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Chapter 930: Future Plans
🕑 Added 2023-11-21 07:13:03 +0000 UTCThe annual 0.W.L.s tests held in June were of significant importance. This exam had a crucial impact on future employment and could even determine a student's destiny to some extent. To pass the exam, fifth-year students must endure a year that felt like a nightmare.
The intense academic pressure and the fear brought about by the exam were not much different from the terrifying news of Voldemort's return.
The fear of being dominated by the 0.W.L.s could cause all kinds of situations among fifth- year students.
Year after year, the nightmare repeated itself, and George was by no means exaggerating.
"That's nothing. Kenneth Towler came out in boils, remember?" said Fred reminiscently, wearing the same mischievous smile as George.
“That’s because you put Bulbadox Powder in his pajamas,” said George.
“Oh yeah,” said Fred, grinning. “I’d forgotten... Hard to keep track sometimes, isn’t it?"
“Anyway, it’s a nightmare of a year, the fifth,” said George. “Believe me, if you care about exam results anyway; you’re going to be nervous and on the verge of breaking down. Fred and I managed to keep our spirits up somehow.”
“Yeah … you got, what was it, three O.W.L.s each?" said Ron, "It's too few, and the results were not satisfactory. Percy got twelve certificates back then. When Mum found out about your results, she raged for the entire summer. Luckily, the Quidditch World Cup that followed saved you."
“Yep,” said Fred unconcernedly. “But we feel our futures lie outside the world of academic achievement."
“Yeah... we seriously debated whether we were going to bother coming back for our seventh year,” said George brightly, “now that we’ve got enough funds with the help of Evan, we're planning to open a joke shop in Diagon Alley."
"Mrs. Weasley won’t agree," Evan said, as he came back just to hear their conversation.
"It's really hard to talk about it with Mum, but it's not impossible. At the beginning of last summer, we showed her the money we earned over these years, and she seemed to agree a bit. But, thanks to Percy, turning out to be the world’s biggest prat, Mum directly refused our request to leave school early," George said sarcastically. "I don't understand, now that we’ve got our O.W.L.s, what's the use of N.E.W.T.s? To become prats like Percy?"
“We’re not going to waste our last year here, though,” said Fred, looking affectionately around at the Great Hall. “We’re going to use it to do a bit of market research, find out exactly what the average Hogwarts student requires from his joke shop, carefully evaluate the results of our research, and then produce the products to fit the demand."
It was not just about prank products; Fred and George had a flair for business and entrepreneurship. They were willing to succeed.
If they had enough time, they could even sell their products abroad and build a vast business empire.
That was also the main reason why Evan had been cooperating with them. He had funds and enough magic to support the research of various new products. He could even find sales channels in the Muggle world from his home. Yet there was still one problem.
He was unwilling to do such a thing, nor was he willing to waste his time on it. Even the Hogwarts Magic News was mainly supported by Hermione and the house elves at the beginning, but now it was almost all handed over to Lupin and other managers, and Evan rarely intervened.
But he also needed the influence brought by commercial expansion, such as this time, researching and producing a new broom was precisely because of this.
In this case, daily management and operation required someone to take over, and Fred and George were the best candidates.
"Seriously, buddy, I think it's a complete waste of time for you to stay at school," Fred said, turning to look at Evan. "You should come with us to Diagon Alley, that's where you showcase your talents. We'll definitely achieve something great."
Evan had once described the relevant prospects to them, and Fred and George wholeheartedly agreed.
"You want Evan to go to Diagon Alley with you to open a joke shop?!" Hermione frowned at him, "I hope Evan can do something more promising after Hogwarts, such as running a newspaper or entering the Ministry of Magic... ..."
"Oh, Hermione, you sound like Mum!" said Fred.
"Almost exactly the same!" George nodded, "You want Evan to be a prat like Percy?"
"Isn't it too early to discuss all this? I haven't even figured out what I want to do myself!" said Evan.
He actually planned to travel around the world after defeating Voldemort, in search of ancient magic relics.
But that was all for later, and no one knew what the future would bring.
"You know, I haven't passed my O.W.L.s yet, and I still have time to think about it."
"By the way, can Evan take the O.W.L.s directly?" Hermione asked suddenly, "I mean… There seems to be no age requirement for the O.W.L.s."
"Others definitely can't, but Evan is a different story!" said Fred. "Because he's Evan!"
"Yeah, the creator of miracles!" George grinned. "Okay, we have to go to class now. If we get there early we might be able to sell a few Extendable Ears before Herbology."
After Fred and George left, the topic continued. Hermione seemed to want Evan to take the O.W.L.s early since his abilities were more than sufficient.
She disagreed with most of what Fred and George had said, except for one point; there was really no need for Evan to stay in Hogwarts according to the normal trajectory; that would be purely a waste of time. His current level far surpassed others, and even graduating students couldn't match his practical skills.
If possible, he could directly pass the O.W.L.s and get into the N.E.W.T.s courses...
Regarding this matter, they still needed to ask Dumbledore. If the Headmaster agreed, Evan wouldn’t mind either.
There wouldn’t be any issues in practical combat; and he had just to pay a bit more attention to theoretical knowledge.
“Do you reckon it’s true this year’s going to be really tough? Because of the exams?” Harry hesitated, seemingly frightened by the scenes depicted by Fred and George.
“Oh yeah,” said Ron. “Bound to be, isn’t it? O.W.L.s are really important, affect the jobs you can apply for and everything. We get career advice too, later this year, Bill told me. So you can choose what N.E.W.T.s you want to do next year."
"Well, do you know what you want to do after Hogwarts?" Harry continued.
That was a crucial question, one that Harry had thought about many times before.
For a while, Harry had even entertained the idea of becoming a professional Quidditch player like Wood.
