Voldemort and the Death Eaters, the original manager of Diagon Alley had resigned after the first attack. This wizard had been assigned to come from Paris upon receiving a message through the Two-Faced Mirror.
After all, the Flying Broom Company had orders from more than just the Diagon Alley branch in the United Kingdom.
Initially, he had been quite displeased with this decision.
The United Kingdom was like a massive vortex, and getting caught in it could mean certain death. Naturally, he didn't want to come.
But when he saw the Ream Horns Kyle had brought, his concerns vanished instantly.
The quality was exceptional. To be honest, he hadn't seen Ream Horns of such high quality in a long time, especially in the past few decades. As broomsticks evolved rapidly, the demand for materials increased, and prices soared.
However, the quality of these horns was beyond his expectations. But there was no other choice; after all, there were only so many Ream Bulls, and once the best ones were used up, they had to make do with those of average quality.
But the Ream Horns Kyle presented were not only large in size but also had the most authentic reddish-brown color. He had only seen horns of this quality once before... on the exhibition stand of the Firebolt Company, seventy years ago.
He had a hunch that if he could bring these materials back, he would receive a substantial bonus. If he could secure the supply channel, he might even replace that spineless, worthless superior of his.
Of course, he wouldn't dare to force the issue. He had already gathered some information about Kyle from the shop assistant.
Kyle was the Triwizard Tournament champion, Dumbledore's favorite student, and had connections with the Ministry of Magic.
Moreover, this was the United Kingdom, and he was not about to make an enemy of the locals.
So, he wisely chose to be friendly. Without haggling, he offered the highest market price and even provided a series of discounts within his authority.
Kyle was equally satisfied.
He had initially thought this transaction would take some effort, but the other party was surprisingly straightforward. After verifying the authenticity of the items, they completed a large order of one thousand Galleons in less than half an hour for five Ream Horns.
Kyle had more, but he didn't want to flood the market and potentially lower the prices by offering too many at once.
After dealing with the overly enthusiastic wizard, Kyle strolled through the relatively quiet Diagon Alley, now a thousand Galleons richer. He suddenly felt less urgency to sell off all his items.
Kyle thought about the numerous items in his trunk and realized that selling them all would take time. With multiple transactions, there might be haggling, which could lead to time-consuming arguments.
Maybe it would be better to open a shop and display all these items...
Kyle abruptly stopped.
He remembered that around Christmas, Sirius had given him a shop as a gift. At the time, he had felt the present was too extravagant and hadn't planned to accept it. However, due to certain circumstances, he hadn't had the chance to decline before he had to leave Diagon Alley.
What was the reason again? Kyle tried to recall, but it had been a few years ago, and the details eluded him.
But it didn't matter.
What was important was that he still had the magical contract, and with subsequent events, he had forgotten about it. Sirius hadn't brought it up again, either.
Moreover, Kyle remembered that Sirius had also prepared a shop for Harry next door, intending for them to run a small business together after Harry graduated.
"Where is that shop?" Kyle looked around, searching for a closed-down store.
Due to the recent attacks, there were quite a few shuttered shops, making it challenging to locate the one he wanted.
Kyle vaguely remembered sitting with Sirius and eating ice cream...
That's right, ice cream! Kyle immediately changed direction and found the Florenchesco Ice Cream Shop in the middle of the street, with two nearby shops that were closed and had no signs.
"Yes, this is the place," Kyle said to himself.
If he opened this shop, he wouldn't need to spend time running around. The location was excellent, situated on the main road, not far from Gringotts Wizarding Bank and directly across from Flourish and Blotts. These were places young witches and wizards frequented during the school season.
No wonder Sirius had chosen such a prime location; he was truly generous.
Kyle peered through the door, which was covered in grime from prolonged disuse. The interior was equally dusty and dim, and cleaning it up wouldn't be an easy task.
In order to open for business, a thorough refurbishment might be necessary.
Fortunately, Kyle had just earned a thousand Galleons, which should be sufficient.
As for staffing, Kyle immediately thought of the house-elves in the school kitchen.
The elves had already helped out at Weasley's Magic Joke Shop, and they were more than capable of handling this job.
Kyle stroked his chin, contemplating the feasibility of this idea, and the more he thought about it, the more convinced he became.
By displaying the items in the shop with clear price tags, not only would it solve the issue of wasting time, but it would also stabilize prices, and perhaps even allow for a slight increase.
Additionally, there was his connection with the Ministry of Magic...
