Renovation Inspection, Appointing a Building Manager (3000+) / Great Pay, Terrible at Naming Things

Well... now it seems that the benefits of being honest with my adoptive parents about my relationship with Hermione are obvious.

At least regarding the fact that he and Hermione occasionally slept together, the Mr. and Mrs. Granger chose to turn a blind eye.

Of course, they also knew that even if they wanted to stop them, they couldn't.

In two months, the Mr. and Mrs. Granger will be leaving Britain. At that point, they won't be able to keep track of how their two children sleep each night.

Therefore, they might even think that this is a good thing, at least they know the extent of Harry and Hermione's relationship before leaving, and they are also certain of Harry's inner feelings, so they don't have to worry about it behind the scenes.

And sometimes, the Mr. and Mrs. Granger even felt sorry for Harry, after all, they'd been there, able to look but not touch... those who know, know~

However, Harry wasn't actually in a particular hurry about it.

His relationship with Hermione has already progressed to this point, there's absolutely no way anything could change, so why move so quickly?

Harry felt it was unnecessary to force Hermione to go looking for excitement with him when both of them were still immature, especially since what they did was illegal.

Saving your most intense impulses for the most opportune moment is both a responsibility and a kind of romance.

However... Harry must admit, Hermione is getting more and more alluring as she grows up.

Her features and figure have gradually matured. Her long hair is no longer messy, but flows smoothly like a waterfall over the blanket. When she is asleep, her mouth is slightly open, and her two front teeth, which have been corrected, are now just right. Her long eyelashes are also trembling slightly... Wait a minute!

So, this girl is actually already awake?

Realizing that Hermione was pretending to be asleep, Harry grinned mischievously and leaned down to give Hermione a long good morning kiss.

"Ugh, I can't breathe... Ugh~"

The girl gently pushed against Harry's chest with both hands, muttering indistinct complaints, but this only gave him an opportunity to push his luck, taking the deep kiss that had just left him breathless to an even deeper level.

"Get up! We have important things to do today!"

After a period of playful banter, the refreshed man instantly switched to a serious expression before the girl could retaliate, and then dashed off the bed.

"Ugh~"

The girl, her hair disheveled and slightly out of breath, glared angrily at the mischievous guy, but remembering her 'important business' for the day, she hurriedly started frantically searching for her clothes.

Such scenery is truly a feast for the eyes.

After washing up, the two went downstairs to the living room. Mrs. Granger was preparing breakfast with Dobby, while Mr. Granger was sitting on the sofa, sipping his tea and reading the newspaper.

The portraits on the newspaper occasionally displayed various expressions; clearly, Mr. Granger was reading a copy of the Daily Prophet.

This was actually Harry's idea. Although the Mr. and Mrs. Granger were about to leave Britain, the wizards there would be looking after them in China. So it was definitely a good idea to start learning a little about the Wizarding World now.

However, judging from Mr. Granger's expression, Harry knew that there probably wasn't any good news in today's newspaper.

"Sigh, are ball sports in Britain really all this decadent?"

Mr. Granger sighed and spread the newspaper on the coffee table. His heartbroken aura even made the steaming black tea beside him lose its aroma.

"I see, the Quidditch World Cup has already started." Harry took the opportunity to glance at it and noticed that today's headline in the Daily Prophet was about the Britain team's crushing defeat.

Quidditch Match often have a long schedule due to factors such as injuries and match duration. The group stage to determine the top 16 lasted for two years before it was finally over.

The final tournament, in which the top 16 teams compete, will last for several months. This means that the 422nd Quidditch World Cup Round of 16 will have already begun when Hogwarts starts its summer vacation.

The opening match was between England and Transylvania, and the host nation, England, was soundly defeated 390-10 by a team representing a small Eastern Europe region...

In other words, before catching the Golden Snitch, the Transylvania Chaser had fired 24 shots at England.

This is no longer just a matter of a crushing defeat; it's downright surrendering and letting the enemy take turns firing.

Britain has always had a large number of fans, whether wizards or ordinary people, so even though Mr. Granger has only recently started paying attention to Quidditch, he still hopes that the England team can achieve good results in this international competition.

Unexpectedly, he saw in the newspaper the devastating news that his country's team had suffered a crushing defeat, almost resulting in a complete shutout...

And this bad news came in pairs.

Because in mid-to-late June, this year's FIFA Quidditch World Cup will also be held in the America, and the England team...

Hehe~

The Three Lions have a long history of being drawn into the "group of death" in various football cup competitions, and the 1994 Quidditch World Cup was no exception. They were thrashed by teams like the Netherlands and Norway in the qualifiers, and didn't even need to buy an America.

It's easy to imagine that Mr. Granger's frustration with football hadn't even subsided when Quidditch added another layer of frustration to his already difficult situation at home—a truly bitter pill to swallow.

Unfortunately, Harry couldn't do much to cheer Mr. Granger up, since the Britain Quidditch team had been weak for centuries, and even the Ministry of Magic had given up.

