Harry Potter and the Secret Treasure

Because the channels for transmitting news are relatively closed, most wizards learn about various news in the magic world through newspapers.The opinions of mainstream newspapers largely affect people's opinions on a certain matter, which is very important.

In the remaining few days of the Christmas holiday, Ivan plans to rent a shop in Diagon Alley with Professor Lupine as the headquarters of the "Hogwarts Wizardry News".

He had planned everything, and set up a stronghold in the most prosperous street in the British magic world, officially opened to the public, and was responsible for newspaper printing, sales, and advertising contact.

This is the first step in the external expansion of "Hogwarts Wizardry", and at the same time, it is also the most important point.

Only by appearing in front of the public first can the influence of the newspaper be gradually increased.

Otherwise, in the eyes of other wizards, no matter how many explosive news there are, "Hogwarts Wizarding News" is just an internal school publication for little-known wizards to entertain themselves. Home Daily competition.

Although he wanted to rent a house, considering the limited funds and the expensive rent on Diagon Alley, Aiwen was not sure whether he could find a suitable store.

If it is too remote, it may not be effective in publicity.

In addition to this matter, Ivan also has to participate in the collective activities of Sirius, Harry and Hermione. First of all, he will visit Ron at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Injuries and Injuries.

In the previous correspondence, Mr. and Mrs. Sly also strongly invited them to visit the Burrow and stay there for a few days until the end of the Christmas holiday.

Chapter 234 The Wealth of the Black Family

Because of the full purchase of the Firebolt, Sirius received a gift from the store owner of tickets for all the Quidditch League matches next year, a total of ten sets, all of which were special seats.

The Quidditch League is the abbreviation of the British and Irish Quidditch Team Super League, which is formed by the thirteen best teams in the wizarding world.

Unlike the simple confrontation between the four houses of Hogwarts, the Quidditch League is a professional competition.

They play at a high level and recruit players from all over the world.

Gryffindor Quidditch captain Oliver Wood's biggest dream is to join Puddlemere United after graduation and become a professional player.

When he was in school, he always brought everyone the latest news about Puddlemere United's matches, and the articles he contributed to the "Hogwarts Wizarding News" were all about this aspect. Analysis of the new tactics adopted by the team and so on.

Because I usually hear a lot from Wood, Ivan, Harry, and Hermione are also looking forward to it, and want to see what the professional league looks like.

They checked next year's schedule and found that on the first day of the new year, Puddlemere United played against Wimbourne Hornets.

Because this is the first Quidditch match after Christmas, both teams have high hopes to win the championship, and there are many reasons such as the Quidditch World Cup next summer, the popularity of this match is very high, and tickets are hard to come by. , fortunately Sirius got the package.

After discussion, everyone decided to watch the game before going back to school, and invited the Weasleys to go with them by the way.

Aiwen walked down the stairs. These are the things he needs to accomplish in the remaining few days of the Christmas holiday. Among them, improving his own strength is the most important thing.

The first floor of the Leaky Cauldron was in a mess, without the Christmas atmosphere of last night.

Almost overnight, the tavern went from being a bustling Christmas party venue to its small, squalid appearance, as if it hadn't been cleaned in centuries.

However, there was no unpleasant smell in the air, instead it was filled with the smell of food.

Bar owner Tom was standing behind the dilapidated bar counter, frying a series of delicious sausages. When he saw Ivan, he showed an ugly smile on his face.

"Good morning, Mr. Mason!"

"Good morning!" Ivan greeted.

In the side hall not far away, Lupine, Sirius, and Hermione had already woken up. They were sitting around a round table having breakfast, discussing something happily.

As if expecting Ivan to come, they prepared a breakfast for him.

"It's just in time, Ivan, we just happened to talk about you!" Seeing Ivan walk in, Sirius waved his hand, motioned him to sit beside him, and said straight to the point, "I just heard Remus and Hermione Say, you're going to rent a house in Diagon Alley?"

"That's right!" Ivan nodded. He didn't know why Sirius mentioned this matter. He took the milk handed over by Hermione and explained, "I've thought about it carefully. If I want to further expand the For the sales volume and influence of Gewarts Magic, it is necessary to move the headquarters of the newspaper to Diagon Alley like the Daily Prophet, so that it will be easier for Professor Lupin to manage..."

"Then have you chosen a good location?" Sirius asked, "The rent of the shop in Diagon Alley is not cheap, it needs a lot of Galleons!"

Ivan shook his head. In fact, this was exactly what caused him a headache.

Although in the past two years, "Hogwarts Magic News" had a lot of advertising revenue, and Ivan made a lot of money from it, but at the same time he spent a lot of money.

Not to mention the sponsorship fees for various magic research projects of Fred, George, Hermione, and other little wizards, just asking Lihen Bookstore to collect precious magic books and buying potion materials in large quantities costs a lot. most of his income.

