Chapter 55: Weasley Twins
Opening the one-man tent and peeking inside, he was impressed. He noted the reinforced seams and the subtle glimmer of protective enchantments already woven into the canvas. Harry was indeed a generous person. After inheriting his parents' legacy, Harry was definitely a rich man in the wizarding world. This tent was worth at least a thousand Galleons, with four rooms and a living room, and a matching kitchen. It could completely serve as his future mobile base. It was much more comfortable than sleeping in hotels, but he still needed to add some defensive spells. After he finished learning Ancient Runes and could start studying alchemy, he could begin to modify this tent.
"By the way, Ezio, Professor Snape sent me a bottle of potion. Do you know what it is?"
As they were preparing to get dressed and go out, Harry held up a potion bottle with a capacity of about one hundred milliliters and asked Ezio. The liquid inside was the colour of molten gold, swirling slowly as if it were alive.
"Felix Felicis." The corner of Ezio's mouth twitched slightly. This was also part of his deal with Snape. "Professor Snape is truly generous. Just this small bottle, the cost of the ingredients alone is at least ten thousand Galleons. It doesn't just grant luck; it subtly guides your actions towards the most favourable outcomes.
But even if you gather the sky-high priced materials, there are very few potion masters who can successfully brew it. As far as I know, there are only two people in England who can brew it: one is Snape, and the other is the former Head of Slytherin, Snape's teacher, the Potions Master Horace Slughorn."
"It's that valuable?" Harry asked in surprise. "Then should I..."
"Just accept it. I wouldn't be surprised if he sent you a bottle of Felix Felicis every year. He's practically treating you like his son."
"I don't think so," Harry thought for a moment. "But Professor Snape is quite good to me. It seems he really was my mother's good friend back then."
"Do you want me to share some with you? I've read in a book that you can't drink too much Felix Felicis. At most ten milliliters at a time, and the interval between two doses must be more than a year. I might not be able to use this much in my entire life."
"Well, this thing doesn't have an expiration date. You can just keep it as a family heirloom," Ezio said, pulling out an almost identical small golden bottle from his pocket. "I made a deal with Snape before. I have enough. And I was the one who paid for the materials. He charged me two large gold bars. Snape is a real bastard."
Seeing Snape's skilled move of gifting something at another's expense, even though Ezio was usually calm, he couldn't help but grit his teeth in anger. But there was nothing he could do. When it came to brewing top-tier potions, Snape could really hold Ezio in the palm of his hand, because those things were top-quality goods that money couldn't buy, and influence was a currency Ezio was still accumulating.
Harry stuck out his tongue. He also felt that Snape's move of getting something for nothing was a bit much. Ten thousand Galleons was no small sum, even for a rich person like him with a mountain of gold in his vault.
"I'm not short on money. If I wanted to, I could still get my hands on a million or so Galleons," Ezio said, waving his hand. If all the money in his anonymous account were converted to gold, he could probably buy two cubic meters of solid gold blocks. He was a multi-millionaire. Even if Giovanni hadn't left him an inheritance, as an assassin, Ezio had ways to get a large sum of money quickly. "I don't care how much of a commission Snape made off me, as long as he's willing to provide me with these potions."
"Maybe I can help out then?" Harry understood what Ezio meant and grinned.
Completely unaware of all this, Snape was also up early. He opened his heavily protected wardrobe, the cold wood a familiar anchor under his fingertips, and looked at the half of a photograph taped to the inside of the door, a deep longing flashing in his eyes.
"Merry Christmas, Lily."
He spoke silently, once again remembering the Christmas of more than ten years ago. But this time, he couldn't unwrap that special gift at the foot of his bed.
***
Not many people stayed at Hogwarts for Christmas, and even fewer were from pure-blood wizarding families. Despite the festive garlands of holly and mistletoe bewitched to snow gently, the vast hall felt strangely quiet and cavernous with only a handful of students and professors present. But surprisingly, they met several of the Weasley brothers in the Great Hall.
"You didn't go home?" Harry was quite familiar with the Weasley twins. Firstly, because they had helped him on the train at the start of term. Secondly, because the Weasley twins had also joined the Gryffindor dueling club. But their purpose in joining was not pure. The two of them were there to make money. Often, when students from Slytherin and Gryffindor were dueling, they would take bets on the winner, and they had earned a lot.
"Mum and Dad went to Romania to see Charlie. He studies dragons there. That's a dangerous job," said Fred with a shrug. George continued, "They were worried that Charlie wouldn't be able to handle it, so they went to visit. So, we can only stay at school."
The tables of the four houses were gone. Because there were so few people, there was only one long table in the Great Hall, and even that was not full. Fred was sitting opposite Harry, with George and Percy beside him. Their youngest brother, Ron, was at the far end, happily eating a large chicken leg in each hand.
"That sounds like a really cool job. Hagrid dreams of raising a dragon, but it seems that thing doesn't grow in the Hogwarts forest."
"That's probably Hagrid's biggest regret," the twins said. They were also very familiar with Hagrid, but this familiarity was based on them being chased out of the Forbidden Forest by him.
"Maybe it will one day. Dragons aren't that rare in the wizarding world, are they?" Ezio said. He knew very well that if nothing unexpected happened, a dragon would be growing in Hagrid's hut in a while. But in the original story, Harry, Hagrid, and the others had handled the dragon a bit too crudely.
Ezio was quite looking forward to that day. After all, he was also friends with Hagrid. He had received a lot of care from him. Hagrid had gotten him some of the magical ingredients from the Forbidden Forest, and in large quantities, by the sackful. Things like unicorn hair and Acromantula venom that would have cost a fortune at an apothecary, Hagrid provided out of simple, trusting friendship. A dozen barrels of whiskey couldn't have bought that much.
*****
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