A sharp Hogwarts

"...Wait a minute, you said nine hundred gold galleons?!"

"Well, because this is an exotic hunting knife, it's more expensive."

Dalia answered while eating strawberry ice cream at the entrance of Florin's cold drink shop.

"Mr. Ollivander will mail you the details later. Just take the time to go to Gringotts to settle the payment."

"No, I mean..."

Dumbledore looked at Dalia strangely, and there was a rare stutter in his voice.

"I looked at the details and Mr. Ollivander's charges are very reasonable and even discounted."

Dalia glanced at the principal, licked the cream on her lips, and explained seriously.

Thanks to her hard lobbying, Ollivander reluctantly offered a small discount on the price of six hundred galleons.

Of course, Ollivander is not a completely heartless profiteer - the blacksmith shop is taxed, and basic detailed ledgers are still required.

"This includes not only the price of the magic knife, but also the matching magic scabbard and its permanent maintenance..."

Dalia calculated carefully on her fingers. The maintenance fee for a magic knife on the market was ten silver coins per time.

If you maintain it once a month and maintain five knives at a time, that's two Galleons - this is the "supplementary" contract that Dalia actively proposed.

In less than 50 years, the "saved" maintenance cost of the magic knife alone will exceed [-] gold galleons.At least from the perspective of the Ministry of Magic, this price alone can barely be explained, not to mention the ultra-light magic scabbard forged and made by Ollivander, as well as the "originating" from Eastern magic. An alien hunting knife forged with a technological breakthrough... Ling Ling Zongzong combined various factors, and even Mr. Ollivander had a somewhat reasonable feeling in his heart.

Of course, Ollivander would have been happier if Dalia had not charged the "consulting fee" of two hundred gold galleons.

"...Miss Dursley, I'm sorry to interrupt you."

Dumbledore smiled bitterly, shook his head, and rubbed his somewhat swollen forehead.

It is obvious that Harry's cousin inherited her father's talents and has a unique Muggle cunning in business.

"Anyway, the price of this magic knife is still higher than normal... Isn't it too much?"

"Hey, Professor Dumbledore, you are not heartbroken for just a tiny bit of Galleons, are you?!"

Dalia looked at the old wizard in great surprise, her eyes widened, and she said as if she saw Dumbledore clearly for the first time.

"When Harry was wreaking havoc in your office, didn't you personally say that you thought you had too many belongings?"

"Harry? Well, Miss Dursley...I don't remember this -"

Dumbledore said gently, looking at Dalia with some confusion.

"Oh, that was five years later."

Dalia waved her hand, glanced at Dumbledore, and replied casually.

"The conversation when Sirius Black was killed in action at the Ministry of Magic and Harry was making a scene in your office."

"Uh--"

Dumbledore's expression suddenly became subtle.

The old man blinked and looked at Dalia with a strange expression, but hesitated to speak.

Over the years, Dumbledore met several prophets, but never one like Dahlia.

"I won't describe the specific situation. Anyway, you yourself admitted that Sirius' death was almost your fault."

"I have seen many, many fragments of the future - I don't even know which ones are true..."

Dalia looked at the window glass nearby to check if there was any cream on her face.

"For example, a reporter dug up some secret love history of yours——"

"Cough. Cough cough cough -"

Dumbledore coughed, "Do you have anything else to buy? Dahlia."

Well, he now completely understands one thing. The little witch prophet is the most terrifying existence.

At least for now, the prophet's predictions are not free, and all glimpses of destiny come at a price.

Compared with other prices, if the reward can be paid in gold galleons, it is better to pay for it readily.

"Well, there are some..."

Dalia tightened the sheath on her back and took out a schedule from her arms.

Dumbledore glanced curiously and found that the list of items listed above was not the list of items he had imagined.

But...

"Let me see--"

Dalia unfolded the planner and slid her fingers over it.

"There are seventeen shops in Diagon Alley, let's start with the flavored potion shop, right?"

From Ollivander's Blacksmith Shop in the corner to the most prosperous Leaky Cauldron - oh, there is also this one. Underage wizards cannot buy alcohol at the bar.

However, she can buy some wine and store it there first. This situation is still very common in pubs.

As for whether Dumbledore would object... Ever since the Sorcerer's Stone fell into Dumbledore's hands for safekeeping, Dalia didn't think there was any difference between Dumbledore and the stone. This is why she is so happy now. This gave Erfouhui confidence. Anyway, Dumbledore had promised to bear all the expenses in the previous conversation.

Cornelius Fudge is responsible for granting privileges, and Dumbledore is unwilling to grant too many privileges, so just provide bonuses.

You know, this is a reward that she spent "seven years of plot" to get. No matter what, she has to earn enough money at once.

…………

This afternoon, Dalia found her life satisfied while strolling in Diagon Alley.

She scanned all the stores and bought everything without deliberately spending money.

Because there are so many products, most of them will be sent by mail to the delivery address written by Dalia.

Dumbledore kept his promise and paid all the bills, but compared to the money aspect, the old man looked very tired.