The funds that Aiwen can use now are around [-] Galleons. With this money, he can only choose a shop in a remote place, but he hopes that the location will not be too far away.

The most worrying thing is that he can't spend all the money.

Aiwen must leave a part of it for the daily turnover of the newspaper, and to purchase the necessary magic experiment materials, as well as things that need to improve his strength...

In terms of improving magic power, the amount of money that needs to be spent is completely a bottomless pit.

Let alone two hundred gold Galleons, even if you give him another two thousand gold Galleons, it will not be enough for him.

Ai Wen sighed, no matter which angle he looked at, he had to find a project that could make a lot of money in the long run.

Although the operation of newspapers can be profitable, it is far from enough. The main purpose of operating newspapers is to increase influence and control public opinion, and making money is secondary.

Moreover, the income of "Hogwarts Wizardry" has reached a bottleneck, and it is difficult to make a big increase in a short period of time.

As for the feasible profitable project, Aiwen only knows one at present.

That's the product of Fred and George's Weasley pranks, which are very popular with other young wizards.If nothing else, it can even become the largest brand of prank products in the magic world, and making money is not a problem.

The problem now is that if they want to realize all the ideas in their heads and open up sales, they still need a large amount of Galleon investment in the early stage.

Ivan doesn't have that money, and it's even more impossible for Fred and George to have it. Almost all their previous research and development expenses were sponsored by Ivan.

Also, if you want to open a joke shop, you also need to rent a shop in Diagon Alley.

All the problems have returned to the original point, they simply don't have enough money to rent a suitable shop in a suitable location in Diagon Alley.

The matter of the Weasley joke shop was put on the back burner, but the matter of the newspaper headquarters was imminent and had to be settled during the Christmas holidays, not until next summer.

Aiwen has calculated that for a shop that is not too remote, the annual rent is about [-] to [-] Galleons based on the surrounding conditions and the flow of people.

This meant that he had to find a way to gather at least two hundred gold Galleons.

Aiwen plans to determine the specific store first, and the money on hand can be used as rent.If there is really no other way in the end, there are still many precious magic books and some refined potions in his personal collection, and some of them can be sold first.

But Ivan would not do this unless it was absolutely necessary.

He was thinking of a way to get two hundred Galleons quickly, even if he asked his family for it, his parents would not give him so much money all at once.

Even if you want to borrow money, there is almost nothing you can borrow.

Whether it's the Weasleys, Lupine, Harry, or Hermione, the people around Ivan's economic level are relatively average, and they can even be called difficult, unless...

Ivan suddenly thought of Sirius. Although he had been imprisoned in Azkaban for 12 years, as the sole heir of the noble and oldest Black family, he still possessed amazing wealth unimaginable by ordinary people.

From the fact that he casually bought Harry a Firebolt as a Christmas present, it can be seen that he is not short of money at all, let alone a few hundred Galleons.

Ai Wen's eyes lit up, and before he opened his mouth, he heard Sirius continue.

"I can help you with the matter of the house. If I remember correctly, the Black family still has a few shops in Diagon Alley, which are inherited from the ancestors. If you need it, you can use it at any time." Sirius didn't care Said, "Otherwise, if you are idle there, you will be idle. If you rent it out, I don't have time to manage or collect rent."

Hearing what Sirius said, Aiwen was stunned for a moment. He just had this idea, and the other party had already brought it up. Obviously, he had planned this for a long time. It turned out that he just told Lupine and Hermione that That's the thing.

Aiwen hurriedly thanked Sirius, but the other party said that these things should not be taken to heart.

From Sirius' point of view, compared with the things that Aiwen helped him do before, the small favor of providing a few shops is nothing at all.

Because the time was too long, Sirius couldn't remember the exact number and location of the shops.

When Harry came, they discussed for a while, and decided to go to the Black family's vault in Gringotts after breakfast to look for the deeds.

Ivan was also very curious about the Black family's treasury. He wanted to see how amazing the wealth this pure-blood family had accumulated over the past thousand years.

Chapter 235 The Dragon Deep Underground

Although Aiwen has been to Gringotts many times before, he has never entered the underground vault. His Galleons are basically spent as he earns.

Hermione, like him, hadn't been to the depths of Gringotts.

Only Harry, because his parents left him a legacy, he had to go to his own treasury to get some Galleons for tuition every year before the start of school.

Regardless of whether everyone has been to the Gringotts Underground, they all have a strong interest in the Black family vault.

Although according to Sirius, there is nothing to see in it, it is just full of boring gold.

But the thought of being able to fill an entire room with gold is shocking enough.

Today is the first day after Christmas, and just like the Muggle streets outside, Diagon Alley is deserted, with snow covering everything as far as the eye can see.

