Dudley planned to resell a batch of experimental equipment to get some Galleons to spend. The Galleons he had received from Carrow at the start of the school year were almost gone. No one ever thought they had too many Galleons. It was still the same saying: with money, you can go anywhere in the world; without money, you can't take a single step.
Especially since Dudley was a big spender; the consumption of materials for long-term potion brewing was unusually high. Weekends were fine, as Snape reimbursed the material costs. But from Monday to Friday, Dudley usually had to pay out of his own pocket when making potions. Although there were countless potion ingredients in the Forbidden Forest, Dudley didn't have that much time to pick them one by one according to the ingredient list. Most of the time, he picked whatever he saw and wouldn't go out of his way to look for specific things. This also led to his current situation of spending money like water.
Although Dudley was very rich in the Muggle world, that money couldn't be converted into Galleons through official channels. If he wanted to exchange gold for Galleons, he would probably be eaten alive by the greedy goblins at Gringotts. As for selling some potions for money... are you kidding? Every bottle of potion was a crucial item for saving one's life; selling them was out of the question. Anyway, for Dudley, Galleons were quite easy to earn. He had money in the Muggle world, so he had to make full use of that point and convert the money from there into money here. The first thing Dudley thought of was reselling experimental equipment.
When selling something, the first thing to do is advertise. Giving the equipment to Ron and Malfoy was to build a reputation. This way, money came quickly.
As expected, on that very day, Dudley received at least eighty orders from Slytherin through Malfoy. After nearly two months of getting along, the young wizards in Slytherin had generally figured out Dudley's temperament; he was quite easy to communicate with as long as you didn't provoke him. In addition, Dudley had added almost half a House Cup hourglass's worth of points for Slytherin, putting them far ahead among the four houses. Many older students, both male and female, even looked at him differently, showing goodwill openly and secretly. In Slytherin, as long as you were outstanding, you would definitely get attention; if you were exceptionally outstanding, then you would gain recognition from even more people. As for Dudley's identity as a Muggle-born wizard... well, because Dudley was Harry's cousin, and Dudley's aunt, Lily, was a genuine witch, a group of people believed that Dudley wasn't a Muggle-born wizard. As for the other group, you're not a Galleon, don't expect everyone to like you.
The orders on the second day were more than three times that of the first day. Many older Slytherin students, and even young wizards from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, placed orders. No one wanted to face Snape's venom directly. On the third day, this number doubled again. The continuous flow of orders brought Dudley a great many Galleons.
"Did you really give me this much?" Ron looked at Harry with an incredulous expression, or more accurately, stared at the cloth bag in his hand.
"Brother D said this is what you deserve," Harry said with a smile, handing the cloth bag to Ron. "He calls this... a dividend."
Dudley was undoubtedly generous, especially when you did a good job for him. He paid when he should pay, absolutely without hesitation and very quickly. Not only Ron, but Hermione, Harry, and Malfoy also received a share.
Ron trembled as he took the bag of gold coins from Harry's hand, as if in a dream. The heavy feeling in his palm pulled him back to reality. There were at least a hundred Galleons. My goodness, Ron had never seen so much money, let alone owned it. Even a Sickle could last a long time.
"Mr. Dursley is truly amazing," Ron sincerely expressed his admiration.
"Of course," Harry replied, as happy as if he had eaten honey. "I've never seen anything Brother D can't do, or anything Brother D can't achieve." He was just short of saying directly to their faces, 'My Brother D is invincible in the world.'
'Such a brother is truly enviable,' Ron thought, thinking of his own brothers. 'Unlike my brothers, who only bully me.' The two brothers closest to Ron's age were George and Fred. These two guys had only ever bullied him since they were young. He still remembered when he was very young, holding his only cloth doll, which was the only toy his mother had made for him by hand. He liked it very, very much and always held it, never letting anyone have it. George and Fred wanted to snatch it to play with back then, but Ron didn't give it to them. So they secretly used their father's wand and turned the cloth doll in Ron's arms into a large spider.
Can you imagine that scene? The cloth doll in your arms suddenly turning into an arthropod bigger than you, with eight legs, staring at you with eight eyes that shone with a terrifying light. Ron could even feel the dark fuzz on its two chelicerae. He only remembered his body becoming stiff at that moment, all the hairs on his body standing on end, and his mind going blank. At that moment, Ron almost went crazy. And then... and then he never touched that cloth doll again and gave it to his younger sister, Ginny. Afterward, George and Fred said it was just a prank, a joke, and they liked to joke around. Ron forgave them because they were his family, but that spider also became the most terrifying thing in Ron's heart, a lingering shadow.
"You know, I don't need this," Malfoy said on the other side of the castle, pushing back the bag full of Galleons that was handed to him. The Malfoy family was very rich, but that didn't mean Malfoy himself was. In fact, Lucius didn't give him much pocket money each month. This bag of gold coins was also a considerable sum for him.
"But this is what you deserve," Dudley said, grabbing the bag and putting it directly into Malfoy's hand. Malfoy looked at the money bag in his hand, biting his upper lip tightly, as if there was something he wanted to say, but for some reason, he couldn't speak. Just as Dudley was about to leave, he subconsciously blurted out the words in his heart: "Please forgive me, I... I mean, can I call you Brother D like Potter? I know that's a title only your friends can use..."
"Of course you can. Aren't we friends?"
Malfoy suddenly looked up and saw Dudley wink at him. At that moment, Malfoy felt that this face, which had once made him so terrified, was no longer so frightening. He spoke from the bottom of his heart.
"Okay, Brother D."
Ron had his shining points. Malfoy was essentially similar to Ron; he had never had friends since he was young.
[Chapter Complete]
***
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