Hearing Charles’s words, Ollivander suddenly froze.
“???”
“Wait a minute.”
“You bought a wand from me, so how exactly did I end up owing you eight hundred Galleons?”
Charles smiled.
“Did you forget?”
“I warned you beforehand that I needed a wand with enough durability to withstand my magic.”
“But you confidently told me that it wouldn’t break.”
“You even said that for every wand I broke, you would compensate me with ten.”
“That was the only reason I felt safe enough to test the wands.”
“But the result?”
“Twenty wands broke one after another.”
“For a moment, I thought I was going to be left without a wand.”
“I thought I wouldn’t be able to attend Hogwarts and would have to say goodbye to my wizarding career before it had even begun.”
“Do you have any idea how much psychological damage that caused to a young wizard like me?”
“According to your previous promise of ten replacements for every wand broken, you should technically compensate me for two hundred wands.”
“None of the broken wands happened to have extreme combinations like holly with phoenix feather, so they probably weren’t particularly expensive.”
“But an average price of five Galleons per wand should still be reasonable.”
“That comes to one thousand Galleons.”
“After deducting two hundred Galleons for the mithril wand, you still owe me eight hundred.”
“I didn’t calculate that incorrectly, did I?”
Ollivander’s expression changed repeatedly.
His face became an absolute masterpiece of confusion.
“Th-this…”
Charles’s voice became soft and faintly ominous.
“Mr. Ollivander, of course, you can choose not to pay.”
“But I don’t think you’d want other people to find out that twenty wands were broken in your shop one after another, would you?”
“Tsk, tsk…”
“One of the three greatest wandmakers in Europe…”
“Tsk, tsk…”
“Equal in fame to Gregorovitch…”
“Tsk, tsk…”
“Making fine wands since 382 B.C…”
“Tsk, tsk…”
Ollivander’s face alternated between green and pale.
“Stop with the ‘tsk, tsk’!”
“Stop it!”
“I’ll transfer it!”
“Gringotts transfer, all right?!”
“But you absolutely cannot tell anyone about what happened today!”
Seeing Ollivander being completely manipulated by Charles, Professor McGonagall was also stunned.
The hand she had been preparing to use to take out her money pouch and pay for Charles’s wand had frozen in midair.
After a moment, she finally recovered.
She looked at Charles and coughed heavily, trying to figure out what she should say.
Charles suddenly laughed.
“I’m joking.”
“Just joking.”
“How could I possibly demand eight hundred Galleons from Mr. Ollivander?”
“Not to mention threatening him with the reputation of the Ollivander family.”
“I, Charles, am a wizard with morals and a conscience.”
“How could I possibly do something like that?”
Hearing this, Ollivander looked as though he had just been pardoned from a death sentence.
He wiped the sweat from his forehead and forced a smile.
“Actually, I was joking too!”
“Hahahaha!”
“How could a wand possibly cost two hundred Galleons?”
“Would I, Ollivander, really be such a greedy merchant?”
“This mithril wand is a gift.”
“Take it, Charles, my friend.”
“Consider it a symbol of our friendship.”
After exchanging a series of knowing laughs, Charles finally placed the mithril wand back into its box.
Ollivander breathed a sigh of relief.
“Oh, right, Mr. Ollivander.”
“Could you give me the wands that broke earlier?”
“You can submit the bill to the Ministry of Magic and have them reimburse you at full price.”
This time, Ollivander was genuinely stunned.
“The broken wands?”
“What do you want those for?”
A mournful expression appeared on Charles’s face.
“I was thinking about what you said, Mr. Ollivander.”
“You said that wands have lives of their own.”
“But so many wands were broken because of me this time.”
“I really can’t bear the thought.”
“Just thinking about them being destroyed because of me makes my tears want to flow from the corner of my mouth—”
“Ah, no.”
“From my eyes.”
“I have always believed that every life deserves respect.”
“Please let me take them with me.”
“Consider it my way of making some compensation to them.”
“At least I can give them a proper final resting place.”
Hearing Charles’s words, Ollivander stood there for a moment.
Then a deeply moved expression appeared on his face.
He had spent his entire life making wands.
Most wizards he encountered treated wands simply as tools.
Even though he tirelessly repeated that there was a mysterious connection between wands and wizards, the vast majority of wizards simply scoffed at the idea.
Adult wizards were already like this.
The young wizards who had just received their first wand were even worse.
All they could think about was waving their new wand around and watching sparks and fireworks shoot out.
Someone like Charles, who treated wands with such respect, was truly one of a kind.
Professor McGonagall, standing nearby, even wiped the corners of her eyes.
In her eyes, although Charles had a few minor quirks, this single act clearly demonstrated the kindness in his nature and his deep respect for life.