As night fell, Dalia returned to Hogwarts Castle contentedly.

The Gryffindor common room was much deserted than usual.

Harry, Ron, and the other Weasley boys occupied the most comfortable armchairs by the fire.

When Dalia returned to the dormitory, they were sitting there, chatting and eating everything that could be poked with a spit - bread, pancakes, mushrooms, sausages, red peppers, potatoes, with great interest. The crowd watched the Wizarding Chess showdown between Ron and Harry: more precisely, Ron versus everyone else.

Wizard chess is the same as Muggle chess, the only difference is that the chess pieces are alive, which makes people feel like they are commanding an army to fight.

Ron's set of chess pieces was very old and tattered. Its first owner could even be traced back to Mr. Weasley's father.

The fact that the chess pieces were older didn't hinder them in the slightest, as Ron and the other Weasley boys were very familiar with them.

Fred and George also chatted with the chess pieces from time to time, as if they were good friends who had known each other for many years.

Harry was using the wizard chess set left to him by Seamus Finnigan. They didn't trust him at all, and Harry's chess playing level was not high. The Weasley boys were also excitedly making suggestions, and they were so noisy that they almost split Harry's head in two.Although he lost to Ron more than a dozen times with the help of Percy, the twins and others, Harry still felt very happy and he liked the lively feeling.

Just as he had imagined, this Christmas could be the happiest and most relaxing Christmas he had ever had.

Of course, if Ron could add a little more water, it might be even better——

"Hey... look, Dalia is back! Wow..."

At this moment, Fred, who couldn't bear to watch Harry being tortured, first noticed Dalia at the door.

Then, Fred's eyes fell on the scabbard Dalia carried on her back.

"Isn't this so cool?! Tell me, that's your new knife?!"

"Well, yes."

Dalia glanced at Fred and smiled as she untied the straps.

She took the initiative to walk to the stove and smoothly pulled out the newly acquired ring-headed knife from the scabbard.

"This is a hunting knife. Mr. Ollivander has just forged an exotic hunting knife based on Eastern forging technology."

"Wow - that's so cool, it's a hunting knife!"

Ron dropped the chess piece, looked at the long knife, and exclaimed with great envy.

In fact, even Percy, who proposed to Dalia, was filled with envy at this time.

The hunting knife was never mentioned in detail in the Hogwarts books, and he had only seen occasional descriptions of it in some books.

But compared to the pictures and text, even Percy, who doesn't know much about hunting knives, can tell that Dalia's hunting knife is definitely a work of art with excellent quality and excellent forging technology, without any bells and whistles. The straight and long blade, the thick blade back, and the dangerous blood groove...

"Well, if that's okay—if you'd tell us..."

Percy stroked the cold blade in admiration, and finally couldn't restrain the curiosity in his heart and asked.

"This hunting knife, what is its main attack direction? Mr. Ollivander should have introduced its special attack to you, right?"

"This one……"

Dahlia hesitated and glanced at Percy's expectant eyes.

Maybe she could lie as much as she wanted in front of Dumbledore, but she still didn't want to deceive Percy.

"The Terrifying Pithecus erectus, Mr. Ollivander told me that its hunting specialty is this."

"Eh?"

"That is an extremely ancient creature, even older than the birth of wizards."

Dalia said seriously, looking at Percy and the others, she lowered her voice and explained mysteriously.

"The terrifying erect ape is called the most terrifying predator in prehistory by magic historians and magical animal researchers. Although there are also ancient magical animals such as the magical fire dragon, the three-headed hell dog, the swamp hydra, Medusa, etc. A terrifying creature from myths and legends, but nothing compared to the terrifying Ape erectus.”

"The terrifying erectus is an omnivorous animal and an unprecedented super predator. They are at the top of the food chain, but they are full of appetites at every level."

“Whether it’s something that runs on the ground, swims under water, or flies in the air, arthropods, molluscs, or vertebrates, as long as the terrifying upright apes want to eat, they can eat them—there is even evidence that the early terrifying upright apes were willing to eat them. Eating the same kind. All in all, this is an extremely dangerous..."

Following Dalia's bedtime story, everyone returned to their dormitories in a mysterious, excited and somewhat scared mood.

Although in the end no one knew what the terrifying Ape erectus looked like, they could all imagine it.

As for the secret of Dalia's hunting knife, it was temporarily defined by Percy as a somewhat useless ancient hunting knife.

This situation is not uncommon. Occasionally, there are hunting knives that are specially designed to target ancient creatures.

Meanwhile, the Headmaster's office at Hogwarts.

Dumbledore gently took off his glasses and pinched his swollen eyebrows.

"Huanshou Dao——"

"That guy Ollivander, this is really——"

It seemed that he had to find a qualified, reliable, and well-spoken swordsmanship teacher for Miss Dursley as soon as possible.

War knives are no different from other harmless magic knives. Even the most ordinary magic slash can kill someone under certain circumstances.

"Severus—" Dumbledore tapped his fingers on the desk, "Well, you won't refuse, right?"