Study Days at Hogwarts

  Chapter 1146 Defense Against the Dark Arts Store

   At night, shop No. 93, Diagon Alley.

  Fred, George, Lee Jordan and Shannah who had just finished dinner were staring at the letters on the table and frowning. A few hours earlier, they had received bad news from Arthur.

  Duke Bee and Zuko joked that the owner of the shop actually asked the Ministry of Magic to conduct a monopoly investigation on their shop because of the existence of monopoly in their shop?

  The most ridiculous thing is that the so-called monopoly refers to the patents developed by themselves, and the other party has the audacity to want to obtain this part of the technology in order to ensure that everyone can "compete fairly".

   "This is really surprising." It was the first time Shanna saw such a shameless guy.

   "Probably we pushed them into a hurry." Fred didn't care about it. "However, I think they probably picked the wrong time. It is obviously impossible for the Ministry of Magic to pass such a ridiculous bill."

"It's hard to say, who knows if Zuko and the others will bribe the officials of the Ministry of Magic to formulate a bill that is beneficial to them." George frowned and said, "The morals of politicians are not trustworthy, otherwise why do you think Albert would rather give a discount to the Ministry of Magic? , and don’t let them default.”

   "I think it's because they've made too much money recently, which makes many people jealous." Lee Jordan frowned and said, "That's why they united against us."

   "We should talk to Albert about this." Shanna suggested, "He must have a solution."

"That guy is probably still traveling after marriage, **** it, it's really enviable." Fred took a big gulp of butter beer and couldn't help complaining, "When I get married, I must travel for a year and a half Come back."

   "Then you have to convince Angelina to agree to marry you first." Lee Jordan shook his head repeatedly. He didn't think Fred would be able to get married in the past two years.

   At this moment, a red light suddenly flickered in the corner of the restaurant, and then they all clearly felt that the watches on their wrists were getting slightly hot.

   This is not a good omen.

  The four jumped up from the dining table in shock, pulled out their wands and pointed at the door, and exchanged glances quickly.

   "What's going on?" Shanna asked uneasily.

   "Someone invaded the store and touched the detector left by Albert." George quickly explained.

   "Who brought the Marauder's Map." Lee Jordan asked in a low voice, "If it doesn't work, we will withdraw first."

   This is Albert's exhortation, to protect your own safety first when encountering danger.

   "The other detector didn't respond, so it shouldn't be a dark wizard." Fred muttered, "Besides, the timing is wrong. Even a thief should come to steal things in the middle of the night."

  At this time, there were footsteps outside, as if someone was walking towards this side.

  After the four of them exchanged glances with each other, they began to cast the illusion spell on themselves, and then moved to the corner one after another, preparing to see which daring guy was after them.

   This is not the first time.

  Since the Defense Against the Dark Arts props have made a lot of money, there have been more guys greedily peeking at their stores.

   Only, after the Ministry of Magic opened the Defense Against the Dark Arts props store next door, the situation improved.

  If it’s that group of pink eyes again, I have to teach them some unforgettable lessons.

   When the four raised their wands and aimed at the door, the door of the room was suddenly opened, and a familiar voice sounded from outside.

"it's me."

   Albert glanced at the empty room, glanced at the places where the four were hiding and said, "Come out!"

   "Wow! You gave us a big jump just now, I thought..."

  Lee Jordan breathed a sigh of relief, waved his wand to release the illusion spell on his body, and greeted Albert with a smile.

   "Think it's a dark wizard?" Albert raised his eyebrows slightly, "If it's a dark wizard, I suggest you retreat immediately, and take the Marauder's map with you, at least to be sure whether the person coming is an enemy or not."

   "If it is a Death Eater or a dark wizard, the detector on the wrist will definitely show a red dot." Fred reminded.

   "When will you come back?" Lee Jordan also planned to step forward to give Albert a hug, but was cleverly avoided, "Why didn't you notify in advance."

   "I'm going to give you some surprises. By the way, let's see your reaction ability. You can't trust the detectors. If you want to deceive this kind of thing, it's not impossible."

