Chapter 981: The Unscrupulous Merchant
Chapter 981: The Unscrupulous Merchant
It was almost time for the new school year at Hogwarts.
However, unlike previous years, Hogsmeade Village was not as bustling as usual.
Ever since Ron and Harry had graduated, only Ginny needed to go to King's Cross Station this year, which was a relief for Mrs. Weasley.
Following the Weasley family tradition, a few days before the start of school, they accompanied Ginny on a trip to Diagon Alley.
While purchasing new textbooks and school robes, they also took the opportunity to visit Harry and Sirius's new shop.
Although Harry was skeptical about Sirius's business acumen, the store, which had been in preparation for several years, finally opened on Harry's birthday and was presented to him as a gift by Sirius.
It was indeed a grand gesture, but Harry didn't seem too pleased, forcing a reluctant smile.
"We're almost there, just a bit further..." Fred and George enthusiastically led the way through Diagon Alley.
After a busy holiday, they were finally free, and Kyle, who rarely left the attic, joined them after hearing that Mrs. Weasley was coming to Diagon Alley. They dragged him to the Burrow.
Kyle didn't refuse.
During this time, he was either dealing with bogeys and boggarts or immersing himself in a pile of bizarre dark magic books, and he needed a change of mood.
Especially with the dark magic books, almost every one of them carried a certain degree of mental pollution. Fred and George had inadvertently seen a symbol and suffered for several nights. Not to mention Kyle, who would spend hours on end studying them.
To be honest, when he first stepped out of the house, he subconsciously felt a slight aversion to the sunlight. Fortunately, Kyle's Mind-Locking Charm was proficient enough to quickly overcome this situation.
"We're here," George announced from the front, and the group stopped in front of a new shop.
"Potter's Cottage!"
Fred loudly read the name on the sign, paying no heed to Harry, who had just stepped out and was about to bury his head in the ground.
"No need to say, this name must have been Sirius's idea," Bill teased.
The others nodded in agreement.
"I tried," Harry said, his face turning red.
"I wanted to change the name, but Sirius told me he dreamed of opening a shop like this with me while in Azkaban. I couldn't insist anymore."
"I guess that's his intention," Kyle said sympathetically, looking at Harry.
Kyle wondered when Sirius's dream of living with Harry at Number 12 Grimmauld Place had shifted to opening a shop in Diagon Alley.
Additionally, Kyle recalled that Sirius had found the magical deed for the shop in Diagon Alley after clearing his name from the vault, meaning that Sirius had no idea about the shop while in Azkaban.
However, Kyle didn't reveal this to Harry.
At this moment, the others had already entered the shop.
Sirius seemed to have learned from his previous lesson and didn't open another ice cream shop. This was one of the few correct decisions he made.
After all, he had lost money in Hogsmeade without any competition, so opening an ice cream shop in Diagon Alley would be even worse.
So, Sirius chose a sweet shop, and as Kyle walked around, he noticed that chocolates dominated the shelves, with an entire wall dedicated to Chocolate Frogs.
"I'm just here to help," Harry said to Ginny nearby.
"I haven't dared to tell you that I want to play Quidditch. I'll wait for the letter to arrive before telling you."
"Have you found a team?"
"I'm not sure." Harry sighed, "The Holyhead Harpies, Oliver Wood has been helping me look for information about their Seeker, who hasn't been performing well lately."
"Really?" Ginny asked excitedly, "I hope you succeed."
"Thank you, thank you."
"I also want to become a professional Quidditch player," Ginny said, "Maybe we can play together."
"That would be great."
As they talked, they moved closer, their shoulders almost touching.
"Harry..." Mrs. Weasley turned around.
Kyle watched as Harry and Sirius seemed to be hit by a full-speed charging unicorn, causing them to quickly bounce off each other.
"Mr. Weasley, Mrs. Weasley, is something wrong?" Harry asked, his voice carrying a hint of unspoken guilt.
However, Mrs. Weasley didn't seem to notice and pointed at the chocolates on the shelf, asking, "How much are these? I'm planning to buy some."
"They're on us," Harry blurted out. "Don't worry about the cost; just take them."
In a way, Harry and Sirius were quite similar when it came to their generosity towards friends.
"That's not right," Mrs. Weasley shook her head, looking serious.
"Yeah," Bill chimed in, "I was also planning to buy some as wedding treats. If you don't charge, I'll have to go to another shop."
Bill and Fleur were getting married, and the wedding was set for the day before the start of the new term at Hogwarts.
"Okay, then," Harry said, still wanting to give it for free, but seeing the determination in Bill and Mrs. Weasley's eyes, he didn't insist further. Instead, he offered them a very good discount.
It wasn't a loss, but it also wasn't a profit; it was essentially cost price.
Mrs. Weasley bought some as snacks for Ginny, and Bill picked out some sweets and chocolates that Fleur liked, intending to use them as treats at their upcoming wedding.
Although Sirius didn't have much experience, his eye for quality was quite good, and since this was a shop he opened with Harry, he was especially attentive. They managed to gather many rare sweets and chocolates.
Kyle even spotted the foreign luxury sweets that Malfoy had shown off a few years ago. Each box was at least five Galleons, more than ten times the price of the most expensive sweets at Honeydukes.
There were also the sweets that Fleur had sent from France during Christmas.
Bill bought a lot of chocolates and a large bucket of toffee.
Fred and George also bought some, intending to use them as ingredients for their Quick-Leave Sugar.
"You're here."
