The Essence of Slacking Off

Since returning from Hogsmeade, Albert has been helping his three roommates complete their homework more effectively.

Fred and George had been nagging and complaining for ages, saying that Wood had completely turned into a training fanatic.

"Stop complaining. I'll tell you some good news once you finish your homework," Albert said, flipping through his book as he urged the three of them to continue their homework.

"What good news?" Lee Jordan asked curiously, popping a Cocoa Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans into his mouth.

"Finish your homework first," Albert reminded them, pointing to their parchment. "Wouldn't it be better to finish it sooner and be free?"

"He must have sold the formula." Fred had clearly guessed what the good news Albert was talking about was.

When Albert first said he was going to sell the formula for the Pimple Potion agent, he didn't think he would fail. After all, Albert rarely did things he wasn't sure of, so successfully selling the formula was perfectly normal.

"Yes, it's already sold." Albert nodded in acknowledgment. "It sold for five hundred Galleon."

"As expected of Albert," George couldn't help but exclaim.

"Alright, focus on your homework. I'll tell you another good news later," Albert said with a smile. Then he continued to concentrate on his book.

The three continued doing their homework, but Ron, who was playing Wizard's Chess with his roommate, seemed a little distracted and appeared to be muttering something to himself.

An hour later, the three finally couldn't resist any longer and asked Albert to tell them the so-called good news. Albert smiled and took them back to the dormitory to show them the day's achievements.

George grabbed a handful of Galleon, letting the coins fall from his fingers into the pile of Galleon. Listening to the crisp clinking sound, he couldn't help but sigh, "I didn't expect to get five hundred Galleon so easily. It still feels a bit unreal."

"But there shouldn't be five hundred Galleon in this bag, right?" Fred asked. "There are at most a little over a hundred Galleon in this bag."

"Hmm, no." Albert looked at his three roommates with a half-smile and said, "This bag of Galleon only contains one hundred. This is what I prepared for you."

With that, Albert handed the bag of Galleon to George. "I've prepared a hundred Galleon for each of you."

All three of them were stunned, unable to believe what they had just heard.

George suddenly started grinning foolishly, and after a long while, he stammered, "You're going to give me this bag of Galleon?"

"To be precise, it should be kept by you. This is our start-up capital for opening a store in the future." Albert smiled and stuffed the money bag into Fred's and Lee Jordan's hands respectively. "There's not much difference between me keeping it and you keeping it, is there?"

The three of them started staring at the money pouches in their hands and grinning foolishly again.

After what seemed like an eternity, Fred, finally regaining his senses, suddenly asked, "Aren't you afraid we'll spend Galleon?"

"Would you squander your hopes of opening a store in the future?" Albert countered.

Fred and George shook their heads in unison. They both knew very well that their family's circumstances would make it impossible for them to realize their dream of opening a Joke Shop in the future. Just as Albert said, this money was their hope for opening Joke Shop in the future. If they spent it, where would they get the money to open the shop?

The two of them will definitely keep their pockets tight and won't squander their hopes for the future.

"Thank you. But you can keep the Galleon for now." Fred handed the bag of Galleon back to Albert. "We don't need it for the time being."

"You need to learn how to keep accounts and how to manage Galleon," Albert said with a smile. "This is something we'll need to do when we open our own shop, and you'll need to learn these things too."

George shook his head. He would never Albert's money. After all, the Galleon belonged to Albert. Even though Albert said he was entrusting them with the money for safekeeping, such trust really touched them. But the three of them would never keep the money, even though it was the largest Galleon they had ever dealt with.

After some back and forth, Albert successfully persuaded the three men, giving each of them fifty Galleon. Fred and George needed the funds to purchase materials for their research on joke props, while Lee Jordan was responsible for organizing this year's Wizard Card Competition and preparing the prizes. Albert also used the excuse that running a shop required bookkeeping skills to teach them how to do accounting, making them record every Knut they spent.

Albert's assignment of tasks greatly excited his three roommates, who could already see the beginnings of a company.

Although it might seem a bit like playing house, Albert knew that the three of them would take their tasks seriously.

In their excitement, Fred, George, and Lee Jordan were completely unaware of Albert's sinister intentions; this guy was actually preparing to become a hands-off boss for his own future.

Albert trained them precisely so that his three friends could manage the company for him in the future, allowing him to slack off.

They called it giving them an opportunity to improve themselves.

Yeah, nobody's more reliable than him, right?

Moreover, such small groups based on friendship and interests are very stable in the future, after all, wizards don't have as many tricks up their Muggle as Muggles.

That evening, in the Gryffindor Common Room, Harry, who was doing his homework, suddenly heard Ron tell him about the news he had heard that afternoon.

"You mean Albert a Potions recipe and made five hundred Galleon?" Harry had no concept of Galleon and didn't react at all when Ron mentioned it.

"You made five hundred Galleon selling the recipe?" Hermione was quite surprised. Although she didn't have much of a concept of Galleon either, she knew that it was a lot of money.

"What formula did he sell?"

"I don't know." Ron wished he were the one who sold the formula. Sometimes he would dream that he could conjure up a pile of gold with the Philosopher's Stone and even buy a Quidditch team.

"Forget about those things, have some candy!" Hermione shared the candy in her pocket with Harry and Ron.

"It tastes good. Where did you buy it?" Harry ate one and wanted to buy some more.

"It must have been Hogsmeade that bought it," Ron said dejectedly. "When Charlie was still in school, he would send Ginny and me some candy every year as Christmas presents."

"He gave it to me when I ran into Albert at the library this afternoon," Hermione explained. "He said it was a Christmas present in return."

"The afternoon? Albert spent the whole afternoon reading in the Common Room, and helping Fred and George with their homework. I was right next to him," Ron said, raising an eyebrow.

Hermione frowned slightly. She had indeed met Albert in the library; the candy was the best proof, and Ron didn't seem to be lying. Could it be... there were two Albert? But how could that be?