Dumbledore’s worries seemed to have been completely unnecessary.
How could such a kind child ever do anything bad in the future?
“What a wonderful child.”
“So kind-hearted…”
Ollivander sighed emotionally.
He then packed up the shattered wands that could no longer be reused and handed them to Charles.
Charles carried away the rather heavy bag of broken wands.
Inside, his heart was already filled with anticipation.
Although the wands were broken, their wand shafts and cores were still intact.
Phoenix feathers.
Unicorn hair.
Dragon heartstrings…
Regardless of which material it was, each came from extremely high-level magical creatures and contained extraordinary magical power.
If he ate these wands, he should be able to obtain another huge wave of Deduction Points.
The points required for the second deduction of Apparition would definitely be enough!
Afterward, Charles followed Professor McGonagall out of Ollivanders.
They visited Madam Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions, Flourish and Blotts, and several shops selling cauldrons and various miscellaneous supplies.
Only after everything was finished did Professor McGonagall finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Her task of guiding Charles had officially come to an end.
Looking at Charles, who was carrying bags and packages of all sizes, Professor McGonagall asked,
“Charles, do you have somewhere to stay?”
“Is there anything you need help with?”
Charles explained that he already had his own apartment in the Muggle world.
And this wasn’t a lie.
The apartment had been given to him as a reward by the Muggle school he had previously attended.
After all, before Charles rose to prominence, the school had merely been an obscure elementary school for ordinary families.
But after Charles suddenly emerged as an extraordinary genius, its name had appeared in British news countless times.
Because of this, the school’s management board had decided to purchase the apartment as a way of thanking and supporting Charles.
So in this life, Charles had actually become a homeowner at a very young age.
“But I’d still like to stay at the Leaky Cauldron for a few days.”
“I want to continue experiencing the atmosphere of the magical world.”
After learning about Charles’s situation, Professor McGonagall relaxed.
Only then did she leave to guide the next Muggle-born student waiting to arrive.
After Professor McGonagall departed, a relaxed smile appeared on Charles’s face.
He headed toward the Leaky Cauldron.
Although the ground floor of the Leaky Cauldron looked rather shabby, the rooms upstairs were supposedly quite luxurious.
The original story had even mentioned that the rooms were enchanted with an Extension Charm, making the interior far more spacious than the outside appearance suggested.
Of course, the price wasn’t cheap either.
To make it easier to obtain Deduction Points, Charles planned to stay at the Leaky Cauldron until Hogwarts began.
Naturally, he wasn’t going to treat himself poorly.
But he also had no intention of spending such a huge amount of money.
After all, the Galleons he had on hand were already rather limited.
After purchasing all those miscellaneous supplies, his funds were hardly abundant.
Fortunately, kind-hearted Minister Fudge reached that agreement with me.
Otherwise, how could I possibly afford to stay in one of the Leaky Cauldron’s finest rooms?
Minister Fudge really is a good man.
With that thought in mind, Charles arrived at the bar of the Leaky Cauldron.
He looked toward Tom, the owner.
“Boss.”
“Give me ten servings of your most luxurious meal package.”
“Put the entire bill on the Ministry of Magic’s account.”
“From now on, prepare this much food for me every meal, every day.”
Tom instinctively asked,
“One serving of the most luxurious package?”
“Our portions are quite large.”
“Not many young wizards can finish an entire set…”
The next moment, Tom finally realized that the number Charles had given him didn’t quite match what he had assumed.
“Wait.”
“Ten servings?”
“You mean ten servings?!”
“Friend, are you joking with me?”
Charles calmly replied,
“Do you think I’m so bored that I came here specifically to joke with you?”
“Or are you saying the Leaky Cauldron can’t even provide ten meal packages per meal?”
“You can’t make that much money?”
Tom immediately shook his head.
“Of course not!”
“Ten luxurious meal packages?”
“That’s only thirty packages a day.”
“We can certainly handle that amount…”
This time, Charles shook his head.
“Thirty packages a day?”
“How did you calculate that?”
Tom was stunned.
“Three meals a day.”
“Ten packages per meal.”
“That makes thirty packages, doesn’t it?”
“Oh!”
“I understand.”
“You mean you don’t eat breakfast, right?”
“Then that makes things even easier.”
Charles shook his head again.
His voice became faint and mysterious.
“Is there a possibility that I eat eight meals a day?”
“So I need eighty packages a day.”
“From today until Hogwarts begins, prepare that much every single day.”
“But I’ll also need a comfortable and spacious room to stay in…”
Tom shuddered.
His voice practically cracked.
“Yes!”
“Yes, yes, yes!”
“We have a luxurious room upstairs!”
“And it’s…”
“Free!”
(End of Chapter)