Harry Potter: A Certain Ancient Rune Professor of Hogwarts (TL)

Chapter 567: Money Eating Snake (2 in 1)

In the Ancient Rune office –

“I heard you’ve been spending a lot of money recently?”

Valen responded stiffly, sitting on a small table.

“Seriously, how many clubs have you invested in up to now?”

“Hmm.” Valen looked around with her little hands behind her back, refusing to look straight at Felix who is standing in front of her.

“And have you paid someone to write your autobiography? The student who runs that school tabloid?” A newspaper shook in front of Valen.

Valen’s jaw dropped, it looks like all of her little secrets seems to have been dug out?

“It’s about time,” Felix said solemnly. As he sat opposite to Valen, and with a shake of his palm, something jumped out of his ring – Valen’s mouth opened wide in surprise at what appeared to be a – a hideous snake?

Valen stared at the little creature in front of her, it appeared to be a greenish snake with a ridiculously large proportioned head, and from the moment it appeared it swam happily around her with a wide-open maw, Valen reached out with a jerk, and picked it up by the tail and shook it, the little snake bounced twice in mid-air like a flexible rope and opened its mouth to spit out a copper knut.

Valen’s eyes widened, this is a snake that can spit money?

“It’s a money bank,” Felix answered, ” Today I will teach you two new concepts, savings, and interest.” Valen, who was having fun, stopped and slowly turned her head to look at him, “Kee?”

“Simply put, it’s about saving up your pocket money and putting it in one place, which is here -” Felix pointed at the small snake which was twisting and turning, ” it was specially prepared by me for you, you can place some of your wealth in it.”

The little snake, which is essentially an alchemical item, nodded cooperatively and opened its mouth wide.

“Kee?” Valen looked at Felix in confusion, why would I put my money in the little snake, I have my own pocket for it.

“That’s not the same,” Felix said in a tactful manner, “think about it, the money that goes in your pocket, it’s only getting smaller and smaller, isn’t it?” Valen froze and nodded, “That’s right,” Felix raised his pitch to make his tone more convincing, “but if you keep your money in the little snake, after a while, it will become more.”

Valen looked dumbly at Felix and then looked down at the little snake that she had been clutching in her hand. Is this another precious treasure?

“Kee?”

“How much more can it become, well … This would be a dynamic and evolving growth. To be more precise, it will vary according to the time and quantity you store, for example, the growth you gain for storing one Gold Galleon will be less compared to storing ten Galleons, like ten times less. And the difference between storing it for a day and storing it for ten days would be different too, with the same ten times difference. Do the maths yourself, how many times does it multiply in total?”

Valen wiggled her fingers as she looked down, and after a long moment, she looked up at Felix in confusion.

“A hundred times.” Felix revealed the answer.

Valen looked shocked.

“That’s right.” Felix said with a smirk, “Don’t worry, how will I take your money? I’m just handing you a way to make more money, it’s an untold secret … your money is still yours, it’s just transferred from one place to another and the little snake will still be in your hands, well, how is the deal, a good bargain, no? ”

Valen thought about it for a while, it seems so … She nodded her head afterward.

“Very well then, let’s discuss a precise figure,” Felix paused and asked uncertainly, “how much do you have?”

Valen looked down at her small pocket, all she knew for sure is that she has a lot, even after using some of it, she still has a lot.

“I’ll count it for you.” Felix said as he looked at her pocket. When he saw the lack of response from the opposite party for a long time, he muttered to himself with a sigh, “Save up, interest, money grows more money …”

Valen had an intense internal battle going on in her mind:

Would the Great Demon King swindle her out of her money?

But all the pocket money she has was given by Great Demon King.

Don’t forget the Great Demon King is very cunning!

But the little snake would remain in her own pocket.

The Great Demon King is very cunning.

But the money grows more when you put it in the little snake …

Valen barely realized that it is getting dark, and after a long internal tussle, she finally closes her eyes and solemnly nodded her head.

