Chapter 278

“Oh, Harry—oh, dear—you could be anywhere, really—”

Mrs. Weasley, breathless, pulled out a large coat brush from her bag and began brushing the soot off Harry’s clothes.

Mr. Weasley took Harry’s glasses, tapped them with his wand, and returned them looking brand new.

Harry looked at every face; their concern was obvious… no wizard here would blame him for trouble. Sometimes he felt escaping Privet Drive had been like a dream.

“En—dear child, I’m so glad to see you,”

Mrs. Weasley turned and saw En; her eyebrows shot up.

“Come along, my dear children, let’s go get some Galleons.”

For the first time, she said the words “get Galleons” with real confidence.

She held Harry by the left hand and En by the right, and surged into the crowd.

At this moment, Ron, feeling “neglected,” shrugged and said to Hermione and Jia Jia Siting:

“Mom’s always nicer to outsiders. Though it’s strange—I’ve never seen them this eager to visit the vaults.”

…

En had been pulled away; Mrs. Weasley always showed him unusual warmth, peppering him with questions about his summer.

Mr. Weasley just smiled warmly, nodding along as usual—until he spotted Hermione’s parents.

They stood awkwardly beside the counter that stretched across the entire marble hall, waiting for Hermione to return and introduce them.

“Ah, I know—you’re Mr. and Mrs. Granger! You’re Muggles!”

Mr. Weasley said cheerfully,

“We must have a drink! What’s that you’re holding? Oh, you’re exchanging Muggle money. Mo Li, look!”

He pointed excitedly at the ten-pound note in Mr. Granger’s hand.

Soon, several goblins appeared, each leading different wizards to their respective vaults. En and the others would have to separate for a while.

The Weasleys left with Harry; Hermione hurried off to Making Guide the Grangers through exchanging Galleons.

That left only En and Jia Jia Siting.

“Together, En?”

Jia Jia Siting said—he seemed to be here alone to withdraw money.

“Sure.”

En didn’t refuse.

The goblin-driven carts raced along miniature iron tracks, slicing through the bank’s underground tunnels to reach various vault

After entering a vault, Justin’s gold again flashed before En’s eyes.

All manner of needed and unneeded materials lined the shelves; pile upon pile of Jin Jin Jialong.

“My father didn’t approve of the Wizarding World, nor did my mother. But fortunately, they both supported me,”

Justin said with a smile, his collar always crisp—ironed by Mrs. Weasley herself.

En turned to glance at Justin—was all that in his trunk just a fraction of it?

He remembered there was a limit to how many Jin Jin Jialong one could exchange for pounds—that meant they used gold or jewels…

Well, he still couldn’t imagine the world of the rich.

“This is—”

When En went to withdraw money from his own vault, Justin’s mouth could’ve held a goose egg.

His sharp insight allowed him to estimate the number of Jin Jin Jialong—and that was precisely why he was so stunned.

Did they rob Gringotts? Maybe not—that might’ve been too slow.

It was at this moment that Justin slowly realized the earning power of a top-rank Alchemist.

After leaving Gringotts, the group reunited and headed straight for Flourish and Blotts.

“I wonder how Mom and Dad managed to get money for our school supplies this year,”

Ron still couldn’t believe it,

“Besides a few old books filled with useful notes, we’ve got five full sets of Lockhart’s books! And Ginny’s robes and wand are all taken care of…”

“Isn’t Mr. Weasley employed at the Ministry of Magic?”

Harry was puzzled.

“Harry, you don’t understand—the Ministry of Magic isn’t a charity.”

Ron whispered. Hermione and Justin were listening curiously.

Soon they were astonished to find a huge crowd gathered outside the bookstore, all eager to get in. Above the upper windows hung a large banner:

【The Sage’s Mentor? Exclusive Interview with Master Flora Olivia Taila】

Below it, a smaller banner read:

【Gilderoy Lockhart signs his autobiography;

“The Wizard in Me”;

Today, 12:30–4:30 PM】

“The Sage’s Mentor? I’ve never heard this news before?”

Hermione said blankly.

“Maybe because none of us live in the Wizarding World?”

Justin smiled.

The Flourish and Blotts banner had been up for a while—every newspaper had already been snatched up. Occasionally, a wizard would sigh contentedly:

“That Alchemical Sage is so young—and he’s even a student at Hogwarts! Good heavens, I graduated too early.”

A young witch whispered to the shy wizard beside her.

“Y-yes, but… we actually graduated five years ago.”

The wizard beside her, after holding it in for a long time, finally blurted this out.

The witch shot him a furious look and stormed off; only then did he realize, face falling, and scramble after her.

This scene made Hermione feel as if she’d lived it herself:

“What an idiot.”

Justin agreed, then noticed Harry and Ron looked somewhat confused.

“You two too!”

Hermione snapped.

But soon, Hermione’s attention was drawn to Gilderoy Lockhart—the bookstore was surrounded by witches just like her, all captivated.

Yet most of the crowd seemed to be witches of Mrs. Weasley’s age.

A weary-looking wizard stood at the door and said:

“Ladies, please be quiet… don’t push… watch out for the books…”

En was always surrounded in the center, slipping through the crowd with everyone else.

A winding queue stretched from the entrance all the way to the back of the bookstore, where Gilderoy Lockhart was signing books.

Each of them grabbed a copy of “Breaking Up with a Ghost,” then slipped over to where the Weasleys and Grangers were waiting in line.

“Oh, you’re finally here—perfect.”

Mrs. Weasley said. She was breathing heavily, constantly patting her hair.

“Even though we didn’t get the newspaper, we’ll see Mr. Lockhart soon…”

Gradually, they caught sight of Gilderoy Lockhart.

He sat behind a table, surrounded by his own massive portraits—each face winking at the crowd, flashing blindingly white teeth.

The real Lockhart wore a long robe the color of forget-me-nots, matching his blue eyes perfectly. His pointed wizard hat was tilted playfully atop his wavy golden hair.

“Yes, ladies and gentlemen, you won’t regret this trip—today’s two big events both involve me—”