   "That's not funny at all," Fred muttered. "Honestly, everyone was taken aback when the sensors went off."

   "You are just inexperienced now, and you will be able to deal with it calmly after a few more times." Albert comforted.

   "A few more times." The corners of their mouths twitched slightly.

  Albert didn't care about other people's reactions. He looked at Shanna and asked with a smile, "Are you still used to this job?"

"The food and salary here are very good, but the work is so busy that sometimes I feel like I'm about to become a house elf." Shanna poured Albert a glass of iced butterbeer: "What are you doing?" It's time to come back."

"This afternoon." Albert reached out to take the glass of butter beer, but he didn't drink it. Instead, he put it on the table and joked with a smile, "I came here as soon as I got back, lest some people blame me for being lazy behind my back !"

   "You just need to know." Fred, George and Lee Jordan complained in unison.

"I think this is purely your misunderstanding. My job is not the same as yours." Albert said solemnly, "Look, I need to be in charge of research and development of anti-dark arts props, and I need to help the store get orders from the Ministry of Magic ..."

   "Okay, okay, don't make excuses for yourself." George interrupted impatiently. Although he felt that what Albert said made sense, many of them were just nonsense.

   "How are the Defense Against the Dark Arts items selling?"

   "It's very popular!" Lee Jordan said excitedly: "In just two months, we made a net profit of nearly 20,000."

   As he spoke, he picked up the account book on the table and handed it to Albert.

"Now this looks much more pleasing to the eye. In the past, I had to look carefully at your bookkeeping before I could figure it out." Albert took the account book and looked through the recent sales situation, not forgetting to complain about the poor bookkeeping of the three of them. Way.

   "We have no experience in this area before." Lee Jordan quibbles.

   "To be honest, it's less than I expected." Albert closed the account book and said.

"Just be content, I don't know how many people have suffered from pink eye recently." George couldn't help but give Albert a blank look: "Besides, there are still a large number of orders from the Ministry of Magic that have not been completed. It can bring us more than 10,000 net profits."

  When Albert looked through the bills just now, he found that the sales were basically detectors, and there were more than a thousand pieces in total (including the 500 pieces from the Ministry of Magic).

   A lot of defense series props were also sold, but most of them were sold to the Ministry of Magic, and the rest could only be regarded as a fraction.

This is actually not difficult to understand. After the Ministry of Magic successfully suppressed the Death Eaters, everyone became optimistic about the future. They no longer had the sense of urgency that Voldemort had when he was resurrected, and naturally they no longer desperately sought protected.

   "It seems that Scrimgeour has done a good job recently." Albert sighed softly.

   "Dad said that those dark wizards would be killed."

"Yeah, many people think that the dark wizards were frightened by Scrimgeour's actions, and the Ministry of Magic stopped trying dark wizards until recently. I heard from my father that the Ministry of Magic caught the black wizards at your wedding last time." Seventy percent of them were killed." Fred admired Scrimgeour's courage.

"Scremgeour will let the "Daily Prophet" publish the list of dark wizards sentenced to death and the crimes they committed every day." George glanced at Albert and continued, "The effect is very good, plus there is Harry With support, few people would say that Scrimgeour killed innocent people indiscriminately."

"Most people are bullying and afraid of toughness, and dark wizards are no exception. As long as they meet someone who is more ruthless than them, those people will naturally become more docile than sheep." Albert handed the account book to Shanna: "Said Let’s talk about the Defense Against the Dark Arts props store next door.”

   "That was Dad's idea." George explained, "He thinks that there are too many vendors in Diagon Alley selling inferior Defense Against the Dark Arts props. Why not gather them together and sell them together?"

"The members of the Crisis Response Team and the Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Items Detection and Confiscation Office will first delete those defense items against the black arts, and then submit them to the Aurors of the Ministry of Magic for testing. As long as they pass the inspection, it is determined If the Defense Against the Dark Arts props pass the test, they will be allowed to be sold in the Defense Against the Dark Arts props store.”

"Last time, many people were jealous of our profits. After sneaking into the store and being arrested, Dad was a little worried about our safety. Later, he proposed this plan to the Ministry of Magic. Now, our next door has become the Ministry of Magic. The stronghold of Diagon Alley." Fred introduced to Albert.