“Clang.”

“Clang.”

“Clang, clang.”

Valen looked at her little pocket and instantly felt penniless, and then she looked at a small pile of gold galleons on the floor and her sense of joy returned.

“That makes a total of 2007 gold galleons when you calculate it.” Felix said with a look of amazement, “Tell you what, how about we deposit two thousand galleons into it?”

Valen looked at him silently. All she wanted now is to punch someone.

“It’s a good deal, I’ll do the maths for you, there are some pretty complicated mathematical equations involved … you haven’t learned to do arithmetic? Ah, what a shame.”

The sky turned completely dark and Valen squeezed the numerical formula that took up most of the parchment with a pang of confusion, “Swish!” A small mound of galleons on the floor was swallowed by a little snake that had opened its bloody maw.

“Kee!!!”

Valen grabbed the little snake by the neck and shook it hard, she was just starting to regret it! But now it is too late, the little snake burped and opened its mouth to spit out seven gold coins.

Valen looked at the money on the floor for a moment, before she picked it up one by one and stuffed it into her little pocket pitifully.

“We might as well place the little snake money bank at …”

“Kee!”

Valen clung to the little snake with a deadly hug, as her dark, shiny fur flared up all over her body.

“It’s yours, all yours.” Felix chuckled, “Just one last step, let’s set a date, if you take it out earlier than that time, you won’t get the extra galleons.”

Valen held out her trembling hands and offered the little snake to him.

The next day when she woke up from her cradle bed, Valen stared at the ceiling in a daze for a couple of seconds and subconsciously felt her little pocket, then she yelped and jumped up from her bed, and looked around, finally finding the gluttonous snake that had eaten her wealth in one of the corners of the cradle bed.

Valen breathed a long sigh of relief and her little shoulders relaxed.

She slipped out of the bedroom with the little snake money bank and looked around the office for a moment, eh? Is the Great Demon King not home? She walked over to the sofa, and with a hard hop, she jumped onto the Great Demon King’s usual favourite spot and started rolling around on it. After rolling around contentedly for two minutes, she suddenly got worried and looked fearfully under the sofa.

The little snake had coiled itself into a tight circle and lazily flicked out its tongue.

Valen’s heart settled down. It is a weekend, and she reckons that the Great Demon King has gone off somewhere for a stroll. She pulls out her magic painting and traced over it with her little finger, on which the game’s protagonist, Niffler, has already collected four gems, each of which can unleash powerful ancient magic, and – at Valen’s insistence – – The Niffler is also wearing a charming cloak.

But today the game seemed less appealing, and every now and then Valen was forced to check whether the Gluttonous Snake was still there, the snake often wandered off, “in an irregular orbit around you”, according to the Great Demon King, which Valen didn’t quite understand, but it probably meant that it wouldn’t go too far.

Still, Valen would feel panic when the snake disappeared from her sight. Each time she takes the trouble to jump off the sofa and pull the gluttonous snake out of its hiding place in the corner and place it in front of her eyes.

When lunchtime came, Valen wobbled and prepared to go out. After thinking for a moment, she took the gluttonous snake with her. She absolutely could not let it out of her sight.

She hid the snake under her yellow hat and wandered around the castle, after seeing Mafalda, who was selling tabloids and looking for the material. Valen subconsciously looked at her little pocket, and there were only seven gold galleons inside which made her sad.

Valen had learned how hard life can be when she eventually passed by Mafalda. She clenched her little fist, she had already made up her mind – she would stop buying newspapers until she had saved enough money again, till then she will borrow it from someone to browse.

After some searching, she finally spotted an acquaintance.

“Kee!”

Astoria Greengrass looked down and saw that Valen was greeting her in a friendly manner. The two came together and began to read the newspaper. Valen soon finished reading one side and was anxious to turn the page. She squinted her eyes, the reading speed of this defeated warrior is a bit slow …

Never mind, one has to be considerate~

“Don’t worry,” Astoria seriously said, “You see it says that twelve people from the Ministry of Magic have come to stay at the school for two whole weeks, and their job includes testing the results of the Apparition training as well as assisting with special training – indicating that The Ministry of Magic is very concerned about the safety of its students, see, that’s what it analyses.”