On the street, apart from a few of them, no one else could be seen, and many shops were closed.

Everyone was still a little worried, afraid that Gringotts would not open the door.

But when they came to the towering snow-white loft in the central square of Diagon Alley, the thick snow on the ground had been cleared, and the shiny bronze gate had been opened, and a goblin in a scarlet and gold uniform was coming. stand there.

"The goblins are extremely dedicated. They are open all year round. During the Christmas holidays, only Gringotts will be open as usual." Lupine explained in a low voice.

"Don't mislead the children, Remus! We all know why goblins don't rest. It's not because they are professional, but because they are greedy enough. In my opinion, these goblins don't care about Christmas." Sirius said disdainfully , "Gold is more important to them than festivals."

Sirius didn't lower his voice, the goblin standing in front of the bronze door obviously heard this sentence, and looked at them a little less friendly than usual.

He still bowed to everyone, but with deadly rigidity.

Ai Wen saw that this goblin looked about the same height as him, with a dark face full of intelligence, a pointed beard, and his hands and feet were very long.

"This way, gentlemen!" he led them into Gringotts.

Behind the bronze gate is a second silver gate.

When he came to Gringotts for the first time, Ivan just felt that the door was extremely beautifully made from the senses.

Later, through reading relevant documents, he knew that the gate in front of him was the gate when the ancient spirit first established it thousands of years ago. It was made of pure silver by goblins, and a lot of magic was refined on it by the greatest alchemist at that time.

The ancient magic may no longer work, but the gate itself has historical value.

A row of words are engraved on the two doors, which are the warning words left by the goblins, like a curse, expressing in verse that thieves will be punished.

Inside Gringotts, behind the long counter, goblins sat on high stools, receiving the first customers of the day, and the goblin who had ushered them in led them towards a very old goblin in the center.

"Sirius Black!" Seeing Sirius, the goblin was obviously very surprised, "What a rare visitor, what can I do for you today?"

Perhaps thinking of Sirius' past dark experience in Azkaban, and the rumors outside that he was a death eater who killed people without batting an eye, the goblin shivered.

"I'm going to the vault, not my own vault, but the Black family's vault." Sirius put an accent on the word Black family.

"The vault of the Black family?!" The old goblin shrank back, then leaned out from the counter, "Have you brought the key?"

"Bring it!" Sirius found a rusty key and threw it on the counter.

Ivan noticed that the key was very long, with the Black family crest engraved on it.

"Very well, there is no problem." The goblin frowned and continued, "We can let you in, but you know, your family's ancient vault is in a special area, and the surrounding protection measures are very strong, so you'd better be alone ..."

"We want to go down together, I don't care what special area it is!" Sirius said impatiently, "Don't waste time, there are still many things waiting for me to do."

They stalemate for a while, and finally each took a step back.

Lupine stayed up there to wait for them, and Sirius took Ivan, Harry, and Hermione down.The goblin agreed to this suggestion. In his opinion, Aiwen and the others were just children, and they were not qualified for defense at all.

Seeing that the other party was so cautious, Ivan was even more curious about the vault of the Black family in a special area, guessing what could be inside.

"Griphook, take the four of them to the underground vault." The old goblin waved and said to the goblin who had just led them in.

Griphook seemed to have expected this a long time ago, and a malicious light flashed in his eyes.

Behind the counter was a narrow side door, and he ran to open it for them.

When Ai Wen walked in, he would have seen an architectural style similar to the tall marble hall outside, but in front of him was a narrow stone corridor illuminated by burning torches, as if it were an ancient mine.

The stone corridor is a steep downhill slope with a small railway underneath.

Griphook blew a whistle, and a cart sprinted down the track towards them.

Harry climbed into the car first, looking very skilled. He introduced the points that should be paid attention to to Ivan and Hermione who followed.

"This car will run very fast for a while, you'd better hurry up." Harry reminded, "The road inside is winding and winding, like a maze."

Hearing Harry's words, Ivan and Hermione were prepared.

But the speed of the trolley far exceeded their imagination, and the Sirius that came up at the end had just been finished, and Griphook pointed.

The small cart started suddenly, and the speed was getting faster and faster, as if there was no limit.

It led a few of them whizzing into a gap in the wall, and galloped along the maze-like winding corridors, rushing forward.

The depths of the ground were pitch black, and the cold air hit us head-on.

The rattling sound of the car made Ai Wen unable to hear anything.All he knew was that they were making sharp turns among the stalactites and speeding down the depths of the earth.

Beside Ivan, Sirius, Harry, and Hermione had their hair flying back, and the three of them didn't look very well either, looking around nervously.

Only the goblin named Griphook was particularly happy. He turned his head and looked at them gloatingly.