Kyle was well aware that in a short while, he would be using the Auror's magical communication device to reach a preliminary agreement with Minister Bones, and he had even taken a slight loss in the process.
With this connection, finding someone to help with the operation would be feasible, and even those vaguely defined prohibited trade items, like Moke Squid Ink, might be displayed as well.
It was possible! Kyle had some free time, and he had been hiding from Voldemort at Grimmauld Place Number 12. As long as he didn't let the Weasley brothers or Cedric, who could access the room, discover him, there would be no issue with appearing in Diagon Alley.
While opening for business in a short time might not be feasible, cleaning up the place was definitely possible. He could even stay there temporarily, as the rooms at the Cauldron Pub were quite expensive, and saving money was essential.
However, first and foremost, he needed to find the magical contract that had been misplaced somewhere.
It should be in the Transformation Lizard Hide Bag, where Kyle kept all his miscellaneous small items.
Indeed, just as he had thought, the magical contract was in the corner of the bag, placed alongside several packages of owl treats.
Kyle took it out, ready to embark on his venture, when his box suddenly started shaking again.
There was only one possible explanation for this situation: something was inside the box, in the room, and judging by the frequency of the shaking, it seemed rather urgent.
Kyle had no choice but to temporarily set aside his plans of opening a shop and quickly return to his room at the Cauldron Pub. He stepped into the box.
As soon as he opened the door, a massive, scaly head loomed before him, magnified in his vision. Fortunately, Kyle reacted swiftly, jumping to the side, narrowly avoiding Norbert's headbutt.
"What's wrong?" Kyle asked, his heart still pounding.
Norbert appeared anxious, emitting two hurried cries, his tail gently sweeping across the floor, rolling two round eggs.
Dragon eggs?
Kyle seemed to guess something, and upon closer inspection, he noticed several cracks on the eggs that hadn't been there before.
Norbert whimpered anxiously.
"It's okay, it's okay. You didn't crush them," Kyle reassured Norbert. "If I'm not mistaken, the little one is about to hatch."
Kyle's heart raced with excitement. Thoughts of opening a shop and earning money were completely forgotten.
These were Fire Dragons... Could dragon eggs hatch so quickly? And both at the same time?
Kyle felt uncertain. After some thought, he left the box, carrying the eggs with him to Dorset County.
Relying on his memory, Kyle quickly located Newt in the boundless forest. He approached and knocked on the door.
The door creaked open, and a slightly nervous head poked out.
"Dobby, who's here? Is it Tina?" Newt's voice echoed, "That's odd, she went to Ilvermorny and became a professor after graduation, focusing on research in natural history."
"No, Mr. Scamander, it's Mr. Kyle," the house-elf Dobby exclaimed with a sharp voice, clearly excited.
"Kyle?"
At that moment, Newt appeared, looking somewhat surprised, "What a surprise! I thought you'd be busy with Phoenix Society matters."
"It's a long story," Kyle said, entering naturally.
"Is something wrong?" Newt asked with concern, "Is it about Godric's Hollow? I heard that seventy Death Eaters died yesterday, and I hope it's not related to you."
"I did participate," Kyle nodded, then shook his head, "But my visit here is unrelated to that."
"That's good," Newt sighed in relief, picking up a cup, "Sit down and talk. Do you want something to eat? There are still some lemon biscuits Tina left behind."
"I'll pass on the biscuits," Kyle said, "I came here because two dragon eggs are about to hatch, and I lack experience..."
Newt nearly spat out the water he had just drunk. "What did you say? Dragon eggs?"
"Yes."
Find out more in Chapter 9 of the book!
"Where did you get dragon eggs?" Newt's expression turned serious.
"I bought them, of course," Kyle replied, "But not recently, I bought them in 1899."
Newt blinked, momentarily unsure if Kyle had been hit by the Dementor's Kiss. How could he have bought them a hundred years ago?
"Let's talk about it later, you should take a look first," Kyle said, jumping into the box.
Newt thought for a moment, then followed him into the box.
As soon as he entered, he saw two eggs resting on a velvet cushion.
Indeed, they were dragon eggs, one Ukrainian Ironbelly, and the other...
"Oh, a Romanian Longhorn Dragon?"
"Yes, it was quite a surprise to see it too," Kyle said with a smile.
Newt walked over and squinted at the two dragon eggs, examining them closely.
"They are indeed close to hatching, but... there's something odd about them."
"What do you mean?"
"From their appearance, these eggs don't seem to have met the requirements for hatching yet." He gently tapped on the eggs, producing a hollow sound.
