Why Buy Books When You Can Just Memorize Them?

Li Weide and Tom spent quite some time in the wand shop.

Li Weide's performance had given Ollivander some inspiration that only he himself could understand.

He had not even charged Tom and Li Weide any money...

Standing at the entrance of the wand shop, a trace of confusion flashed through Tom's eyes.

"What's going on? Now that we have money, we can't even spend it?"

"If you want to spend money... you can buy the things on my list for me..." Li Weide cheerfully handed him his list.

"Buy your own things yourself!" Tom said, then quickly turned and left, as though something filthy were chasing him from behind.

Li Weide shook his head helplessly. Kids grew wings the moment they had money, huh.

After sighing over it for a moment, he followed his shopping list and methodically browsed through Diagon Alley.

It was already three in the afternoon. It was getting late, and they still had to return to Wool's Orphanage before dark.

Li Weide moved quickly. Before long, carrying several large and small packages, he arrived at Flourish and Blotts.

This was more or less the final stop on his shopping trip today, and also the one he had been looking forward to most.

Of course... it was also the stop Tom had been looking forward to most.

Li Weide had already spotted him. Tom was currently engrossed in reading all sorts of Spellbooks.

However, he did not go over to disturb Tom. He had his own business to take care of as well.

He checked the time and saw that it was still early.

Li Weide handed the list of required textbooks to the clerk and asked him to bring over all the books he needed to buy.

The clerk expertly went off to fetch the books for Li Weide.

Meanwhile, Li Weide went alone into the towering bookshelves. After searching for a while, he pulled out a book and began reading it on the spot.

"We should get going!"

Li Weide felt someone pat his shoulder. He turned around and saw Tom.

At that moment, the fading light of the sunset shone through the bookstore's front doors. It was already very late.

Li Weide turned back and quickly finished the last few pages of the book in his hands, then went with Tom to the counter.

Their textbooks had already been packed and placed there.

Beside Tom's textbooks was another stack of books. Presumably, those were the additional books he wanted to buy.

Tom frowned at the huge pile of books and all the bags and packages, looking somewhat troubled.

"Could you send these books to us?" Li Weide asked politely. "There are too many. We can't carry them."

"Of course. Please write down your address." The clerk smiled and handed them paper and a pen.

"Could you send these along with them?" Li Weide brought his other purchases over to the clerk as well.

"Yes, but there will be a handling fee for items that are not books from our shop."

"No problem." Li Weide readily agreed. He did not care about such a small amount of money.

After writing down their address, the two of them walked out of Flourish and Blotts empty-handed.

Other than their respective wands, everything they had bought today had been sent by delivery.

"You didn't buy any other books?" Tom looked at Li Weide in confusion.

He had noticed earlier that aside from the textbooks the school required them to buy, Li Weide had not bought a single other book.

Tom knew Li Weide's character very well. Like himself, this guy was extremely hungry for power.

How could he possibly give up buying Spellbooks to strengthen himself?

"I bought lots of magical self-writing quills. And lots of parchment," Li Weide said happily.

"What did you buy those for?" Tom asked, puzzled.

Li Weide looked back at him in surprise. "I memorized all the books I was interested in. I can just write them out from memory when I get back, so why would I buy them?"

"Tch..." Tom did not believe a single punctuation mark of Li Weide's bragging.

Tom did not know that Li Weide was not bragging at all, because he truly possessed Photographic Memory...

Li Weide looked at the clock in a shop by the roadside and suddenly sighed. "Instead of fretting over this, you should think about how we're going to explain things to Mrs. Cole later. We've been gone for a full twelve hours..."

Tom's expression changed dramatically at once. "You... you aren't planning to tell her that I took you out to mess around all day, are you?"

Li Weide blinked. "Wasn't that what happened? You were the one who suggested sneaking out this morning. Besides, I'm such a 'good' kid... Who do you think Mrs. Cole will believe, you or me?"

"Fuck! If you hadn't insisted on robbing those criminals, we would've been back ages ago!"

"So what? Didn't you spend the money we earned? Every one of those books you bought at Flourish and Blotts cost one or two Galleons. If you hadn't gone with me, could you have bought so many?"

"You... you bastard!"

"Be reasonable. You took so many benefits, so shouldn't you contribute a little and voluntarily take the blame? You can't just freeload, can you?"

"Freeload? You fucking... Did I do nothing? When we raided the Human Traffickers' hideout, who called those snakes over?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, and then you called Nagini over and nearly got us killed, right?"

"Have you no shame? That was clearly your idea!"

"I don't care about that... Anyway, you were the one who dragged me out to sneak away."

"You... you don't really think I'm afraid of that old cat, do you?"

"Then take the blame!"

"No! I refuse!"

"Then are you afraid of me?"

"You... you win!"

The two bickered all the way back. By the time they reached the entrance of the orphanage, it was completely dark.

After walking so far, Tom felt as though his legs no longer belonged to him...

Yet Li Weide beside him showed no sign of exhaustion at all.

Even after walking several kilometers, he still looked full of energy.

"Why aren't you tired at all?" Tom panted heavily. In all his life, he had never walked such a long distance in one go!

"Hmm, I bought some potions that temporarily enhance physical strength... You know what potions are, right? They're the kind that..."

"I know what they are!" Tom said irritably. "Why didn't you remind me to buy some too?"

"Someone seemed unwilling to walk with me, so how was I supposed to tell you? I could only buy them myself."

"You..." Tom felt as if his lungs were about to explode from anger. He really wanted to argue back, but he was the one in the wrong, so he had no way to refute him at all...

Just as he gloomily prepared to pull out his wand and fight Li Weide.

"Looks like... you two have been very busy today." A familiar voice came from the shadows.

Li Weide and Tom fell silent instantly, as though they had been hit by a Silencing Charm.

Dumbledore slowly stepped out of the shadows, his scrutinizing gaze falling upon the two children before him.

Tom felt his blood run cold... He truly hated this feeling!

"Good evening, Professor Dumbledore. What a coincidence, running into you here..."

Li Weide broke the silence.

He glanced at the orphanage gates behind Dumbledore. Clearly, this was no coincidence... Dumbledore had definitely been waiting here specifically for them!