At that moment, Fleur suddenly walked in from outside and went straight to Bill, naturally linking her arm with his.
"I just went to the wrong shop next door," she whispered. "You wouldn't believe what I saw."
"It couldn't be Dark artifacts, could it?" Bill joked half-seriously.
"Worse," Fleur said, unable to hold back her criticism. "Everything in that shop was priced below five Galleons. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that everything was priced above ten Galleons, and a broken tree branch was going for five hundred and fifty Galleons!"
Hearing this number, everyone present sucked in a breath of cold air.
Mr. Weasley silently calculated—five hundred and fifty Galleons was half a year's salary for him. What kind of tree branch could be so expensive? Among them, Kyle's expression was a bit odd, as if he had guessed something.
"The owner of that shop must be a greedy goblin," Fleur continued in a low voice. "I saw that the shop assistant was a goblin..."
"Sorry... it should be a house-elf," Kyle spoke up, unable to pretend he didn't know.
He had wanted to act ignorant, but Fleur's language was too foul.
What kind of shop was run by goblins! Hearing Kyle's words, Fred and George also seemed to realize something.
Speaking of which, they had just noticed that Kyle's shop seemed to be next door.
The greedy merchant that Fleur had just described as goblin-like... could it be...
"And that five hundred and fifty Galleon item wasn't a tree branch but a unicorn horn," Kyle added. "This magical creature has been on the verge of extinction for the past seventy years, so this price is quite reasonable."
At this point, everyone's attention turned to him.
"Alright, that's my shop," Kyle shrugged.
After a moment of silence, there was a chorus of exclamations, and even Harry couldn't help but join in.
He had also been to the shop once, and even though his vault already had more than enough Galleons, he was still startled by the high prices.
Compared to their sweets priced at five Galleons each, the candies in their shop were practically being given away for free.
Everyone agreed.
The main reason was that they were all a little surprised, as most of them didn't know Kyle had opened a shop in Diagon Alley, including Harry.
Sirius knew, but he had been busy searching for rare and delicious candies during this time and forgot to tell Harry.
Kyle's shop was right next door; you could walk there in two steps from the candy store.
Ron was too curious and went in first, but when he saw the prices on the shelves, he instinctively wanted to run out.
It was too much; this shop seemed to only accept Galleons as currency.
"A quill pen, fifty Galleons?!” Ron exclaimed as he approached a rack, "More than my monthly salary, even if it were made of gold, it wouldn't be this expensive!"
"Salary?" Kyle glanced at him.
"The job Fred and I had before," Fred explained, "You've been staying in the attic all this time, so you didn't know."
"Ron has been working for a month."
"We recommended it."
...
"Alright." Kyle nodded and explained, "This is a thunderbird feather, so the price is naturally higher. If you like it, I can give you a cost price."
"Cost price?" Ron muttered, "How much is it?"
"Um... three times the cost price." Having just been called a swindler, Kyle felt too embarrassed to tell them that the cost price here was mostly one-tenth, so he raised the price a bit.
Three times the cost price was still reasonable.
"So that's... fifteen Galleons..." Ron forced a dry laugh, "I'd have to be crazy to... no, even if I were crazy, I wouldn't spend fifteen Galleons on a quill pen.
"Harry, would you?"
"Probably... not." Harry glanced at Kyle and said cautiously.
A quill pen for five Knuts at Scribbulus was already a good deal in his opinion.
A fifteen-Galleon quill pen... if it could write homework on its own, then it might be worth considering.
Mrs. Weasley had the same thought, but she didn't dare say it out loud.
She was still recovering from the shock of the outrageous prices. If this shop weren't Kyle's, she wouldn't have entered, and even if she passed by the door, she'd quicken her pace.
Mr. Weasley, on the other hand, wasn't too surprised. Before this, he had heard some news from Fred and George, but he had never visited the shop.
In Harry and Sirius' shop, everyone was willing to buy something, but here, it was a different story.
Even Fred and George had never thought about helping Kyle's business, not even a little bit.
Only Fleur bought a coral necklace, not out of guilt, but because she genuinely liked it.
She had been startled by the sudden mention of the price, but after fully understanding the items in the shop, she found them quite valuable.
This gem coral was rarely seen even in France, and the price was fair. She insisted on paying the full price, but Kyle didn't accept it and instead considered it a gift from him.
Everyone spent even less time in Kyle's shop, quickly exiting.
Afterward, Mrs. Weasley took Ginny to Flourish and Blotts and Madame Malkin's Robes.
Making new robes took some time, and it was almost noon by the time they returned to the Burrow from The Leaky Cauldron.
Lunch was also had at the Burrow.
Afterward, Mrs. Weasley hurriedly led the others to the garden, "Quick, we have a lot of work to do."
Bill, Ginny, and Ron each carried a large bucket and followed her out.
Kyle returned to the attic in his house, with Fred and George reluctantly accompanying him.
"Are you still researching the Horcrux Spell?" Fred watched as Kyle picked up a glass bottle from the table, hesitating for a moment before saying, "I think you, um... don't need to rush."
"Yeah, yeah." George nodded repeatedly.
He was already regretting agreeing to help Kyle.
After briefly wandering around Diagon Alley earlier today, he missed his previous carefree days even more.
"At least, you should attend Bill's wedding first."
"What if we all look like we haven't woken up by then, it wouldn't be very polite."
Kyle thought about it and felt they made sense, so he casually tossed the bottle into an open box next to him.
His own research was almost complete, and he'd make a decision about the rest after meeting with Professor Saxia.
(End of Chapter)
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