Fred and George Weasley once secretly told Harry that the "Pig Society" of the Britain Wizarding World... well, they were referring to the Department of Magical Games and Sports of the Ministry of Magic, whose current director Ludo Bagman, was a greedy gambler who would even open betting odds on his own country's losses.

However, because he was a world-class Beater for the Wimbourne Wasps in his youth, many Quidditch enthusiasts have a strong bias against him, which has allowed him to retain his position.

It is conceivable that, under his 'wise' leadership, the Department of Magical Games and Sports, which was already becoming a mere formality, is now almost completely disintegrated.

Harry thus realized that the Weasley Brothers' source of income from the Quidditch World Cup was Ludo Bagman.

Well... Harry sincerely hopes their wish will come true.

Chapter 504 Renovation Inspection and Appointment of Building Manager (3000+ words)

After breakfast, Harry and Hermione headed to Diagon Alley to get down to business for the day.

Their destination was the three-story shop that Harry had previously acquired, located in the Diagon Alley, directly opposite Gringotts, a location that was absolutely superb.

By the time they arrived, the others had also gradually arrived as well.

The first to arrive was naturally Xenophilius; Luna Lovegood wasn't with him, presumably still recovering. Then came the 'Beetle,' the text editor who came to work at the magazine as usual— Rita Skeeter.

Next up are Fred, George, and Percy, three Weasley with distinct personalities, and Percy is accompanied by his now-public girlfriend, Penelope Clearwater.

Finally, Sirius arrived with his good buddy Lupin... and also brought along Tonks, who was there to join the fun.

"Alright, now that everyone's here, let's begin the renovation inspection."

That's right, the reason Harry called a large group of people to Diagon Alley today was to conduct a comprehensive inspection of the renovations of the soon-to-open shop.

At the same time, he also needs to take this opportunity to make personnel appointments for the store in advance to avoid confusion in functions when it officially opens.

However... Lupin and Tonks were purely accidental; Harry only informed Sirius himself today.

"Overall, things seem pretty good. There are basically no problems. As long as we have enough stock, we should be able to officially open for business soon."

Walking through the empty shop, Harry and the others carefully inspected the walls, floors, partitions, and other decorations, as well as the pre-ordered display cases. After summarizing everyone's inspection findings, Harry nodded in satisfaction.

There will inevitably be some minor flaws in the renovation, but the Magic Renovation Company in Diagon Alley is quite reliable, and the overall quality of the completed project is quite good.

"Fred, George, you're in charge of the first floor shop. I think we can use half of it to display the magical items you've invented; the other half, I want to use it to store some basic magical items that wizards often use but have never seen before."

After walking around for a while, Harry handed over the first floor of the shop to the Weasley Brothers.

Placing fast-moving consumer goods and joke products on the first floor should make it easier to attract ordinary wizards into the store. Moreover, the Weasley Brothers' humorous personalities would easily keep customers coming back, making them the most suitable candidates to be the first-floor managers.

"That's awesome! Harry, just you wait!" "We've gotten ourselves into a ton of fun stuff this term!"

Originally, Harry only promised the two brothers a single counter, but now he's granted them half a floor and put them in charge of the entire floor. Fred and George are naturally incredibly excited, patting their chests and promising to fill the shelves they're responsible for as quickly as possible.

As for 'basic magical items', Harry didn't specify what they were, so they didn't ask any further questions.

In reality, so-called basic magical items are simply items made by ordinary people with some magic applied to them, such as the most obvious example: a foldable and automatically stirring Graphite Cauldron.

Harry's actions clearly violated the Muggle Articles Act, but given Harry expertise in the law, he could easily find loopholes in those laws.

Wizards are forbidden from casting spells on and using Muggle items, but for this law to take effect, there is a crucial prerequisite... namely, how exactly is a 'Muggle item' defined?

A wizard used an ordinary broom, cast a flying spell on it, and turned it into a simplified Flying Broomstick. Did he break the law?

Things aren't that simple.

What if the wizard made this broom himself?

Therefore, the Office for the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts —yes, the very department where Arthur Weasley originally worked—rarely manages to actually find wizards who 'misuse' Muggle items, even when they receive reports.

Moreover, the department itself is corrupt from the start. Harry knows that Arthur Weasley has a Ford Anglia that he secretly enchanted. In order to enjoy driving the car to his heart's content, he even secretly left a loophole in the drafting of the Magical Objects Ownership Act.

Therefore, the Ministry of Magic simply couldn't produce conclusive evidence to determine that the Graphite Cauldron and other products Harry sold were actually 'Muggle items'.

Do they have invoices? Do they have credit cards?

If there's nothing there, then why can't Harry have created these things himself?

"Hmph! It's because you care too much about these trivial things that you can't produce OWL results that satisfy Mother!"

Just as Harry was gloating over having found a loophole in the law, Percy suddenly got into an argument with the twins.

He seemed to disapprove of the twins' idle and irresponsible attitude, so he couldn't help but make sarcastic remarks for a while. Fortunately, his girlfriend grabbed his sleeve in time, preventing Percy from saying anything even more offensive.

