Oren's Capitalist Limited Skin

"We almost got bitten to death, or worse, expelled!"

Oren looked at the brown, frizzy-haired ball of fury and thought that trying to comfort her by telling her to drink more hot water would probably be inappropriate. She would only get angrier after that.

"Ahem, Hermione, come here. I have a gift for you."

The little witch's rage-overloaded CPU failed to process Oren's move and froze outright.

Frozen, huh? Good. That was exactly the interruption effect he wanted.

Oren took out the Golden Sunflower Brooch from his pocket and handed it to Hermione.

The little witch was startled by the ornate brooch.

"It's too valuable. I can't accept it."

"Not valuable, not valuable. It's one hundred percent pure brass, with iron wire and glass set into it."

"Consider it payment for accompanying us on that little trip."

The little witch breathed a sigh of relief. It was much less intimidating if it was just a handicraft.

"This brooch is quite pretty. Then I'll accept it."

Oren covered Ron's mouth before he could speak. "Go on, go on."

"Phew..." Oren wiped away a cold sweat. "Escaped another lecture on proper conduct."

Ron complained, "That brooch has exactly the same sheen as a Galleon. You could only fool a Muggle-born like Hermione, who usually uses paper money."

Harry asked in surprise, "Wasn't it brass?"

Ron...

Oren retorted, "Other than a few Nifflers, what Niffler keeps brass in its nest? Forget it. I borrowed all the materials from our neighbors in the Forbidden Forest anyway."

Harry...

"Come on, Ron." Oren patted Harry on the head. "Stop thinking. Between you and Ron, you can't even scrape together one whole brain. Go back and sleep. You still have class tomorrow."

The two little ones...

For the next while, Hermione ignored Harry and Ron completely.

At the long table in the Great Hall, Oren was conducting business negotiations with the twins. The aura of business tycoons surrounding them made the little lions nearby afraid to speak too loudly.

"So, have you two decided? I'll only charge ten Silver Sickles per snow globe. How much you can sell them for depends entirely on your ability."

Oren held a snow globe containing a miniature Hogwarts under falling snow.

Fred shook the snow globe. "All right, I'm tempted. So what's the catch?"

"Ahem, it's not really a catch. You just need to take all my stock at once—fifty snow globes in total."

The twins bared their teeth. "We admit your idea is pretty good, but taking so much stock at once is a bit too much, isn't it? If we can't sell them, we'll both go bankrupt."

"Hey, how could that happen? Tell me, isn't this snow globe exquisite enough?"

George pondered for a moment. "It really is exquisite. We couldn't make anything better ourselves."

"Don't you buy gifts for Christmas?"

Fred nodded. "We do. You mean we sell them as Christmas gifts? In that case, they should sell extremely well at school."

Seeing the twins sink into thought, Oren hurried to persuade them. He even put on a top hat and monocle to buff himself.

"Exactly. Think about it. You've gone away to school—when you go home for the holidays, can you really return without bringing a few local specialties?"

"My snow globes are made from materials I pried off Filch's windows and Snape's fireplace. They're one hundred percent Hogwarts specialties."

The twins seemed to find Oren, in his capitalist limited skin, highly persuasive. Gritting their teeth, they pulled out a large handful of coins and handed them over.

The twins exchanged a glance and shouted, "Seventy percent of our wealth! Let's do it!"

"That's more like it. Take a gamble and a motorcycle becomes a bicycle. Going all in is a kind of wisdom."

The twins...

Whether this venture would succeed was unknown, but Oren was definitely making a killing. He earned nine Sickles and twenty-eight Knuts on every Hogwarts snow globe. As for the spider soul he had burned? Come on, that thing had been free.

Taking off his capitalist limited skin, Oren sighed inwardly. He had received the thing from his morning check-in and had been baffled for over twenty minutes. Who would have thought it would actually be useful? At least it was much more useful than the steel helmet.

Wait. Where had he thrown his steel helmet? Where had his huge Prussian steel helmet gone—the one with a spike on top and a brass eagle decoration?

