A Small Attempt at Earning Galleons

"Legendary Wizard... I think that could work."

"Magical Legends... I could try submitting to them..."

"Fashionable Wizard? It sells well, but it's not suitable... Why would a secondhand bookstore take in this kind of magazine?"

"Wizarding Monthly... worth a try..."

"The Quibbler? Its sales are poor... but judging by the content, I should be able to submit something there too. I'll give it a try..."

"Magical Reader?... This chicken soup is pure... I could consider pouring some more into it. I think I can pull it off..."

Inside a room at The Leaky Cauldron, Andrew flipped through the day's spoils while choosing destinations for his owl to fly to. The poor little worker had no idea that every nod meant another delivery flight. For now, it was still foolishly hooting along in agreement.

"I've got an idea. I'll test the waters with Magical Reader first." Andrew grew enthusiastic. Spreading out a sheet of parchment, he began scribbling away with a quill, still somewhat clumsily. Before long, a fresh submission was complete.

"There are still some grammatical issues, but it's close enough..."

After quickly making up a brand-new pen name for himself, Andrew tied the letter to his owl and sent it off with the manuscript.

"I should receive a reply by the time I get back to the orphanage tomorrow. In theory, getting accepted shouldn't be a problem."

He patted his owl on the head and tied on the hastily cobbled-together piece—considering that writing about the modern Wizarding world could easily draw attacks, he had changed it into praise for the ancient Wizarding world and reflection on the current one.

To his surprise, when he was getting ready for bed that evening, his owl returned with eight Sickles. There was also an enthusiastic reply inviting further submissions, saying that his article would be published in the next issue of Magical Reader. It even hinted that if he were willing to write another article of equal quality about the education of pure-blood and Muggle wizards, his payment could be calculated at double the rate per word.

"Forget it. I don't want someone tracking me down and throwing a curse at my head..."

Although he had earned a day's worth of lodging and meals in one go, Andrew had no intention of submitting anything else to them—curses were real here, and if his intentions became too obvious, he would be in serious trouble...

He even canceled the connection between himself and that temporary pen name—this was a spell that made it easier for owls to locate someone, an entry-level spell. There were even related articles teaching it in magazines. (It was so simple that there was no dedicated class for it. After Sirius escaped, he had even used wandless magic to block the connection between himself and his name.)

"Fine, this money isn't easy to earn, but at least we've made a good start."

Andrew held up his owl and rubbed its head with both thumbs. "Next, we'll have to open things up through Lockhart's legendary books."

Because they were expensive, Andrew had only bought the two best-selling books in the series, and even that had nearly pushed him over budget.

"I feel like I'm neglecting my proper business," he said, opening the books. "But it can't be helped. If the things in Hogwarts Legacy are real, then I definitely have to try mastering ancient magic. The setting says it requires bloodline, but there are ways to steal it. Even if that fails, Ancient Runes, Transfiguration experiments, alchemy experiments—all magical experiments require startup capital. You understand, buddy?"

"Earning a few Galleons is just sharpening the axe before chopping wood. Once I've got the starting capital, I'll find something that can sort through memories and make sure I don't have to keep distracting myself with this stuff, buddy." He tapped the owl on the forehead and began reading Lockhart's stories.

They were remarkably good stories—unfortunately, Andrew had no time to savor them. He practically ruined them by skimming through them.

"An exceptionally believable backdrop, an exceptionally polished presentation, an exceptionally strong cast of characters, plus decent grammar," he praised. "If not for how novel the stories are, I wouldn't even dare imitate them."

"Levitation Charm, third mark."

Watching the magical stone rise, Gryffindor remained expressionless, though the corner of his mouth held a trace of self-mockery. He gripped his wand so tightly that his nails pierced his palm, sending a piercing pain through him.

The way pure-blood families tested witches and wizards under the age of eleven differed from elsewhere. They used the Levitation Charm to raise a specially made magic-repelling stone with all their strength. The higher it rose, the stronger their magic, and the greater their future potential.

"My magic finally grew with such difficulty, yet it's being completely devoured by this wand I chose from Ollivander's... Does it really suit me?"

"Haarpo family, thirty years west of the River Thames, thirty years east of the River Thames—do not despise a poor young man!"

"So this is the Elder Wand from ancient legends?"

Ravenclaw frowned and stepped back behind the crowd. (Deleted plot. Andrew thought about it at the time... as he had said before, it was better not to write anyone who did not have a glorious image. Besides, an ensemble cast was not as good as a single protagonist.)

A week after Andrew returned to the orphanage, manuscripts like these were placed one after another on the desks of the editors-in-chief of the magazines he had selected.

They were only rough drafts of the opening sections. He had removed some fairly classic scenes and characters unsuitable for adaptation, inserted a series of elements such as the Elder Wand, ancient potion formulas, and ancient spells, then cut and revised large portions to shorten the length. This had caused the work to deviate somewhat, but considering the era, it still held more than enough appeal.

So Andrew quickly received replies.

The only rejection came from The Quibbler—it said that the manuscript was far too serious. If he were willing to include plausible speculations about the Goblin Rebellion, military integration, and the like, it could become a fine piece...

The rest offered different rates for acceptance. After comparing them, Andrew chose Magical Legends—their side claimed that the piece only needed some light polishing by an editor, promised not to reveal the author's name, and offered the second-highest payment.

If there was any flaw, it was that they wanted to be credited as the second author—this was a necessary condition for retaining some editing rights and concealing the author's identity.

The terms were acceptable. After giving it some thought, Andrew agreed and signed the contract.

"All right, it's settled!"

"Though the prose and market research are a little lacking, the story is legendary enough!"

"Editor-in-Chief, are we really going to do that?"

"Why not? We have authorization for the interview—and compared with that idiot Rita, our edits are harmless."

"That's true. Rita got away with saying that much, and we even conducted an exclusive interview ourselves."

Something Andrew had never anticipated happened in the offices of Magical Legends—because someone in the industry had already shattered the bottom line, his editors, for the sake of making the story more plausible and the magazine more marketable, waved their pens and began making sweeping changes to it.

"Gryffindor's Story is too distant. There's no selling point. How can it compete with Lockhart?"

"Change the protagonist to Dumbledore and say it's a legal adaptation of our interview manuscript!!!"

"The story will be called Dumbledore, A Legend!"