Harvest Season

"Potter!" Snape abruptly leaned in, his normally impassive face as expressionless as ever. "Do you not have hands?!"

"And take out whatever you have under the desk!"

Under Snape's piercing stare, Harry had no choice but to take out the Warmth Bottle he had only just bought from the Weasley twins.

The Weasley twins had thought a single size was too boring, so they had developed bottles of various sizes to sell, including flat ones that could be worn against an undershirt.

The one in Harry's hand was a round bottle, just small enough to hold in one hand.

"Pointless rubbish." Snape glanced at the blue flames dancing inside the bottle. "Nothing unrelated to potions is permitted in my classroom!"

A soft rustling immediately filled the basement Potions Classroom.

Snape swept his gaze across the room and gave a quiet snort. "Five points from Gryffindor!"

"Professor Snape is completely unreasonable." Ron chattered away, indignant on Harry's behalf. "Why did he single you out? Everyone else had one of those things too."

"And what's so great about it anyway? It costs a fortune, and it's just a charm. I could do that!"

"Er..." Realizing he did not actually know the charm, Ron added sourly, "If you're cold, just put on another set of wizard robes."

Sitting beside Hermione, Su Er's ears twitched. He knew why Ron was saying this. A few days after the product appeared, Ron had heard that his brothers were selling the Warmth Bottles and eagerly gone to try to get one for free.

Fred and George had played a prank on him instead, then firmly refused.

The boy's pride had taken a serious blow. He had even refused when Harry offered to buy him one, declaring that unless Fred and George respectfully presented him with a Warmth Bottle in both hands, he wanted nothing to do with it!

There were plenty of ways to keep warm in the magical world. Madam Malkin's custom winter clothing, for instance, came with a warming effect built in. It was essentially an electric blanket made into clothes.

"I don't need that inferior rubbish at all," Malfoy announced at the long table again. "My father had Madam Malkin make this robe especially for me. Even if the Castle froze over, I wouldn't be afraid!"

But with custom orders easily costing a hundred Galleons, most families clearly could not afford them.

Malfoy was only saying this to show off anyway.

That afternoon, Su Er received a note asking him to meet before dinner at the third portrait in the left-hand corridor on the Second Floor.

It was signed Fred Weasley.

This made Su Er realize that it was time to divide the loot-no, to divide the profits.

With an hour left before dinner, Su Er took Hermione, who had just finished class, to the left-hand corridor on the Castle's Second Floor. He stood on tiptoe and turned the pointed upper-left corner of the third portrait, and a door silently appeared before them.

When Su Er and Hermione pushed open the door and entered, Fred and George were already inside. It was a small secret room that had once been filled with glass bottles. Now, in their place stood a great heap of Silver Sickles, along with a few Knuts and Galleons.

Both brothers were beaming. They had never had so much money before.

"You're here!" George, who had been bent over counting the money, looked up at the sound and waved, the corners of his mouth lifted high.

"We've just finished counting," he said. "Unfortunately, sales have dropped sharply over the last few days."

Su Er had expected the drop in sales. Hogwarts Castle certainly had no shortage of talented people, after all, and its knowledgeable professors could recognize the charm at a glance. Being able to sell the bottles for half a month had already exceeded his expectations.

"The older Hufflepuff students have learned to make their own Warmth Bottles," Fred sighed, his voice full of regret.

"How many did we sell?" Su Er asked curiously. He had not handled the accounts at all during this time; Fred and George had been responsible for recording everything.

"Let me." George took a sheet of parchment from his wizard robes, densely covered in untidy writing. "As of today, we've sold a total of 326 Warmth Bottles, bringing in 4,238 Silver Sickles and 22 Knuts."

"Our costs were three Silver Sickles."

"Er... how many Galleons is that altogether?" Converting magical currency was far too inconvenient, and Su Er honestly could not be bothered to calculate it, so he asked outright.

George and Fred exchanged a glance, unable to hide the delight in their eyes.

"4,238 Silver Sickles-that's 249 Galleons!"

"We're rich!"

"Then, as we agreed, we'll split the cost of the glass bottles." Su Er did a quick calculation in his head and waved a hand grandly. "You two get a hundred Galleons."

"Thank you for your generosity," Fred said with a grin. Their agreed share would only have been ninety-nine Galleons. That extra Galleon could buy quite a few things.

"But I have one request. Could you help me exchange these Sickles for Galleons?" Su Er asked.

"Of course."

"Leave it to us!"

On the way back, Hermione was positively gleeful, skipping along the whole way.

"I've already decided which books I'm going to buy," she said.

Professor Flitwick fully explained the Bluebell Flames Charm in class and taught it to the young wizards as an extracurricular lesson.

Once the young wizards had learned the charm, they quickly lost interest, though every one of them now had a Warmth Bottle.

It was also the first time Su Er discovered that this charm could actually do some damage.

A young Gryffindor wizard named Seamus Finnigan somehow managed to turn it into an Exploding Charm. As for its effect...

It was probably... exceptionally loud? If psychological damage counted as a kind of damage...

The charm also found a new use. Professor Snape modified it so that its temperature could be freely adjusted according to the amount of magic supplied. It was particularly suitable for potions that required precise heat control.

In short, after remaining the hottest topic for half a month, it was finally displaced by the approaching first Quidditch match.

On the morning of the match, Hermione pulled Su Er aside and quietly told him something.

Harry had seen a wound on Snape's leg in the staffroom the day before.

"They said Professor Snape was trying to get past the Three-Headed Dog in the forbidden corridor," Hermione said. "But I don't think he wants to steal the treasure it's guarding."

"They also said Professor Snape let the troll in, because they saw him heading toward the Fourth-Floor Forbidden Corridor on Halloween."

"Professor Snape would never touch something Headmaster Dumbledore was keeping under such close guard."

"I don't think Professor Snape is a bad person either." Su Er nodded, speaking as though he did not already know the truth. "He might be a little harsh and a little biased, but overall, he's a decent person."

"A decent person? That's because you haven't seen how he treats Harry." Ron overheard Su Er's last remark and turned around to argue.

Su Er did not argue with Ron. He merely gave a meaningful smile.

Everyone there was chatting happily. Only Harry looked terribly nervous, and the faint dark circles under his eyes suggested he had not slept well all night.

Today was his first match since he had begun training: Gryffindor against Slytherin.

Plenty of people were trying to reassure him.

"You should keep your energy up," Su Er said. "Have a few hot dogs. The sausages are really good today."

"You really should eat something. The Seeker is always the other team's main target, which means it's an exhausting position," Seamus added from beside them.

"Thanks, Su Er, Seamus." Harry managed a weak smile.