A Deal

Defense Against the Dark Arts that afternoon was, as usual, indescribably awful.

For the seventh time, the two-faced monster Quirrell droned on about his encounter with a vampire, once again drawing ridicule from the Slytherin Young Wizards. Sean sat in a row at the back of the classroom, briefly flipped through the Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook, then took out a Potions book he had borrowed from the library and began studying it on his own.

Ever since receiving the note Snape had given him, Sean had begun studying the books listed on it. Combined with some of the material in Gavin's Notes, he had gradually worked his way through these rather advanced Potions books.

After today's Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson ended, Sean and Blaise did not head straight to the library. Instead, they returned to the Slytherin Common Room first, where a third-year student was already waiting for them.

"Morgan, have you been waiting long?"

Andy Morgan was a third-year Slytherin student. His family ran a general merchandise business, which had given him some talent for trade from a young age. Starting in his second year, he had set up a few small businesses within Slytherin, able to obtain things for Slytherin students that were not easily available at school.

At the start of this school year, Andy had expanded his business throughout Hogwarts. However, no one in Gryffindor traded with him at all, and Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students rarely did either. His main market was still Slytherin.

"Sean, Blaise, I told you last time. Just call me Andy."

Sean smiled at Andy and did not insist. "Andy, have you prepared the things I wanted?"

"Of course, of course. But you know, this is only a small business, so..."

Sean did not hesitate. With a smile, he immediately took out three Galleons and eleven Sickles and handed them to Andy. After confirming the money was correct, Andy promptly pulled out a large bag of Potion Ingredients and passed it to Sean. Seeing this, Sean immediately realized that Andy had a magical item enchanted with an Undetectable Extension Charm.

"All right, money and goods have changed hands. We'll be leaving now."

After saying goodbye to Andy, Sean prepared to leave the Common Room with Blaise.

But at that moment, Andy called out to stop them again.

"Sean, wait a moment. There's something else I want to discuss with you."

Sean turned around and looked at Andy, frowning slightly without saying anything immediately. Blaise spoke first instead. "Andy, what do you want to discuss? Don't break the rules!"

"Listen to you. Of course I won't break the rules. Otherwise, how could I keep doing business? Don't worry, it's nothing bad." At this point, Andy looked at Sean and asked, "Sean, I recognize the things you wanted. They're ingredients for brewing Mind Recovery Potion. This potion isn't particularly difficult. For a newly inducted member of the Potions Club like you, it shouldn't be too hard, should it?"

Hearing Andy's words, Sean looked at him seriously. "Andy, where did you learn that I joined the Potions Club?"

The Potions Club was not exactly a secret, but it was not something just anyone knew about. More importantly, Andy had directly stated that Sean had already joined the Potions Club, which meant he had received specific information.

"Well..." Andy gave Sean a flattering smile. "I have my own channels, don't I? Otherwise, this little business of mine would be hard to run."

"So what do you want to say?"

Though that was what he asked, Sean had more or less guessed Andy's intentions.

Sure enough, upon hearing Sean's question, Andy immediately said, "Sean, the ingredients you bought are enough to brew five batches of Mind Recovery Potion. But one qualified Mind Recovery Potion is worth about as much as the ingredients you bought, perhaps even a little more. That's Galleons coming and going. As long as two out of those five batches succeed, you earn the value of one Mind Recovery Potion for free. I just don't know what your success rate is like. Are you interested in working with me?"

"If I have extra Mind Recovery Potion, why would I need to work with you? Can't I brew and sell potions myself?"

Hearing this, Andy's eyes lit up. He knew Sean was interested. He immediately moved closer, becoming noticeably more enthusiastic as he said, "Sean, even if someone like you does business with me, it's only to earn enough Galleons to support your studies. You certainly can't spend your time on business. Besides, you only need to give me thirty percent of the profits. With that thirty percent, you can avoid a lot of trouble, and I can help you with many things as well—sharing information, for example, or taking full responsibility for supplying the ingredients and delivering them to you personally. What do you think?"

"Come to me at this time tomorrow to collect the potions. Half the payment in Galleons, half in Mind Recovery Potion ingredients."

"All right, no problem! Then it's settled. I'll look forward to this time tomorrow."

With that, Andy immediately said his goodbyes and left.

Watching Andy leave, Blaise frowned slightly. "Sean, I'm afraid this Andy is preparing for after he graduates."

"How so?"

"Though the Morgan family is not especially large, they've been doing quite well these past few years. When their family selects its younger generation, they choose entirely based on ability. That's why Morgan family descendants often start doing business while still at Hogwarts. There's only Andy from this generation of the Morgan family at Hogwarts, so he wants to build capital by doing business with Hogwarts students. Once he graduates, he'll formally go into business."

Sean looked at Blaise. This was the first time he had seen Blaise display talent in something other than chasing girls. However, Sean did not ask further. To him, a friend was a friend, and their family was a separate matter. If a friend wanted to talk, he would listen. If they did not, he would not ask.

"All right, let's go to that place. Brewing potions privately may not violate school rules, but using them for trade is definitely skirting the line. We should find somewhere safe."

The safe place Sean spoke of was naturally the Room of Requirement on the eighth floor.

There were rarely any Slytherins on the eighth floor except during Divination classes. Fortunately, there was usually no one near the Room of Requirement. Otherwise, Sean and Blaise, two Slytherin Young Wizards, would have stood out far too much.

Standing before the tapestry of Troll Beating Barnabas the Barmy, Sean silently wished for a fully equipped place where he could brew potions in peace, pacing back and forth three times.

When the tapestry transformed into a door, Sean dragged the utterly bewildered Blaise along with him, carrying the large bag of ingredients as they quickly entered the door before them.

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