Hogsmeade

Perhaps influenced by Harris, Kyle decided to go to Hogsmeade with the others on the first weekend of the new school year.

Although Kyle was familiar with the area, he had always sneaked there through a secret passage.

By the time he reached third grade, he was able to go openly... He had already handed the permission form to Professor Sprout during the last Herbology Class before the weekend.

The administrator Filch, stood in the Entrance Hall, checking a long list to prevent anyone who shouldn't be there from slipping out the door.

But Kyle and his friends obviously didn't care about that and swaggered out.

Unlike Ottery St. Catchpole, Hogsmeade is a true wizarding village, where every single villager is a wizard.

However, land prices here aren't cheap either... Kyle inquired and found out that even building a house in the most remote corner would cost 20,000 Galleon... and that's the current price.

Because of the existence of the Hog's Head Inn, Hogsmeade is always frequented by wizards of unknown origin, and these unstable factors seriously lower its prestige.

This also led to a significant decline in housing prices.

Decades ago, before the Hog's Head Inn existed, let alone 20,000 Galleons, even 50,000 Galleon might not have been enough to live here.

This is definitely a high-end villa area in the Wizarding World.

Although the Hog's Head Inn is a potential problem... Kyle and his friends don't need to worry about it at all.

After all, Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick had come to Hogsmeade with them, so no one dared to cause trouble at this time...

It's no exaggeration to say that this is also the most harmonious time in Hogsmeade... Wizards of unknown origin even have to carefully consider whether their casual littering will have any negative impact on the young wizards.

If they don't consider it... the accompanying professors will consider it for them.

At least that's the case outside Hog's Head Inn.

As the most popular wizard village, this place is naturally very interesting... From the moment you enter the village, you can see shops with various signs hanging on both sides of the road.

First up is Zonko's Joke Shop.

This was also Fred and George's favorite shop; they spent almost all of their allowance there.

Behind Zonko's Joke Shop are the Owl Post Office and the Honeydukes Candy Shop...

"Although we can come every day... visiting days are always the most special," Fred said with a smile.

"Yes," George sighed, "I wish we could come every week."

Upon learning that today was "Visitor's Day," they promptly ate Skiving Snackboxes to induce S.P.E.W., thus successfully escaping Quidditch practice.

"Professors don't have that much time."

Cedric, who was counting the Galleon in his purse, looked up and said, "It's not bad like this. Don't forget that the first visit last year was in late October."

"Yes, those were tough times," Fred said with a laugh. "Kyle, you guys were lucky."

"We've decided to go see Zonko's... What about you?"

"Let's go together then," Kyle said after thinking for a moment.

No one else had any objections.

It's just a visiting day anyway... no need to rush back to school, they have plenty of time, they can take their time and wander around, it doesn't matter where they go.

The group entered Zonko's's territory.

Fred and George greeted a shop assistant with round glasses behind the counter as if they were at home.

"Hey, Zora, anything rare?"

"Of course..." The shop assistant adjusted the round glasses on his nose.

"It's this... the Maze Glasses. People who wear them always get lost without realizing it, even in their most familiar places."

"Sounds good..." Fred stroked his chin. "We can prepare a set for that big oaf Marcus, and he'll probably throw the Quaffle into his own goal."

"That's a good idea," George said with a smile. "But the design of these glasses is too conspicuous. Even though Marcus's mind is closely related to Troll, he probably wouldn't wear something like this."

"Don't worry, how could we not have thought of that..."

The shop assistant gently tapped the temple of the glasses, and the original round glasses became a regular square-framed pair.

With another tap, several more snake patterns appeared on the frame, followed by lions, badgers, eagles... round frames, frameless frames, single lenses...

"We designed a total of thirty-nine styles."

The sales clerk adjusted his glasses and said, "There's always something suitable."

"We want it!" Fred and George said in unison.

"How much!"

"Five Galleon and ten Sickle."

"That's really expensive."

"It's a new product, so this is the price for all of them," the salesperson said. "But I can give you a discount."

"Ten Sickle?"

"No, it's five Galleon and nine Sickle!"

"..."

Fred and George bought the Maze Glasses anyway, and also replenished their fireworks stock at the store.

Unlike them, almost everyone else was primarily focused on "watching".

Kanna and Cho were whispering and pointing at a bunch of hair clips that could bite, while Cedric stopped in front of a Broomstick.

Of course, the broom is fake too. Once someone rides on it, it sprays glue outwards, sticking the person's legs to it, and then makes a series of loud "poof poof" sounds.

It was clear that Cedric really wanted to buy it, but the price of twenty Galleon made him hesitate.

It's too expensive, not worth it.

When they finally left Zonko's, besides Fred and George, only Kyle bought a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans.

Zonko's's Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans are definitely not the same as the ones in candy stores... Not a single one of them is sweet, they're all awful, and you can hardly tell the difference from the packaging.

Kyle plans to give it away randomly to one lucky person as a Christmas present.

Afterwards, the group went to Honeydukes House, where they lost their Galleon.

Rows of shelves were filled with all sorts of delicious and tempting candies: large chunks of creamy yellow almond brittle, sparkling pink coconut milk jelly balls, honey-colored toffee, countless chocolates, and a huge tub of regular Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans...

The other wall is lined with candies featuring "special effects".

Drooble's Best Blowing Gum (fills a room with bubbles that won't pop for days).

A tiny, black Pepper Imps (it can breathe fire after eating it).

There are also those toad mint ice creams that bounce in your stomach, those really Exploding Bonbons fillings, and those Acid Pops that can burn a hole in your tongue.

Kyle also saw the Cockroach Cluster that Dumbledore liked; they were kept in a jar in the corner.

Honeydukes was packed with students, and everywhere was crowded, except for that one particular spot, which was deserted.

But thinking about it, it makes sense; what decent person would buy that kind of thing?