Harry Potter: I started checking in from Diagon Alley

This was a very heavy blow to Harry's self-esteem.

Before Harry could even grieve, he heard Eric continue, "To be precise, you're not the only victim, Harry."

"Huh?" Harry was puzzled but also a little surprised. Could it be that someone else besides him had fainted in the face of the Dementors?

That's great, at least it makes him less conspicuous.

"Who is it!" Harry asked urgently.

“Um… Harry, don’t be too sad.” Ron stepped forward and patted his left shoulder.

Hermione followed suit and patted his right shoulder.

Harry was puzzled. What did that mean?

Eric pulled a package from behind him and handed it to Harry, saying, "Your broom hasn't abandoned you."

Harry took the package, opened it with trembling hands, and found inside was his flying broomstick, Nimbus 2000, which had been with him for three years.

It has now become Chuanwu Chelun 2000.

In summary, the pieces were broken relatively neatly, and at least all the parts were intact.

The kind that just can't be fixed no matter what you do.

Eric explained apologetically, "After you fell from the sky, your broom stopped in place. I was so focused on saving you that I didn't notice your broom afterwards..."

Harry had already guessed what would happen next.

Eric's magic indiscriminately destroyed his broom along with the Dementors.

After all, the entire stands were gone, and it was fortunate that Harry's Nimbus 2000 still had some parts left.

The flying broom is imbued with quite complex craftsmanship and magic, and cannot be repaired with a repair spell or a transformation spell.

Simply put, once the overall structure is destroyed, the flying broom is completely useless.

Harry's face was ashen, but he forced himself to ask, "Then, what about the match? Will they make us reschedule for another day?"

Ron and Hermione's faces stiffened simultaneously. Eric, ever the good Samaritan, continued, "Fred and George came by earlier and said Wood is still standing on the pitch in the rain. Judging by his appearance, he's trying to drown himself. Cedric caught the Golden Snitch after you, so Hufflepuff won. But don't worry, no one will blame you, Harry."

Harry was in tears; the pain was unbearable.

What does "maximizing loss" mean?

This is called loss maximization.

The broom was gone, face was lost, and in the end, the competition was lost.

Harry really wanted to open a window right now and jump off the tower.

Eric stepped forward and patted Harry on the shoulder, saying, "I ruined your broom, Harry, so I have to make it up to you."

Harry quickly waved his hand: "No, no, Eric, I can practice with the communal brooms in the castle. You did it to fend off Dementors, I won't blame you."

“Listen to what I’m planning to give you before you refuse,” Eric chuckled, pulling an envelope from his pocket and handing it to Harry. “Take a look at this.”

Harry, suppressing his curiosity, slowly unfolded the letter.

It read: 【Dear Mr. Harry James Potter——】

Thank you for your trust and support. Your ordered fire bolts will be delivered to you soon.

We are convinced that this is one of the wisest decisions you have ever made.

We hope you experience the purest joy with this latest flying broomstick.

[—Ellebi and Badmore Broom Company.]

"What?!" Harry exclaimed. "You're going to give me a fire bolt?"

Eric glanced in Ron's direction and laughed, "Of course it was me. It couldn't have been Sirius Black who gave it to me, could it?"

Scabbers, the mouse that had been huddled in Ron's shirt pocket, trembled with fear upon hearing this.

Chapter 86 Gregory's Flattery

Hermione and Ron, seeing Harry's reaction, exclaimed in surprise, "Firebolt?!"

Everyone knows what a fire crossbow bolt is.

Including Hermione, who doesn't play ball at all.

The Firebolt is a groundbreaking flying broom launched this year, unparalleled in both speed and handling.

Other brooms, including the Nimbus series that Harry used before, are completely incomparable to Firebolt.

Ron was incredulous. He snatched the letter from Harry's hand and examined it, checking every single word.

Hermione turned to Eric, surprised, and asked, "Where did you get so much money?"

Eric remained composed: "To be honest, I actually have a very wealthy relative. He's a scout for Pudmeer United and happened to see Harry play, so..."

Ron suddenly realized: "This is an early signing! Some teams will contact their favorite players in advance this way, and now they've got their eye on Harry!"

After saying that, Ron patted Harry on the shoulder and said excitedly, "Wow, Harry, you've even attracted the attention of professional teams."

Harry was in pain from Ron's beating, but he was also excited.

Hermione was skeptical: "I remember Eric saying your parents were Muggles? Where did you get these rich relatives?"