"Hey, OWLs grades don't tell the whole story! Besides, so what if you got 12 Os? You're still here working for Harry, aren't you?"

"Yeah, even Dad's already back in the Ministry of Magic and got a promotion. I thought you'd be eager to become a bureaucrat, but you're still hanging around here!"

"I did this... because I promised Granger I would work for him, and I didn't want to break my promise. Besides... anyway, I've already decided not to work for the Ministry of Magic."

Percy hesitated noticeably as he said these words, and at the same time, he unconsciously glanced at his girlfriend.

To be honest, he still wanted to work for the Ministry of Magic, but some things Harry had indeed come true.

Because Penelope made it clear to him when he graduated that if he went to the Ministry of Magic, their relationship would be over for good.

Of course, he didn't make this decision entirely for love. Although Percy was a bit impatient and ambitious, he was definitely not a fool.

Although he always felt that his father was unambitious and even a disgrace to the Weasley family, Percy was not very optimistic when the Ministry of Magic offered Arthur Weasley a high-ranking and lucrative job.

After all... if someone like his own father could suddenly be given such an important position, there must be something fishy going on.

"So I'm actually quite curious," Harry said to Penelope, half-jokingly, after noticing the subtle interaction between the two high-achieving students, "Senpai Clearwater, what exactly made you decide to work in my new shop?"

"I had no choice. Working at the Ministry of Magic is really not my thing, and I don't have a NEWTS certificate. It's hard to find other jobs either. After thinking it over, I figured I might as well give it a try here." Penelope explained with a smile, "You actually have three Weasley working for you at the same time. This shop must have a very good future."

"Senior Clearwater, it's an honor to hear you say that." Harry immediately put on a beaming smile. "Perfect timing, I have a position that would be perfect for you."

He led everyone up to the second floor, and after inspecting the details of the renovations, Harry turned to Penelope and said, "I'm going to entrust this floor to you."

"Me... in charge of the whole floor myself?" Penelope paused for a moment upon hearing this. "Harry, what exactly are you planning to sell here?"

"Various high-quality Potions and materials, as well as some special alchemical artifacts—simply put, the second floor is a boutique area, different from the first floor," Harry explained with a smug look. "In short, on this second floor, we sell those extremely rare and precious items. Let me give you an example: the venom of the Acromantula —in the entire Britain, only we can provide a stable supply."

"Of course, your job isn't just as simple as being a teller. I also need you to take on some custom orders for alchemical items and Potions. When you receive an order, you need to assess as accurately as possible whether we can make it, and if so, how long it will take to produce the finished product."

Harry's goal is to build a highly competitive store, so in addition to fast-moving consumer goods, high-end boutiques are also essential.

As far as Harry knew, the student council president in front of him had taken three NEWTs advanced courses simultaneously in seventh year: Transfiguration, Charms, and Potions. Harry didn't believe she would fail them.

Therefore, she is absolutely capable of being the building manager for the second floor.

The group eventually went up to the third floor, where one area had been taken over by the Quibbler magazine. Xenophilius, Rita, and Percy immediately got to work, while Harry led the others to a separate office on the third floor.

"And this is it, the shop manager's office," Harry said, turning to the group. "Besides overseeing the shop's operations and managing orders and reports, the manager can also take on other assignments, such as cases that can be transferred to the Werewolf Kill Detective Agency. So, as for the manager..."

Harry turned to look at Sirius, the meaning of which was self-evident: he needed his godfather's help to get a job.

However, Sirius shook his head and refused.

"Harry, your shop is indeed very interesting, but I'm not the type to manage it well, so I recommended Moony to be the manager. That's why I brought him here today." Sirius pointed to Lupin beside him. "He's decided to resign from Hogwarts and has nowhere to go, so why don't you arrange a job for him?"

"Resign?" Harry was taken aback. "Why would you resign, Uncle Lupin?"

"I don't know when my body will regain its magic, so I can't continue teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts. I might as well resign," Lupin sighed softly. "Besides, even if you solve my problem, my staying at the school might still cause trouble."

"Is that so...? Well, then you'll be the third-floor manager!"

(P. S. I've added the 1000-word short one from yesterday~)

Chapter 505: High salary, terrible naming skills

As for the suggestion that Lupin be the store manager, Harry agreed without hesitation because he was indeed a very suitable candidate.

When it comes to calmness, pragmatism, and meticulousness, Sirius is no match for Lupin.

Harry has his own pace for the development of this shop, so the so-called shop manager is actually just a steward who helps him manage the shop.

Therefore, stability is the top priority; Harry doesn't need him to lead the shop assistants in any pioneering or innovative endeavors.

The reason Sirius was chosen earlier was because Harry didn't really have a suitable candidate. Sirius's status and strength could at least keep things in check.

The first and second floors of the shop can be managed part-time by students. Even if the Weasley Brothers can't come to the shop while they're in school, they can easily hire a temporary worker to fill in.