They're So Rich

"Oh, esteemed Professor Diggory."

A few days later, on the way to Hogsmeade Village, Fred winked at Cedric and said, "Please allow me to say hello and offer my humble respects."

George suppressed a laugh and looked at him seriously, "If it's possible, Professor, could you exempt us from our assignments?"

Cedric rubbed his forehead in frustration.

Although he knew the two would make fun of him, Cedric still felt a headache coming on when he saw their grinning faces in the Entrance Hall this morning.

Fearing that others would overhear and tell Umbridge, they were relatively discreet while at the castle, but coincidentally, today is Hogsmeade Week.

Once they left the school, the two of them had no more inhibitions and mocked Cedric the whole way, like they were performing a stage play.

"Shut up, you two!" Qiu said irritably. "You didn't have to participate."

"No, of course we'll participate!" George said.

"Yes," Fred nodded, "We'll learn Defense Against the Dark Arts ourselves... I must say, that's a great idea. I've had enough of that shrew Umbridge!"

"No, that's Hermione's idea," Cedric corrected. "And I don't even know if anyone will participate."

"You can rest assured about that," Fred said. "We already asked around last night, and there are seventeen people from Gryffindor alone who want to participate..."

"So many?" Cedric paused, stopping in his tracks.

"A lot? Not at all," Fred said, shaking his head. "Everyone is obviously just as dissatisfied with Umbridge as we are, and they certainly won't miss this opportunity to learn real skills."

"And this is just the first batch," George said. "We mainly felt that having too many people at the first gathering would be too conspicuous, and we're sure more people will join later."

"Oh." Cedric rubbed his forehead.

He originally thought that ten people in Hufflepuff would be enough, but he didn't expect Gryffindor more outrageous.

If you add Ravenclaw's...

He turned to look at Cho, "Ravenclaw won't have this many people too, will they?"

"Didn't I just say that?" Qiu blinked. "Okay, I forgot. But we're not as enthusiastic as the Gryffindor students. Only a few of us are interested in teaching ourselves Defense Against the Dark Arts."

Hearing her say that, Cedric secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Judging from this, the number should not exceed thirty, which is still within an acceptable range.

If there were more people, he might not be able to handle it.

The group quickly crossed the path and arrived at the entrance to Hogsmeade Village.

Hermione was already waiting for them there.

"How about we head over now?" she said, jogging over. "To Hog's Head Inn, as we agreed before."

"Hey, no need to rush," Fred said. "Isn't the party at ten? There's still an hour left."

"I know," Hermione said, "But I think we should prepare in advance, see who's there, and if there are professors, we should change locations promptly."

"Professors don't go to places like that," George whispered. "They go to the cleaner, busier Three Broomsticks."

"Hermione's right." Cedric walked over. "It's better to be cautious. I'll go with you."

"I'll go too," Qiu said. "I've never been to Hog's Head Inn before, this is a good opportunity to check it out."

"To be honest, there's really nothing to see there," Fred said. "We went there once by accident after taking the wrong turn."

"The environment is terrible, it can't compare to the Three Broomsticks at all, its only advantage is that there are fewer people."

"Perhaps it's precisely because of the poor environment that few people are willing to go there."

Hermione expressed skepticism about their supposed "accidental" actions, but said nothing.

"It's alright, I don't have anything to do right now anyway," Cedric said. "Aren't you going to Zonko's first?"

"We just need some inspiration," George said. "There's so much to prepare for opening a joke shop, especially the products have to be appealing enough."

"Alright then," Cedric nodded. "See you later."

After saying that, he left the main road with Cho and Hermione and headed down another secluded path.

"See you in a bit." Fred waved and ran off with George to the nearby Zonko's Joke Shop for inspiration.

Kyle also didn't go to the Hog's Head Inn, but instead went to the Gladrags Wizardwear with Kanna.

He discovered a few days ago that his thick robe was a bit too small and he needed to get a new one before winter came.

The Gladrags Wizardwear is located on the latter half of the main road, next to the Shrieking Shack.

When the two entered the store, there were already students there.

Two Slytherin girls, and Kyle knows them both.

Daphne Greengrass, and her sister Astoria.

When they entered the shop, Astoria was looking at the oddly shaped brooches, while Daphne's eyes were shining as she stared at an exquisite Dress Robes on the shelf.

"This is a new product."

The clothing store owner, a witch in her thirties, was currently showing her the Dress Robes.

"See those golden lines? Those are real gold threads, the silver is Unicorn Tail Hair, and the gems adorning them are from Fire Crab —all complete and rare items."

"How much?" Daphne couldn't help but ask.

"Only three hundred Galleon, my dear," the shopkeeper said with a smile. "This is my most satisfying piece so far."

Kyle glanced at the Dress Robes instinctively, and suddenly felt like laughing, but managed to hold it back.

Daphne, standing to the side, frowned.

Three hundred Galleon was a bit expensive even for her, but she really loved that gorgeous Dress Robes.

"You should still have a lot of pocket money left, right?" Daphne asked her sister.

"Huh?" Astoria snapped out of her daze, then took out an exquisite money pouch and said, "Not much, only one hundred Galleon."

"That's enough, lend it to me first." Daphne took Astoria's purse and said, "I need to try on this dress."

"Of course, no problem." The shop owner nodded with a smile. "Please follow me."

The two then walked together toward the back of the shop.

"Carrying a hundred Galleon with them, isn't that a lot?" Kanna whispered. "They're really rich."

Upon hearing her words, Kyle seemed to realize something and suddenly chuckled.

"What are you laughing at?" Kanna asked.

"It's nothing, I was just thinking about the first time we met on the train at the beginning of the semester," Kyle said. "You were just like them back then."

"What?" Kanna didn't quite understand.

"Have you forgotten?" Kyle explained, "On the train you dumped a whole bunch of Galleon on the table, which startled Cedric and me."

"Back then, we felt the same way you do now: that Pure-blood families were really rich."

"That was so long ago." Kanna glared at Kyle, annoyed that her embarrassing past had been brought up.

"Yes, it's been quite a while," Kyle said, then changed the subject, "What do you think of that Dress Robes?"

"It's too flashy," Kanna said with some disdain. "It's pretty, but there are too many embellishments, it looks a bit strange, and it must be very uncomfortable to wear."

"But some people do like this style," Kanna added. "At last year's Yule Ball, many people wore these gorgeous Dress Robes."

"Really?" Kyle asked, completely unable to recall what everyone wore to that ball.

"Of course there are, quite a few," Kanna said. "After the ball, Letty talked about it all night long; I couldn't ignore it, and for the next few days, their conversation was all about those beautiful Dress Robes."

"All right."

Although Kyle and Kanna were speaking very softly, it still caught the attention of Astoria standing nearby.

There were only three people in the shop, so it was hard for her not to notice them. However, because they were a bit far away, she didn't hear what they were saying.

And seemingly afraid of being misunderstood as deliberately eavesdropping, she deliberately went to a more distant place.

Her action naturally caught the attention of Kyle and Kanna.

"She's really not like a Slytherin," Kanna said.

"No," Kyle said, "It's just that they're not like the Slytherin they are now."