Eric corrected him: "I'm an orphan. I just grew up in Muggle society. I don't know if my parents were wizards."

"With fame comes trouble. Now that I've been featured in the Daily Prophet, relatives I don't even know are coming to me asking for my help."

Hermione still didn't quite believe it.

Eric laughed and said, "Don't worry, Hermione, it's not like I'm paying for it."

Of course, it wasn't him who paid for it; who else could be such a traitor besides Sirius Black?

During Harry's game, he secretly transformed into a dog and sneaked out to watch the game at the stadium.

They called it a meeting with their godson.

Of course, he later witnessed the Dementors being smashed along with Harry's broom.

He nearly had a heart attack when he saw Harry fall straight down from the sky.

Thanks to Eric for saving Harry, he was able to calm down a bit.

Afterwards, in order to help Harry improve his Quidditch skills, he immediately decided to give Harry a Firebolt.

In Sirius Black's words, Harry was quite like his father when he flew in the sky.

This small amount of money is nothing to the Black family.

That's just Sirius's personality; in front of people he cares about, money is nothing but a piece of trash.

He'd spend any amount of money for Harry.

Harry's excitement was palpable; he had never received such a valuable gift before, yet he still declined, saying, "Thank you, Eric. I know I'm not that great, and this is all thanks to you, but I can't accept this fire bolt; it's too precious."

Ron retorted, "Nonsense, you're the best flyer."

Harry said dejectedly, "If I had flown really well, we Gryffindors would have won this race."

Eric remained calm and said, "You've been affected by the Dementors. I've already explained that to you, Harry. You can't escape reality. The only thing you can do is face it head-on. Now, the reality you need to face is this Firebolt. If you don't want it, my relative will give it to Malfoy."

"What?" "Why?!"

Ron and Harry shouted angrily at the same time.

Eric laughed and said, "Because the Malfoy family will bring more sponsorship to Pudmir United."

Harry patted his chest and said righteously, "It's impolite to refuse a friend's gift. I will make good use of this fire bolt. Thank you, Eric."

Ron nodded firmly, completely agreeing with Harry's statement.

Hermione stood to the side, speechless, rubbing her forehead.

Eric changed the subject slightly and led Ron and Harry away.

You two really didn't even realize when you were betrayed.

Hermione said helplessly, "Don't just be happy, Harry, you still have a problem to solve."

"What is it?"

Hermione pointed at Eric and said, "Learn the Patronus Charm from Eric."

Harry's expression froze instantly.

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked, hands on her hips. "We've talked to Eric about this, and he's willing to teach you. If there's anyone here who most needs to learn the Patronus Charm, it's you, Harry."

“You don’t think it’s shameful to ask Eric for help, do you? I’ll be blunt: he’s better than many upperclassmen.”

Harry said awkwardly, "No, that's not what I meant. I'm just worried about whether I can learn it."

Eric suddenly laughed and said, "Harry, if you worry about your talent before you even start practicing, you'll never learn any new magic. Ron, give me Scabbers."

Ron, puzzled, took Scabbed the mouse out of his pocket, handed it to Eric, and asked, "What's wrong?"

Eric took Banban and smiled, "To unleash the Guardian Charm, there's a prerequisite: you must have something you want to protect. This object can be a person, an object, or even a pet."

“Let’s use Scabbers as an example. Ron, you really like Scabbers, don’t you?”

Ron nodded: "Of course, it's the only pet that grew up with me."

“If you want to learn the Patronus Charm, Scabbers is the most suitable for practice… but it doesn’t look very energetic?” Eric picked up Scabbers and examined it carefully, while activating his Mind Field.

All the details about Scabbers' body were now displayed before Eric for him to examine.

Eric memorized everything about Eric, including his height, weight, even the length of his body hair, and the fact that his hand was missing a finger.

Eric did not deactivate his mental field until he was certain that he could create an identical Scabbers using Transfiguration.

Ron replied somewhat angrily, "It's all Hermione's fault. She bought a cat named Crookshanks, and all she ever thinks about is catching Scabbers!"

Hermione remained expressionless and silent. They had argued about this topic many times before, but to no avail.

She didn't think the argument was meaningful.

Eric pulled a small ceramic medicine bottle from his pocket and asked, "I happen to have some pet supplements left here. Would you like to try them on Banban? Just so you know, they might not work."

Ron shrugged and said, "It's worth a try, it's better than always being listless like this."