Cedric and Cho were talking about something in the auditorium, but Kael didn't know. However, he returned to the Hufflepuff Common Room with a smile.
At that time, Kael was reading a book when a bulging bag suddenly fell from the sky and landed on the open page of his book.
"Whoa... what the heck."
Kael was startled, turned his head to look at Cedric, who was grinning from ear to ear, and said disdainfully, "What's up with you, did you find money? Why are you smiling so lewdly?"
"This is much faster than finding money."
Cedric squeezed onto Kael's sofa and said excitedly, "Guess how much we made selling maps in Ravenclaw... 52 Sickles each, 52 each!"
Although Cedric phrased it as a question, he had no intention of waiting for Kael to answer and continued on his own:
"Just a few pieces of five-knut parchment, and with a few charms, we earned so much money..."
"Wait a minute."
Kael was getting more and more confused. He had to interrupt the seemingly tipsy Cedric and asked in confusion, "52 Sickles? Shouldn't it be only 40? And what's the deal with the parchment?"
"It's like this..."
Cedric explained, "I went to Ravenclaw Tower at noon, modified the route according to their needs, and Cho thought we could appropriately increase the price, so in the end, it became this much.
As for the use of parchment... this is actually a trick of the Doubling Charm.
For items like notes and maps, if you exclude the most complex part of the parchment and only copy the content, it makes the casting easier and significantly extends the duration of the copy."
After listening, Kael understood why there were an extra 12 Sickles. The quality of the map improved, so naturally, the price also had to increase.
However, the parchment seemed a bit excessive to Kael. In his opinion, at most in a month, those maps would be useless. Cedric's action seemed rather unnecessary.
But fortunately, parchment wasn't very expensive. Together, they amounted to less than two Sickles, which was trivial compared to the final profits.
Not to mention, Cedric paid for it himself, which was the most important part.
Putting away his Sickles, Kael asked casually, "By the way, what do you think of Cho?"
"Cho?" Cedric thought for a moment and said, "I think she's a very smart little witch, very honest and kind. She should make a good friend."
"That's it??" Kael frowned.
"Um… generous?" Cedric ventured.
"Forget it, stop talking."
Kael rubbed his forehead. Although it was indeed a bit early now, he never imagined Cedric's first impression of Cho would be her honesty...
Who on earth would describe a girl as honest!
Let's leave it at that, I'm tired.
Kael closed his book and got up to head towards the common room's passageway.
"Are you going out?" Cedric asked.
Kael replied, "I'm going to feed the cat."
"Alright."
With a casual acknowledgment, Cedric stopped paying attention and began counting his Sickles, muttering to himself as he did, "Haha, who would've thought I could even earn pocket money. This feels amazing; I must write a letter to tell Dad."
As Kael, who had just walked into the wooden passage, heard this, he silently sympathized with the Ministry of Magic employees for a second.
It seems Mr. Digory has something new to show off again. Let's hope they get used to it soon.
…
Leaving the Hufflepuff Common Room, Kael deliberately made a lot of noise in the corridor.
He is a man of his word. Since he said he'd bring Mrs. Norris some catnip, he wouldn't go back on it.
Another point was the failure of the "Professor Meow's Feeding Plan."
Although Kael had tried hard to persuade himself, and knew it was an impossible task to begin with, the anticipation he had held for so long still left him feeling unresolved.
Regardless, today he would definitely feed the cat, and not even Dumbledore could stop him.
Although Mrs. Norris wasn't a tabby, at least they were both cats, and they looked quite similar, so it could barely pass as a substitute.
With Kael's continued noise, it took less than three minutes for Mrs. Norris to show up, and with her was Filch.
"Aha, I've caught you, the young wizard making noise in the corridor." Filch tilted his head and looked maliciously at Kael, "I'm going to put you in detention!"
"Sorry, Mr. Filch, I think you might be mistaken," Kael responded calmly, "School Rule 22 clearly states that loud noise in the corridor during non-curfew hours warrants a verbal warning, and detention only follows after three accumulations."
"I know, you don't have to remind me!"
Filch seemed furious, his face dark, "Are you good at memorizing school rules? What's the use of memorizing them well if you knowingly violate them!
I'll be watching you, and you better never make a mistake, or I'll definitely catch you."
"That day will never come," Kael said with a smile, "Besides, Mr. Filch, I'm doing this just to find Mrs. Norris.
You know, Hogwarts is so big, finding a cat isn't easy, and this is the fastest way."
"What do you want!" Filch's eyes instantly turned wary, "I warn you, you better not have any funny ideas about my cat, or I'll make you pay, no matter what!"
"You're overthinking it, I just want to thank her," Kael explained, "My roommate had an accident this morning, and she was the one who led me to the Hospital Wing. This is my token of gratitude."
With that, Kael produced a bag of catnip and took out a piece, trying to offer it to Mrs. Norris.
Unfortunately, Mrs. Norris didn't even spare it a glance.
Filch snickered from the side, "Don't waste your effort; she only eats what I feed her."
"Then why don't you feed it to her," Kael said, handing the bag to Filch, "Rest assured, it's just pure catnip. You can ask a professor to help you check it."
"No need, we don't need this!" Filch said with a cold face.
"Don't be quick to refuse. This is a young wizard's token of appreciation," Kael seemed to say casually, "And the Long-Bearded Catfish is a high-end product, each bag costing ten Galleons, and it's so rare to find in the magical realm. I went to great lengths to get it."
Filch hesitated.
If it were ordinary catnip, he wouldn't risk giving it to Mrs. Norris, but if it's Long-Bearded Catfish...
Kael was right; this fish was indeed top-notch cat food. Filch had once thought of giving Mrs. Norris such a gift for Christmas.
But he couldn't buy it.
It wasn't a matter of money. Although the caretaker's salary wasn't high, Filch lived at Hogwarts, with free room and board, and no usual expenses. Over the years, he had accumulated some savings.
But the problem was, whether in Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade, this fish was always out of stock—unavailable even if one had the money.
Filch sniffed the fish carefully, double-checking for any unusual odor, before finally looking up at Kael, "You better not trick me."
"Poisoning the caretaker's cat is no small matter," Kael said calmly, "I'm only in my first year, I don't want to be expelled this early."
Filch thought for a moment; that did make sense. If anything happened to Mrs. Norris, Kael wouldn't escape the consequences.
"You can go. I'll act like I didn't see you this time."
"Thank you."
Kael continued walking forward, and as he passed by Mrs. Norris, he tossed the piece of catnip he had been holding over.
"Oh right, leave this for you."
This time, Mrs. Norris didn't refuse, and upon seeing Filch nod slightly, she got up, caught the fish, and gobbled it up in no time.