Ron held the price tag in one hand and clutched his Silver Sickles in the other. He had just worked it all out: he would haggle with the shopkeeper a little more and get him to knock off that half a Silver Sickle.
But now, even with a thirty-percent discount, the price was thirty-five Silver Sickles. He would not fetch that much even if he sold himself!
The shopkeeper glanced up at the tag and said casually, "Oh, I don't follow the manufacturer's suggested price. Do shipping, storage, and rent cost nothing? Don't touch it if you're not buying. If you get it dirty, you can't afford to pay for it!"
The words were not just grating; they hurt his pride. Ron was about to argue, but Luo Bin pulled him out of the little shop.
"Bastard! What a bully! Luo Bin, if you hadn't stopped me, I would've..."
"What were you going to do? Cast Incendio, a Full Body-Bind, or a Freezing Charm on him?! Anyone who can run a shop on Hogsmeade's main street and charge outrageous prices without getting beaten half to death has some backing. If you cross someone like that, open retaliation isn't what you should worry about. It's the dirty tricks. Don't forget why we came here."
"So we just let him insult us and get away with it? Luo Bin, I... I can't swallow this!"
"You can play dirty too. Write an anonymous complaint, for instance, put on Harry's Invisibility Cloak, and drop it into the public mailbox at the village entrance. Say his shop doesn't meet fire safety standards. The Hogsmeade Guild takes that pretty seriously!"
"Luo Bin, I understand writing a complaint, but why wear the Invisibility Cloak?"
Harry pushed up his glasses as he asked.
"Oh, some shady shopkeepers install