Harry Potter and the Secret Treasures

Hogwarts, as the place with the largest number of house-elves in the Wizarding World, had only about two hundred of them.

Yet in just half a year, the number of house-elves working for Fred and George was about to surpass that of Hogwarts. This was simply unbelievable.

The key point was that they were all employed under a wage system, which made it even more incredible, even though the salary was very low.

If the production lines continued to expand, Fred and George would hire more house-elves.

The two of them also had this plan, and in their recent letter to Evan they were discussing taking a loan from Gringotts.

However, considering the impending war, the uncertainty was too great and the risks too high. Evan did not agree to the loan.

Gringotts’ money wouldn’t just be written off because of the war. There was no such thing as defaulting on debts among goblins.

His suggestion was to continue transferring some of the production lines that did not require magic to Muggles, as long as it was within the bounds of the Statute of Secrecy.

This would save a lot of costs while expanding productivity, and he even wrote a letter to his father to tell him about it.

Fred and George made a lot of money from their protective gear, but at Hogwarts they were best known for their joke products.

They were now the largest supplier of prank products and were completely legendary in the minds of students.

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“How do they even get all this stuff into the school?” Harry continued to ask in surprise. “I thought all the owls were being searched. So how come these girls are able to bring love potions into school?”

“They send them disguised as perfumes and cough potions. It’s part of their Owl Order Service.”

“You know a lot about it.”

Hermione gave him the kind of nasty look she had just given Evan and Harry’s copy of Advanced Potion-Making.

“It was all on the back of the bottles they showed Ginny and me in the summer,” she said coldly. “But I don’t go around putting potions in people’s drinks.”

“Yeah, you really don’t need to,” Evan said, “but seriously, I wouldn’t mind if you drugged me.”

Hermione looked up and glared at Evan again, but it didn’t last long as her face quickly turned red.

“Come on, both of you, I just got away from being tortured by Ron and Lavender,” Harry said in a pretend pleading tone. “The point is, Filch is being fooled, isn’t he? These girls are getting stuff into the school disguised as something else! So why couldn’t Malfoy have brought the necklace into the school — ?”

“Oh, Harry … not that again …”

“Come on, why not?” demanded Harry. “Isn’t this suspicious? The culprit hasn’t been found yet.”

“It’s definitely suspicious, but it was also a lousy assassination attempt,” said Evan.

“That fits Malfoy’s style perfectly. He doesn’t have much brains anyway,” Harry persisted.

“Alright, Harry, look,” Hermione sighed and explained patiently, “Secrecy Sensors detect jinxes, curses, and concealment charms, don’t they? They’re used to find Dark Magic and Dark objects. They’d have picked up a powerful curse, like the one on that necklace, within seconds. But something that’s just been put in the wrong bottle wouldn’t register — and anyway, love potions aren’t Dark or dangerous —”

“Easy for you to say,” muttered Harry. “That stuff sounds dangerous.”

“The issue is,” Evan said, “anything in a bottle that enters the school has to go through Filch, who has to determine whether it’s cough syrup or something else. That’s fundamentally different from Dark items like the necklace. And since no tools can be used, we all know Filch isn’t exactly a skilled wizard. Whether he can even tell the difference —”

He stopped dead, and Harry and Hermione looked up at the same time.

They had all heard it. Somebody had moved close behind them among the dark bookshelves.

A moment later, the vulturelike countenance of Madam Pince appeared around the corner, her sunken cheeks, her skin like parchment, and her long hooked nose illuminated unflatteringly by the lamp she was carrying.

“The library is now closed. Mind you return anything you have borrowed to the correct —” she said, her eyes fell on the textbook in front of Harry, and she raised her voice suddenly, “Goodness, what have you been doing to that book, you depraved boy?”

“It isn’t the library’s, it’s mine!” said Harry hastily, snatching his copy of Advanced Potion-Making off the table as she lunged at it with a clawlike hand.

“Despoiled!” she hissed. “Desecrated! Befouled!”

“It’s just a book that’s been written on!” said Harry, tugging it out of her grip.

It was no use, she looked as though she might have a seizure.

Evan and Hermione, who had hastily packed their things, grabbed Harry by the arm and frogmarched him away.

“You shouldn’t argue with her.”

“Yeah, she’ll ban you from the library. Seriously, why did you have to bring that stupid book?”

“It’s not my fault she’s barking mad,” Harry muttered, stopping abruptly and looking up at Evan and Hermione. “Or do you think she overheard you being rude about Filch? I’ve always thought there might be something going on between them. …”

Evan and Hermione were stunned for a moment. If they thought about it carefully, this matter seemed really possible.

A secret romance between Filch and Madam Pince? There definitely seemed to be something unspeakable going on between them.

The three of them made their way back to the Gryffindor common room, arguing about whether or not Filch and Madam Pince were secretly in love with each other. This gossip was indeed novel and interesting, but due to the lack of conclusive evidence, it soon came to a halt, and the topic naturally shifted to the arrangements for Christmas in the near future.

“Ron invited us to the Burrow yesterday, but I declined because of that thing,” said Harry, hesitating for a moment. “Evan, do you think he could stay here with us?”

He was referring to the summoning of the demon, which they and Dumbledore had agreed to do during the Christmas holidays.

So, Evan and Harry couldn’t leave school and had to stay in Hogwarts for Christmas.

There were also Hermione and Elaine. Evan had discussed it with Dumbledore beforehand, and the Headmaster had approved his plan.

“I can’t say for sure. We need Dumbledore’s consent, but I think since the four of us are going, there shouldn’t be any problem with Ron going too,” Evan hesitated for a moment and continued, “The real issue is whether he wants to stay with us. He barely talks to me, Hermione, or Elaine these days.”

“He just hasn’t figured things out yet,” said Harry. “Don’t worry, I’ll talk to him, and he’ll make peace with everyone.”

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