Hogwarts: Voldemort, don't stop me from studying

Professor Murray nodded and said, "He is only a freshman, but his alchemy level has surpassed yours when you graduated, Marchionne."

The others burst into laughter. Apparently everyone knew that although this man named Marchionne had chosen to take alchemy, his level was not very good. He must have given Professor Murray a headache when he was in school.

Marchionne chuckled, not embarrassed at all, and looked at Wade seriously.

Professor Murray seemed to find the previous sentence unconvincing, so he immediately gave another example: "This child relied on self-study to memorize the entire contents of the "Magic Phonetic Table", "Magic Symbol Collection", "Runic Dictionary", and "Ancient Magical Codex Simple Introduction" - in just two months!"

"Oh——"

Now everyone finally understood the importance of "gifted talent". Most of them had taken ancient magic classes or even alchemy classes, and knew how difficult it was to remember those crooked symbols and strange syllables.

If nothing else, this child's memory and diligence have surpassed 99 percent of people.

"Not only that—"

Professor Murray spoke in a long tone with pride, deliberately putting the most important part at the end, and several people cooperated by pretending to listen with great interest.

Vader watched silently.

Although he didn't know the identities of these people, he obviously saw Professor Murray's status very clearly.

"He has only studied with me for more than a month, and he has already made his first work! I swear, he completed it completely on his own, and I didn't give him any instructions on how to write a single letter!"

Professor Murray boasted loudly, and in a manner like revealing the winning lottery numbers, he slowly took out a brand new copy of the Book of Friends, hung it in the middle of the crowd, and asked with a suppressed smile, "Can you guess what it's used for?"

"Book of Friends?"

Several people looked at each other, and gathered around the Book of Friends in an orderly manner. They took out their wands one by one to check it. The Book of Friends was covered by various lights again and again.

However, Professor Murray had cast a protective spell on this Book of Friends, and ordinary detection spells were unable to detect the magical structure within it.

Soon two people gave up. They were not interested in the kid in the first place and did not think that he could make any amazing alchemical products. They just followed suit to flatter him in order to please Professor Murray.

The others tested it for a while, and the man named Marchionne's eyes suddenly lit up. He picked up a leaf and turned it into a feather pen, and wrote a line on the paper.

【Money is a bottomless sea, I want to swim in it. 】

Then he flipped the pages quickly, and the more he flipped, the more fanatical his expression became. The people around him didn't take it seriously at first, but then their eyes widened and they kept swallowing.

Professor Murray smiled as if everything was under control.

Chapter 53 Steven's Ideal

"No, sir, this number is not acceptable... It's too much... Professor, please consider this for me. Business is not going well right now. Can we share some profits..."

"It's just the idea that's clever, but it's actually very easy to copy... You should know how rampant piracy is... If the cost is too high, people would rather buy fakes... I can't make much money..."

"Two-way mirrors and Floo powder can both replace it, but they may not be as popular as you think. We are just testing the waters at the beginning, and no one knows how well they will sell... If the price you ask is too high, I will have to give up..."

Everyone gathered around Professor Murray, talking to each other as if they were besieging him.

When Marchionne started to quote, Wade was finally able to confirm that Professor Murray's party was actually a new product launch for his Book of Friends.

No wonder he didn't let Wade sell the Book of Friends at school - if the information of similar products was leaked in advance, it might not have achieved the results it has today. And Wade could only earn a little pocket money from students by selling small things at school, which was not as efficient as these "multinational companies".

Each of these strange wizards in the small garden can be called the head of a "multinational company" - because of the existence of the Floo Network and the Portkey, it is much easier for wizards to travel across different countries than Muggles. And with the Traceless Extension Charm, the cost of logistics and transportation can be ignored, so wizards can easily sell their products to different countries and even different continents.

Wade followed Professor Murray and watched him argue with these wizards about how much the patent license for the Book of Friends should pay - one person wanted to buy it out directly with 100,000 Galleons, and was almost kicked out by Professor Murray. He raised the price all the way to 200,000 Galleons, but Professor Murray insisted on not agreeing and was only willing to sell the right to use it.

At this time, these wizards no longer showed their previous flattery and respect for Professor Murray. Instead, they negotiated with great care. Some of them pestered him, some were very picky, some pretended to give up, and some began to play the emotional card. But Professor Murray was like a stone pillar in the river, hit by water currents from all directions and was not shaken at all.

He started by asking for an incredibly high price, and then he bargained with these people little by little, constantly showing the advantages of the Book of Friends - fast, convenient, cheap, wizards all over the world will buy it, and will buy it repeatedly throughout their lives... Do you know how beautiful and stable its structure is? Counterfeit items simply cannot have the stability of the Book of Friends. If you don't believe it, try it yourself! Your Transfiguration Spell may fail if it exceeds fifty meters, and it cannot transmit complex information...

