Chapter 87 Miracle Alchemy
After solving the problems of the Black Mansion and the Ravenclaw Chamber of Secrets, it was time to start the business of opening a shop.
Lucius did not disappoint Sherin. Sherin only paid two thousand Galleons, not only to buy the shop in Hogsmeade Village, but also to register a patent for the Malfoy brand "anti-sickness bracelet" in the Magic Device Control Bureau of the Ministry of Magic. In this way, there was still a lot of money left, and Sherin spent all the remaining Galleons on the decoration of the shop.
(Note: The Magic Device Control Bureau never appeared in the original book. It came from the Daily Prophet. It once confiscated Willy Wagstaff's illegal wand and specialized in managing the quality and safety of magic items. The author privately added the setting of managing patents for it)
(Note: The fact that there are "patents" in the wizarding world is not fabricated by the author. In the original book, there is a "Funny Product Patent Office" under the Sports and Physical Education Department, which specializes in dealing with patents for prank props)
The next task is to give the alchemy workshop a name.
As far as Schelling knows, most retail stores in the British wizarding business community are named after the owner's surname, such as Ollivander's Wand Shop, Madam Malkin's Robe Shop, Borgin and Burke's, etc. There are only five known exceptions, namely Eeyore Owl House, Magical Creatures and Beasts, Quidditch Boutique, Honeydukes, and Elegant Clothing Store.
Schelling did not intend to follow the naming convention of most wizarding businesses and choose a tacky name like "Malfoy Alchemy Shop". As a Muggle in his previous life, he also knew a thing or two about the general principles of brand sales - a name that is easy to leave an impression is very important, so the name of this store is "Miraculous Alchymia", which means to create miracles for alchemy.
Lucius arranged a young couple for Schelling to manage the alchemy shop on his behalf. They are the illegitimate children of the Malfoy family. According to Lucius, loyalty is not a problem. Of course, Schelling does not know whether Lucius used any unknown means behind the scenes.
Although they had never been exposed to alchemy, the anti-sickness bracelet was not a very advanced work. Moreover, Schelling did not intend to teach them the complete production process from beginning to end. Instead, he personally engraved the rune symbols on the bracelet, leaving only the later beautification, carving, and perfection steps for them to do.
Schelling found Draco, Daphne, Meredith, and Pansy to help at Hogwarts, and made a thousand pieces of initial supply in one go, and handed them over to the two clerks.
The first three were the people Schelling trusted the most, and the relationship between Pansy and Draco became closer and closer. Since this semester, Pansy's personality has changed a lot. Although she is still a little willful and willful, at least she is no longer as harsh and aggressive as in the original book, so Schelling treated her as his own for the sake of her brother.
Schelling did not distrust Astoria, but she was still young and had not learned alchemy and runes.
(Note: Pansy's change was influenced by Draco. Draco gradually became mature and popular. She knew that if she didn't make changes, she might lose her position in Draco's heart.)
Anyway, the alchemy shop is not far from Hogwarts, and there is a direct secret passage under the shop that allows Sherin to enter and exit at any time. If they need to replenish the supply, they can find Sherin at any time.
Although choosing to operate in this way will take up some of Sherin's precious time, this is only Sherin's initial plan. Once the business is on track, and the couple has proved their value during the initial period of entrepreneurship, Sherin will not hesitate to teach them the steps and secrets of the complete production process. Of course, it is also necessary to make an unbreakable oath to ensure that they will not leak secrets.
On the first day of opening, media all over the UK and even Europe published large-scale advertisements for the Miracle Alchemy Shop. Except for the Daily Prophet, which charged Sherin a small discounted advertising fee, all other media advertised for Sherin for free. This is of course thanks to the beautiful sister Gulana standing behind Sherin.
On that day, there was a constant stream of people in front of the store, and the side roads of the entire village were crowded with people. It can be seen that wizards have suffered from the side effects of Floo Powder for a long time. Now with the anti-sickness bracelet, they can finally get rid of the dizzy days. At the Ministry of Magic, at Amelia's suggestion, Fudge generously placed a large order of 500 pieces, which made Schelling a lot of money. This transaction alone made Schelling recover all the costs of opening the store.
(The gross profit of 4 Galleons for an anti-sickness bracelet is quite reasonable, right?)
Then, Schelling did not forget to take a day to go to Professor Burke to learn about the Vanishing Cabinet. Professor Burke did not favor Schelling, but among the students in the class, only Schelling's test performance barely met his requirements.
For Schelling, this is a rare learning opportunity. Learning to repair the Vanishing Cabinet is secondary. More importantly, if he can have a deeper understanding of the structure of the Vanishing Cabinet and the space magic contained in it, that would be the biggest gain.
The inventor of the Vanishing Cabinet originally wanted to create a secret passage for escape, but he never thought that the relevant technology could be used in other areas. Just think about it, if a small Vanishing Cabinet is made and the manufacturing cost is kept within an affordable range, it can be used to replace owls and become a channel for delivering letters and packages.
That day, under the guidance of Professor Bork, Schelling completed the repair of the dilapidated Vanishing Cabinet as expected. In the original book, Draco, a sixth-year student, spent most of the semester to complete the feat, but for Schelling, a third-year student, it only took half a day, which shows how high Schelling's alchemy level has reached.