Hermione rolled her eyes at Oren as he searched here and there.

"You're looking for this, right? Here, take it back."

The little witch took out a steel helmet and handed it to Oren.

"Um, Oren..." Harry said.

"Stop, stop, stop! You want to talk about Hagrid's little package again, don't you? I don't have time to play detective games with you right now. I make dozens of Galleons a minute."

Harry...

Oren plopped the steel helmet onto Harry's head. "Go on, go on. Discuss this within your teenage detective club."

Dressed once more in his top hat and monocle, Oren, with his capitalist limited skin equipped, swaggered over to the Slytherin table.

Throwing an arm around Draco's neck, Oren prepared to swindle—scratch that, do business with him.

A senior Slytherin nearby seemed rather displeased by a Gryffindor's arrival and rose to say something.

Oren reacted swiftly, pressing him back into his chair with one hand. No matter how he twisted, he could not stand up again, and in the end, he could only obediently remain seated.

Draco swallowed, wondering what this humanoid troll wanted with him.

"Did you see the brooch on Miss Granger's chest? What did you think?"

Draco narrowed his eyes. "It's not bad. Barely acceptable."

"What if the flower design were changed to a daffodil? And the materials were twice as expensive?"

"That would indeed be quite good. Do you know where I could buy one?"

Oren had been waiting for that. He thumped his chest. "I made it."

"You?"

"Yes, me. What do you think? Imagine how dignified it would look on your mother."

Draco nodded. "Dignified!"

"Right? Think of a banquet, a brooch—how damn dignified would that be?"

Seeing that Draco seemed tempted, Oren immediately struck while the iron was hot. "Christmas is coming up. Surely our young Master Malfoy doesn't intend to go home empty-handed?"

Draco gritted his teeth. "How much? I'll take it!"

"Since we're practically family, I won't overcharge you."

Oren held up eight fingers.

"Eight thousand Galleons!"

Draco said, "How much?!"

"Ahem, if you think it's expensive, then bargain."

"Then... two thousand Galleons? That's all my pocket money."

"Deal. Delivery in three days."

Oren snatched Draco's wallet, then shook his hand.

Draco!!! Damn it, he seemed to have been scammed!

At the same time, he sighed in relief. This humanoid troll should finally leave now... right?

"Oh, right, Draco. I heard you tricked Harry with that duel."

Draco was startled. Oh no! He's here to avenge Harry!

"Pure-blood families care about honor, don't they? Pulling tricks in a duel isn't very appropriate, is it? Are you afraid to duel Harry?"

"My dear little cousin, you wouldn't want Mr. Lucius to hear about this, would you?"

Draco pulled out another wallet from Goyle's pocket. It held nearly a hundred Galleons.

"Ah... that wouldn't be proper in broad daylight."

Oren pushed the wallet away. Compared with killing someone, he preferred to stab them in the heart.

Draco squeezed out through gritted teeth, "Then what do you want?"

"Take a look at my Potions homework this term."

"Fine. I agree."

Oren nodded in satisfaction. "No half-assing it. It has to be at least an E."

Oren leaned close to Draco's ear and added smugly, "I'll hold this secret over you for the rest of your life."

Draco...

Oren swaggered over to the Ravenclaw table.

He patted Cho Chang, whose mouth was smeared with red chili oil from eating hot sauce.

"Do me a favor. Spread the word that I'm buying notes from upper-year students, mainly Transfiguration notes. They have to be from excellent students."

Cho's eyes spun as she pulled out her own notes. "What do you think of my study notes? My grades are quite good."

Oren did not waste words. He took a handful of Galleons from Draco's wallet and handed them to Cho Chang.

Cho's friend Marietta glanced at Oren's retreating back. "What were you two talking about just now?"

"Nothing much. Oren is buying Transfiguration notes from students with excellent grades."

"Oh~"

Back at the Gryffindor table, the three little ones who had been watching Oren's every move swallowed in unison. They were all first-years, so why was he so outstanding? One round around the tables, and he had gotten books and thousands of Galleons.