Seeing that they couldn't convince Professor Murray, some people simply bypassed him and went to find Wade. But Wade just smiled and said nothing, as if he was shy, hiding behind Professor Murray.

He knew that at the age of eleven, there was no need for him to be smooth, mature, or sharp. He just needed to leave everything to the adults. He also knew his own limitations, because if it was just Wade himself, he might have directly agreed to the 100,000 Galleon buyout price...

After all, before this, Wade's best idea for the "Book of Friends" was to earn a few hundred or a thousand Galleons from his classmates at Hogwarts, and that would require him to produce a large number of Books of Friends in his dormitory day and night, like an assembly line worker.

But now, he is about to sit at the capitalist's table.

Of course, the reason for handing over the decision-making power is that the adult in front of him is trustworthy and will truly consider his own interests.

Wade looked up at Professor Murray, who was working hard for him. The old man's thin back was like a tall cliff, and Wade's eyes were filled with confusion and complexity.

Seeing Wade being harassed and looking a little pitiful with a confused look in his eyes, Professor Murray waved his hand and asked Steven to take Wade out to play and not to get in the way here. Then he rolled up his sleeves, ready to fight.

Steven, who was as quiet as a plant and was once again classified as a child: ...

He was about to say something, but finally shut his mouth and obediently took Wade away. After leaving, he couldn't help but sigh deeply.

"If you have something to do, you can go ahead and do it. I can just find a place to read." Wade looked at him and said sympathetically.

Who would like to play with children? He himself doesn't like it.

"No - it's not your fault -" Steven was dejected. He didn't want to say anything, but under Wade's gaze, he slowly expressed his troubles: "I'm already thirty-six years old, and my father still always treats me like a child - in fact, I want to follow in Mr. Scamander's footsteps, travel around the world, and become a magical zoologist. But my parents are reluctant to let me go far away, saying it's too dangerous..."

Wade looked at him in confusion: "But - they didn't put you under house arrest -"

He is in his thirties and is a wizard. How can he not leave if he wants to?

"If I leave without saying goodbye, my mother will be so sad. My father will definitely be angry too." Steven said worriedly, "I still hope to get their understanding and support. Otherwise, I won't dare to come back after I leave."

Wade was speechless. He didn't expect that Professor Murray's son looked like a bear, but had a soft personality like a rabbit. He thought for a while and asked, "Why don't you write to Mr. Scamander?"

"—Write a letter? What letter should I write?"

"I heard that Mr. Scamander has a lot of magical animals himself. Maybe you can ask him to provide you with a job as a breeder. The salary is not important. What is important is that you can learn about magical animals from Mr. Scamander. If one day, you can deal with various magical animals as calmly as that gentleman, Professor Murray should be able to let you travel with confidence, right?"

Wade felt envious from the bottom of his heart when he thought of the magical box in Scamander's hand that contained multiple environments and climate changes.

"Yeah, why didn't I think of this idea!" Steven was overjoyed. He was happy for a while, but then hesitant: "Then how should I write this letter? Will it be offensive?"

He asked for advice seriously with fear and anxiety, even though the person in front of him was just a child.

"Just tell the truth," Wade suggested. "Write down your worries and ideals, as well as your understanding of magical creatures. That way, even if Mr. Scamander disagrees, he won't be angry about it."

——I just wonder if Mr. Scamander would think that the writer of the letter was a recent graduate just by looking at the tone and wording of the letter when he received it.

When they first met, Wade thought he was a very strong man; then he found him gentle and steady; but after getting along for a while, he felt that this man's true character was like that of a child, even simpler than many children.

No wonder Professor Murray didn't dare to let him go out. If it was his own son, Wade wouldn't dare to let him travel around the world alone.

Chapter 54 Contract

Even though Steven couldn't wait to write the letter and Wade said it was okay for him to be alone, Steven still didn't abandon his responsibilities and run away.

He discussed the wording of the letter with Wade for a while, and then began to talk about the magical creatures he raised.

Although Professor Murray disagreed with Steven's travel to places where dangerous magical creatures lived, he did not completely reject Steven's dream. After Steven graduated from Hogwarts, he owned a farm, where he raised many "little cuties" over the years.

Wade knew that Hagrid at Hogwarts liked to keep all kinds of dangerous creatures, such as dragons, and called them "cute little animals". He thought Steven was the same, but after learning more about them, he realized that they were all really cute and basically harmless magical creatures, such as ball birds, silent birds, cattails, fairies, cruppies, etc. The most dangerous one was a bird snake, which could expand and contract its body at will and become as big as a dragon, but it feeds on insects, birds and mice.

