The Daily Prophet! A trip to Snape's office!

After a full day of ceremonies, Argus returned to Hogwarts the way he had come.

The moment he stepped into the school, a system notification sounded in his mind.

[Congratulations to the host on establishing a business group in Diagon Alley. Achievement earned: The Business Magnate's Voyage]

[Achievement points awarded: 100]

"Setting sail? What I'm going to do won't be as simple as setting sail!"

As Argus pondered this, he had already returned to the Slytherin Common Room.

"Argus, where did you go today? I haven't seen you all day!"

As soon as he entered, Draco came over to ask.

Having spent the entire day busy at the ceremony, Argus was utterly exhausted.

He hastily gave a few replies before returning to his dormitory to sleep.

The next day was Monday.

After the weekend, many of the young wizards still hadn't settled back into things, and the Hogwarts Great Hall was a noisy jumble of chatter.

Countless owls flew in through the ceiling, bringing stacks of newspapers to the young wizards and professors in the hall.

"Heavens! Look at the Daily Prophet! That looks like Argus on the cover of this issue!"

"What? Let me see!"

Those words instantly drew countless people's attention.

For these young wizards who had only just started school, seeing a classmate appear in the wizarding world's most important newspaper was undoubtedly a novel and shocking event.

"Oh, Merlin's crisscross ballet socks! That's Minister for Magic Fudge beside Argus!"

"The head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement is behind him too! They're all big names!"

"The newspaper also says he opened dozens of shops in Diagon Alley in one go!"

In the Daily Prophet's account, Argus was brilliant, exceptionally gifted, and possessed an extraordinary bearing.

It had heaped almost every compliment it could find on him!

"Dozens of shops! How many Galleons must he make in a day?"

"Never mind how much he makes. An ordinary person couldn't even afford to buy dozens of shops. Even the Sacred Twenty-Eight might not be able to!"

"To think one of our classmates has become such a big shot!"

Exclamations kept rising from the crowd.

Yet Argus, the subject of all this attention, remained perfectly calm, without the slightest intention of showing off.

Sitting at the Gryffindor table, Ron was practically mad with jealousy.

Whether it was Minister for Magic Fudge or the other people in the photograph, they were all figures even his father could never hope to reach.

A scene like that had only ever appeared in his dreams.

And now it had actually happened to the person he loathed most!

How could he possibly accept that?

Harry noticed that something seemed wrong with his friend's mood and looked from Argus to Ron.

He didn't know how to comfort him.

All he could do was bury himself in his food and pretend he hadn't noticed.

Draco focused on something different from everyone else.

He pursed his lips at Argus in displeasure.

"Argus, you sneaked out without inviting me!"

"No wonder I spent all yesterday looking for you and couldn't find you. You'd gone out to have fun!"

"What fun? I spent the whole day wearing myself out, you know."

Argus elegantly cut a piece of steak with his knife and fork and put it into his mouth.

He had no idea that a dark shadow had already loomed over him from behind.

"Mr. Grindelwald, I wonder whether you ought to give your Head of House a reasonable explanation."

"If I remember correctly, I never gave you permission to leave the school!"

Snape's sarcastic voice rang out, startling Argus so badly that he nearly choked to death on his steak.

Fuck, so that's why I felt like I'd forgotten something!

This was it!

"Professor, let me make my excuses! Professor Dumbledore knew I was going to Diagon Alley!"

"What does his knowing have to do with me?"

"Or do you think your Head of House is so feeble-minded that he cannot even judge whether you may take leave to go out?"

Snape's expression grew increasingly dangerous.

Argus wisely refrained from arguing further.

"It seems Mr. Grindelwald has plenty of free time every day. In that case, from now on, come to my office after classes every afternoon and spend an hour processing potion ingredients."

"Starting today!"

He coldly delivered those words, then turned and left!

Everyone around them fell silent, and several older students looked at Argus with pity.

It took quite a while before anyone spoke.

The Weasley Twins exchanged a glance, then came grinning over to the Slytherin table and plopped down beside him.

"Well? Our esteemed backer, did what we gave you work?"

"Obviously! The very next day after we gave it to him, he dared to sneak out! Hee-hee!"

"I remember it took us ages to work out how to use it after we got it. We were already in our second year when we first sneaked out of Hogwarts!"

Argus quite enjoyed listening to the Weasley Twins chat. Talking to them was fun.

"How are your new products coming along? My shops are already open. We can put them on the shelves anytime."

"Don't worry. With our esteemed backer's Galleons supporting us, they'll be ready soon!" Fred patted his chest in assurance.

"We're at Hogwarts now, not the Burrow. Mum won't be scouring the place for our treasures!"

Argus thought for a moment. "I think you could have a proper talk with Mrs. Weasley."

"She has your best interests at heart too. The main reason she won't let you make these joke toys is that she's worried you won't be able to support yourselves after graduation."

"With my shops as a guarantee, you might not become fabulously wealthy, but at least you won't have to worry about food and clothing."

The smiles gradually faded from Fred's and George's faces, and their expressions grew serious.

"Thanks. We'll think about it."

Argus smiled and reassured them. "No need to be so serious. It's just a suggestion. Everyone thinks differently. Mrs. Weasley is a good mother. Have a proper talk with her, and she'll understand you."

"Oh, I've finished reading the notes Percy gave me. I'll go and get them from the common room in a bit. Could you pass them back to him for me?"

"Spare us!" The Weasley Twins raised both hands high in surrender.

"Percy's bound to lecture us again if he sees us. You'd better give them to him yourself."

"He's pretty nice to you!"

"All right, then." Argus shrugged helplessly.

"When Professor Snape said just now that I had to go to his office to help process ingredients, why did you all look so terrified?"

"Is processing potion ingredients difficult?"

"It's more than difficult! A lot of his potion ingredients are really complicated to process!"

Fred spoke, and George continued.

"And you have to put up with his constant cutting remarks and scolding! I remember a little Ravenclaw girl was reduced to tears by him just a while ago!"

"But you're Slytherin's chief, so he probably won't go too far. Don't worry too much."

After finishing their meal, the Weasley Twins and Argus headed to their respective classrooms.

After a day of classes, Argus followed Snape's instructions and knocked on his office door.

"Come in!"