"See, they're still quite solid. They would need at least a month of flame exposure to meet the hatching conditions, but..."
Newt paused, then leaned in close to the seam and took a deep breath.
"This faint sulfur smell confirms that the fire dragon is actively breaking out of its shell. How is this possible..."
Newt was baffled. In his decades of studying fire dragons, he had never encountered such an absurd situation.
"Hmm... I wonder if the Time Turner could have had an effect on the dragons."
"It's possible, but not to this extent," Newt shook his head.
"What about a hundred years?"
"A hundred years?" Newt was taken aback, then exclaimed, "Has Albus' Time Turner been repaired?"
"Not only repaired, but used," Kyle nodded.
"That's what I was about to tell you. Due to certain circumstances, I just returned from the year 1899 yesterday."
Kyle then proceeded to recount his recent experiences.
Upon hearing the news that Ariana was still alive, Newt was so overjoyed that he almost cried.
He was happy for Dumbledore; they had been through a lot together, and Newt knew better than anyone what Dumbledore's regrets were. Ariana's death had become his torment, haunting him constantly.
"You did well... very well..." Newt wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes and choked out.
"So, these two fire dragons..."
"Yes, I bought them back then," Kyle said. "I have two more, and I'll be able to pick them up from the Fire Dragon Sanctuary in a few days."
As he spoke, Kyle naturally handed over the two pieces of parchment with the magical contracts to Newt.
Newt's eyes widened even more. He hadn't expected Kyle to surprise him with something other than the news about Ariana.
"These contracts... so that's how it is. You're the mysterious donor."
"What?"
"I heard about this from a friend," Newt explained. "They said the Fire Dragon Sanctuary was established thanks to the donation of a mysterious wizard. The Galleons he brought enabled the sanctuary to take its first steps, and the most challenging ones."
"They later searched for him, a young wizard with an elderly servant, but never found them. It was as if they had vanished from the wizarding world without a trace."
"That's because I returned, so they couldn't find me," Kyle said with a smile. "By the way, that so-called elderly servant was actually Professor Dumbledore."
"..."
Newt's expression was peculiar, and after a moment of silence, he whispered, "I should've guessed. I hope Albus hasn't heard these rumors yet."
In a sense, Dumbledore had also been Kyle's servant in the Fire Dragon Sanctuary's chronicles for nearly a hundred years, a situation probably unique in the wizarding world.
Hopefully, he could handle it.
But knowing Dumbledore's character, he probably wouldn't mind, especially after learning that his sister was still alive.
Newt shook his head and turned to the second piece of parchment.
"This... is this a Legal Dragon Ownership Certificate?"
"Yes," Kyle confirmed. "Birdman was so enthusiastic that he insisted on giving me this as a token of appreciation. I couldn't refuse."
"It's a shame that the contract isn't effective yet, so it's just a decoration for now."
Newt didn't believe Kyle's words for a second. He knew Birdman too well; he was the most vocal opponent of individual dragon ownership, so it was unlikely he'd willingly issue such a certificate.
However, the certificate was genuine, complete with signatures and magical contract magic. So, the truth didn't seem that important anymore.
"You've gained quite a lot from this trip," Newt couldn't help but say.
"It's not bad," Kyle smiled. "Let's talk about this. These two dragons are fine, right?"
"Absolutely, they're perfectly healthy," Newt assured him. "As for their early hatching, it might be related to the Time Turner, but I've never used one, so I can't draw conclusions.
"However, the Time Turner's effect on dragon eggs... that's a direction I've never considered. Is the Time Turner still usable?"
"Not anymore," Kyle shook his head. "After we returned, the magical Philosopher's Stone that powered it broke, and the outer shell also showed signs of multiple damages from the intense operation."
"The Philosopher's Stone?" Newt's eyes twitched.
Despite the enticing new research direction, if the cost was the Philosopher's Stone... it was too expensive.
As for other, less extravagant Time Turners, they wouldn't be of much use due to the limited time they could offer.
Newt had never felt so conflicted. He felt like a Sniffles standing at the edge of a cliff, gazing at a mountain of Galleons on the other side, separated by an insurmountable chasm, causing unbearable torment.
"Can I take care of these eggs?" Newt asked, pointing to the two dragon eggs.
Since he couldn't experience the Time Turner, he could only observe these two eggs that Kyle had brought back from ninety-eight years ago.
"Of course, no problem," Kyle smiled, as that was his original intention.
...
(End of Chapter)
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