— — — — — —
About ten minutes later, the twins left with very strange expressions.
They had never felt this conflicted before—excited to finally put their talents to good use, yet utterly miserable after being bled dry by Tom.
Not only did they have to hand over thirty percent of the shares in their future Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, but they'd also have to pay extra every time they used Tom's system for advertising.
That guy had to be a vampire in disguise. He was practically sucking them dry.
Still, they'd made up their minds. Once they'd boarded this pirate ship, there was no turning back. The twins were nothing if not action-oriented—especially when it came to pranks.
They had more passion and patience for mischief than anyone else in the school. Within a few days, they'd finished preparing their stock and came back to see Tom.
"Just wait," Fred said confidently. "You'll see the results tonight."
That night, most students were lounging around in their common rooms, either chatting or finishing up homework.
Then suddenly, every single "Codex" notebook in the school started buzzing violently. The shaking lasted about two seconds before it stopped. Curious, everyone opened theirs—only to see them flip to a new page on their own.
A line of glowing text slowly appeared:
{Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes is now open for business! To celebrate our grand opening, all purchases over one Galleon are 10% off! Check out our full list of products below…}
A long list of product descriptions followed.
The common rooms went dead silent—you could even hear the wind outside the castle. Everyone stared at their Codex, fascinated.
Not that they all cared about prank products, but this was the first time something like this had ever happened.
And there was no question who was behind it. It had Riddle written all over it.
---
Inside his personal pocket dimension, Tom stood in a sealed chamber filled with dozens of floating runes, glowing faintly as they pulsed in and out of light.
Most wizards wouldn't even understand what "runes" really were. Even alchemists who regularly used them only knew how to use them, not why they worked.
Runes were born with magic—symbols that could connect to the world's underlying power. Words served as vessels for magic, each form expressing that power differently.
The most famous example was the Ancient Runes of Norse origin, twenty-four letters in total, each carrying its own meaning. For example, Isa represented "ice," "stillness," and "calm."
Simply inscribing that rune could chill water—or even freeze it solid. Combine different runes, and you could express more complex magical effects.
But the runes floating in Tom's chamber weren't Norse. They were his own creation.
He'd even given them a name—"Communication Runes." A bit lazy, sure, but it got the point across. They were designed to carry and display massive amounts of information.
When Grindelwald and Andros found out Tom had actually created his own rune system, they were dumbfounded.
At their level, sure, they could design a few personal runes that matched their magical affinities—but a complete, working system? That was insane.
A year ago, Tom had been a total rookie in their eyes.
But there was no denying it. He'd done it. It worked.
No one knew how much effort he'd poured into it. For months, every credit he earned went straight into "Turbo Mode" just to push the rune prototype forward. It had cost him a lot of credits.
Then he'd gotten his hands on Kel'Thuzad's notes—along with fragments of rune knowledge from Azeroth.
Those weren't ordinary teachings. In Azeroth, runes came either from the Old Gods or the Void Lordsthemselves. Tom had only managed to scrape together a few fragments, but it was enough to refine his own design—making it capable of carrying more and more information.
Then one day, during a breakthrough session, he triggered a "mental leap" and experienced a literal flash of inspiration.
That single moment almost perfected his Communication Runes.
Even now, just remembering that epiphany filled him with awe.
It had been like the universe itself had opened up to him—every secret laid bare, every answer within reach.
If only it had lasted longer. If that state had continued a few times longer, he was sure he could've pushed the rune system beyond even legendary limits.
"Send to target… auto-display… store messages… no, wait—better add a delete function. Otherwise users will complain when it starts eating up memory over time."
Tom's fingers flicked rhythmically through the air. The runes followed his gestures, shifting and glowing in sync—like a Muggle coder typing away at his keyboard.
This was his first time testing the "push notification" feature. There was still a lot to refine, but once it worked smoothly, he could start developing the app version.
---
The next day, the whole school knew about Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes and their prices.
By morning, students were already lining up to buy. Fred and George were so happy they couldn't stop grinning. In just a few hours, half their stock was gone.
They'd been worried about wasting materials before, but now that they knew it worked, they could finally go all in—and even invest more into developing new products.
Watching his brothers count their profits until their hands cramped, Ron felt a pang of envy. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore and shuffled over, smiling awkwardly.
"Hey, uh… brothers need any help?"
"Merlin's nose hairs," George said cheerfully, dropping a Galleon into his wallet. "Did you hear that, Fred? Ronnie just called us 'brothers.'"
Ron's face flushed red, but he didn't move.
A Knut could humble even a hero—and Ron wasn't exactly one. If swallowing a bit of pride meant making money, he could manage that.
"I heard him," Fred said with mock seriousness. "We should mark this day on the calendar. From now on, we'll celebrate it every year."
"You're absolutely right."
George gave Ron a long look, then shook his head regretfully. "Sorry, Ronnie. I just can't think of anything you could do for us… hire you? We'd be better off asking Ginny."
"I can do anything!" Ron blurted.
"Don't say that, you'll hurt your little brother's feelings," Fred said, patting George on the shoulder before leaning closer to Ron, his tone suddenly serious. "Actually, Ronnie, we do need someone to test our new products. And I think you're the perfect candidate. Two Sickles per test—just for you, since you're family."
"For reference, we only gave Lee one Sickle before."
Ron stared at him. "You want your brother to test your experimental products? And you're only paying one Sickle more than Lee?"
