Chapter 981 Profiteers

Chapter 981: Profligate Merchant

Hogwarts is about to start again.

But compared to this time of year in previous years, St. Catchpole Village is not as lively.

Since Ron and Harry had graduated, Ginny was the only one who needed to go to King's Cross Station this year, which made Mrs. Weasley feel a lot more relaxed.

However, according to the Weasley family tradition, they accompanied Ginny to Diagon Alley a few days before school started.

While buying new textbooks and school robes, they also stopped by to see Harry and Sirius's new shop.

Although Harry was not optimistic about Sirius's talent for business, the store that had been prepared for several years was still opened. On Harry's birthday, Sirius gave it to him as a birthday present.

I have to say, it was as generous as ever, except that Harry didn't look very happy and his smile seemed forced.

"It's not far, we'll be there soon..." In Diagon Alley, Fred and George led the way enthusiastically.

After being busy for the entire holiday, they were finally free. Kyle also left the attic for a rare occasion. After hearing that Mrs. Weasley was coming to Diagon Alley, he was dragged to the Burrow by the two of them.

Kyle did not refuse this.

During this period of time, he was either facing Boggarts and Dementors, or immersed in a pile of strange black magic books, and he needed to change his mood a little.

Especially those dark magic books, almost every one of them carries different degrees of spiritual pollution. Fred and George were tortured for several nights just because they accidentally saw a symbol, not to mention Kyle who could read for several hours.

To be honest, when he just walked out of the house, he even subconsciously developed a little resistance to the sunlight. Fortunately, Kyle was proficient in brain occlusion and this situation quickly disappeared.

"We're here." George's voice came from the front, and then everyone stopped in front of a new shop.

"Potter Cottage!"

Fred read out the name on the sign loudly, without caring at all about Harry who had just walked out and was about to stick his head into the crack of the ground.

"Needless to say, this name must have been given by Sirius." Bill couldn't help but teased.

The others nodded. The name was so recognizable. Except for Sirius, no one would use this name as a trademark, including James and Lily.

"I tried my best." Harry came out with a red face.

"I wanted to change the name, but Sirius said he dreamed of opening a shop like this with me while he was in Azkaban, so I couldn't insist."

"I guess that's probably his purpose." Kyle looked at Harry sympathetically.

He remembered that Sirius' dream was not to live with Harry in number 12, Grimmauld Place. When did it become a shop in Diagon Alley?

In addition, Kyle remembered that he found the magic title deed to the shop in Diagon Alley in the vault only after he had cleared his name. In other words, when Sirius was in Azkaban, he had no idea that he had a shop in Diagon Alley.

All I can say is that as a former Gryffindor celebrity, it was too easy for Sirius to control Harry... it was a piece of cake.

But Kyle didn't tell Harry this.

By this time the others had followed Harry into the store.

Sirius seemed to have learned from his last lesson and did not open another cold drink shop. This was probably one of the few correct decisions he had ever made.

After all, he was losing money in Hogsmeade where there was no competitor, let alone Diagon Alley. In addition, this store had a unique location, with Florin's Cold Drink Shop not far next door. If he opened another cold drink shop, he would be giving away money.

So Sirius chose the candy store. Kyle looked around and found that most of the goods were chocolates. The chocolate frogs alone took up an entire wall of shelves.

"I'm just here to help."

Not far away, Harry was talking to Ginny, "I didn't dare tell Sirius that I wanted to play Quidditch. I plan to tell him when the tryout letter arrives."

"Have you found a team yet?"

"I don't know if it counts." Harry sighed. "Holyhead Harpies. Oliver Wood told me that their team's Seeker hasn't been performing well lately and they want to find a replacement. He's already helping me get some information."

"Really?" Ginny said happily. "I really hope you succeed."

"Thank you, thank you."

"Actually, I want to be a professional Quidditch player, too." Ginny said, "Maybe we can become teammates."

"that would be great."

