Chapter 134: Staff Gossip, Distribution
Sunday morning passed without incident. Colin had not been petrified.
Hagrid was busy making treacle fudge, planning to take it to Harry in the castle later.
Ron and Hermione told Hagrid, "We went to see him this morning. He was asleep at the time, but from the look of his arm, it must have grown back. At least it no longer had that rubber glove look from yesterday."
Hagrid beamed. "I knew it. Madam Pomfrey's treatments are brilliant. Years ago, St. Mungo's invited her to work at the hospital, but she preferred the school atmosphere and turned them down."
"Really? Tell us more." They rarely heard gossip about the matron, so they pressed Hagrid to continue.
"I don't actually know that much." Hagrid paused, his hands still busy with his work.
Madam Pomfrey has been at Hogwarts for over twenty years. At first, there were other doctors and nurses in the Hospital Wing, but eventually they all moved on, leaving her to run it alone.
"She runs the entire Hospital Wing but never took the title of doctor, so she's always been the Matron. She does a good job, doesn't she? I'd say she does better than most doctors anyway."
Dumbledore once thought about getting her an assistant, but whether they were fresh graduates who stayed on to practice or outsiders he hired, they always moved on after a few years. Staff came and went in the Hospital Wing, and in the end, she was the only one who stayed.
Hagrid shared some information about the Matron, though much of it was hearsay and not necessarily true. After all, living on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, he rarely ventured into the castle, so his knowledge was limited.
Hearing this, Hermione exclaimed, "Wow, Madam Pomfrey is incredible!"
"You'd never guess." Ethan hadn't expected such an unassuming school nurse to have such an impressive history.
It was true, though. Aside from the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher changing every year, the professors of other important subjects were all masters of their craft.
However, when it came to Professor Sinistra, the Astronomy teacher, he was at a loss. He didn't know what special achievements had kept her at Hogwarts for so long, given all the experts there.
Ethan asked, "Do you know much about Professor Sinistra? Does she have any remarkable achievements?"
Hagrid shook his head. "Dunno. Professor Sinistra has only been teaching here a few years. I don't know much about her."
After the previous Astronomy professor retired due to old age, Dumbledore recruited her to take her place.
"All right." He'd originally thought she was secretly someone important, but maybe she was just an ordinary professor.
When Hagrid returned to the castle with them at noon, Harry had already left the Hospital Wing.
"He left in the morning? That's a shame."
Hagrid scratched his head, clutching a bag of homemade treacle fudge as he looked at Ron. "I can't get into your common room. Take these sweets to Harry for me, and tell him that if he has a moment, he's welcome to stop by my hut for a chat."
Ethan returned to the dormitory. Ron and Hermione caught up with Harry in the common room after he was released.
Harry's eyes lit up at the sight of them. "Come with me," he whispered. "I have something to tell you."
Ron held up the sweets. "What's up? It's treacle fudge from Hagrid. You were still sleeping when we visited this morning, and when we went back at noon, you'd already left. He said to come see him if you're free."
Harry reconsidered. Hagrid's hut was actually a good spot. "In that case, let's go to Hagrid's hut. I'll tell you on the way there."
Since they had just come from there, neither of them was particularly keen on going back so soon.
But seeing the determined look in Harry's eyes, they relented.
Ron and Harry stashed the candy in the dormitory, picked up Hermione from the common room, and headed out to Hagrid's hut once again.
They hadn't made it far from the castle before Harry could no longer contain himself, eager to share the events of the previous night with his two friends.
Ron was astonished. "Dobby showed up again? The elf who gave you that Ministry warning actually turned up at the school?"
His surprise quickly gave way to anger. "What? So he's the one who sealed the barrier and made us miss the train? We got detention and a dressing-down from my family all because of him! He's at least eighty percent to blame for that!"
But Ron was placing far too much blame on the elf. He was the one who'd decided to take matters into his own hands instead of asking for help, and he couldn't pin that responsibility on others.
Ron retorted, "If it hadn't been for him, would we have taken such risks?"
Seeing that they were about to quarrel again, Harry, still angry from the night before, stepped in as peacemaker. "All right, all right. That's in the past. We have other matters to discuss. Don't argue."
The two exchanged cold looks.
Harry felt a headache coming on. "Dobby also tampered with yesterday's Bludger. He was trying to send me home. He said something terrible was going to happen at Hogwarts this year."
Ron frowned. "Wait, Dobby made the Bludger go crazy? He said something terrible was going to happen at Hogwarts this year?"
