"Alas," Victor sighed helplessly, then asked, "In that case, what do you plan to do?"
"We should go and stop Snape!" Hermione replied with a look of righteous indignation.
"It seems the Sorting Hat was right to put you in Gryffindor. Compared to the little eagles of Ravenclaw, you have a clarity of stupidity that is the opposite of theirs!"
"You!!!" Hermione's face instantly turned red with anger at Victor's words. She wanted to argue, but she couldn't think of a good reason.
Seeing Hermione's fuming expression, Victor's expression changed and became a little serious. He reached out and pinched Hermione's cheek, asking, "What? From what you're saying, you want to be a hero? Just one thing, even if Snape wanted to steal the item guarded by the three-headed dog, can the three of you beat Snape?"
"We can tell Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore!" Hermione retorted. She wanted to slap away Victor's hand that was pinching her cheek, but for some reason, she couldn't. She could only hold his wrist tightly, telling him not to pinch her so hard.
"Then tell me, on what grounds would the two professors believe your one-sided story and suspect a professor they have worked with for many years? You still haven't been able to provide any evidence."
"Then… then you can help me…"
"Hermione, you still don't understand," Victor said, pressing his hand from her cheek to her head and making her look him in the eyes. "It's not a question of whether or not I'll help you! First of all, every event has a cause and effect, but you, Harry, and Ron only believe the outcome you want, and you never care about the reason behind it."
"What is this? Is it confidence, or is it a kind of foolishness that fails to see the real logic?"
"…" Hermione was speechless. She didn't even dare to look Victor in the eye.
"And!" Victor continued. "Assuming you never met me and never knew my abilities, who would you turn to for help? Would you still rely on your baseless assumptions and courage to face an enemy you couldn't possibly defeat?"
"Ask Harry how he got his title of Savior. His parents' bodies were lying next to him not long after he was born. Being a hero is not that easy. It requires bloodshed and sacrifice, and your abilities aren't at that level yet. Finish the book I gave you first."
After a long speech, Victor gently pushed Hermione on the forehead and then used spatial magic to send her back to the entrance of the Gryffindor common room.
Hermione stood in front of the Fat Lady's portrait, her face red, and she was stunned for a while before stomping her foot in anger. From Victor's attitude, she knew he wouldn't help her with this.
"Pig snout!" Hermione said the password and walked angrily into the Gryffindor common room. But as soon as she walked in, she saw Harry and Ron sitting by the fireplace, discussing something.
"What are you two doing?" Hermione asked curiously.
"Hermione, you've come at the right time!" Harry jumped up from the sofa and ran over to Hermione, saying excitedly, "We've figured some things out! The thing the three-headed dog is guarding has something to do with Nicolas Flamel!"
"Nicolas Flamel?! How do you know?" Hermione instantly forgot what Victor had just told her when she heard that they had found a clue.
"After the match this afternoon, Ron and I went to talk to Hagrid about what happened on the pitch today and the three-headed dog in the third-floor corridor. Although Hagrid didn't believe us, he did let it slip that the three-headed dog's name is Fluffy and that Professor Dumbledore borrowed it to guard something that has to do with Nicolas Flamel."
"Nicolas Flamel… I vaguely remember seeing that name somewhere!" Hermione scratched her head, but she couldn't remember where.
"How about this, Hermione?" Harry suggested. "For the next while, we'll all look for information on Nicolas Flamel. We have to stop Snape from getting the item Fluffy is guarding!"
.....
Time flew by, and it was Christmas Eve.
The arrival of this holiday also marked the official end of the first term at Hogwarts, and the students were given a two-week holiday. However, even on such an important holiday in the West, half of the students stayed at Hogwarts.
In the Great Hall, Professor Flitwick and the house-elves were busy decorating for the Christmas feast. Outside the Great Hall, Victor gently stroked Fiona's snow-white feathers and said in a slightly pleading tone, "Fiona, please! Help me deliver these presents to Rick and Aliya!" He then handed her the large snack package and several sets of wizard robes he had prepared.
