After leaving the Borgin and Burkes magic shop, Kaisen stood in the middle of the road with his hands on his hips.
He was wondering where to go for the next shop until a commotion not far away caught his attention.
A middle-aged Wizard continuously drove away a young, down-and-out Wizard with his magic wand and banishing charm.
The young Wizard was holding a crystal block full of white mist, about the size of a basketball.
The boss who drove him away returned to his shop, and the down-and-out Wizard pulled out his magic wand, seemingly about to Apparate away.
Seeing this, Kaisen quickly shouted, "Wait, sir!"
The down-and-out Wizard looked over, somewhat puzzled.
"Sir, would you mind if I chipped off a small piece of this crystal for an experiment?" Kaisen asked.
The down-and-out Wizard thought for a moment and put the crystal down: "As you wish, sir."
Kaisen nodded, took out a small draft, chipped off a piece, and put the fragment into the Arcane Workbench. Soon, a joyful expression spread across his face.
"Order magic Crystal acquired! Name your price."
The down-and-out Wizard tentatively held out five fingers.
"Five hundred Galleons? Please wait, let me see... Do you support cash payment? Or we can exchange names and addresses. I am the Alchemy Professor at Hogwarts. You don't have to worry about not finding me, and you don't have to worry about me defaulting on the payment!"
Kaisen opened his Ender Chest ring and looked inside. Unfortunately, a large portion of his semester's salary had been spent on buying alcohol.
Shameless Dumbledore!
"Uh, I meant... five...."
"Five thousand Galleons... that works too. You stay here, don't move. I'll go to Gringotts and pull off a big one..." As Kaisen spoke, he was about to Teleport to Gringotts, muttering, "This is absolutely the last time."
"Actually... uh... five hundred is five hundred!" the down-and-out Wizard said.
"..Then five hundred it is. Look at these." Kaisen poured out all the Galleons from his ring: "These are three hundred and twenty Galleons. I'll get the rest from Hogwarts. Want to go together?" Kaisen said, holding the crystal in his arms, showing no intention of letting go.
"Uh, okay."
"Then let's go. Do you know Apparition? We can Apparate outside Hogwarts and then walk into the Castle?"
"Okay." The down-and-out Wizard nodded, pulled out his magic wand, waved it, and twisted, disappearing in the blink of an eye.
Kaisen breathed a sigh of relief and Ender Teleported, appearing in his office. After placing the crystal in the office, he Teleported back outside the Castle and saw the down-and-out Wizard waiting.
"Let's go. We'll go find Dumbledore. He conservatively owes me two-thirds of my salary, although it might not actually be that much. But it's absolutely fine to have him pay for it if he has money."
The two arrived at the Headmaster's office. The down-and-out Wizard looked at the stone gargoyle in front of him and was somewhat silent: "I'll wait here. You go get the money. I won't go up."
"Hmm... okay, please wait." Kaisen casually said a password whose specific meaning he didn't know. This was one of Dumbledore's habits, with permanent passwords such as Fizzing Whizbees, Cockroach Clusters, and Lemon Sherbet.
Most of these were passwords used privately by the Professors.
However, passwords like the one he just said, which had no specific meaning, were specifically used to open the Headmaster's office in front of outsiders and Little Wizardss.
Therefore, throughout the British magic world, apart from the Hogwarts staff, only a few knew that Dumbledore's password was a hodgepodge of sweets.
After entering the Headmaster's office, before Kaisen could speak, Dumbledore readily pulled out one hundred Galleons and stacked them in front of Kaisen.
"The person downstairs is... Remus Lupin. He's a Werewolf."
"Oh..." Kaisen collected the Galleons, nodded in sudden understanding: "No wonder the merchants in Knockturn Alley didn't seem to welcome him much."
"Hmm... Can I give you a simple task?" Dumbledore then asked.
"Tell me."
"What are your plans for this holiday?"
"Traveling all over the world. I'm going to collect those magic crystals."
"...Since that's the case, how about you help me improve his living conditions this holiday? For example, you can use the remaining one hundred Galleons to hire him as a bodyguard for two months' salary. On the night of the full moon, he will find a secluded place to endure it alone, so you don't have to worry." Dumbledore said faintly.
"Oh... Are you friends?"
"He was once my student."
"That goes without saying. Who in the entire magical community of England isn't your student?"
"He was one of the closer students. He joined the club I formed."
"Oh... Okay, as long as he's not some shady Dark Wizard, it's fine." Kaisen nodded.
"Thank you."
"Mhm....."
"....."
"....."
"Why are you still waiting here?" Dumbledore asked, somewhat puzzled.
"One hundred Galleons isn't enough," Kaisen said.
"....What did you buy from Remus?"
"A magic crystal."
"How big?"
"About the size of a basketball..."
Dumbledore helplessly rose from his chair, his hands behind his back, looking at the Forbidden Forest in the distance.
"A crystal the size of a basketball... How did he quote you the price then?"
Kaisen recalled: "He held out five fingers."
"That's right, five Galleons, right?" Dumbledore turned and looked at Kaisen strangely.
The latter suddenly touched his nose, somewhat embarrassed.
"How much did you spend?"
"Fifteen Galleons?"
"Fifty Galleons... right?"
Kaisen remained silent, only stroking his chin in thought.
"Tell me, Kaisen, forgive an old man, I really can't guess."
"Emmm... Five hundred Galleons."
Dumbledore's gaze towards Kaisen was somehow three parts strange, three parts helpless, and four parts pity.
Finally, he still pulled out a bag containing six hundred Galleons.
"The remaining two hundred Galleons... Never mind, I sincerely hope you find a bodyguard to travel with you. Consider it helping an old man take care of his former student, how about it?"
Kaisen put all the Galleons away: "Of course... Why don't you just give it to him directly?"
"He has a rather fragile sense of self-respect."
--+--
T/N: Although I'm an inexperienced Editor, I do have a Patreon account! Although it seems like I don't have many supporters right now, my webnovel will be released in full every day, and the advanced chapters will be uploaded to Patreon.
It may not be worth it now, but who knows, it might be different in the future. Who knows!
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