#23 - Section 23

“What kind of date is this in the middle of the night? Gone to practice magic.”

Ethan helplessly told the truth; in the middle of the night, it wasn't a date, it was a hookup.

Within Hogwarts, the only little witch Ethan knew whom he could pursue without breaking the law was Penelope.

“Practice magic in the middle of the night?”

Penelope looked at Ethan with suspicion.

At Hogwarts, there isn't a dedicated space for practicing magic; casting spells is not allowed in the corridors, and while the grounds outside the castle are an option, it's not really necessary, as most spells don't create much commotion and can be practiced in the dormitories.

“Well, if you want to go, I can take you with me to the Room of Requirement tonight at ten.”

There's no point in hiding the Room of Requirement, as long as it doesn't become common knowledge.

Ethan only uses it for practicing magic, and besides, it can open more than just one room.

“Okay, ten o'clock tonight, your senior will be waiting for you here, junior!”

Penelope gave Ethan a sweet smile before heading back to the girls' dormitory; she needed to catch up on her sleep.

Back in his dormitory, Ethan sighed. The senior from earlier seemed like a 'green tea'!

But maybe there's nothing wrong with a 'green tea'.

Sleep, sleep. He had plans with the Weasley twins to go to Hogsmeade in the afternoon.

… …

Afternoon, two thirty!

In the dark, narrow secret passage, Ethan and his companions had been walking for almost an hour. The passage had changed from stone walls to dirt, and in some places, water seeped down.

This was a passage located beneath the one-eyed witch statue, with the exit in the basement of Honeydukes Sweetshop.

“It's just ahead!”

Fred, who was leading the way with a Lumos charm, turned to remind Ethan.

Soon, Fred pushed open a hatch in the passage, and Ethan and George followed him out. They found themselves in a storage area.

After using a Scouring Charm to clean off the dirt, Ethan followed the twins into the main shop of Honeydukes, which they were quite familiar with.

The first thing that hit them was the scent of creamy candy. It was indeed tempting, but Ethan didn't really feel like eating any. The sweets and pastries here were too cloying. The only thing he really liked was the ice cream he had in Diagon Alley last time.

Entering the front area where sweets were sold, Ethan and the others didn't rush to leave. Fred and George still had some shopping to do.

Besides the more common toffee, nougat, Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, and Chocolate Frogs, they also bought Jelly Slugs, Cockroach Clusters, Ice Mice, and toad-shaped peppermint creams, acid pops that could burn a hole in your tongue, and exploding bonbons…

They bought so much not to eat it themselves, but to resell it. Even third-year students and above needed school permission and parental consent to visit Hogsmeade, and they only came a few times a year. Honeydukes' products were popular among the young wizards and easy to sell, although they couldn't be too expensive.

In their words, they couldn't make a fortune, but they could earn some pocket money.

Ethan now understood why, in a family like the Weasleys who didn't have much pocket money, the twins still had money to bet on the Quidditch World Cup. It turned out they were really earning it.

Next, Ethan followed the two to Zonko's Joke Shop. This time, they didn't buy much, just five Dungbombs before leaving.

According to them, they would use four themselves. If Slytherin pulled any tricks during the next Quidditch match, they would throw two on their table and two at the door of their common room.

The last one was promised to Peeves, the poltergeist who was petrified by Ethan last time.

Peeves had been petrified for almost three days before being released. Since Ethan was under a Disillusionment Charm at the time, Peeves couldn't see him and could only target the twins.

To appease him, the twins promised to get him a Dungbomb as soon as possible.

After that, Ethan followed the twins to the Three Broomsticks pub and had some butterbeer. It didn't feel like it had any alcohol and was more like a drink. The taste was not bad, and Ethan bought some.

Moreover, the owner of the Three Broomsticks was a charming widow in her forties, so the place was quite lively when Ethan and the others went, filled with middle-aged and elderly wizards.

Then it was off to the Magical Menagerie. The twins knew the owner, and through their introduction, Ethan bought all the frogs in the shop that were being used as live feed, spending fifteen galleons.

He didn't count them specifically, but there were probably over a thousand, all packed by Ethan into a huge fish tank that he had prepared in advance with an Undetectable Extension Charm on the box.

This Undetectable Extension Charm box wasn't from Dennis and his friends; Ethan had made it himself later. It was a little smaller than Ethan's four-person dormitory, as he didn't have much time to expand the space, since studying was the priority.

The fish tank was also created using Transfiguration and enhanced with an Augmentation Charm, which would last for half a month without any problems.

The last thing was even simpler: the general store sold it. It was potion-specific oil.

Chapter 43: Potion Making (Seeking Flowers and Monthly Tickets)

Ravenclaw Dormitory!

Ethan looked at his three sons with affection and slowly said:

“I’ll give you a chance to earn money, do you want it?”

Ethan didn't plan to brew Baruffio's Brain Elixir himself. Although the entire potion-making process wasn't troublesome, it would take up a lot of time.

Ethan wasn't willing to spend his time on this, unlike Snape, the greasy middle-aged man who planned to spend the rest of his life with potions after Lily died.

“A chance to earn money?”

Terry took a step back and asked cautiously.

Although he didn't understand Ethan's gaze, he knew it wasn't well-intentioned, and the mention of earning money gave him bad ideas.

Although this country was very open-minded, he didn't have those thoughts at all, and he was only eleven years old.

“What about you two?”

Ignoring the Terry who had misunderstood, Ethan turned to look at Michael and Gene.

Speaking of talent in potions, Michael was the strongest of the three. Gene and Terry were both at an average level.

“A chance to earn money, who wouldn’t want it? Right!”

Gene put his arm around Michael's shoulder and said affirmatively.

Although he was from a wizarding family, his pocket money was still limited. Why not earn more Galleons?