Fiona tilted her head and looked at the heavy bundle in Victor's hand, her eyes wide. She looked back and forth between Victor and the gifts, then let out a birdcall. Seeing her expression, Victor knew exactly what she wanted. He held up five fingers and said, "Five little dried fish!"
Fiona flapped her wings when she heard this, then raised one of her talons and made a gesture. "Four times? Twenty fish?!" Victor instantly got angry. He looked at Fiona in a frenzy and shouted, "Do you know how expensive your snacks are? Twenty little dried fish already costs ten silver Sickles!"
"Hoot, hoot!" Fiona tilted her head to the side, indicating that if she didn't get enough dried fish, he could forget about her working overtime on such a cold day!
"Fine, fine! I promise, okay?!" Victor sadly took out ten dried fish. "Here's a down payment of ten fish. I'll give you the rest when you get back!"
When Fiona saw the dried fish, she happily jumped onto Victor's shoulder and began to enjoy her meal. After eating the ten dried fish in a very short time, Fiona grabbed Victor's gifts and slowly flew away.
Victor looked at the white figure disappearing into the snow and sighed with a look of sadness. He then took out the money pouch that had been enchanted with an Undetectable Extension Charm. He counted the little money inside, and there wasn't much left…
The first time he went to Diagon Alley, in addition to a huge pile of school supplies, he also bought a lot of gifts for the Swinton family. The 4,621 Galleons he had exchanged at Gringotts was gone within three days.
The gold-plated special edition of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the Gilderoy Lockhart novels, and the Quidditch World Cup model he bought for Rick were the most expensive.
And in the month before school started, he took Aliya or Rick to Diagon Alley to shop every week, which also cost him a lot of money. Because of this, when he started school, the money in his pouch was already less than five hundred Galleons.
And the owls in the wizarding world are different from regular owls. As messengers for wizards, their food is specially processed to maintain their intelligence and vitality. The average cost of feeding one owl is ten Galleons a month.
With Fiona and Cygnus, the Swintons' owl, who was now almost as round as a ball, that was twenty Galleons a month.
Combined with the prizes from the Halloween game and the expenses for the Christmas presents, his money pouch was empty.
Victor sat down silently at a table in the Great Hall, tears streaming down his face as he held a money pouch with only a single-digit number of Galleons left.
Penelope, who was next to him, saw his dejected look and asked curiously, "Victor, what's wrong?"
"Nothing…" Victor replied weakly, burying his head on the table. "I just ran out of Galleons."
"Huh? Do you need money? I can lend you some!" Penelope said, taking out a pouch from her pocket that looked exactly like Victor's. It seemed like Gringotts had given it to her as well.
"Wow, a big rich girl!!!" Victor's eyes instantly turned into Galleons. He looked at the plumpness of Penelope's pouch. It had to have at least ten thousand Galleons.
"When my father and I went to Gringotts, he exchanged one hundred thousand pounds worth of Galleons for me. But until now, besides buying some school supplies and gifts in Diagon Alley, I haven't spent much," Penelope said calmly.
"One hundred thousand?!" Victor was shocked. "The goblins would agree to exchange that much?"
Although Gringotts didn't have a clear limit on how much they would exchange, they did need to use Muggle money to buy some goods that didn't exist in the wizarding world. However, because the wizarding world had been isolated for a long time, their need for Muggle goods wasn't that great, so Gringotts was very cautious and subjective about exchanging large amounts of Muggle money.
"No, they weren't willing at first!" As expected, Penelope shook her head at Victor's question. But then she added, "The goblins were only willing to exchange ten thousand pounds at first, but my father saw that the Galleons were made of gold, so he had someone bring over ninety thousand pounds worth of gold. Then the goblins agreed to exchange it."
"…Penelope, if you don't mind me asking, what does your family do?" Victor asked meekly.
"My parents don't have jobs. They just own a few gold mines in Eastern Europe."
That makes sense.
Everything makes sense now!!!
This is a person who truly has mines at home!!!
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