Harry Potter and the Great Old Ones

Chapter 597 Economic Collapse
“It seems that the Philosopher’s Stone crafted by Tierra and Horace Slughorn has a time limit,” Harry whispered, then told Hermione everything he had been thinking about.

“That makes a lot of sense.” Hermione nodded thoughtfully, then looked at Harry with approval. “You’ve finally learned to think for yourself.”

"W-what, what do you mean I've finally learned to think?" Harry blushed and said with dissatisfaction.

"Then the question is, when will Nicholas Flamel become a god?" Hermione stopped joking and pondered seriously.

"Why do you want to know that?" Ron said, holding a roasted chicken leg in each hand. "Besides, didn't Tiera promise to help you refine the Philosopher's Stone? You can just ask her when the time comes."

“Oh yeah!” Hermione paused for a moment, then slapped her forehead in realization and said, “I could have just asked Tyella, why didn’t I think of that?”

Ron shrugged and continued gnawing on his chicken leg.

The next morning at breakfast, sheets of paper and gifts flew in through the windows of the Great Hall, landing with a rustling sound in front of the corresponding young wizards—

Due to the expansion of Hogwarts' enrollment, the number of junior wizards living on campus increased dramatically. Therefore, after the first faculty meeting, Investigator Tierra and Professor Tierra jointly proposed to abolish the tradition of owls delivering meals into the dining hall. Instead, a special mailroom was set up next to the owlhouse, where owls would collect and deliver letters and stationery. Then, students who were punished with confinement or those who were willing to work would use the Retrieval Charm or Dispatch Charm to deliver these letters to their respective owners.

The reform has been extremely effective and has been welcomed and praised by teachers and students. Now, there will be no more disgusting incidents like being drinking oatmeal and suddenly finding a puddle of pale white bird droppings in your porridge, or owls will no longer knock over their sandwiches, milk, sausages, and fried eggs while they are enjoying their food.

"Aha!" A pale yellow letter and a dark brown parchment package flew toward Harry like a rocket—

However, it seems Harry, being the captain of the Quidditch team and having been the Seeker for five years, drew his wand and waved it at the package before it even slowed down as it flew towards him—

The package and letter came to an abrupt halt almost simultaneously in front of Harry, then, as if losing all their strength, plummeted from mid-air—

"Bang-"

"Hey!" A young wizard, perhaps a first-year, second, third, or fourth-year student, sat in front of Harry, scratching his head in dissatisfaction.

The package had just stopped, and it landed right above his head.

"I'm so sorry, so sorry, so sorry!" Harry said, very embarrassed. "I'm really sorry!"

Similar incidents occurred frequently throughout the auditorium.

Some were hit in the face by their own packages, while others, like Harry, managed to stop their packages in time, but they hit the classmates next to them.

—This is where the new reform falls short.

If the students on duty at the mailroom that day are upperclassmen skilled in spells, most of the packages can be delivered smoothly and safely to the tables in front of each student. However, if the students on duty that day are lowerclassmen or upperclassmen less skilled in spells...
That would have led to the situation we see today.

Even so, it's still much better than eating bird droppings and feathers.

"I wonder who's on duty today," Hermione complained helplessly. She had also received a letter, thankfully just a thin piece of paper. Then, before Hermione could dodge, the letter hit her face.

“Hmm, it seems to be Neville and a third-year transfer student, Rabib Karen,” said Tiera, who was also having breakfast with them.

“Neville, no wonder.” Hermione removed the envelope from her face and rubbed her cheeks, which were a little red from being slapped.

"Who sent this to you, Harry?" Hermione glanced at her letter quickly. It was from her parents and consisted mostly of everyday things. Hermione finished reading it quickly and prepared to write a reply to her parents when she returned to her dormitory.

“Sirius.” Harry first unwrapped the large package, revealing a somewhat worn-out small leather trunk inside, along with a letter attached to it.

"What did the letter say?" Ron asked, then naturally picked up the suitcase, intending to open it.

“It’s nothing, open it.” Harry waved the letter happily. “Sirius went traveling after I started school at Hogwarts. These are souvenirs he brought back from Albania, Venice, Mount Athos, Frankfurt, Munich, Paris, and other magical societies.”

"What is all this?" Ron eagerly opened the Seamless Extension Box and rummaged through it, pulling out piles and piles of things—

Most of them were bottles and jars containing thick, unidentified liquids, some of which looked like magic potions, and many more that looked like random soups, pickles, bread as hard as rocks, cured meat that looked like it could be used as a baseball bat, and a very small number of books, and wood carvings and stone seals that looked like antiques.

"What are all these things?" Hermione asked, puzzled, looking at the pile of what looked like junk.

"Ah," Harry said, clearly clueless, as he flipped through the letter.

The envelope that arrived with the package contained at least ten pages of letters, mostly about Sirius's travels and observations in these countries over the past few months.

At the end of the letter, Sirius Black wrote:

“I’m so sorry, Harry, I can’t bring you back any decent souvenirs like I used to. At least the Galleons I have are no different from pretty little bottle caps in these places.”

"About two months ago, these countries signed the Treaty of Trade with the newly established British Magical Union, and finalized the export items and prices. In addition to finished potions and magical items, these items included all kinds of living herbs and magical creatures. These items were exported in large quantities from these countries and imported into the British Magical Union. At the same time, a huge amount of Galleons flowed into these countries."

"Soon, small magical communities such as Greece and Albania declared bankruptcy. They possessed vast amounts of Galleons, but because they could find almost no materials to brew potions and create magical items in their own countries and neighboring countries, their entire magical economic system and magical environment had completely collapsed."

(End of this chapter)