"That's a whole extra Sickle," George said matter-of-factly. "More than Mum gives you for pocket money in a month."
Ron had no comeback. …He couldn't even deny it.
After they finished serving another customer, George pressed, "So, are you in or not? If not, we'll just ask Lee again."
"I'm in! I'll do it!" Ron said quickly, his face full of reluctant pride.
The twins exchanged a satisfied look.
It was Tom's lesson in practice—when you hold the upper hand, use it to squeeze every drop you can.
As long as the other side couldn't fight back, there was no reason to hold back.
When Harry found out Ron had become the twins' official "test subject," he just stared for a moment before sighing and patting his friend on the shoulder.
"I'm sure Fred and George know what they're doing," he said sympathetically. "You'll… probably be fine."
"I hope so…" Ron muttered weakly. "I just hope they remember I'm their brother and go easy on me. Why couldn't I have a rich godfather too…"
Harry frowned a little. That last part was… not great. It sounded like he only cared about Sirius for his money.
But Harry knew Ron well enough to let it slide. The guy's mouth always ran faster than his brain. With a small sigh, Harry shook his head and went back to studying Tom's notes.
It had been two weeks since Draco's last duel with him. Lately, Malfoy had been too busy dealing with Blaise Zabini.
Apparently, Zabini was much stronger, and Malfoy didn't see any point in fighting Harry anymore.
And like hell Harry was going to let that slide.
He was already preparing to challenge Zabini next, just to prove that Malfoy was his real lover... uh, rival.
...
Before long, Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes' products had taken Hogwarts by storm. Students were using them everywhere—during class, in the halls, even at meals. Filch was losing his mind trying to clean up after exploding dung pellets and vanishing ink stains.
Professors hadn't received Tom's marketing "notifications," so at first they were totally confused. Only after catching a couple of students red-handed did they realize what was going on.
And so, Tom and the twins found themselves standing before Professor McGonagall's desk.
"Mr. Riddle," she said sharply, eyes narrowing. "Do you have anything to say for yourself? You've always been one of our most well-behaved students. Why are you suddenly joining in their nonsense?"
The twins—usually as lively as a pair of hyperactive monkeys—were trembling like leaves, staring down at the floor. Tom, however, looked perfectly calm.
"Professor, this has nothing to do with me."
McGonagall shot him a glare. "Nothing to do with you? You helped them advertise those ridiculous things! And you think you bear no responsibility?"
Tom looked sincerely innocent. "Professor, it's just business. They paid me for promotion services, and I delivered. You can't blame me for earning a bit of money, can you? As long as it doesn't violate Ministry law, I don't see any problem."
McGonagall opened her mouth, then paused. …He actually had a point.
"But it does violate school rules."
"You can relax, Professor," Tom said with a small, confident smile. "I've checked. Nothing I've done breaks any existing Hogwarts rules. As for Fred and George, they're selling their own inventions, which also aren't listed under any prohibited items. Of course, you could add that to the rules now—but the marketing side is handled through my business workshop. You wouldn't be able to restrict that just through school policy."
McGonagall blinked. Then sighed. The boy had just hit her with a flawless combo of logic and loopholes.
"Fine," she said at last, waving her hand wearily. "You can go."
"Thank you, Professor. Have a nice day."
The twins watched him leave with open admiration in their eyes. They'd never seen anyone talk Professor McGonagall into backing down like that.
But as soon as Tom was gone, they felt her gaze shift sharply onto them.
Fred swallowed and tried to muster a smile. "Professor, well, since Tom said—"
"You listen to Tom, do you?" she interrupted crisply. "Then why don't you ever listen when Itell you to study properly and stop causing trouble?"
"But we didn't break any rules…" George started weakly.
"You didn't before," McGonagall said coldly. "You do now."
And just like that, Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes' first official launch ended in disaster.
With their "founders" in detention, the shop's grand opening was over before it began. Still, they didn't give up completely—they just went underground, switching to discreet, word-of-mouth sales.
They even went into debt to buy two "Codex Deluxe" notebooks from Tom, which let them create multiple high-capacity group chats for customers.
Time passed quickly, and by late October, Hogwarts was buzzing again.
A new announcement lit up the castle: Hogsmeade Weekend!
This year, it would fall right before Halloween. Students were allowed to spend an entire day in the village before returning for a grand feast in the evening.
"Slytherins," Snape's cool voice echoed through the dungeon classroom the day before the trip, "hand in your Hogsmeade permission slips."
The students lined up to submit their forms.
When it was Tom and Daphne's turn, they only handed in one—Daphne's mother had signed for both of them.
It seemed like such a small thing, but Daphne was over the moon about it for days.
Because to her, it meant one thing. They were family.
Snape looked down at the form with Lady Greengrass's signature and went silent.
Had it really gotten that far already?
If only he'd had that kind of courage years ago with Lily… maybe things would have turned out differently.
No—wait. This wasn't even the same situation. The kid wasn't the one pursuing her—she was practically throwing herself at him. The Greengrasses would probably hand over their whole fortune if he asked.
Snape felt something crack inside.
Why… why was there such an unfair gap between people?
.
.
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The update schedule's been a mess lately, especially the timing. Starting with the next update, everything will be back to the normal time. I'll also try to prep a mass release while I'm at it. (Keeping the update time consistent is guaranteed.)