Chapter 281 The Stopped Train

Hufflepuff now felt like her heart had stopped beating.

Having lived in Diagon Alley for a summer vacation, she had a clearer understanding of the prices in the modern wizarding world. Now that she knew that the cup she sold for 200 Galleons was sold for 3,000 Galleons, she felt like she was having difficulty breathing.

Compared to the outspoken Godric, the unsophisticated Rowena, and the wealthy Salazar, Helga Hufflepuff was more frugal, so it was more difficult for her to accept the fact that she was cheated by the merchant.

She was already calculating how long the money she lost could last for Hogwarts.

After calculating her losses, Hufflepuff became even more angry: this money was enough to keep the school running normally for one and a half months!

Unlike the later Hogwarts principals, the four founders were always stingy in running the school. There was no way, they had to start from scratch to start a business, and only they themselves could understand the hardships of starting a business.

"I'm going to settle accounts with that guy!" Hufflepuff didn't even bother to eat ice cream, and only wanted to find Borgin to argue.

Although the unspoken rule of this business is that the transaction will not be pursued after it is done, Hufflepuff obviously cannot be applied to this set of rules.

"It's just three thousand!" Seeing that his old friend was about to break down, Rice hurriedly comforted him: "The Greengrass family didn't place an order in the end."

"Oh, they didn't buy it..." After knowing that the cups were not sold, Hufflepuff's emotions stabilized at once: If they were not sold, what's the difference between three thousand and three hundred?

Of course there is a difference, and the price of three hundred might have sold it, but Hufflepuff can only comfort himself in this way. What else can he do? Beating Borgin up would not help.

Hufflepuff smiled and said, "I said, how could someone buy those three broken cups with three thousand Galleons."

Rice: ...

Don't tell me, maybe there really is, the wealth of many pure-blood families is not very matched with their IQ. And most importantly, there is nothing wrong with the three cups...

"From another perspective, this is also why modern wizards admire us!" Les comforted Helga in various ways.

Helga was silent for a moment, and secretly made a decision.

Seeing that Hufflepuff's mood was stabilizing, Les also said goodbye to her with confidence, and enjoyed the ice cream she bought for him.

The next day, Les arrived at Platform 9 of King's Cross Station on time.

The platform was crowded with people as usual. Les noticed that Percy from the Weasley family was chatting with a beautiful girl with long curly hair. Percy's face was flushed, and the badge of the president of the male student union on his chest was shining.

Les raised his eyebrows: a teenage boy wizard is indeed like this.

Following the crowd to squeeze into the train, Les took some effort to find an empty compartment. As soon as he put his luggage away, Daphne and Astoria appeared.

"It took a while to make homemade ice cream at home - luckily you found an empty compartment, otherwise you would have to squeeze into the same compartment with other people." Daphne put a steaming box on the small table of the train.

"Oh?" Hearing that it was homemade ice cream, Les became interested all of a sudden.

"Pure milk, only some sugar and raisins added." Daphne proudly introduced her handmade ice cream to Les.

Les took a sip and found that it tasted pretty good.

At this time, there was a commotion in the adjacent compartment. From the sound, it was Malfoy showing off to others.

"Is it really a relic left by the founder?!"

"Of course, my father spent more than 3,000 Galleons to buy it. Let me show you -"

"It really turned into wine!!!"

The faces of everyone in the compartment became a little strange: Mr. Borgin finally sold them, and the price actually went up a bit...

I can only say that some people know how to do business.

But what Rice didn't know was that Lucius Malfoy didn't pay all the 3,000 galleons in cash. He took a few collections from home to offset part of the price.

When the train was about to leave, Neville appeared at the door of the compartment holding his toad.

"The seats outside are almost full. You guys here--"

"Come in. There's still room here." Rice moved in and made room for Neville.

The train started.

Rice chatted with Neville intentionally or unintentionally. During the chat, he learned that Neville's toad was named "Riffo" and was a gift from his uncle.

"Don't look at it as ugly, but Riffo is actually very well-behaved. He just tries to escape occasionally."

Rice smiled: This is normal. Because the way Neville and his toad get along is actually wrong. Orthodox wizards don't really keep toads as pets, but use them to make potions or spell experiments.

Toads can also be used as a medium for curses. After a series of spells and rituals, the wizard will make the toad and the cursed person have a mystical connection. At that time, as long as the toad is given the name of the cursed person, the wizard can perform the curse.

So Leford has been trying to escape from Neville. It is probably because of his spirit that he is giving a warning. After all, most toads cannot die peacefully in the hands of wizards.

However, seeing that Neville had no intention of doing so, Les did not tell him the cruel truth. Instead, he gave him a bottle of the same potion as Scabbers, which could make his toad behave himself.

In the afternoon, it began to rain outside the car. When the sun set, the rain got heavier, and the lights in the corridor and luggage racks were all lit up.

Looking at these lights, Les remembered the shock he felt when he first entered Hogwarts as Les.

I wonder what Helga is thinking now? She is probably also very curious about all this, right? No, she has seen airplanes, so she shouldn't have too much emotion...

Les's thoughts were erratic. When he turned his attention back to the carriage, he found that the train was slowing down, and the window had turned ink-like black.

He narrowed his eyes: something is wrong. Today's train seems to arrive a little earlier than the previous few times?

Les raised his head, and the strange feeling in his heart became more and more obvious.

Bang! The train suddenly shook and stopped, followed by a bang of luggage falling from the rack, and then all the lights went out at once.

The carriage suddenly fell into darkness.

"What's going on? Is the car broken?" Daphne's voice sounded beside him.

"No." Les casually conjured up a few balls of fire and dispelled the darkness.

Against the backdrop of the blue fire, his face was uncertain.

"The train was stopped."

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Update, the next update will be tomorrow morning, noon or evening~

(Finally, I'm going to have a holiday)