Valen tilted her head to look at her, making Astoria slightly puzzled.

Valen pulled a piece of parchment out of her small pocket and quietly handed it to her. “What’s this? Well, do you want me to calculate this formula? Let’s see, it’s not that hard to do …” Astoria looked down at the dense mathematical formula, and her gaze swirled in circles.

“It’s bit difficult …not my fault though, it’s because I didn’t choose the Arithmancy class.”

Although she didn’t get an answer, Valen finally put her mind at ease, it wasn’t that she isn’t smart enough, it was the Great Demon King who was making it difficult. As she parted from Astoria, she happily carried the gluttonous snake for a walk, and there is a large crowd of people gathered in the entrance hall, and Filch is blocking the entrance to the great hall with great poise, holding a wand in his hand.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione stood in the crowd watching the buzz.

“What year are the ones inside?” A new student asked.

“Seventh year.” Ron chimed in, “They had learned Apparition last year in their sixth grade and this is a chance for them to get their certificates early.” After that, he finally revealed his true intentions, “What do you guys think – is it possible to get a certificate even if you’re not old enough to master the Apparition?”

A few younger students around looked at him with awe.

“I think it’s hard to get,” Hermione said analytically, ” According to the rules, one has to be of age-”

“But these are special circumstances, aren’t they?” Harry asked, quite looking forward to it too, “If we got it, we don’t have to take a carriage to Hogsmeade.” And it would be a lot easier to see Grawp, he glanced at Hermione, who had also thought of that.

The three of them could not escape Hagrid’s warm invitation to visit Grawp’s temporary home for a weekend, no matter what. The trio prepared themselves rigorously by practising all sorts of defensive spells all over again before going, and were amazed at the sight they saw when they arrived – Grawp was sitting on a pile of hay, holding a giant half-eaten pumpkin in one hand and expertly switching the buttons of the magic projector with the other – and they couldn’t believe they had watched half an episode of The Lion King in a cave together with the footage of the second event of the tournament.

Grawp became very excited to see Harry, as he huffed and yelped at him, and they half guessed in conjunction with the footage on the magic projector, before eventually realizing that he actually wanted to see Harry’s Patronus Charm.

Hagrid had also bought a magic radio to keep Grawp entertained, and when they emerged from the cave, Ron stated incredulously, “Have I been under a Confundus Charm? I still can’t believe I heard ‘Witching Hour’ in a cave next to a pair of feet over twenty inches tall that was tapping to the beat!”

“Don’t worry, your mind is perfectly clear.” Hermione said, she originally didn’t want to come, but now she thought it was a good idea, “We can have a little faith in Hagrid’s dream, can’t we? Are you ready for a sixteen-foot-tall Forest Keeper?”

Harry felt at the time that he could find a perfect opportunity to persuade Hagrid that he didn’t need to rush and that two more years would be nothing … Unfortunately, he didn’t get the chance. Snape had recently become more aggressive and kept picking on him, he wasn’t sure if it was because Snape had read some of his thoughts, the previous year Professor Hap had happened to mention that Snape is a master of Legilimency.

A pair of small feet made their way to the great hall and Valen sneaked past the door. Filch was just about to stop her, but when he realized it was Valen, the old wrinkled face immediately smiled widely. Valen smoothly shoved a small dried fish to Mrs. Norris and slipped into the great hall.

” O Merlin, she’s so smooth.” Neville said with admiration.

At that moment, there was a shrill, squeezy scream sounded from inside, and the students in the entrance hall froze for a few seconds as a short, fat woman stepped out.

