Hogwarts: I Am Such a Model Wizard

Chapter 981: The Unscrupulous Merchant

Hogwarts was about to start again.

But unlike this time in past years, the village of St. Catchpole wasn’t nearly as lively.

With Ron and Harry both graduated, only Ginny needed to go to King’s Cross Station this year—something that made Mrs. Weasley feel much more at ease.

Still, in keeping with Weasley family tradition, with just a few days left before term began, they all accompanied Ginny on a trip to Diagon Alley.

While buying new textbooks and school robes, they also stopped by to check out the new shop that Harry and Sirius had opened.

Even though Harry didn’t have much faith in Sirius’s business instincts, the shop—several years in the making—had finally opened. Sirius gave it to Harry as a birthday gift on the day of his birthday.

It had to be said, it was as extravagant as ever. But Harry didn’t look very pleased—his smile was strained at best.

“Not far now, we’re almost there...” In Diagon Alley, Fred and George were cheerfully leading the way up front.

After a whole summer of hard work, they were finally free. Even Kyle had managed to escape the attic for once—once he heard Mrs. Weasley was coming to Diagon Alley, the twins roped him into visiting the Burrow.

Kyle hadn’t turned them down.

Lately, he’d either been facing off against Boggarts and Dementors or buried in piles of bizarre Dark magic books. A change of pace was sorely needed.

Especially considering those books—nearly every one of them carried some degree of mental contamination. Fred and George had merely glimpsed one of the diagrams by accident and ended up suffering through several tormented nights. Kyle, on the other hand, would study them for hours at a time.

To be honest, when he first stepped out of the house, he even felt a faint, reflexive aversion to sunlight. Fortunately, his Occlumency was skilled enough that the feeling quickly passed.

“We’re here,” came George’s voice from up ahead, and the group stopped in front of a newly opened shop.

“Potter’s Cottage!”

Fred read the sign aloud with gusto, completely ignoring Harry—who had just stepped out of the store and looked like he wanted to crawl into a hole.

“No question, that name had to be Sirius’s idea,” Bill couldn’t help but joke.

Everyone else nodded. The name was just too recognizable. No one but Sirius would’ve put that on a sign—not even James and Lily.

“I tried,” Harry said, stepping forward, face flushed.

“I wanted to change it, but Sirius told me he’d dreamed of opening a shop like this with me while he was in Azkaban... I just couldn’t say no after that.”

“I’m guessing that was the whole point,” Kyle said, giving Harry a sympathetic look.

He remembered that Sirius’s dream used to be living together with Harry at 12 Grimmauld Place. Since when did it become opening a shop in Diagon Alley?

Also, Kyle was fairly sure Sirius only discovered the shop’s magical deed in the vault after his name had been cleared—meaning he hadn’t even known he owned property in Diagon Alley while in Azkaban.

Honestly, as a former Gryffindor golden boy, Sirius could wrap Harry around his finger without even trying... it was almost too easy.

Still, Kyle kept these thoughts to himself.

By now, the others had followed Harry inside.

It seemed Sirius had learned his lesson from last time and didn’t open another ice cream shop—probably one of the few smart decisions he’d ever made.

After all, he managed to lose money in Hogsmeade even without competition—Diagon Alley would’ve eaten him alive. Not to mention, this particular spot was dangerously close to Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlour. Opening another ice cream shop here would’ve been like setting fire to his Galleons.

So instead, Sirius went with a sweets shop. Kyle took a quick look around and saw that most of the stock was chocolate—an entire wall of shelves was filled with Chocolate Frogs alone.

“I’m just here to help,”

Not far off, Harry was speaking to Ginny. “I didn’t dare tell Sirius I want to play Quidditch. I’m waiting until I get a tryout letter before I say anything.”

“Have you found a team yet?”

“I don’t know if it counts,” Harry sighed. “The Holyhead Harpies. Oliver Wood told me their Seeker hasn’t been doing well lately, and they’re looking for a reserve. He’s asking around for me.”

“Really?” Ginny said, lighting up. “I hope it works out for you.”

“Th-thanks.”

“Actually, I want to be a professional Quidditch player too,” Ginny added. “Maybe we could end up on the same team.”

“That’d be amazing.”

