Chapter 77: George's Threat
"My money is easy to earn. As long as I need something, I don't mind paying more than others. But not everyone is qualified to earn from me. Isn't that where your value lies, Mr. Borgin?"
George lightly tapped the counter as he spoke, completely unhurried.
"You're absolutely right, Mr. George! Only those with value deserve gold—and everything that comes with it. Recently, I've gone to great lengths to gather some rare items from around the world. I'd like to show them to you."
Mr. Borgin's face lit up with a theatrical smile, instantly becoming lively again.
"My money is easy to earn… but cheating me is not."
George continued tapping the counter. Each knock seemed to sync with Borgin's heartbeat.
Thump… thump… thump…
Hearing this, Borgin's expression changed drastically, like colors shifting in a dye shop.
"Mr. George… I don't understand what you mean."
"Do you need me to make it clearer? Why do you think I'm here?"
George's low voice rumbled like thunder, causing faint vibrations in the air. The entire shop trembled slightly in rhythm with his tapping.
"Oh—Mr. George, please don't say more! I just found the ancient spell you mentioned before. I was about to deliver it to you!"
Clutching his chest, Borgin cried out in distress.
"Hmm? Is that what you think I came here for?"
Hearing that the item he wanted had been found, George's tone softened, and the tapping slowed.
"Mr. George… did you see Mr. Malfoy when you came in?"
Borgin hugged himself, head lowered, not daring to meet George's gaze as he cautiously asked.
"I thought I'd test it. I knew Malfoy was about to make a deal… perhaps you were planning to profit from it?"
George's voice turned cold again. The darkness beneath his hood felt like a bottomless void.
"N-no… how could I dare…" Borgin stammered. "I… I was just joking. I would only add ten percent to Mr. Malfoy's price…"
He secretly raised his head and glimpsed the abyss beneath the hood. A chill ran down his spine. He immediately corrected himself:
"I'll transfer everything at the original price to you, Mr. George…"
"I'll take it at twenty percent above Malfoy's price."
George stopped tapping the counter, his tone easing slightly.
"But if you try to cheat me… you might as well place yourself on this counter as merchandise."
His voice instantly became hoarse and icy.
"No—no…"
Borgin wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve.
"I'll fetch the ancient spell for you right away."
With that, he hurried into the back room, muttering to himself:
"This mysterious Mr. George is getting more terrifying… can he really turn money into power?"
Borgin felt deeply uneasy. Malfoy had come for a private transaction—so how did George know? He had only just acquired Malfoy's goods and was planning to resell them at a profit to George. Who could have expected George to walk in at exactly the right moment?
Did this man have eyes everywhere?
Malfoy, reckless as he was, had even been manipulated by Voldemort—yet now such confidential dealings had somehow fallen into George's hands?
Even though this deal would bring him a 20% profit with little effort, Borgin couldn't help but feel a chill down his spine.
Making money delighted him—but dealing with someone like George filled him with dread.
George, on the other hand, looked at the cunning merchant before him with a hint of helplessness.
The wizarding world was small—its population limited, its territory restricted, and its resources scarce. The biggest problem was the near impossibility of forming a complete industrial chain. Most production existed only in small workshops, varying greatly in scale.
All businesses were small-scale operations.
George had come here once before, before the previous school year began. At that time, there had been rumors of a massive reward for finding a phoenix. Yet after a whole year, not only had no phoenix been found, even other rare items were nowhere to be seen.
The magical world was simply too small.
Often, people had money—but nowhere worthwhile to spend it.
George himself was not lacking in wealth, but converting money into rapid growth in strength was extremely difficult.
This visit was driven by the benefits of a plan he had set in motion earlier.
"I didn't expect Draco Malfoy to give me such a surprise so soon…" George sighed. Malfoy had brought him quite a few surprises already.
George didn't like Malfoy. After all, aside from the Malfoy family themselves, no normal person would like such an arrogant, spoiled brat.
But as the saying goes—out of sight, out of mind.
They were in different houses at school and rarely interacted. Malfoy also knew better than to provoke someone he could never defeat. So while they weren't on good terms, their relationship hadn't deteriorated either.
That, in turn, laid the groundwork for future cooperation.
George had no intention of acting arrogant, nor of treating Malfoy as an enemy. Naturally, Malfoy understood not to provoke him.
When George's mutual-aid association began operating, Malfoy shamelessly borrowed 1,000 Galleons from it—a massive sum for a student. Even for a prestigious family like the Malfoys, such an amount wasn't pocket money.
This gave George a way to influence him.
After the Forbidden Forest incident, Malfoy had nearly died. The experience matured him significantly. He was no longer as reckless or arrogant, and had become more calculating.
Under those circumstances, Malfoy actively sought to build a good relationship with George—and George went along with it.
He had always been interested in the Malfoy family's private collection, especially after learning that Malfoy Manor had once served as Voldemort's residence.
Things progressed even more smoothly than expected.
To get closer to George, Malfoy sent him a book he considered extremely valuable—The Secrets of Meditation. A long-forgotten treasure of the Malfoy family had finally changed hands.
George's hands seemed to glow as he received it.
He had always regarded meditation as a source of power—and even introduced it to Harry and the others.
Malfoy, in turn, benefited greatly.
George selected an excellent meditation technique for him from the book and even provided a complete, structured meditation experience.
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