The two chatted and got closer and closer, and before they knew it, their shoulders were almost touching.

"Harry..." Mrs. Weasley turned her head.

Kyle watched as the two men bounced away quickly as if they were hit by a unicorn running at full speed.

"Weasley...Mrs. Weasley, what's wrong?" Harry said, with an inexplicable sense of guilt in his voice.

But Mrs. Weasley didn't notice it. She pointed at the chocolates on the shelf and asked, "How much are these? I'm going to buy some."

"It's for you." Harry blurted out, "It's free, just take it."

In some ways, Harry and Sirius are very similar... They are always surprisingly generous when facing their friends.

"That won't do." Mrs. Weasley shook her head, looking serious.

"Yeah," Bill also stepped forward, "I'm planning to buy some snacks for the wedding. If you don't want to charge, I'll have to go to another store."

Bill and Fleur were getting married, and the wedding was scheduled for the day before the first day of school at Hogwarts.

"Well... okay then." Harry still wanted to give it away for free, but seeing that Bill and Mrs. Weasley were determined, he did not insist anymore and instead gave them a very good discount.

It’s not a loss, but it’s not a profit either. It can be said to be the cost price.

Mrs. Weasley bought some snacks for Ginny, and Bill also picked out some candies and chocolates that Fleur liked, preparing to use them as desserts at the wedding.

Although Sirius didn't have much talent, he had a good eye. Plus, he and Harry opened the shop together, so he put a lot of effort into it and collected a lot of rare candies and chocolates.

Kyle also saw the kind of high-end foreign candies that Malfoy had shown off a few years ago. Each box was at least five Galleons, which was more than ten times more expensive than Honeydukes' most expensive candy.

There are also some French candies that Furong sent to her for Christmas last time, which are also available here.

Bill bought lots of chocolate and a big bucket of toffee.

Fred and George also bought some as raw materials for their quick-acting skipping candy.

"You are here."

At this moment, Furong suddenly walked in from outside, ran straight to Bill, and naturally took his arm.

"I just went to the wrong shop next door." She muttered quietly, "You must not know what I saw."

"It can't be a dark magic item." Bill said half-jokingly.

"What's even scarier is that nothing in that store costs less than five Galleons." Furong couldn't help but complain, "At a glance, everything is priced at more than ten Galleons. Can you believe it? A broken branch costs five hundred and fifty Galleons!"

Hearing this number, everyone present gasped.

Mr. Weasley even calculated silently. Five hundred and fifty Galleons was his half-year salary. How could a branch be so expensive!

Among all the people, only Kyle had a strange expression, as if he had guessed something.

"The owner of that store must be a greedy goblin." Furong was still whispering, "I saw that the clerk there was a goblin..."

"Sorry...it should be house-elf." Kyle couldn't help but say aloud.

He originally wanted to pretend that he didn't know, but Furong's scolding was too dirty.

What do you mean by a shop run by a fairy?

Hearing Kyle say this, Fred and George also thought of something.

Come to think of it, they just noticed that Kyle's shop seemed to be right next door.

Could it be that the devil-like profiteer that Furong just mentioned is...

"And the item worth 550 Galleons isn't a branch either, it's the horn of a horned beast." Kyle continued, "This magical animal was on the verge of extinction seventy years ago, so this price is still very reasonable."

Now, other people's eyes also looked over here.

"Well, it's my store," Kyle shrugged.

After a moment of silence, there was a cry of surprise, and even Harry couldn't help but shout out.

He had also been next door once, and even though he had enough Galleons in his vault, he was still scared by the high prices.

Compared to the grapes that cost five gallons each, the candies in their store seemed like they were given away for free.

But he never expected that the greedy and unscrupulous businessman whom he had cursed countless times in his heart was actually Kyle.

For a moment, he felt an inexplicable embarrassment.

But the one who was more embarrassed than him was Fleur. Harry at least cursed in his heart, but she did it in front of him...