The two kept talking, drifting closer as they spoke. Before long, their shoulders were nearly touching.

“Harry...” Mrs. Weasley turned around.

Kyle watched as the pair flew apart like they’d just been slammed by a charging Unicorn.

“Mrs... Mrs. Weasley, ma’am? Something wrong?” Harry asked, his voice laced with an oddly guilty note.

But Mrs. Weasley didn’t seem to notice. She pointed to the chocolates on the shelf and asked, “How much are these? I’d like to buy some.”

“They’re for you,” Harry blurted out. “No charge—take whatever you like.”

In a way, Harry and Sirius were quite alike... surprisingly generous with their friends.

“That won’t do,” Mrs. Weasley said, shaking her head firmly.

“She’s right,” Bill chimed in. “I was planning to buy some of these for the wedding reception. If you won’t take payment, I’ll have to go elsewhere.”

Bill and Fleur were getting married. The wedding was scheduled for the day before the Hogwarts term began.

“This... all right then.” Harry still wanted to give it away for free, but seeing how firm Bill and Mrs. Weasley were, he didn’t push it any further and instead offered them a generous discount.

He wouldn’t lose money, but he wouldn’t make any either—it was essentially sold at cost.

Mrs. Weasley picked out some snacks for Ginny, and Bill chose chocolates and sweets Fleur liked, planning to serve them at the wedding.

Though Sirius lacked business sense, he did have good taste. And since this shop was something he and Harry had opened together, he’d taken it quite seriously. They had stocked an impressive selection of rare candies and chocolates.

Kyle even spotted the kind of high-end foreign confections Malfoy had flaunted a few years back—each box starting at no less than five Galleons, over ten times the price of the most expensive sweets at Honeydukes.

There were even some of the French candies Fleur had sent over during the last Christmas holiday.

Bill bought a large selection of chocolates, along with a giant tub of toffees.

Fred and George also grabbed some, planning to use them as ingredients for their Skiving Snackboxes.

“There you are.”

Just then, Fleur walked in from outside, heading straight for Bill and naturally linking her arm through his.

“I went into the wrong shop just now,” she murmured. “You wouldn’t believe what I saw.”

“It couldn’t be Dark artifacts, could it?” Bill teased.

“Worse,” Fleur muttered, clearly exasperated. “There wasn’t a single thing in that shop under five Galleons. I’m serious—everything I saw was priced at ten Galleons or more. Can you imagine? One shabby-looking twig was going for five hundred and fifty Galleons!”

At that number, everyone gasped.

Mr. Weasley silently did the math—550 Galleons was half a year’s salary for him. What kind of twig could cost that much?

Among them, only Kyle looked slightly off, as though he’d figured something out.

“The owner must be a greedy goblin,” Fleur added under her breath. “I saw the shop assistant—it was a goblin…”

“Sorry… it was probably a House-elf,” Kyle interjected, unable to stay quiet any longer.

He’d originally planned to feign ignorance, but Fleur’s comments had gone too far.

A shop run by a goblin? Really?

Hearing that, Fred and George also began to connect the dots.

Now that they thought about it, they’d noticed earlier that Kyle’s shop seemed to be right next door.

The goblin-like swindler Fleur had just described couldn’t possibly be...

“And that thing priced at 550 Galleons isn’t a twig,” Kyle added. “It’s a Graphorn horn. That magical creature’s been nearly extinct since seventy years ago. For something that rare, the price is actually quite reasonable.”

Now all eyes turned toward him.

“Yeah, it’s my shop,” Kyle said with a shrug.

There was a brief silence—followed by a chorus of gasps and surprised shouts. Even Harry couldn’t hold back.

He’d been to the shop next door once himself. And even though he had plenty of Galleons in his vault, the prices had still made his jaw drop.

Compared to grapes priced at five Galleons each, the candy in their store felt practically free.

He never would’ve guessed that the “greedy merchant” he’d silently cursed so many times... was Kyle.

For a moment, he was struck by an odd sense of embarrassment.

But not as much as Fleur—Harry, at least, had kept his curses internal. She’d said hers aloud. Right to his face.

The normally cheerful and generous French girl turned scarlet, her fingernails nearly digging into Bill’s arm.

