Hogwarts' Niffler: All I Need Is Galleons

Alright, alright.

Hoare decided to take it easy for now.

He'd bring it up again when the time was right.

As for doing nothing, that was absolutely impossible.

After all, Dumbledore hadn't set a time limit for him, right?

Harry still had to wait at the door for Sirius, so Hoare said his goodbyes first.

He needed to make a trip to the Room of Requirement.

George and Fred had sent a letter yesterday, saying they had developed something very interesting and invited Hoare to take a look.

On the way, he ran into Peeves. Hoare greeted him in high spirits, but to his surprise, Peeves let out a scream and vanished.

Sigh...

Hoare walked somewhat bored to the eighth floor.

Perhaps due to Helena's presence, Hogwarts was now very gentle and friendly towards Hoare. Even the staircases behaved, always waiting for Hoare to pass before changing their paths.

At the door, he knocked three long and two short, their agreed signal.

"Creak"

The door opened, and there was an enthusiastic George. "Hoare! Come on in." He poked his head out, looked around, and then pulled Hoare inside.

"Look." George ran over to Fred, who was standing in the center, spun around a few times, and asked Hoare.

Hoare was puzzled. "What are you two up to?"

The two of them looked the same as always; there was no visible change.

"Hit me," Fred enthusiastically invited Hoare.

Honestly, Hoare had never heard such a bizarre request, and he couldn't help but show his disdain.

"Give it a try, don't worry, you can't hurt him," George demonstrated for Hoare.

With a "bang," Hoare watched as George seemed to use all his strength, punching Fred in the stomach.

However, Fred acted as if nothing had happened, not even touching the spot, and even gave Hoare a little twist of his waist.

Hoare found this quite interesting; he guessed that the two were somehow immune to damage.

He walked up to Fred, pulled back most of his strength, and punched with about thirty percent of his power.

Fred took a few steps back, looking at Hoare in surprise. "Hoare, I didn't expect you to be so strong."

But there wasn't a hint of pain on his face.

Hoare stepped forward and lifted Fred's shirt.

"No, no, Hoare, what are you doing? You're making me embarrassed," Fred said, blushing, as he tried to pull his shirt back down.

"I just want to take a look," Hoare insisted.

To protect his clothes, Fred let go during the struggle.

His abdomen was smooth and white, without any muscles or redness, showing no signs of having been hit twice.

Hoare knew his own strength; even with just thirty percent, it was impossible for Fred's stomach not to show any redness or bruising.

"What interesting thing have you made?" Hoare reached out directly.

That was the only answer.

George and Fred exchanged a smile and each took out a palm-sized doll from their pockets.

The two dolls looked exactly like them.

"Here, take a look," George handed it to Hoare and introduced, "We've temporarily named this little thing the Split Doll. It's a derivative product we came up with."

"Derivative product?" Hoare examined the doll from all angles.

The doll felt like it was made of cotton, but inside there was a hard strip of something, and nothing else seemed special.

Hoare suddenly remembered something and pulled open the doll's shirt.

The white cotton doll's abdomen had a bit of a bruise.

Hoare tried to wipe it off, but found that the color was seeping from within, not painted on.

He roughly understood what this Split Doll was about.

The main body gets hurt, and the doll takes the damage.

He just didn't know if it could withstand his full strength.

Hoare looked at the doll in his hand and gave Fred a friendly smile.

Fred suddenly felt a chill but couldn't pinpoint why.

He decided to ignore it and leaned closer to Hoare, explaining the doll's origin, "We originally wanted to make a doll that could mimic the main body's movements to scare people, but ended up with this."

"Touch here—" George guided Hoare to feel the hard thing inside the doll. "We carved spells onto a wooden board and placed it inside the doll."

The board wasn't long, about half the length of a pinky finger.

"George and I made a pair for you and Ron too, so if you get into a fight, you can be immune to damage."

A quick look at " will leave you more fulfilled.

Fred handed the Ron and Hoare dolls to Hoare.

"But we've tested it; major damage, like bleeding, can only be defended against once, while minor damage can be defended about ten times," George added. "We'll look into why it can't move with us later."

George sounded quite regretful.

Hoare, however, was slightly surprised as he looked at the doll in his hand. He hadn't expected such a small doll to be so powerful.

He had an idea.

"I've seen this magic array in a magic book; it requires a bit of the owner's magic every day to activate it," Hoare said, drawing the magic array he had seen on the board.

He had seen it when looking for spells to expel evil spirits.

It was a reverse operation, trapping an evil spirit inside something and then using the magic array to command the spirit.

Very similar to the Chinese practice of raising little ghosts.

Hoare found it interesting. Since he had a good memory, he remembered all of it.

"This is meant to trap souls, but we can try linking a person's aura to the doll," Hoare suggested, inspired by the twins' dolls.

"The doll would be like our second body, and it could go on adventures for us."

In dangerous places, the doll could completely replace the main body, increasing safety.

Even—

For dangerous jobs like being an Auror, carrying one could block damage, and in the event of severe injury, the soul could temporarily reside in the Split Doll.

Combined with Hoare's healing potions, it could bring people back from the brink of death.

Hoare couldn't help but show a sly smile.

Meanwhile, the twins had different ideas.

"If it can be a second body, we could place a doll in every classroom and sleep in the dormitory!" George got more excited as he spoke.

"And for Quidditch, we could put a doll on the broom and feel the thrill and joy of Quidditch without the risk of injury!" Fred was beyond excited.

"We could send a doll to eat ice cream, taste the flavor, but not gain weight!"

"And, and, the doll could go to work, doing one job while the main body does another, doubling the salary and doubling the fun!"