Hogwarts' Niffler: All I Need Is Galleons

"Hoare! I'm your brother!" Ron shook off Hoare's hand and reached out to retaliate, but Hoare dodged him effortlessly.

"Only by a minute and thirteen seconds," Hoare said, clutching his backpack and running ahead. Ron hurriedly shouted after him, "Still makes me the older brother!"

Harry and Hermione exchanged a smile and quickly followed.

The group playfully bickered their way to the entrance of the Great Hall.

To be honest, their little group was quite eye-catching.

The people standing at the entrance of the Great Hall were equally attention-grabbing.

Hoare saw two people standing on either side of the door, like guardian deities.

On the left was Sirius Black, looking grumpy.

On the right was Draco Malfoy, sporting a similar scowl.

Hoare noticed Draco nodding at him, his head held high with an air of arrogance.

"Harry! Let's go eat, I've been dying for Hogwarts food," Sirius waved his hand wildly.

For a moment, the two seemed like peers, with a surprising resemblance.

"Hoare, let's go," Draco said, lifting his chin and turning to enter the Great Hall.

Sirius let out a cold snort, but when he turned to Harry, he was all warmth and cheer.

Later, Hoare learned that Sirius Black was actually Draco's uncle.

But this uncle-nephew pair seemed to be naturally at odds, greeting each other with nothing more than a cold snort.

"Harry, Ron, Hermione, I'm heading in first," Hoare waved to the group and walked past Sirius into the Great Hall.

Sirius continued to snort disdainfully.

Hoare felt he had been mistaken earlier; this man's mental age was definitely younger than Draco's.

Not more than three years old.

---

After staying at Hogwarts for a while, Sirius successfully blended in with the students.

One day, the Weasley twins from Gryffindor invited him to help with something.

Sirius readily agreed.

After all, he was now the most popular professor at Hogwarts, second only to Dumbledore.

"Sirius, you're just a teaching assistant now," Harry whispered from the side.

"Don't take it too seriously, Harry," Sirius laughed heartily, pulling Harry along to help the twins.

After some time recuperating, Sirius's magic had almost fully recovered.

George and Fred exchanged a glance.

"Harry, Professor Black—" George said sweetly as he asked for help, "let's play CS!"

"Huh?"

"Huh?"

The unfamiliar term left Harry and Sirius puzzled.

"It's a game Hoare taught us," George explained.

"We'll pair up, George and I, and you and Professor Black. On the small lawn, we'll use—Expelliarmus!" Fred confirmed with Harry, "It's in 'The Standard Book of Spells: Grade 1,' you should have learned it."

Harry nodded; he was decent at spells, though he could only move boxes for now.

"Hit and you're out, if both are hit, the other team wins," George added, "Any questions?"

"Got it, got it! Let's start!" Sirius was all too familiar with mock battles and was already raring to go.

Ten minutes later...

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible! How could I lose!?" Sirius sat on the lawn, looking utterly defeated.

He distinctly remembered hitting a Weasley, so how did another Weasley pop up from the other side!?

Could he really be getting old and senile!?

The twins and Harry exchanged glances at Sirius's existential crisis and couldn't help bursting into laughter.

If Sirius hadn't realized he was being tricked, his brain must have been eaten by Dementors.

"On the surface, it was two against two, but actually—" Fred pulled out a small hidden figure from the corner, "you were up against four, we used this to absorb damage."

Sirius listened to the explanation, excitedly getting up from the lawn, ignoring the leaves all over him, and took the two small figures from Fred for a closer look.

"Can this absorb one hit?" Sirius inquired.

"Actually, more than that. For spells like Harry's Expelliarmus, it can absorb three hits. But if it's from you, Professor Black, just one. Look, this is the one you hit, it's already broken," George pointed to one of the figures.

The figure was clearly frayed, a shabby little doll. Sirius was surprised, "I thought you designed it that way on purpose."

Harry curiously leaned in, "But Sirius said he saw you guys just now?"

"Yes, that's an idea from Hoare, a variant of the Disillusionment Charm combined with a Confundus Charm, to confuse others into thinking you're there," Fred said proudly.

"Hoare again... Is that Hoare really that impressive..." Sirius grumbled discontentedly.

"Hoare is amazing!" the twins and Harry said in unison.

Sirius was momentarily speechless, wanting to retort but realizing Harry was among them, he had to swallow his words and rolled his eyes.

He continued to examine the small figures, clearly very interested in them.

Fred and George exchanged a cunning smile.

They chose Sirius to help not just because he was easygoing, but also because Black had money.

After all, Sirius Black was now the most eligible bachelor in the wizarding world, having inherited the entire Black family fortune.

The Black family, a lineage of nobility, had accumulated immense wealth.

Naturally, everyone knew this, including the students at Hogwarts.

Even with cost-cutting, the small figures weren't cheap.

Since they weren't cheap, they wouldn't be sold cheaply; the price was raised for those who could afford it.

This was Hoare's original idea.

And Sirius was the first customer Hoare helped the twins find.

"Can I buy this?"

See!

George and Fred's eyes gleamed, but they quickly suppressed it.

"Of course, we have brand new ones," George said, a slight curve to his lips that even Percy's smelly socks couldn't flatten.

"No, no, no—" Sirius quickly waved his hand, "I don't want these."

The twins looked at Sirius in confusion.

"Can you reverse the spell?" Sirius licked his lips and continued, "Not for the figure to absorb damage from the body, but for the figure to absorb something and transfer it to the body?"

For the full version, visit [ ].

"This..."

The twins exchanged a glance; was this what Hoare meant by a custom client?

"You'd have to ask Hoare," George handed Sirius a business card, prepared in advance by Hoare, saying it would make VIP customers feel special.

Fred and George felt a jolt of realization.

Hoare's predictions were spot on.

The customer was someone he had in mind.

The business card was prepared in advance by Hoare.

Step by step, Hoare had predicted everything.

What was Hoare really planning?