The air grew awkward, and Kyle had no choice but to break the tension. “Want to take a look inside?”

Everyone agreed.

Mostly, they were still processing the surprise. None of them—not even Harry—had known Kyle had opened a shop in Diagon Alley.

Sirius had known, of course, but he’d been so busy hunting down rare and tasty sweets lately that he’d forgotten to tell Harry.

Kyle’s shop was just next door—only a few steps from the candy store.

Ron, unable to hold back his curiosity, was the first to step inside. But the moment he saw the prices on the shelves, his first instinct was to turn and bolt.

It was ridiculous—as if Galleons were the only currency the place recognized.

“Fifty Galleons for a quill?!” he exclaimed as he stopped at one display. “That’s more than I make in a month! Even if it were made of solid gold, it wouldn’t be this expensive!”

“Salary?” Kyle raised an eyebrow at him.

“It’s from the job George and I had,” Fred explained. “You’ve been holed up in the attic, so you wouldn’t know.”

“Ron’s been working for a month now.”

“We recommended him.”

…

“Okay.” Kyle nodded and explained, “This is a Thunderbird feather, so naturally it costs a bit more. If you’re interested, I can give it to you at cost.”

“Cost price?” Ron muttered. “How much is that?”

“Hmm… thirty percent of the retail price.” Having just been called a swindler, Kyle felt a little awkward admitting that most of his actual costs were closer to ten percent, so he bumped the number up a bit.

Thirty percent seemed reasonable enough.

“So that’s… fifteen Galleons...” Ron forced a dry laugh. “I’d have to be mad to—no, even if I were mad, I still wouldn’t spend fifteen Galleons on a quill.”

“Harry, would you?”

“Probably… not,” Harry said cautiously, glancing at Kyle.

He already thought a five-Knut quill from Scribbulus was a pretty good deal.

Fifteen Galleons for a quill… maybe if it did his homework for him.

Mrs. Weasley was thinking the exact same thing but didn’t have the heart to say it aloud.

She still hadn’t recovered from the shock of those outrageous prices.

If this shop hadn’t been Kyle’s, she wouldn’t have stepped inside—she’d have picked up her pace just walking past it.

Mr. Weasley, on the other hand, wasn’t all that surprised. He’d already heard a bit about it from Fred and George—he’d just never come to see it himself.

In Harry and Sirius’s shop, everyone had been happy to pick out a few things. But here… that just wasn’t happening.

Even Fred and George had no intention of helping Kyle’s business—not even a little.

Only Fleur ended up buying something—a coral necklace. Not out of guilt, but because she genuinely liked it.

Her earlier complaints had just been a reaction to the sticker shock. Once she’d had a proper look around and understood what the items were, she actually thought it was worth the price.

This type of gemstone coral was rare even in France, and the price was fair. She insisted on paying full price, but Kyle refused and said it would be his wedding gift to her.

The group didn’t linger long in Kyle’s shop. Before long, they were back outside.

After that, Mrs. Weasley took Ginny to Flourish and Blotts, and then to Madam Malkin’s for new robes.

Getting the robes fitted took quite a while, and by the time they all returned to the Burrow from the Leaky Cauldron, it was nearly noon.

Lunch was served at the Burrow.

Afterward, Mrs. Weasley quickly rounded everyone up and led them into the garden. “Come on, we’ve still got a lot to do.”

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

Kyle returned to the attic, with Fred and George trailing behind him, clearly not thrilled.

“You’re still going to study the Horcrux spell?” Fred asked, watching Kyle pick up a glass bottle from the desk. After a moment’s hesitation, he added, “I mean, you don’t have to rush.”

“Yeah, exactly,” George chimed in, nodding rapidly.

At this point, he was starting to regret ever agreeing to help Kyle.

After just that brief stroll through Diagon Alley today, he was already missing the days when life had been a lot more carefree.

“At least wait until after Bill’s wedding.”

“If the three of us show up looking like we haven’t slept in a week, it’s going to be a bit rude.”

Kyle thought about it and realized they had a point. He casually tossed the bottle into an open trunk nearby.

His own research was mostly complete anyway. As for the rest—he’d wait until he met with Professor Sykes to decide what to do next.