Acromantula venom—until now, Qin Yu and his friends had mostly harvested it from the corpses of dead spiders.
That meant their supply was limited: only a dozen pints or so, dwindling with every sale, a finite stash destined to run out.
For a more sustainable approach, the Weasley twins had come up with a "brilliant" idea—why not negotiate directly with Aragog, the patriarch of the Acromantulas, and see if the spiders could be persuaded to provide venom voluntarily?
Of course, that was easier said than done.
Those spiders were notoriously vicious and ill-tempered. Why would they ever agree to cough up their precious life-essence venom on command?
The whole scheme sounded as far-fetched as "milking" a bear for bile—utterly unreliable, with almost zero chance of success.
Yet, this winter, things took an unexpected turn.
—A turn that, for the Acromantulas, was more like a crisis.
"You know, Acromantulas hibernate too, but when hunger wakes them, they need to eat. Just before Christmas, Aragog woke up early and sent his children out to hunt. But several never came back—they simply vanished. Through his blood bond, Aragog knew they'd died. He hasn't dared send out any more since," Hagrid explained to Qin Yu, his tone grave.
"Fred and I were lucky to be at school over the holidays. A few days before term started, we visited Hagrid and heard about what was going on in the Forbidden Forest," George added, eyes alight with excitement.
"We realized right away—this was an opportunity!" Fred chimed in.
"So, you traded food for venom?" Qin Yu guessed.
"Knew you'd get it! Great minds think alike!" the twins crowed, grinning.
"Haha! You have to admit, it's a pretty clever plan, isn't it?"
Qin Yu shrugged, a half-smile on his lips. "Hard to say… but it is a win-win, I'll give you that." He felt no sympathy for the Acromantulas; if anything, he admired the twins' cunning.
"Exactly! We picked the birds and rodents Acromantulas love most," George said.
"It cost a fair bit, too. Hagrid made several trips to Hogsmeade to get everything," Fred added.
"Aragog agreed to the deal, of course. If his children went out foraging and died, he'd lose them forever. Trading a bit of venom for food just leaves them weak for a while—it's not fatal," Hagrid explained further.
The next step was bottling the venom.
Since the Acromantulas had released it voluntarily this time, there was no risk of mixing different grades together. No need to trouble Professor Snape, the Potions Master, for classification.
"Heh, that means we don't have to pay Professor Snape a service fee," Fred said gleefully.
"Yeah, last time he just waved his wand and took two whole ounces of S-grade venom—that's worth twenty or thirty Galleons!" George groaned.
Two ounces of venom, or twenty to thirty Galleons—either was a fortune, especially when the supply ran dry and every drop became priceless.
But the twins' joy was short-lived.
"Set aside an ounce for me," Qin Yu said smoothly. "Snape mentioned he's out of Acromantula venom."
The twins winced, faces pained, but didn't protest. They fetched a small vial and measured out a full ounce for him.
Qin Yu took the sealed bottle, then added, "And don't bother giving me a share of the profits from this batch. I wasn't involved this time—divide the money between yourselves and Hagrid, according to the work you've done."
George and Fred instantly brightened, but still put on a show of modesty:
"We couldn't possibly."
"You opened up the market for us. You should at least take a cut."
Qin Yu nodded solemnly. "Well, if you insist, I'll take ten or twenty percent."
"… …"
Both twins froze, mouths open.
We were just being polite! You're really going to take us up on it?!
But now they'd said it, there was no graceful way to back out. For a moment, their faces twisted with internal conflict.
Getting the Weasley twins to eat humble pie—now that was a rare sight.
Qin Yu burst out laughing, clapping each of them on the shoulder. "Relax, I'm only joking. I really didn't do anything this time—how could I take a share of your hard-earned profits? As for opening up the market, well, consider this ounce of venom my 'distribution channel fee.'"
He waved the little bottle for emphasis.
He meant every word. Fair reward for fair work—he hadn't lifted a finger, so taking a cut would be shameless. Besides, he wasn't exactly hurting for a few extra Galleons.
The twins' spirits lifted at once. Silently, they vowed never to get all polite with Qin Yu again—he'd just use it to mess with them.
Then, humming cheerfully, they fetched a pile of glass bottles and began dividing up the venom on the grass outside the hut.
Given how toxic and corrosive the stuff was, they were extra careful. Both wore specially-made gloves and used glass pipettes, drawing out the venom drop by drop from the big jar, then slowly transferring it into smaller bottles.
Hermione found the whole process fascinating. She crouched down nearby to watch—only for Qin Yu to immediately grab the back of her robes, slip his other hand under her belly, and lift her up, carrying the curious witch three meters away.
"Giggle giggle!"
Miss Granger was no ordinary girl. She stayed in her crouch the whole time, so when Qin Yu set her down again, she was still squatting—like she'd just been ctrl+x'd and ctrl+v'd.
Maybe she'd been tickled in the process, because she couldn't stop giggling.
"Don't take it lightly. Acromantula venom is seriously nasty stuff. If you get any on your pretty little face, it'll melt right off. Let's see if you still laugh then," Qin Yu warned, pinching her cheek with mock severity.
Whether by accident or mischief, one of the twins' hands slipped as he worked the pipette. A tiny drop of pale green liquid fell from the tip onto a withered blade of grass.
In an instant, the grass turned pitch black, a wisp of greenish smoke curling up with a sharp sizzle.
Hermione's eyes went wide with horror.
She shuffled back another meter—still squatting the whole way.
"…"
Qin Yu was momentarily speechless at the little witch's sudden timidity.
It's true—some lessons are best learned by experience.
After watching for a while, the two left George and Fred to finish bottling the venom and went off to help Hagrid, hoping today's "Rock Cake Banquet" wouldn't turn into a complete disaster.
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