The warm and generous French girl turned red and her nails almost dug into Bill's arm.

The atmosphere became a little awkward, and Kyle had no choice but to take the initiative and ask, "Would you like to go for a tour?"

Everyone agreed.

Mainly because they were a little surprised. Most of them didn't know when Kyle opened a shop in Diagon Alley, including Harry.

Sirius knew about it, but he was busy looking for rare and delicious candies during this period and forgot to tell Harry.

Kyle's shop is right next door, just a few steps from the candy store.

Ron was so curious that he was the first to walk in, but when he saw the prices on the shelves, he subconsciously wanted to run out.

This is too exaggerated. It seems that the only currency in this store is Galleon.

"A quill pen, fifty Galleons?!" Ron couldn't help but shout out when he walked to a shelf, "It's more than my monthly salary. Even if it's made of gold, it can't be that expensive!"

"Salary?" Kyle glanced at him.

"It's the work George and I did before." Fred took the initiative to explain, "You were staying in the attic before, so you didn't know."

"Ron has been working for a month."

“We recommend it.”

……

"Okay." Kyle nodded and explained, "These are thunderbird feathers, so they're naturally more expensive. If you like them, I can give you a cost price."

"Cost price?" Ron muttered softly, "How much is it?"

“Well… 70% off.” Having just been accused of being a profiteer, Kyle was too embarrassed to tell them that the cost price here was mostly 10% off, so he simply raised the price.

70% off, that’s about right.

"That's... fifteen Galleons..." Ron laughed dryly, "I'd have to be crazy to... No, even if I were crazy, I wouldn't spend fifteen Galleons on a quill.

"Harry, can you?"

"Probably... not." Harry glanced at Kyle and said cautiously.

A feather pen from Wenrenju cost five knuts, which he thought was pretty good.

A fifteen-Gallon quill... I might consider it if it could do its own homework.

Mrs. Weasley thought the same thing as them, but was too embarrassed to say it out loud.

She still hasn't recovered from those outrageous prices.

If this store wasn't owned by Kyle, she would never come in, and would quicken her pace even if she passed by the door.

Mr. Weasley was not too surprised. He had heard some news from Fred and George before, but they had never come.

In Harry and Sirius's shop, everyone could still buy something on their own initiative, but here that was out of the question.

Even Fred and George didn't think about taking care of Kyle's business, not even a little bit.

Only Furong bought a coral necklace, not out of guilt, but because she really liked it.

She said that before because she was scared by the outrageous prices, but after really getting to know the things in the store, she felt that it was quite worth it.

This kind of gem coral is rare even in France, and the price is reasonable. She insisted on paying the original price, but Kyle did not accept it and instead considered it a gift from her.

Everyone stayed in Kyle's store for a shorter time and came out quickly.

Afterwards, Mrs. Weasley took Ginny to Flourish and Blotts bookstore and Madam Malkin's robe shop.

It took a long time to make the new robes. It was almost noon when everyone returned to the Burrow from the Leaky Cauldron.

Lunch was also eaten at the Burrow.

Mrs. Weasley then hurried to the garden with the others, "Hurry up, we have a lot of work to do."

Bill, Ginny and Ron followed her out, each carrying a large bucket.

Kyle returned to the family's attic, with Fred and George reluctantly joining him.

"Are you still going to study the Horcrux spell?" Fred watched Kyle pick up the glass bottle on the table, hesitated for a moment and said, "I think you, um... don't need to be so anxious."

"Yeah." George nodded repeatedly.

He now regretted agreeing to help Kyle.

After a brief stroll through Diagon Alley today, he missed his free days even more.

"At least you have to finish attending Bill's wedding."

"It would be a bit rude if the three of us all looked like we were still asleep."

Kyle thought about it and felt that what they said made sense, so he threw the bottle into an open box nearby.

His own research is almost done, so he will make a decision after meeting Professor Sashia.