Of course, Professor Bork's expertise in the field of the Vanishing Cabinet is also a factor. In contrast, Draco in the original book only learned a little bit from Mr. Borkin, who once said that if he could see the real object and the damage, maybe he could repair it faster.
(Note: Mr. Borkin is a member of the Borkin family and has nothing to do with the Bork family; Borkin and Bork's is a joint business of the two families; in this book, the author sets the Borkin family as a vassal of the Bork family, because the latter is one of the 28 sacred families, and it is reasonable to say that the foundation should be stronger, but both families are famous for alchemy)
After repairing the Vanishing Cabinet, Schelling asked to take the Vanishing Cabinet away, and the reason he gave was that he wanted to conduct a more in-depth study of its structure. Although the Vanishing Cabinet is a property of Hogwarts, it has been abandoned in the Room of Requirement by the house elves since it was destroyed by Peeves, and no one cares about it. Professor Burke was generous and agreed.
[The Vanishing Cabinet is obtained! ]
Shayling plans to find an opportunity to go to Knockturn Alley later and buy the Vanishing Cabinet in Borgin and Burke's, so that he will have another secret passage directly to Hogwarts.
After all matters were handled, Shayling only had one last task left to devote himself to reading Ravenclaw's collection - dealing with Harold Dingle, he has not forgotten Astoria's revenge!
The next day, a sensational event happened in Hogwarts. Harold Dingle tried to break into the women's bathroom to peek, but was caught by a senior girl and finally failed to get what he wanted.
"Hahaha... I'm laughing to death!" In Shayling's dormitory, Daphne was holding her stomach and laughing so hard that she couldn't stand up straight.
Just now, she, Sherin and Astoria witnessed Dingo being taken away by Filch after being beaten black and blue.
Sherin also smiled, "Tori, I've avenged you. I'm sure this guy won't be able to find a girlfriend in Hogwarts before graduation."
When Dingo passed the women's bathroom, Sherin secretly cast a Confusion Spell on him, but the guy turned into the women's bathroom. The next scene almost made them laugh. There was a scream from the bathroom, and the three of them saw Dingo running out of the women's bathroom with his face covered, and then a group of girls appeared to chase the pervert, causing chaos in the whole castle.
While he was being chased, Sherin cast a spell without a sound or a wand to remove the Confusion Spell on him. Finally, he was caught by Schuyler Fawcett, a fifth-year girl from Ravenclaw, and was severely beaten. He was not taken away like a dead dog until Filch arrived after hearing the news.
(Note: Fawcett is a character in the original book. The college and grade are official, and the name is given to her by the author)
Filch handed him over to Professor McGonagall, who could not tolerate any sand in her eyes. Professor McGonagall was very angry when she heard the whole thing. In addition to punishing him to clean every men's toilet in the castle, she also notified his family about the incident. Dingo explained that he accidentally entered the women's bathroom because he was under the Confusion Curse. After Professor McGonagall's inspection, it turned out that this was not the case.
At this time, Astoria was still very kind in her heart. She had long forgotten the incident of being attacked by Dingo before, but she didn't expect that Sherin kept her affairs in mind even though she didn't say it. She was very moved for a moment, and didn't care that her sister was next to her, and rushed up to kiss Sherin on the cheek.
After doing this, she felt her face was hot and her neck was red. "Thank you, Brother Xie Lin, you, you are so good to me!"
Daphne looked at this scene and seemed to understand something. She cast a resentful look at Xie Lin, as if to say "She is my sister! How can you do this...".
Cold sweat broke out on Xie Lin's forehead. It was unfair. He didn't want to do this! Of course, whether the truth was so or not, only Xie Lin knew it in his heart.
This matter is not over yet-at breakfast the next day, a shouting letter resounded throughout the hall. Harold Dingo's mother thought that he had lost the face of the Dingo family and yelled at him in the letter.
This incident greatly affected the perception of other colleges towards Gryffindor. Although Gryffindor has always had many troublemakers, such as the Marauders and the Wesley twins, they all abide by an invisible bottom line. Dingo's behavior undoubtedly crossed the bottom line of pranks, which was enough to make people feel disgusted.
Dingo had a hard time afterwards. Schuyler Fawcett's Hufflepuff boyfriend Stebbins often made trouble for Dingo because of this matter. The solidarity of Hufflepuff was fully revealed at this moment. The badgers stood firmly behind Stebbins and supported him. If they saw Dingo in the corridor, even if they didn't say bad things to him, they would give him a look of contempt.
The Ravenclaw eagles, led by Schuyler Fawcett and Roger Davis, also began to distance themselves from Dingo and his friends.
At first, Cormac McLaggen promised his fellow lions that he would be able to solve the problem quickly. However, he was rejected by the young wizards of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. They did not give Cormac face at all.
Sherin even saw Zhang Qiu and Marietta Edgemore, who always presented themselves as gentle and polite, walking away coldly in the corridor, which made Cormac feel embarrassed. The scene was very embarrassing.
As the cause of everything, Dingo was under great pressure even within Gryffindor. The lions of his class began to complain about him. He began to become silent and low-key, and even asked his roommates to bring his three meals back to the dormitory.
Flourish and Blotts was originally named Floris and Blotts; Twilfitt and Tattings was originally named Twiffe and Tattings; Gambol and Japes Wizarding Joke Shop was originally named Gambol and Japes; all of them were named after the store owners' surnames.