"Every day there will be employees of the Ministry of Magic stationed next door. They are responsible for patrolling Diagon Alley and helping to maintain the stability of Diagon Alley to ensure everyone's safety. After all, Hogwarts students will go to Diagon Alley during this time. Shopping."

   "Scrimgeour's approach has won unanimous praise from everyone."

   "I remember you said before that Fudge's successor is..." Lee Jordan glanced at Shanna, and stopped talking.

   "It's not convenient for me to know." Shanna raised her eyebrows slightly.

   "No, Fudge's successor is unlucky." Albert finished speaking.

   "It doesn't look like it." Shanna was a little surprised, because Scrimgeour looked capable no matter how he looked, and he didn't look like a hapless guy no matter how he looked.

   "There is Burns in front of Scrimgeour, who is dead." George remembered Dumbledore's injury, and suddenly understood that Albert would say that Scrimgeour was unlucky.

  After Dumbledore dies, Scrimgeour will become an obstacle to Voldemort's control of the Ministry of Magic.

   It's really unlucky to think about it carefully.

   "I remember that the shop next door seems to be bought by you, right?" George changed the subject, he thought it was best not to let Shanna know about it.

   Several people turned their heads to look at Albert, and couldn't help but suspect that the Defense Against the Dark Arts specialty store next door was set up by Albert.

   "Well, in fact, it has nothing to do with me. It should be Diggory's plan. He asked me similar questions before." Albert said lightly.

   As for forming a patrol team, it was actually Percetti's idea, because doing so would help increase Scrimgeour's reputation, and their shop was being targeted at that time.

   Scrimgeour needs to make Albert owe favors in order to prepare for the fight against dark wizards in the future.

  When all things come together, it becomes the thing next door.

   "So, you really set up that store?"

"Earning a lot of money is easy to attract jealousy and hatred, not to mention that we are still eating alone now, lending the shop next door to the Ministry of Magic, turning it into a specialty store for defense against the dark arts, allowing the Ministry of Magic to help share part of the attention, And it can also ensure your safety." Albert took out his pocket watch to check the time, and continued, "Anyway, the Defense Against the Dark Arts store will be split up sooner or later, and it can make others think that we are not doing monopoly business..."

"Well, it's better to find a reporter to interview? Let everyone think that it's not us who monopolize the Defense Against the Dark Arts items, but the Defense Against the Dark Arts items sold by other people are too bad, so most people are willing to buy our products," Shanna smiled and continued, "Can you use this to promote your own brand and give people the illusion of preconceived ideas?"

   "Yes, that's probably the case." Albert was not stingy with his praise, "It seems that you are very talented in this area."

   "By the way, we received this letter not long ago, how can you solve this matter?" George took out the letter he had just read.

  After reading the contents of the letter, Albert said with a smile: "It seems that not only Defense Against the Dark Arts props, but also your joke props are selling well!"

   "What are you going to do?"

"Don't worry about the Ministry of Magic. As long as you're not an idiot, you won't trouble us at this point in time." Albert comforted, "You can talk to them about this matter first, and if possible, let them become our shop."

   "I don't think so."

"It should be easier for Zuko to joke about the store. I want to continue. He will probably be defeated by us soon." Albert analyzed: "At that time, you can swallow his store first, and then give it to Zuko. We can make a fortune together, and we can claim cooperation with the outside world, so we have one more branch in Hogsmeade, and there is also a ready-made helper to take care of the store."

   "If Zoko joins and benefits from it, I think the owner of the Duke of Bee will also consider cooperating with us. Rather than being squeezed out of business, wouldn't it be better for everyone to become business partners and make a fortune together?"

   "I always feel a little naive in your thinking." Lee Jordan muttered.

"Believe me, they will definitely be willing to accept our kindness. No one will have trouble with money, and if you want to grow your business, you should take a long-term view." Albert pulled out his wand and said, " Well, there will be guests coming later, so prepare yourself!"

  (end of this chapter)