“It’s Umbridge.” Harry instantly said, he had seen how condescending this woman was and how she had been carried out of the school in a wretched state, he just didn’t expect to see this woman in school again, he had thought that Umbridge had been kicked out of the Ministry of Magic with Fudge’s downfall.

” Well, she has learned to keep a low profile.” Ron said, and Harry knew what he meant, Umbridge is wearing a taut bright green wizard’s robe that is conspicuous but very low-key compared to the dazzling pink from before.

“Filch, I just saw a big rat.” Umbridge said in a pinched tone.

” Her name is Valen, she’s a Professor Hap’s favourite pet, and she’s not a rat, she’s a Niffler.” Filch remarked with discontent.

Umbridge’s body stiffened as she noticed Filch’s grumpy attitude and a sweet smile immediately piled up on her slack, wide jaw, “So that’s it, that little fella looks pretty cute, do you like cats too, Mr. Filch? I also adore them, I love them so much-”

She asked, pointing to Mrs. Norris, who was lying at Filch’s feet, her head lowered as she nibbled on a small dried fish.

“She has a name, it’s Norris.” Filch said stiffly. Umbridge shut her mouth. At that moment Filch suddenly yelled at the crowd, “Look out!” He huffed and puffed his way into the crowd, and the students around him immediately scattered to the side, revealing an underclassman who was standing there unsure of what to do.

There was a floppy slice of Cauldron cake stuck to the floor at his feet.

” Don’t pick it up yet!” Filch yelled again, and the student complied almost immediately. Filch muttered under his breath, “Just causing me trouble all the time… hehehe … sullying the castle… don’t touch it! ” He suddenly shouted at a student who had his wand out and was pointing it at the floor.

“Let me do it,” Filch said with a red face, pointing his exclusive wand at the remaining stain on the floor. “Tergeo!” He yelled at the top of his lungs.

The remnants of the cake on the floor immediately disappeared and Filch grinned widely as he took a step back to the great hall’s entrance.

Umbridge was astonished; she knew Filch is a Squib, yet he is now able to use magic? And the clubs with weird names, the newspaper, she felt like Hogwarts had become completely unrecognizable.

“Umbridge?” At that moment, another young man stepped out of the great hall, “Professor Tofty is asking to allow the sixth years in.” Umbridge glanced at him, “I was just about to mention that, little Avery.”

The young man’s brow immediately furrowed.

The sixth years began to gather spontaneously and Harry saw the chaser Katie Bell mingle in the crowd, walking into the great hall with an excited look on her face. Greeting the seventh years who had finished their assessments, where the captain of the Gryffindor team, Angelina Johnson, had a beaming look on her face.

“Did you make it?” Katie asked as she brushed past her shoulder.

Angelina gestured a thumbs up at her.

In the great hall, the two middle tables had been temporarily moved elsewhere and replaced by two little wooden circular stages, spaced about ten feet apart from each other. A dozen adult wizards stood near the wooden circles, and all four of the heads of Hogwarts were present.

“Good morning, everyone.” Wilkie Twycross stepped forward to speak, catching the eyes of all the sixth years, “I hope you saw the announcement posted in the entrance hall before you came in, the Ministry of Magic is busy at the moment, but we still managed to spare some of our manpower in order to have all the students at Hogwarts master the Apparition or Side-Along Apparition which is a basic requirement set by the Ministry of Magic as Ms. Bones believes it will effectively reduce casualties …

Today is our first day so my colleagues and I will be focusing on checking on your progress, and judging by the performance shown by seventh-year students, you have learned quite well. I have to thank the professor of this year’s Defence Against the Dark Arts class for that, I know how tiring it can be to teach Apparition to others …”

“So,” he waved his wand, “students who have mastered Apparition, or think they have, step forward, and we can finish this part of the assessment first …”

“Don’t make a fuss.” Felix said to Valen who stood on his shoulder, “We’ll be just watching the fun.” He squinted as Umbridge and Avery made their way in grudgingly from the outside of the great hall, and Felix’s gaze started to twinkle a bit.

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