"I've always wanted to have a grapnel," Steven said. "You know what? It's a kind of Pegasus. A grapnel can fly and run faster than the wind. But no one has ever tamed a grapnel except Sigurd in the myth."

"Is this Pegasus difficult to tame?"

"They are very free-spirited animals who yearn for freedom and don't want to be restrained."

Steven said this, and then talked about other Pegasus - the Thestrals at Hogwarts, the Rune Horses at Beauxbatons, and the fire-breathing Pegasus, Iseron.

Some wizards looked down on any magical creatures other than wizards and regarded them as inferior animals. But Steven was fascinated by it and knew all kinds of creatures like the back of his hand. Wade felt that he had learned a lot just by chatting with him.

Suddenly a person's arrival interrupted their conversation.

That was the blond wizard who was at the small stone platform before. He had a decadent and frustrated look on his face. He came over and greeted Steven, then looked at Wade and forced himself to smile: "Mr. Greg, I'm sorry that we don't have the opportunity to cooperate this time. I hope you can contact me next time you have any new works. I will definitely give you a price that satisfies you."

He handed over a business card with the wizard's name and contact address.

Steven raised his eyebrows and lost his smile. His originally honest and gentle expression suddenly looked a little cold.

Wade took the business card and said with a smile, "I hope I can have this opportunity in the future."

The blond wizard relaxed a little, and hurriedly said his goodbyes and left.

"You're not really planning to cooperate with him, are you? He called your last name wrong." Steven said unhappily.

"Yeah, he called me the wrong name." Wade put away his business card and said, "But it doesn't matter, because I don't plan to remember him."

The blond wizard seemed to have turned on a switch, and two more wizards came to say goodbye one after another. They said similar words before leaving and left their business cards to Wade.

But this time, they finally remembered Wade's full name.

After they left, Steven whispered an introduction to Wade.

"——Don't cooperate with Bolton. He looks easy to talk to, but he is actually cruel and ruthless. He often tampers with contracts, but he doesn't dare to do that to my father."

In other words, if it was Wade dealing with him, he would easily suffer.

A wizard with a middle-parted hair and a beard came to say goodbye, holding a very conspicuous black cane in his hand.

"Mr. Gray, I really admire your talent. Unfortunately, Professor Murray and I have a big disagreement on price. I hope we can keep in touch. There may be new opportunities in the future."

"Of course, thank you for your time and effort in this," Vader said, taking his business card.

【Cyrus Sharp】, this is the wizard's name.

"Sharp is a very capable man. He can always get all kinds of things that are hard to get, including many contraband. I heard that he was in Azkaban three times when he was young. My father actually doesn't like him very much, but sometimes he will buy things from him." Steven introduced later.

"Can you get out after entering Azkaban?" Wade was surprised. In his impression, Azkaban was an isolated island in the vast ocean, a prison where you could enter but not leave.

Steven misunderstood what Wade meant and explained, "Well, because he is very cunning and good at concealing his crimes, each sentence is no more than half a year."

"Oh—ah—so that's how it is."

After hearing this, Wade knew he had made a fool of himself - the movie only showed Death Eaters sentenced to life imprisonment, but that didn't mean that Azkaban only had life imprisonment as a punishment.

The wizards left one after another, and finally only Marchionne was left walking out of the small stone platform. He "complained" loudly as he walked: "Dear Professor Murray, I was once your student, but now I feel like I have never received any favor from you - of course, I am not complaining, I just want to tell you that even if I leave the school now, I will always respect your decision, and I hope you can give me a little attention and care."

He made a very small gap between his thumb and index finger to show how humble his request was.

"Come on, kid, when have you ever suffered a loss?" Professor Murray said unhappily.

Indeed, although Marchionne was complaining, the corners of his mouth could not help but rise, with a smug expression on his face. He walked briskly and easily to Wade, took off his hat and bowed, and said with a smile: "Nice to meet you, Mr. Wade Grey, please allow me to introduce myself - I am Marco Marchionne, and I deal in all kinds of magical items. I believe that meeting you today is a blessing, and I look forward to establishing a deep friendship with you and bringing more good changes to the wizarding world in the future, or in other words - making more money!"

"——Hello?" Wade was startled by his exaggerated movements and subconsciously looked at Professor Murray.

Professor Murray nodded and directly stated the final result: "Marchioni is willing to pay 3 Galleons to obtain the technical license of the Book of Friends. At the same time, he will pay you Sickles for every Galleon he earns from using the Book of Friends in the future."