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Chapter 978: Successful Research and Reorganization
🕑 Added 2023-12-31 21:22:19 +0000 UTC“I can’t, they’re not technically doing anything wrong,” said Hermione through gritted teeth. “They’re quite within their rights to eat the foul things themselves, and I can’t find a rule that says the other idiots aren’t entitled to buy them, not unless they’re proven to be dangerous in some way, and it doesn’t look as though they are. As a partner in their business, don’t you have something to say?”
"Well, I told them not to conduct dangerous experiments," said Evan. "But as you can see, this isn't dangerous."
He didn't want to bother with Fred and George's prank research, let alone the fact that he was no longer the Head Boy. If Hogwarts hadn't been in chaos, Evan would have even considered actively disrupting the order!
But with Umbridge causing trouble, that day was probably not too far away...
So, the few of them watched Fred and George projectile-vomit into the bucket, gulp down the rest of the chew, and straighten up, beaming with their arms wide to protracted applause and a large number of orders.
"Evan, have you helped them with this Skiving Snackbox?" Harry asked, "Providing the formula or something."
"No!"
"Seriously, I don’t get why Fred and George only got three O.W.L.s each,” said Harry, watching as Fred, George, and Lee collected gold from the eager crowd. "How difficult is this exam? No matter how you look at it, they really know their stuff. At least they’re very good at Potions. They’re able to develop this kind of vomiting potion and antidote. However, they did not get their O.W.L. in Potions. Alas, But I can’t even get this Strengthening Solution right.”
He flipped through his Potions textbook, hoping to find something useful.
"I’ve suggested that you should pay more attention to the formulas provided by Snape in class. More effective than the ones in the textbook," said Evan, thinking that Harry was doing useless work. "Study his modifications, and you'll gain more.”
"No use. I think the reason why I fail every time is because Snape is watching. It would be better if he wasn't here." Harry said, "I don't even know as much as Fred and George. They……"
"They only know flashy stuff," said Hermione disparagingly, "that’s no real use to anyone."
"Hermione, do you know!" Ron yelled strangely, "They’ve made a lot of money, and the orders are beyond imagination."
"That doesn't mean it's useful!" Hermione scowled, looking dissatisfied at Fred rattling his box of Galleons ostentatiously. She stood up directly. "Okay, I'm going back to sleep. You guys should sleep too."
It was a long while before the crowd around the Weasleys dispersed, and then Fred and George came over to settle accounts with Evan.
They took out a long order form and calculated the money with Evan, and the profits after deducting the costs were already considerable.
This was their habit. Although Evan said he trusted them, they still insisted on keeping the accounts clear.
'Business is business', just like they never gave Ron a discount.
Since it was a partnership, the accounts must be clear.
Harry, Ron, and Colin watched for a while, expressing surprise that the twins had already earned one hundred and eighty-two gold Galleons. It was hard to imagine that the business of a few copper nuts could earn so much money. Afterward, they went back to sleep one by one.
After settling accounts, only Evan, Fred and George were left in the common room.
Evan suggested that they speed up the research on the Skiving Snackboxes and produce more of the types that had been researched. If necessary, he could find someone to mass-produce them outside the school and sell them to students at low prices.
He had a hunch that after Umbridge made a big commotion; these Skiving Snackboxes would come in handy!
After Fred and George left, Evan studied magic alone for a while.
He fell into a bottleneck in demonic magic and summoning methods.
Without proper reference materials, continuing to study on paper was meaningless.
He was considering whether to summon the demon deep in the kitchen. As for the summoning conditions, Evan had already studied and understood that he needed the corpse of a house-elf, and the power of the demon altar would bring it back to the world.
There was no shortage of materials; he could easily find one among the house-elf heads hanging all over the wall.
The problem was whether the summoned house-elf would become an entirely new demon or retain the original owner of the house-elf corpse. Additionally, understanding its strength and whether it had malicious intent were all things that needed to be studied before the summoning.
Evan had a hunch that no matter what he summoned, he would not feel pleasant.
This magic itself was very weird and evil, and using a demon altar with a house-elf corpse as a sacrifice could easily lead people to associate it with bad things...
Especially with Umbridge still at Hogwarts, it wasn't appropriate to summon any demon. Evan still had a lot of troubles to solve at hand, so he planned to carefully research and summon something only when it wasn't urgent, perhaps in the next semester.
After midnight Dobby returned from the Centaurs with their reply.
They originally did not agree to let a giant enter their woods, but for the sake of Dumbledore and Evan, they agreed to observe for a while first, confirming whether Grawp would cause any disturbance to the beings in the Forbidden Forest.
Evan was certain that Grawp would definitely cause trouble, but that was something Hagrid needed to worry about.
The Centaurs had made a concession, and Evan couldn't do anything about the remaining issues. He just hoped Hagrid wouldn't make him teach Grawp English.
The next morning, it started to rain lightly again.
Evan and Hermione informed each member one by one, asking them to gather on the seventh floor at seven o'clock tonight to start the first training.
When breakfast was almost over, Angelina rushed into the Great Hall.
“I’ve got permission!” she said. “To re-form the Quidditch team!"
“Excellent!"
“Yeah,” said Angelina, beaming. “I went to McGonagall and I think she might have appealed to Dumbledore or maybe had another argument with Umbridge — anyway, Umbridge had to give in. So let’s start training!”
"But I have to learn magic with Evan tonight!" Harry said hesitantly, "And the weather outside..."
"The team activity is at seven o'clock. We can start practicing from four thirty; there's plenty of time," Angelina said. "Starting today, we'll practice every day. After your afternoon classes, I want you down at the pitch, all right? We’ve got to make up time. Haven't you realized we’re only three weeks away from our first match?”
Facing Angelina's determination, it was hard for everyone to say no. Harry and Ron could only nod reluctantly.
