Major shareholder Porter
With Sirius's strong addition, Harry could finally rest assured about the safety of his girlfriend who was far away in the Muggle world, but he still couldn't get a real break for the next month or so - Snape's tutoring and DA training left him exhausted.
It's no easy task to be wary of Potions Professor Snape, who might invade his mind at any moment—yes, that wretched old Slytherin bastard seems to think he's making good progress and is no longer sticking to the fixed after-school tutoring time. Once, he even did it to him in Potions class. What's even more infuriating is that after he yelled for Snape to get out of his mind, the professor deducted points from his score for disrupting class order.
As for the DA training, Umbridge has somehow gotten wind of it lately, and whenever they begin their gatherings, he brings those wretched Slytherin brats—led by Malfoy—like—excuse me, no offense to Sirius—sniffing around like dogs, causing them all sorts of trouble. Despite their exhaustion, they persist in holding the gatherings for a possible future war—which is bound to happen, and it's clear Voldemort didn't return for the sake of peace in the wizarding world.
“DA is necessary in any case. After we kill Voldemort, we still need to graduate and get jobs, and Umbridge’s actions obviously can’t add even half an O to our certificates,” Hermione said.
"Even Dumbledore wouldn't be so certain about Merlin's beard when he says 'After we've killed Voldemort!'"
Hermione retorted, "What, you think we can't achieve final victory?"
“I just think you’re being too—understating.” Ron’s thoughts on this matter were always wavering. He meant that he grew up listening to horror stories about Voldemort, and even the greatest wizard of his time, Dumbledore, hadn’t been able to completely destroy Voldemort. It was perfectly normal for him to have reservations.
"Is that so? Then please allow me to revise my wording, 'until Voldemort is finally defeated'."
"...To be honest, it wasn't much better."
"What are you talking about?" Harry and Sirius had just finished talking about Queenie through the two-way mirror and were momentarily at a loss for where they were. Incidentally, Harry had told Queenie that Sirius's dog, Bigfoot, was good at finding its way around and would occasionally go for walks on its own, so seeing it shouldn't be surprising. Queenie naturally believed him and, because she saw Bigfoot more often, always kept some beef jerky in her backpack.
Ron took a bite of a ladyfingers. "I'm talking about how Miss Know-It-All of Gryffindor became a prophet."
Hermione glanced at him and turned to Harry. "Speaking of which, do you know what time it is right now?"
“What do you mean? Friday night—” Harry waved his wand and glanced at the time, “10:36?”
Hermione closed the book and sighed. "I knew you'd forgotten. Let me remind you, there are only ten days left until Queenie's birthday."
"Merlin's beard!" Harry jumped up. He'd been so busy lately that he hadn't even thought about it. He hadn't even chosen a birthday present for Queenie yet!
"Fortunately, tomorrow is Hogsmeade Day, so I think I still have time."
Harry returned to the Condiment Joke Shop, trying to find a gift that rivaled One Thousand and One Nights, but most of the items were too obviously magical, and he couldn't always use the mysterious Egyptian as a cover.
"How about sherry? I think Q really enjoys drinking. It tastes good; I smelled it on Professor Trelawney."
"Hmm..." It's possible, but it's rather ordinary, especially since it's Queenie's eighteenth birthday.
Wow! Look at that!
Ron was drawn to the new prank product, and Hermione leaned close to Harry and whispered, "If we really can't find anything suitable, I think giving yourself as a gift would be the best one."
"Hermione—!"
Hermione brushed her hair back. "Ahem, sorry, just kidding, but I have recently noticed that quite a few fourth and fifth graders are—well, I think it's all because of Umbridge's ridiculous educational regulations. Sometimes the more you forbid students from doing something, the more they want to do it."
Harry paused for a moment, then asked hesitantly, "How...how did you find out?"
"Hmm, during night patrols, the storeroom, empty classrooms, the broom shed..."
"...Aren't you on night patrol with Ron? Doesn't he know?" He meant that if Ron knew, he would definitely tell him.
“Well, we did spot them once when we were on night patrol, in the Quidditch changing room.” Hermione still found it unbelievable. “The two of them frantically explained that they were there to secretly train, and Ron actually believed them!”
"..." Putting aside Ron's mental state, he thought he would never be able to look at the Quidditch dressing room the same way again!
"Actually, I've been thinking about something: when you use aging-enhancing drugs, does it mean that, aside from your mindset, you're already a fully-fledged adult? Then do something—"
Hermione!
“Uh, sorry, I was just curious—” Hermione raised her hands under Harry’s embarrassed stare. “Okay, I won’t say it again.”
Harry eventually found a suitable birthday present for Queenie, made by the Weasley twins.
He learned that the twins were raising funds to open their own shop of all sorts of magical jokes, and decided to give them the Triwizard Tournament prize money as start-up capital—a perfect home for the money, which he had originally intended to give to the Diggory couple, but they refused, so it was perfect for the twins.
The Weasley twins were incredibly enthusiastic about Harry, their major shareholder, and immediately brought out all their inventions for Harry to choose from. You see, the most popular thing at Hogwarts right now is their various quick-fix truancy candies. Although Umbridge has banned a few, the Weasleys keep coming up with new ideas.
Harry had his eye on the Wonder Witch line of products. He thought Queenie would love the 10-second anti-pustule cream, or rather, all girls would.
Are you sure you want this?
"This thing is still under development and cannot be used for the time being—"
"Oh Harry, we didn't know you cared so much about your appearance—"
"Hey Fred, watch your tone! Harry's an investor!"
"My mistake, Mr. Porter. We will expedite the development process. When would you like to use it?"
Harry sounded just like a boss making things difficult for his subordinates: "Within ten days."
"Wow, did you hear that, George? Mr. Potter wants us to die from staying up all night."
Mr. Potter, being very wealthy, said, "If you finish within ten days, I will add another five hundred Galleons."
"Then I think it's unlikely you'd die suddenly as a wizard—"
"Ten days it is—"
"You have my word~"
"And mine~"
Harry waved them off to get to work, then picked up a shopping magazine and continued flipping through it. He needed to buy Queenie a few more defensive pieces of jewelry, the more the merrier.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