A flock of owls flew into the Great Hall. A package carried by six owls dropped in front of Harry.

Ron cried out, "Hiss! Another one..."

Oren asked, "Harry, what is that thing?"

Harry lowered his voice and whispered, "It's a Nimbus 2000."

"Oh." Oren showed little interest. "Remember to bring my Nimbus to the twins when you have Quidditch practice."

Mealtime ended, and everyone began leaving the Great Hall.

At the entrance, Hermione asked curiously, "Oren, what book did you get from Ravenclaw?"

"Nothing much. Just study notes from upper-year students."

"Merlin's lace dress, how did you manage that?"

"Money power."

Hermione...

Harry's voice came from ahead. "By the way, Professor Flitwick, I have Mr. Malfoy here to thank. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have gotten this Nimbus 2000."

Ron chimed in, "If he hadn't snatched Neville's Remembrall, Harry wouldn't have had the chance to show off his Quidditch talent either."

Draco clutched his chest and hurried away. He might be young, but having his heart stabbed three times in one morning was a little too much.

That sentence instantly broke the little witch's defenses. Hermione stomped over to Harry. "So you think this is a reward for breaking school rules?!"

Ron said disdainfully, "Doesn't Oren ignore school rules all the time too?"

Oren waved a feather from Fawkes. "Hey, hey, hey! How can you slander me out of nowhere? That's privilege, understand? Authorized by the Headmaster."

Hermione bristled like an angry cat. "Privilege! One day, I'll find out why you have privileges. This is practically cheating!"

After saying that, she ran off in a huff.

Oren patted Ron on the shoulder. "You made her mad, so remember to go comfort her."

Ron muttered under his breath, "Comfort her for what? Besides, you had a hand in it too."

Ignoring Ron, Oren said to Harry, "You have training today, right?"

"That's right. At seven. Wood is going to teach me the Quidditch rules."

"Good luck, Harry. I believe you'll absolutely slaughter Slytherin on the pitch."

Harry straightened his chest, looking much more spirited. Even the steel helmet on his head seemed to shine brighter.

"Don't worry, Oren. I definitely won't disgrace Gryffindor."

Oren patted the two little ones on the shoulders, then left the Great Hall for Hagrid's Hut. Hagrid had written to him—the newly purchased orange saplings had arrived.

After dinner, Hermione passed the house points board and cried out, "Where are our house points? Where did the twenty points I earned this morning go?"

Percy appeared from somewhere, saying painfully, "Professor McGonagall deducted them. As far as I know, there are only three suspects: my twin brothers and Oren Black."

"I'm going to question them now. Hermione, I can see that you care about Gryffindor's honor just as much as I do. Would you like to sit in?"

"I'm going!" Hermione said through gritted teeth.

Inside an empty classroom, Percy said, "I heard you dismantled the toilet seat in the lavatory, and that's why Professor McGonagall was so angry she deducted twenty house points."

"Hey, hey, you can eat whatever you want, but you can't just say whatever you want," Oren explained. "It was ten points deducted per person, and there were three of us."

"It must have been George and Fred who lost the points. My beloved Professor McGonagall—how could she possibly deduct points from me?"

Fred argued, "Impossible. Oren, you definitely had ten points deducted too. When Professor McGonagall came, you were holding the toilet seat."

"Heh, Fred, you weren't any better. The dismantling tools were in your hands."

George spread his hands and argued, "See? It was definitely those two who were responsible."

"Bullshit!" the other two said.

Fred said, "Anyone can see you were keeping watch."

Oren complained, "When she deducted the points, Professor McGonagall was pointing at you, George."

Percy...

Hermione...

"Believe me, this definitely wasn't my fault," the three said.

Percy closed his eyes in agony. "I'll keep an eye on my brothers. Miss Granger, may I ask you to keep an eye on Mr. Black?"

Hermione gritted her teeth. "Fine!"

Oren...