v2 Chapter 6： Riddle's Diary

In the days that followed, Tom focused his attention on carving the wand runes. In a blink of an eye, more than half a month has passed. He has already mastered all the basic runes on the parchment paper, and the strokes he carved are uniform enough and the depth is consistent. Next, his job is to keep practicing to make the runes smaller and smaller.

Every time Mr. Ollivander was quietly busy with his own affairs, and only came to comment after Tom finished the carving. Don't look at his seemingly calm, but in fact Mr. Ollivander is numb: Tom's progress is too fast! Back then he reached the level of Tom, and it took about the same amount of time as Tom. But he concentrated on learning to carve. Tom learned to carve while working in a bookstore. The gap is a bit big.

Mr. Ollivander was very disappointed for a time. Sometimes he would ask himself in his heart, is his talent average?

But thinking of the level of those foreign staff makers, he regained his confidence.

However, as the day for the admission of freshmen approached, the work of Lihen Bookstore gradually became busy.

Although Hogwarts has yet to officially announce a Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, other professors have already released their textbooks for the new semester. So Mr. Lawrence began to buy goods in large quantities, and at the same time gave Tom a new task: packing textbooks.

Because Lichen Bookstore is mainly for Hogwarts students, the textbooks required by students in each grade are similar. Each student in grades 1 and 2 needs exactly the same textbook. From Year 3 onwards, there will be minor adjustments depending on the elective subjects.

So Tom's task is to put the textbooks for each subject in cardboard boxes according to the grade, and then code the cardboard boxes one by one. In this way, when students come to the bookstore, they can complete their purchases as quickly as possible.

Of course, the textbooks required for elective courses are also placed in the most conspicuous position.

Everything is ready except for the Dark Defense.

One afternoon in late July, Mr. Lawrence received a letter from the owl, his source of intelligence. He can always know the candidates for the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts and the textbooks he chooses as soon as possible, and then purchase the textbooks as quickly as possible.

This time, when he opened the letter, his expression became strange: the new professor turned out to be Lockhart! Bestselling author Gerald Lockhart.

Mr. Lawrence doesn't understand, is there something wrong with Lockhart's mind? I can't think of going to this sinkhole. You must know that the pit of Hogwarts Defense Against the Dark Arts is not one or two professors buried in it. There are two-digit professors who are planted in this teaching position.

Besides, who is this guy? As soon as he takes office, he asks students to buy seven books as teaching materials, which is too ugly to look at. As a bookseller, Lawrence knows a little inside. For each book Lockhart sells, he can make a profit of 20%, which means that for a book of 5 Galleons, Lockhart can earn 1 Galleon.

Each student buys 7 books, and Lockhart can absorb 7 Galleons from a student. There are hundreds of teachers and students at Hogwarts. It is conservatively estimated that Lockhart can make at least 3,500 Galleons through textbooks.

Mr. Lawrence shook his head. Although he felt that Lockhart did something inappropriate, he didn't say much. Lockhart did it to Lawrence's good: as manager of London's largest bookstore, the more books he sold, the higher his commission.

However, his face froze, and he suddenly realized a key issue: he had promised in the contract that he would pack a set of Tom's textbooks! And Lockhart had to use seven books as teaching materials - these seven books were very expensive, each five Galleons, equivalent to Tom's salary for a week.

How many weeks has Tom worked in total? Isn't this a disguise to help him double his salary!

Lawrence looked at Tom's busy back and had to admit: This kid is lucky. As for delinquency? He wasn't so angry - it wasn't him who paid for it anyway.

In the afternoon, a distinguished guest came to the bookstore: a high-ranking official of the Ministry of Magic, the trustee of Hogwarts, the son of Abraxas, the current patriarch of the Malfoy family: Lucius Malfoy II - 16 The Century Malfoy family has a man named Lucius Malfoy, so on the family tree, Draco Malfoy's father is actually Lucius II.

By the way, there is ample evidence that Lucius Malfoy I was Queen Elizabeth I's suitor, despite the vehement denials of subsequent generations. So to get Draco Malfoy to break the defense, all it takes is to say Elizabeth a few times.

Seeing Lucius coming, Mr. Lawrence stood up immediately, showing a very flattering smile, he bowed his waist, and said respectfully: "Hello, senior, oh, if the senior wants any book, just send the owl to send a letter directly. , I will definitely send it to you."

Lucius stroked his pale blond hair, which had been carefully maintained at first glance, with style, then poked a cane on the bookshelf, and said slowly: "The Malfoy family's desire for knowledge has no limit, and it involves Books, it is better to visit in person Mr. Lawrence even claimed that he was, and was amazed.

"I need a set of textbooks for second-year Hogwarts students." Lucius looked at Lawrence, who immediately bowed and went to sort out the textbooks for Lucius himself. Lucius was also pacing the store, looking like he wanted to buy some books to go back and read.

But no one noticed. When Lucius walked through a corner, he took advantage of others and shoved an old-looking diary into the corner of the bookshelf. He came to Diagon Alley today for several purposes, one of which was to get rid of this diary.

Of course, he also has another purpose, which is to go to the Knockturn Alley next to him to deal with some of the collections at home. In early July this year, the Ministry of Magic issued an order requiring authorities to raid black magic items and illegal items. Originally, Lucius didn't take it seriously. There had been similar searches before, but they had never been found on pure-blooded families like them.

But this year was different. He heard the wind and there was Arthur Weasley in the search team! Lucius recalled his relationship with Arthur. He couldn't say that he was sincere, but at least it was a stab at the physical level, so he felt that his family should not be able to escape.

What's worse, Barty Crouch, the director of the International Magical Cooperation Department, took the initiative to invite Arthur to conduct a search of his house in order to show his compliance with the law and improve his reputation. For the major pure-blood families, this is a bad start - they have no reason to refuse Arthur's search from now on.

Therefore, seeing the situation, Lucius decided to dispose of the possible prohibited items in the home in advance. Lucius perfectly inherited the family spirit of the Malfoy family: you will never see the Malfoy family at the crime scene, Even the wand that committed the crime was covered in their fingerprints.

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