"Yeah. He said I'm like a beacon to the elves. Since I defeated Voldemort, their living conditions have gotten better, so he wants to keep me safe." Harry looked a little embarrassed.
"He said the Chamber of Secrets was going to be opened again, but he wouldn't say who opened it last time. I kept pressing him. He started banging his head against something, punishing himself, until he finally disappeared."
Ron fell silent.
Hermione looked thoughtful. "Ethan said Malfoy was with him the entire night of the attack, so that ruled him out as a suspect. But he must know something, otherwise he wouldn't have acted like that the day before. You remember, don't you, Harry?"
Harry nodded. "I remember. I always thought Malfoy was somehow connected to the Chamber."
Hermione thought for a moment and had to admit it made sense. "Well, it's not impossible."
As they approached Hagrid's place, the three of them stopped talking about Dobby and the Chamber.
"Oh my, why are you here again? Harry, come in quickly!" Hagrid opened the door, looking genuinely surprised and pleased.
After chatting for a while, Hermione suddenly remembered something. She asked Hagrid, "You've been here so long. Do you know what happened the last time the Chamber was opened?"
Hagrid, who'd been smiling just moments before, fell silent at once.
"Looks like you know." Hermione's eyes gleamed.
"I don't know. You should go back," Hagrid said stiffly.
Harry begged, "Hagrid, just tell us. If another attack happens, Hermione could be the next victim."
"I told you, I don't know!" Hagrid stood up, shoved the three of them out the door, and refused to open it again, ignoring their persistent pounding.
"Forget it. Let's head back." Realizing Hagrid wouldn't budge, the trio had no choice but to turn back.
"Why is Hagrid so secretive about this? What exactly does he know?"
As they walked back, they wondered why Hagrid always reacted so strongly whenever the Chamber was mentioned.
That afternoon, Hermione stayed in the library, hoping to find more information about the Chamber. Harry headed back to the dormitory to catch up on some much-needed sleep after a restless night.
Ron was left alone in the common room, watching the others play with the new Wizarding Cards.
Ever since the twins had secured a massive shipment of card packs from Hogsmeade, the game had exploded in popularity.
After discussing the matter, the three of them selected a distributor for each house to handle sales, offering a commission of one Knut per pack.
The stock of over a thousand card packs, which had arrived just the previous afternoon, sold out completely by Sunday.
Selling them for one Sickle each meant they made over fifty Galleons in a single day. After deducting costs, their net profit was thirty Galleons.
"Brilliant!" The twins clutched piles of sickles and galleons, clearly enjoying their newfound wealth.
Ethan and Cyril Shafiq had already agreed on a plan for the next phase. "This is only the start. When Christmas arrives, we'll attract students to the new shop in Diagon Alley. Once we draw their parents in, we'll make even more galleons."
"Don't worry. You'll always have a stake in this. Just make sure you show up as partners for the opening ceremony when the time comes," Ethan assured the twins, who looked somewhat concerned.
"Absolutely!" The brothers grinned broadly.
With sales booming, Ethan quickly sent an owl to order another batch of card packs. He also announced a trade-in program for duplicate cards, driving sales even higher.
Nancy tracked him down. "Mr. Jones, the card packs have sold out again. I was hoping to get some more."
"That fast?" Ethan had given her three hundred packs that morning, and they were already gone by midday.
"Alright, I'll have more for you tomorrow." He realized he'd need his Undetectable Extension Bag to transport them; otherwise, he couldn't carry enough to keep up with demand.
Thinking back to bumping into Nancy and introducing himself, Ethan couldn't help shaking his head.
He'd chosen her partly to establish contact with a girl who might be related to Tom Riddle, and also because she had volunteered for the job.
The girl from the orphanage wasn't exactly wealthy, despite receiving financial aid from the school. She had to scrimp and save on every expense.
It was rare for a Slytherin to come from a destitute family.
Of course, others wanted to earn extra pocket money, but she was the only one actively striving for the opportunity. At any rate, Ethan considered her the ideal candidate.
*Whether she's Voldemort's daughter or not, I can establish a good connection.*
Ethan hurried out of the common room to count the orders from each house.
------------------------------------------
Chapters on Patreon progress: Currently at;
1. Harry Potter: Satan? Nah, Just My Family Crest = CHAPTER 294
2.Marvel: Cosmic Forger of Infinity = CHAPTER 205
3.Harry Potter: Beyond Good and Evil in the Wizarding World = CHAPTER 296
4.Harry Potter: Reborn as Draco Black = CHAPTER 132
support me on Patreon for instant access to the 120+ advance chapters: patreon.com/redofic