Grand Opening

Just as Zhang San's gloom was about to solidify into something tangible, Professor McGonagall suddenly added, "As students, you took the initiative to research flying brooms and achieved such remarkable results. That deserves a reward... Gryffindor, one hundred points."

Zhang San was completely thrown by Professor McGonagall's move. What kind of baffling human behavior was this? First deduct fifty, then add a hundred... Ah, she was just having fun~

The older, the wiser. Professor Snape usually deducted three or five points from Gryffindor at a time, but when Professor McGonagall made a move, she added a hundred outright.

The authority of the deputy headmistress was truly terrifying.

Professor McGonagall spoke earnestly. "Mr. Silde, I hope you remember that magical research must always be approached with humility and reverence."

Zhang San somewhat understood what the professor meant. She wanted students to be extremely cautious when researching magic, to take proper protective measures and prevent accidents from turning into tragedies.

"Now, let's discuss the matter of sponsoring the brooms." Professor McGonagall asked Oliver Wood to leave first, leaving the rest of the conversation to her and Zhang San.

Zhang San sat on the sofa, waiting for Professor McGonagall to continue. She said, "The brooms you developed perform exceptionally well. It is difficult for me to believe they were made by current Hogwarts students."

"Everyone has limitless potential. As long as they are given enough support and allowed to grow, they will surely bear the richest fruit," Zhang San said seriously.

Professor McGonagall nodded approvingly. "You are all Gryffindor's future. The future of the wizarding world belongs to you. As for these brooms, Gryffindor cannot simply take students' achievements for free and use them in competition."

"Professor, we..." Zhang San had barely begun speaking when Professor McGonagall cut him off.

Professor McGonagall said, "I will purchase these six Black Bamboo Mark Is at two thousand Galleons per broom."

In Zhang San's eyes, Professor McGonagall was shining with the radiance of Galleons. How was she some ordinary Hogwarts deputy headmistress? She was clearly Hogwarts' richest woman!

She was handing over twelve thousand Galleons just like that, without even mentioning installment payments. What astonishing wealth!

Since Professor McGonagall insisted on not taking them for free, Zhang San could only accept her twelve thousand Galleons through tears. The production cost of the six Black Bamboo Mark Is was, at most, two thousand Galleons. The remaining ten thousand was pure profit.

This was the first time the Flying Broom Research Group had seen any returns. Zhang San planned to split the ten thousand Galleons in profit among everyone.

The official members of the group—Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Fred Weasley, and George Weasley—would each receive a bonus of two thousand Galleons. Harry Potter, the unofficial member of the control group, had also rendered outstanding service, so he would get two hundred Galleons as compensation for his efforts.

Next, they could begin establishing a flying broom workshop. As an organization capable of generating stable profits, the division of shares was extremely important.

Thus, the Flying Broom Research Group held another full-group meeting. As the financial backer and supplier of materials, Zhang San chaired the meeting.

The meeting decided that Zhang San would serve as chairman, investing ten thousand Galleons for a fifty-one percent stake. Ron, Hermione, George, and Fred would each invest two thousand Galleons for a ten percent stake and serve as executive directors. The remaining nine percent would be reserved as an option incentive pool, temporarily held in Zhang San's name.

Although the entire workshop consisted of nothing but a chairman and directors, the people actually doing the work were still these same individuals.

Zhang San's responsibilities were supplying raw materials and expanding the market.

Ron and Hermione were responsible for magically enchanting the materials and conducting further research into the related magic.

George and Fred were responsible for preprocessing magical materials, processing magical cores, assembling the physical components of magical brooms, and developing the hardware for the next generation of brooms.

Everyone had their own tasks to complete. Only through close cooperation could the workshop continue to develop properly.

Harry Potter eagerly took on the job of test pilot in the workshop, becoming the only employee among them who was not an owner.

The workshop's first order was the donation of six Black Bamboo Mark Is to the Gryffindor Quidditch Team.

Harry Potter felt that being the only one on the Gryffindor team using a Nimbus 2000 made him seem out of place, so he approached Zhang San with a request. He hoped to trade in his Nimbus 2000 for a speed-type Black Bamboo Mark I that had yet to be fully developed.

"The magical core for the speed model is still under research, but before the next match, you will definitely receive your own broom," George promised.

The Weasley Family had its own channels for obtaining materials from dragons. Charlie Weasley worked at the Romanian dragon breeding reserve, so getting dragon blood, dragon scales, dragon claws, and the like was easy enough for him...

What Harry Potter really wanted, though, was the Bamboo Mark I. That control group experiment had left far too deep an impression on him. Unfortunately, the price of a unicorn's magical horn was beyond what he could afford. The education fund left to him by the Potter Family simply could not withstand that kind of spending.

There was no other spendthrift in the wizarding world who used an entire unicorn magical horn as a magical item. The usual use for magical horns was to grind them into powder and add small amounts to potions to enhance their effects. Using one as the magical core of a flying broom was like using an anti-aircraft gun to kill a mosquito.

Even the Firebolt, a broom famous for its expensive materials, did not dare use a unicorn's magical horn as its magic core. The Bamboo Mark I was one of a kind in the wizarding world.

"Buy it! If my godson needs a broom, then he'll use the best one!"

After Sirius Black was cleared of all charges and released from Azkaban, he went to Hogwarts to reunite with Harry Potter.

Whenever Harry Potter had something on his mind, he would write to Sirius about it. The last time Ron had utterly overwhelmed him with the Bamboo Mark I had caused quite a stir in his heart, so he wrote to Sirius Black describing the Bamboo Mark I's incredible power.

Sirius Black was famously indulgent toward children, and he quickly wrote back to Harry Potter. There was no need to elaborate on the rest of the letter, because its central message was simple:

Buy it without worry. Dad will reimburse you.

Zhang San did not overcharge Harry Potter, either. They were all friends, so a cost price of twenty thousand Galleons left everyone happy.

This price was not Zhang San ripping Harry Potter off. Setting aside the bamboo body of the broom, the mithril clasps, and the labor cost for enchanting it, the unicorn's magical horn alone was worth twenty thousand Galleons.

Of course, such an item was priceless and unavailable on the market. No one else in the wizarding world would be bored enough to buy an entire magical horn just to take it home and play with it.

The powder from grinding down a single magical horn would be enough to flood the potion market's demand for magical horn powder. So pricing the Bamboo Mark I's magical horn core at twenty thousand Galleons for Harry Potter was beneficial to both sides.

Having a wealthy godfather was wonderful. Sirius Black truly was willing to spend money on his godson.

Zhang San suddenly began looking forward to Gryffindor's next Quidditch match. He wanted to see six Black Bamboo Mark Is and one Bamboo Mark I sweep across the Quidditch pitch.

Gryffindor's next opponent was the weak Ravenclaw team. These little ravens who swam in the sea of knowledge were not particularly passionate about the brute sport of Quidditch. The Ravenclaw eagles took winning and losing lightly—winning was nice, but losing did not matter either.

"It's much more satisfying to play Slytherin!" Ron declared. Gryffindor, equipped entirely with Black Bamboo Mark Is, bullying Ravenclaw was simply too cruel.

He wanted to see Slytherin bleed rivers.