What a Prank, in Its Own Way

Fred composed himself.

"This is terrible, Silan."

"Let me explain." George spoke anxiously. "We found someone plagiarizing our maps, and they're selling them cheaper than we are."

"Our maps won't sell at all now."

Fred handed the few remaining maps in his hand to Silan.

From those few words, Silan had more or less guessed what had happened.

Although he had expected this, he hadn't thought it would come so quickly.

Still, the Slytherin Map had already sold out, and he had more or less made enough money.

Silan thought, I made this sound too simple at first. I thought I could keep harvesting them batch after batch.

Although he had made a quick profit through an information gap, the barrier to entry for this was simply too low.

Any little wizard who bought a map could copy it onto a piece of parchment and get involved.

Not to mention someone was deliberately targeting them.

George and Fred slowly recounted what had happened, then added, "I looked at the maps they're selling. They're practically exact copies of ours. Even the marked locations are the same."

"Except they didn't use a Copying Charm. They copied them with ink."

"I'm guessing they bought our maps, then found someone to copy them."

"Oh, and the copying is awful. Some of the routes are all crooked."

Hearing this, Silan nodded.

That was hardly surprising.

Though those maps were a little lower in quality, they were cheap and would last indefinitely.

They really were more competitive than theirs.

"What should we do, Silan?" Fred asked anxiously. "Should we buy more parchment?"

George picked up where he left off. "Right. We can copy more maps with ink too and lower the price. They should sell then."

"What do you think?" the two asked at the same time.

Silan thought for a while, then said something startling. "No. We won't sell maps anymore."

"Not sell them?" The Weasley twins looked pained. "Even if we lower the price a little, we can still make quite a bit."

They really couldn't bear to give it up.

It was simply too profitable—practically a money-printing scheme.

Honestly, once someone experienced money pouring in like water, no one would want to give it up easily.

Silan shook his head. "There aren't that many new first-years entering Hogwarts in the first place, so demand isn't that high."

"If we keep making maps to sell, we'll only fall into a vicious competition with them. In the end, prices will keep dropping, and it won't be worth the effort."

The logic was easy enough to understand. When supply exceeded demand, there was no way to make money.

George and Fred both nodded in agreement.

"It's a shame to let them get away with it. Even if they sell them for only three Sickles, they'll still make money," Fred said resentfully.

Those people had acted so quickly that it was obviously premeditated. They were most likely coming after them.

Silan had no intention of letting them off cheaply.

"I have a prank plan." Silan smiled meaningfully. "Do you want to hear it?"

At that, George and Fred both perked up.

They could put making money aside for a while, but they certainly couldn't stay out of a prank.

"Later, find a chance to quietly spread the word that we're going to produce maps in large quantities. And this time, not only will they be cheap, they won't be copies."

George was confused. "Didn't you just say we were quitting?"

"That's right." Silan nodded seriously. "We're only spreading the rumor. We won't actually make any maps."

After thinking for a moment, Silan added, "You'd better find a few more people to ask them about their prices and act like they really want to buy. Give them the impression that lots of people want maps."

George and Fred exchanged a glance, and their clever little brains quickly understood the reasoning.

"You mean we make them produce maps that they can't sell, leaving them stuck with the stock?"

Silan nodded.

The logic behind it was actually simple.

There were only so many newly enrolled little wizards at Hogwarts.

They had seized the market early and already taken in nearly all the little wizards who wanted to buy maps.

Anyone entering now could only pick up a few scraps at best.

Once they heard the rumor and bought lots of parchment to make maps, supply would definitely exceed demand.

By then, forget three Sickles—even three Knuts might not find a buyer.

And if it didn't come to that, Silan naturally had other methods.

George and Fred both laughed, thinking their little cousin was practically a prank prodigy.

They hadn't used Dungbombs this time, but wasn't it still a prank in its own way?

"I can hardly wait!"

Fred rubbed his hands together eagerly, and George was just as raring to go.

After saying goodbye to the two of them, Silan prepared to make a trip to Hogsmeade to buy a few things.

The several dozen Galleons on him were tightly wrapped in a strip of cloth. They felt surprisingly heavy to carry.

Silan took out the Marauder's Map and prepared to find a secret passage to Hogsmeade.

After all, he was only a first-year and couldn't openly go to Hogsmeade.

September 19 was Hermione's birthday.

Silan planned to buy her a gift, while also picking up some potion ingredients.

Selling maps was a one-off business, but brewing potions was a steady long-term income.

In the wizarding world, there were practically no famous potion masters who were poor.

On top of that, Silan had the [Potion Prodigy] trait available. Investing in this area was clearly worthwhile.

Following the Marauder's Map's directions, Silan arrived at the middle of the fourth-floor corridor at Hogwarts.

There stood a statue of a one-eyed, hunchbacked witch.

When he looked down at the map again, a little bubble appeared beside the black dot marked with his name, containing an incantation.

"Dissendium."

Silan looked around. Once he was sure no one was nearby, he took out his wand, tapped the statue, and spoke the incantation.

The moment he finished, the statue's hunchback slowly shifted aside, revealing a small opening barely large enough for one person to pass through.

After putting away the map, Silan quickly crouched down and slipped inside.

The passage was pitch-black and freezing cold, so Silan had no choice but to raise his wand and say, "Lumos."

A bright point of light emerged from the tip of his wand, illuminating the surroundings.

Only then did he see that he was in a narrow, low earthen passage.

After walking along it for a while, Silan reached a worn stone staircase.

At the top of the stairs was a trapdoor.

He did not rush to push it open, instead listening carefully for sounds above.

Only after confirming there was no sound at all beyond the trapdoor did Silan slowly push it open and peek outside.

It was a cellar piled full of wooden crates.

Once he saw no one was there, Silan quickly pushed the door open and climbed out.

Then he slipped all the way to the door at the top of the stairs.

After opening it a crack, Silan darted outside.

Though he did not have an Invisibility Cloak, the shop was full of little wizards wearing Hogwarts uniforms.

No one noticed Silan at all.

"So this is Honeydukes?"