Michael nodded in agreement. In fact, he was even more enthusiastic than Gene. Although one hundred Galleons a year was enough to spend, if he wanted to develop in the wizarding world in the future, the more Galleons, the better.

"Then come with me!"

With that, Ethan walked into the suitcase, the smaller one.

Simple potion-making didn't require going to the Room of Requirement.

There were four sets of cauldrons and some auxiliary tools in the entire dormitory, which was completely enough. Moreover, making potions didn't require much space.

If it weren't for the fear of dirtying the dormitory and the strange smell, it would be fine to brew potions in the dormitory.

"This is the Undetectable Extension Charm. My family also has such suitcases and tents. They look small, but the space inside is very large."

Gene explained to his roommates who were looking at him with puzzled eyes.

But Gene clearly remembered that Ethan came from a Muggle family. How did he get this box?

Even he, who came from a wizarding family, didn't have one. Was something wrong?

"See these frogs and the oil? Use them to make potions, one Galleon per pot."

Ethan said slowly as he looked at the three people who were slowly coming down.

This price was definitely not low. Even if they spent their spare time and evenings brewing, the Galleons they earned in a month would be higher than the salary of Arthur Weasley, the head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office at the Ministry of Magic.

But the actual production volume still had to be determined based on sales.

Moreover, one cauldron wasn't just one serving. It could at least fill several small bottles.

"Okay, I'll do it!"

Michael was the first to express his stance. Although he didn't even know how to do it, he definitely had to seize this opportunity.

Don't mention one Galleon, he would do it even for one Sickle.

They were both Muggle-born. From the moment of the Sorting, he knew that Ethan's fate was definitely different from his own.

Now it seemed that it was true. Excellent grades, able to talk to anyone in Ravenclaw, especially the upperclassmen, and also knew the Savior. Now he was even playing with potions. This feeling was purer than those purebloods.

It was not shameful to cling to his thigh.

With Michael taking the lead, Gene and Terry also nodded and joined in.

"I'll do it once first, and you guys remember it. Bring the cauldron in later, and you can brew the potion here."

"Remember, this potion recipe cannot be leaked out."

Speaking of the end, Ethan's face was full of seriousness.

The wizarding world also had intellectual property rights, such as the Potter family's ancestral shampoo, but they later sold it.

However, this intellectual property rights was aimed at purebloods. It was a joke to talk about knowledge protection with them as a Muggle-born wizard.

Ethan was sure that if Ethan himself went to declare it, the information would be submitted in the morning, and the recipe would be registered before lunchtime, and the inventor would definitely be a member of the purebloods.

"We know!"

The three looked at each other and nodded affirmatively.

Not to mention that the relationship between the few was not bad, they didn't have this idea now, they just wanted to make some money.

Even if they wanted to leak it, they had to think clearly about the consequences of offending Ethan. As a Hatstall and a young wizard who had begun to show extraordinary talent, his future achievements would not be bad.

After instructing a few more points to pay attention to, Ethan began to act.

He took out a frog from the oversized fish tank, then stabbed the back of its head with a small knife, and turned the hand holding the frog and the small knife at the same time, until its head was cut open, and then gently picked out its brain with the small knife and placed it in the container next to it.

This scene was indeed a bit disgusting, but potions were like this, and there were not a few that were disgusting.

For example, the Brain-Boosting Potion required armadillo bile and crushed scarabs, and the Shrinking Solution required caterpillars (sliced thinly), rat gall, and leech juice. Other potions were not much better. Didn't they use slugs yesterday?

He repeated this action until he took out sixteen servings of frog brains, and then Ethan stopped.

He started the pot and heated the oil. That's right, he didn't write it wrong.

The cauldron was placed on the alcohol lamp, oil was added, stirred, and waited for the appropriate temperature, and then the frog brains were added.

Fortunately, this oil was not vegetable oil or animal oil, otherwise it would have become fried frog brains.

After more than ten minutes, Ethan picked up the cauldron and extinguished the alcohol lamp, and then started stirring the liquid in the cauldron again. At this time, the liquid had turned green.

This time, the production was still very successful.

After finishing, Ethan divided it into small bottles, a total of four bottles.

Ethan picked up a bottle and pushed the remaining three bottles in front of them: "Do you want to try it? Freshly baked potion, the effect is to improve brain power."

"Ethan, are you sure you won't die if you drink it?"

Terry picked it up and carefully observed it. As a Muggle-born, he was instinctively resistant to it.

Oil plus frog brains boiled together, what do you think it would taste like if you ate it?

"It won't kill you!"

With that said, Ethan drank it all in one gulp. If he wanted to price it, he definitely had to base it on the effect and duration.

Seeing that Ethan had drunk it, the three did not hesitate and closed their eyes and poured it down in one gulp.

The taste was indeed a bit indescribable and a bit greasy.

Then Ethan took the three back to the dormitory to test the specific effects.

Ethan himself felt like it didn't have much effect, but Michael and the other three clearly stated that their memory and comprehension abilities had improved, but the duration was a bit short, only twenty minutes.

Once the time was up, the three were returned to their original form.

After thinking about it, they decided on five Galleons per bottle. Potions in Diagon Alley were not cheap in the first place.

Wasn't Ethan disrupting the market if his prices were too cheap?

In addition, this was the only one that improved brain power. Take it or leave it!

Anyway, he was doing business with purebloods or half-bloods. Muggle-born little wizards actually didn't account for a high proportion of Hogwarts.

[Thank you to大佬 18212 for the monthly ticket, thank you very much!]

Chapter 44: Beautiful Saleswoman

"Senior, let's go!"

Around ten o'clock, Ethan appeared in the common room and extended an invitation to the senior on the sofa.